A little nuts!!

Basil Time!!! Can you smell it??

2011-10-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

So the weather has been relatively normal....and my basil survived until now...and probably later if I had let it. The thing is...our climate is so dry up here that tender plants like basil seem to last a bit longer than in a wetter climate (like the coast). However, there were signs that the night time coolness was taking it's toll....brown spots on the leaves etc....so, I thought that yesterday I would pick it all and then sort it today.

And I have done that.

Picked Basil - unsorted....this is about 1/3 done.

I usually pick pretty much everything and then go through it all piece by piece and separate the good stuff from stems and the tatty stuff which I set aside for basil broth. What is basil broth you ask?? Well...it's the broth that I get when I boil the stems and tatty leaves of the basil plants in water ( I guess one could call it an infusion) and then strain it (thoroughly) and freeze it. It's a wonderful way to season soups and sauces. The good basil leaves I usually grind up in the food processor and add olive oil, pack it into smallish containers, top with plastic wrap and the lid of the container and freeze it for winter pesto. Please note that I rinse everything thoroughly to get garden dirt and dust off before making the broth or the ground basil.


Here is the sorted basil (about 1/3 done)

...and here are 1/3 of the basil stems and tatty leaves.

The whole process is somewhat soothing....the scent of the basil on my fingers, the sounds of the birds etc in the yard as I do it on the back deck for the most part, it's quite a calming experience. All in all a job well done and will prove to be fruitful in the winter...and tasty too!

Slainte!!

Update after the summer.....

2011-09-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

I know, I know....it's been a while....
Life is busy, and my mind is at times (more often than not) squirrelly.....
Quick update:

We are new grandparents...again, a beautiful baby boy weighing in at 9lb14 oz on August 14. Mother and son are now doing well and we will see them up here on Canadian Thanksgiving.
Had a wonderful time in Osoyoos, BC, visiting wineries, having moonlight swims in the lake and thoroughly enjoying our yearly reconnect with friends who holiday at the same time every year.It was incredibly hot for September ....in the high 30's Celsius so I spent a lot of time in the air conditioned room catching up on my reading and snoozing....I don't do high temps very well!! We had our daughter and son in law staying as well for a few days,to get some well-deserved rest and relaxation!We came home with a fair bit of excellent wine from some new (to us) wineries, some new estate wineries and of course our favourite Desert Hills. We also made our yearly stop at Tickleberry's for the best ice cream ever!....and ......the ladies went for a Spa Day followed by lunch...I had a pedi and my tootsies are quite colourful. The pedicure included a foot massage....and really!!....I had no idea that a foot massage could feel soooo good!! Bliss!!
On our way home from Osoyoos, we picked up some tomatoes and apples and thus when we arrived home (after unpacking etc...) DH made 2 large batches of his "world famous" tomato sauce, and we made 3 large apple pies. Also, I managed to pick up the ingredients for my mothers recipe of Cucumber Relish and so we made about 18 pints of that....and in amongst all the chaos of preserving we had to clean up the garden, harvest tomatoes (still more to do) pick basil (still more to do) and in general try to make order out of the well watered (by helpful brothers) garden that had become quite overgrown in our absence of only a week!! Of course, after a mighty windstorm last night, further cleanup and repairs are necessary.....sigh!!
It is also the official start of the symphony season this coming weekend...and yes, I am still playing in the orchestra. (Note: on the Home Page of the orchestra...there is a slideshow of pics on the right....the one with the timpani player and the hornplayer behind him?....the hornplayer is me!) It's a great concert .....Nordic Sojourn with challenging music and a wonderful soloist. I have had my head down (no...not sleeping!!) listening to much of the music to get it into my head and know my part. Our rehearsals start on Thursday night, with two more on Friday, one on Saturday and the concert Saturday night.
As for health issues....nothing new there...just the usual, arthritis, back, fibromyalgia.....etc..etc...and I am working on acceptance of me as I am, not as people want me to be. It's complicated and not something I really want to go into here....suffice to say, I don't want weight to be the focus in my life any more....I do want healthy living and happiness to be the focus. I may talk more about this at some point....just not now.
Our dear little pooch, Chauncey the Bichon, is suffering from knee problems and back pain. He will at some point have to have surgery to correct the knee problems and we are dealing with the back pain with an doggie anti-imflammatory. So.....he gets more lifting rather than jumping, but he still loves his walks with DH and he quite enjoyed Osoyoos, after all he got to walk at least 4 times a day!!

I do believe that's all for now....I know I continually promise to keep this updated and I will try.....but then...I had a good nights sleep...I'll promise anything after a good night's sleep!!

Seriously though.....I will try to do better!!

Slainte!

Monday morning.....

2011-06-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have written about Mondays on my other blog but this is about a summer Monday morning....or at least an early summer Monday morning.

I could not get myself out of bed before 9 this morning........
However, once done, and after DH headed out to his workout.....I grabbed a large coffee and the paper and sat out on the deck/patio for a while, read and absorbed the ambiance of a young garden, a robin picking at the strawberries and the cackle of the magpies. It was lovely, not too chilly or breezy....just perfect.

I then headed in to make up my breakfast bowl of strawberries from the garden (picked by DH before the robin has his share), French Vanilla thick yogurt, chia seeds, a dusting of Kashi Go Lean and topped with a small spoonful or two of cashew butter. It was delish....and I read my book of the moment whilst eating.....The Strangeness of Beauty by Lydia Minatoya.... Reading while eating is supposedly a no-no, but it works for me!!

I then grabbed my second cup of coffee and headed down to sit at the computer for a while.

All in all....a good start to the week.....:-)

Slainte!!

Anniversary day....

2011-06-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

It was our anniversary yesterday. We did our usual Saturday morning thing….well not really usual…we didn't go to the market, however, Chauncey got his walk.

We had decided that a road trip was in order, so we headed out to visit a new winery in the area….Celista Estate Winery on the north side of Shuswap Lake in the North Okanagan, just over an hour east of Kamloops. It was quite lovely as were the owners of the winery, Margaret and Jake Ootes. The wine was excellent, we did some tasting and bought a few bottles and then Margaret gave us a complimentary bottle of white wine (Cuvee) for our anniversary....... totally unexpected and a delightful surprise!
Some pictures of our excursion.....

This is their living quarters (I think!) with the Tasting Room on the ground floor......with picnic and patio tables dotted around ......

...one of the many gorgeous views....

More view....

...the vineyard ....still early in the season.... with beautiful Shuswap Lake in the distance.

one of the many beautiful plants around

...closeup .....

.....their wine....delicious!!

The drive there and back was interesting…so many changes in the area since we were last there. We then stopped to admire the loaded apricot and peach trees at my brother's home after which, happily for Chauncey, we headed home for a rest before going out to dinner.

In the evening we headed out to Storms restaurant in Kamloops for our anniversary dinner…..it's on the river and we had asked for a window table, although if we go later on in the summer I believe I would like to have a table on the patio overlooking the river. Tonight it was just a tad too breezy for me. Some picture memories of the occasion.....sorry I have no pictures of actual food....it would have taken away from the ambience to be clicking over our plates.....so the pics are after the fact .....:-)

Together...

Our lovely waitress Haley....and the menus (she was so patient with us!)


Our appetizer....one shared...sooooo good!!!

DH's 9 oz and tasty...


My entree....excellent!!

We did have dessert....a Banofee Pie (Banana Toffee) for me and a Truffle Mousse Cake filled with chocolate for DH!! They were exquisite!! Unfortunately the picture of the dessert menu was terribly blurred ....so you only have our word for it!! :-)
....and as for our wine..... Rigamarole from the Okanagan Valley's Artisan Wine Company....perfect compliment to the food!!

Dear DH and I have been together for 36 years and married for 34….and I wouldn't have it any other way.

To the love of my life….Happy Anniversary !!!

Slainte!!

Nut Butters, Breakfast cakes and mangos......

2011-05-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

So I have just a few interesting little food items that I have tried and quite enjoyed and so....as such...I .am sharing them with you.

First of all, I have become a devotee of nut butters other than peanut butter. That would be almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter etc...etc...etc.. Imagine my delight when I realized that I could actually make these myself and add some extra flavours to boot.

This information I got from Kath Eats and another one from (if I remember rightly) one of her followers in this post of Kath's (don't forget to scroll down for the recipe.) My first attempt at almond butter was ok....but I found it to be frustrating because of the size of my food processor.....too little food, too big a processor....and also I found it too easy to burn the almonds when roasting them. My solution... buy already roasted almonds and add the molasses and maple syrup into the mix. So the next time I did the Almond Butter, I doubled the recipe and it made a large 1 litre canning jar....which lasted for quite a while. As for the pumpkin seed butter, I ran into the same problem so I also doubled the recipe and bought already roasted sunflower seeds. I have no pics of the almond butter, but I have some of the sunflower seed butter.....finished product only I'm afraid and please excuse the bits of butter on the counter....I was in a hurry to get the photo done :-)

The other food item I have tried out....this morning actually...was a Breakfast Cake, which originated from Kath Eats but was changed slightly and posted by Marissa on her blog Loser for Life. I changed it yet again by substituting applesauce for banana and kamut flour for oat bran.....the changes made because of grocery shortcomings....in otherwards I didn't have any bananas (an unusual occurence) and I didn't have any oatbran.
So....here is the finished product....

and then toppd with Maranatha Almond Butter .....

It was quite filling and pretty tasty, but I did have to cook it for about 3 minutes in the microwave and it is very moist. I'll try it with the bananas and oat bran at some future time and see how it works......The good thing about this "cake" is that it is very quick to put together and cook in the microwave.

It never fails to amaze me how many different ways there are of preparing food.....a few years ago nut butters were not even on my radar. I thank my lucky stars that I have a daughter who is a total foodie and loves to try new things. She has opened my eyes to the myriad of options out there. For example... I happened to pick up some Ataulfo mangos (they were on sale)and was raving about the good buy to her and she said...".oh yes they are the best....they are the only kind of mangos I get".....and they are the best....so sweet that I now just peel them, cube them, sprinkle a little 5 spice powder on them and have them as a side to my lunch time sandwich. The produce manager in our market calls them the cadillac of mangos. I guess it's the season for them now because they are always on sale and nice and ripe too.

I could go on and on about the new methods and ingredients and recipes I am trying, but suffice to say....I'm having a blast!! My interest in cooking as been renewed !!

There will be definitely more posts on this topic.....but that's all for this one.

Have a great day!!

Slainte!!

Aftermath....

2011-05-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

After I published the last post I thought I would feel better....and I did...for a while. However, as grief does, it attacks you in other ways...especially in your weakest areas. In my case I ended up in a lot of physical pain,compounded by the emotional pain of loss. It was a situation I was totally unprepared for.
However, I am now on the mend...

It's been a deep dark hole I've been in... filled with pain and anguish....which I'm sure sounds very dramatic but it's the only way I can describe how life has been for me recently. The grief threw me into a fibromyalgia "flare" which caused depression, insomnia and much physical pain. Sorting it all out without counseling has been a challenge. I have my "cave" to retreat to where my emotions can be taken out, sorted and examined without involving anyone else.....just me. Now I'm having much more positive experiences than negative and the longer days with more daylight have added to the positive side of things. I've also started jotting down the more negative thoughts to expunge them from my mind so they don't contaminate the good stuff. I don't seem to have the ability to separate positive and negative within my head, so I have to get it out on paper where it makes sense and then I can dump it into the emotional trash bin. I have also allowed myself to remember and shed a few tears and finally things get put into perspective ...

Although I have lost a dear friend, I still have much to be thankful for.....a loving husband, great kids and the anticipated arrival of a new grandchild in August, the love of other family and friends and the chance to do whatever I please whenever I please....the benefit of old age and retirement.

Sure...there will be other times when the darkness will creep in....but having got through this and other past experiences, I get stronger each time.....

Slainte!

A friend lost....

2011-04-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's amazing sometimes how, when you lose someone, random memories come flooding back.
I lost a dear friend last week....an almost 40 year friendship..... and since then I've been flooded with memories of our times together...and I don't think there is one memory that I would want to erase. I think it's a coping mechanism.....I still grieve...but the grief is peppered with smiles as I remember good times.

I met Jackie in 1973 as I was heading home from England after finishing a three year stint at the Royal College of Music. We were delayed for 13 hours in Gatwick Airport and so got to know each other quite well. She lived in Portland at the time and was flying home via Vancouver on a charter after a holiday in her home country of England. We went our separate ways but kept in touch by letter and phone and visits. She gave her approval of my choice of husband and proceeded to call him her boyfriend. She predicted I was pregnant with my firstborn.....and she was right. I believe she also predicted my second child as well. She felt that those predictions gave her the position of honourary aunt which we had no problem bestowing upon her. She introduced us to her friends, bringing them up for visits to our home....and we returned the visits...kids and all. At least one of those friends is still a close friend of ours.

After several years in Portland, at the age of 56, she moved back to England to marry her soul mate Jack.
Jack was a lovely man, Lancashire born and bred, and he adored his Jackie. They were two peas in a pod. She still made regular visits to Oregon and BC introducing Jack to the countryside and her friends.

We went over to the UK in 2003 and spent nearly two weeks with them, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Day trips with them to Morecambe, Blackpool and York, and then spending some time exploring on our own in Manchester and Lancaster Castle. We did hope to get back over there, but time and finances never did seem to allow us to do so....and now I expect we will go at some point, but there will definitely be a feeling of someone missing.

Over the years, Jackie amassed a collection of toy penguins...mostly plush, but some ornamental. She had names for most of her "boys" as she called them and we used to make up stories...in emails, on the phone and in letters, about their exploits. She had a sense of whimsy and her ability to give them characters was wonderful. It was a place I loved to go with her....we seemed to be of like mind. She received a few parcels from us with "pens" as we called them stowed inside....and the scenario we used was that we were the layover before the pens finished their trip to "old folk in England" I had a few sources near where I live that I frequented to see if there were any new penguin visitors in stock. We even managed to get two quite large pens wearing toques that we bought during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. She had good times making up a story line for those two new acquisitions!!

Jack died in 2008 and then Jackie's brother Graham passed away almost exactly 2 years later. After Jack's death, Jackie's health deteriorated and in the end, she was really just tired and wanted to join Jack....which she did on March 22, 2011.

As I always want to find an upside to any sad situation, the upside here is that they are together again.....and that's as it should be.

Love and hugs to you both double J's and I have two baby pens here who will take up vigil next to your picture in my studio. I see you smiling my dears.....it's all good.

Slainte!!

Such a nice day.....

2011-03-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today was a nice day.....
Warm enough to have the window open and the sun pouring in while I puttered ...folding sheets, updating my laptop, sorting through books.....

It must be a sign of spring...DH was pruning the trees, the cats were prowling and every so often the flicker would pierce the air with it's call to a mate.

...and DH saw a robin on his walk....

A nice day to be sure.

Slainte!!

Recipes from the past....

2011-02-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

For a while now I have been wanting to make Oatmeal cookies. DH has had a craving for them and all the ones at stores and bakeries seem to always be Oatmeal and?? ...in otherwards with raisins, choco.chips, nuts etc....
I don't bake as much as I used to ....more a cooking person, but I went on a search for the elusive Oatmeal Cookie, trying to avoid using the internet. Instead I started sorting through my large collection of recipes in books and papers etc...etc.... I came up with a few recipes, but they just didn't seem to fit the bill.....one had 1 cup of oil, another was a version of Dad's cookies with coconut etc...etc.. So finally I thought.....hmmmm.....I have my mom's recipe box here...I wonder if she had a recipe in there, after all she made a lot of oatmeal cookies in her day.

Well...I lucked out. A neatly typed recipe for Oatmeal Cookies using milk and no eggs was well worn and stained, thereby proving it to be one of her regulars for the cookie jar!!

I followed the recipe to the letter only adding a teaspoon of vanilla and they turned out great!!
Here's the first batch in (with my new silicon baking mats)....

...and the last batch out.....

My mom was strictly a recipe person when it came to her baking and cooking....but some of her recipes were memorable. I count myself lucky to be in possession of a goodly portion of her cookbooks and recipe cards....so many memories of family dinners, the ever filled cookie jar whenever we (and our children) arrived for a visit....recipes she liked and borrowed from aunts and cousins and friends. The freezer was a boon to her....she ended up getting a second freezer just to put baked goods in....and she was doing that well into her eighties.

The other night I pulled out some of the cookbooks that she had used over the years and thumbed through them stopping at the well worn pages that were stained and there was always a recipe for something I remember from my childhood. I hope to do more baking of these recipes over the next little while and I'll post when I do.

Slainte!!

Lunch time!!

2011-02-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

I love having lunch at home....
That's not to say I don't like eating out...I do, but lunch at home is made and designed by me and for the most part has the same or similar ingredients every time, and every time I always feel like more!!

What I Eat.... a sandwich, carrot sticks with a spoonful of hummus and a piece of fruit.
Now this all sounds pretty plain...but it's the making of the sammie that makes the difference!!
I usually use whole grain artisan bread which is not too too big, dijon mustard, olive oil mayo, my mother's recipe relish, and thin sliced cold cuts of either turkey or chicken. Sometimes I add sliced cucumber or tomato as well and then I pile on the greens....usually organic herb greens and this particular time I also added chopped cilantro...(I love cilantro!) The challenge then is to actually put the lid on the sammie....I have been known to keep it together with a toothpick a la restaurant style. We recently started adding carrot sticks (not sure why) and so one large carrot does both DH and I and I chop it in four large pieces and then make many thin carrots sticks evenly divided between the two of us. Today I had a slightly over ripe pear which was tasty. Usually I have a pear a little on the crisp side or an apple. If we don't have carrots we have pickles...me dill...DH sweet. This is usually accompanied by a cup of coffee or tea or in my case a glass of Perrier.

How I eat it.... We sit at the dining room table, he with his book and I with mine (usually propped up on something, in this case a recipe binder) using a place mat. I'm sure there are people who would say that sitting at the table eating together is a time for chatting etc....and we do...sometimes...but quite frankly we are both more comfortable reading and enjoying our food. Yes...we do taste our food despite getting engrossed in a book....because the food is THAT good!! I don't eat fast... I stop reading, look out the window at the gorgeous view, give the dog a tidbit of bread or carrot....so all in all it's a very pleasant experience.

...and that's my lunch time!!

There are two more pics I wanted to share, of kitchen things I got for Christmas....

Two bamboo cutting boards from our son and daughter in law and a new coffee mug from our daughter and son in law. I've needed new cutting boards for years and so put them on my Christmas list. One is for bread and one is for veggies....I have a separate acrylic one that I use for meat. I notice in the picture there are what look like white spots on the boards....they are just dry spots as the boards had been washed and were still drying out when I took the pictures.

The mug is huge and lovely and soooo me!!

It's made so one can wrap their hand around the mug and get the warmth.....just looove it!! Apparently the artist makes them for left handed people as well. How cool is that!!!

Slainte!!

A walk on the dike......

