Quilts Seam Just Right

Writing as an evolution

2012-02-13T11:31:00.000-06:00

Although I haven't been posting lately I have been writing. I am a longhand writer and prefer to use hard-copy over computer. Call me old fashioned but I love the tactile qualities of writing longhand - the sound of the pen or pencil moving over the paper, the feeling of satisfaction that comes with the completing a page and turning it to a new fresh sheet of paper.

I have several stories on the go right now. One is turning out to be a sort of post-apocalypse and the other a kind of creepy/funny I'm not sure what at this point (40 pages in and still don't know for sure!!grr) - they just keep writing themselves and I feel like I am just the conduit for them. Strange that these two are like that. I normally write with a direction. I decided I would just let them evolve the way they want to go and see what happens or becomes of them. This is a completely new way of writing for me.

When I was little, I used to tell stories about anything I could think up. I would sit and tell my dolls or whoever was around. Later, when I was a teenager and had to babysit or entertain the younger cousins(not super young), I would make up stories that would scare the crap out of the poor kids. Kept them in line - as an adult I realize that they were probably too frightened to do anything. (A little part of me feels a bit guilty about it.) They have reminded me occasionally that I still had to finish this story or that one because they wanted to know how it ended. Who would have thought that they would even remember I made up stories for them?

I think what really got me actually writing was my high school teacher Mrs. Myra Hiebert. Her and I had our moments, as I was a reluctant student. (I realize now, as an adult, that I was bored and the work was no challenge for me.) She was a very bright and witty teacher. I am sure I gave her more than a moments pause but she persevered with me throughout high school. I eventually graduated and went on to fully immerse myself in English courses at university and I knew I had found my niche. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I discovered the variety of courses offered at the university. Coming from a small northern town, I didn't know that all this existed. I was blessed with such professors as David Arnason, Dennis Cooley and many more who were not only teachers but talented writers as well. My biggest regret was graduating, it all coming to an "end" and having to move back home to "help out".

So, I write to amuse myself and sometimes share.

I miss winter!

2012-02-13T10:50:00.000-06:00

Perennials are going to be lost for sure!

Today, I decided I missed winter. Yes, I live in the middle of the prairies and traditionally we have lots of snow and good cold temperatures. This year we have so little snow and it was so warm that it could hardly be called winter. It would be an insult to the word.

Almost no snow! Sigh.

I love winter. I love it when it is so cold that it feels like you get pinched inside your nose when you inhale too deeply. I love it when the snow crunches under your feet as you walk outside. I love how the snow sparkles like fairy crystals in the bright sunshine that pretty much always accompanies a cold snap. I love that when it is -18 or -20 C the temperature is just about perfect because it means no slush or icy roads and my van stays nice and clean. I hate slush - it completely grosses me out. I love how the air is so perfectly clear and seems to hold the sunlight even more than other days.

What do you like about winter?

Writer's Block

2011-12-11T23:28:00.001-06:00

I usually have the written version of verbal diarrhea and have to pull myself back and rewrite everything, cutting words with abandon. Writing has always come easily to me. Lately though, I seem to have lost my flow and jump from subject to subject. Not like me at all. I feel so lost without lots of writing. My latest scribbler is looking a bit pathetic because all I've written has been about thirty pages or so. Even my reading has taken the back seat lately. I try to keep track of what I've read and since the beginning of September I've read less than two dozen books. That has got to be the all-time lowest number of books read record for me. I normally read about two or three books a week. I'm stuck!! It is scaring the hell out of me! Is it the weather? All that brown out there can't be good. (I hate brown - it just depresses me even thinking about it.) Maybe it is the lack of snow?

It would be different if I was productive in other areas but I'm not. I am just at a standstill. I have barely done any Christmas preparations. Except today. Today I baked two large bread wreaths, two medium fruit loaves, two small fruit loaves (all but one to give away), six dozen whipped shortbread, four dozen phyllo triangles (made and frozen), a loaf of plain bread, two pork tenderloins, with all the trimmings - potatoes, vegs and more vegs. (I was pretty pleased with myself, I'll tell you!) Hubby and I brought up all the Christmas stuff and I put on all the lights. Two stings decided they should quit working after I put them on the tree, this despite checking them first. sigh.

Is anyone else hitting this type of malaise this fall? Is it just me? Perhaps it is the weather? I think I said that already...sigh. I sure have been whiny this fall...Good thing the new year is getting close....

Sick of being Sick!!

2011-11-22T21:56:00.000-06:00

I have been home from work the past couple days with a respiratory flu. I think I picked it up from the personal care home where my Mom lives. Bit of a bummer. I have been flat out in bed since Friday and am not too pleased with about it. I know when I am really sick because I don't even want to cook! And I love cooking! Talk about being wiped out!

I don't remember getting sick very often when I was young and if I did, it only lasted about three days and was gone. Now it seems to hang around for weeks and torment me. I also have been noticing that I am not the only one whose colds/flu hang around a lot longer. Are any of you noticing this as well?

I have decided that I am never going to be sick again this year. Now, if only my body will co-operate I will be off to the races...

So that is my "poor, poor pitiful me" rant, it feels better just to have gotten my complaint out there. Sorry I am unloading on all of you - I promise my next post will be very positive, or more positive at least.

Second Annual Family Pumpkin Carving!

2011-10-27T22:03:00.002-05:00

I just lugged home three more large pumpkins for our second family pumpkin carving day! Man were they heavy. They were on sale for nineteen cents a pound - a good deal that inspired me to buy ones that were quite large! They cost about four dollars and weigh about twenty pounds each. Good carving material! It was a ton of fun last year and a good excuse to get everyone together. (I'll post the pictures later from this year's carvings.)

Here are some pictures from last year's competition:

These speak for themselves!

The dog thought pumpkin was a new food group for her!

Some of the guys decided that logos were the way to go!

Others were somewhat more traditional.


And she even dressed up for the occasion!

I am back, again!

2011-10-27T11:45:00.001-05:00

My computer is finally working again! For how long, who knows? I know I am due for a new one but I seem to have a rather odd sense of loyalty to this old one. I think it is about ten years old (or maybe just eight) and it surely doesn't owe me anything. I just keep hope it keeps ticking for a bit longer...at least until I get my kitchen redone and can afford to get another one.

Speaking about kitchens, I am finally biting the bullet and getting my kitchen done. Or rather, trying to get a company to agree to do my kitchen. I am currently striking out. I went to one of the local custom kitchen places to get a quote last week to do the kitchen. I want a good working kitchen but it doesn't need to be fancy, just nice. I spoke to the interior designer and she seemed quite knowledgeable. I went back the next week and brought in my kitchen measurements. She wasn't there but two other people were. The new lady went to great pains to ask me if I knew that they made custom kitchens. I said I did. Then she asked me if I knew what a custom kitchen was. I replied that I did. When I said I liked a light wood like birch they proceeded to show me laminate. I hate laminate. And yes, I was quite offended to be treated like a dummy. I don't think I will be going through them. Yeesh. Some people just can't come out of their towers.

My husband and I did go out and buy a fancy stove the other day. I was almost physically sick for spending so much money on it though. My husband thinks it is hilarious because I have such a hard time spending large sums of money. It is a beauty though, with a gas top and dual ovens - truly overwhelming in how modern it is... My current old stove is a second-hand one I picked up from a friend because my old stove (thirty-eight years old) died an honourable death a few years ago. My husband had rewired and then completely rewired it again. He replaced most of the burners a couple times but finally said enough was enough. I miss that old stove - it held six loaves of bread in one shot and the temperature was nice and even throughout. sigh. Here's hoping the new one will hold at least three loaves. Stomach is still churning...

I am having that love/hate relationship with my computer again!

2011-09-09T18:37:00.000-05:00

My computer has possibly died permanently and my computer fellow has been gone out of country for a bit. I hope that it hasn't died but am not going to hold my breath about it. My wonderful husband brought home his laptop from work so I could tinker a bit.
So - hello everyone! I have missed reading your blogs and keeping up with what is new in your writing, lives and quilting worlds. I hope that I can still be allowed the privilege of entering your world and that you will once again, share mine.

It is once again back to work for me. My summer has come to an end, although our temperatures are still in the 30 degree C's and everything continues to be green, the school year has started once again. Sigh. It has been wonderful seeing all the kids and staff from last year and catching up with them. It always amazes me how much kids change from grade nine to grade ten. Not only do they grow in height, etc but in maturity. Most come back much more sure of themselves and have a whole new perspective to offer the coming year.

Take care! I will be checking into your sites in the next week or so.

This picture says it all!

2011-07-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

My husband recently encountered this truck on his travels through one of our many small towns just north of here.
I thought it deserved recognition for it's wit/bathroom humour.

The picture definitely says it all!

I won! I won! I am so lucky!

2011-07-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

I am going to make this short but it is oh so sweet!

I just received an email from Linda at LEFTBRAINWRITE (http://linda-leftbrainwrite.blogspot.com/) informing me that I had won a copy of Meg Pokrass' book called DAMN SURE RIGHT which is published by Press 53!! (http://www.press53.com/bioMegPokrass.html) Not only that but it is going to be signed by Meg herself! I am absolutely thrilled! It truly made my day!

My lovely garden

2011-07-05T22:54:00.000-05:00

Cauliflower is so lovely!

Broccoli without chemicals!

I am blessed with a beautiful yard with an abundant garden and huge wrap-around flower beds. I am also very lucky that my husband also loves to garden and takes a pride in keeping our yard beautiful. We also don't use chemicals in our garden but rely on sustainable practices like composting to grow our vegetables.

My Japanese peonies are huge!

My roses are blooming like crazy, as are the peonies and sweet william. My mock orange bush in the front of the house (my header picture) is completely covered in fragrant white blossoms - it is truly the most bodacious I have ever seen it!

I love how these are so petite yet so lovely.

My garden is starting to take off now that we have some heat. It was such a cold wet spring that I thought for sure that my garden would not do well. It is starting to produce far more than I ever expected! I can hardly wait to start enjoying fresh produce from the garden. The only thing that isn't doing well are the beans - it was too cold for them to germinate so they are off to a late start (I think most rotted.) and are just starting to peak out of the ground. My cucumbers are also a bit challenged as we had a wild wind shortly after I planted them and it destroyed most of them. The rest is wonderful and flowering and just bursting with life!! I love gardens.

Isn't this rose exquisite?

Smile! I have tomatoes!!

2011-07-04T10:31:00.001-05:00

Tomatoes!! Yay!!

Guess what!!! After a long, cold, extremely wet spring, we have had heat for about a week now and I have tomatoes!! Not just tomato flowers but actual little tomatoes!

I had made some makeshift "mini-greenhouses" that I had put on top of my tomatoes to compensate for the lack of heat and to keep some of the moisture away from the plants. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did! I have not one, not two but five lovely little (just under 1") tomatoes on a couple plants. I didn't expect it because of all the cool weather and rain, neither of which tomatoes are particularly fond of. I wish I had taken pictures of these "mini-greenhouses" because they worked incredibly well and cost me only a couple cents for the string to tie them up. The greenhouses themselves were discarded fish stocking bags left-over from when my husband stocked various lakes in the region. Who would have thought that they would work so well?

I had a dream about eating a nice, warm toasted tomato sandwich with a bit of Hellman's, homemade bread and black krim tomatoes...mmm So good but still so far away...sigh

I swear I am cursed!

2011-06-17T22:34:00.001-05:00

Remember in my last post when I said that I swore I was cursed? I am. I really think that I have an invisible bull's eye attached to me somehow. Why might you ask?

My hubby and I went shopping for a new fridge because we are hoping to redo the kitchen very soon (the current one is about twenty-eight years old and was a wedding present from both sets of parents- still works great though). We checked out a couple places near us and then headed up to the north hill to Dufresne's Furniture. I went to park between a couple cars but hubby said to park at the end because there was no-one there. So, I did and I agreed it was a much better spot. The bonus was that it was even closer to the door, which, most of time is a good thing - right? Except this time!

We were in there for about fifteen minutes when we could hear someone calling out on the main floor. We walked out of the appliance area and they were asking if anyone owned a gold van. I sort of had this sinking feeling and asked if it was possibly a grey van? As I hoofed it outside I realized, that indeed it was my van that they were referring to!

McMunn and Yates Building Center had been delivering some building materials to the furniture store through the front of the store because Dufresne had had a great deal of water damage from a broken hot water heater - or pipe of some sort that filled the place overnight with water. When the young fellow that was driving went to swing back out my van was unfortunately directly in his path and blind spot. He was so upset I honestly thought he was going to cry. It was an unfortunate accident and he apologised at least three times when telling us. Poor kid. Even my husband felt bad for him. We were impressed that they were honest enough to come and seek us out rather that doing a hit-and-run scenario. He will probably lose his licence because of how the legislation works here for newer drivers.

My taped up light and some of the damage.

I now have a basketball-sized dent in my back hatch, all my right back lights broken (didn't we do a nice tape job on the lights?), a smashed in bumper and the adjacent quarter panel needing repairs. The catch is that my van is old - 1996 - but is almost like new in appearance with very little mileage on it. Unfortunately, MPI only really looks at the year and my van is no longer worth much. Their initial estimate of repairs is $2500 - borderline with its value. So, I wait with bated breath whether or not I have a write-off or if they will repair my van. As my hubby said - the van is worth $30,000 to us regardless of the book value.

It all took the wind out of my sails and I still haven't had the heart to go back out to look for a new fridge. I guess it will have to wait until I am done dealing with the van. sigh.

I hate computers!!!! And the internet!! (Only sometimes)

2011-06-01T23:49:00.000-05:00

I finally get my computer fixed and then the internet has been down or wonky for the past while. Not only that but I filled up the memory card on my camera and I can't seem to access my pictures. I swear I am cursed! I haven't been able to access google or my gmail for what feels like ages. So, here I am again...I am still recovering from going through withdrawal from all of you wonderful bloggers out there. I can't even access your blogs from the computers at the school because of all the filters and restrictions they have to keep in place to protect our innocent young minds at the school! lol (If you believe that, I have a great deal for you on something!!lol)

Did I tell you that I won a shared third place from Cathy at the Life on the Muskoka River with her door matching game? I have to very sheepishly admit that it was a very random matching on my part and pure fluke that I matched what I did. Despite this, she sent me the most fabulous prizes! I was overwhelmed by her generosity. I love the red mittens - I kept telling myself to go buy a pair for ages but never got around to it - now I don't have to! Then there is a great Canadian t-shirt, a Muskoka River mug, a cute keychain, a mushy music cd and I think the best thing of all - a small white bottle that had me perplexed (until I opened it) and then ecstatic - it was a bottle of soap bubbles that you can blow into the air. My cats and dog are terrified of the bubbles - who would have thought? I thought they would love chasing them as much as I love making them! Sigh. They just don't know a good thing when it floats past them... I will post a picture of my incredible prizes when I figure out my camera's dilemma.

Now that I have whined and cheered alternatively, I will be blogging more regularly once again. You're stuck with me folks! ;)

Hello out there!

2011-05-25T23:39:00.000-05:00

My computer is finally up and running!! Many thanks to our very good friend and computer guru, Terry!! He is a genius with a computer! I got an especially nasty virus that is striking a lot of computers - he said that he had done six others this week with exactly the same thing. It has been a long haul because it started before the end of the A to Z blogging and he removed it after about a week or so. Then another one or possibly the same one came back and crashed my computer and continued until he came over before the long weekend and took away my tower. He came back two days ago and got me all set up again. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Terry!!

I was surprised how much I missed all of you. I missed checking your blogs and finding out what was new, whether it was a new story or a new post on the goat kids. I think I went through withdrawal for at least a couple weeks, if not more. Did you miss me?

I am going to be doing a lot of reading - I have a good three weeks or more of all your posts to catch up on! Please bear with me until I can catch up - I will add comments and hellos along the way.

Good to be back!!

Water - Water Everywhere!!! Flooding in Southwestern Manitoba

2011-05-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

Our beautiful little city is now under a state of emergency. The Assiniboine River has spilled over its bank an unbelievable amount. They have evacuated about 2000 people from the north and south sides of the river as of 8 pm this evening. They are hoping for the best-case scenario but are more likely to see the worst-case scenario as the rain continues to fall and the watershed continues to feed into the river from all directions an rain is on the forecast for the rest of the week.

They just announced a couple hours ago that they are going to make some breaks in the dikes before the town of Headlingly, which is just west of Winnipeg and just under a couple hours east of here, to allow some of the excess water to be released before it hits Winnipeg because the floodways are already at capacity and the water has nowhere to go. They figure that about 150 homes will be lost...My heart goes out to all those families that will be impacted.

I admire all the city crews, volunteers and our mayor Shari Dector-Hirst for the courageous effort that they are putting forth to attempt to hold back a prodigious amount of water. They all deserve major kudos for their very hard-working efforts.


Look at the height of the water in relation to the vehicles.

The super bags that have been put in place are currently keeping the river back but they did have to close 1st Street because they couldn't keep up with their pumps despite all the bags. These bags each sit about four feet high and are double stacked and are now double and triple layered as well. The water levels are higher than the average vehicle on the other side of the dikes from the road. Kind of scary when you realize that the water is higher than your vehicle and has the strength to simply crush it or wash it away...

Check out the photo from ebrandon (from 3 days ago - water levels are higher since) at the right - especially the vehicles to the right and the water on the other side of the super bags...

There are some more photos of the river going through Brandon and the surrounding area and the efforts that have been put in place. Check out the photos on our local ebrandon site - especially the aerial ones on the second and third pages. If you click on the photos - they will enlarge. Keep in mind that the aerial photos were from May 6th and the river has risen and spread a great deal more since then.
http://www.ebrandon.ca/photos.aspx

I am not a religious person but hope that you will all send a heartfelt prayer or thought for all those affected by this flood. So many towns, Hutterite colonies, homes, farms, animals and wildlife are being impacted and they need all the help they can get.

Z is for Zucchini

2011-05-05T23:52:00.000-05:00

I am back -

I fully intended to finish my A to Z blogging and damn it I will despite having almost been without my computer for two weeks!!!! First it was an incredibly nasty virus - the one you know is really bad when your IT god says OMG! every few minutes and then again six hours later announces that he will come back tomorrow to finish it...then the next day...and finally Sunday night. Then I find out the internet is down because of the Assiniboine River flooding has damaged some fiber optic cables...now it is Thursday night and FINALLY it is back on line. It has been a long haul and after the first signs of withdrawal I didn't think I would make it but I have and I'm back!!

Did you miss me?

Anyway, I am going to keep this one simple. Zucchini is one of those wonderful, innocuous vegetables that you either love or hate. I really love it. I like it raw and chopped up into a salad or sliced lengthwise and on the grill.

Grilled Zucchini

Zucchini - any size but keep them all roughly the same size
Italian salad dressing
crushed garlic
grated ginger
wooden skewers

Cut zucchini into 3/4 inch thick rings and place in a non-metal bowl.

Pour some Italian salad dressing on top.

Add 1 or two cloves of crushed garlic, depending on how much zucchini you are preparing.

Add about 1 tsp grated ginger.

Mix and let sit overnight in fridge.

Thread onto skewers from skin to skin. You need to make sure you go through the skins or they will fall off the skewers.

Cook on barbeque or under a broiler until tender for about 10 - 15 minutes.

Shake some parmesan cheese lightly on top and serve.

