It's Drafty, so I'm getting Crafty

Growing up in drafty houses meant that we always had door snakes or draft stoppers by our exterior doors.  They were pretty standard fair.  Long tubes filled with fabric and placed in front of the door to stop the winter chill. 

We've lived in our current home now for quite some time and every winter I say I'm going to make a door snake and never do.  So, we resort to the ever so attractive towel placed in front of the door.  An effective lazy woman's hack.

But no more ... I spent a few hours designing my new and improved draft stopper.  I didn't want to make a snake because then my Ophidiophobic friends would not be able to visit. 

So I made a log.  A door log.  The design was inspired by the Yule Log I make every year.  Instead of being filled with butter cream icing, it has an inner tube filled with popcorn while the rest is stuffed with wool sweater cuttings. 

When I showed it to my children, they thought it was rather plain and boring, so they suggested that I make a couple of creatures to live on the log.  A ladybug 

And a inch worm.

And, now, my house is warm and my front door looks lovely!

Don't you love the vintage purse I found?

If you want to make one of these yourself, search for "DIY Door Snakes", you will find all sorts of sites with instructions.  Hope you are keeping warm. 

Happy New Year

Eleven days into 2015.  Is it too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year?

When the blog is slow, life is busy.  It appears I haven't posted anything since July!   I guess I had a busy summer.  

The summer certainly did seem to fly by.  The cottages were booked, festivals were happening and we went to the beach as much as we could.

kite flying at twilight

We took a family trip on the Nova Star Ferry to Portland.  From there we traveled on to Boston and New York City to soak in a bit of BIG CITY culture.

New York Skyline from the Staten Island Ferry

It was Wonderful!

For me, one of the highlights was a trip to MoMA where were were lucky enough to see a couple of my favourite paintings: Broadway Boogie-Woogie by Piet Mondrian and Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh.

Of course, a visit to New York is not complete without a visit to the Central Park Zoo.

and a giant New York pretzel.

Fall sailed on by with more festivals: the 14th annual Whirligig and Weathervane Festival was in the last week of September and Sandy Lane sponsored a new Festival: the first Shelburne Film Expo. Both events were a blast.  

Fall turned into Winter and with that came Christmas and a much needed break.  We spent days and days just relaxing!

2015 is going to be another busy year with lots of new things happening for Sandy Lane Vacation Rentals: 

a new web page, an improved reservation system, a new logo AND a new assistant! It's all good.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year.

May 2015 be kind to you.