2011-02-15T17:38:00.000-08:00

Today was a glorious sunny and brisk day.....perfect for walking!
We have a path along the dike beside the Thompson River next to the airport. It's flat, in relatively good shape, and a favourite for those of us with dogs.....as long as you follow the rules....leashed and clean up. The leashed part of it is a new rule and for the most part is rarely followed. We leash our pooch when other dogs or people are around....if there's no one we let him loose to wander as long as he stays close....which he does. We clean up always but that's not always the case with other pet owners and that's frustrating....however, I digress....
I took a few photos, one when we started out and then the rest when I did my rest on the bench and DH and Chauncey wandered off.

When we arrived, the regular parking lot was flooded, so we parked onto one side and took a smaller and somewhat muddier path to the dike. That isn't our dog by the way....someone arrived as I was taking the pic.

After we walked to the bench....DH explored the rocks on the dike as he noticed others were on the sandbar with their dogs.....as you can see...he ....and Chauncey made the trek down.

Now they're strolling across the sandbar....which, I might add, occurs when the river level goes down in the winter ...and also during the dry spells in the summer.

Meanwhile I took some pictures of the airport.....

...looking back the way we came and the control tower in the distance.....

..and then back towards Kamloops...up river. I was going to take some more pictures of the path going west but my attention was distracted by my two men (human and canine) walking on the sand!!

Heading toward the river...with Chauncey being diverted by..something....

In the distance....if you scrunch up your eyes.....you can see them....and I gather Chauncey stopped soon after this and refused to budge...at which point they headed back.

The background here is railway along the rivers edge and above is the transfer station for Kamloops' refuse (polite word for garbage) I have to give them credit though...it's not too bad looking....neatly terraced.

This is where I called Chauncey and he came running ....until he saw the rocks and then he waited for "daddy" to show him what to do......

An interesting smell kept him occupied until DH showed up.....see his pompom tail???

Ah...finally..." OK Dad....tell me what to do now....where do I go???"

DH is coaxing him and he was through it in no time. Whatta pooch!!!

So after we finished our walk.....we went into Kamloops to do a few errands and I took these pictures to amuse myself whilst DH was in buying dog food!!!

Kamloops is a railway town...and everywhere you go...even during a walk on the dike, you see trains....downtown, in the eastern and western suburbs and the northern suburbs. The city is a hub for both the CN and CP railway and the Rocky Mountaineer

These two pictures show the trains that run right up behind the vet's where we get our dog food.

...and this is just an interesting tree I wanted to take a picture of across the road from the vet's office.

Getting back to the trains....while we were walking on the dike, one long train went by on the other side of the airport and two went by across the river and sand bar from where we were walking. We hear them at night rumbling along on the tracks below our street...and in a way...I find it somewhat comforting. No matter what .....the railways always seem to keep going.

Slainte!!

New acquisitions for the foodie in me and something else.........

2011-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Well...hi there!! Long time no see.

My life in the food and cooking lane has been eventful and over the next little while I'll post pics etc....

But for now....I just want to show pics of the three new things in my kitchen that I loooove....and one new thing in my workshop.
My children and husband were generous to me this Christmas ....wish lists do have their uses...:-)

First of all....my 14 cup GE Food Processer. This came about because I discovered the benefits of doing pastry in the food processor....quick and easy and very flaky. However, my old Braun Food Processor could only do a recipe for 1 double crust pie...and my favourite recipe makes enough pastry for 2 double crust and a single crust pie.....the old standby Never Fail Pastry. My daughter has a 14 cup food processor and from the moment I saw it I coveted it mightily. The hints began early and websites were perused...and between them, daughter and hubby came up with this GE surprise at Christmas.....

I have not yet used it for pastry, but I have made almond butter and sunflower seed butter in it and have plans for much more good stuff!! We still have a stock of pies in the freezer (stock meaning 2 or 3 which is more than enough for us for the winter) so I'm thinking that the pastry may have to wait until the spring. As it happens my 20 year old Braun kicked the bucket just before Christmas (through no fault of mine I assure you!) so timing was perfect.

The other kitchen delight I received for Christmas was new dinnerware. Our old dinnerware was bits and pieces from the years when the kids were in school.....so it definitely was time!! This came from our daughter and her hubby....I had a specific style in mind and they caught it perfectly.

There is something about the white porcelain square plates that sets off a colourful food presentation beautifully. We even feel rather special enjoying our lunch time sandwiches and carrot sticks (with a spoonful of hummus on the side). It's all so...well....just right!! Then there's the yogurt breakfast bowl with fruit and granola...sigh.....words fail me!! So appealing to the senses!!

The last kitchen "acquisition" is something I bought for myself. I've been wanting a proper Dutch Oven for ages.....preferably enamel coated cast iron...a la "Le Creuset".....something I can start on the stove and finish in the oven. Pricewise they are pretty much out of my reach......however......
The other brand I love is Kitchen Aid and they also have the above mentioned Dutch Ovens....also quite expensive. ...but......Canadian Tire (bless their little pea pickin' hearts) had an oval one... regular price $99.00 on sale for $29.95. I really couldn't pass it by.....so I didn't .

To say I am over the moon would be putting things mildly. I can't wait to try it out. I so love the colour too. It's a perfect size for us, not too big...3.5 qts.....but big enough if we have company. My mind is whirling around with possibilities!!!

The last Christmas biggie that I got from my son and daughter in law and grandson was also from my wishlist....a small boombox that provided speakers for my IPod so I can listen to podcasts while I'm pedalling away on my recumbent bike. It's beautiful and works a treat....and is also an FM radio.

Listening to my IPod while at the gym using ear buds was ok, but I just couldn't get used to using the ear buds at home....I much prefer the "all round" sound of speakers....

So there you have it....
I have lots of ideas for further topics.....just have to get the mind up and running again after a long hiatus....

Slainte!!

A touchy subject....Part II

2010-11-17T23:54:00.000-08:00

So...in May I wrote a post "A Touchy Subject" about my weight loss journey and how it was going at the time.
Well....here's an update....
It's not.....I have again backed away from the whole losing weight thing.

However, there is a method in my madness....so to speak. I am still exercising, although I've dropped the gym membership and bought myself a recumbent bike and a few other exercise accessories. It will work out cheaper in the long run.....at least that's what I'm telling myself. It all remains to be seen. I have been listening to podcasts of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone whilst I "work out" and also reading blogs and books....and I have frequently come across the phrases Intuitive Eating and Mindful Eating.

I won't go into the ifs, ands or buts of the subject...just google the phrases....but the concept, while not new, is a good one. However, it is also hard to master....very hard as I'm finding out. There are a lot of behaviours that I'm trying to change and I'm spending a lot more time on me and how I operate....inside and out. I feel a little self-involved....something I don't think I usually am....although maybe some people would beg to differ.

I'm hoping the end result of all this navel gazing and "listening to my body" will be stabilization of my eating habits and a general overall lessening of unnecessary food intake.....in otherwards...hopefully I'll eventually eat three squares and few snacks and exercise on a regular basis.

I'm afraid, though, that I'm still bothered by the old bugbear "what people think"....
I like to believe that I could give a flying toss about what people think of me and how I look or act....but my mother (God rest her soul) trained me well and it's a behaviour that causes me a whole lot of grief. It's getting better, but there are still people in my life (thankfully only a few) who believe they know me well enough to be able to make comments that hurt and they really believe they are helping me. It's been a problem all my life and I think that I'm finally getting better at deflecting the hurt and firmly believing that I am the one and only person who really knows best about me, myself, and I.

Slainte!

Rhubarb!!

2010-09-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had to clear some rhubarb from my garden as it was overshadowing my basil and well....we know how important my basil is to me!! I grew up thinking (in the garden section of my mind) that one shouldn't harvest rhubarb after July 1st because it needed to take some of the goodness back into the plant as it died....or something like that. I believe it was something that my mom told me.....and probably one of those sayings that should go under the heading of "Old Wives Tales". My rhubarb has been VERY prolific this year....I have gotten at least three very large-scale cuttings from this plant and even now it is still growing. However, I digress....this post is about what I DID with the rhubarb that I recently cut.

Well....stored the stalks in the fridge wrapped in a damp tea towel until I solved the problem of what to do with them . I went online and typed in Rhubarb recipes and came up with a website called The Rhubarb Compendium .....it is a veritable encyclopedia of rhubarb recipes. I was mostly interested in a type of rhubarb cake and I have tried out two recipes that I gleaned from this website.
The first one is called Ravishing Rhubarb Cake and is a simple carrot cake type of texture....made in a 9x13 pan.
I didn't ice it at all, but I'm sure one could with cream cheese icing or powdered sugar as the recipe suggests.....anyways...here it is...sorry no pics on this one.....
Oh...and I also used the last piece of this (or at least part of it) broken up on top of my blueberry, yogurt (yes..Krema French Vanilla Greek Style!) and granola brekkers and it was an amazing addition to the mix. Yum!!

RAVISHING RHUBARB CAKE

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
11/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup applesauce or plain nonfat yogurt
3 cups uncooked rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Powdered sugar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Beat eggs, salt, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, soda and cinnamon. Add applesauce, rhubarb and nuts; stir until well blended.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool; dust with powdered sugar. Yields 20 servings.
Per serving: 130 calories; 2.8 g fat (0.3 g saturated fat, 19 percent calories from fat); 32 mg cholesterol; 78 mg sodium.

The next recipe is a gem.....totally. Quick, easy and totally deeelish!!

RHUBARB CUSTARD CAKE

Ingredients:

Two-layer yellow cake mix
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup granulated sugar
1 pint whipping cream (2 cups)

Procedure:

Prepare batter for cake mix according to package directions; turn into greased and floured 9x13" pan. Dump the chopped rhubarb on top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the sugar on top of the rhubarb. Pour the whipping cream (unwhipped) over the sugar. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly touched.
Cream, sugar, and rhubarb sink to bottom, forming a custard layer. Makes 1-18 (depending on how you cut it!!) dee-vine servings.

Now I am not one to use cake mixes a lot....or whipping cream for that matter....but this just appealed to free spirit in me....the one that says "Oh go ahead....you know you want it!!" A couple of things though.....first of all...don't use one of those "Moist Deluxe" cake mixes....just a plain jane white or yellow cake mix.....and I made this twice in the last week or so and the second time I only had 1 cup of whipping cream and so I added a cup of sweetened condensed milk to it and cut the sugar to 1/2 cup. It was just as good or even a tad better. Now I have pictures of this....but it's been mostly devoured from the pan ...and believe me, my piece was half of that which is shown on the plate.....really....yes it was....at least the first piece!!

The only thing I can say after this is.....Enjoy!!

Slainte!

Lavender....

2010-07-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

There are two herbs which are my all time favourites....basil and lavender. Today's post is about lavender.

To me lavender evokes visions of an English country cottage where the door opens and a white haired elderly lady emerges with a crocheted shawl around her shoulders and walks down the path towards me with her hand outstretched to greet the visitor. Upon entering the house, scents of wood polish hinting strongly of lavender assail my nostrils. Whether the lavender is on the lady or in the cushions dotted around the sitting room, I'm not sure, but it's very comforting and the urge is strong to kick off my shoes and curl up on a flower patterned sofa and breathe. Call me a Romantic, but there is nothing that puts me in a more relaxed and nostalgic frame of mind than the scent of lavender.

Strangely enough, lavender perfume tends to make people think of England, but there are also many lavender farms in France and of course North America.....along with a myriad of varieties of lavender.

I have about 3 large bushes of lavender in my garden, which is small compared to what I had in Langley. However, it's more than enough for my needs. I always keep dried lavender around in the winter to use for baking, teas or just to smell..:-). In the summer the two major projects for me with lavender are
Strawberry Lavender Jam and Raspberry Lavender Vinegar (of which I have no link because it's something I do out of my head......

Here is the lavender......and the lavender and strawberries and sugar in a large bowl covered with plastic wrap.....you see you have to leave it overnight to marinate and well.....there are these fruit flies......and I forgot to take a picture before I covered it......and I reeeeally didn't want to take the cover off and redo it....so ......

...but you get the gist of it.....and then there's the finished product......voila!!!

The Raspberry Lavender vinegar is really quite simple....get a gallon jar or two half gallons and a lot of white wine vinegar and raspberries and lavender.....

You then combine them all together, giving the raspberries a little squish to release the juices, break the stems of the lavender a little....putting them in the jar and filling it up with white wine vinegar. Put some plastic wrap over the top if you're using metal lids, or if you do what I did and use the canning lids, just put the lids on and screw them up tight. They should look something like this....

or to get a clearer view (with the flash) ...this

You then store them in a cool dark place (in our case the downstairs pantry) for at least 2-3 months, and then bottle them in smaller bottles with plastic screw tops similar to this.......

...which is officially called "a 10 oz Woozy" bottle from Richard's Packaging....however, any similar type of bottle will be suitable....just make sure you use a plastic cap to avoid corrosion.

We usually filter the vinegar anywhere up to 5 times, using coffee filters and then it makes a beautiful clear ruby colour in the bottle. One hint: Do NOT put fresh herbs in the bottled vinegar as it will go moldy as you use the vinegar and the herbs are no longer covered. The idea is nice and pretty, but not very practical.
So there you have it.....

I am presently contemplating the idea of infusing a large bottle of cleaning vinegar with lavender....I had a chance to try someone's home made lavender cleaning vinegar and it was lovely....to wash windows, counters etc....just left an overall comfortable and welcoming lavender scent in the house. I did notice that one of the large supermarkets had a vinegar labeled for cleaning as it was a stronger strength.....what a super idea!!!

I haven't made any lavender cosmetics recently, although I have made a lavender lip balm and it was heavenly and worked a treat!! Speaking of treats, I do allow myself to buy commercial lavender preparations for bath and hand soap and bar soap and shower gel and shampoo...and ....and....
At some point I would like to make some of those things myself......I may or I may not, but in the meantime I try to buy organic products and ones that have a very traditional lavender scent.....so many now are very synthetic and only a fraction of the loveliness that is natural lavender scent!!

Slainte!!

The desk!!!

2010-07-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days on Facebook, I have been posting about the sorting and tidying of my studio so I can add the new computer desk I bought.

I needed a new desk because the little one I was using worked well for a laptop but when I got the new desktop computer I started getting major muscle cramps in my shoulder because of the two levels....keyboard on lower level and mouse on upper level. I decided that I needed a slide-out shelf with room for both a keyboard and a mouse. We searched high and low in all price and quality ranges and finally came up with a rather good one with a glass top from Liquidation World. It seemed sturdy and I loved the whole concept of the glass top. It was larger than we had visualized, but I was confident it would work.

As is normal with me, once I buy something, I want it set up RIGHT AWAY!!....drives DH crazy. However, his calmness prevailed and despite the nagging feelings of frustration, I bit the bullet and tidied up, chucked garbage, cleaned up random piles of paper into recycling and anything that I couldn't figure out what to do with, I threw on my large work/drafting table to be dealt with later......like maybe a winter project???

I moved my stereo into my workshop and figured out how to configure THAT idea....using my old computer table.

This is my relaxation/comfort/meditating area of my work shop.....as you can see, there is a nice comfy couch to "meditate" on.....zzzzzzzz.

...and then I moved the book case over next to the piano keyboard behind the door, and I think eventually I will probably use it for music instead of books, moving the books over to where the music is now.

I also have a little alcove to store two of the important things in my creative life.... my treasured horn and music stand.

So all in all it seems to have worked well....and provided me with a myriad of little clean up organizational projects to do during the rest of the summer when it's too hot to be upstairs. Things like the pile of stuff in front of the cupboard

and then whatever is behind the dreaded cupboard door

.....it's actually pictures.....hundreds of pictures that have to be to gone through and decisions made as to where they must end up. They are accumulated from the family home about 6 years ago...which only gives you an indication of my powers of procrastination!!!
But I digress.....
The final outcome of "The Desk" saga is this.....

Pretty cool isn't it??
I love it!! ....oh and by the way...the bowl and cup on the table.......that's my delicious breakfast of apricots, blueberries, Greek Yogurt, Kashi Honey Almond Flax Cereal and Blueberry Syrup.....and coffee.....but that's another story!!!

Slainte!!

Leftovers ...act II

2010-06-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

So...today I had another experience with leftovers....well...one leftover - Yukon Gold potatoes from dinner last night. This morning DH slyly said...."Hmmmmm.....fried potatoes and eggs would make a good breakfast.....wouldn't they??" Needless to say that got my brain into cooking mode!!
I rummaged around in the fridge and came up with ....the said potatoes, some fresh spinach from the garden, a bit of red pepper, 2 green onions and some sliced mushrooms. I then dashed out to the garden and clipped some tarragon and dillweed. I also took three eggs from the fridge. All was assembled (more or less) so on I go...
First of all I chopped all the veggies and herbs (excepting the potatoes) and it looked like this....

and this......

I then whisked the three eggs briefly and added some kosher salt and a few twists of pepper and it was ready...

Then it was time to put it all together.....

Heat up the pan with a few glugs of EVOO (which, ironically, was not enough as you will see!) add the chopped veggies and stir for a bit 'til slightly softened. Then add the chopped herbs and slice the potatoes in as well. Keep stirring until it all looks warm and tasty....sort of like this......

Then pour in the eggs, swirling it all around letting the egg mixture run into the little pockets between the veggies and also lift up the edges a wee bit to let the egg flow underneath. It should look something like this.....

Now here's where the "glugs" of EVOO may not have been quite enough. I didn't use my ovensafe skillet and in retrospect, that was probably a mistake. In any case my usual procedure is to get a slightly larger skillet, heat it up and then flip the smaller skillet (and eggs etc..) into the already hot pan, thereby cooking the top of the frittata in short order. HAH!!! The best laid plans etc...etc...etc....
I heated the pan, tried to do the flip, but the smaller pan wasn't having any of it....it stuck and then dripped pieces of cooked egg mixture onto the larger pan. OK...I can fix this.....I put the smaller pan upright, got the flipper and scraped the bottom and then dumped the rest of the mixture into the larger pan and kind of pressed it into some sort of circular scramble that resembled ....well, I don't know what it resembled....but it definitely WASN'T frittata!!

So I sucked it up and grated some aged white cheddar on the top of it....cut it in half and served it up....

It looks a bit of a mess....but believe me....it tasted amazing!!!!

I definitely had to grit my teeth though, when DH put a rather substantial ribbon of catsup over his.....accckk!! He did concede though, that the non-catsup portion was ...well....ok....and I know that when he says that he's actually quite taken with the finished product!! As for me, I was happy to have used up something else out of my fridge and also pleased that I don't have to think about making a lunch!!! I think I'll just have a pear, thanks very much! :-)

Slainte!!

Leftovers....

2010-06-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

I am quite proud of myself. DH thought I was quite weird, but last night before I drifted off to sleep, I figured out my brekkers and lunch.....lunch being the more work to prepare.
Breakfast was Multigrain Cheerios, with strawberries from the garden topped with Krema Greek yogurt and leftover rosemary, rhubarb, strawberry sauce which was used the night before with a scrumptious Cornmeal, Rosemary & Lemon Cake with Rhubarb and Strawberry Sauce. It was a most delicious breakfast and a perfect way to start the day.

