Book available here.

The blog may be over but you can still check out All Citizens' photos on flickr, follow us on twitter or become a fan on facebook.

It's a new year folks. This blog has slowed to a painful crawl. I'm going to make this the last post.

When I started this blog it was about the journey here; about two city dwellers navigating their way through a new space and finding a way to make it work. And here Tyler and I are, we own a home, we started a quirky business, Tyler built a teeny tiny A-frame and we were able to do so coming here with NOTHING. No savings, no down payments...it's pretty magical really. Will we stay? Who knows. It certainly hasn't been easy, but it has been rewarding.

No regrets.

Our newest ad in the Bruno newsletter got accidentally cropped so that it reads "hop locally this holiday season" instead of "shop locally"!

READ FROM THE VERY BEGINNING < click link & scroll down

The other night someone tried to break into the new a-frame shed that Tyler built us. There's paint missing where they tried to kick it in, the door jamb is a mess.

Highly disappointing.

We attended the Thanksgiving Cabaret at the Bruno Community Hall last night. It was sponsored by the Bruno Axemen with live music provided by The Barley Boys.

No, we didn't dance.

I did a live interview about All Citizens today on CBC radio's Blue Sky. The "live" part of the equation made me very nervous but I seem to have survived and am thankful for their support.

Found in All Citizens.

In my mailbox.

Under normal conditions I would have written a long post last week about the Bruno Cherry Festival. Tyler and I decided this year to participate as vendors and move our espresso machine on site. We thought there would be busy moments but didn't expect non stop customers. We were wrong. Around 2000 people attended. We weren't used to being busy so we weren't physically or mentally prepared! There was no time to actually take in the festival, save for stuffing myself with cherry pie as fast as I could, and not a single photo was taken. I am instead posting a photo from last year. Luckily we were able to listen to author Yann Martel's talk which kicked off the festival on Friday night (we were vendors Saturday and Sunday). Tyler even played music while everyone enjoyed cherry cheesecake afterwards. We look forward to next year!

I restitched this panorama of Main Street, Bruno, using a newer photo of our shop with our new bigger & better sign. Click to view it larger.

I have a new favourite restaurant! Sadly it's located over an hour's drive away but my goodness is it ever good. Jennifer Willems opened New Ground Café in Birch Hills just over a year and a half ago (if I remember correctly). She moved into a new space on Bellamy Ave. this past May and it is beautiful! Jennifer makes just about everything with foods she buys locally and her menu changes daily according to what's available and inspiring. The small town of Birch Hills is located just south east of Prince Albert. It's well worth a detour if you're even remotely in the vicinity. Be sure to call first and make a reservation: 306-749-2529.

When we were there for dinner on Monday night these were the options:

1."bison meatloaf on golden flax bannock with warm roasted beet salad and feta"

2."roasted beet and fennel pizza with baby romaine and sour cherry hemp oil vinaigrette"

3."home, home on the free range chicken dinner"

I had the pizza, delicious! Tyler and my mother (who was visiting from Edmonton) tried the bison and both quite enjoyed it. Jennifer's bannock is truly great. I wish I had thought to take photos of the food. For dessert there was spice cake and cheesecake and organic fair trade coffee. What more can I say, it was an all around positive experience and I'm very glad to have discovered it.

Tyler's building us an A-frame storage shed.

Thank you CBC Radio 3.

The Prairie Ursuline Centre was recently sold. The former tenants have now moved out and the art gallery is no more. We will greatly miss Sister Maureen and her trusty dog Sparky. They brought a great deal to Bruno.

I witnessed an amazing thing yesterday. I have no photos to show for it since, while I had remembered to bring my camera, I had forgotten to put a memory card inside. Some things are better left to the imagination...

Tyler and I were driving on a side street in Humboldt when we came upon an elderly man in the middle of the road. He was wearing a white bicycle helmet. He had a small broom in his hand. On the ground were two baby birds. With a gentle sweeping motion he was using his broom to encourage the birds to move off the road into the grass. The birds were clearly hesitant, one wasn't moving at all. He didn't appear to be touching them but was instead slowly and deliberately sweeping the air beside them. We drove around.

I wonder if he always travels with a broom.

I've been meaning to write a post about the village of Meacham for ages now. According to the 2006 census Meacham has a population of 70 people. It's located approx. 60 km east of Saskatoon. It is home to a professional theatre as well as an art gallery / craft shop. Did you get that? There are only 70 residents and yet it sustains a thriving arts community. They have regular auctions too and they are AWESOME. It blows my mind. The Hand Wave Gallery was created by June Jacobs in 1982 and was relocated to Meacham in 1986. It represents and sells the works of 75 Saskatchewan artists. Dancing Sky Theatre was created in 1993 by Angus and Louisa Ferguson. Since its inception it has produced a successful series of dinner and theatre events. Their performances have not only entertained audiences in their own space "Harvest Hall" (which seats 100 and was completely packed both times we went) but productions have also toured around the province, including shows mounted at The Globe Theatre in Regina. They even have solar panels that power their amps and mics! Their most recent production was The Red Truck written by James O'Shea. There was a real truck on stage! It was thoroughly entertaining and made for a fantastic evening out in rural Saskatchewan (one that could easily rival the offerings in a large city).