It's Good to be Back!

Hello, lovelies! I'm back!

And, oh, how I've missed you! However, over the past few months, I've had a touch of writer's block and just a smidge of busy-ness. I am blessed to have found a job that I really enjoy, however working full time has left me with less time for my creative pursuits, blogging, and of course, personal time. So I took a few months to slack a bit and adjust. As regular readers may recall, Autumn is my time of rejuvenation, and as I suspected my creative juices are flowing and the urge to write has returned. 

First up, I have some housekeeping to attend to. The last few weeks were a bit of a whirl, and to my chagrin I missed posting the link to the August edition of The Christmas Calmdown. Ainsley prepared a wonderful post on holiday greetings, which you can read here.  You have my sincerest apologies for my tardiness. I will be posting the September edition on or around the 25th.

Next, a brief explanation of what I've been up while I've been neglecting Nesty (and all of you!). Well, despite the weather's best efforts, we did our best to enjoy the summer. We were blessed to have visitors (my husband's cousin and her family) and for a glorious long weekend in August we soaked up the joy of having family close by. We barbecued, enjoyed leisurely morning coffees on the patio (we had one of the only sunny weekends this summer while they were here!), had camp fires, and of course, this being Northern British Columbia, we fished!

Oh yes, that's me!

 This was my first time salmon fishing in BC, and I had a great time! I was equipped with a shiny new rod (not the pink one!), a fluffy pink marabou jig (the jig of choice that weekend, I didn't choose the colour. Really.) and tons of determination! After a terrible showing the first night, I had much better luck the next day! Above, I am posing with a Chum that I caught. Unfortunately, he was foul hooked so I couldn't keep him but I had quite a time bringing him in! We realized about half-way through the battle that my reel was on the wrong side of the rod for right-handed me...check out my fighting face below!

Grrrrr!

 

 

 Luckily a few folks caught some keepers, and our freezer is filling up nicely. Thanks to some very generous friends, we had some lovely salmon in our freezer to serve to our guests; I used this recipe to grill one on the barbecue and it was fantastic! We are hoping to smoke some salmon over the next few weeks, which of course I'll tell you all about!

We are looking forward to Fall and some holiday time. I have been trying out new recipes and am planning a few new features for Nesty. One of them is a "brown bag lunch" series, while the other will be meal solutions for busy households. Now that we are both working full-time, meal planning is becoming more important. So I'm coming up with some solutions which I'll be sharing here. Look forward to "fix it and freeze it" meal solutions as well as lots of slow-cooker recipes. I'm also looking forward to crafting and decorating for the upcoming holiday season. 

Finally, I got a new camera, so Nesty will become much more visual once again! I'm really enjoying capturing the beauty of "Super, Natural British Columbia" on camera again! For those of you who enjoy my tales of life in Northern BC, there should be more of those coming up soon! The bears are back, as well as lots of other wildlife, so I'll be keeping my camera close at hand as we go adventuring this Fall.

Folks, it's great to be back! Have a great week!!!