However, the emphasis in this post is on the lunch. I knew that I had some egg whites left in the fridge from the afore-mentioned cake and I also had some leftover Pico de Gallo from Sunday and an avocado, some green onions, mushrooms, and celery a load of tarragon outside in the garden. So....I chopped the green onions, celery and mushrooms and chopped tarragon and sauted them in a glug (a la Jamie Oliver) of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (hereafter known as EVOO), adding a couple of twists of fresh ground pepper and a sprinkle of kosher salt. I then gently whisked the egg whites and added them to the veggies scraping the bottom to make scrambled egg whites. In the meantime, I seeded and scraped out and mushed the avocado with a fork and added the remainder of the Pico de Gallo to it. I also had a tortilla warming in the large skillet. To assemble....I took the tortilla and pushed it into a pretty blue bowl , scooped in the egg mixture, added some fresh picked salad herbal greens chopped and then topped with some avocado mixture (hereafter known as guacamole Pioneer Woman style...GPWS). I finished it off with a dollop of natural flavour Krema Greek yogurt (I die for that stuff...it's amazing!!)...and voila!!!

So there is yet another thing to cogitate on whilst sleep alludes me......who knew!!!

Slainte!!

A dinner to simmer...

2010-06-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I would put together dinner early in the day....a hearty soup sitting on the back of the stove, simmering away until dinner time. I started it around one'ish...after lunch.
First I went out to the garden just as it was beginning to rain to see what I could find herb-wise. I came back in with some sage, thyme, Italian parsley, margarita mint, oregano, and rosemary......and after washing and trimming they looked like this

and then after chopping .....they looked like this....

While I was outside...I also picked some spinach and chard... and Russian Kale (which I have never tried before ), washed and chopped them up

Add to that, carrots, panacetta, garlic, leeks, celery, red pepper, some poblano pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, a large can of tomatoes (that I smushed with my fingers a la Jamie Oliver), a can of mixed beans and some low sodium chicken broth....and at the end I added some cooked chicken thighs that we had in the freezer (chopped up) and the finished result (after much simmering....looked like this

and this

....and served up with some Olive Ciabatta Bread.......it was quite a tasty treat!!

I actually managed to get something done downstairs whilst it was simmering away...and...there is enough left for dinner tomorrow night and to put in the freezer for a quick lunch some day.

Today was a good day....rainy though ...and although I never thought I would say this.....I WANT SOME SUN!....if only for my poor basil. On the upside though...our rocky, root infested front lawn has never looked greener!!

Slainte!!

Garden time!!!

2010-06-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I did manage to pot up some basil for Ty and we have left it on the patio close to the house to see if it will survive....and the good news is that IT DID!! Well...at least so far, but the night time temps for the next few days are supposed to be in the 'teens so I'm hopeful that they will thrive. Those night time temps also mean that I may be able to plant basil in the garden as well.....keeping fingers crossed.

This is what the basil looked like before I potted it up.....in small containers sitting on a card table inside our patio doors..and below is what it looks like after I potted it up. (Excuse me...can I scream now....the Blogger picture upload stuff is driving crazy!!!! It should be so much simpler than it is....nothing ever comes out the way you want it....ARRRRRGH!!!!) Ok, now I have that out of my system......on to some more pictures...I hope.

and below is a picture of the remainder of the basil to be planted as it sits on my patio in the sun....sun??? sun???did I say sun??? Oh well, at least the rain will keep it watered!!

...and to finish things off ...a few more pictures from our garden....

my hops ...which is definitely up and running

.....and then there is the dill among the grape leaves....

....and it is so prevalent in our garden it has almost become a weed as shown by this picture...

I don't think I will run short of it this summer!!

Then there is the strawberries....

here.....

...and here

mesclun and chard.....

.....and finally

The Rhubarb

...which we've already had one cutting from. ....oh and that plastic bag...it's a potato experiment!!!

So there you have it...our garden....well..not all of our garden....I mean, there is the carrots, radishes, beans, peas, onions, garlic, lettuce, beets......oh and then there's the fruit trees....but that's another story....

Time to head off before I scream at Blogger....either I'm not doing things right or it's just too confusing.....

One final ARRRRRGH!!! and then I'm outta here.....

Slainte!!!!

Me again!!

2010-06-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well.....here I am again....

I thought last night that I should really blog much more than I do....and make an effort to make things interesting....well ....at least not endless streams of text.
So...here goes.......

I have a few things to do today....one particularly is to pot up basil plants for daughter Ty, now a date for the visit has been finalized. I have pots, I have soil....I will pot!!

I also have decided to try to think of blog topics and that's not as difficult as it sounds. I always can think of blog topics...when I'm lying in bed unable to sleep, when I'm sewing, when I'm listening to music, when I'm working on the computer....but I never remember them when the time comes to post....so THAT'S why I never post. I have decided to keep a notebook handy to jot down things that occur to me that may or may not make it to the blog. I'm also going to take a few more pics and regularly upload them into the 'puter so I can post them if and when I want to. I'm so lazy about uploading pics....wait a minute....I'm so lazy period!!

Having said all this, the trick is to actually follow through on it. I think that setting a specific blog time...to read and post..is a good thing. I know that if I don't watch it, I will be on here all day!!

Now for a picture....this morning, I actually made my brekkers grabbed my coffee and headed downstairs (followed by Chauncey) so I took a couple pics of my brekkers and workstation.

This was my brekkers....Multigrain Cheerios, banana and thick creamy Greek style yogurt topped with a splash of Summerland Sweets Peach Brandy syrup.....creamy and crunch all at the same time with a few little round Cheerios for the pooch to nibble on.....

...and here's where I sit....with my Hawthorne Vineyards coffee cup. I'm so good, I actually had my second cup black this morning. I usually start my morning with coffee with milk and 2 sugar and then the rest of the coffee during the day is just milk or black. I so need that boost of sugar in my first cup though.

I have a few other projects to work on, sewing and organizing, but those will be previewed on another day. I also have a load of food pics that I took with the intention of posting on the blog.....the results of my attempts with new recipes...and most are not too bad. Those also are for another day.

Today, however, is to start now....almost 11 am....wow, I'm doing good !! (Note the tongue firmly planted in the cheek here!!)

Slainte!!

Sitting in the Rain....

2010-06-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there is a definite benefit to having a patio with a roof.....
Tonight I was sitting watching TV (as I am wont to do most nights) and I suddenly got the urge to go sit on the patio...which in itself is remarkable because it was pouring rain and thunder was beginning....but I was bored.

I have to say....it was wonderful....and just what I needed. I grabbed my hoodie and went and sat with my feet up on the lawn chairs and just absorbed the lovely moisture and fresh air. Chauncey (our Bichon) roamed around the yard in the rain and came back to be dried off and paws wiped and then retreated inside to his perch by the front window. However when the thunder started (not a lot) he came roaring out and sat looking mournfully at me until I picked him up and he snuggled up on my arms and we both sat quietly dry...but in the rain.

It was a nice break from routine.......

Slainte!

A touchy subject.....

2010-05-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

Quite some time ago in another life (just kidding!!) I mentioned here that I was trying to lose weight and wouldn't talk about it, but would just get on with it. I'm thinking, in retrospect, that might have been a mistake. I probably should have talked about it and then maybe I wouldn't have fallen off the the wagon at the end of last year.

Sparkpeople (hereafter known as SP) came into my orbit a couple of years ago (maybe longer) by my DD and at the time, I just bookmarked it and left it at that. However, due to health issues etc....I thought I would explore it further, as I don't do well in group weight control settings. I didn't realize how extensive a site it is so when I did my exploration I realized that it was probably what I was looking for. It was on the computer (as was I....a lot!!)and I could make use of as little or as much of the site that I wanted...and best of all ...it was FREE.....perfect!! I was diligent to the point of obsessiveness at first....finding out nutritional data, tracking my food, exercise and weight daily. I lost 50 pounds in about a year and then proceeded to plateau for about 6 months....all the while still documenting my progress or lack thereof. Around Christmas time last year, I decided to give it a break....I was tired of the lack of progress, the tracking procedure, the whole thing. I rationalized this by saying I was trying to see if I could control my eating habits.

I couldn't.

About a week ago I was feeling down (a common problem with me at this point) and it occurred to me that maybe I should return to SP and give it another go.

In the interim, I had read many different weight loss blogs (there are a LOT of them out there) and I came across one written by a lady, probably slightly younger than me, a Canadian (Yayyy!) and who had similar disability problems as myself. It didn't seem that she was that overweight, in fact it was, for her, more about keeping healthy and active...at least that's the way I read it. It was not a fancy blog....it was just quietly telling her viewpoint and I kind of related to it. I had also read a lot of food blogs as well and consequently found myself trying out new recipes and realizing that I can do this without losing the joy of eating....which is where it's at for me and always has been....and no doubt always will be. I had also started going to a Ladies Only gym and been set up with a program that worked for me....and at first it was a challenge, but now I really enjoy it.

So I'm set up to try again.....

As it turned out, I had gained about 25 pounds (so much for "controlled eating") but that word control figures prominently in my days now. I feel much more in control of my life now....in what I eat and how I exercise. I didn't realize how much I was floating until I got the anchor back.....and about the fussiness of the constant tracking???
Well....I just decided that the less I eat between meals the better....then all I have to track are my meals and that's not a problem. I have also set up my gym program on SP so I can track and mark what and when I do the exercises and it tells me approximately how many calories I burn. Even since I've started my energy level has gone up and my interest in things around me has increased, and the depression is lifting. I've been gardening, practising and listening to my music.....so all in all, it seems to be a positive outlook. I feel as though I'm going forward instead of standing still or slipping backwards.

Generally speaking my take on losing weight hasn't changed a whole lot....it's all about quantity and quality. Eat good food, eat food that you love, just eat less of it.....and exercise...in some way shape or form. One obviously has to be aware of the nutrition of the food you eat, but once you've done it for a while, it's just second nature. I have one hundred pounds more to lose.....and I've given myself a year to do it. My only concern at this point is ...that after the loss of 50 pounds, I still had not gained control over my eating habits. The rationalizing, skewed view of my body and food quantities.....it's all still there and leapt to the forefront in my mind when I made that decision to stop losing weight. The initial relief at not tracking my progress was short-lived.....it transformed quickly into making excuses, constant worry and fretting about my appearance (read weight!). Somehow I am going to have to find the strength to believe in my ability to control my diet....and I mean diet as in what I eat...not as in losing weight. It's all about one day at a time I think.....that's the only way I can look at it. Otherwise I get overwhelmed....and then it's all downhill from there.

So there you have it.....my weight loss story (or at least the part that I'm willing to talk about!!)

Slainte!!

Last weekend......

2010-04-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend with our two offspring and their spouses. It was a first time experience (all together in Kamloops!!) for all of us. Exhausting to say the least (I'm showing my age), but it was totally a hoot!! Unfortunately I took no pictures of the event.....so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Apart from the concert on Saturday night (KSO and Charlie Chaplin movies) I think the highlight of the weekend was on Sunday night. We went out for dinner and then headed home for an evening of board games. By the end of the night we were all in hysterics....DH was laughing so hard at one point, I thought he was going to have heart attack. It was really great because we didn't just stay with one game....which made things interesting. Lots of humming, charades, guessing, creative writing.....it was positively gleeful!!

I love my kids and their fun.....

Slainte!

Music to compute by.....

2010-02-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most people have radios and CD players close by their computer....I know I do....but I have recently re-discovered the joys of internet radio live streaming...

I used to use it quite a while ago...but got out of the habit when my laptop started to slow down and I was using it mostly upstairs where there is the TV to compete with.

I recently got a new computer which I set up in my studio in the lower regions of the house (read ground floor, basement, entry level....whatever works for you) so have re-instituted the practice of listening to radio online.....particularly British and Irish radio. My taste (when I'm working) is in the classical music genre so I found this site which lists classical music online radio all over the world....
I clicked on the Europe section and voila....I have a wonderful varied selection to choose from. For the moment I listen to Lyric FM in Ireland and BBC3 in the UK.....and I know there is another ...Classic FM in the UK. I haven't explored any further ones as yet, but will do at some point.

Lyric FM is a more lighthearted variety of classical music with a mixture of serious classical and light classical and jazz with some other genres mixed in. BBC 3 is a little more serious classical....full concerts etc....so there is definitely a few options.

There are a lot of options for radio online, but to find many "just classical" stations is lovely....it inspires me. It's interesting too, when I have Lyric FM on, it's usually early morning or evening their time, so I get local Irish news weather and traffic reports (especially in the morning). I love it....if I can't be there in person, at least I can listen in on their lives!!!

I check out the RTE and BBC websites as well to find out what's on so if there are any special programs that twig my interest, I can listen in.

It's definitely a nice alternative to CBC, especially since the CBC has taken to "dumbing down" Radio 2 to appeal to the masses......and there's just something that kind of suits me to listen to an overseas radio station.

Slainte!!

Food adventures....

2010-02-18T11:38:00.001-08:00

OK, this post is long overdue, according to DH. However, it's about my recent and rather sudden re-awakened interest in cooking. Whilst DH and my bro and I were watching TV one Sunday night about a month or so ago, I was bored....so I picked up a copy of the "Appeal" magazine from Save On Foods. I was amazed how it totally absorbed my attention and how I actually considered that most of the recipes were well within my capabilities. I have a sneaking suspicion that the movie "Julie and Julia" may have twigged something way back in my mind making me realize that I really do enjoy cooking, but just couldn't be bothered.

So.....the following weekend...when looking for something to have for Sunday dinner, I remembered reading the recipe for Beef Bourguignon....and...having heard about it in the afor-mentioned movie, I thought.....why not??? The recipe from Appeal is on Page 18 here and it proved to be relatively uncomplicated. When comparing it to the Julia Child recipe, it seems that hers, while much the same ingredients, is much more labour intensive. My attempt, by all accounts, was a success......
Some pictures of the actual dish.......and then the sides.....mashed potatoes, baby carrots and green beans, along with a nice wine, which of course is mandatory!!
Having shown you this, of course, the realization has hit me that I would never make a REAL chef....I just don't clean up the presentation enough!! Splatters on the sides of the casserole....(shudder!!)

So the BB went off swimmingly....so, feeling rather pleased with myself, I tackled a couple of baking projects, which is normally not too bad for me, but I have to say that I usually use a muffin mix as a starter when I make muffins and then add to it. However....again in the
Appeal magazine Page 56 (see link above) I found a recipe for Chunky Apple Banana Bran Muffins. I think that the fact I had most of the ingredients played a large part in my enthusiasm, plus the fact that I was at home alone with no distractions.....just music playing. Anyways, they turned out amazingly well and I learned to fill the muffin cups using an ice cream scoop....so easy!!
My next baking challenge was Healthy Blueberry Bran Muffins....which was on the KCTS website (PBS) and again....they were very successful (especially with the ice cream scoop.)The only change I made with them is I used 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk instead of 1 cup of skim milk and 1/2 cup of applesauce or plain yogurt.

From this same site, I explored a bit and found a wonderful cranberry, orange, apricot salsa which is delicious and makes quite a large quantity. I'm a real fruit salsa fan, so this just hit the spot.

So, I have no more pictures as yet, but since this revelation, I have found myself to be quite creative in cooking and baking. It seems that DH is also, to a lesser degree, feeling the pull of cooking a wonderful tasty meal. His attempts have been very successful.

More about my (or our) cooking adventures in future posts....but for now, I'll just keep my apron ready and camera handy!!

Slainte!!

A unique perspective.....

2010-02-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

I received this from a dear friend and thought that it kind of put everything into perspective....you think??? It's a very unique and pleasing way of looking at the issue!!
Anyways....I will be posting about weight loss, my ideas, and my challenges in the near future....in the meantime....enjoy!!

Recently, in a large city in Australia , a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?" A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia , the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia . Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

Reflections on the new year....

2010-01-25T14:07:00.001-08:00

Recently I went back over my blog posts since I started this blog and it was quite illuminating. There were days when I was up and full of insights into life in general and in particular my life. Solutions abounded and resolutions were made....
There were also days when I just wrote up anything that twigged my interest, usually about things and people around me and the events that surrounded them.
There were also posts that reflected my grief and sadness about the losses in my life.
I did notice that I had occasionally written about the same thing twice and also, the good intentions of plans I had made did not always follow through....something that doesn't surprise me.
My writing skills varied from brilliant to some downright indulgent and tacky prose. I think it all depended upon my state of mind and whether I was sleep deprived!!

In any case all of this is by way of an introduction to another blog post. I haven't posted since before Christmas and as usual I am in a state of flux. I have so many plans for this year, and I am trying to be optomistic about my chances of following through on them.
I need to continue the downward journey of my weight, mostly for the benefit of my legs...they are so giving me gip these days. It will be a challenge to sure.
In the same vein as the previous "I need", I need to develop a more realistic approach to weightloss. I thought I had done so, but subsequent months of indiscriminate eating has proven me wrong. The lack of control is still there and needs to be dealt with in some way. *BIG SIGH* (It occurs to me that this may prove to be a good topic for a blog post at some future date....a little more in depth about weight loss generally....hmmmm)
I want to start an Art Blog....showcasing and talking about my various and sundry art projects, successes and failures!!
I also want to set up an ArtFire shop online to sell some of my work
I want to explore further my writing abilities, both in adult and children's fiction. I have several books to read on writing (mostly as a guide)
I want to take more time (even more than I do now) to read without guilt. My library is building and needs to be read....:-)
I want to reorganize my workspace to be more conducive to creating and in doing so, stimulate my creative abilities to "create" my workspace.....:-)
I also have a list of people that have emailed me nice newsy emails and I have yet to respond.....I need to do that soon. I also have a few snail mail letters to write too.

So as you can see, there are many "I" things to do.

An attitude change here might be beneficial as well. Less worry, a little more laissez-faire ( “Let (people) do (as they choose).”) and in general just getting on with the business of living a good, healthy and productive life on my own terms. I am allowed to do this am I not...??
Sounds good .....now if I can just make it work.

Slainte!!!

Random Memories....

2009-11-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my Dad I was brought up to appreciate many operatic tenor and baritone arias, one being the famous tenor aria "Che Celida Manina" or as my father translated it...."Thy Tiny Hand is Frozen". It's from La Boheme, one of my favourite operas. The version I grew up with was sung by Jussi Bjoerling, the famous Swedish tenor of bygone years. It remains my favourite to this day. My aunt was also a fan of said opera, aria and tenor...in fact she loved most opera.

Years ago, when I was living in Vancouver on my own, before England and marriage, I would frequently go to the opera with her. One time La Boheme was playing and we were excited to be able to attend. We sat there enraptured by the music and when the tenor aria approached, my aunt reached over and took my hand and held it throughout the entire aria, especially tightly during the climax of the aria (a top A I believe or something similar).