Enjoy!

Y is for Yogurt Cheese

2011-04-28T23:24:00.000-05:00

Yogurt cheese is one of those things that if you haven't tried it, you should. People make yogurt cheese from plain yogurt 99% of the time. I have found that you can also make it from any of the flavoured yogurts as well. Try to choose a yogurt that doesn't have gelatin in it but if you can't it truly isn't the end of the world and I really haven't noticed much difference between the two.

If you have never heard of yogurt cheese - you will laugh when you discover how easy it is to make. Ridiculously easy, actually. This is truly my easiest recipe.

Yogurt Cheese

fresh yogurt
unbleached cotton - I use a clean tea towel.
that's it!

Drape the dampened tea towel over a colander and pour the yogurt into it.

Draw up the corners and tie together, allowing it to hang for 24 hours. I usually just suspend the colander over a deep bowl and set it into the fridge with a cover over it.

Four cups/one liter/one quart of yogurt should give you almost 2 cups of cheese.

How do you use it?

The same way as cream cheese - ie on bagels or mix with herbs for a cracker spread or mix a dollup into your mashed potatoes. Delicious!

The whey or liquid that drain from it can be saved and used in making bread or in a soup for extra nutrition.

Enjoy!

X is for "Xtra" Special Christmas Potatoes

2011-04-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

There is just no recipe that I have that starts with X - I was definitely stymied on this letter. So I have cheated and created a fake word to cover up my problem - call it creative license!

Christmas potatoes are only made on Christmas day mainly because they are so incredibly high in calories and terribly decadent. Your arteries will slam shut just reading this recipe! They are absolutely delicious though. I do make sure there are extras for the next day's leftover meal...

The picture is from firsttimecook.com as I didn't have one.

Xtra Special Christmas Potatoes

5 lbs of red potatoes
1 - 8 oz block of full fat cream cheese
4 large tbsp of butter

1/2 - 1 cup sour cream
1 tsp salt
water

Peel potatoes, cook until tender and mash.

Add cream cheese, sour cream and butter and continue to mash until nice and smooth but not sticky or gummy.

Serve with a dollup of butter and some chopped parsley to garnish the top.

No calories are absorbed as long as your feet touch the ground! lol

Enjoy!

W is for Waffles

2011-04-28T22:31:00.001-05:00

I thought of doing wine but waffles are just so darn good! I usually take and make a whack of them, cool them, and then freeze them in bread bags to put in the toaster for later on.

This is a basic recipe that you can add your own flavourings to. Flavourings like vanilla, almond extract, ground nuts, chocolate powder or whatever strikes your fancy.

Waffles

1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder (I use double action baking powder.)
1/2 tsp. sugar ( sometimes I leave it out)
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups milk
6 tsp melted butter or oil (I usually do half and half because I like the flavour of butter but not the saturated fat.)

Combine the flour with the other dry goods.

Mix egg yolks with milk and melted butter. I warm the milk just slightly so the butter doesn't harden back up.

Add to the dry mixture just until moistened - they will turn out tough if you mix them too much.

Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until you get peaks but not stiff peaks.

Let sit for about 5 minutes.

Heat up the waffle iron and grease lightly.

Add batter and cook until steam has stopped coming out the sides.

Gently lift the lid - if it sticks it might need a minute more or you to loosen it manually. It should be light golden brown.

For special occasions serve with whip cream and strawberries. Otherwise, serve with some syrup and fruit.

Enjoy!!

V is for Vinegar

2011-04-27T18:41:00.000-05:00

Making vinegar? That is probably one of the easiest but last things most people would ever think to make. And it truly is easy. I have been making vinegar for as long as I have been posting and I think I am probably a better vinegar maker than a blogger...lol

Seriously though, it really is incredibly easy to make vinegar. All you need is a some left-over wine (you wouldn't want to use a good bottle!!), some water, a bottle of Bragg's cider vinegar or a vinegar mother, a jar with a large opening and lots of time. Time for it to sit, it really doesn't demand more than a minuscule amount of time.

These vinegars are not high enough in acetic acid to use them for canning. It is best to stick with commercial vinegar for canning.

Bragg's cider vinegar

How to make Red or White wine vinegar:

leftover wine
water (optional)
Bragg's cider vinegar
or
a vinegar mother
a jar with a large opening
coffee filter
rubber band
warm cupboard

Make sure that the jar that you will be using is good and clean. The jar itself should have a wide mouth and be able to hold at least a three or four cups of liquid. A canning jar is great or, if you are planning a larger amount, a one gallon pickle jar would work as well.

You want to make sure there is a lot of head space or air above the vinegar because it needs it to aid in the conversion of the alcohol to vinegar, so don't fill your jar more than half full. If you notice that it is getting pretty full and the vinegar is ready, filter it and start over.

White wine vinegar starting

There are three/four ways to make vinegar. The first is just to take a wine bottle about half full and cover the top with a couple of layers of cheesecloth or a coffee filter (basket style) that is held down with a rubber band to prevent flies from spoiling your batch. Put this in the back of a warm cupboard and leave it for about six months. At this time, remove from cupboard and give the wine a sniff. It will either smell like vinegar and have developed a vinegar mother or smell like paint remover. If it is vinegar, strain it into a clean bottle reserving the mother to help create a new batch. If it smells like paint remover, recover it and put it back into the cupboard for another month.

The second way to make some vinegar is to take some Bragg's cider vinegar and put about one cup of it into the canning jar along with about two cups of wine. Some people add water when they add their wine but I don't, it is up to you. If you decide to the proportion of wine to water is two to one or for one cup of wine add one half cup water. I always figure that you can add water later if you find it too strong. When you purchase the Bragg's, look for what looks like residue or dust on the bottom, the more the better. This "dust" is the vinegar mother and is what will jump start your vinegar. Again, cover it with some cheesecloth or a coffee filter and let sit in a cupboard for a couple weeks. Add about a half cup of red or white wine occasionally - preferably about once a week after the initial period. By adding the wine occasionally you will be feeding the mother. Sometimes the mother will fall to the bottom and another will form on top. You want her on the top to be effective. When you decide the vinegar is to your liking - taste it to find out - strain and bottle it.

The third way to make vinegar is to acquire a vinegar mother from a wine store or another individual and add it to some wine. Let sit and proceed in the same manner as for the first and second ways. I don't have a picture of a mother (I lost/misplaced some pictures when my computer took a vacation.) but it can have the appearance of anything from a wispy veil to a solid raw meat type of look and feel. If you google vinegar mother in images there are tons of pictures of various types of mothers.

Pineapple vinegar from fruit

The fourth way is to make it straight from the fruit but I won't go into that right now.

Something to note: The vinegar mother should be fed occasionally to keep her viable. If she falls to the bottom, it means two things - she has run out of wine to make vinegar and has lost her potency. It is best to remove the old mothers occasionally.

Also - red wine will create vinegar far quicker than white wine but they both will take a few months. Cider vinegar is the quickest to make. After straining your vinegar, you can pasteurize it by bringing it about 150F for 30 minutes. I personally don't pasteurize mine because I believe that it is more natural and better for you if you don't but it is a personal choice. I do, however, keep mine in the fridge after I filter it to slow down the eventual development of a new mother.

You can dry out a mother for future use and I have heard of persons freezing them but I never have so don't know how well it works.

U is for Ukrainian Honey Cake (Medivnyk)

2011-04-27T00:37:00.000-05:00

When I was really little, I lived in a predominantly Ukrainian/Polish neighbourhood. We all went back and forth to each others homes and ate wherever we landed. We shared holidays and toys and just really had a great neighbourhood for being a child in. Disaster struck when I was about nine years old and I found out I was Irish, not Ukrainian - I was quite flabbergasted by this realization. I remember saying to my mom that we celebrated all the same holidays and stuff - what do you mean we're not Ukrainian? I was quite appalled by this turn of events in my life. lol

I have since recovered from this terrible shock but still love a lot of the traditional Ukrainian foods. Among them was this cake. I haven't made it in years but thought I would share the recipe anyway. You should use buckwheat honey but a nice clover honey is just as good.

Ukrainian Honey Cake

1 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs, separated
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder (I use double action baking powder.)
1 tsp cinnamon or ginger (I sometimes use half and half of each.)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream (yogurt works in a pinch and is lighter on the fat)
1/2 or so cup nuts
1/2 or so cup raisins (I soak mine so the cake doesn't dry out.)

Boil honey and cool.

Cream butter and sugar adding in egg yolks one at a time along with the honey.

Combine dry ingredients and add in three batches to the creamed butter/sugar mixture.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter along with the nuts and raisins.

Grease a 10 inch Bundt pan.

Bake at 325F for about an hour. Test with toothpick.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack.

You can dust this cake with a bit of icing sugar - it is quite sweet so an icing would just make it overpowering.

T is for Tea biscuits

2011-04-26T21:58:00.000-05:00

Tea biscuits are one of those very easy and versatile quick breads. I use them for a variety of things - just to eat for breakfast, as a topping for a "chicken pot pie" that I make and as an accompaniment or topping for a pot of chili.

I have tried tons of different recipes for tea biscuits but I always go back to the one that was published in the first cookbook that Canadian Living Magazine put out. It is so light and just so good that any other recipe seems heavy in comparison.

Without further ado here is my version of their tea biscuit recipe:

Tea biscuits

2 cups of all-purpose flour
4tsp. baking powder (I use double action baking powder.)
1 tsp. salt (I cut this down to about 1/4 tsp. when I use butter.)
1/2 shortening (I use real butter because it adds so much to the taste!)
3/4 - 1 cup of milk or somewhere in between

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Using a pastry blender or a couple knives, cut in the butter making sure that you don't overdo it. It should look like really coarse oatmeal when you are done.

Add milk all at once, stirring with a fork to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. I tend to add closer to the 1 cup amount rather than the 3/4 cup because I find it makes it lighter.

Add a little bit of flour on top and roll it in it so it is not so sticky - about a couple tablespoons - then gently knead your dough about 10 times. Gently is truly important here - we don't want hockey pucks!

Gently (again - sigh) roll out flat with a rolling pin to about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thickness.

They suggest cutting it with a biscuit cutter but I use a sharp smooth-edged knife and just do wedges that are roughly all the same shape so I am not having to rework the dough.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 425F for about 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Remove from oven, slather with butter and raspberry jam. They will be a good 1 1/2 - 2 inches high when they are done and extremely light!

To use these on top of a chicken pot pie, I do everything exactly the same except I top a casserole of hot chicken stew with these biscuits and bake until browned.

Another variation is to use hot chili instead.

You can also brush them with milk and sprinkle with sugar for a sweeter touch.

Enjoy!

S is for Salad Dressing

2011-04-25T11:02:00.001-05:00

I'm back!! Did you miss me? My computer got a Trojan and it was a bad one that basically took over or "highjacked" all of my computer. I am just so pleased to be able to come back and post again. I had done my "r" already so just had to post it.

For "s" I am going to do salad dressing. A wonderful salad can be ruined so easily with a crappy salad dressing. Commercial dressings tend to be too sweet/salty or acidic to be pleasurable besides being so overloaded with chemicals that you wonder if there are any natural ingredients even in them. That is not to say that there are no good commercial products just that most of them are somewhat challenged in the natural ingredient department. I prefer to use products that I know what the ingredients actually are.

Salad Dressing

wine vinegar
olive oil
fresh garlic
salt
fresh ground pepper
dried basil
dijon mustard

In any container that has a lid, pour one part wine vinegar, two parts olive oil, about 1/4 -1/2 tsp salt (depending how much dressing you are making), fresh ground pepper - about 1/4 tsp., one tsp. basil, and finally the dijon mustard - about 1 tsp - 1 tbsp. Don''t leave out the mustard - it brings todgether the oil and vinegar and allows them to stay mixed together, besides adding great taste!

Crush a garlic clove and add to container.

Put the lid on securely and shake extremely well.

Pour over salad.

You can vary the type of vinegar - there are so many great ones out there! Try balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, or if you want to be more exotic, try some other specialty vinegars - they can add a great dimension to your dressing.

Enjoy!

R is for Ravioli

2011-04-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

My husband loves ravioli. He says that he doesn't have a pasta off switch - that's why he can eat so much pasta. Ravioli know no bounds for him. I haven't made ravioli in ages/years but after posting this I might make some this weekend. It just tastes so good.

Fresh Cheese Ravioli

Filling:
about 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 egg
1 tbsp flour

Combine everything but the egg.

Gently beat the egg and mix into the rest of the ingredients. It should stick together loosely when rolled into a ball. If it doesn't add a tiny bit more flour until it does.

Roll into balls and set aside.

Pasta dough-

flour
egg

To make pasta dough, you need to combine (100gr) or 1/3 cup all-purpose flour with 1 large egg in the food processor. It should resemble peas and come together when you gently press it together.

Let it rest about 15 minutes and then put it through you pasta machine, gradually making it thinner and thinner. If you don't have a pasta machine, roll out your dough until it very thin.

Cover so it doesn't dry out.

Place the balls along the edge that you plan to fold - space them about 1 1/2 - 2 inches apart. Wet the spaces lightly between the cheese and fold over, pressing down gently to seal. Try to remove as much air as possible.

Cut with knife or pizza cutter, cover and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the ravioli when it reaches a good rolling boil.

Boil for about 5 minutes.

Remove and serve. A nice pasta sauce can be added on top or it can just be buttered.

Enjoy!

Q is for Quesadilla

2011-04-20T23:55:00.000-05:00

This is one of the easiest "recipes" I will be giving you. This is one of our "fast food" recipes that we use at lunch. We only have about thirty-five minutes for lunch by the time we take into account our travel time from work. It is good and quick and simple.

Quesadilla

2 tortillas
grated cheddar cheese
olive oil
leftover chicken or some back bacon cooked in microwave (optional)

Heat the frying pan over medium low heat. Put a very small amount of olive oil in and swish around.

Place one tortilla on into the pan and top with grated cheddar - keep at least 1/2 inch away from edge.

Warm the chicken or bacon that has been cut into slivers in the microwave and add on top of cheddar.

Top with second tortilla. Heat until slightly browned and the cheese starts melting. Carefully flip over and brown the other side.

Cut into 8 wedges and serve on a plate with a bowl of salsa.

Enjoy!!

P is for Plum Cake

2011-04-19T12:54:00.001-05:00

This recipe was given to me by my lovely mother-in-law, Irma. She always made such beautiful desserts when we would go out to visit them on their farm. Irma would make three completely different cakes, pies or whatever for dessert. This was one of our favourites.

She had originally given me the recipe using German measurements and also gave me a German measuring cup for a present to go with it. I converted the recipe to Imperial measurements for my own purposes but will include her measurements as well.

You will have to track down some Oetker baking powder because the stuff we use in Canada is different. With this baking powder, you start with a cold oven when you bake the cake. (think of the electricity you'll save by not preheating the oven!) I believe Oetker also puts out vanilla sugar as well. (If you can't find it, split a vanilla bean lengthwise and cover with sugar - unfortunately, you will have to let it sit for about 2 weeks to a month before the sugar will have lots of flavour. Try to remember to shake it once in a while.)

This is a lovely, dense textured cake that looks as good as it tastes!

Plum Cake

1/2 cup (100 gr.) butter
1/2 cup (100gr.) sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla sugar
2 large eggs
4 drops lemon extract
1 1/4 cups (150 gr.) cornstarch
1 level tsp baking powder
6 tbsp. milk
500 gr. small purple/violet plums cut in quarters (you can also use apples, cherries, rhubarb or cranberries - I've tried all but the cherries and they were all delicious)

Cream butter. Add sugar, vanilla sugar , eggs and extract.
Mix very well - should be creamy.

Combine dry ingredients.

Slowly add to wet mixture, alternating with milk - in three parts. The batter will be very thick.

Pour (scrape is more like it) into a greased and floured glass 9x13 pan. Decoratively top with the plums (skin side down) and sprinkle on the streudel topping.

Streudel Topping

1/3 cup (75 gr) butter
1/3 cup (75 gr) sugar
1/2 cup (100 gr) flour
1 tbsp vanilla sugar

Place cake in a cold oven. Turn oven on to 350F.

Bake for 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if it is done. If no crumbs adhere - it is done.

Before removing, broil the top until lightly browned. Watch carefully because it scorches easily.

Remove. Serve with whipped cream.

Enjoy!!

O is for Oatmeal!

2011-04-18T16:35:00.001-05:00

I think most people of my generation grew up with cooked oatmeal for breakfast. I still enjoy a bowl of it now and again. Oatmeal is one of the most versatile grains we produce on the prairies. It can be used in bread, on it's own, for cookies, for soup, crisps, and the list goes on.

Have you ever heard of Rickey Uncle? It is a great slice that can be used like a granola bar or, if you undercook it just a little bit, as a crumbly, crunchy ice cream topping. I hadn't made it in a few years and made a large pan of it the other day. Little did I realize how much my family actually liked it. That pan of Rickety Uncle was gone before you could call Uncle. Well, maybe not quite that quickly but pretty quick.

Here is the recipe:

Rickety Uncle

3 cups rolled oats
1 1/8 cup brown sugar (whoever heard of an eighth of a cup for baking!!)
3/4 c. butter - butter is best for flavour, although I sometimes will go 3/4 butter and 1/4 veg. oil.
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together the brown sugar and oats.

Melt butter and then mix in vanilla.

Mix wet ingredients thoroughly into dry.

Press into a 9 x 12 pan. I usually put a piece of parchment paper on the bottom to help lift them out. Press down evenly.

I generally will score the bars and then pat them down again gently before putting them into the oven. I find they tend to shatter less if I do that.

Bake for 12-20 minutes in a 350F oven. Cut into squares or bars before they cool. Remove when they are cool.

Enjoy!

N is for Noodles

2011-04-16T22:47:00.001-05:00

When I first graduated from university, I bought a little cookbook called "Chinese Meatless Cooking." I have used it a ton of times and especially like this noodle recipe. It is called "Szechuan-spicy Noodles or Dan-Dan Mein." This has a good bite to it and the a nice full flavour. Be warned that once you start eating these noodles, it is really hard to stop.

This is my version of that recipe:

Szechuan-spicy Noodles or Dan-Dan Mein

3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp of minced garlic...or more is good
1 tsp of sambal oelek or chili paste (I use either, depending what I have on hand)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 pkg of Chinese noodles - I use the ones that come 6 to a pack - use 3 squares

Combine all the ingredients, except the noodles, in a small bowl or measuring cup. Set aside.

Boil water. Add noodles for about 2 minutes max.

Drain and put into large bowl. Pour sauce on top and mix well.

Serve hot or cold. Delicious either way.

I have made this recipe for years. As long as you keep the proportions reasonably close it will be fine. I use either rice vinegar or plain white vinegar interchangeably and both are fine. The sesame oil is important to the flavour and I wouldn't leave it out.

Enjoy!

M is for monkey-bread aka sticky buns

2011-04-15T21:34:00.000-05:00

Alright, you already know how to make great bread. So using your new-found skills and the recipe from "B is for breadmaking", you can make sticky buns! Sticky buns are an all-time favourite in our household. They are usually reserved for a breakfast at the lake but I have been known to make them in town as well...lol

Monkey-bread aka Sticky Buns

1 loaf of bread dough
butter - works best
white sugar
cinnamon
pancake syrup - the cheap stuff not maple syrup

So - make up a batch of bread - one loaf size is lots. Let it rise for about 15 minutes.

