Ok Ok I know I've been remis...

But here is THE SCOOP! As they say out here... The Antiques Boutique will open on 1st May - in downtown Baddeck! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Hence the silence on the blog - its manic here at the mo. So briefly here are the details.

It's in an old nunnery (in fact a very nice lady owns the building now - well its an old front room see pic - its bottom right)- 260sq ft, with its own entrance at the side. But its on the main street - next to the Library, opposite a bank, the mall with coffee shop, various eateries, the Alexander Graham Bell museum, the Yacht Club & the Marina & Post Office. Neat hey...?! I'm desperately looking for antique shelving/display cabinets etc - found out that they call them 'Showcases' which makes sense - but gets a bit frustrating looking for stuff that are called summat different...

Ian's made an ace sandwich advertising board & I'm in the process of painting it (very laborious as I've had to scalpel out the text for the sinage! DOH then the spray paint went underneath the paper - argh!) Ian's made a frame for my jewellery - will photo that when its done...I'm working out 'processes' (I can hear the BUPA guys sighing from here!!!) Well I need to work out what payments to take - Visa/Mastercard/Debit/Amex...do I take US$ as well as Canadian$ (with my number dylexia - it is a dilema!!!) Insurance, Bank fees, taxes etc etc. However - when having a mooch around a 'junk' shop the other day - his prices were astronomical - for junk - stuff we would normally see at a UK boot sale - so I'm fairly optimistic that we can source our goods from the UK & turn a profit. I have 'Sir Lancelot' my repro suit of armour that I'll put on the pavement to attract the tourists in & I have my software to print of coats of arms onto parchment or canvas paper - that I can't find out here!! So good old ebay came to the rescue again - I just love that website! & I will be able to import the canvas photo paper no probs... I will also be able to advertise my Ceramic Restoration Services, Ians bushcrafts: long bows, snow shoes, moccasins etc. These are some he made over the winter.

When I get time - I'll do the website http://www.antiques-boutique.com/ so look out for that. The business cards have been ordered - gorgeous! & a brochure is imminent...

We are also having our lovely antique wood stove installed at last... so the house is a mess...

We have 8 egg laying golden comet chicks on order - coming June - so his Lordship is making a magnificent Amish Chicken Coop like this one - photos to follow... He is getting a John Deere tractor tomorrow - its green & big... OK! Photos to follow too...

Then we should be getting 16 fruit trees: apples, pears, peaches, cherries & plums - all different varieties, plus 12 fruit bushes: blackberries, cranberries, blueberries & potato seedlings & onion sets & a humongous amount of veg seed needs to go in after the last frost - which is end May/mid June. I already have 72 leeks pushing up through the soil trays in the back room! Oh - & I have 6 old roses, hollyhocks, & loads of paeonies to plant when the weather warms up... I've built a dry stone wall - at the weekend & got hot & sweaty - then we had torrential rain & a snow storm! MAD!

We've got a very cheeky raccoon that is stealing the bird seed at night - it looks like a big fat cat & they can climb trees - so I shine the torch out over the bird seed area before letting the dogs out. Sometimes we see his eyes shining back at us - weird.

Had a moose at the back of the house the other evening & a mass of colourful birds come to the feeders daily - including a big F.O. American robin - they are huge - there were about 50 of the blighters on the lawn the other day - but the bird song is brilliant - love it...

Bob n Erik are fine - just loving it. But Bob is disappointed that the lovely snow is almost gone - he mooches round to try to find a tiny pile of snow big enough to have a last roll over in - sweet boy! Now its getting a bit warmer they have re-discovered the stream - then the mud...

Well tis all for now - promise to post some photos as things move on...