The question I get the most

I‘ve been asked more than once about what mainland luxuries I find myself missing.

It takes some serious contemplation to construct even a small list. The number one spot would definitely go to my housekeeper though. In a distant second place, it would be my glasses, which I lost when we were last in Durham (does that even count?). I don’t really miss takeout, we have lots of simple meals if we’re not feeling particularly ambitious. There are chicken burgers and fries in the freezer (which was supper last night after an eventful week trying our hand at everything from homemade egg rolls and chocolate chip muffins to ham and bean soup and lactose free potato scallop), or there is soup in the cupboard. We’ve had to come up with a few creative substitutions for new meals we have tried, but generally we have a very well stocked pantry and we are only limited by our amateur skill level in the kitchen.

I also miss my hair stylist. I was the first customer of “Boudreau’s Beauty” this week, but I don’t think I’m prepared to let Rob venture into esthetics.

I hope it goes without saying that I wouldn’t turn down a hug from my grandmother. I do talk to my mother daily and we expect a visit from her very soon. I do try to stay in touch with other friends and family, but admittedly I’m less than stellar at this when I’m on the mainland and COVID that would be somewhat limiting those connections anyway. There’s always facetime and I’ve even sat down and penned letters to my nephew, chosen niece, and an old family friend.

Amazon helps ensure we want for very little and there’s always the odd care package from the mainland of goodies that Sobeys doesn’t stock.

Ever the overthinker, much of our success to date is thanks to diligent planning, but it is also the result of living here full-time for four months last year, and since June this year. We’ve had lots of time to accumulate the items we found ourselves missing. When we were required on the mainland for a couple nights last summer, we quickly realized the main thing we both missed about Durham were our electric toothbrushes, which were quickly deemed worthy of adding to the demands on our solar system. We were also already in the habit of not being able to run to the corner store every day, this is just a much larger gap between trips.

This winter hasn’t been without lessons. I only recently discovered you can be shaving cream in a plastic container as opposed to an aerosol, and taking a plastic bottle down to the recycling depot at the wharf is a lot more convenient than disposing of an aerosol. Obviously, if shaving cream is worthy a mention, there have been few earthshattering surprises to date.

Ultimately, this is home, in two years it has gone from a 520 square foot shell to a cozy, but comfortable house. I may be hard pressed to compile a list of items I currently find myself missing, but it is very easy to construct a lengthy list of what I will miss about this winter. I bet you'll get to find out about that soon too 😉