While it is rising, melt about 1/2-3/4 cup of butter in a bowl. Mix together about 1 cup of sugar with a 1 heaping tablespoon or so of cinnamon.

Grease a bundt pan with a bit of butter. If you don't have one - use a large deep loaf pan.

Grab a piece of dough about the size of a small egg - make a round ball out of it - doesn't have to be even close to perfect.

Dip into the hot butter. Then, drop into the cinnamon sugar and roll it around until it is completely coated.

Drop into the bundt pan. Continue until you run out of dough. You should have about a layer and a half or two layers in your pan when you are done.

Pour the rest of the sugar over the top and then the rest of the butter - in that order. If you are out of either - don't panic just pour whatever is leftover on top.

Pour about 3/4 cup of pancake syrup over top.

Cover and let rise until almost doubled - about 30 minutes - it tends to rise faster than a regular loaf as the hot butter inspires it quite nicely to do it's thing!

Heat oven to 350F and cook until the buns sound hollow when tapped.

Now comes the tricky part....place a large, very shallow bowl over the bundt pan and flip it over! The caramel that has been created from the butter, cinnamon sugar and pancake syrup will ooze down the sides of the buns.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

L is for Pork Loin

2011-04-15T00:03:00.000-05:00

Have you ever taken pork loin or part of it and stuffed it? It is really good and super easy.
I have some pictures of how to do this in my camera but I can't find my cords!!!$%etc. I will add them to the post as soon as I find them...sorry about that!

Stuffed Pork Loin

one tenderloin or portion thereof

apple pie filling from "A is for apples"

diced onions

dry bread crumbs

cotton string

olive oil

Using a non-serrated knife, cut the tenderloin until it lies flat. Start by slicing into the loin on an angle and then cutting it open until it sits flat. It is like peeling off one continuous layer until it is all about 1/4 inch or about a little more than 1/2 a cm thick.

Spread your apple pie filling (about an inch from the edge of the meat on all but the closest side to you) along with about 1/4 cup or less diced onions. Sprinkle a very thin layer of bread crumbs evenly over the apples. Sometimes I add a good handful of dried cranberries or even some chopped up fresh ones. You may add a few dots of butter along the nearest edge to you but don't add more than a teaspoon total. Take the nearest edge and start rolling it up. Once you get about 1/4 of it rolled, fold the sides in about an inch and finish rolling. Roll it neither loosely nor tightly, just a nice firm roll. If you roll it too tightly, your filling will squish out the sides. If you roll it too loosely, it will be difficult to tie up.

Once you have it rolled, then you must tie it evenly along it's length so it doesn't come apart when you are cooking it. At this point, coat the meat with some olive oil or canola oil. Grind some pepper on it and either place it in a 350F oven for about 45 minutes to an hour or on the barbeque, depending how thick your meat is - you can always use an internal thermometer to see if the meat has reached 165F. If you place it in the barbeque, heat up one side of barbeque and place the meat on the other side. Again, cook for about an hour but be careful not to dry it out.

Remove from heat and let sit wrapped in foil for about 10-15 minutes. Slice with a non-serrated knife and arrange attractively on a serving plate.

I have substituted homemade cranberry sauce for the apple pie filling and it is really nice as well!

Enjoy!

K is for Kiwi Banana Smoothie

2011-04-13T21:53:00.000-05:00

This is wonderful for breakfast on a hot summer morning. My kids loved these and I loved them because I knew they were getting a couple servings of fresh fruit each day. I also just loved them because they taste so good.

Kiwi Banana Smoothie

1 kiwi - peeled (can be frozen)
1 banana - previously frozen in 1 inch chunks
frozen orange juice concentrate
milk

Place about 1 cup of banana chunks, cut-up kiwi, about 1 tbsp OJ into a blender. Add enough milk to come just below - about an inch - the top of the fruit. Blend. Add more milk if it is too thick.

Sometimes we would use less milk and make "ice cream" instead. It is so creamy and good it is hard to believe that it is mainly fruit!

Frozen strawberries are great, as are raspberries. If you can freeze all the fruit it keeps it nice and thick.

This tastes like a sinfully fat dessert but is actually very light in fat and calories.

Enjoy!

J is for Juice

2011-04-12T06:53:00.000-05:00

I love the smell in the house when I am making juice - crabapple, rhubarb, etc... They are all made essentially the same way but have completely different tastes, although all of them are more full-flavoured than what you buy in the store. Just a little....lol You can also blend the different juices. I like adding raspberries to my crab juice and even cranberries are nice with it.

Beautiful organic apples from a friend.

Not a lot of people spray their crabapple trees or rhubarb, so it is generally chemical free juice that is locally sourced. Most people are more than generous with their crabapples and are more than pleased to have someone come and pick them.

I like my juice less sweet so the flavour of the fruit can come through. I don't care to drink sugar so my juices are sometimes refreshingly tart. Not pucker your face and it implodes tart - just a little bite to them.

I usually freeze my juices as I have the space and it is also a lot less work than canning them. I follow the Canadian food guidelines when I do can it.

Juice

crabapples/rhubarb/cranberries/raspberries
(whatever fruit you decide to choose - or combo)
cream of tartar
sugar or honey

Wash your fruit.

Crabapples will have to be stemmed and the blossom end cut off. Rhubarb cut into chunks. Cranberries and other berries can be used as is.

Fill a primary or carboy used in winemaking about 1/3 full with fruit. The fruit can be put into a mesh bag to make removal easier.

Primary with crabapples.

Sprinkle about 4 tsp of cream of tartar over the fruit.

Pour boiled water over the fruit - almost fill it. Cover and let sit overnight.

Strain by using hose or just by scooping out the fruit.

Juice simmering.

Using a dutch oven or large pot of some sort, fill with juice and simmer until about 1/2 to 2/3 the volume.

Taste - the flavour should be pronounced but not tart.

Add sugar or honey. Taste again. Simmer for a bit longer.

These apple juices were canned.

Let cool, then pour into jars leaving about 2 inches of headspace. Place in the freezer without lids and freeze. Once they are frozen, you can put the lids on and screw down. I find if I do it any other way, the jars break in the freezer.

If you can your juice - follow the guidelines set out for Canadian food recommendations.

Enjoy!

I is for Icing

2011-04-11T17:22:00.000-05:00

I know I should have gone with ice cream but I haven't made it since I was a young adult, so my instructions have been lost and I am not sure where on earth they are. So suffice to say, we are doing a recipe for icing.

Some cupcakes I made for my husband's niece's wedding.

Nothing boring about icing! Icing can make or break your cupcakes or cake in one mouthful. There is nothing worse than having dull, tasteless icing to ruin a beautiful cake.

Ingredients are incredibly important when you make icing. Real butter, pure vanilla extract are not a luxury, they are a necessity in good icing. You can also use any liqueur to flavour your icing as well - as they are not extracts, the flavour will not be as pronounced but you can combine them with an extract to make them extra special.

Butter Icing

butter
vanilla extract
almond extract

icing sugar
milk

Put about 2/3 - 3/4 cup butter into a decent sized bowl that has higher sides. I know it is an obscene amount of butter but this icing is for special occasions - I don't use it very often but we all love it!

Start adding in your icing sugar, a little at a time until it starts to get a bit stiffer (not stiff though).

Add a couple tablespoons of milk and continue to mix well.

Add about 2-3 tsp. vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract - depending how much icing you are making. Mix in well.

Add more icing sugar and a wee bit more milk. Mix well.

Taste the icing - it should feel smooth and creamy - not gritty at all. If it feels gritty, add a bit more butter - about a tablespoon and about a teaspoon of milk.

Keep trying it until it feels like it melts in your mouth. Just taste a smidgen - not a whole teaspoon or anything like that.

Cream it gently for about 5 minutes.

Ice your cake or cupcakes. Leftovers freeze well - just stir well and gently when it thaws out.

Enjoy!

H is for Homemade Eatmores

2011-04-09T10:02:00.000-05:00

I love Eatmore bars. I only buy them about twice a year because then they stay a real treat! Sometimes, I even get Eatmore presents from my family - again not very often because they know I love them only very occasionally.

I worked at one of the local greenhouses on and off when my kids were little. When you plant, everyone stands around tables and talks and jokes around. It is always a great place to be - surrounded by plants, the birds in the apiary chirping, and the sun warming you through the greenhouse walls - so wonderful!! Anyway, we were talking about recipes and one of the ladies happened to mention that she made these Homemade Eatmore bars. I couldn't believe my good fortune when she brought in the recipe and a sample! To make a long story short - they are even better than the real Eatmore bars - hardly seems possible but truly better.

Homemade Eatmores

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
4 tbsp cocoa

Boil until thick and shiny - about 10 minutes on medium heat. I haven't overcooked these but I think they might turn hard if you do.

Add about 3 cups of peanuts - a combination of crushed and whole. (I add more...)

Poured into a well-buttered pan. (Butter is best because it adds to the flavour.) (It is a 9x9 pan depending how many peanuts you add...)

Cut with buttered knife while still somewhat warm. Separate when cool - these stick to themselves like crazy - a piece of parchment might help because I know from experience that they also stick to plastic.

Enjoy!!

G is for galettes blanches

2011-04-08T08:20:00.000-05:00

So you are probably asking yourself - what the hell are galettes blanches? They are a very exceptional French yeast-raised biscuit. My version of this was originally taken from a Canadian Living magazine years ago.

Galettes Blanches

I didn't have a picture of them - this one is from the Robin Hood site.

2 tsp granulated sugar
3 c. lukewarm water
2 tbsp. yeast
1/2 c. oil
1 tbsp. salt
1 egg
8 c. flour (approximately)

Proof the yeast in the sugared water.

Add oil, salt and room temperature egg, mixing gently.

Very gently, mix in about 7.5 cups of the flour - add more if the dough is sticky.

Knead about 10 times gently.

Roll out with a rolling pin and cut into biscuit rounds. Or - cut into diamonds and place on a cookie sheet. They are generally about the size of a small hamburger bun after rising.

Let rise for 30 minutes.

Bake 375F until light golden brown - about 15 minutes.

Seve warm with jam or with a sandwich type of filling.

Enjoy!

F is for foccaccia

2011-04-07T16:41:00.000-05:00

I had a hard time with F - so I decided to be nice to myself and go for foccaccia. This is a traditional Italian style of bread. However, the recipe I am giving you is not the traditional version but my knock-off, super easy version...delicious and wonderful with a nice soup, chili, or just to dip in leftover spaghetti sauce. I would have had great pictures of it, but unfortunately, we ate it before I remembered that taking the pictures was the main reason I made it...lol

I love serving this to a crowd because it goes so far if it is cut into fingers and served with a marinara sauce - it is always a hit!

This smells so-o-o good when it is baking!

It all looks very daunting but prep time is only about 20-25 minutes before you get it into the oven, depending how fast you work.

You will need this recipe first:

Basic Bread Dough Instructions for one loaf

warm water
sugar
traditional Fleischman's yeast
salt
olive oil
flour

Pour about 1 cup or so of warm water into a large bowl - it should feel like a good warm bath but not hot.

Add about 1 tsp. sugar - you can also use honey.

Add about 1-2 tsp. traditional Fleischman's yeast.

Proof for about 10 minutes or until you see most of the yeast has "bloomed," or risen to the surface.

Using a fork, stir lightly.

Add about 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, 1 small tsp. salt, and start adding flour. Mix enough in so that when you stir it it becomes like a super thick pudding.

Clean your fork off well under running water. (It will adhere like concrete if you don't clean it right away.)

Continue to add flour and start to knead the dough while in the bowl until it has a soft but not sticky or tacky consistency - you don't have to do this for a long time. If your dough is too moist, you will get a large air bubble just under the crust - just add about 1-2 tbsp more flour to correct this. If it is too dry, it will feel hard to knead -in this case, make a hole in the dough and add about 1-2 tbsp of water and gently knead it in. It will be gross and sticky, at first, then will incorporate itself in.

NOW is the easiest part and :) we can start the foccaccia:

Foccaccia

Extra virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese
basil
garlic - 3-4 cloves
tomatoes
black olives

So...the first step is to take the bread recipe that was back in the B's and make it up. (I copied it above for you - or the part we need.) The difference is that we will be treating it almost like a quick bread and go for only one very short rise.

After you have mixed it up, let it rest for about 10 minutes. This is important or it will be like trying to flatten rubber bands....

Get a pizza pan or 9x13 pan - make sure the pan you use has edges...I have a large round pan I use for pizza, buns, etc. but a cookie sheet with edges will do the trick just as well.

Pour about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in to your pan and spread around - be generous because your dough will stick otherwise.

Take your dough and gently roll it out on the counter with a rolling pin until it is just about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick - if it is thicker - no big deal - your foccaccia will just be thicker. Or you can divide it in half and make two small ones or one foccaccia and one loaf of regular bread.

Place it in your oiled pan and let it rest for about 5 minutes, then using your fingertips, spread it out a bit more until it is more or less even.

While it is rising, crush a generous amount of garlic (3-4 cloves), have ready some grated Parmesan, black olives (sliced or not), some basil - dried or not, thinly sliced tomatoes, red onions, chunks of feta cheese. Your topping will vary each time but the parmesan, garlic, basil and olive oil are always consistent.

Remove the towel from the dough and press your fingertips into the dough to make indents. Generously pour some olive oil on top along with the crushed garlic. Spread gently with your fingers. You can always re-dent it if the dents disappear.

Add your basil and then add whatever toppings you want to on top of these. You can always substitute some pesto for the basil. I love the kalamata olives but generally just use a brined black olive - I just warn everyone about the stones in them. Arrange your toppings in a pleasing way and finally top with the Parmesan cheese.

Re-dent.

Bake at 375F until the edges are a nice medium-dark colour (a bit darker than your loaves). Remove from the oven and cut into wedges, fingers, diamonds, whatever strikes your fancy. The bottom will be nice and golden and slightly crisp.

Again - this can be baked on the barbeque when summer temperatures stop you from heating up the oven. I would still put it in the pan though because it gives such a nice crust. Just remember to rotate it occasionally!

Enjoy!

E is for eggplant!

2011-04-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

Eggplant is one of those vegetables that make you say "mmmm-mm" when it is cooked properly. We literally fight over the leftover eggplant in our house because it is just that good. It is delicious cold the next day or reheated. If eaten cold, you mash it up and spread it on some of that fresh bread I told you about four letters ago or nice rustic crackers!

Eggplant comes in all shapes, sizes and a few colours. Using fresh eggplant is so much better than buying it in the store. It just seems that it is never bitter when it comes out of the garden. Last year I accidentally grew eighteen plants of eggplant. (How did I accidentally grow that many? Simple, there was more than 4 in each flat I had purchased so I wound up with extras and couldn't bring myself to throw them out.) It was a good thing that I did plant them because it was so cool all summer that my crop was small and it seemed like we were always waiting for some to come off the garden. I grew some small white and purple striped ones, some larger conventional ones, and some long narrow oriental style eggplants. All were great baked or grilled.

Grilled/Barbecued Eggplant

garlic
eggplant
olive oil (preferably extra virgin because you want the flavour)
salt
lemon

If you are using a large store-bought eggplant, cut it into rings about 1/2 inch thick (I leave the skin on for this.) and salt generously. Let sit in a colander for about 20 minutes to drain and then pat dry or spread on some towel.

Crush some garlic (I am very generous with my garlic for this dish.) and mix it into some olive oil. Brush this well on both sides of the eggplant.

Barbecue slowly until they are a light golden brown and very tender. Remove from heat and put into a bowl. Squeeze a lemon over the slices and cover the bowl with a plate. (I use plates to cover things because it means less plastic in the environment.) They will become very limp - this is what you want.

Salt very lightly and serve.

Enjoy!

OOPS!!

2011-04-03T14:22:00.002-05:00

Looks like I jumped the gun and posted my C and D too soon. It is that dam "Publish Button" location - just too easy to hit once I've written something....lol I'll get a hang of this eventually.

Such is life.

We are back to winter here - had/having a huge spring storm. Besides looking like a winter wonderland, it is a bit of nuisance as I have a turkey ready to go into the smoker....grrr!

D is for dressing - creamy Tofu Dressing

2011-04-03T10:07:00.000-05:00

This is a wonderful dressing to use on a salad or even on baked potatoes instead of sour cream!

Creamy Tofu Dressing

1/2 lb. regular tofu
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp veg/olive oil
clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1 dash hot pepper sauce or a pinch of cayenne
1 pinch of black pepper
4 tsp. Parmesan cheese
about 1/2 cup milk

In a blender, combine tofu, lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt and peppers.

Blend until smooth.

Stir in Parmesan.

Thin with milk until desired consistancy is reached.

This recipe is easily converted to a vegan recipe just by substituting the milk and cheeses for vegan products - flavour is still great!

Enjoy!

C is for carmelized bananas

2011-04-03T09:56:00.000-05:00

I can't take credit for this wonderfully sweet, decadent dessert. My daughters concocted this one for dessert one day...

It is so simple and so good! This is super fast when you wind up with unexpected company and don't have a dessert to serve.

Caramelized Bananas

You need:

bananas - generally one per person
butter
brown sugar
pinch of salt
Rum or pure vanilla extract

Using a frying pan, melt 1 part butter and 3 parts brown sugar over medium heat until it is no longer grainy and looks silky. Add flavouring and stir gently.

Peel bananas and cut in half lengthwise. Add bananas to the pan and gently heat.

Dish some vanilla ice cream into bowls and top with bananas and sauce.

Enjoy!

B is for Breadmaking!

2011-04-02T13:45:00.002-05:00

If you have been following my posts for a bit, you know that making bread is one of my all-time favourite things to do! I can wax poetic about making bread - what is not to like about a fresh loaf of bread that is golden, warm, and aromatic right out of the oven? It is so relaxing and nourishing for the soul and later, for the empty nook in our stomachs.

I have been making bread it seems forever. I made bread occasionally when I lived at home with my parents and continued to make it when I lived alone. My mother made wonderful bread that still makes my mouth water thinking about it. I find it easier to make a quick loaf of bread than to run to the grocery store (that is four blocks away) to buy one. (truly not logical!)

Using olive oil gives a wonderfully moist bread. I have tried many different types of oils but have found that the olive oil gives a much nicer loaf of bread. Your dough should feel soft but not sticky and dry but not hard. You will know that you have it right when it feels like on of those soft stuffed toys that flatten out easily when you squish them. The other reason I don't use exact measurements is because flour can be drier or moister depending how fresh it is and the amount of humidity in the air.

And yes, there are days that the bread just won't rise properly for love nor money - I personally think it has to do with the barometric pressure but who knows? Thank goodness those days come only once every year or so.

There are so many types of breads out there - from limpa to flat bread to oatmeal bread. I generally make a simple white or oatmeal bread because it is quick and I can just whip it up. I recently taught a breadmaking session to a group of teachers. It was a lot of fun and I think they all came away with a good feeling about making bread.

The measurements are not exact measurements because making bread is a pleasure not a science. It is also remarkably forgiving. I prefer smaller loaves so it will fit into my toaster after it is sliced.

Here are the instructions for a wonderful loaf of bread:

Basic Bread Dough Instructions for one loaf

You'll need:

warm water
sugar
traditional Fleischman's yeast
salt
olive oil
flour

Pour about 1 cup or so of warm water into a large bowl - it should feel like a good warm bath but not hot.