It's a special memory that resurfaced this morning when I was driving home from dropping DH at work.....that particular aria came on the radio and the lump in my throat became tears in my eyes by the time it finished. I've always loved that aria for the music and for the memories of my dad that it evoked, but now it also brings to mind my aunt.

Memories like that are golden......

One cataract down.....

2009-09-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how a community is formed in a hospital waiting room. Whilst waiting for my turn on the table, I met a couple from McLure, and at least three other ladies, all going for cataract surgery like me. I felt so much more at ease than I expected, so by the time I was in the operating room, I was almost relaxed. It also helped that the operation itself was only about 20 minutes including prep time etc....

I arrived at 7:30 am and hit the table at about 10 am and was out of the hospital by about 10:45.
Now it's all about drops, drops and more drops....a follow up appointment tomorrow morning at 8:30 am and then taking things a bit easier for a couple of weeks.

Nurses, doctors, fellow patients....all were very nice and made the experience so much easier than it could have been. That general feeling of camaraderie was prevelant throughout...maybe that's because of Kamloops' "small town" feeling.....something that is noticeable despite it's increasing size.

One down.....one to go at some point in the future.....distant future one hopes!!

Slainte!!

Creatively speaking......

2009-09-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was rolling pastry for apple pies this morning (the best I've ever done I might add!!) and one tends to let the thoughts wander upon occasions such as this. So ...mine did. I was thinking about blogs, mine in particular and trying to get a feeling for what to write about.

My description of it is a search for creativity.....a journey to find what creatively I want to do....a constant problem with me it seems. My workshop is filled with a multitude of artwork, some of mine and some of members of my family (aunts and grandmother). I have a cupboard, shelves and drawers full of supplies...paint, clay, accessories, material, wool, etc etc.. .....which says to me that there are so many directions to go in. How does one choose...or does one combine them all in various and sundry combinations and see what emerges.....it's a quandary. I do admit that when I finally got down there to spend time puttering, it was glorious and I could have stayed down there much longer. The "little grey cells" started working again and ideas started rising to the surface.

The other side of my "creative personality" is writing.....I love writing when I can get my thoughts in order (not always happening!!). My mind is very fertile and if I could write everything down that goes through my head, it would fill pages I'm sure. I know when I am in a "sleepless in Kamloops" mode, the thoughts and stories that go through my head are amazing and I know I should try to get them down on paper or at least into the computer. I also journal a lot....on the computer ....in a number of books.....I would like to get them all centralized...a project for the future I expect. The late Frank McCourt said something to his creative writing class that stuck with me....it was that if one wants to write, then write….about anything and everything, just keep writing and writing and eventually you will find a pattern to what you are doing and will see the direction in which you are to go....at least that's the way I perceived what he wrote and it makes sense.

Of course there is always the music side of things, but that has a time line. One can only keep up the standard required for so long, then it's time to pass the torch onto someone else. I haven't reached that point yet.....but I hope I will know when it comes. Each year it gets more challenging to keep up the practice and energy required for each concert. However, I do so love playing in the orchestra....it gives me the opportunity to take part in the classical music that has been in my soul from day 1. The way my heart fills and expands when a certain phrase of music is played, it's positively amazing......I have been brought to tears whilst playing a performance...much to my consternation.....Sometimes when I'm listening to my CD's I just stand up, raise my arms and should "Yes...oh yes!!!" I move to music...any music...but classical hits my core.....and some parts of opera are breathstopping for me. So when the playing stops the listening will continue to the end of my days....

So....all in all my creative juices are still flowing, albeit somewhat erratically. I do believe I will ultimately find a direction to go in....and I need to take some time and write down a list of directions and projects and then sift through them and think about which is reality and which is fantasy. I also think that the way I approach the whole aspect of creativity needs looking into as well. Do I do it for myself, for money, for other people? I tend to think that doing it for myself is the primary goal....and if the rest come after that's ok. It's me that has to be satisfied and fulfilled before I can think any further. After all, if I'm not enjoying the process and the results of my labour....who else will?

Slainte!!

random thoughts.....what????

2009-09-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

In my purse I keep blank index cards or sometimes a small diary to note down things that strike me or twig my interest where ever I may be. Today I was cleaning out my purse (a mammoth task to be sure) and I came across this list and have absolutely no idea what I was thinking.....

Screaming kids
Conversations
Tight jeans
Sameness in wear
Buggy rolling

It occurs to me that I may have been feeling rather stressed and was noting down things that irritated me. I mean
...how loud were the screaming kids,why were they screaming, were the parents trying to calm them or just letting them have at it.....
..... what kind of conversations were being had and were they loud and obnoxious conversations or flighty and full of giggles..... or on the other hand..was someone attempting to converse with me?
Tight jeans is interesting....was I leering at a cute behind on a male (hardly likely!), or "tut-tutting" about how young people dress today...or maybe cheering for an older woman with a good physique who didn't mind showing it off!! (That's a stretch!!)
The sameness in wear is no doubt about young people I was observing, it's all about fitting in and what's fashionable....
.....and as for buggy rolling....stroller, baby buggy, grocery buggy....the possibilities are endless....and was it rolling towards a car, my car perhaps....or maybe there was a baby in the rolling buggy....and maybe that baby was screaming....and so we end up back at the beginning...:-)

So...making a list to remind oneself of what is observed is a great idea....if you can make some indication of date and time and place....but then....this list became an idea for a blog post...so maybe it has ultimately served it's purpose as I think the original idea of jotting things down was to make topics to write about.....which it has!!

Slainte!!

Inspiration...

2009-08-12T10:27:00.001-07:00

Just another bit of inspiration from Real Simple.....one that really appeals to me...

“My own prescription for health is less paperwork and more running barefoot through the grass.” ―Leslie Grimutter

Slainte!!

After a break.....

2009-06-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday of this week, we arrived home from a week long road trip through the Peace Country and visiting friends and family in Edmonton. It was interesting, eye-opening, relaxing, and in general a much needed break before summer.

I am, however, glad to be home again, mostly because of my garden and my cats......in that order!!
I still have basil to plant and there are weeds to pull and more seeds to plant, watering to do, the trimming of an "out of control" hops plant (although it does look kind of Mediterranean in style right now!!) and that's only the garden. The cats are healthy, but have been very demanding of attention since we got home....granted, they have had a few more weekends with us away than usual lately, so they are allowed.

DH wants to get going on wallpaper stripping which means I have to decide paint colours before too long....always a worriesome task....and then of course there is my workshop and studio to tackle.....

I also have been inspired (by the prolific collection of plants of my dear friend in Edmonton) to try to make my rather insipid collection of indoor greenery much more healthy and extensive...so we'll see how that goes!!

The good thing about all of this is that I really have nothing to get prepared for at this point...I can take my time and enjoy the process (hopefully) as summer (aside from visitors) is pretty much free.

So...here's to projects, visitors, wine on the patio, gardening (indoor and out) and pets (shedding and non-shedding)......

Slainte!!

Taking Stock....

2009-06-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

We moved to Kamloops in December 2004.
At that time I was grossly overweight, suffering with fibromyalgia and arthritis (walking with a cane for the most part), high cholesterol and high blood pressure, stressed out and depressed and totally unsure of how this move was going to affect me.
Today is 4 1/2 years later. I am down fifty pounds and still losing slowly. My cholesterol and blood pressure is under control. I still suffer the effects of fibromyalgia, mostly the lack of sleep, but the pain managment is working without heavy meds. The arthritis is still progressing and will eventually lead to knee replacement, but it's manageable. The stress and depression still poke their heads up occasionally, but now I have various methods of dealing with them...no meds involved.

The reason all of this came to mind, was that I was in the garden this morning and when we were finished, DH looked around and said...".it's getting there"....and it occurred to me, that for the first time in many years, I have had a hand in "getting it there" Gardening, in fact any outdoor activity, has been absent from my days mainly because of the inability to "get around".
I now can bend easily, dig, pull weeds, plant seedlings and sit and repot seedlings.....in fact, I am slowly gaining back some of the joys of gardening that I experienced many years ago. I have found that my most productive times for anything is in the morning and late afternoon. I need the downtime after lunch to recoup energy....and so...it's all about realizing how my body works and how I can get the most out of my day. We have even been taking long walks on the river dike by the airport with the dog.....and I'm not afraid to use my two canes to take some of the weight off my knees. I'm also not afraid to say when I've had enough and I sit down on the bench and peruse the scenery whilst DH continues on with the dog.

Granted, I still have days filled with angst and depression and stress.....but I also have tools to deal with it, which I didn't have before. It never occurred to me to journal or pray, or even just cogitate to ease my troubled mind. Those are tools that I have begun to make use of to push back "the beast". The winter up here is not helpful if you are prone to less than happy thoughts. When it gets cold (and I mean cold) I'm motivated more to stay inside and hibernate....which can be a problem. I tend to read voraciously in the winter and explore my artistic side in my workshop....more tools.....although I have been known to indulge in some Harry Potter movies!!

I have to say that music....playing in the Kamloops Symphony and volunteering with that organization... has also been a bit of a saving grace for me. Music has always been one of my main avenues to go down in stressful times, and I've not only re-discovered and revelled in the challenges of an orchestral musician, but I have expanded my listening to include various and sundry classical CD's. I am also not adverse to other genres....I have been known to dance (albeit carefully!) between my studio and workshop with music blaring!!

Retirement has been a challenge for both DH and myself. When two people are together all the time there are a few things that become evident. Conversation tends to lapse.....it doesn't seem necessary. Sitting on the patio with a glass of Chardonnay engrossed in conversation with your spouse isn't reality....at least not for us. We're just as happy sitting with that aforementioned Chardonnay and a good book, exchanging humorous quotes and commenting about jobs to do in the garden. However I have learned that if there was something I definitely want to discuss, the time to do it is in the car....that way he's a captive audience and I'm not competing with a book for his attention. Routine is a huge factor, and one which I abhor. It sneaks up on you without you realizing it. I realize that some routine is necessary but it's not in my personality to do the same thing everyday at the same time....so the conflict is there and sometimes it gets quite funny. Occasionally I do things differently just to jump out of the rut...so to speak.

When we moved up here, we had to start the whole process of making new friends and acquaintances....as happens whenever you move. The move, because of our location (and a spare bedroom), has caused us (much to our delight!) to become a stopping point for friends going to and from Lower Mainland and of course our children (and spouses) also have spent time with us here. Both of my brothers are now in Kamloops, so family dinners are a regular occurrence.....and we have a good neighbourhood, with watchful and friendly neighbours (who DH sees on regular walks with dog).... and a few friends who I had thought disappeared have reappeared in my life and we are becoming reacquainted!! So the blend of old and new friends and family is working well.

I have no idea how long we will live here....I don't think we will spend the rest of our lives here....but for now....life in Kamloops is good, all things considered!!

Slainte!

Signs of Summer to come.....

2009-05-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on patio and thought that I would blog about signs I have noticed around that prove that summer is on it's way!! I'm doing this partially as a blog subject, but also because if I write it all down, I will feel somewhat more positive about life.

The market is up and running with some actual produce, albeit winter/root type produce, but produce nevertheless and it's locally grown....also it has many little new plants of veggies, herbs, flowers and there even is a lovely fellow who has all sorts of flowering bushes and oddities....I got some horseradish from him!! There is a lady selling huge tomatoes and English cucumbers and they are delicious.....she has a greenhouse in Barriere. There are also lamb, bison and beef producers and a interesting elderly Italian fellow who sells eggs. There are also fresh baked goods as well. So all in all....a good sign of things to come in that department.
Our last concert is coming up next week....and after that we're through (for full orchestra concerts) until the fall. It will be an awesome concert with The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky, Prokofieff 2nd piano concerto and The Art of Declension by Jeffrey Ryan. With this type of program, I tell people, it's not the notes that are difficult, it's where you put the notes that's difficult. Lots of different rhythms, speeds, volumes, and all in all a real challenge (which I embrace with great enthusiasm!!)
The perennial plants in our garden are starting to poke their heads through the ground and trying to make us guess if they have survivied the winter or not. I have a lavender plant that I thought had passed away, but when I looked this afternoon, I found small new buds all over it....I cheered!! I have a little leaf of hot and spicy oregano which is struggling to stay alive...we have protected it ....my lemon verbena did not survive so I have replaced it.... I have new basil starting in the basement to be transplanted when ready...especially the Stella basil, some which will go to it's namesake..:-)
We are slowly starting to make the patio "summer ready". I put the bamboo screens up today, actually sat and read and relaxed on the patio....my hops is growing wildly over the latticework and heading with great vigour towards the top lattice work, where it will create a shade cover for one end of the patio. DH has refilled the propane tank and readying it for dinner tonite and now I have to figure out what to do with my artwork on the patio table that got destroyed by weather. Oh....and our elderly (though they don't look it!) cats are loving the sun on the patio and rolling around completely not acting their age. Once the sun started coming out they wanted to be outside to sniff out the various and sundry prey (that they never actually manage to snag!!)
Of course a major sign of summer to come is blossoms....on the bushes, the trees, the strawberries, it's all beautiful!!
The yearly migration stop of the white capped sparrows descending upon our garden to pick up stray seeds, finish off the feeders and suet. They swarm in, stay for a couple of weeks and then they are off to the northern climes for nesting!!

Anyways, I think that's it for now....I'm sure there are other signs, like the magpies nesting in the fir trees (among other birds), garage sales, being able to leave the patio door open with the screen 'cause it's warm enough....and best of all, I can sit out here on the patio and do this blog in the warmth of the afternoon (it's all about having wireless you know??) !!

Slainte!!

Spectacle...!!

2009-04-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

This is the third week that I have watched a new program called Spectacle hosted by Elvis Costello. I am just so impressed....
The first week, he had Sir Elton John, ( who is one of the producers of the show), last week, Sting and the Police, and tonight he had a "guitar pull" (A Johnny Cash phrase) with Kris Kristofferson, Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash and John Mellencamp.

The format is interview and music.....and the questions in the interview are not typical interviewer questions. They are asked from a fellow musician's point of view and some of the stories are great. With the Police, he interviewed them individually and then he brought them all out on stage for joint chat and performances. It was quite neat to see the different personalities.

It's an hour long, and quite frankly it leaves me asking for more. Tonight was a gem for me.....especially Kris Kristofferson singing "Sunday Morning Coming Down" ....unbelievable. They finished off the program with a group and solo singing of "Me and Bobby McGee".

Even though I'm a classically trained musician and that remains my first love, I also love listening to other kinds of music with some of the greats in rock, blues and jazz.

All in all a great program and a definite fixture on my Friday night line up.....and....apparently there are encore presentations on Bravo on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Sigh....I feel so good now.....:-)

Slainte!!

Sunday Dinner...

2009-02-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

After looking at the food photos that Ty has posted recently, I decided that it might be fun to do something similar.
Today for "Sunday dinner with the bros " (read brothers are coming to dinner tonite) I thought I would make a Beef Stew in my own inimitable style....and take one or two pictures to boot!!

I used Douglas Lake Beef Stew meat.....range fed and locally grown (so to speak) and pretty much most of the veggies I had in my fridge plus a varied combination of herbs and spices.
The veggies were onions, leeks, carrots, yams, parsnips, turnip, rutabaga, green beans, orange peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, celery and butternut squash. My herbs were garlic, thyme, sage, savoury, hot pepper seeds and rosemary and my spices were cumin, garam masala, allspice, celery seed and cloves. For the most part the herbs and spices were ground up and pounded in my large mortar and pestle.....I have now put some beef broth in it and transferred it to the slow cooker to mull away until dinner time, at which point, I will probably add a wine and beef broth gravy to give it some bread sopping consistency :-). I am still debating whether to add some red potatoes......

This is the pot o' stew with just winter veg. and meat

Here it is after transfer to the slow cooker and with the other veggies added as well as the broth....

This is a collection of the various and sundry herbs and spices I used along with the mortar pestle, which, I might add, I picked up in Concord Mass. at a wonderful little housewares store that Ty told me about. I love using it...it's monstrously heavy, but works beautifully.

...and as a finale, my two cutting boards...made by me years ago....the man is for veggies and the woman is for bread and baked goods. I have another less interesting cutting board for meat products.

After previewing this post, I still think that Ty's pictures are more mouthwatering.....but it is a fun exercise to take pics at certain times throughout the cooking process......

OK, now it's time to go get showered and dressed....(It's been a VERY lazy Sunday....:-))

Slainte!!

Will Winter ever end?????

2009-02-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

I had to sign in to comment on Ty's blog, so I thought I would take the time and mosey on over to my blog and perhaps update it?? Yes, I think that would be a good thing, considering the last one was almost three months ago....yikes!!!

I'm not going to go over Christmas and New Years except to say it was all good and tasty and fun as it was meant to be.

We still have snow and are expecting more, but the sun's out and everything looks very fresh...even with the snow. However, sadly, the pumpkin that I left on the patio table to freeze has now thawed and is slowly sinking into mush. Time to scrape it up and chuck it on the garden to hopefully seed and grow more little pumpkies in the spring/summer/fall.

We are presently in the process of doing family history stuff and other extended family things.....exhausting work, but necessary. Hopefully it will all be sorted by the end of February.

I had some work in the Kamloops Art Gallery Christmas store and sold a fair bit.....encouraging to say the least. Now to continue on and improve.....I still have plans to start a blog of my work and will do so at some point. It's a good alternative to an actual website....so we'll see how things transpire.

I have a couple of other projects on the go....sewing a couple of lap quilts for my aunt, using some scarves of hers and some squares of Brazilian Embroidery that she has done and also editing some of her nature writings that she's done over the years and making a compilation for the family. It will take time, but it will be a labour of love.

My life right now is a myriad of events....and I'm not sure I like it like that. I keep getting the feeling that I want to just "be" .....not be anywhere in particular, doing anything in particular, just to "be". I know it sounds weird, but it's the only way I can think of to put it. I don't resent the demands made on my time, because I enjoy it all. I think that I mean .. I want to be in a place where I can do exactly what I want to do...with me making that decision. Selfish?? Maybe, but I think I'm allowed at this point in my life. It will happen....it's just that right now I'm just busy and feeling just a tad frustrated.

I'm finding it harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning....I just want to sleep. In fact, unfortunately, this feeling is extending into the swimming that I do three times a week. It's getting harder to gather myself together to get out there. I do it, because in the end, I do feel better for it....but the effort it takes to overcome the inertia is really a bummer. I think it has something to do with the season....and how drastic the winter has been up until now. Sometimes I think I like hibernating indoors, but I forget how much I enjoy sitting on the patio in the summer, puttering in the garden or just standing outside and enjoying the experience of being outside. The winters up here are always tough to some degree, but this year has been harder....as I'm sure it has been elsewhere. Even my dog has been in more "funks" this winter....without his daily walk.

So, today the sun is out...and eaves are dripping as the snow melts, so maybe I just should go sit on the patio with a hoodie and a scarf and breathe in...before the next snowfall ......it so sounds like a plan!!

On that whiney note....I will bid farewell!!

Slainte!!

Why I love my husband.....

