My Favourite Posts from the Year

My favorite posts from the year are not necessarily my most popular ones but just ones that I like - it's amazing when you go back and check the stats and see what really was your most popular one for the year - for me it was Everything Cookies are so Good that I wrote about in October - I think I owe Pinterest on that one!!

So, here we go - starting off with January - we had just started making homemade egg rolls, it was worthy of a post, in February I joined in on the SMASHing craze with Do You SMASH? and in March it was all about Vera - Scarves were Everywhere -oh, that was a grand day, finding all those scarves!!!  

In April I found some beautiful Red Haired Mermaids - Lefton ones to be exact.  I found the best brownie recipe in May - it's the only one I make now - you should try it too - right here.  In June, I blogged about my old Barbie and her clothes - Loved Barbie!

We went "home" at the end of June so I blogged about The Place I Come From when I got back in July.  It was hard to pick one post from August, but I chose $1 Spent Here, $1 Spent There - Pyrex was involved!  In September I wrote about Mom's Depression Glass - looking for help on identifying patterns and I got it!!

Carla came home for the weekend in October to SMASH - that was definitely my favourite post.  In November I highlighted my 1966 Woman's Day Magazine - that was a very popular post, it was a fun one to do too!  It wasn't easy making my December selection but I settled on This is Really Christmas Kitsch - I didn't like having to pack that beautiful piece away today!

It's been another great year of blogging for me - thrifty finds are not as plentiful as they used to be - but if there isn't anything to be found, there is always something in the wings waiting to be written about.  Thank you so much to all my followers - I know there are a lot of blogs out there to read, I appreciate that you stop by here to see what I've been up too and maybe leave a comment - comments make my day!!  

Happy New Year - from 1935

Heading East...

Tomorrow morning we are heading East down Highway 17 - back "home" to Prince Edward Island.  This will be the first time in six years that we haven't spent our vacations tending to ailing parents, we miss them but we can't have the  old days back now, the great memories of all those summers spent back there are so vivid, but there are new memories to be made now!!    We can call it home, the homestead or the cottage - all we know is we're pretty darn lucky to look out on this beautiful scene every day we're there!!!

View from the driveway - Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island

Darcy is coming too - his big "25" is coming up next week and he's going to be back in one of his favourite spots, PEI,  - he's leaving from Toronto, we'll meet up with him tomorrow night at our hotel in Quebec - just like old times, except Carla isn't with us!!   Next time....

I'll be posting our trip along the way on Instagram - follow me - my user name is mackaypj

Oh, I can smell that salt air now........

The Place I Come From

I haven't done a blog post in almost two weeks because I've been "home" and home for me is Prince Edward Island - I've lived away from this beautiful place of my birth for over 30 years, but still I go back - hopefully, some day I will be able to stay there for a little longer than a couple of weeks at a time..

Since we only spent nine days on the "Island" we flew but we'll drive when we return in the fall for a couple of weeks.  This is what you see from the air - farmers fields everywhere..just like a patchwork quilt.

The famous PEI potatoes are grown in many of those fields - when the potatoes are in season, you can buy them on the side of the road, just leave your money in the locked box and you're on your way.     For many of you, Prince Edward Island means Anne of Green Gables, I so enjoyed those books when I was young and have read them numerous times since.  Although I didn't visit Green Gables this time, I did stop by the post office - it was late in the day and it was closed, I would have gone in to see the exhibit.

This is the view we see every day when we open our blinds - it's just a little fishing village called Murray Harbour, it was bustling when we were there as the lobster season was just ending and the fishermen were landing their traps.  We like to sit on our swing and just watch the comings and goings - can't get much more relaxing than that!

Lobster season means this.. lobsters bought right at the wharf - it just doesn't get much better  - we need no fancy trimmings - just lobster, melted butter, and rolls from the bakery - and some beverages, of course!!  We had seafood nearly every day we were there - clams, mussels, snow crab - love it all!!  As always, click on the picture for a better view.

PEI is a haven for good food -  we had these fried clam dinners at Sharkey's in Summerside - clams are my very favourite!  The first night we were there we bought clams and live snow crab to steam - oh, it was good to be back!!!

We just have to walk across the bridge to the little restaurant called Brehaut's and we can order up a bowl of this delectable seafood chowder, we've tried a lot of chowders across the Island, this is as good as any we've tried on the Island and we've had a few - lobster, scallops, fish - oh, so good!!  Notice that home made biscuit on the side - oh, my....  We finished it off with one of their homemade desserts,we had pecan pie that day and of course, it didn't disappoint!

And, while I'm on the subject of food - there's no better ice cream than COWS - this flavor was Fluff n Udder.

The beaches and shoreline of PEI are breathtaking - this is just a few minutes from my house.

If you are driving to PEI - you can cross onto the Island via the Confederation Bridge which is a 12 km drive or 8 miles or you can travel there by ferry..  My Dad used to work on this boat so this is always a place we go...

We love PEI!!  It's no wonder it was just voted number 5 on the top islands of the world by Travel and Leisure Magazine - it's amazing - here's the link to the list.

Maybe you will make it to this beautiful land some day - once you're there, you won't want to leave...it always happens...

Linking up today with Time Travel Thursday, Share Your Cup Thursday and Thursday Favorite Things

Thanks are in Order

Who doesn't love to get fun mail and it's even better when it's surprise mail - that's the best! I had a package from one of my blogging friends, Astrid from Fab and Thirty Something - we have traded back and forth a couple of times, she sent me this with no hint that it was coming. This is what I found when I opened up the box....

Vintage butter melters that were made in Japan!  Perfect for us!!  At first I didn't notice that they were a souvenir of Prince Edward Island, even more perfect!!!!  That is two vintage souvenirs from PEI that I've received in the past couple of weeks - oh, no, is this a new collection starting???  I'm anxious to try these, we have melters that require a tea light, they flicker and go out and the butter spits all over the place when it gets really hot, these ones use hot water - they'll be right on the table the next time we have some lobster, snow crab or PEI mussels...

Give us some of this wonderful seafood and we're happy!!

Thanks, Astrid - it was sweet of you to think of me!  I love them!!