Add about 1 tsp. sugar - you can also use honey.

Add about 1-2 tsp. traditional Fleischman's yeast.

Proof for about 10 minutes or until you see most of the yeast has "bloomed," or risen to the surface.

Using a fork, stir lightly.

Add about 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, 1 small tsp. salt, and start adding flour. Mix enough in so that when you stir it it becomes like a super thick pudding.

(If you want, you can add about a handful or so of barely warm cooked oatmeal at this point. Dry oatmeal will make your bread dry out quicker because it will absorb the moisture from your bread - cooked oatmeal won't do that.)

Clean your fork off well under running water. (It will adhere like concrete if you don't clean it right away.)

Continue to add flour and start to knead the dough while in the bowl until it has a soft but not sticky or tacky consistency - you don't have to do this for a long time. If your dough is too moist, you will get a large air bubble just under the crust - just add about 1-2 tbsp more flour to correct this. If it is too dry, it will feel hard to knead -in this case, make a hole in the dough and add about 1-2 tbsp of water and gently knead it in. It will be gross and sticky, at first, then will incorporate itself in.

Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise in the same bowl for about 1/2 - 1 hour - more or less. If time is an issue, this first rising can be shortened up as much as 40 minutes without much effect on the final product.

Punch down the dough and form into a loaf.

Drop into a well-greased breadpan, cover with clean tea towel, and let rise about an hour. An hour or slightly more is the most desirable during the second rising as it will make your bread nice and light - if the room is cool let it rise a bit longer. You don't want it to rise so much that it is wobbly though because it will not have enough strength to do it's final rising in the oven.

Preheat your oven just before the hour is up. (350F)

Bake about 20 minutes for white bread and a bit longer for whole wheat. Check it when the top is a nice very light golden colour.

Remove from oven if it sounds hollow when tapped and when the bottom is lightly browned. Bread is best if it is not over-baked and hard.

Place on wire rack and brush with butter. Buttering the top and covering it will create a nice soft, flavourful crust. Cover immediately and let cool at least 10 minutes before slicing. (If you can!)

Note:
This bread can also be baked on the barbeque by heating one side of it and placing the bread pan on the unheated side. I would lower the temperature to 325F because barbeques seem to run hot, at least mine does. Also - rotate it once so that the side adjacent to the barbeque burner doesn't burn. Making it into two small loaves will also shorten the cooking time, which is best for the barbeque.

Enjoy!

A is for apple pie filling!

2011-04-01T16:13:00.002-05:00

And so it starts - Blogging A to Z - for the month of April - wish me luck as I think that finding foods and recipes with some of the more select letters is going to be darnright difficult...but fun. What a great way to start - with my 100th posting!

I hope you enjoy and try some of my recipes - most are pretty easy and all are delicious! (My blog has decided that the link shouldn't be linked to - I'll get one up asap.)

Every fall, I shamelessly beg for, and pick as many apples as I can find to prepare an apple pie filling that I use in a lot of recipes I make over the winter. Of course I use it to make apple pies but also apple crisps, apple strudels (only a couple times), apple muffins and when put through the food processor, some fruit leather.

No-one can say that apples are a fruit that is boring. Have you ever tried apple slices with peanut butter? Or a nice slice ham with lettuce and apple slices in a sandwich with just a bit of hot mustard on homemade bread? (Divine that one!) Anyone that thinks apples are boring should take a gander on the internet and look through the multitude of recipes and ideas on using them.

I have a small cookbook full of just apple based recipes, aptly called "Apple Lovers Cook Book," by Shirley Munson and Jo Nelson. It is only about 120 pages but contains some really great recipes. I have had it for quite awhile and have enjoyed a some recipes of cakes and squares out of it. I don't know if it is in print any longer - the edition I have was the 4th reprint and it was from 1994!

The recipe I am sharing here is one that I have been making for about twenty-five years or so. It was patched together from a recipe given to me by a friend and has had more than a couple revisions over the years. I now call it one of my own recipes because it is so far from the original that it no longer resembles it. I will give the measurements for the full amount and the half recipe will be in brackets.

These instructions might seem a little goosey-loosey but unless you are canning them (then you need to be exceptionally careful with your measurements!) it is by taste - I like my less sweet so please adjust accordingly. I would recommend that you leave a bit of firmness to the apples as you will be cooking them again when you make your pies, etc.

This recipe is super easy and your house will smell divine when you make it.

Apple Pie Filling/Applesauce Recipe

10 quarts (5) sliced apples (I don't peel them - just wash them extremely well)
3 cups (1 1/2) white sugar (a little more or less depending on the sweetness of your apples)
1 tsp. (1/2) salt
2 tbsp (1) cinnamon (I generally add more)
1/4 cup (1/8) lemon juice
water to cover apples

Wash apples really well. Peel them if you prefer to - I never do. Slice, remove any bruised spots and core them.

Cookie-sheet pie for a crowd

As you slice the apples, drop them into a bowl with about 1/4 cup of lemon juice or some ascorbic acid and water to prevent too much browning.

Drain them and put them into a large pot along with the other ingredients.

Boil gently until barely tender - a little bit of firmness is nice because you will be cooking them in your pies as well. Around 20 minutes or so should do it, again depending on your stove and the type of apples you are cooking down.

Bag in enough of a quantity for 1 pie or 1 applecrisp or whatever your favourite recipes call for and freeze.

When using the filling from the freezer, thaw first. If you are making a pie, it is a good idea to sprinkle a little bit of cornstarch on the bottom crust before adding the filling and a little on top again before sealing up your pie.

There you have it! It is wonderful just to eat as is or use in a recipe. Enjoy!

Help!

2011-03-29T14:02:00.002-05:00

Blogging A to Z for April sounds great but can I do it?

I thought about it and decided I was going to try but I am adding a twist to it - I am going try to do a recipe a day (preferably one that I have done) following the alphabet. If I don't have a recipe for that letter I will post about something else. I know, I could be called a cheater doing it that way after I said that I would do a recipe a day but there aren't a lot of foods that start with X that I have used in cooking.

I have another problem as well - I can't remember who had the Blogging from A to Z on their site and am not sure of all the parameters. I feel like an idiot because I went back and looked at some of the few blogs I follow but can't seem to find it. Help!!

Playing in the dirt!

2011-03-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

I spent part of the yesterday morning banging together my rickety old shelf unit that I use for putting my seed flats on. The rest of the morning and part of the afternoon I spent filling my trays with soil and then finally seeding them in. I had quite a number of seeds that had come as part of an Italian seed kit. I don't even know if they will germinate but am willing to give them a go.

I, very briefly, panicked when I thought I had absolutely no tomato seeds. Luck would have it that I had two types of seed that I very happily discovered inside another bag! What a relief! I know I could just jump into my van and zip over to one of the local greenhouses and pick some up. The problem is that most of what I plant are heritage seeds and they only carry a very small variety - none of which I grow. So, you can understand why my heart sank for a few moments.

What did I plant? Well, let me see... There are some gigante di napoli parsley, some romas, Genovese basil, ramata di milano onions (I've never started onions from seed before - should be interesting.), Chinese cabbage,Striato d'italia zucchini, Violetta Lunga 2 eggplants, ramoso clabrese broccoli, yellow, green and red peppers, acorn squash, Cuor di bue tomatoes, Listada de gandia eggplant, long purple eggplant, black beauty eggplant, wild grape seeds, and a hot paper lantern pepper - a haberno type of pepper. I still would like to start a couple other varieties of tomatoes as we really like the black ones and a small red one called princepe borghese -which is a medium-sized cherry tomato that is not sweet and incredibly prolific and delicious! Hopefully I won't get them too late to plant...

Once everything comes up and it warms up outside (ha!) I will set up my small greenhouse (my daughter got for me one Mother's Day!) on the deck so they can get a nice jump on the season. I am not going to hold my breath about the warming up part as we still have a good three feet of snow out there and it isn't going anywhere fast!! Melting is just a word at this point - it was -13Celsius last night and still well under zero. Tonight is supposed to be the same. It is supposed to be over zero by the end of the week but I've heard this rumour before! lol

Last night was Earth Hour. We invited friends over and shared some lovely raspberry/saskatoon wine and tea wine. I had made some foccoccia earlier (we hadn't eaten supper), and had that as well as some smoked fish and smoked cheese. It was all very relaxing by candlelight. We were quite shocked later when we turned on a low watt light to look at some pictures how glaring the electric light appeared and how blinded we were by the difference!

I was going to post a couple pictures but they will have to wait - I crashed my computer this afternoon and am reloading a few necessary items back into it...lol

Have a good one!

Japan

2011-03-18T23:54:00.000-05:00

As with anyone who has seen videos or pictures of the earthquake and resulting circumstances in Japan, I felt a deep sorrow for them. All we can really do, if we are not a person with appropriate skills to go over and help, is to donate to the Red Cross in hopes that it will help them alleviate some of the destruction and to rebuild.

As a small sign of respect I wrote a poem:

earth convulsed
water tsunamied
fire spews toxic
air.
hope left.

Soapmaking - the real deal

2011-03-16T22:13:00.000-05:00

I can hardly wait until the end of March/beginning of April when I have spring break. It is not because we are going anywhere exotic, or even cross-country; hell we're not even leaving town! I am pretty happy about just hunkering down and doing things that need a couple days to do - like soapmaking.

I love making soap almost as much as I love making bread. Not the melt and pour stuff that you can buy in a large craft store but the real deal. The kind of soap that makes you say "mmm" when you smell it and when it lathers up it is creamy and fresh smelling. The kind of soap that you just know that only natural ingredients are in it.

I used to make huge quantities of handmade soap and sell it when my kids were little. It helped to supplement our income and allowed me to stay at home with them. As well, I wasn't allergic to it and it made the whole house smell great while it dried!

The hardest part that I find when I make soap is deciding which of my twenty-three different scents to make! Do I do my Rosemary is for Remembrance, Citrus Sunshine (hubby's favourite), Christmas in the Wilderness (one of my favourites), or do I do Euphoria or maybe Aphrodite's Delight? I know for sure that I am making a batch of Aphrodite's Delight already for a couple friends who sell honey-based products. It is a lovely, light soap with all of their honey's nourishing properties.

Making soap is not hard, it just requires a few safety precautions and patience. Generally, it takes about three hours from set-up to the end of clean-up to make a batch of soap. Then it has to sit overnight before you can cut it. After that, it has to sit for a month before you can use it. A lot of recipes say to let it sit for only two weeks before you can use it but I am more comfortable with a month. It needs that extra timeframe to become milder and it allows the bars to harden. My batches are large because I have only the large frames and large recipes that I developed when I made it in bulk. Forty-eight bars of soap will last us awhile so choosing the one I want to use for a long time is important - to me anyway.

I am hoping to possibly do a picture tutorial of sorts when I make it - so come and join me sometime in the beginning of April when I make a batch! Hopefully, life won't throw me any curve balls and prevent me from it.

Pineapple Vinegar and a mini-rant on sustainability

2011-03-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

I like making anything I can from scratch. Sure, I can go down to the local grocery store and pick up most anything that I want or need but I really like the satisfaction that comes with making it myself. I also believe that a lot a people, including myself, need to do more of this to pass it down for future generations. I am not talking about sitting them down and explaining all the ins and outs or insisting that this is the only way to do things. Just by making them aware that things can be made, and that the added bonuses are that they are less likely to be full of chemicals (if it comes from your garden) and that it is a lot cheaper to make your own. I work in a high school and it continually amazes me how many young people have no idea how to make even basic foods or even where they come from.

We rely too much on our marketing system to provide for us. We need to be more self-sufficient and to extricate ourselves from a lot of questionable farming products and manufactured foods. I don't think at this point in time that any of us could or would want to be completely independent of the greater world but some self-sustainability could go a long way to making the world a healthier place both for us and the land.

That said, I realize that imported pineapples are not local but I have wanted to try to make some pineapple vinegar for the longest time and up until now, I have always composted the peels. (Yes - I feel somewhat guilty after my little rant!) Today, my desire to make vinegar finally came to fruition. I had two lovely pineapples to cut up. I saved the peelings and put them, well chopped, into a two quart jar. I had already added about 1/3 cup of brown sugar to the non-chlorinated water so just poured it in. It now sits covered, on my countertop. Covering something like this is important. It needs oxygen to breathe, so a clean cloth is necessary. As well, the cloth has to be secured down to keep those pesky little fruit flies out!

I understand that it has to now sit for a couple weeks, be strained and then sit again in a dark place to develop into vinegar. This is very similiar to what I did to make cider vinegar, except I actually used organic apple juice rather than the apple peels to make it. My other vinegars - red and white wine, cider, and malt - are surprisingly good. We are especially enamoured with the white wine vinegar for our salads and the cider on our homemade fries.

I will post the pineapple vinegar's progress as the weeks go on.

Shave for the Brave Cancer Support

2011-03-12T13:58:00.001-06:00

Canada is blessed with a population is that is incredible when it comes to helping a worthy cause. There are so many wonderful folks out there that take time to organize, find pledges, and do many kindhearted things to help others out.

I would like to introduce you to one such individual - Laurita Miller. Anyone who has had cancer or whose heart has been touched by someone with cancer should check out Laurita Miller's newly renamed site Calling Shotgun . She has a huge heart and has collected an enormous amount of pledges for youth cancer. On top of all that, this kindhearted woman and her equally kind son have joined together to show support by shaving their hair all off!

Enough said. This deed speaks volumes for itself. Check it out - it is so worth your time!

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition First Place Winner 1

2011-03-11T21:43:00.000-06:00

Now that we have an (appropriately) good, strong March blizzard roaring outside, I would like to thank everyone who participated and just say that I was very impressed with everyone's pieces. I hope everyone will join us, once again next year at the same time.

I was glad that I didn't have to pick the winner as it would have been a difficult decision to make! I once again must thank our very generous judges for all their time and effort!

Now that you have had time to enjoy and peruse our second and third place winner's entries, it is time to announce our first place winner for the First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition. Anyone that has had a previous opportunity to read her work will agree that she continually amazes us with her writing.

Our inaugural first place winner for this year is none other than Cathy Webster Olliffe!!

A witty and talented Canadian writer, Cathy Webster Olliffe hearkens from the "boonies" (as she puts it) of Bracebridge, Ontario. She lives near the incredibly beautiful and scenic Muskoka River in a very old and authentic log cabin! Who better suited to a cabin fever competition than her? Besides being a talented writer and blogger, she is also a graphic artist. You can read her blog called "Life on the Muskoka River" at her site: http://muskokariver.blogspot.com/

I was alternately, claustrophobic and despairing when I read her piece. Now that I have been able to distance myself a little, I know that our judges have chosen well. Her piece literally made me feel as though I was suffocating.

Our judges remarked that Cathy's piece was the "Perfect embodiment of the theme! -so tight in the narrative - with regards to information - yet sylistic elements still present in spite of conciseness - well thought out and paced - dramatic!"

Here is her winning piece:

One, two, three, four, five, six.
Six paces wide.
He turned in the corner and started counting out the depth.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Almost ten.
A black rectangular box.
A coffin with a bunk bed, a sleeping bag, a few provisions and an
unknown quantity of oxygen.
Buck flopped down on the bunk and tried to relax, mindful of the
limited air supply. It was tough not to be agitated, though, when you
were on a mountainside in a trapper's cabin, buried under an
avalanche.
He was the trapper. This was his cabin. He'd built it out of logs thirty
years ago.
Thirty years. Six paces wide. Ten paces long.
The numbers piled up in his head. He was obsessing on them, he
knew, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't sure how long he'd been
trapped in the cabin, but it was at least a day.
Twenty-four hours. Thirty years. Six paces. Ten paces.
How long before the air ran out? Another hour? Another day? How
long before they found his body? Spring? Summer? This year? Next
year?
So much to count.
He leapt to his feet and paced.

Congratulations, Cathy! I will be sending out your prize sometime this week. Here is a sneak peak of a couple of your goodies:


Congratulations, Cathy!

Included in your prize is a pair of vibrant red (honestly they are - they just don't look that way in the picture..lol) earrings from Jeannine Elder from Neepawa and of course, a Timmy's card to help make it through those long winter days. There are also a couple of other small surprises coming your way, as well.

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition - 2nd Prize

2011-03-07T08:26:00.000-06:00

I promised to post the picture of Barb's second place prize. Here it is!!
There is a pair of lovely earrings from Jeanine Elder of Neepawa and a Timmy's card for those all important caffeine fixes!

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition 2

2011-03-05T22:16:00.001-06:00

Well, it is now time to reveal our most worthy second-place writer. She is well-known for her music reviews, has a very uniquely named and incredibly popular blog called the Bad Tempered Zombie . I am not even sure how to describe her as I have known her for quite a long time - literally more than a couple of decades! She is a wonderful, unique person, who is immensely talented at whatever she puts her mind and pen to. ( I am totally biased here, which is why I had to have impartial judges to decide on our winners.)

Barbara Bruederlin freelances out of Calgary. She writes reviews for several music magazines. Her knowledge of Indy music astounds me, (she can vouch for the fact that I am a complete Luddite in this area - lol) and I am always impressed by the depth and humour in her writing. Our judges commented that there was "great use of colour - like points of punctuation" and that the poem was "Enigmatic, has me guessing/posturing but (the) sense of dread and hopelessness is strong." She also writes Haiku and occasionally posts it on her blog. Barb was one of a few individuals that chose to submit a piece of poetry for Cabin Fever.

Congratulations, Barb!

Here is her poem:

barricade

Blood red walls

bear silent witness to

the death

of dreams.

Periwinkle

beckons you to the water,

offering glimpses of escape.

Day pass.

Stay of execution.

When the pounding stops,

when the water stops,

silence descends.

Silence follows you to the grey room.

Silence peers through frozen glass with dead eyes.

Silence cannot escape this wall of white.

The dead world holds you firm inside this cage

I will be sending your prizes sometime next week. They include a beautiful pair of earrings from Jeanine Elder of Neepawa, and a Tim Horton's card, as well as a couple little surprises. Unfortunately, the batteries are dead in my camera so I will post the picture of them tomorrow after it is charged. (My apologies - I feel like a bit of a smuck for not being more prepared with the camera!)

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition

2011-03-04T17:17:00.000-06:00

I must apologize because of how spread out this has wound up being. I had originally intended on announcing the winners every second day but life interfered so it has to be one a week. Hopefully, this just adds to the excitement of who will be featured.

I will be revealing our wonderful second place winner tomorrow (Saturday) for the First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition.

Stay tuned!

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition

2011-02-26T13:46:00.000-06:00

I woke to a wonderful, sunny winter day. It made me smile looking out the window. The catch was that it was -30.4C (-22.7F) with a wind chill of -43C (-45.4F)! I was up, literally bright and early to see my poor hubby off to work monitoring a fishing derby on Lake of the Prairies. If it was this cold here, I can only imagine how cold it was going to be for him in the middle of the lake (another 3 hours north of here) with the wind howling across.

What an appropriate day to reveal the first of our writers to win a prize!

I would now like to introduce our judges. Tara Leach is a wonderfully creative teacher,extraordinary artist both on the stage and in the traditional sense. Monica Donnelly is another great teacher, world traveller and published poet! They both very generously took the time to peruse the entries and choose who they felt should be featured.