2008-11-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been rather strenuous....both physically and mentally. The death of a close friend and a week of rehearsals and concerts (both school and regular) along with the everyday job of living has taken its toll. By last night, I was whacked....enjoying the wine at the pub after the concert....but nevertheless whacked!!

This morning I got up, after sleeping relatively well, and realized that I had the total day to start to recoup and just relax...easy dinner tonite...just pasta....so I had my first coffee, crawled on the couch covered myself with a large throw and read and snoozed.

So.....as I was snoozing on the couch, the tantalizing smell of fried rice wafted out of the kitchen and woke me up ......DH had retrieved my coffee cup silently from beside me and refilled it, made a delectable fried rice mixture with veggies and leftover meatloaf and teriyaki sauce, put it in a bowl for me and then quietly came over and said "Breakfast is ready".......

....and that is why I love my husband!!

Holey Soles Forever!!!

2008-10-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

So...I promised a blog about my "Holey Soles" obsession.
What are Holey Soles??? You may well ask....
They are a homegrown Canadian version of "Crocs"....and oh so much better.

Quite a while ago I was checking out Rosie O'Donnell's blog, as I am wont to do and came across a photo of her wearing this really nice black outfit (coat (not jacket) and pants) for an evening out and she had finished it off by wearing bright pink Crocs. Needless to say, as things do with her, it caused quite a stir. However, she mentioned on her blog that the Crocs had been sent to her by a fan and she wanted to wear them.....full acknowledging at the time that she had absolutely no fashion sense. In any case...one of the Canadian bloggers (read fans), after reading this, told her she should actually be wearing Holey Soles, as they were the originators of the design. So that got me to thinking.....and researching....and I found the Holey Sole site. I also found a supplier in Kamloops....Valhalla Outfitters.....and fortunately they had them on for half price.
After an initial "breaking in" process, I have worn them pretty much non-stop for most of the spring and summer (maybe even earlier) They are SO comfortable.

I have worn them to symphony rehearsals and because I always have a problem finding comfortable black shoes to wear to the concerts, I started musing about possibly wearing a black pair of Holey Soles. Two concerts ago, I wore these to the concert, changed into a pair of black stretchy slippers and then back into the Holey Soles....during the intermission and after the concert. My colleagues in the horn section jokingly suggested I should get a pair of black ones as I liked them so much....to which I replied..."Funny you should say that....my thoughts exactly!!"

So....I checked out Valhalla Outfitters and they no longer stocked them...they just had odd sizes in odd colours that they were trying to get rid of. Art Knapps, also, no longer stocked them.
Well...I guess I was just going to have to order them online...sigh....how tedious (snicker snicker!!)

When I went to their new redesigned website....I found a plethora of new styles...Woohoo!!!
There was a pair of black ones....with no holes....more like a sport type shoe, but still black and slip on.....just the ticket I thought!! So then I explored some more and found more colours of the new updated style that I already had.
So to make a long story short....I ordered the black ones, a pair of red ones and a pair of navy blue ones. There are many other colours, but I think I will hold off until the spring or summer. Amazingly enough....I ordered them on Wednesday...and they arrived on my doorstep at 8:10 in the morning on Friday.......I was totally impressed!!
So....after all that....here are the pictures of my Holey Soles.....

...and here is a picture of my new "symphony" Holey Soles....with removable insoles, no less in case you want to put in arch supports...how cool is that!! I have worn them to two concerts now and they work perfectly....even with black socks!!
I am always on the lookout for shoes that are easy to fit and comfortable....I have large feet....large in every way....wide, flat and long.....women's size 12 - wide. So when I find something that is easy to put on, colourful, lightweight and it fits....well....I just have to have them. I do wear dress up shoes when absolutely necessary....like at C & J's wedding in September, I bought a pair of silver sandals....and the instore shoe repair guy stretched them for me....I was actually able to wear them for a major part of the night....
I also wear Clark's Wallabee's - the original ones....and I used to wear Birkenstocks....until Holey Soles came along. The Wallabee's are for winter and Holey Soles for the summer....there ya go....

My Holey Soles obsession!!

Slainte!!

A night with the Vinyl Cafe......

2008-10-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

So I went to the theatre tonite to see Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe. If you ever listen to CBC, you are well aware of Stuart McLean. For those who don't ....it's a worth while listen....CBC Radio 2 at 10 am on Saturdays...and CBC Radio 1 at 12 Noon on Sundays. Don't ask me where Radio two and Radio one are....they are different for each region....I do know that in the Lower Mainland, Radio 2 is 105.7...not sure of Radio one though....

The show was wonderful.....down home clean humour and lots of laughter and good times....and good Canadian musicians. I am going to now look for CD's by Dala ...and Daniel Michelle....both excellent. Dala is two ladies who have performed together since high school and Daniel Michelle is a funky fellow...interesting guitar licks and lyrics in his songs. Anyways...it was a good evening...and we topped it off with a glass of wine at home...relaxing.

One can be a real people watcher at these events though.....a couple of things I observed.....
...a three generation group .....2 very large ladies, one a mother, one a daughter and one very small grandmother....who as it turned out was 92. She sat between them almost dwarfed...which begged the question......where did the largeness come from???? She was postively tiny....but enjoying herself immensely. Interesting...hmmmmm. Ok...I know one could think of that as being not very nice picky....but...I'm big...I can do that..:-)
The other thing is listening to people around you.....sometimes you just want to butt in and correct or dispute...or just join in the conversation...but you don't. You just listen...and then wait until the end of the show to see who on earth was saying what was said.....!!
I also wonder about men with toupees....There was such a man sitting behind us. It wasn't attractive..it was very obviously a toupee....so why does he wear it. I'm sure there are number of reasons, probably all very sound and appropriate...but when it looks so atrocious....hmmm...what was his wife thinking!!! Ok...I'll take a shot for that too..

Anyways...all in all a good evening.....

So I have a post up and coming regardng my Holey Soles obsession.....pictures and all!!!
...and hopefully I will get that done tomorrow....before we are.....

.....off to Victoria on Friday morning EARLY.

I can't wait to see T&D...even if it's only for a short time....I miss them so much....
I so miss my kids and their sig. others......they are all so very dear to me......and I am in a constant state of "awe" at how they are progressing and dealing with "life" . So much better than I did.....but then times were different then.....at least that's my excuse!!

Ok, I have had two glasses of wine....and I will get positively maudlin if I don't watch it. ...but hey....I'm a mom...what can I say.

As I look at my mommy cat peering out at me from her present location in the paper shelf in the computer room, it occurs to me that I am making far too many typos and it's time for bed.....

So....off to read a few pages of Anne Lamott....and then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ......one can only hope!!

Slainte!!

.....continued (as promised!!)

2008-09-23T23:21:00.001-07:00

OK....so on the last post, I said...to be continued. Here is the continuation...such as it is. I may repeat myself....but what can I say....I'm sixty!!

We headed down to Osoyoos on Monday, Sept. 8, going down through Keremeos so we could hit a couple of wineries.....one wasn't open (that would be Orofino) but we went to Crowsnest and started our stash there. It has grown substantially over the years and now sports a restaurant, and B&B.
We arrived in Osoyoos at about 3pm having been preceded by our friends D&B who were going to spend a few days with us. This "travelling with another couple" thing was a new experience for us and really a lot of fun. They love wine almost as much as we do and so our sojourns to the various and sundry wineries throughout the South Okanagan and Naramata were full of lots of laughter, good conversation and of course wine tasting. We parted ways on Thursday around noon in Kelowna after sampling yet a few more wineries and having a wonderful lunch in Peachland at the Blind Angler. During our time together, apart from the wine stuff, we lazed on the patio, swam in the lake and our two hubbys got sucked into tubing behind a speedboat.....and we have some pictures to prove it!!! Unfortunately I was napping at the time but apparently the experience for them was quite exciting!!! We have decided to do this again next year if possible, so I am quite looking forward to it.

After they left, things were quite quiet, so we relaxed on the Friday and hit a couple of more wineries on the Saturday and then did nothing but veg on the Sunday...leaving on Monday morning to head home.

For those of you that care...we managed to visit 16 wineries. I know, I know....I was surprised as well, it just didn't seem that much. Throughout the trip we had been on the search for Malbec.....and on the Saturday we scored some at Inniskillen. It is a wine that is making a comeback in BC slowly. Argentinia has kind of adopted it as it's own....but it was at one time a popular wine in BC...then it went the way of Marachel Foch.....but thankfully some wineries are now making it on it's own....instead of using it in blends. Red Rooster makes one as does Quinta Ferriera and Inniskillen. There may be more, but those are the ones we found on this trip. The only one with some available was Inniskillen. So that's as much technical wine talk as I can manage.....I will list the wineries if anyone really wants to know...but trust me...there are still many more to see!!!

The whole visit was good in that there were people there that we had met last year and they will also be there next year....so we have now become "regulars" at the motel......I just love it!!!
The only downside was that we were not in our usual room and, although the room was the same layout as our usual one (it was next door) our door was right next to the door of the "party" room and every time we left the room, we were assailed by clouds of cigarette smoke from the myriad of people who congregated outside this one unit. They were also very noisy and "in your face" and drinking almost non-stop. It was a family group spread over three units. Hopefully next year, this won't be a problem as we went a week later this year than normal (due to the wedding) and next year it will be our normal time, which is the day after labour day. They (the "rowdies) left on the Sunday morning and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief......so we had one day of peace and quiet and clean air outside our unit. It took the housekeeping staff almost a full day to clean the units and air them out.....sigh.

So...all in all...it wasn't quite the relaxing week I had hoped for, but there were definitely many pluses to take away the pain of the minuses :-).

Now it's back to the grind...we have already had one concert and there is another in two weeks....so I'm now practicing regularly. We made 16 bottles of grape juice on Sunday (Concord, Ortega and Marchel Foch) and canned 20 jars of peaches on Monday....all at brother B's. Now I have a few things to make...like pesto and basil prepared for freezing, possibly some zucchini pickles....not sure....and I have some work to do in my workshop....Nutfolkery possibly???
DH has gone on a cooking, baking binge and made stew, shepherd's pie, tomato sauce (for freezing) apple pies (that was dual effort-he and me) and he is going to make apple cobbler tomorrow I think.

What I need.....is two weeks to do nothing but recover from the first two weeks of September!!!!

Slainte!!

The first two weeks of September......

2008-09-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a chaotic, hectic, busy, wonderful, thrilling, emotionally draining, painful (as in dancing too much pain) and then relaxing, giggly, humorous and at times really annoying, but in the end fulfilling two weeks (Since September 1st).

Our sweet and lovable son got married to an equally sweet and lovable young lady on September 5 in Aldergrove. We headed down to Aldergrove on September 1st to help with last minute preparations and do a little babysitting and in general be there if needed before the wedding. It was a totally different experience than when our daughter got married five years ago. I'm not sure how it was different (other than the whole bride's parents/groom's parents thing), but it was a totally different dynamic.....which again shows the difference between the two siblings. Interesting to say the least......
The rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner (which we were hosting at Char's in Aldergrove...amazing food by the way!!), the wedding, and gift opening all went off without a hitch. A lot of fun was had by all.

...some high points.....

*The bride was beautiful and just glowed with happiness and the bridesmaids looked wonderful.

*The groom....well, what can I say, he's our son....but he was handsome and just as happy as his lady, I don't think the smile left his face all night!!

*The song jointly composed by the bride C and her friend A. for the groom and sung by A. during the signing of the register after the ceremony.

*The entrance of the bride and groom to the reception...beautifully choreographed with great music and a smoke machine ..... hilarious !!

*The groomsmen were handsome and debonair, and special mention to groomsman J for playing with our grandson whilst pictures were being taken.....M, the best man did a great speech, just perfect for the occasion....and speaking of our grandson....he looked absolutely adorable in his tuxedo, being escorted down the walkway by his grandfather, DH, who I might add looked amazingly hot in his pinstriped charcoal vested suit with lavender shirt and matching patterned tie....(whew.... I almost had to fan myself!!)

*Hearing my son make mention of my dear 97 year old aunt who couldn't be there and everyone applauding her

*Hearing our son sing to his bride accompanying himself on the guitar along with groomsman J on the Tjembe. I have never heard him sing by himself before and I was just blown away. It was beautiful and the bride was in tears!!

*The Mother/Son dance with J.......a wonderful experience...whatta guy!!!!

*Spending time with friends and relative whom we don't see as often as we'd like and catching up with news

*Having some down time during the week with a good friend who came to the motel to have a glass of wine and update the toe nail polish!!

*An unforgettable sight to me was to see my lovely 80 year old cousin up on the dance floor kicking up her heels with the younger people AND keeping up with them.....what a grand lady!!!

*The spontaneous choreographed moves to the song "Fever" by Peggy Lee....complete with snapping fingers of the groomsman and the groom leading up to the removal of the garter....what a hoot!!!

*Another special mention here of my grand-nephew Jeff from St. Albert who also spent time playing with and entertaining our grandson, keeping him occupied during the picture taking time (between ceremony and reception) when the wedding party left briefly for pictures elsewhere....and grandson was missing his daddy!!!

*The music was good, the food was good, the drinks were good.....in fact it was all good and a wonderful occasion!!

When we arrived back at the hotel....I was hurtin' .....but a couple of Tylenol w/codeine and a good night's sleep helped to ease things and we were able to head out to the gift opening in the later morning. After that we picked up Chauncey at the kennel and headed back home to Kamloops.....bagged and in pain (me anyways), but happy.

We basically spent Sunday the 7th relaxing and doing laundry and making a list of things to take to Osoyoos with us on our annual trip to wine country.....we were to leave on Monday the 8th.

To be continued.....

Slainte!!

Celebrations.....

2008-08-21T12:33:00.001-07:00

It is my 60th birthday today.........ecstatic to have made it this far!!! :-)
Because of this auspicious event....I have been honoured, nay thrilled to have had visitors over the last weekend and a bit.
We were (at least I was!!) totally surprised when T&D showed up at 1am on Saturday morning to stay until Monday. What a treat!!! They have not been here since August 2006 just before they left for Massachusetts. It was a glorious weekend....full of good food, excellent conversation, good wine and in general just "hangin' out" stuff. Unfortunately, due to schedules, new jobs etc....J & C couldn't make the trip, but we were able to chat with them on the phone on Saturday.

The four of them gave me the "Jamie at Home" cookbook from Jamie Oliver and a new set of Heinkel knives....oh so sharp and easy to use!!! I also received some lovely goodies from D's mom and dad, totally tailored to my personality (they are beginning to know me so well :-)).

So, on Saturday, T found two scrumptious salad recipes in the new cookbook and proceeded to dazzle us with her culinary skills. Along with marinated lamb, beef, and chicken BBQ'd on skewers, it was all very tasty. We also indulged in champagne and blackberry liqueur and delish Desert Hills wine...Chardonnay and Gamay.....sigh....it was superb!!!

On Sunday we headed down to LacLeJeune to swim in the lake and lie on the grass and in general just have a pickynick and relax in the sun (and shade). When we got back we all kind of vegged for a while, napping etc...and then headed out for a wonderful dinner at The Storm Restaurant on the river to celebrate T&D's 5th anniversary. They are just so cool together.....
After that it was back to the patio to drink more wine and talk some more. Our patio got used more this trip than ever and it was great. Our neighbours must have wondered what the gales of laughter were coming from our back yard at midnight.....

All in all, a perfect celebratory weekend.....

And then.....
On Tuesday, our old neighbours from Langley arrived on their way through to Saskatchewan and we spent the afternoon and evening together and they stayed overnight heading out Wednesday morning. Lots of use of the patio here as well. Our dinner was bbq'd pork loin chops (thick, lean, boneless) along with fresh made pesto.... my special recipe which I just make on the fly with basil from the garden (assorted varieties), garlic, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, mizythra, and feta cheeses, and walnuts (I just couldn't find the pine nuts) and a dash of balsamic vinegar. I never use specific quantities, just all to taste, but it made quite a bit and was excellent with fusilli pasta.....and a mixed green salad with chopped cucumber and tomatoes on the side...using assorted organic dressings.
We then had a french white wine and a home made Shiraz and Cab Sauv. I think we finally hit the hay around 11:30.

So we have been taking things easy since then and tonite my DH is taking me out to an as-yet unknown restaurant for dinner for the birthday celebration. Exciting to say the least!!!

As I mentioned to DH....it seems that as we get closer to J & C's wedding our life seems to be getting busier and busier.....I can't imagine what their life is like....although they do give me updates fairly regularly. It's not that our lives are ACTUALLY busy...it just seems that way...probably because I'm living vicariously through them in their preparations.....

It will all come together on September 5th....I have faith !!

...and then it's off to Osoyoos to unwind for a week before the symphony season starts again.

For now though....it's all about today!!!

Slainte!!

Loneliness......

2008-08-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

OK....so this morning, I was feeling, for some reason, a little "off".
It occurred to me that the problem was that I was lonely.....
Now, I'm not one who usually admits to loneliness....or even actually feels lonely. I'm pretty good with my own company. I mean, give me a good book, computer, french horn, music, and a cup of tea and I'm good to go. So....it was a surprise to me when it dawned on me that I was actually lonely this morning. I did mention to DH this morning that I found that August was going incredibly slowly.....dragging almost.
So I figured the reason for this attack of loneliness was as follows. At the particular moment I was feeling like this, everyone that is important in my life was away from me. DH was at work, my two brothers are away, one in Ireland until the 27th and one down on the coast until the 18th, both of my kids are on the coast, one on the island, one in Abbotsford and all my friends are down on the coast as well. We don't have a lot of...well actually we don't have ANY close friends in Kamloops.
Now I'm not whining....I mean, I talked to my daughter yesterday and my son on Sunday and of course DH has been home. It's just at this particular moment, I was feeling somewhat bereft.....
It will pass, as these things do....
In the meantime I will tackle the stove top (very messy..) and make a list of things I should do.....possibly do some gardening (although that's at the bottom of the list). That should keep me busy until it's time to go pick up DH and ....Lord be praised!!...my laptop from the computer store. It will all be good.....soon.
But.....August IS really going slowly....too much exciting stuff happening at the end I guess....hard to wait!!
Slainte!!

Happy Birthday Cale!!!

2008-08-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

So....today would have been Cale Caputo's birthday.....I know this because my son informed me of the fact last night. Who is Cale you ask (at least some of you, I'm sure)?

Cale was my son's best friend, future best man, and band mate and all round brilliant musician.
He died in a car accident on May 21st 2006 at age 21. Cale had become a part of our family, hanging out with Jared at our home in Langley, calling me "Mom", playing with our dog, helping us in our move to Kamloops....he was a regular participant in our life. The first time I heard him sing, I was entranced by the sweetness of his voice and when One Chord Struck was formed, I was totally blown away by their music. I always found it interesting having conversations with Cale on the phone about the state of the Vancouver rock music scene. His observations showed an insight and understanding well beyond his years. It was his life!!

