A before and after.........

This is what the stairs looked like before I started staining and varnishing them.

This is what they look like after I have put one coat of MinWax English Chestnut stain and three coats of varnish on them.

That is not enough varnish coats; I will add a couple more coats when we get the banister and spindles installed. We have to save up for those. We will be putting cardboard on the stairs to protect them while we are working on the attic.

Took a photo of Molly the other night. She is continuing to be a joy. We had friends over on Saturday and they kept commenting on how well behaved she is.

Busy day on Saturday, doing nothing!!!

Well not exactly nothing, but not getting anything much done around the house.

We headed to Creemore first thing as we had to pay a deposit for the stairs. They have a Farmers Market and we popped by, but I have to say I was surprised at the prices, they were pretty expensive. I know the produce was organic, but paying $5 for a bunch of organic carrots was a little high if you ask me. I did pay $4.50 for a loaf of garlic, chive and cheese bread, and yes it was yummy.

There was a British lady selling home baked goodies, including scones with strawberry jam and cream at $2 per scone??? As dh said to me, you should do that and I agree. I had a home based baking business in England, and I love baking, so I may look into this.

I called in at the Curiosity House Books & Gallery to purchase the September book club book, "The Secret Scripture," by Sebastian Barry It looks like an interesting read.

I am still plowing through "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver. It's not a lighthearted read and you do need to be concentrating on the book as you read it. I have just read the chapter where she talks about Genetic Modification of the seeds, and how 6 companies control 98% of all the world's seeds, and how important heirloom seeds are. Which actually makes sense, as nothing tastes better than local homegrown fruits and vegetables, and the flavour of an heirloom variety of a fruit or vegetable has a completely different taste to a mass produced fruit or veggie.

We came home and had lunch at home, then popped into one of the towns to go to Home Hardware, dh's home away from home!! Plus I had to go to No Frills to pick up a few groceries. When we got home and I had unpacked the shopping, we then went to the other town. This time I wanted to go to Canadian Tire to get a canning pan and jelly bags, as I want to try and make Blackcurrant Jelly. I need to do something with these blackcurrants, as its a waste to just leave them on the bush.

When we got back from there, friends popped by to pick some raspberries and have a visit. They brought a coffee cake with them which was nice and we had a catch up. Infact the dh is going to help us with the stairs, which will be a great help. Me and the dw picked some raspberries for her. I really enjoy their company, and they are a pleasure to be with.

So all in all we had a lovely day, and dh rested his shoulder, but we didn't achieve a lot around the house. I do know Sunday will be completely different as we have a lot planned for the day!!