The criteria was simply that all entries had to be under 200 words. I was delighted that not only was prose sent but poetry as well! I want to thank all who participated - the entries were welcome and well-written. I hope everyone will join us again next year at the same time.

It is now time for the our third place winner to be announced - (Think drum roll and cheering here!)

As one of our most talented writers, Laurita Miller offered us a haunting piece that left us wanting to know more. Laurita is from our east coast and her site has recently been awarded first place in the Canadian Blog Award for the Culture and Literature category. Her site called "Brain Droppings" is multi-faceted and interesting to read. She not only writes incredibly well but has a huge heart and is currently working on a fundraiser for cancer and will be shaving her locks in March, since she has not only reached her goal but exceeded it as well! You can check out her site at http://ringkeeper.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-defense-of-coolth.html

Now for the main event:

Cabin Fever by Laurita Miller

She woke when the book fell from her lap. The evening sky, dark and smoky grey, told of looming snow. Where was Bern? He was very late. Very late.

She pushed up from her rocking chair. The old floor creaked, but it was warm, a blessing on a night like this. She paced the room – three, four times – then went to the back door. Snow drifted high over the porch and stretched, pristine and shimmering, for as far as she could see.

How long since she’d been outside? Two days? A week? She moved to the window and looked out upon the snow covered laneway. No footsteps, no tires marred the frosty ripples and waves. She longed to go out, but knew she would not make it far. New flakes, plump and heavy, swirled against the glass.

She would wait for Bern. He would be back soon.

Congratulations, Laurita!

Laurita, I will send off your well-deserved prize which includes a pair of beautiful handmade candles made by Roger and Cathy Desilet of the Ravenscreek Farms near Oakburn, MB, a Brown Sugar Keeper from Steve Jorganson Pottery Studio in Winnipeg, MB and a Timmy's Card for one of those much needed caffeine fixes. I will be tucking in a little extra surprise as well!

Congratulations on your win Laurita!

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition Winners

2011-02-25T21:41:00.000-06:00

The stories written for the First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition were amazing! I expected no less from everyone and that is what was sent. I had several entries and the judges took their time deciding who would be the worthy winners. (|Although, I must admit that I thought the stories submitted were all great and should all be winners!) I am quite pleased with their choices, as I think all of you will be as well! I will only be posting the top three stories, starting with our third place writer.

Watch for the first story tomorrow to be posted tomorrow afternoon - (Saturday)!

Thinking about Eamon Mac Mahon

2011-02-16T23:46:00.001-06:00

Kiwi, our dog

I recently bumped into a documentary show called "Snapshot" on television about Eamon Mac Mahon. (check out his website at www.eamonmacmahon.com) Besides being incredibly impressed with the quality of his photography and the extensive variety of his work, I was also quite taken with the portrayal of his character.

One of the comments that was made (and I am very loosely quoting as I am not sure if I wrote it down correctly because I couldn't find paper right away-but the jist of it is correct) was:

"You can always see what a person thinks of another by the type of photographs they take of them."

I was really struck by this insight; so much so, that I went back and had a look at pictures I had taken over the years and recently. It was with a huge sigh of relief to realize that pretty much all the pictures I have taken of people have been, maybe not exceptional, but definitely decent and respectful. I did have to laugh when I found a couple I had taken of myself and realized that they were borderline awful - Now, I had to ask myself if is this a reflection of my opinion of myself? Or was it that I just have really short arms and my camera doesn't focus all that well on such a close distance? Hmm. I think I prefer to go with the short arm theory. lol

How do your photographs stack up?

A Prairie Locavore

2011-02-14T23:34:00.000-06:00

Aren't these local apples beautiful?

There has been a lot of talk lately about eating locally or at least regionally. In many regions of Canada it would be impossible to find enough food to sustain a family's food needs for an entire year without importing it from some other region. The flip side of this, of course, is that there are also many regions and locales that can provide a decent, balanced food supply that can be preserved, canned, frozen or otherwise put aside for consumption off-season.

Zucchini in our garden

We are blessed in this area with a great deal of variety in our local foods. Within a 100 miles (or so), we have everything from pork, poultry, cattle, dairies, wheat, and fruit and vegetable farms. It is relatively easy to eat well and not have to travel far to get good, nutritious food. We are, however, restricted to a very short growing season when it comes to plant production. This means that we have to preserve a great deal of food in order to make it through the winter season. Unless you live on an acreage or farm, it would be impossible to provide/grow enough food to sustain a family from one growing season to another. Farmers and farmer's markets can make that important difference when it comes to putting food by.

I have a confession to make - I really like reading cookbooks, particularly small-town and regional ones. I recently picked up a couple older cookbooks from a book sale. One in particular caught my eye. It is called The Prairie Cook's Book edited by Betty Ternier Daniels, illustrated by Betty Sadoway and printwork was done byWendy Borsheim. The book itself is the size of a standard piece of typing paper - about 8.5 x 11.5. The cover looked like someone had copied lovely hand drawn the images and beautiful handwritten calligraphy. Flipping through the cookbook, I realized that the entire book, all two hundred pages of it, was all hand-written and copied to create this book- obviously before computers were popular! Upon further inspection, I noticed that it was published in Saskatchewan. Unfortunately, there is no date as to when it was published but I did a bit research and as far as I can determine, it was published probably about twenty-eight years ago.

This cookbook was way ahead of it's time when it was published. Betty Daniels says in her introduction that

"this cookbook is designed to help make you independent of the international food system, its recipes contain very few processed foods. You won't need to buy canned soup or packaged biscuit mix to follow these recipes. If you can't raise the ingredients yourself, you will be able to buy them from local farmers. Not only will you reduce your dependence on the international market place; you will also save money and get better-tasting food that is free from additives and you'll reduce the a mount of packaging that you throw in the garbage as well...As these recipes will demonstrate, a diet composed entirely of prairie foods is not a spartan one. We can grow a lot of good food!"

Apple juice from a friend's apples

I am truly impressed with this cookbook - the recipes are easy, nutritious and have a huge amount of variety within them. There is everything from paneer, yogurt, enchiladas, to graham wafers and fruit juices. As well, there are recipes for sauerkraut, chutney, dill pickles as well as rose-hip catsup. You know a cookbook is truly from the Canadian prairies when it also includes detailed instructions on how to make a prairie favourite - Saskatoon wine!

"Pie, pie, me oh my!"

2011-02-11T17:58:00.001-06:00

I had taken a picture of the pie I had made for the kids/teenagers/students at school just because it was so enormous. I had made an agreement with them if they worked hard and kept at their GIS (geographic information systems) work that I would make them a pie at the end of the term. They stuck with it and all completed the course, helping each other (and me!) enormously along the way. Such a great group! I made the pie and it was huge - comparable to about 6 pies. I also made a little saskatoon pie for the ones that didn't like apple. The kids loved it and ate everything but one tiny little piece, which I gave to another teacher who very much deserved it as well. I am just thankful the darn thing turned out as well as it did because pie making is not my strongest suit.

I was doubly pleased when one of the girls from the class approached me in the hallway about two weeks later and said she had made an apple pie that weekend! She was so tickled pink about it because she had never made one before. Teenagers never cease to amaze me, which is probably why I continue to work in a high school.

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition Judging

2011-02-08T22:08:00.000-06:00

I have just printed off all the entries to the "First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition." I am excited about taking these over to our judges and finding out who will be the winner! I am hoping to post the stories sometime next week. Every second day I will start posting with our third place winner, second place winner and finally our first place winner.

I must apologize in the delay for posting anything about the competition as I have been down with a bout of bronchitis for the past week. Hit me like a lead balloon and just as nasty. I am happily back at work as of yesterday - kind of tired but ready to roll.

Watch for results and thank you to everyone who has participated. Everything I have seen come through has been top-notch!

Good luck to everyone who entered and have made this possible!

Picture Perfect

2011-02-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

The cedars in my front yard.

Under the huge cedar tree at my front entrance.

I think I have fallen in love with taking pictures - there are just so many exquisite, beautiful things to enjoy in my world. The pictures allow me to rediscover them even when the season is past.

Looking up into our maple trees in the backyard.

My lovely yard offers me so much.

In their winter frost.

I love the textures of things that have braved the elements.

Bricks waiting to become part of our cabin.

Nature's backyard leaf art.

The really neat thing about these pictures is that none of these has been doctored (except for adding my name to the leaf art picture), this is exactly how I took these pictures and how they have come out. The natural world doesn't need visual doctoring - it just needs to be appreciated for how wonderful it already is.

Don't you love the texture of our firepit? It looks so tactile!

On top of our firepit in the backyard.

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition Deadline

2011-01-31T17:31:00.000-06:00

For everyone that is submitting your entry for the First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition - the deadline is today!! Hard to believe that the 31st is here already!

To submit: Simply post your story and it will come through my email.

I am really looking forward to everyone's submissions! So far, they are looking wonderful!

Good luck

First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition

2011-01-26T23:14:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to remind everyone that the date for "First Annual Cabin Fever Writing Competition" is getting near. I am so excited about doing this - I hope to see a few submissions!

Just as a refresher - here are the guidelines:

"First Annual Cabin Fever Competition" - the inaugural topic this year will be - what else but cabin fever!" It should be 200 words or less... and the timeline would be ... say the end of January? The 31st?

Good luck to everyone who submits a story!

"Wine-ing" away

2011-01-25T21:07:00.000-06:00

I made some rhubarb wine in 2008 from some rhubarb I had frozen the previous summer. I think I had about 15 lbs or so of it to use for a batch of wine. It was frozen in large, heavy bags of about 5lbs each and took what seemed like forever for it to thaw out. Into the primary bucket it all went along with the yeast and other winemaking powders to help it along the way. It started out fine - smelled great, in fact!

Then, life interfered and I got pneumonia. As a result of this, I forgot to move it into the secondary after the allotted amount of time. It sat there for a good couple weeks or so extra before I could work up the energy to filter it into the secondary and put an airlock on it. I knew that it was still possibly salvageable but not a hundred percent sure. I consulted with my local wine guru and he said it would either oxidize, which is one step or so away from being vinegar, or turn to sherry. In other words, I could toss it or play the odds. I decided to play the odds.

Now it is 2011 and we decided to crack open a bottle of that dubious "wine." I rummaged around the basement shelves to locate it, dusted it off and carried a bottle of it upstairs with a little bit of trepidation. We grabbed a couple wineglasses and cracked it open. I took a sniff of the bottle and wasn't too sure what I was smelling. I poured a couple glasses and let it sit for a few minutes before sampling it. We both took a sip and realized that we indeed had sherry! It seems really sweet on the first sip but this diminishes after a couple sips. Unfortunately, it also has a kick like a mule. The flavour is good though - definitely a nice surprise considering that I had no high hopes for it at all. It starts out sweet but ends on a more wine-like note. It is not at the commercial level by any stretch of the imagination but it was pleasant, especially after a glassful or two! Mind you, with the amount of alcohol in it, after that glass or two it could taste like a glass of swamp water and be fine. I am hoping in another year or so it will be really good - probably wistful thinking on that though.

Cruel Fate

2011-01-25T20:50:00.000-06:00

He stopped for a moment before he went in. He knew it was going to be difficult and wasn't sure how he was going to approach everyone. It wasn't until later that he knew that nothing he did or said would have changed the outcome.

It all started before the funeral, during the viewing. There were awkward silences and furtive glances. In his grief, he didn't have a clue about these. Later, he would wonder at this and feel as though they were all travelling the same direction but on different highways and no matter how hard he tried, he could not make them converge and become one.

When they shut the coffin, he finally realized what all the fuss was about. Him.

Candy of the North

2011-01-23T12:28:00.008-06:00

I watched him slowly and methodically cut open the carcass. His hands moved with the surety that only comes with experience. As I gazed up at him, I shivered with anticipation as his knife slid into the eye socket and deftly removed the glutinous, very round, black globe that once held sight. It slid sideways down the face, still attached by its optic nerve and its sheath. With a quick flip of his wrist, the knife slit the tentative join permanently. Shyly pleased and with a gap-toothed grin, he handed me this gem after giving it one more little slit on the side - the candy of the north.

Closet Poet

2011-01-15T10:37:00.014-06:00

I was laughing to myself the other day, totally in sympathy, when I saw how the kids at school were struggling with poetry. With poetry, it either clicks right away and you get it or it doesn't and you have to struggle through. I have seen tons of kids struggle but enjoy the rewards of their struggle when they have their aha! moment. Compounding this is finding poems for a certain theme and understanding how to share and reword it into a critical essay with a reasonable amount of intelligence. Again, easy if it clicks - a real curse when it doesn't.

I was talking to a couple kids how I had had a themed poetry assignment when I was in high school and how I dealt with it. At that time, I mentioned that we also had a very small library and, unlike today, absolutely no internet for resources. Being a typical teenager, I procrastinated until I had only the weekend to do this long assignment and I had to work one of the two days at my part-time job. I think we had to find ten or so poems to use. I hit a dead-end getting poems because the library was closed by the time I was off work but I wasn't willing to call it quits - my marks were good and I wasn't willing to take a fall, especially because of my own idiocy. After a brief moment of thought (remember - time was of the essence), I sat down and popped off ten or so poems of varying lengths and styles dealing with the theme. I added made up names for the poets/authors and anonymous ones for some of the others. It was easy to write a critical review of the them because I had written them and knew exactly what the poet intended and the styles that were used! As I recall, I got one of my best marks for that assignment.

I still laugh to myself when I think of it!

(That little microsoft guy above says it all!)

Finally Smokin'

2011-01-09T15:38:00.020-06:00

I walked around the house yesterday trying to figure out where the smoke smell was getting in. It seemed to permeate everywhere I went in the house. I had finally taken the first giant step of seasoning my new smoker that I got as a Christmas present. I knew I had set it up properly out of the wind and had been careful about going in and out so that the smoke wouldn't follow me in, so it was important to me that the house not smell like a smoker.

Everything went as it should have, the pucks advanced, the smoke poured out the top and the digital instruments gave temperature and time readouts. It finished shortly after dark and I removed the generator and covered up the smoker after it cooled and came back into the house.
I could still smell smoke throughout the house - I finally asked the youngest if she could smell it (she has a nose as sensitive as a puppy's sometimes) and she said no - only a little in the kitchen by the generator. So I thought it was because I had inhaled a few whiffs and the smell was stuck in my nose. Later that night, I groaned when I realized that it was me that smelled like a smoked sausage! I had forgotten how smoke adheres to hair and clothing and permeates it completely.

So, today I put back on my smokey clothes and went downstairs to put in some marbled cheddar cheese, cheddar cheese, paprika and coarse salt to smoke. I poured the salt and the paprika onto some coffee filters and put them on the racks and loaded up the cheese racks. I preheated the bisquette burner and put them all into the smoker. I kept checking the temperature but it didn't want to go over 60F and I needed it to go to about 80F. So I turned on the bottom burner and waited for it to heat up. It was going so slow - 2 degrees at a time...until finally I went out to check the connections. I laughed when I realized I had not put on the oven burner cord because I had planned on cold smoking the cheeses. It heated up quickly to 80 once I did that.

A couple hours later, I pulled out the cheese but left the salt and paprika in. I raised the temperature to 260 and prepared a chicken I had been marinating since yesterday for smoking. I used a Rickard's Red beer can chicken stand to put the chicken on and with a bit of olive oil and Italian dressing I put it into the smoker. Halfway through, the whole unit quit working!! I unplugged and replugged everything numerous times until it finally kicked in again. I guess you actually have to push the plug all the way in so it can connect properly! lol

I removed the salt and paprika after an hour with the chicken, cooled them and put them into jars to use later on. The salt is going to be wonderful on crusty buns and as a flavour enhancer. It is interesting how it turned from a bright white to a soft tan, which will continue to darken as it sits.

I decided to finish the chicken off in the oven inside the house and brought the bird in. It looks wonderful! I put a casserole of rice in to cook alongside. I think I will make a broccoli and raisin salad to eat as well to help balance out the possible saltiness of the chicken flavours.

We found that the chicken had a lovely, mild smoke flavour reminiscent of a very tender ham. It was so good. I can hardly wait to try smoking some trout and the back bacon (Canadian bacon) I have marinating in the fridge!

Who would have thought that smoking a piece of meat and some cheese could turn out so great!

Task at Hand

2011-01-08T00:09:00.010-06:00

He noticed how she quietly went about doing it her way. She did it slowly and real careful like. Her cuts were clean, and precisely where they should have been.

He let out his breath slowly, so as not to disturb her. He knew his head would be on the line if he did and that was the last place he wanted to be. She turned and looked at him with no expression in her eyes. It was as if she was dead and stuffed, with glass eyes that held no feeling and no depth. He shivered despite himself and slowly handed her a clean cloth and some gut to finish up.

She bent back down and continued with the task at hand. As she placed the last piece in place, she let out a slow sigh like a gently deflating balloon that you could only see deflate and not hear. Finally, she turned to him and said, "Well, that's all I'm doing for today - you did a good job."

He smiled and picked up the heavy tubs. As he heaved them onto the dolly, he thought of when things were better. He wheeled them over to the freezer and carefully emptied the contents onto the shelves at the back, hanging the sausages from the hooks in the ceiling. Returning back to the operating room, he removed the bones and skulls, glad it wasn't him that was going to be dinner tomorrow.

Blackberry Widow

2011-01-04T11:42:00.011-06:00

I am a Blackberry Widow. My husband got a Blackberry for work at the start of December. I knew he would be obsessed with it, initially anyway. He is a gizmo kind of guy and a Blackberry is a gizmo deluxe!

Previously, he always said he didn't see what the fascination was with Blackberries - they seemed to be like an addiction. He even said that he didn't know why people got so caught up with them and he couldn't imagine having one. What a pain to have your work follow you home, he said.

Then he got one.

At first, he was tentative about the Blackberry. Cautiously asking our daughters questions about how to do this or that. Then he began to explore on his own. He became like an armchair adventurer, delving into the abyss of the Blackberry. Like cocaine, it has sucked him deeper and deeper into its mysteries. Revealing itself, one small step at a time.

Then, the unbelievable happened! I called him for dinner one night and he couldn't put it down until he finished dealing with it's siren call. If you knew my husband, missing dinner is like cutting off one of his limbs. When he was younger, he would pace back and forth until I had a meal on the table, always anxiously awaiting his sustenance. I knew then, that the Blackberry had its hold on him.

As if he wasn't addicted enough, he received "Blackberries for Dummies" book for Christmas. I haven't seen or heard much from him since...I think he said something about downloading some apps but I'm not sure because I don't think he even knew I was there...was he even talking to me? Or to the Blackberry?

First Annual Cabin Fever Competition

2011-01-02T18:15:00.015-06:00

How would you like to do something fun this January that will help celebrate (or not) the cold weather? How would you like to write a story or a poem for a potentially wonderful prize?

I am calling this my "First Annual Cabin Fever Competition" - the inaugural topic this year will be - what else but cabin fever!" It should be 200 words or less... and the timeline would be ... say the end of January? The 31st?

(I do reserve the right to disqualify anything that is very inappropriate, which still gives you tons of leeway...)

As a prize I will send the winner a little something...not sure what yet but it will be something great - something quintessentially Canadian - I will let you know closer to the date.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-25T20:32:00.006-06:00

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and the best of the season.