It's always a tragedy when a young person dies, and even more so when it's sudden and unexpected. It took me a long time to come to terms with his loss and my son is still dealing with it in many ways. As it gets closer to his wedding, it becomes more apparent to him that something or more specifically someone will be missing. So, when J told me it was Cale's birthday and to say a prayer for him....I thought about this and decided that a blog about my vision of what Cale is doing now would be entirely appropriate, as my prayers tend to be rather disjointed and only for my ears. I do much better with a story line!! So listen up God!!

I believe that God saw Cale and his music and decided that when it was his time, he would put him in charge of the celestial youth choir....to "jazz" it up so to speak. He had an innate ability, call it talent, for writing beautiful and meaningful songs and poetry......something that I'm sure would do well in a heavenly setting.

So.....wherever you are Cale, happy birthday and I'm sure the angels are singing your music beautifully....with your voice first and foremost among them!! We miss you down here in "mortal land" but I am positive that you are still doing what you do best.....your music and just "being Cale"

Much love
Jared's Mom
xx

another milestone.......

2008-07-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

A short post today.....just to celebrate achieving yet another goal in this challenge of revamping my lifestyle...(note I DO NOT say losing weight.....that is a phrase that is only used in passing in my world...as a result of the lifestyle change) I will not give facts and figures....suffice to say that I am now over 30lbs down, feeling relatively good and eating very well.....no diet foods in my world.....a few low fat thingies.....like in dairy...and low sodium ....like in broth....but other than that I love my food. Just not a lot of it!!

I have discovered foam belts and barbells at the pool and am having a wonderful time figuring out new exercises to do with them. It's funny though....I use the belt around me (basically to make it easier to keep the extremities moving without sinking) for the first part of my swim....and then I take it off to just do my normal swim. One doesn't realize how much the belt keeps you afloat...'cause when you take it off, you sink like stone if you're not careful!!! It's funny...I end up doing my laps a lot lower in the pool than when I start....:-) It's fun though.....I am managing 40-50 minutes three times a week.

So that's it....I had lamb tonite....nothing fancy...just marinated and baked and served with veggies and Italian Bread.....but it tasted so good. The two glasses of red wine helped as well....
Life is getting better.....definitely!!

Slainte!!

I'm baaack!!

2008-07-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

A number of things have happened or at least have occurred in my life. First of all, I'm close to 30 lbs lighter....and actually enjoying the regularly swimming etc. I have done some gardening, planting, weeding etc....and my energy level seems to be increasing. I still have pain...and I am still keeping track of my food intake and will for the next 100 lbs, but all in all it's a positive change.

I am in the process of backing up and eventually re-formatting my lap top. This, to some people would be a ho-hum no big deal event. However, for me, it is yet another step in my learning to master the eccentricities of the said laptop. It has been snoringly slow and getting more so in the last little while, so when I asked London Drugs about adding RAM, (more moving around space for those of us who are not overly computer literate), he suggested that I reformat the computer first. Now when you reformat you basically re-install Windows and other stuff and in the process it gets rid of the stuff that's on your computer. So.....the magic work "back-up" appears and I found out that Microsoft has a wondrous "back-up wizard" and I'm all for anything that's a "wizard". So I downloaded it and am finding it somewhat confusing, but it has caused me to go through and uninstall a lot of peripheral programs that I wasn't using. That was mainly because the first time I started to back up, it said it would take 4 hours or more. Anyways, to make a long story short, I have backed up my email and browzer profiles (using yet another downloaded Mozilla backup program) and now I have to tackle the rest. I have decided this is multi-part event....so a definitely WOOHOO!! will be heard when it's all done.

The last thing that I have achieved is to have a private blog set up for ladies in their fifties, heading towards their sixties or actually in their sixties. I was finding that there were issues that I had to deal with when entering this age group and it occurred to me that others might also have to deal with....and talking about it (albeit in typewritten form) is sometimes helpful. So far we only have two team members and hopefully more will want to join us. I'm still trying to figure out the ins and outs of how a team blog works....but so far, I believe I have to invite people to be authors.....it's a work in progress. If anyone reading THIS blog, knows of someone who might want to become part of the other blog "Moving on Up" as it's called, please let me know.

For now though, I have some interesting reading to do, a laptop to address, and a DH to pickup from work....eventually.

Slainte!!

Saltimbanco!!!!

2008-06-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

So, Wednesday was our anniversary....31 years to be exact....and as a coincidence, Cirque de Soleil was performing in Kamloops that very day!! I thought it entirely appropriate that we should attend their performance on this night....and it was totally worth it....in every respect!!

DH was working (he has started back at the Art Gallery part time) and he finished at 5. The performance (which was called Saltimbanco) started at 7:30. We had planned that I would pick him up and then we'd go to a restaurant near the arena for dinner before the show. It all seemed to be going smoothly until I drove by the "restaurant" in the morning after dropping him off and noticed that it was no longer in existence!!

We actually had no plan B....so I picked him up, relayed the news and we headed home for him to change and also to decide a plan of action. As it finally turned out, we parked next to the arena at around 5:30 and then hoofed it up to Senor Froggy's for some Mexican Fast Food. Now I'm normally not a fan of said fast food, but it was not too bad. Actually quite healthy.....so all in all it worked out...not the romantic dinner that we had envisioned, but hey....it was definitely cheaper!!

We had heard the show had a interactive segment before the actual starting time...so we arrived early and got to our seats....which were just a tad narrower than my behind. The interactive segment started around 7:20 and was a lot of fun and when the performers scurried backstage the lights went down and the show began.....

I was transfixed!! I had heard wonderful things about Cirque and had always wanted to go to a live show....it was truly amazing!! The colours and patterns and costumes were just a feast for the senses and the acrobatics, juggling, bicycling, dancing, music.....all brilliant!!

This is the website for Saltimbanco and if you click on each act the ones that have pictures can be enlarged. There's not too many pics, but they can give you some idea of what it looked like.
We had great seats...about half way up from the floor in the middle so close enough to see expressions and still far enough away to get the whole picture.

I could go on and on about it....but those of you in Vancouver have a chance to see another Cirque performance....Corteo!! I encourage anyone who can to go see it. Adults and children alike...totally awe-inspiring. It's interesting that Saltimbanco was first performed in the early nineties and had been brought back in 1997.....and then in the last few years it has been designed totally to be performed in an arena instead of their usual tent. Watching the trapeze duo perfom on one trapeze high up (higher than a tent we are told) was really quite nervewracking considering they had no safety lines....just a cushion for a soft landing!!! They were swinging through the air with one sitting on the trapeze and the other with her feet hooked on by the instep. The crowd gave a universal gasp as she slid down to that position and hung upside down. Ahhhhh!!!!! That act was the most awe-inspiring to be sure....but take nothing away from the rest of the show....it too was jaw dropping!!

The cool thing was that there was a comedy section as well that involved a member of the audience and he proved to be a perfect choice. He was a tall broad man but he kept up with antics of the "jester" figure mime (called Eddy) showing a few antics of his own, much to the glee of the audience....and I think "Eddy" was pleasantly surprised!!

After the show.....feeling totally inspired and refreshed....we came home and sat quietly chatting and looking out at the lights of the North Shore with a nice glass of wine to finish off the evening.

This morning....it was like an anniversary morning. Got up late (DH didn't work until 4pm), DH made fried rice and sausages for brekkers along with great coffee and we sat outside and had coffee and read later on in the morning. Totally...a very nice day.....after a spectacular evening!!

Slainte!!

My life as it continues to proceed

2008-05-03T22:57:00.000-07:00

Oh Wow.....I just saw the last time I posted....so much for my proposal to post daily or at least every other day. It's just that I come down, check my email, read blogs....see my blog and think...."I really should update it....yes I really should". I then proceed to talk myself out of it with excuses of "too busy" (yah right!!) "nothing to blog about" (there is lots....just haven't co-ordinated it yet) "not in the 'blogging' mood" (that is probably THE most honest excuse...not a good one...just the most honest)...so I am downstairs at night now, not really in a blogging mood, but determined nevertheless to write SOMETHING!!

Since my last blog entry, I have had a horrendous yet hatefully helpful visit to an orthopedic surgeon about my knees. The fellow had no tact, no bedside manner, no clue as to how people operate inside their heads and no ability to listen and so he decimated me in a ten minute appointment. Details are not really necessary here, just know that I took three days to recover from the humiliation. However, much to my chagrin, it did kick my butt into gear to start doing something about my weight and overall health. Yaaaayy??? Well, yes it is definitely from my family's point of view a YAYYYY!!!

So....I have registered online with Sparkpeople.com (I heard about them from my dear daughter, who is also a Sparkperson) and considering it is free, it is probably the most sensible thing I have done in a while. I decided to go that route because (as my DH will tell anyone who will listen) I spend a good deal of my time on the computer anyways, so why not keep track of my nutrition and fitness on that same computer. So far it's working....and I'm lovin' it. I am now swimming three times a week and wonder of wonders, playing my horn (practice and rehearsals and concerts) is counted as cardio.....who knew??? The thing I like about this is that I can participate as little or as much as I want. I'm not a fan of doing a lot of "forum" stuff, but I will read information and research to educate myself in this project that I have taken on. I may participate in the forums eventually, just not now.....too new. So....that is my "Project Tubbytoes" named after my nickname for my older cat who also has a rather large tummy. I won't say the traditional "I will keep you posted" because if I do, I won't. If I remember, I'll mention it, otherwise you just have to wait until you see a picture of me from my son's wedding in September!!

I have taken to keeping a little list of things I have to accomplish in my life. I have a little diary type book, that has been used for a number of things (unfinished), so I have taken the last few pages of it and keep updating and crossing out things to do.....otherwise, nothing gets done or at least the important stuff doesn't get done, because I tend to forget or find other things to occupy my head. Email replies are always top on the list. I have a number to catch up on. Again...we run into the problem of "mood". I think of it but then decide that I have to be in the mood to write the replies....similar to the same mood that applies for blogging. I think that the response to this type of thinking is "mood, schmood ...get to it and stop procrastinating!!"

Other than all of the above I am happy that spring is finally arriving in Kamloops.....we actually sat on the patio and had coffee and read the other morning!! I have one more concert in the middle of May and then I'm done for the season. We have had two trips to the coast in the past two weeks, the last one being today.....so now it's time to settle down and get the garden sorted!

A trip to the nursery is in order before too long to plan our garden.....we have some herb plants growing under lights in DH's workshop and one of the basils is called Stella....we are hoping to manage to get some of them down to T&D at some point before summer so they can plant them in their little garden plot. I think I planted somewhere in the region of 10 different varieties of basil....could be less, but still a lot. Hubby's been watering them so I have to go and check and see how everything is doing. [Note to self - add that to my list of things to do!] Hopefully some of the herbs can be planted in our garden before too long....not the basil for a while, but there are others that will work .

OK, I'm starting to blither now....that's what you get when you're "not in the blogging mood".There is lots more for me to talk about I'm sure....but this will suffice for now....so as DH has headed to bed, I shall soon follow.

Slainte!!

Washer, dryer, concert, grandson.......

2008-04-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

Update: The washer and dryer arrived on Monday morning and were installed and by the end of the day I had done three loads of wash.....swiftly and quietly....oh so nice!!!

It was a concert this weekend...not much for me to play and only in the second half. They used my keyboard (lovely deluxe Yamaha Clavinova which I don't use as much as I should) and it was transported to the concert venue by truck and we brought half of it home last night in our car. The other half (the base) is in my brother's car and he will deliver it tonite. It worked very well....using the Chapel organ setting. A note here: I didn't play it....another far more talented lady did the honours and did them well!! I maintained my position in the horn section!

We were doing the Requiem by Gabriel Faure (a gorgeous piece by the way) and it went well. It was an odd (instrumentation-wise) but superlative arrangement by John Rutter using only the lower strings ( 1 solo violin,violas, cellos and basses) 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 bassoons, tympani, harp and chapel organ. There were two soloists (soprano and tenor) and a largish choir. I had not played it before and had only heard parts of it, never the whole piece. The smaller orchestration was wonderful and the whole piece itself was just glorious. I intend to get a recording of it, hopefully with the same instrumentation. It's amazing how peaceful and calming it is just having the lower strings.

I have been doing little in my workshop, mostly in my mind, so I'm hoping this week will prove to be fruitful!! I've been trying to get organized, but then I thought just general organization is all I need, otherwise all my time is spent organizing and nothing in creating.....which I think I touched on in a previous post.

It was my grandson's 2nd birthday yesterday....it's hard to believe I have been a gram for 2 years already!! We will get to see him at the end of the month, which I am quite looking forward to. He's quite a sweetie-pie....a real charmer!!!

Well, I think that's it for now....off to read for a bit!!

Slainte!!

ARRRRRGH!!!!

2008-03-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

We had ordered a new washer and dryer from Sears to be delivered and installed today.....
By 3:00 they still had not arrived
I phoned Sears and tracked down our salesman....
Apparently there is a jam up at the loading dock and the company that is to pick up our w/d and deliver and install it, can't get it off the truck that it came in to Sears on.
Bottom line: ....it won't be here today and it's questionable about tomorrow...he will keep us updated....HAH!!!!
Frustrating part about it is....we are to have overnight guests tomorrow and I wanted everything washed and dried and put away and the laundry room tidied up before they came.
Now....nothing washed.....still crap (sorry..junk) in the hallway and that probably won't be moved before they arrive.
ARRRRRRGH - A pox on Sears and their totally inefficient delivery service. It seems that if you're not in a prime location (i.e. Lower Mainland) the service is the pits.....BAH!!!!

Ok...now I've vented, I'll try to see what can be salvaged from this mess!!!!

One more for good luck....ARRRRRGH!!!

Slainte!!

My life in this moment...as I see it....

2008-03-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Creatively speaking I am in the " stop and collect and organize" mode....which gives me time to think about what I want to do and how I want to do it. I have sorted through books, and kept a few aside for some altered book experimenting and now after sorting through various and sundry things upstairs, I now have to go sort through all the stuff from upstairs that I decided to chuck downstairs, i.e. my workshop. I have retrieved an old accordion folder which I plan on labeling for use as a storage for small bits and bobs to add to collages and I also have to devise some form of storage for papers, pictures and larger additions to the collage collection.

I do realize that I tend to do more organizing than actually creating...but sooner or later I am confident that the actual creating will begin...in fact it already has, but is in a state of quiescence for the moment due to "life" enacting it's usual "get in the way" mode. I feel that if my mind is still creative then sooner or later the rest of me will follow suit. I mean....all you have to do is read this post and you can discern the activity that is going on inside my head in order to type this all non-stop (except for checking out words in the dictionary!) Sigh....whew.....I think I can stop now.....

...except to tell you that I am knitting again....I think there must be a psychological thing to this "knitting" phase that I go into more and more frequently.... I am now on my 2nd dishcloth...so simple and quick....and I actually found a shawl pattern that is the same as the dishcloth pattern....but you just make it in wool instead of cotton and make it MUCH bigger. How cool is that!!!!! I'm also finding myself getting excited at the thought of going into the wool aisle at Walmart. It must be the colours....for sure...that must be it!! How about many dishcloths in a multitude of colours...and shawls glowing with warm and fuzzy colours...the possibilities are endless!! I do find, though, that knitting seems to soothe my soul...I have even started doing it sitting up in bed before sleeping each night...it unwinds the day...gives me a chance to cogitate and spit the messy stuff out of my mind before I try to sleep (now THERE'S a visual!!).....at least that's how I see it.

Gosh I'm using a lot of exclamation marks.....my life is just a collection of exclamations!!!
Who knew!!!

Slainte!!

Excellent weekend.....questionable week!!

2008-03-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had a wonderful if rather frenetic weekend in Victoria with D's mother. We visited with T & D and I stayed there and she stayed with another family member.
Frenetic, because we had a multitude of things to do, see, and discuss and as is usual, not enough time to do all this. However, it was good....we saw T&D's apartment, their lovely neighbourhood and yard, I achieved my ocean fix and D's mom revisted an old home, thanks to an accommodating new owner. All through this, our discussions ranged through many topics, which to my mind, is the best kind of discussion. Despite two 4 hour bus rides on either end, I arrived back home in Kamloops refreshed and revitalized......until.....

Reality kicked in....

On Wednesday, DH was downstairs getting something from the freezer, and he noticed that water was dripping from the ceiling and also running down the wall.....not in huge amounts, but enough to do damage if left unchecked. We discovered, after tracking it back, that the leak was coming from the laundry room above....specifically...the washer. (Our laundry room is on the 1st floor....not the basement, convenient but definitely problematic if there are leaks)
Now....this house was 17 years old when we moved here in Dec 2004, therefore it would be a little over twenty years old now. From what we understood, the washer (top loader) and dryer are originals with the house....so...they are somewhat aged.

A little history here....when we lived in Langley, we invested in a new front loading washer to save on water (to save the septic system). This was a few years before we sold the house...but unfortunately, we had to leave it behind. I loved that washer, it worked like a charm, used less water and the dryer used less energy as the clothes were 3/4 dry after the spin cycle. We thought that we could get a new washer and dryer soon after we moved here, but it was not to be for financial reasons. So...back to the present.....

The decision was made to buy a new washer....and it was duly noted that Sears had a washer dryer combo on sale this weekend for less than what we paid for our original front loader in Langley. We settled on getting this combo, even though the dryer was still working. It seemed a good idea to start afresh with two new appliances. So yesterday we went and did the deed...and for a reasonable fee, they will install the new and also take away the old appliances. As it turns out the washer that we are getting is almost the exact same model we had in Langley.....and it is energy efficient so we can claim a rebate from BC Hydro....so all in all, not too bad a deal.

Everything is dried up in the basement so we are hopeful that there will be no further problems. We have noticed some raised areas in the linoleum in the laundry room and adjoining bathroom, which we think is an after effect of the leakage, as there is no moisture to be seen anywhere on the basement ceiling at this point.....keeping fingers crossed.

But...you know...it's all about being a homeowner. As homes age, they need more preventative maintenance, repairs and replacement parts.

Life and times in Kamloops....

Slainte!

A wee bit of Irish for St. Paddy's day....

2008-03-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

"Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck. "

— Author Unknown

..... and a toast!! (with a wee jar of "the creature" - better known as Irish Whiskey)

Saint Patrick was a gentleman,
Who through strategy and stealth,
Drove all the snakes from Ireland,
Here’s a toasting to his health.
But not too many toastings
Lest you lose yourself and then
Forget the good Saint Patrick
And see all those snakes again.

'Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!'
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Slainte!!!

An inspiring story....

2008-03-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

I have a favourite celebrity site....Rosie.com.....Rosie O'Donnell's website and blog. It's a source of humour, information, music, art and any number of other things.

I mention this because recently she talked about a site that she had discovered called Ted.com. Now I haven't explored it fully yet, I intend to do that before too long, but tonight I specifically went there to watch a video of Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist (read brain scientist), who, eight years ago, had a massive stroke and remembered every minute of it.... Her talk about the brain, how it functions and the experience of feeling hers slowly deteriorating is so worth listening to....

So ....if you have a spare 18 minutes...please do so. It makes fascinating and inspiring listening.

