I don't yet consider myself a well-traveled person. At least, not yet. I've been to the wet coast of Canada when I was 9, the east coast at 13, and down to the states various times, the furthest south being North Carolina. and when I was 17, my parents took my sisters and I on a "heritage trip" to see where our grandparents and great-grandparents had come from. We traveled through England, Scotland, and finally the Netherlands.
Now, I can't tell you which of these big trips first awakened the desire to travel within me...maybe it was none of them, maybe it was the yearly camping trips we always took up north or down to upstate New York. Either way, I found I was always happiest when out in the wild world. I even loved the trip to Scotland so much that I returned for my final placement in college and lived and worked there for a semester. Not a day goes by where I don't miss my time there or the friends I made, where I wish I could go back and just breath the Atlantic sea air in again. As much as I know I want to go back, I also know there are so many other adventures I want to go on before I re-do one for the third time.
I don't know about you, But I have two travel bucket lists: One I know I can fulfill, like visiting a major American Revolutionary War reenactment at Fort Ticonderoga or Williamsburg, Virginia, or roadtripping out to Newfoundland and seeing the Viking settlement at L'anse aux Meadows. The other is filled with the ones that are more "if I won the lottery" or "when I'm rich and famous" type, like backpacking up to Mount Thor and Mount Asgard on Baffin Island or driving cross-country for as long as I want and stopping at every "Welcome to _________!" sign I see.
Your travel bucket list is going to be different. Everybody's is. the point of a travel bucket list is to wish and dream, without those you just spend your days working and never seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. So whether you're an over the hill or under the hill kind of person, always keep those dreams in sight!
-EB
What she ^ said.. I'm to busy daydreaming about my next big adventure to think about writing a blog post right now.
-EV
Tuesday, 29 March 2016
Tuesday, 15 March 2016
A Short Rest
After being gone from the Hobbit Hole since early Saturday morning I am SO happy to be home. I never seem to realize how exhausted I am and how much I miss home until it is time to get in the car and drive home after being gone.
Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE visiting friends and family and that's what I did this weekend; but there is not quite another feeling like coming come, putting on comfy clothes, and relaxing. Growing up my family always did weekend trips to visit relatives and it was always great. You travel a few hours, visit with everyone, non-stop socializing and then head home. Always the same feeling of readiness to be home again on the drive home. Not much has changed in that regard as I grow older, and I don't think it ever will. (not that I want it too)
I have moved a lot, more times than I care to admit, but no matter where I call "home" it's always such a wonderful feeling to open the door and know that this is your place. Oh, can't forget the feeling of crawling into your own bed after sleeping on couches for more than a night or two in a row!
I love traveling and I plan on doing A LOT more of it in my life.. but one of the great things about leaving/traveling is getting to go home after. Always wonderful to have a short rest at home (whether a few hours or a few days) before heading out on the next adventure!
- EV
EB is taking a short rest from reality this evening. She is currently very enthralled with her video game. (Driver2 the old PS1 game) She will return to reality for next weeks post.
Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE visiting friends and family and that's what I did this weekend; but there is not quite another feeling like coming come, putting on comfy clothes, and relaxing. Growing up my family always did weekend trips to visit relatives and it was always great. You travel a few hours, visit with everyone, non-stop socializing and then head home. Always the same feeling of readiness to be home again on the drive home. Not much has changed in that regard as I grow older, and I don't think it ever will. (not that I want it too)
I have moved a lot, more times than I care to admit, but no matter where I call "home" it's always such a wonderful feeling to open the door and know that this is your place. Oh, can't forget the feeling of crawling into your own bed after sleeping on couches for more than a night or two in a row!
I love traveling and I plan on doing A LOT more of it in my life.. but one of the great things about leaving/traveling is getting to go home after. Always wonderful to have a short rest at home (whether a few hours or a few days) before heading out on the next adventure!
- EV
EB is taking a short rest from reality this evening. She is currently very enthralled with her video game. (Driver2 the old PS1 game) She will return to reality for next weeks post.
Monday, 7 March 2016
Roast Mutton
Skills and talents rarely reveal themselves in times of ease. It seems like nowadays everything is easy for the young. My parents constantly tell me how my mom learned to cook for the family and clean the house by the time she was much younger than me. My dad was on the jobsite raising houses from the time he was 14 and learned that there was nothing more important to an employer than work ethic. My Grandpa tells stories from Friesland about how he had to help out around his family's farm from a very young age to help get them through the war.
Every decade it seems life gets easier for kids, I spent my young years playing around the property, not managing its upkeep; my early teens playing house, not building them. kids these days can probably design them on their ipads and never take a step towards dad's scrap lumber pile.
Now when I moved out, despite having lived away from home in college for 4 years, I didn't have all that much faith in myself as a chef. I had never been truly tried and tested the way my parents and grandparents had, it was never vital that I learn the skill...until now. So when it came time to feed myself and my fellow Hobbit, I stuck to the few and easy recipes I already knew. And then I started experimenting. Slow cooked teriyaki chicken, mashed potatoes with kale and cheese filled sausages, butterscotch marshmallow squares, and crescent roll casseroles. I may curse that I'm turning out 'just like my mother' but you know, deep down, I'm really pleased I have this talent. And I never would have discovered it had I not forced myself to just step out of my comfort zone and just TRIED. Now what should I try next?