We were blessed with an exquisite amount hoar frost and no wind. It has been like driving through a winter wonderland for the past four days. So incredible! I felt like I was in a Christmas card at times, especially at night.

Christmas is winding down for us now. We just finished a lovely traditional dinner with lots of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and the like. Now, we are all lolling about enjoying the digestion process and sipping a little something. It was a different Christmas for us as this was the first time one of our daughters was not here for Christmas dinner! It felt so quiet but it was still lovely because we had our other daughter and my sister-in-law here.

Well, hopefully your Christmas was just as nice. Have a great day!

Half of a Whole

2010-12-21T23:42:00.038-06:00

I followed him as he drove slowly down the street. It wasn't a long street; just a long, short journey. I wondered if he even noticed me as I drove behind him or if he was still so wrapped up in his thoughts that the outside world didn't really exist for him. I noticed only because I had to. I had been following him since he turned off the main road just before I turned and followed close behind him. I watched as he slowly made his way down the street and turned into a driveway about half way down the block.

The house was unassuming in the most unassuming way. It had almond coloured siding and brown trim that had once been very popular in the 60's and 70's. The picture window was covered by equally neutral drapery, again reminiscent of a past era. The house was well-maintained and had an air of quiet comfort, despite it's bland exterior. It was so reflective of the way he lived his life that it made me sigh quietly inside.

As I pulled into the driveway, I could see that he had waited for me. I turned off the engine, undid my seatbelt, and slowly climbed out. I could see his pleasure of seeing me reflected in his eyes but also the deep sorrow furrow his face. He held out his hand and folded mine gently into his as we quietly walked up the path to the front door. As he reached into his right pocket, I could hear his keys jingling quietly as a solitary bird leapt from the bush by the steps and flew off. He pulled them out and unlocked the door.

"I...I guess we had better get out some food," he said with a hesitancy that had never been there before.

Knowing that he was overwhelmed and would rather just go and sit, I swallowed and quietly replied, "Yes, I guess we had better do that. Why don't you just go and sit for a bit while I put it out?"

He looked at me for the first time that day, as if he was really seeing who I was. "I would like... like that, just to sit a minute before...before..."

"I know. This isn't easy is it?" I cut him off before he could say it out loud and we would both have to face the awful truth once again.

"No it isn't!...I just wish it wasn't at all!!" he barked out.

His vehemence surprised me. He had been so placid and accepting up till now. I hadn't realized how angry he was. I didn't blame him, it was so needless that she died the way she did. They had always been such a loving couple, so supportive of one another in their quiet way. I understood in a flash that he was now only one half of a whole and beginning to realize it himself.

Into the Void

2010-12-20T21:35:00.024-06:00

I stood on the edge of a dream, distraught and completely disorientated. I felt it's remnants in my shattered soul; a tapeworm of terror coiled in my bowels of hidden thoughts. Snippets of truth intermixed with the dream creating an indiscernible reality. I lay in terror unable to thaw my frozen limbs and not really knowing if I had yet awakened.

I could still see my lovely home floating in the abyss of space; it was split in two - a torso ripped in half with multi-coloured tendons of wire and raw splinters of bone/studs exposed for all to see. Tendrils of ice cold horror coursed through my veins and filled me with despair as I realized that I could not reach my precious babies floating in the black void of neither here nor there. My screams shrank and were sucked into the silence of darkness; my husband slept, unconcerned and completely disconnected from the truth around him. I wept tears of hopelessness.

Lust, Baby Lust

2010-12-12T00:27:00.005-06:00

He thought he could hear her heart beating. He paused briefly, surprised with the knowledge that it was his heart beating that he could hear.

Thump-pa-Thump-pathump-pathump.

He could hear it speeding up...pathump-pathump/pathumppathump...as she drew closer to him.

He inhaled her smell, the perfume that gave her a warm, spicy, fruity, all-female smell. Her essence undermined her perfume and added a warm, earthy undertone to it.

How he lusted after her breasts, so warm and hard with perfect pink aureoles. It made him drool just thinking about them. He wanted them so bad that he could almost taste them in his mouth. He ran his tongue around his lips, as if caressing them. He reached for her and she dodged him, turning away briefly. He started shaking with a rage that soon overwhelmed him; the desire for them that great. With a raucous cry, he grabbed at her once again and pulled her roughly towards him. She laughed, picked him up and undid her top so he could drink the nourishing milk that he so desperately wanted.

The Dad, the Daughter and the Snowman

2010-12-09T22:09:00.011-06:00

This was an email I sent out to my husband's sisters. My husband loves to pull practical jokes and tease us all quite mercilessly. Our Youngest can be the same way. Here is one of their jokes:

Hi Guys,

I had to email you about this because it is such a rarity in our household that Hubby admits he was beat at his own game....lol

Hubby and the Youngest were joking back and forth and somehow it came up that the Youngest would make a snowman this afternoon before her Dad got home from work. Well, the bet was on and the stakes were high - Hubby bet the Youngest that she couldn't make a snowman this afternoon because the snow was too dry and not sticky enough to roll the balls for it.

So, the Youngest being the Youngest, and definitely a knock-off of Hubby when it comes to practical jokes, sat down and thought about this snowman. She knew that the snow was no good for rolling because it was too cold out but there was $20 bucks at stake....She came upstairs at lunch and consulted with me how to make snow sticky. We talked and decided that if she just made a bunch of slush it would stick enough to make a snowman. So, she headed off downstairs and got all dressed up to go make this snowman. I, in the meantime, left for work thinking that it would take her awhile to make this work of art.

I came home later and asked the Youngest about her snowman.

She said, "Didn't you see it? Dad said it had to be out front to count."

Now, I hadn't seen anything resembling a snowman, other than snowpiles, on the front lawn. When I said I hadn't seen anything she said to look on the front step. So, outside I went and looked. Our step isn't that big that I would have missed seeing a snowman on it as I came up the stairs but I had! There it sat in it's glory, with peppercorn eyes, toothpick arms and bowtie, in the middle of one of the black planters - all eight inches of it!

I laughed so hard, I almost choked...and then we waited very impatiently for Hubby to get home. Like me, he did not see the snowman as he came up the front step and had to go back out and look for it. He was a little surprised and chagrined by the snowman's size but had to admit that there was no stipulation made in that area...it almost killed him to admit that she beat him at his own game but he did. In the end, he really enjoyed the joke quite a bit and was very proud of the fact that she had pulled a fast one on him!

Couldn't help but share this - it was too funny not too.

The Downside/Upside of Winter

2010-12-07T12:40:00.025-06:00

We are now totally in the grip of winter. It is a gentle, beautiful vice of magical, glittering diamond sharp snow that surrounds us. Already, we have more snow than we have had in November in years. The temperature is hovering around -20 Celsius - the perfect temperature for winter. At these temperatures, the roads are not slippery and we know we have to dress properly or we will freeze. The rivers and lakes are making strong, rock hard ice as I write and soon it will be time to drag the ice fishing shacks out to the frozen water bodies.

I woke this morning to the kind of sharp frosty air that pulls at your nose hairs when you inhale too fast. Unfortunately, I had to stay home sick with a wicked sore throat. That was the downside...but the upside is that I can enjoy the lovely view from my window. The sun is shining brightly through the absolutely clear morning air, the kind of crystal clear air that you only get when the temperatures fall. The hoar frost is thick on the trees and there is a gentle wind that is just starting to blow it off. It falls through the sunlight like magical crystals, fairy dust that flashes cheekily as it twirls and rotates in a happy eccentric dance to the ground.

I can see Squirrely Magirly hopping along the fence and then pausing. She digs daintily in the snow until she unearths a treasure. It is a small pinecone that she gives a decisive shake to. Now she starts to peel away the layers to get to the delicious pine nuts at the base of each cone scale. The dog is going nuts inside because she can see her on the fence but Squirrely Magirly remains completely unperturbed as she snacks away in the sun.

And to think I would have missed all this if I wasn't at home sick!

Fingerless Gloves/Wrist Warmers

2010-12-05T18:46:00.015-06:00

I just ordered some really neat wrist warmers/fingerless gloves from Sarah at Cottage Garden Studios. I have an artist friend whose hands are always cold - now she will be able to draw and stay warm! I picked up a couple of other pairs as well to use as gifts in the family. I think that they are going to be a big hit!!

Sarah has some wonderfully different yarns and some really cute styles of fingerless gloves/wrist warmers, scarves, and other items that she does for both kids or adults. She is also an incredible photographer that teaches and sells her work. (Both pictures I have shamelessly copied from her blog.) You should check out her blog and Etsy shop as well!

Here is her marketing address that also connects to her other blogs and Etsy shop:

http://cottagegardenstudiomarket.blogspot.com/

It would be wonderful if we could support her in her endeavours - she does lovely work and like a lot of people, has been affected by the downturn in the economy. I have followed her blog for quite a while and have enjoyed her photography immensely. I hope you enjoy her site.

Help wanted and the big disappointment!

2010-11-30T19:51:00.016-06:00

I need some help! Not that kind, well not right now anyway. I requested a pasta maker for Christmas but didn't realize that there were so many types on the market. I thought an electric one would be nice because it is not as messy but even these have numerous styles and attachments. Does anyone have a pasta maker, manual or electric? I really am not sure which way is the best direction to go. My hubby was thrilled with the request - he openly admits that he is missing his pasta "off" switch and the thought of fresh pasta definitely has him smiling and quite pleased to fulfill my request. I would like something not too fancy, not too expensive and not too hard to use...any other suggestions what I should be looking for?

Well, I was a bit crushed/disappointed that no-one took up the challenge of a limerick. My Irish roots were saddened that I had no-one to give my give-away to. Barb, from The Bad Tempered Zombie, offered her comment of "Yoiks, limericks!" (A remark which, for some unknown reason, I was unable to publish on the post - still can't seem to get it on there...) Whoever heard of a give-away that didn't go? I think I will send it off to Barb as part of her Christmas parcel for at least commenting...

I can always tell when I have been feeling under the weather - the frequency of my blogging goes straight down. Sorry about that. It has been a bit of an up and down year health-wise but am hoping to get things resolved soon - It is not life-threatening, or anything like that, just incredibly tiring and it is sometimes a bit of a nuisance when I can't get all the extra things I want to do done. What I need is a magic wand that I can wave and my list done for me just the way I like it but I bet all of us wishes that at some point in our very busy lives.

Also - I almost forgot - limericks are actually of English descent but that oops! is ok because my English roots were equally disappointed...lol

Halfway to 100 posts!!

2010-11-18T00:22:00.013-06:00

Seems like I hit 50 posts on the last one and didn't even realize it! I think that calls for a give-away! Now I am not sure what I should give away but I'm sure I can find something nice and maybe a little quilted item and something delicious to dig one's sweet tooth into as well. I will randomly choose from whomever sends me a limerick about the great snowstorm we just had across the prairies but to make it a little more difficult it also has to have the number 50 in it somewhere. The other caveat is to become a follower. The cut-off will be the Nov.25th at midnight - an early Christmas present.

Have fun!!

First Annual Family Pumpkin Carving contest!

2010-10-31T09:15:00.023-05:00

I am posting this a little late but what the heck...it was too good not to share!

We hosted our First Annual Pumpkin Carving contest (FAPC) starting the night before Hallowe'en! We are at the stage in life where the kids are now adults and all the fun things associated with Hallowe'en sadly no longer involve us as much. However, we decided that we needed some family time and still needed to decorate outside with pumpkins. So we held our first annual Family Pumpkin Carving Contest.

Our daughter and her boyfriend and ourselves literally dug into four lovely orange globes to each create a masterpiece! Each of us took a pumpkin and went off to our respective corners and slashed and carved and carved some more. We handed out knives, scrapers, bowls for the guts and hoped for the best. Although everyone tried to keep their design "secret", it was pretty hard especially when we all sat on the kitchen floor together, cutting, scraping and moulding our respective gourds. We were only somewhat successful. Well, truthfully, not particularily successful but it made for some good fun and camaraderie.

Finally, they were done. The men chose logo type of carvings, while the two women were more creative and opted for more art/sculptural types of pumpkins. One was an outdoor, traditional scene and the other an incredible 3D face.... Our older daughter and her boyfriend came over the next day to do their rendition of a masterpiece. We still needed to see what they would bring to the table...and it was to be interesting! The judging took place after supper, in the form of ballots, and interesting prizes were awarded.

There was lots of food but, in the name of safety, no liquor was served at our FAPC until all the cutting was done. I could imagine severed fingers and slashed wrists adding to the drama and mess in the kitchen.

Kiwi, the dog, participated fully - eating her way through numerous pumpkin seeds and pumpkin viscera. Seems she has a penchant for raw pumpkin - all of it - not even fussy which piece she ate. Could hurt in the morning when she goes outside though...

The pumpkin results were wonderful - all were executed in good detail and we had diverse skills levels and subject matter.

Things are growing in the Dark...

2010-10-30T12:36:00.015-05:00

Things are growing in the dark and destroying my beautiful batches of wines. I have had trouble with the last few batches of my wine turning, shall we say, rather undrinkable? It is very disappointing when I would bottle a batch of wine and it tasted quite nice - raw but nice - only to have it be almost undrinkable a few months later. It was a smell and taste I couldn't put my finger on. I started to super sterilize (obsessively?) all my equipment and nothing seemed to make a difference. The last batch of raspberry broke my heart and I knew I had to do something about it.

I grabbed a bottle and went down to the local wine store. Neil and his buddy opened it, sniffed it, and tasted it. They pulled out the manuals and went through it all. We finally decided that the wine was oxidizing - that perhaps I hadn't stirred it enough before bottling it. So I bought a wine whip and hopefully this will help my wines in the future.

Now, I had a conundrum - what to do with all the oxidized wine? I considered dumping it then gave my head a shake. Why on earth would I dump it? It is only a couple steps away from being wine vinegar. As you may remember, I make various types of vinegars: red and white wine, cider and also ginger beer vinegars. However, an over-sized pickle jar would not hold all of the wine that has oxidized. I dug around and realized that I had a glass carboy that had a huge opening and that I had never used because I couldn't find a food grade cork big enough locally. So - I now have a container. I can still use a paper coffee filter to act as a cover and keep the vinegar flies out and other unsavoury treasures but the oxygen can still get in. The first batch of wine to go into the carboy was my Riesling. Thirteen bottles later, I had filled it almost halfway. I added a jar of white wine vinegar that had a nice little mother in it and gave it a stir.

Now came the second conundrum, where to put this carboy? We have a nice house but it didn't come with very many or very large closets and storage is always an issue for us. I definitely couldn't put it in a closet and it is too heavy to go in the cupboard above the fridge. Vinegar, in the making, needs to be kept warm and in the dark. I mulled this over in my pea-brain and decided that a cover was the way to go. I went downstairs and again dug around for something suitable that could just stay in the kitchen in a corner. Nothing appealed or matched. As I was walking through the laundry room, I spotted an old, black heavy knit dress of mine. Aha!! the lightbulb went on and the peas sprouted! I took it upstairs, cut part of the skirt off, and sewed a sleeve out of the skirt with elastic on the bottom and a drawstring on the top. It looks reasonable enough to sit in the corner (although I think I will change the drawstring to black once I find where I put the old black shoelaces) and it solves the problem of leaving it somewhere in the dark!!
So the next conundrum will be what to do with 5/6 gallons of white wine vinegar? It has to sit probably until the spring before it is ready and mellowed. However, I think I have this one already taken care of - I have many friends who are thrilled with the prospect of vinegar in the spring when it is done.

Show and Tell and Do!

2010-10-24T21:48:00.018-05:00

I spent a wonderful evening and day at a trunk show and workshop put on by a couple of our local merchants. It was a treat for all of us who attended.

The guest quilters/owners (Jeanne Large and Shelley Wicks) were from The Quilt Patch in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. (Shelley and Jeanne recently published a quilting book called "Tis the Season." It was their first time publishing a book and were they pleased with it!! It is a very nicely laid out book with lots of very brightly coloured, easy to follow designs in it. I expect it will do very well for them.) They not only designed but created the quilts that were featured at the trunk show. For those of you who are not quilters, a trunk show is like a fashion show of quilts. They talk about each quilt and then they are literally paraded around the room for everyone to look at. To our surprise and delight, we were advised to touch them. This is unusual because the audience usually does not get to handle the quilts because the oils from our hands can discolour and stain them. Shelley and Jeanne believe that quilts are meant to be handled and used in order to be fully appreciated. I applaud them for this because quilters are a tactile bunch - we love to feel the fabrics and quilts, turning them this way and that for a better look.

Unfortunately, my camera was dead and I didn't get to take photos of the trunk show. I did, however, get a few pictures the next day from the workshop.

We made a good dent in the lap quilt "High Strung",from their new book"Tis the Season," before the end of the day. It was an exercise in applique!! Cutting and sewing those numerous points on the trees definitely took time, as did the holly leaves. It is a very striking looking quilt; my picture does not do it any justice. I decided to try using felted wools for the first time. I was quite impressed with how they handled and how the felting prevented them from fraying. It did need a bit more pressing to get it to adhere to the cotton for appliqueing - quite a bit. I am pleased with the overall effect though - it adds a tactile/rustic quality that you don't get if you use only the cottons. I was disappointed that we ran out of time to finish our quilt tops. (Yes, I am whining...lol) This workshop would have been great as a two day event so we could finish more of the top. I never expect to completely finish a top at these workshops but always hope I will get done. I was very pleased with how they were on hand to help us and they gave us some great suggestions while we were sewing.

What a wonderful group of women from "As the crow flies...quilting workshops", Sheila McNish and Marlene Biles, that organized and attended the two day session! Everything was well planned and they, very generously, gave out numerous prizes throughout the two days. (My friend, Peggy, was one of the happy recipients of a turnover of fabric.) We had a lovely snack of homemade dainties Friday evening, a generous breakfast of muffins and coffee cake along with a variety of teas and fresh coffee for breakfast. We later had a very nice luncheon of tea sandwiches, fruit and (you guessed it!) more dainties. I don't think anyone could slight the organizers for their first ever quilt endeavour! They did a super job!

No password! No entry!

2010-10-23T15:09:00.014-05:00

I changed my password to my Google accounts and then discovered, the next day, that the one I thought I had chosen was not actually my new password!! I had changed it but had not gone back to use it a couple times and as a result forgot it. I have to admit I did panic somewhat...ok quite a bit...more than I should have. I had not realized that not being on-line would even create a void for me. I sat and examined my feelings. I realized that I was actually quite bereft; I felt left out. It was like knowing about a party and not being invited into it.

I tried numerous words that I really like the sound of and had considered in the past for passwords. Words like shalloon, guidon, or flowers like day-lilies, or peonies came to mind but they definitely were not my new password. After numerous attempts I finally decided I should contact Google and see if they could help me track down my new, elusive code. I attempted to fill out the form, which I discovered is not for the non-memorizing types like me (like who ever memorizes email addresses or the like?), and submitted my information. I am still awaiting a reply. I have to give them a bit of leeway here because they did say 24 hours and it has only been about 18 hours...

I dug through the pile of papers on my desk in hopes that I had written down this elusive word. Again, I had no luck. This morning, I was grumbling and rolling words through my mind, all of which I quickly rejected knowing my pension for odd words - most were just too ordinary.