Slainte!

123 Meme

2008-02-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

OK, this blog is in response to a challenge issued by Daryl's Brain
entitled 123 Meme. It involves the following.....

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)
Find Page 123
Find the first 5 sentences
Post the next 3 sentences
Tag 5 people

My answer to the challenge is as follows:
The book is Exit Music by Ian Rankin and here is the quote:

Ok, so he was stretching it, but he wanted to see how she would react. All she did was raise an eyebrow and fold her arms. "And how," she asked, "did you happen to get my description in the first place?"

Sound very "detective like"??....well it is. The book is the latest in a series of Inspector Rebus mysteries based in Edinburgh. They are gritty and complex and always a good read.
I now have to tag five people.....therein lies the problem. So I'm going to cheat here, I don't know of five different (different from Daryl's Brain and associated lists) people who have blogs, so I'm going to just leave it open....if you read this and you have a blog....go for it!!

What fun!!!

Slainte!!

Just a little blog today

2008-02-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

Not much today I fear.....

I have managed to achieve two things today....sending off a parcel and buying tickets to Cirque de Soleil. There are definitely more things to achieve, but those are the main ones.

I am so chuffed that C de S. is finally coming to Kamloops. From what I have seen of their productions....(on TV) they are spectacular and colours and costumes are just overwhelming to the senses....at least they seem so. I am really looking forward to it.

Another note....I have added Hannah Andersson to my list of links. She is a Swedish crafter, artist, photographer and much more and her blog is always fun and inspiring to read. Her ideas are always unique and give me hope that I may still achieve something in my artistic life. Feel free to check her out.

Other than that....not much else to cogitate on....at least nothing that's fit to put into print...;-)

Slainte!!!

Sunday Dinner....

2008-02-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Oh my stars...nearly another week has passed between blog posts!!

Well, I'm sitting here with my cup of tea, having made a HUGE stew for the slow cooker....and this is how I did it.

I browned the meat with garlic and fresh ground pepper, put it into the slow cooker to simmer in beef broth whilst I chopped veggies. Veggies involved were: Parsnips, rutabaga, turnip, carrots, onion, leek, zucchini, red potatoes, broad beans (frozen from the summer) red pepper, and celery.

I then nipped outside in my jammies and garden shoes, dusted the snow off the thyme and snipped some lemon and silver thyme (still remarkably good), returned indoors to combine that with my dried rosemary and sage from this years garden, fresh parsley from Save On and then I chopped it all up together....smelled delicious!!

So I was going to just put this all into the slow cooker, but then decided that mixing it there would be a disaster, so I got out my largest bowl and dumped in the meat, and all the veggies and herbs along with some "mortar and pestled" cumin and hot pepper seeds and then in Jamie Oliver style, I stuck my hands in and just mixed it all together and yes my hands were suitably washed before doing this !! After mixing, I carefully dumped it all back into the slow cooker, added some more beef broth and put the lid on and I shall not touch it again until about 5-6 pm, at which point I will probably adjust the seasoning if needed. I had already purchased whole grain buns and sundried tomato bread from Save On....so I only have to putter and tidy up this afternoon before the bros come for dinner tonite.

Oh....and I also picked up some Jello Instant Butterscotch pudding and Cool Whip for a very quick and light dessert in my mothers parfait glasses. A little nostalgia here, as I haven't had instant jello pudding let alone butterscotch pudding in YEARS!!! So it will be pudding and tea for dessert as we watch Doc Martin.....

Have a good evening!!

Slainte!!

Computer problems.....and addiction???

2008-01-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago, Sunday, I believe, we had a rather ferocious windstorm, which howled all the night through. During that time (at least when we were awake) we had three, possibly four power outages...very short ones....not even lasting a minute. During those outages, our main computer was on and when the power went out, we just rebooted it and all seemed well....seemed being operative word here. The last outage happened when DH was playing his game and so he just rebooted it and then shut it down for the night.

Waking up the next morning, the wind had died down to a brisk breeze and the sun was out and all was well with the world. That is...until I went to go online....nothing happened. The computer usually automatically goes online when it's started up for the day....but there was just one single light glowing ominously from the modem and no "ingoing" or "outgoing" lights flashing at all. So I did all the usual stuff....unplugged the modem, plugged it back in....unplugged the router, plugged it back in.....and then I phoned Shaw.....

So.....I waited for close to an hour for the tech support from Shaw....and yah, yah, I know, I can hang up and have them call me back and I won't lose my friggin' place in line...(the recording sounds SO patronizing!!)...but I just have a feeling that if I hang up, that'll be it....I'll never get to talk to them again!!!So....I put on my telephone earphones and waited....and waited....and waited......until finally a young man called Jeff talked to me. He gave me some options to try and then seemed to think that should work and left me to it...so to speak. Well....it didn't work.....so I called Shaw again....and waited....and waited.....and waited...only this time, I got smart....I kept my earphones on, hung on to the cordless and did a few household chores...thereby relieving the guilt of not doing anything!! I finally got through a second time to another young fellow called Steve, I think....and he tried some more options....some even included changing some settings (that gets scary!)....but in the end...nothing worked, so he scheduled a Shaw techie to pay us a visit the next day and check things out.

I fretted (as I am wont to do in these situations) and so I thought I would head downstairs to practice. My laptop is in my practice studio, so being the eternal optimist that I am, I thought..."why don't I just open the lid on my laptop and un-hibernate it and see if it goes online??" Well....bless my soul if it didn't go right to my homepage and sat there blinking at me....Windows Messenger and all!! Whooee!!! I was ecstatic!! I calmed down enough to do at least 15 - 20 minutes of practice and then back to the laptop. In the meantime...hubby was upstairs on the main computer offline and playing his game. Nyeh nyeh na nyeh na!!!!

So here's the thing you see. I couldn't believe how excited I was to actually have the internet back.....it's an addiction of sorts which I'm sure some of you are also afflicted with to some degree. I am addicted to regular contact with the internet.....sigh.....whenever my mind goes into neutral mode, I find myself heading to the computer room. Maybe it's sort of like something to kickstart the mind working again. Is this a good thing?? Not totally sure and don't know if I care much..... but.....it's always interesting and enlightening and whenever it gets to the point that it isn't....I shall stop, I'm sure.

The Shaw techie did show up at 9:30 yesterday morning and found that our ethernet card on the main computer had been "fried" by the power outages...which is odd because we have 2 surge protectors. However, he did say that it was an older card...probably on it's last legs....so he very kindly replaced it and now we have internet on both...count them BOTH computers. Sigh.....life is good!!

Slainte!!

The BEST news and stuff.....

2008-01-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

So I got great news yesterday.....I phoned the hospital to check on my aunt and found that she had been sent home. I called her at home and she is feeling much better, but still has to take it easy. Now she has help coming in to make her life easier, now she can get back to her painting and writing and now she can concentrate on staying healthy and enjoying her life, her family and her friends.......thank goodness!! It has been a worrisome time but yesterday a great load was lifted from my heart. Thank you God!!!

Yesterday and today I have been trying to catch up on things, but seem to be getting mired down in small details.....ah well...such is life. At least I don't have to make dinner tonite as my bro has suggested we all go out for Chinese food and he will foot the bill.....it was an offer we just couldn't refuse :-)

But......before that happens, I have some practicing to do and a kitchen that needs tidying up, and a shower to take.....(yes....I AM still in my jammies at 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday....sigh)

One last thing... last night was not a good night sleep-wise for either DH or myself...too much coffee after supper I think. In any case, to while away the time awake, I came out and found that the first thing I thought of to do, was......knitting!!! I had some mohair wool that I found with my mom's stash from years ago and a pair of VERY large needles. So I'm making a narrowish, shortish, mohair scarf to wrap around my neck in the very cold weather.....white and fluffy and a very loose knit!! I have bigger projects to tackle knitting-wise, but I couldn't resist the wool!! The fact that it was the first thing that came to mind surprised me......who knew???

Slainte!!

Working man and To Do List ........

2008-01-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

I am again the wife of a working man....albeit a part-time working man...but nevertheless a working man.
I now have to decide what to do with my day....ALL BY MYSELF!!!
....which actually isn't a bad thing....just takes a while to get used to...

I have now gotten into the habit of jotting down the things I need to do and I'm whittling away at the list slowly...as well as making additions to the list each day. There are some givens in my day. They are...computer time (which includes email, blogging and checking out other blogs or favourite websites)......practicing for a minimum of 30 min a day, more if possible....keeping the kitchen tidy (I am making great use of the dishwasher).....making the bed (which consists of fluffing the duvet and straightening up the pillows)...and that's about it. Housecleaning I do usually once a week (with help if possible) and that's usually Sunday before the bros come for dinner and major housecleaning happens whenever we have overnight guests or visitors who don't know us that well.....it's a retirement thing you know, our own version of energy conservation...our energy!! :-) However, I digress.....

After I do the "givens", I then feel free to tackle the list ....or not.....or just mooch around in my workshop or just read. As some people would say...."it's a great life!!" Now...some people would also say that I could do all this whilst DH is home, and I probably could. However, there is this built in desire, need, wish, whatever you want to call it, to co-ordinate my day with his when he's home. That usually consists of shopping and other errands, TV watching, and reading. So...the secret is to "make hay while the sun shines" so to speak...... do my own thing when he's working, so we can schedule "together" activities when he's home.

Hmmmmm...do I detect a slight trace of organization here?? One can only hope....

Slainte!!

Good News and Bad News ( for me)

2008-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

So to start off....it seems that so far my beloved aunt has fought off the dreaded Norwalk Virus....thank goodness. I phoned yesterday and she seemed to be on the mend. I shall check tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to get down to the coast the week after next to see her in person.

Another blog topic....
Today, I got on the scales and horror of horrors, I have exceeded the amount that I swore that I would never exceed again and those that know me well, will know what that amount is. So the question that occurs to me (as to many others in the same predicament I'm sure) why is this?
Why, when you know that you are well overweight and you know what you have to do...why can't you do it???
For years, I have asked myself that question, and for years, I have come up with varied answers.....not ready.....it's someone else's fault.....I'm depressed....and on and on....well, it's all a load of cr*p. It all boils down to the fact that I just haven't managed to motivate myself enough to take on this huge commitment to eating properly for an extended length of time...i.e. the rest of my life!!

So the question remains....what can one do to motivate oneself??? What can deter the creeping hand into: the cookie jar, the fridge (and many varied cheeses), the (drool..)biscotti..(bad bad Costco!!), and anything else that appeals at the time. For me...it's all about the SNACKING!!!

There's a bigger issue going on here and I haven't quite figured it out. It's all about the whys and wherefores of eating habits and how to change them....but then again, isn't that usually the way of things with weight control?? To be quite frank, the only person that would understand this whole problem is one who has to deal with it too. Even doctors don't really understand...I mean, how can they, when I don't understand it myself....sigh.

I have yet to come up with a definitive solution, but it's a cause for concern and one that needs to be addressed.....sooner than later!!

In the meantime, I'm going to try to keep myself busy and well watered to shave off the few pounds over the (shudder!!) upper limit so I can at least start from an even number......:-)

Slainte!!

Somewhat encouraging news......

2008-01-17T23:10:00.000-08:00

It seems that my aunt, along with other patients, is in non-visitor mode for the time being as there is an outbreak of the Norwalk Virus in her unit. Not good......however....

She did have one visitor today I am told, (dressed in gown and mask) and the report back is that she is very "with it", so it strikes me that my fiesty but very sweet aunt is fighting back!!

I was encouraged to phone regularly to see how she's doing......so I will

In the meantime...I am still praying...

Slainte!

Please God.....

2008-01-17T00:09:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling conflicted....or at least my emotions are....

On the one hand...it's been DH's birthday and we have had a wonderful dinner and then laughed ourselves silly at American Idol .....

On the other hand....I was notified today that my dear 96 year old aunt is in hospital recovering from heart failure brought on by pneumonia....and is now suffering from gastrointestinal problems. She's being assessed to decide how she can still live at home....

...it's a conflict because I don't know whether to laugh or cry. You know...when you are having a good time, but then you have that nagging feeling that something isn't quite right and then you remember.....

I will be getting more information tomorrow, so there is nothing to do but wait...something I'm not terribly good at doing.

All I can do is pray....which I will do fervently!!

Slainte!!

Driving....

2008-01-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

On this concert weekend, I started driving again.....well actually I did drive on the Lower Mainland for a short time over the holiday, but for actually driving on a regular basis....this was the weekend for it.

I had been banned from driving by my optometrist and DH because I had virtually no clear vision in my right eye....and my depth perception was out the window (so to speak). However, on December 4, I had surgery to correct the problem and though it's taking a while (and will take longer) to get back to somewhat normal, it's much better than it was.

So the opportunity arose this weekend for me to take the wheel and fend for myself, travelling to and from rehearsals. It was a slightly unnerving experience at first. I almost missed a set of traffic lights and I found myself going slower than usual and trying to watch everything. One doesn't realize how quickly a one time regular activity, when stopped for a period of time, can become new and fearful. In the words of someone famous..."It's a jungle out there!!" However, after the first day, calmness and serenity settled in and I remembered how much I really enjoy driving. It was hard to give it up, even though it doesn't take up a large part of my life. For the most part, DH does the driving, but the fact that I couldn't even if I wanted to was a bit hard to take. It just removes that feeling of independence.

I'm sure that DH is happy too, so now he can stay home and do what he wants instead of ferrying me around everywhere!!!

So independence is back...as is sight....and freedom for DH.....and life is good!!

Slainte!

Music and ice roads......

2008-01-11T12:41:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm in the middle of a double concert weekend with rehearsals starting at 4 this afternoon and then again at 7:30 tonite and then 1 pm tomorrow with concerts tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon. We had rehearsals on Wednesday night and last night as well. It's a good concert....with the Viennese theme...a soprano and a tenor and lots of Viennese waltzes and operetta music to celebrate the New Year. This type of concert is fun to do because it's the type of music I grew up with. My dad used to sing a lot of the operetta stuff and either myself or my brother accompanied him on the piano...so there are lots of memories flying through my head this weekend.

I am coming to terms with the fact that our son is going to drive a truck on the Ice Roads in the Northwest Territories at the end of this month. I'm finding, as usual, that the name of the game is more information and less worry. Consequently I have been perusing sites about ice road trucking, studiously avoiding anything that relates to the History Channel series about same. For those that know me, I know that's a change, and a positive one at that.....but now I'm finding I prefer to read the real information, statistics etc....rather than a sensationalized version of it.
In any case, I did find a site that has a map of the route they'll be taking and updates on the road conditions ....so I expect I shall be following that assiduously. I'm still concerned and worried, but more a normal worry than "freaking out" worry. So I guess that's a good thing.

Next week I shall hopefully be getting into some sort of routine around here. I really need to get into my workshop and make use of my new art supplies and books. I will be starting back swimming again, all going well, and hopefully that will be an incentive for further progress.

For now though....it's lunchtime!!!

Slainte

Problem solved and the music begins.....

2008-01-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

I am feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders this morning.....

I finally got my new MP3 player to work with my laptop. I guess it pays to peruse various and sundry forums about the offending software. In actual fact, it was not the software that was the problem....it was Windows Media Player. I had to re-install WMP 11 again...and voila!! I have since uploaded 5 CD's and will do more as time permits. I am so looking foward to this....a chance to hear all my glorious music on the run so to speak!!

I'm finding that my tastes in music are expanding somewhat as I get older. I have always been rather eclectic in my musical tastes, with the emphasis being on classical music, however, lately I have been checking out new CD's by artists that I've never considered before. Joni Mitchell, Annie Lennox, and Celine Dion. I even have heard some music of Amy Winehouse that intrigues me....

I think I'm looking for music that inspires and expands the mind and music that makes me raise my arms and go YESSS!!! There's also the music that makes me do a "happydance"...or in my case .."a stilted hardly moving the legs but moving the arms around madly and jerking the upper body happydance". I have also developed a taste for Irish and English folk music, John Tamm being a new discovery. If you've ever watched the Sharpe series on PBS, he's the one who sings "Over the hills and far away" ....just a great natural voice. It's all fun and now with the MP3 player I can keep the music flowing!!

But....the fact that I solved the problem with the laptop makes me feel incredibly pleased with myself. It was frustrating....but now it's done there's a bit of "the little train that could" feeling to it. This is how I react when I solve a problem with the computer.....childish..maybe, giddy..maybe, but nevertheless.. a deserved kudo to me :-)

Slainte!!

Exercise and Passport photos...

2008-01-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Yaaayy !! I am back the next day to blog again....I just amaze myself!!

So to start, I have another gem from Real Simple.....

"I rode the exercise bike this morning for an hour and a half. If it was a real bicycle, I would have been in Belgium by now. "
— Allison Janney in The West Wing

..... and that definitely WOULDN'T be me.....however it struck a humorous chord with me. I've often thought that an exercise bike or a treadmill would be a good investment....however, DH doesn't agree with me. He says that it would never get used....although how he knows that is a question in itself. I think that swimming will work for now....and if I ever do feel like walking I will do the rounds on the indoor track at the rec centre with my MP3 player plugged into my head. I think that walking with someone is a good thing, if you don't have to think or mull over anything....just chat. I find that swimming laps in the pool is a good time to think through problems or issues that need clarifying....just back and forth slowly and methodically breathing in those wonderful swimming pool fumes ;-) It's even better when you have a paddleboard and you can rest your chin on the board and stretch your arms out and let your legs do all the work, or alternatively, rest your upper body on the board, with your arms wrapped around it and again let your legs do the work.

This morning DH and I have been filling in the applications for passport renewal....after which we will take them down to the Canadian Government "Service Centre" along with our old passports and hopefully before too long we will get our new ones. It's interesting that when we had the photos for our old ones taken in late 2002 or early 2003
(can't remember exactly when)..I was smiling.....not a good photo, but nevertheless I was smiling. Now, however, one is not allowed to show any expression whatsoever on your face. In fact the lady taking my photo at BCAA told me I look "awfully sad".....so I lifted the corners of my mouth a tad and then I just looked serious.....or expressionless I guess. We had our originals taken in 2002 after 9/11 but it seems that since then rules have gotten even tougher as far as pictures go. I guess they like to see a picture of you as you will look to them when you approach Passport Control.....either scared ----less, or really p----d off!!! It makes it so much easier for them to match the picture to the person...:-)
On that note, I will finish my epistle for today and proceed with the rest of the day...or whatever's left of it!!

Slainte!

Reviewing......

2008-01-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

So I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. I always WANT to post, but then when it comes down to actually put words on screen, my mind draws a blank. So I'm letting the thoughts flow for now.

It's been a hectic and somewhat chaotic *season*.....but nonetheless enjoyable!!
It's all about family and seeing family and talking to family and renewing familial ties. Exhausting yes...but oh so inspiring!!

The Kamloops side of the holiday was unexpectedly a lot of fun. I say unexpectedly because I was quite prepared to celebrate Christmas quietly with DH and NO KIDS and suck it up. As it turned out, we had rather well-spaced visits throughout the time from extended family members with an afternoon of art thrown in for good measure.

