Cicada Has Been Singing Its Summer Song

 I heard the cicada/tree toad sing its summer song on August 1st for the first time this summer!

That song is a gentle reminder of the very hot days of summer with only 8 weeks left before the first frost will be upon us & the fall air will be inhaled without the mosquitoes.

It is very hot & dry right now on the northeast coast of New Brunswick in Miramichi Bay but threats of thunderstorms are coming our way to allow the vegetation to finally get a drink from Mother Nature.

We've been working on getting the asphalt laneway coated with pails upon pails of the coating mixture.

Bill has done most of the job himself, I did some cutting in around the garage doors & steps before I could not do anymore in the heat & my shoulder bursitis was flaring up. Bill really is unstoppable & focused on just getting it done.

This was done last weekend & we never noticed how much the asphalt had faded since 2017!!

Bill measured it all out & the amount needed was seven large pails so he purchased eight!

This is what eight pails cover... so he purchased six more & began again this weekend!

Bill started early in the morning to get ahead of the heat of the day.

Even watering the asphalt first before rolling was giving seam to the air as the sun was so intense.

The black coating makes it hot too, look at how much the colour had faded!!

This coating is supposed to be good for 17 years...we'll see after being part of the BP Shingle class action on the 50 yr shingles that lifted in 6, it leaves me skeptical.

Bill has been getting ready for winter with all our wood too. The Almanac has not said much for Atlantic Canada but last year's winter was easy on us!

He was listening to his NASCAR channel whilst working.

Huge undertaking & still two more pails are needed to finish this job. Thank will make 16 pails, twice the amount that they said with their measurements!!

It does look very nice though!!

We've been getting lovely blueberries from our Duke blueberry bushes from Scott's in Fredericton.

They are very tasty & I'm so happy the bears have not found them too!!

The Summer Mystery is now over & I put a new spin on my quilt with the center block as the instruction was to have it a plain 6" square. I just didn't look right with all the other blocks having some sort of design to them.

I'm going to add a border to the quilt then send it off to the longarm for quilting.

This is a free pattern online from Laundry Basket Quilt Shop.

This is the other mystery wallhanging that I was doing at the same time & it too is now finished & has gone to the longarm to be quilted. I want to put it on the front porch at Halloween.

This is a free pattern QAL at The Fat Quarter Shop.

I also played with a sew along with Laura-Lynn of the Mom & Pop Quilt Shop, it's a table runner from a jelly roll! I was auditioning the block placement on the counter with leftover strips.

Here it is back from the longarm, I wanted daisies floating through it & was so pleased with how it looked now to put a binding on it. I'm thinking red!

The back has a farmhouse feel to it & I like it because it has a nautical feel to it in the red/white/blue, so summery with the daisies going through it!

Very summery!

And now some building news...

The apartment unit that we constructed in 2018 had a large lounge that was not being used & with the living shortage in our area we chose to make a one-bedroom apartment from it. 

Apartments are much needed & a great choice for those that do not want the maintenance of a house & property.

Our units are always full with a waiting list & phone calls of inquiries about renting one of our apartments.

This is the kitchen area, I'll take photos when the IKEA cabinets are installed. What a job for Bill to get all the kitchen units together, it took 5 different IKEA stores because of the shortage of their shipments!!

This is the living room area with a 6ft patio door, the hallway to the bedroom & bathroom.

I'm in the kitchen looking down the hall to the bathroom. The door with the window will be changed out to a fire-rated solid door.

Bill & I were going over the colours to be painted next week. Then the floors can be installed & the nasty drywall dust will not be tracked into the hallway anymore!

The bedroom has a large closet & a large window, so there will be no shortage of light in this apartment.

These windows were designed for the lounge, not the apartment units so this unit is different than the other seven units in the building.

With paint, doors, & floors this is going to be a gorgeous apartment!

The wall will be tiled in subway tile & there's a small closet at the end.

All units have heat for the winter & air conditioning for the summer & we've made it that they pay one amount for rent which includes their heat/cooling, and electricity, WIFI & the laundry room is free to use the washer/dryer, there's an outdoor clothesline for those that prefer to hang their laundry too!

This brings back memories of when I lived here in my little Carroll Cottage. 

All patio doors face a fire lane that is to be kept clear so the view is on that is not looking at parked vehicles. The gavel helps with the drainage to keep the mosquitoes at bay but I don't think it helps, there are so many mosquitoes this time of year!

Time has been moving quickly & soon our youngest son & his girlfriend will be moving here as they purchased a beautiful house in Chatham/Miramichi. The possession date is Sept 1st, 2022, just weeks away! I'm over the moon having those two moving here, it has been so long since the family has lived close by.

The middle son & his wife have just moved into their new three-bedroom home on 10 acres of property in Alberta. Their photos are beautiful & we can't wait to fly out to see their home!

So many changes are happening at one time & they are all good ones! 

Thank you for stopping in for a visit & do stop in again, I'll be posting more photos of all the changes going on!

Stay safe - stay healthy.

Cynthia