So, by now I was getting pretty pissed off with myself and Google! It was they who had informed me that my account had been hacked and to change my password. It was just so easy to blame them, when in fact it was neither of our doing. Damn hackers! It felt good to blame someone other than my rather elusive memory.

I told my husband, in hopes that I had given him the password. No luck. Now, I was definitely upset and hoping Google would have a password for me. So, I have to admit I waited - not very patiently.

I sat down and read the local rag. As I turned the page I happened upon a word that seemed surprisingly familiar...to the point where I ran downstairs and typed it into the password section. I hit paydirt!! I now know my password and have written it down elsewhere so I don't forget it again. Still haven't heard from Google though...

This got me to thinking about our aging society. We use passwords for everything; access to our bank accounts, our phone service, our computers, pin numbers for our debit and credit cards, just to name a few. I recently read an article in Time magazine how the number of people that will develop Alzheimers or age related dementia will be astronomical in the coming years. It makes me ask the question: What will happen to all the accounts that people don't access and lose track of? Are they contacted by the companies that they subscribe to? And just what if? It is kind of scary thinking about this but it can conceivably happen that we just forget and don't even know that we have forgotten, as is the case of many of these brain/memory related diseases.

Pain

2010-10-13T19:19:00.029-05:00

I thought I should throw a bit of fiction out, for a change. I seem to documenting my life instead of writing like I originally intended to...this piece is called:

"Pain"

She was devastated when she got it, even a little confused. It was beyond her understanding this little piece of paper. Although she knew that it would have to be done sometime, she assumed that she would get a call or an email from them not a bill from the church announcing that it would happen the weekend coming up. It was less than five days away; she just couldn’t get her head around it.

She was still heartbroken from when he passed. God, she missed him so much. She missed visiting him, and chatting with him. She missed his big warm hands that held hers while they sat together in the common room at the home a few times a week over the years. Despite his infirmities, they always had a nice time visiting. Him, quiet and gentle while she was more outgoing and chatty. They were good friends and respected each other in their own quiet ways. She would ask him what he wanted to do with this or that whenever issues came up or if it was ok to change something or if she needed help with Mom. He was good that way and would let her know if that was fine or not, he liked that sort of thing.

He had had such a hard time; his body gave him no rest and robbed him of whatever dignity he tried to maintain. She would pretend that she didn’t notice anything and he would pretend that nothing happened. It was their way of caring. They both knew that time was getting shorter and shorter and that each day was a gift. He never complained or took it out on her. Whenever there was a problem, she would quietly talk to the nurses before leaving, out of sight from him, letting them know if he was having difficulties. She didn’t want to embarrass him; he had so little left that was his.

When her mother-in-law passed, he held her hands and mourned the loss along with her knowing how much she had loved her. He told her, choking on his emotions and words, saying “It’s ok my girl, she is resting now.” He was showing how much he loved her by trying to soften the pain, the only way he knew how. He wept with her and she loved him all the more for it. He had always been this way with her, always gentle. That was why it was so devastating to get the bill -no one had told her that they were going to bury him the next weekend.

I am so Lucky!!

2010-10-01T21:33:00.008-05:00

I am a little late at posting this because I have been so swamped but Sarah at Cottage Garden Studios has invited me to join her e-course on photography ,Photo Bee, for free!
She is a fabulous photographer and does amazing things with her camera. I am so lucky!!

Anyone out there who does not know her blog should check it out . Not only is she an exceptional photographer but a talented artist as well. I admire her creativity in her artwork and her wonderful sense of colour and balance in both disciplines. Click on her follower link on my site and see what I mean.

So - thank you Sarah!

Lasagne and then some more Lasagne!

2010-09-21T21:04:00.008-05:00

I am not a huge pasta person but I love lasagne. It is one of the few pastas that I admit to really liking. When I make my lasagne, I make the sauce from scratch - fresh tomatoes, blenderized zucchini, basil, onions and celery from my garden, some wine and hamburger from a friend's farm. I use regular noodles so they will absorb any extra moisture from the sauce and I don't pre-cook them - I find it saves me a ton of work omitting that step and there is no difference in taste or texture. I have no real recipe - I just throw everything into a pot, cook it down till it is thick, delicious and smells divine.

I made a huge batch of sauce the other evening after work. It was so cold out I had to do something that would warm us up, even if it was just psychologically. I phoned my oldest daughter and told her to bring some pans over - that I was making lasagne! Making only one is a waste of time if you can make more than one - right? I think so anyway. So I made six lovely lasagne; first a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles, layer of cheesy white sauce, layer of sauce, some parmesan cheese, layer of noodles - you get the picture. After they were all done, I wrapped them with some parchment paper and slid them into some plastic bags for freezing. So good. My version of fast food for busy days. My daughter was delighted to take some home for her freezer as well.

What's not to like about all that lasagne just waiting to be eaten, especially since it can't blow a cork!

Booze Bombs and the Joys of Winemaking

2010-09-09T00:18:00.009-05:00

I was busy replying to the Barb and Laurita's comments the other night when I heard a persistent rustle of cardboard behind me. I thought it was one of the cats playing with the cardboard boxes that some of my wine is stored in. It wasn't the cat. She sat there, head tilting from side to side looking intently at the center box with a perplexed expression on her face. The odd scratching noise continued until suddenly, there was a loud POP, like someone opened up a bottle of champagne. A small but forceful stream of liquid whipped open the cardboard box and shot a cork across the family room. The poor cat jumped about three feet in the air and skedaddled up the stairs so fast you would have thought the cork was after her! Amazing how far it shot! It was hilarious except for the mess it made on my carpet and the fact that my rumpus room smells like a brewery. I guess one of my bottles of wine was not finished working and blew its cork across the room and proceeded to blast wine right behind it.

Ah, the joys of making wine.

(I noticed that the cat hasn't kept me company down here since....)

Pictures ad nauseum

2010-09-07T20:40:00.015-05:00

As you may have noticed but I have started to include more pictures on my last blog and added a new background picture taken of my garden to my title area. I finally broke down and bought myself a new little Kodak camera a week or so ago. I am finding that I am quite pleased with my little camera and have been snapping everything and anything. I have always liked taking pictures and love when they actually turn out! (Doesn't mean I'm good at it. lol)

I have taken pictures of literally everything just to see what this camera can do. It can take a picture of my dog sitting on my lap -a distance of 8 inches - a bit overexposed because of the flash but I was surprised that it was as clear as it is. Its zoom capabilities are definitely limited. I was impressed, however, that it can take relatively decent still shots from the side window of the vehicle of the side of the road when we are travelling at 100 km/hr (60mph). Distance/panoramic shots are sadly an issue but otherwise I think that I will persevere despite this and keep the camera. It is smaller than a blackberry, came with its own case and 4gb memory card so not only is it easy to slip into a pocket and take along when I head out but can store a huge amount of pictures. I also really like how it came with only one cord and a small adapter that can be used both for transferring pictures onto the computer and for powering up. Not too many negatives with this one. The screen is also large which makes picture viewing very easy. I like the smaller buttons it has as I won't accidentally turn on the camera when it is in my pocket.

I know I am going to enjoy having a camera once again. It will be fun to be able to take pictures of all the wonderful things and people in my life.

Kayaking the Little Saskatchewan River

2010-09-07T12:59:00.016-05:00

My hubby and oldest daughter headed out on what was supposed to be a 2.5 to 3 hour kayak adventure on the long weekend. He GPS'd the distance and said that it was about 13 kms as the crow flies, what he did not take into account was how this very old river meanders.

I dropped them off at the bridge on hwy 354 and was to pick them up 3 hours later at the first bridge along hwy 250 just south of Sandy Lake. Despite the weather being somewhat inclement, they decided that yeah, they were going to do the river and just hope it didn't pour on them. It was drizzling when they left. I had my doubts about this but I was just the driver and just needed to be there when they finished. I didn't want to drive all the way back to Clear Lake so invited a good friend along, reassuring her that hubby said it would only be about 3 hours maximum.

While they navigated the wilds of the river, my friend and I went exploring ourselves. We went into the small community of Elphinstone where we discovered a mid-sized home with a small wind turbine and solar panels that were obviously being used to supplement power for their home. I was tempted to knock on their door to ask them questions about it and hopefully get a tour of how it operated but unfortunately I held back and just paused on the road for a few moments before we drove on. This is a very tiny community with some lovely gardens and lots of trees.

We then continued down the road and went off to the community of Sandy Lake. It is located in a beautiful rolling landscape that boasts a fair-sized lake and gorgeous golf course. I don't know the population of this lovely little town but it is small and like many others in rural areas, it's numbers have declined over the years.

We discovered a new shop called "Generations" while there that had recently opened up mid-summer. It turned out to be lovely. It serves coffee, tea, and lunches that are to die for. Besides being very reasonably priced, the cinnamon buns are exceptional and their wraps are huge and everything is made from scratch! The ambiance factor is also delightful and there is much to discover and purchase, should one desire. It turned out that I knew the owner, Carrie, and we were pleased to compliment her on how much we enjoyed her shop. We will definitely make it a destination for a lunch or a shop later in the fall!

We couldn't dally too long at the shop because time was catching up to us and we still had to get to the bridge on highway 250. Never having been there, I was uncertain how long it would take us to get to our destination. As it turned out, it was actually just a spit away and we were there before we knew it. We found a scenic little spot beside the bridge to park and wait. The day was much improved from earlier and we enjoyed our break. And so we waited, and waited, and waited some more and soon realized that it was well after 5pm and they should have been back already. We had no cell phone reception down in the valley and could not contact them, even when we tried. We thought maybe if we headed back up the hill we could get reception and sure enough, we did. We could not contact them, just others. So down the hill we went again to see if they were at the bridge. Still no kayakers.

Time was beginning to stretch, so we pulled out some binoculars and watched a beaver swim around and several small birds and a large hawk flying. Time was stretching even further and around 7pm we were starting to get a little concerned as it had been 5 hours since we dropped them off and it would be dark in just over an hour. We weren't sure what to do so headed back up the hill and into Sandy Lake to see if any of the locals would know anything about the river. No such luck, everything was closed up tight for the evening. We headed back to the bridge and on the way there stopped in at a farmsite at the top of the hill hoping that someone was there and knew about the river. We were fortunate enough to meet the owner and I think his son and explained our predicament. They were more than generous and hopped on their quad to a lookout point further down that overlooked about 2-5 miles of the river. We told them we would head back down to the bridge. They left and we headed down the hill again. It was already 6 hours later and 8pm. It was now definitely dusk and darkness was falling. As we crossed over the bridge to turn around, we caught sight of the kayakers about 100 feet down the river. I laughed with relief and turned around. We pointed out the best spot to climb up the rather steep bank. They came up jubilant but exhausted. Mr. van Damme came down the hill on his quad when he spotted them and we thanked him once again for his efforts to help us. It is nice to know that there are such generous people in this world.

Not surprising, there is a moral to this story which is not to believe everything the GPS shows - many of the loops, etc in the river were not even on the map that was displayed because of the constantly evolving nature of the river. The reading of their trip on the GPS looked like a twisted piece of yarn that turned back on itself numerous times. What we thought would be possibly about 15 kms or so turned out to be about 30kms, double the distance and double the time.

The upside is that they had a wonderful adventure and saw a part of the river that very few people ever get a chance to see. They saw many beaver, an old log cabin, lots of birds and found several very old bones and unique limestone rocks that had holes worn right through them. As the driver, I found a lovely gift and luncheon shop that my friend and I will visit once again. It was a good day for everyone!

A good deed indeed!

2010-09-07T12:02:00.019-05:00

Imagine, two posts in one day! An unheard of event in my life!

I was delighted when I checked my emails and postings from fellow bloggers after arriving home from the lake. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had won a prize from a very generous blogger, Linda at leftbrainwrite. Linda posted 30 gratitudes for 30 days. When someone posted a gratitude on her site as well, she would donate to two charities. She raised almost 150 dollars doing this! All the winners were Canadian - I don't know if this says anything about us or if it was coincidence but I would like to think that we are indeed heartfelt, quirkie and lucky. These were her winners (including moi):

The Most Heartfelt Gratitude: Written by a writer with a romantic and compassionate soul ==> LAURITA MILLER
The Quirkiest Gratitude: Should come to no surprise to those who know her ==> CATHY OLLIFFE
Lady Luck winner: Also no surprise, as this woman left more gratitudes than any other individual ==> UMBRELLALADY

I like to support a good cause and felt that not only did I benefit by pausing to think about what is wonderful in this world but also others would benefit from her generosity as well.
I didn't realize (or had forgotten) that she was also giving away prizes to us for participating - so it was indeed a nice surprise for doing a good deed!

Thank you Linda.

I must apologize if the links do not work - I am still figuring these things out but wanted to thank Linda and highlight her generosity despite my shortcomings. I will post them when I do. :)

September Long and the Eye Patch Band

2010-09-07T10:11:00.012-05:00

I love going to the cabin on the September long weekend. The weather is generally cooperative and the trees are just starting to turn colour. Although a lot of folks are closing down their cabins and leaving for the season, we are lucky enough to be within an hour of the lake and have the luxury of being able to just zip up at a moment's notice so will continue to go up until Thanksgiving weekend in October.

However, the real reason I love this weekend is because of the Eye Patch Band. For 30 plus years, this band has rallied folks together for a last stroll through our Old Campground with their tunes and Pied Piper Parade. It is the last hurrah of the season for most folks before they head home for the winter. Most will be back next year but some may not.

It is dark outside when The Eye Patch Band starts out on 2nd Street with their large drums, bagpipes, shakers and other instruments suitable for walking a parade. As they travel slowly singing songs like (I am not sure on the titles here...) A Long Way To Tipperary, You are my Sunshine, and finishing with classics like Goodnight Irene. They have a surprisingly extensive repertoire that includes polkas and war-time tunes and play, not necessarily in unison but always with enthusiasm. Sometimes they have guest musicians and anyone is welcome to join in.

The crowd grows as folks wait as the band travels down their streets where they will either join the parade or watch from their decks as it passes by. The Eye Patchers are generous with their music and patient with the crowd as more and more people crowd around listening and joining in singing the songs and clapping or dancing along with the various polkas.

As the night air drops in temperature the crowd continues to increase until finally they reach the corner of 2nd Street North and South. Then it is time for the final performance and speech. Each year, one or another of the band members reminds us how fortunate we are to have the privilege of owning a cabin in Riding Mountain National Park, there is always a brief talk of major events of the year given with the hopes that all will be well. A prayer is sometimes given for all of those serving overseas or folks in other areas of the world that are having difficulty. Finally, they sing Goodnight Irene and then there is a very enthusiastic and heartfelt singing of our national anthem of Oh Canada. Hats are replaced on heads as the crowd starts to dissipate. Many people are slow to leave and stop to chat and say their goodbyes, wishing well to one another for the upcoming year. The night air is full of laughter and good tidings as the crisp fall air surrounds us.

We are all so lucky.

Crabs and Balls Insanity

2010-08-30T16:59:00.019-05:00

This has been a cooking up a storm week for me because the weather hasn't been great and the house needed some warming up. Yikes - I can't actually believe I am saying that I had to warm up the house so early in the year! It has been cool, especially at night, and I really don't want to turn that furnace on. It goes against everything to turn it on before October. Almost blasphemy to think such a thought!

Hubby and I went over to our daughter's and picked a primary (a large vertical tub used for making wine) full of crabapples. We came home and I washed and topped and tailed them, then divided them between 2 primaries to make crabapple juice. I dumped in twice as much boiling water as there were crabs and a half a box of cream of tartar in each. I covered them with a cheerful checkered tablecloth and left them to soak overnight . Twenty-four hours later, I fished them out and moved the crabs to my big turkey roaster and then into the oven to cook through. I took the strained juice and simmered it until it was a mouth-watering, aromatic golden amber colour. Finally, I added some sugar until my tastebuds no longer imploded and it had a nice fresh bite. I poured the juice into 29 sterile sealers and let the sealers sit until the lids popped. Done.

Now, it was time to make applesauce from the baked crabs. I got out the Foley food mill and ran them through. I had enough sauce to make 9 trays of fruit leather, twice over. (I sweetened it with some warmed honey and added some cinnamon and nutmeg - all to taste.) They smell divine and taste pretty good - not super sweet but good- like eating applesauce. I gave the first batch of leather to my oldest for her lunches and some of the juice to take back home in return for giving me all those crabs. The rest I will wrap and freeze for later in the winter for our bag lunches. Now both the house and the garage smell great because of the crabs (the dehydrator is in the garage) doing their thing.

After finishing with the crabapples, I had about 140 apples from our tree to cook down. These I turned into applesauce. I stemmed, cored, and cut off the blossom ends and threw them into a pot with a bit of leftover crab juice and lemon juice to cook down. I ran them through the Foley food mill and have a lovely applesauce all spiced and ready to eat this winter.

I was happy I did all that because I still had four grocery sacks of apples to deal with from the church ladies. I made these into an apple pie filling that I make every year. It is so easy and so flavorful to use. It is especially nice during the winter for apple crisp, pies or whenever we have unexpected company for dinner because it is simply a matter of dumping the frozen apple pie filling into a bowl, zapping it to soften and spreading it into a dish with some oatmeal for a quick crisp that is comforting and good. I was able to make a huge (almost as big as my turkey roaster kind of huge) bowl of pie filling!

I only wish that my tomatoes were doing half as well as my daughter's crabs and my apples. I have so few that we have only eaten 5 - yes - only 5 tomatoes have ripened so far!!! This is just heartbreaking for me because I usually have enough to make salsa, chili sauce, spaghetti sauce and plain tomato sauce, besides enough to eat them everyday for lunch until November. I just cringe at the thought of having to buy pre-made sauces and hard tomatoes this winter. Groan. This darn global warming is darn chilly here on the prairies and the humidity has encouraged all sorts of blights that are attacking my plants...

So today I headed downstairs to grab a can of pineapple to make some pineapple sweet and sour meatballs for supper. No pineapple. I already had the meatballs cooking/browning in the oven. What to do? I went on the net and found a recipe for a sweet and sour that called for cranberries and chili sauce. Hmm. I knew I had some cranberry sauce left from that turkey the other day and some chili sauce that I had canned up last year. It sounded like the weirdest concoction to me but hey! who am I to doubt all the multitude of similiar recipes that professed its exceptional flavour? I mixed equal amounts of them together and it looked like someone puked in my bowl - really. It was hard to taste but I closed my eyes and ... it is actually really, really good! Now, I have to do a sell job on it - hopefully it will look much better once it cooks.

The cranberry chili sauced meatballs are a hit - everyone really liked them. Thank goodness! They were so quick to make and in the end, looked pretty good after they cooked for a bit and I didn't even have to do a sell job. Life is so good!

Turkey in August!

2010-08-24T23:31:00.013-05:00

It was cool here today, with temperatures around 14 Celsius and the wind that sadly had that fall bite in it. It felt like a good day to roast something in the oven. After perusing the freezer, I discovered a small turkey left from the spring and decided that it was just the thing to cook. Thawing it was another matter -I felt like Dave on Vinyl Cafe trying to hurry it along so I could cook it today. Nothing like deciding to cook a frozen turkey in time for supper midway through the morning! I should have had my head examined... I did it though and it turned out just fine. We had a lovely supper and then the best part was I had a nice carcass to brown in oven to make some turkey stock for soup. The house smells great.