-EB
I've always been pretty happy and confident in my baking and cooking skills. I can remember, from a very young age, always asking if I could help with whatever baking my mom was doing; and ALWAYS helping my dad make pizza on Saturday nights. Even when I was too little to even look over the counter a chair would be pulled up to stand on.
I love cooking and baking. Mostly baking. When Esther and I moved to The Hobbit Hole we both talked about how we didn't like cooking for ourselves but didn't mind it when we had others to cook for. I will be honest. I do not cook as often as I should/would like, but that is the sad thing about being away from home a few nights a week. Anyway. Esther took up the responsibility of cooking quite a bit. (No complaints here!) I clearly remember one Sunday afternoon at her family's household when I mentioned how amazing Esther's cooking is. Her mom, dad and older sister all stopped mid bite and just stared. "Esther cooks?!" her mom asked. I was shocked to hear that it wasn't a common occurrence in their household. Though I am sure happy that it is one in ours!
It will be interesting to see what new recipes Esther and I will come up with over the next who-knows-how-long of a time we will be living together. I feel like I would be more inclined to cook and bake if we had an oven that could actually fit a normal sized baking sheet. (silly apartment sized oven and tiny kitchen) O well. We have a roof over our heads and a (mostly) warm apartment (nothing that a blanket can't fix) so I can't complain about a small kitchen. Next place will be bigger, but for now, The Hobbit Hole will do just fine as it has for the last 6 months. . . WOAH! 6months living with this Hobbit already?!?!
-EV
Every decade it seems life gets easier for kids, I spent my young years playing around the property, not managing its upkeep; my early teens playing house, not building them. kids these days can probably design them on their ipads and never take a step towards dad's scrap lumber pile.
Now when I moved out, despite having lived away from home in college for 4 years, I didn't have all that much faith in myself as a chef. I had never been truly tried and tested the way my parents and grandparents had, it was never vital that I learn the skill...until now. So when it came time to feed myself and my fellow Hobbit, I stuck to the few and easy recipes I already knew. And then I started experimenting. Slow cooked teriyaki chicken, mashed potatoes with kale and cheese filled sausages, butterscotch marshmallow squares, and crescent roll casseroles. I may curse that I'm turning out 'just like my mother' but you know, deep down, I'm really pleased I have this talent. And I never would have discovered it had I not forced myself to just step out of my comfort zone and just TRIED. Now what should I try next?
-EB
I've always been pretty happy and confident in my baking and cooking skills. I can remember, from a very young age, always asking if I could help with whatever baking my mom was doing; and ALWAYS helping my dad make pizza on Saturday nights. Even when I was too little to even look over the counter a chair would be pulled up to stand on.
I love cooking and baking. Mostly baking. When Esther and I moved to The Hobbit Hole we both talked about how we didn't like cooking for ourselves but didn't mind it when we had others to cook for. I will be honest. I do not cook as often as I should/would like, but that is the sad thing about being away from home a few nights a week. Anyway. Esther took up the responsibility of cooking quite a bit. (No complaints here!) I clearly remember one Sunday afternoon at her family's household when I mentioned how amazing Esther's cooking is. Her mom, dad and older sister all stopped mid bite and just stared. "Esther cooks?!" her mom asked. I was shocked to hear that it wasn't a common occurrence in their household. Though I am sure happy that it is one in ours!
It will be interesting to see what new recipes Esther and I will come up with over the next who-knows-how-long of a time we will be living together. I feel like I would be more inclined to cook and bake if we had an oven that could actually fit a normal sized baking sheet. (silly apartment sized oven and tiny kitchen) O well. We have a roof over our heads and a (mostly) warm apartment (nothing that a blanket can't fix) so I can't complain about a small kitchen. Next place will be bigger, but for now, The Hobbit Hole will do just fine as it has for the last 6 months. . . WOAH! 6months living with this Hobbit already?!?!
-EV
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
An Unexpected Pairing
They say never pick your best friend to be your roommate. You
already know too much about them, what more could you learn other than
they never do laundry, hate doing dishes, and never take out the
garbage? They say it's sure to be a disappointment. So when it came time
for me to move out of my parents place, I knew I had to choose really
carefully who I was going to move in with, if anyone at all.
It
seemed at the same time I was thinking all this, God was smiling away
and thinking to himself, just you wait and see who I've got in mind! -EBY'know. This whole thing started out as a kind of joke. I was living in Ottawa and knew I was going to be moving to the Hamilton/London area. One day I was talking on Facebook with a few friends and jokingly said "hey Esther. Wanna move in together?" Never in a million years thinking that she would say "sure!" and then proceed to send me links to various apartments.
From there everything kind of just fell into place. Within a few weeks (literally) we had found an apartment, I had moved from Ottawa and Esther had packed up and moved out of her parents place. Little did I know then just how blessed I would be with such an awesome flatmate. Up until now I had not had the best experiences with flatmates..God must have been laughing when He was planning all this out; knowing how much fun we would be having. -EV
And that's how Double E's Hobbit Hole began, such an unexpected party with many more to follow.
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| Figures made here! |
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