To make a nice stock, I brown the turkey carcass (uncovered and remaining meat removed) in the roasting pan for about an hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it is a nice golden brown. Roasting the carcass before adding the water and other ingredients makes a darker, richer stock that is delicious for making soup or just sipping on a chilly day.I then chop up some carrots and celery stalks, usually about 3 or 4 of each, along with some yellow onions (they give the best flavour), a dozen or so black peppercorns and a couple bay leaves. I add a good handful of Italian parsley and sage as well. After the hour is up I throw everything in, add water just to cover and then about another inch . Then I return it to the oven but lower the heat to 300 and leave it for about 2 to 3 hours depending how much time I have. I used to cook my stock on top of the stove but found that I like putting it into the oven better because it comes out super clear and wonderful without all the little splatter marks on the stovetop. The roaster is easier to clean as well because everything that is baked on from cooking the turkey or chicken dissolves and adds to the flavour. I usually adjust my salt near the end when I reduce the stock down.

Turkey sandwiches tomorrow! I am so glad I baked bread this morning because turkey sandwiches made with homemade bread tastes so good! I think I will take some of the stock and freeze it. The rest I will make a nice soup out of because my fridge is bursting at the seams with garden vegetables. Not sure what I will put in it yet but I know I have some purple beans, zucchini, onions, carrots, but the celery I will have to pick and hopefully a couple peppers are ready in the garden and of course I will have a little turkey meat to pop in as well. Looks like supper is already planned for tomorrow.

What are you planning on making for supper? Do you have a garden that is ready for picking?

Real Food or not?

2010-08-08T11:59:00.021-05:00

I know I have said before (more than a couple times) that cooking has always been something I love doing. It is so relaxing even when chaos overtakes the kitchen. I know, I know, that is essentially an oxymoron. Consider this - when you cook you have to pay attention to what you are doing or it really doesn't turn out. Unless, of course, you are making fast food stuff that is heat and serve and that really isn't cooking or in truth, real food. I agree that it is simple to heat and serve but basically it is just sustenance or something to put in your gut along with all the chemicals that they need to preserve it or keep it from separating or whatever. Where is the pleasure in that? I don't mean to sound like a food snob, that is not how I mean it, I just mean that real food is just so good - good for the body and the soul as well.

I understand that there are time crunches, especially when children have events they must be at or you have a meeting to attend. However, it really is easy to develop a few "fast food" meals that can be made when you are cooking on a non-rushed day and be frozen for later consumption. They are so much more satisfying and are just as quick as going through a drive-through without all the downsides to fast food.

I admit that I do queue up to a drive-through occasionally (very occasionally) even though I know that there are alternatives that are better. I feel guilty every time I am in a line because I don't find it particularly satisfying, food-wise. I also find it hard justifying all the additional gas that is burned idling through and the cost of the products. I never feel guilty about making or eating good food that is made from scratch at home.

I laughed to myself when I heard about the slow-cooking movement. I didn't know that what I did each day had a name, I thought it was just cooking. Over the years I have taken a lot of flack for all the care and time that I put into the meals I make for my family. Quite a few individuals didn't get it or felt that it was a waste of time, that my family was spoiled. They would ask me why I bothered going to all that work when I could just as easily go down to the grocery store to pick up anything I wanted already made up. Somehow, a lot of people have lost the desire to cook real food. I know that sometimes it can be cheaper to buy a store-bought meal but in terms of your health, it really isn't cheaper.

I am pleased to see that the process of cooking is changing and becoming a pleasure once again. It really is about sharing and savouring with the added bonus of getting real nutrition from the food that I have taken time to prepare. It is not just about getting our greens and carbs and being low fat, it is about enjoying the process and benefiting from it. The nutrition part just happens when all of us cook real food and the bonus is that we really don't have to keep track of the carbs/low fat/salt etc, it just isn't all that necessary if you choose recipes that don't use a lot of processed ingredients. The best part of taking your time is how it brings everyone together to enjoy one another's company at the table.

A number of years ago, a national food chain renovated one of their local grocery stores and discontinued a lot of the ingredients I needed to make certain breads and recipes from scratch. Instead, they stocked the shelves with a lot of pre-packaged foods. I shook my head and wondered how on earth I was going to be able to cook properly without them. I was quite disappointed that they had gone this route and made it more difficult to obtain basic ingredients. I have since sourced out these ingredients but still am disappointed to see our stores going that direction.

The basics give me more enjoyment that complicated foods. One of my little pleasures is walking out into the yard, picking a nice plump raspberry and popping it into my mouth. The smell and taste of it, softly warmed by the sun, is divine. When I was a kid, my mother would haul all of us out into the bush to pick fresh, wild raspberries. I don't remember if I was a very good picker when I was a kid (most likely not) but I do know I was a good berry eater and I always appreciated the wonderful taste and smell of those berries! I didn't even realize that my mother was providing us with organic food. It was just food. Along that same thought-line - who could ever deny that a fresh, sun-ripened tomato has the most incredible flavour when it comes to making toasted tomato sandwiches? My mouth is drooling just thinking about them. Both of these are the simplest of pleasures but offer fresh, healthy, organic food loaded with taste and all those vitamins, etc so vital to good health and no chemicals!

Protecting our National Parks - Environmental Water Issues

2010-07-31T10:44:00.011-05:00

The environment is something that I try, in my very small way, to protect. I recycle, I try very hard to re-use, and to cut back on purchasing things that are over-packaged. I also garden without using fertilizers and use compost to nourish my soil instead.

I have talked about our cabin in Riding Mountain National Park and how very special it is to us. It is a big deal to have the privilege of being in such a beautiful park. I believe we should do everything we can to protect it and that includes the water bodies that are in the park.

We do not have running water in our cabin, nor do any other of the 500 cabins that are in the Old Campground. There is a movement to have water installed which would eliminate the need to for communal washrooms, shared water taps and the communal shower building. The vocal minority (only 13%) have a desire for running water. We feel that they want to follow Waskasu's lead in Saskatchewan and where the price of the cabins jumped up to 150,000. when water was put in. The other 87% of us love our sense of community which would be long gone big-time if the water happens. Most of us just want our cabins to retain some of that sense of community that we have cherished over the years and part of what makes that is the having and sharing of washrooms, shower building and cookhouses, for us it is not about the money.

It also so much easier not to have water because there are a lot of other issues that will develop if this happens. Our little cabins are very close together and any odours from a bathroom fan will vent onto each others air space. I know I would prefer not to smell my neighbours bm's while sitting on my little patio. (Sorry for being so blunt but we are that close together!) Washers and dryers will come in as well as dishwashers. All of these appliances use an incredible amount of water and promote use of non environmentally friendly products. The dryers will vent to the outside as well and again, who wants to smell bounce or similiar products when we have such a great quality of air right now?

There is also the issue of locking up and preparing water systems in the fall. All the toilets and tanks, etc. will have to have an anti-freeze product poured into them to keep them from freezing and bursting in the winter. In the spring these products will be drained into the system and you can't tell me that this doesn't effect the watershed area. When you take that times 500 plus cabins that is a lot of anti-freeze and laundry/dishwasher products that will go into the watershed area that are currently not.

There are other issues as well, including the fact that in order to put in the water systems they will have to remove most of our spruce and other trees and that it will look like a new subdivision and become almost devoid of trees. Who wants that? Our trees are a major part of what makes this area so beautiful.

Another issue is the fact that the campground will be a construction zone for at least ten years, if not more. And so many families can't afford to pay for the the added construction of adding on an addition to accommodate bathroom facilities. It would cost a minimun of at least 15,000. dollars if not more by the time the dust settles. This is a large sum that most people would have a hard time coming up with, especially new families and retired folks.

This is an issue that is very contentious and ultimately will create a huge division in our campground. It is sad that this has to happen when summer is meant to be enjoyed and this could ultimately mar it for years to come.

Plumbing Rant

2010-07-31T09:30:00.007-05:00

We had a bit of a problem with drainage on our kitchen sink about a year and a half ago. It would give us a glugglug sound everytime we ran water or poured something down the drain. Hubby climbed on the roof and poured some hot water down the vent stack, thinking that it was frozen up. Problem solved. That year. This last winter it started again and the sink was having issues draining. Up the ladder with a bucket of hot water and voila the problem was fixed - or so we thought. Then it started again with a vengeance. I used vinegar and water, drano and some other non-environmentally acceptable methods. Everything worked, for awhile, and then it would start glugglug again and the sink would slow down. We called in a rotorooter guy to clean out the sewer to the street thinking maybe it was tree roots. He put down drop cloths around the sewer hole and proceeded to snake the drain. After he was done he cleaned it up and put everything back how it was. Did it help? He did produce some tree roots and maybe it helped for a bit.

Grr-rr Now it has started in the summer and we are at our wits end! We decided to go with a professional and call a plumber. He came in a couple days later and went to work cleaning out the drain under the basement floor,thinking that was the issue. No drop cloths, no rags for mopping up. His phone rings and he answers it but it is dead. He starts again. The rings again and he answers it and has a short conversation. Hubby is instructed to fill the kitchen sink and release it when he yells. This he does but the plumber forgets to cap the pipe and water spews all over him and the basement as it gushes a couple feet out the pipe. He contines to snake it but his phone rings again and as he struggles to answer it there is crud splattered all over the wall, floor, and fridge. I got him some of my cleaning rags. He smeared it further and further up the wall until I told him to leave it. He headed upstairs and was going to snake it from under the sink. We removed some stuff but he said just to leave the rest. I wasn't keen on it but ok I would give him the benefit of the doubt (which was huge by now). Still no rags in sight. He snakes it down to the basement. His phone rings and he has another slightly longer conversation. It seemed to go well. Things were starting to look up by now.

The plumber then proceeds to feed the snake up the vent stack. There is a loud snap and some angry words from the plumber. I come back in the kitchen and find out that the snake has broken in the stack and is still up there. He makes a couple phone calls and has a couple conversations. Then he goes to get another snake to snare it and hopefully bring it down. No luck. I am not a plumber and please correct me if I am wrong but I would think that you would feel it when it is blocked - wouldn't you? I have to ask you - wouldn't you stop before it breaks?

The plumber then decides to check the drainage on the sink by filling it with water and letting it drain. His phone rings and he has a conversation. In the meantime, he forgot to put the plug back on the pipe and the sink full of water literally gushes out all over the inside of the cabinet and the kitchen floor. Hubby and I scramble for more towels and rags to clean up. As we cleanup, his phone rings and he answers it (6th time?). Eavesdropping his conversation, I hear him give advice to whomever is on the other end and say he will help him out in a half an hour. Things are taking a decided downturn again as he explains to us that he has to remove the dishwasher, cut the pipe and try to fish it out that way. !!!!?? I am getting a little stressed by now wondering what other destruction he is going to bestow on us. Then he is suddenly packing up and says he will come back Tuesday morning to finish. ??? We tell him that Tuesday does not work that he has to come Wednesday and why is he leaving when the job isn't done? Says that he has to go to another job. This job he volunteered for as he was working under my sink!!

After the plumber leaves I crawl under my sink to make sure the plumbing is where it should be and that everything is sealed back up. As I crawl out I realize that everything, including the cabinet is covered in black crud. I remove the rest of the stuff, fill the sink and wash down the cabinet and all the stuff that was under it. Grrr!

Now we have a snake with its head stuck up an already challenged stack, thereby reducing air flow even more and another day that will be tied up with plumbing. Now we have a dilemma - do we allow him to come back and correct his/our problem and probably wreak more destruction on my home or do I call someone else to clean up the mess left by this fellow?

I do have to add this - he was a very nice man which made it difficult to get angry with him but that does not excuse all the mess.

Argh!

Active Retirement

2010-07-27T09:12:00.009-05:00

I had an interesting kind of week in mid-July when I was invited to go check out apartments suitable for a retiring person who is still active. No, it is not for me but it did give me a lot of food for thought when we went around looking at suites. It is amazing the variety of apartments out there and what they offer or don't offer for seniors. It gave me a whole new perspective on what is up and coming in the future when I look at retiring.

I think one of the most important things I came away with was how isolating being retired could be. Imagine moving to a new city where you only have a few relatives, no job and no car. I can't imagine anything more isolating. You have to somehow meet other people and set up a new life for yourself when everyone around you is already established into their lives and possibly have less time to socialize than you. It therefore becomes important that the place you choose has some sort of club or social area where you can meet other potential friends. These types of buildings are extremely few and far between or they are located in an out of the way locale.

You also have to find a new doctor in an already squeezed system. What with all the shortages of doctors in most locations, getting a doctor is like winning a lottery and almost as unlikely. As we age, most of us will require more doctoring than less, so finding a doctor is paramount.

Location becomes one of the most important factors in choosing an apartment - it has to be within walking distance of the mall so shopping is easier, otherwise you have to take our rather spotty public transit or depend on your relatives who are all working full-time (again spotty but heart-felt transportation). It also needs to be near that spotty public transit system or you are left with paying through the nose for taxis to get around.

You also have to think of the fact that you are getting older and that your living accommodations have to reflect this. Having an elevator in the building is a godsend when you are carrying groceries or if you later require a walker. Stairs can be a major obstacle to someone whose mobility is challenged. Then there is the issue of a suitable washroom with bars and a raised toilet. Unsavoury thought that it is but ask any senior whose mobility is challenged somewhat how far down a regular toilet can seem.

These are all things that are important - I just hope when I do retire and have to leave my home that there will be a nice place out there for me that is close to the mall, has access to transportation, and a good social center to meet friends. What a challenge retiring can be! I am glad I was given the opportunity, once more, to check out the facilities here. I am one step ahead of the game, only about 20 years or so early.

384 Square Feet of Pleasure!

2010-07-19T10:11:00.011-05:00

I am still amazed that we own a cabin. I have just had the privilege of spending several glorious days at the cabin and am lucky enough to be headed back there this afternoon for most of the week!

We have a small (384 sq.ft.) cabin in Riding Mountain National Park in the "Old Campground" area. This is now our 16th year there and we have a yearly lease, no running water, communal shower building and log cookhouses where we can heat our water and cook when it is too hot to cook inside. Although we are building a cabin on a beautiful lakefront property at Tokaryk Lake - about 1 hour and 20 minutes from Brandon and 45 minutes from the Park, we will never sell our cabin in the park. It just has too much of our family history tied into it and if our children ever want to have a cabin there - there is no way that they would ever be able to afford to buy back into the park when they are old enough to want to as it would probably be financially too far out of their reach. I know we will spend time at both because they each offer different attractions but my heart will always be in the park. Besides, my daughters would probably never talk to me again if we sold it and I couldn't live with that.

In this day and age it may seem odd not having running water but it actually allows for more freedom and flexibility in the maintenance of the cabin. We don't panic if we don't get up there before everything freezes. (Did I mention we don't have heat either?) We can just flip the breaker, lock up the cabin and walk away. Granted, when it rains running to the washroom is a bit wet but coming back in where it is nice and cozy more than makes up for it! Although I am not a fan of getting up in the middle of the night to use the facilities, whether in town or not, you can't beat the walk up the hill to the shower building on a warm summer night. If it is clear, we have a wonderful view of a sky full of stars and if we are extra lucky, we will have northern lights. In my opinion, it beats using an in-house washroom any day! (Oh - Did I mention that I don't have to clean a bathroom up there anytime either?) (The picture of the wood-burning cookstove heating kettles of water is from the Clear Lake Cabin Owners Assoc. website. - it is our source of hot water for dishes, etc.)

Fire and Heartbreak

2010-07-07T23:06:00.006-05:00

We live in a very nice typical 60/70's style neighbourhood. Our homes and yards are lovely and the neighbours get along well. We have large mature trees and just the kind of ambiance suitable to a lovely stroll. Today, we were visited by a huge tragedy. A new neighbour - who just recently joined our neighbourhood about six months ago - had the horrible experience of witnessing her home burn down to the ground.

Around 3:30ish today there was the sound of a huge explosion and glass shattering. Shortly after, was the smell of something burning...It was our neighbour's home. She was not there at the time but her lovely orange and white cat and her little puppy was. The house is not salvagable. They firemen rescued the cat and sent it off to the vet but they were unable to locate her puppy. We are all hoping it escaped but when you see pictures of the house you realize that hope is slight. Our neighbour came when her home was half-way gone - what a devastating sight for her.

I have never seen a house fire in such close proximity. My initial reaction, and I noticed some of my other neighbours reacting in the same way, was to cry. It is so overwhelming. I cannot imagine how it would be if it had been my home. It is not so much the house but all the accumulated memories that you would lose. The lock of baby hair, the wonderful pictures, the old china given to you by your grandma, not to mention all your other treasures like handmade quilts or whatever. I realize that it is all just stuff but sometimes the stuff is the only tangible thing that ties us to those who have passed or a happy time that is no longer. My heart just broke for her and her family. I only hope in my heart that she can move on from this devastating experience. So sad.

2010-07-01T14:04:00.009-05:00

She could hear the grass rustle quietly under her feet and feel the damp under it. Hot on top and damp underneath. There had been so much rain that the ground squished in some spots. She could feel them following her in moving clouds - a thousand pairs of eyes. She kept a hand over her face to shield herself. Pausing briefly she shifted her watering can and continued around the yard. She knew if she didn't finished her watering that she would have to fight even more later and the thought of it almost overwhelmed her.

Watering completed, she dragged her sticky carcass up the steps and sank into the papasan on the deck. Looking around the yard, she felt a satisfaction with how beautiful it was. Pockets of sun and shade shifted frequently in the wind creating a gently moving landscape that hid those millions of eyes - she could just sense them waiting... The heat was more bearable here because of how the Amur maples shaded the deck. With the shade they rapidly came in droves, her peace short lived as they pierced her thoughts. It was stifling hot and the counts were high but she didn't need CBC to tell her that. As she swatted the mosquitoes away, she admitted defeat, retreated indoors unhappily, leaving them to enjoy the beauty of her backyard.

Last laugh was on me!

2010-05-25T23:52:00.009-05:00

Well, it looks like the weather had the last laugh on me this weekend despite my optimistic predictions of warm weather. It rained and was quite cool the entire weekend. The wind came up on Sunday, the only reasonably ok day, and blew over a huge (at least 40 ft high) poplar tree to the north of us. It damaged another cabin's eavestrouphing but was being held in place by all the other trees surrounding it. I have no idea how they are going to get that tree down without wrecking a cabin or two.
It was a usual type of may long with all the teenagers coming out of the woodwork and totally enjoying themselves. The party in the cookshack didn't shut down until about 4:30am on Saturday night - it was loud, noisy and totally full of life. The saddest part was they didn't invite anyone over 30...lol It would have been nicer if they had quit a bit earlier...my age is starting to show I'm afraid.
Wilma woodchuck was out fattening up on the clover across the street. She is already pretty plump - I am not sure if it is because she is pregnant or because she is just naturally gifted. Our little Kiwi, the dog, was fascinated by it and spent hours watching her munch away. She wasn't too keen on taking a quick run across the street at it though.
Our weather continues to be cool and raining on and off. It is supposed to go down to 6 degrees celsius tonight - brr. I still don't have my garden in. Hubby wanted to knock down part of one of our Amur maples -one of the trunks died and had absolutely no leaves on it. It was sad to see it go because it is part of such a beautiful tree.
Well, I think I am going to have to ask - I cannot seem to download pictures from the internet. I was able to before but not now. I have been trying for the past few posts but to no avail...any suggestions?