We did make a 5 day visit to the coast for our Christmas with the kids and their sig. others and our grandson and also for a New Years Eve "do" to celebrate the marriage of our nephew!! Lots of visiting and some shopping and catching up was included in those five days.

Our little Bichon Chauncey also had some time to renew acquaintances with friends at his favourite kennel....although I think the excitement got to him a bit as he had a bout of tummy trouble (polite words for puking doggie!!)on the way home and at home. That cleared up though and he is as right as rain now....

I am now in the process of R&R. I was supposed to start back to swimming today, but I suddenly realized yesterday that I need a few days to recover when I have busy times. It's an ongoing element of my life which I tend to forget about sometimes. I have a concert weekend coming up, so I'm getting up to speed with my practicing and in general trying to get my "art" house in order . Also....I was given an MP3 player for Christmas and I'm trying to find the time to upload the music I want.....and....I have photos to deal with ....posting for download etc... So this all has to be done at a rather subdued and slower pace.....and hopefully by next Monday I will be up and running (figuratively speaking) to hit the pool for some laps. I'm also fighting this overwhelming urge to get back under the covers and snore the day away!!!

I'm thinking lately that a somewhat more frequent blog might be in order. Not daily...although it can be....but more often than I have been in the past. It's all about stimulating the brain to think of things to say. It's so much easier to curl up and read what others write....easier but not very productive. I read or heard somewhere that if one wants to write, one should do so every day...even if only a few sentences. Interesting concept that.....I expect some of my blogs will go as follows....." Here are my few words for today.....Blah Blah Blah.....Slainte!!" I think though, that it's all about the discipline of sitting down at the computer and writing a few words EVERY DAY.....grab the coffee cup and head downstairs or into the computer room and eke out some random thoughts....bizarre though they may be (well maybe not TOO bizarre)....and soon it will get easier...at least I hope so.

Slainte!!

Inspiration.....or not...

2007-11-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

Another Real Simple gem......

" You cannot reason with a hungry belly; it has no ears. "

— Greek proverb

....all I can say is.....

Eggzactly!!!!!!

Slainte!!

New Creativity.....

2007-11-10T16:56:00.001-08:00

I got tired of looking at the same title in my blog, so I decided to change it.....by making a new post.....not sure what yet....but I'm thinkin'!!

OK....here goes...

A couple of new activities that I'm doing......knitting and painting...on a canvas....on a music stand (I don't have an easel yet....Christmas list!!!)

The knitting is My So-Called Scarf The video instructions for it are here
It took me ages to finally get it going and to be quite frank, it looks ok, but there are still a gap or two that I'm going to have to deal with at some point. I have knitted about 15 inches so far and intend to continue until I've finished the two balls of wool I have for it. I also have found a matching pattern for a toque called My So-Called Hat which I'm hoping to manage to do at some point. I have no idea why I started this project, but I think it intrigued me. I got the idea from here under her knitting section. So I sit and watch TV and knit....and believe me by doing that I have dropped some stitches and with THAT pattern, it's a tad difficult to pick them up. However, I have an idea to fix any gaps that may occur.

My other project of painting was long overdue. I picked up a cheapie pack of canvases at Walmart (my motto...go cheap if you're a beginner) and I put one of them on the music stand and it sat there for a few days. I was working on some drawings and kept looking over at the blank canvas. One day I finally said....what that h--!! I'm going to go for it. It was amazing...once I started painting the back ground...the ideas came flowing out....and when I came to a problem area, I knew it was time to take a break. Three days later, I got back into it and corrected any problems and added more things to it. It is presently sitting waiting for me to work again on it...and I have already sketched an idea to add to it. It's very forgiving working with acrylics....I just had to realize that I had to wait for the paint to dry before working to change something...otherwise I would end up with mud!! It's very therapeutic and I shall keep at it and see where it takes me.

I think that I have to learn to see what people are doing and enjoy it but then leave it. If I keep adding to the litany of things in my head that I want to create, I create nothing....nada. I cannot get it out of my head, there's a traffic jam of thoughts that cannot escape to land on the paper or whatever it is I'm supposed to create. This is a drawing of what I think my brain is like when it's full of creative ideas and thoughts....fighting to find the exit... the little door in the bottom right hand corner of the picture....

Those are my eyes by the way....
So there you are....yet another posting which actually had fulfilled my description of my blog...a journey towards finding a creative soul. It's a journey which is not always full of uplifting thoughts and ideas, but it's a journey that gives one pause to think about how one looks at life and my life in particular. Hopefully in time, I will feel confident enough to post occasional pictures of what I'm doing in my workshop.....but after looking at the state of my mind.....you can see why it may take a while!!! :-))

Slainte!!

Inspiration...

2007-10-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

So Real Simple has sent me another inspirational quote that has meaning to me....and I'm sure to others as well .....hmmmmm????

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie. "

— Jim Davis

Slainte!!!!

Letting Go.....

2007-10-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today I wept for a short while
Today I finally realized that I had to let my youngest "do his own thing"
A hard realization to be sure.....

What he wants to do is not important....what is important is that he believes that it's something that he must do.....despite my pleas to the contrary....so I have let him go...in a manner of speaking.

It brings to mind yet again something that my doctor... years ago...said to me when I was in the same position with my oldest.
His reply to my angst...."Let go and let God".....something which I have done without fail since he said that to me.

It's just that with the youngest....it's so much more difficult......so difficult.....

Slainte

Recovering......

2007-09-27T17:16:00.001-07:00

Our friends from across the line and overseas have departed. Their visit required two visits to the Lower Mainland, one overnight (at J and C's) and one day trip. The first was to connect with them in Aldergrove and convoy with them up to Kamloops. Unfortunately, we were sideswiped by a very large pickup on the Coq......so large that the dent in the car I was riding was made by his tires, not his bumper. No one was hurt, but we were shaken up and lost the other member of our convoy temporarily. (I believe we passed each going in opposite directions as they were looking for us!!) We finally met up in Merritt. After getting that sorted out, the visit proceeded onwards. We did a day trip to Craigellachie to see The Last Spike and get an ice cream at the Dutchman's Dairy. We also just did some hangin' out in Kamloops and DH took them on a tour around Kamloops and the WildLife Park while I had some downtime. They arrived on Thursday and left on the following Monday. We also drove down with them to Langley and saw them on their way down to the border and then after a quick visit with J, we headed back home. It was a long day. All in all...it was a good visit...lots of catching up and visiting.

However.....

....visits like this are a joy and pain for me. A joy...because I love seeing our dear friends and talking and visiting with them. I have known them for many years and it's always a pleasure to connect again. A pain...because I take at least 2-3 days to recover...sometimes longer. I force myself to be"up" during the visit, even if on my own, and pay the piper when it's over....I crash. The past two days I have done nothing but emails, reading and sleeping with some errands in between (which are exhausting but necessary!!)

It's all a part of the living with fibromyalgia and I have to keep reminding myself of that. Luckily I have been sleeping relatively well, but the fatique lasts all day. Hopefully it will improve with time and rest.....for a while a least.

Sometimes I want my old life back....in fact a lot of the time I want my old life back...where I could walk, ride my bike, get out of bed without wincing in pain, sleep through the night (although that's rarely happened!!), work in the garden, climb stairs with some energy, shop 'til I drop,.......sigh.....a different life entirely.

It's all about making a new life within my limitations. An ongoing project that hopefully I will have sorted before next year when I turn 60!!

Slainte!!

Awaiting guests......

2007-09-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

We have guests coming.....from England...via Portland, Oregon, where they are staying with another old friend. They all have visited us many times when we lived in Langley and now they are going to travel the extra 3 1/2 hours up the highway to visit us in Kamloops. It's rather exciting. We will be going down tomorrow to overnight and connect with them and convoy back up here. The plus side of this is that, although our son will not be there to see them, his lady will be and so she will get to meet them...which is a good thing.

Today was spent getting the house in some semblance of order and getting beds sorted etc....tomorrrow we will do some last minute grocery shopping. I'm not really sure what we will do during their visit, but I'm sure playing it by ear will be the best way.......

I have known one lady in this group for over thirty years. I met her on my flight home from England in 1973. She was flying back home to Portland via Vancouver. We were delayed in Gatwick airport for 13 hours....and got to know each other quite well. She was an RN and we have kept in touch over the years with visits, phone calls, letters and in later years, emails. She gave her approval of DH when I introduced him and she also predicted both my pregnancies....thereby giving herself honorary godmother status for both our children (not in the religious sense). About 16 years ago she decided at age 56 to marry a former beau and move back home to England - just outside Manchester. Her husband is a hoot. A gentle soul who adores her and puts up with her moods. They make a loverly couple!!! The other lady in the group is a good friend who shared an apartment with J (my old friend) for many years when she lived in Portland. Over the years, J has had numerous medical problems but has still managed to keep moving and travelling. Whenever I ask how she is...her comment..." Ah..fair to middlin'...could be worse!!" She knows her limitations, but still manages to do the things she likes. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again...(as well as the others of course!!)

So...the bed downstairs is set up, studio is cleaned, a few more things to be done....but now it's time for dindins....

Slainte!!

End of Summer and a new season begins.....

2007-09-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

So...after spending the month of August hibernating we did our annual sojourn to Osoyoos for some R&R away from home and home responsibilities.....and.....to visit some wineries, some new to us and some old friends (so to speak). We came back with less wine than previous years, but that was a conscious decision for financial reasons. For the first time we found wineries closed because they were sold out (a problem one runs into when travelling in the off season!!), however, the ones we like so much were open and had the wine we wanted. Some had changed their tasting rooms, added restaurants, bistros and some stayed the same. All in all, winery wise, a good trip.

On the motel side of things, we found that this year for the first time, we became one of that group of "regulars" which feels good. We have all booked for the same time next year.
I think, finally, that I have gleaned the way in which I want to use my holiday. It's taken a few years, but I think I've got it (like Eliza Dolittle!!) It's all about how one approaches it...and I approach it differently from DH. He finds his relaxation by reading, sitting on the patio and swimming and taking side trips, wineries, museums etc. I too enjoy those things, but if I'm not feeling up to it, I like to sit inside (where it's cooler) reading, drinking tea, writing....it's all about doing what I want to do. I tended to feel guilty not taking advantage of the patio, lake, and all the other good things. I realized however, that holidays are not just about doing all that stuff, it's all about not doing the stuff that you do at home.....and not feeling guilty about it....if that makes sense. So...once I explained my way of looking at things....DH still grumbled about it...but I think he understood. So....all in all a good and enlightening week away!!

It is now the beginning of the new symphony season...and we begin with Brahms. How wonderful is that?? The programme - Piano Concerto No. 2 and Symphony No. 3. .....and I have been practicing.....even with a silent mute whilst on holidays. (Gosh I'm keen!!) I have....2 rehearsals tomorrow (Thursday), 2 rehearsals on Friday, 1 on Saturday and concert Saturday night. It will be tiring...but I'm really looking forward to it.

So I have put my art on the back burner for the time being....and working on a writing project that I started a couple of years ago. It's about the steps one takes to re-invent oneself. An interesting thought.....considering that I'm listening to Martina McBride sing "My baby loves me just the way that I am"....but then these steps could lead in a circle and one could reinvent the original.....couldn't one???

Enough blithering....
Slainte!!

A new me!!!

2007-08-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm not normally a Simpson's fan....but I just couldn't resist doing this......I found the link on the blog of a Swedish art student.....http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html
You can transfer it to your blog or elsewhere by using the Print Screen button....cut and paste..that way you don't have to sign up to anything.....:-)

This is my avatar.....
I don't think it's a bad likeness....:-)...you think????

I'm Simpsonized!!!!!

Slainte!!

A post of catching up......I think

2007-07-31T22:19:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time...I know. I have been in a funk....not sure why...not sure if I'm out of it yet...but I do feel as if the light is dawning.
I finished Harry Potter today.....and no I will not spoil the ending. Suffice to say it's full of action and complexities and is riveting. I do find, when reading a book like that, I cannot stay glued to it as do some. I need to rise out of it and take a breather and do something else. I cannot fathom how someone can write like that, in that style, keeping a plotline going for that long a time......well..yes I can imagine...but it never fails to put me in awe of the writing talent. How does she sleep at night with so many characters running around in her brain????

The last few months have been very hectic with weddings and a birthday party...all out of town. The upside to that is we were able to stay with J&C in Aldergrove (they have a two bedroom suite now!!) and spend some quality time with our grandson. We were also able to spend quality time with T&D in Victoria (before the move!) as we stayed at their place on our visit to Victoria. There are definitely benefits to offspring having two bedroom apartments (or at least a comfy futon!).....it saves on hotel bills!! Some observations of our recent travels....

Car rides are exhausting.....fun...but exhausting.
I will NEVER travel the prairies in summer again. I'm of the opinion that you have to be born there to actually appreciate all the positive aspects of "The Prairies" (We had a wedding in Prince Albert, Sask. and did a road trip ...going there wasn't too bad....coming back.....hmmmmm.....what can I say....even in an air conditioned car ....ARRRRGH!!!) I think the town and cities have lovely areas....but outside the towns and cities......endless telephone poles......
the way to cure a dog of car sickness is to take him on a loooong car ride over a period of days and stay in hotels and he'll eventually settle down. By the end of all our driving, Chauncey, dear little laddie, is happy to hop in the back seat and settle down with no drooling at all. What a trooper!!
Pedicures are very nice!! A friend offered to give me a pedicure in Leduc and I accepted the offer...first time ever for me and it was a treat!! It did, however, make me realize how much I really should have it done regularly....or at least once in a while.
Weddings on a lakeside beach are very cool and relaxing and informal...as are weddings in back gardens. Weddings in golf clubs are very relaxing too, in a different way. They have the formality but still retain that more casual atmosphere. All four weddings were different and all were wonderful. I am so glad DH and I were asked to attend the weddings of T's dear friends of many years. The nice thing about that is that you reconnect with the parents that you haven't seen for years, some since your kids were in high school. It was a good wedding summer!
I love my camera!! I spent a lot of time taking random shots, over DH's shoulder, through the car window (between the bug spatter!!) and just pulling over and taking a shot of a great looking rock formation. I'm just not sure what I'll use them for...but some are pretty cool.
I also took some pics of the fire devastation still visible around Barriere and the damage of the Pine Beetle Infestation.....somehow those two enemies of the forests will connect to do major damage in the years to come, I'm sure. Our beautiful green province, it's fast disappearing ......when we were in the Alberta side of the Rockies the green was everywhere and lush, no red and no grey....for now.
If I ever win the lottery or make a pile of money, I will sell up and move to Victoria in a heartbeat!! Every time I go there I realize how much I have missed the ocean and the whole living near the ocean state of mind over the years. It wasn't as noticeable when we were in Langley because we were near the ocean (well....1/2 hr away....) and we did go over to Victoria to see my mom. But up here in Kamloops....it's sooo dry......and hot.....and well...not as green!! Judging by present house prices in Victoria now, one would have to win the lottery or be prepared to have a mortgage....something we're just not prepared to do.....especially on a pension. So.....sigh.....it'll have to be regular visits.....and deep breaths of sea air :-)
Speaking of which....when we were down in Victoria for the birthday party of my cousin, DH and I took a little drive around and ended up at Ogden Point, the cruise ship terminal in Victoria. In the space of 1 hour 3 huge cruise ships arrived....and I was just over the moon. We had opera on the radio, sea air and a huge ship slowing coming into dock....how much of an ocean fix can you get!!

.....I get weepy just looking at the pics. When I was a child, my Gram lived one block off Dallas Road and when we would visit her, we would take a juice can and a sand shovel down to the beach and play among the logs. Dallas Road has always been my place to regain my "sea self". Sitting on a park bench facing the water, memories flood over me... watching the CPR ferries heading for Seattle and Vancouver and telling which ones they were by the number of funnels that they had. Dad and I had them all pegged. Growing up in Victoria ....one has to go back eventually...and I hope I will.

The birthday party was wonderful....lots of people there, some I knew, some I didn't. T&D came for a while and probably knew much fewer than I did....but the family were happy to see them...some not even knowing that they were back from Massachusetts. Caught up on family news .....

I have many more things to say I'm sure, but this will do for now. Since we have been back, I have sorted through china, pictures, cupboards and done a little gardening.....and I have taken to sitting out on the deck at night enjoying the peace and cool night air before bed, writing in my journal and in general cogitating on the day and life in general......calm mind before bed.

Slainte!

Another Day...another wasted day....

2007-06-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

I'm just not sure what's wrong with me. I'm sleeping ok, (for me) but I just cannot get it together to get anything accomplished during the day. All I want to do is sleep and read and wander around the house. I have a roomful of pictures to sort, an art journal to update....and nothing....NOTHING gets done.
I went outside to help DH weed today in the front, and spent the time sitting on the lawn.
I spent some time downstairs but on my laptop intending to do some updating and .....nothing....I played Poppit.
My life is passing me by and I can't stop it.
I hope it will get better soon.....

Slainte!!

To Market ..to Market ..to buy a fat......LIP????

2007-06-23T12:06:00.001-07:00

So we went to the market this morning....lots of good stuff.
Veggies are out now and still a smattering of plants as well as strawberries and cherries.
However.....we found a place that was selling peppers, tomatoes (all different kinds) and cukes. It appears it is a greenhouse that uses biological pest control....thereby no sprays...which is a good thing.
The seller said to us, as I was picking the peppers I wanted..."Those look like a pair of lips" So we took that to heart and voila!!!

Smmmoooooch!!!!

Then there's the pic of our basket of goodies that we bought.....and no..that's not a fish...it's a cucumber covered in plastic....and the little tootsie roll on top of the honey is a doggie treat for Chauncey. There is a lady there that sells home made doggie treats of all kinds so we always gets a bakers dozen for him...he loves them!!

...and finally...as an extra....a picture of a hens and chicks plant on my patio that ..it seems...is due to flower soon. It's the first time I've ever had one of these plants get to that stage .....I'm quite pleased!!

So...all in all a pretty good morning....we actually managed to get up early enough to do the market thing. After the market we went over to Art Knapps and got some chives and seeds for 30% off....AND...we were allowed to take Chauncey into the store and the greenhouse with us. How cool was that!! A lady had a Siamese cat with her as well.....needless to say we made a quick detour to the seed stands until she was through the till and out the door. Chauncey was just a tad too curious!!

Just a little note here...I am contemplating setting up a photo and art blog....still thinking about it...but I'll post it here when I do...

Slainte!!

Random Thoughts......

2007-06-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

So...it's been a while.
Throughout that "while" I have had several topics flow through my mind for blogs.
However, I can't remember many of them now. So I think it will be ....thoughts as they occur.

Our marriage turned 30 on Monday. Our "friends" didn't think it would last 6 months when we got married.....not sure what they were thinkin'...it took us two years to decide to get married....so we'd better make it work!! My DH's version of our marriage..."It's had it's ups and downs". Not the marriage per say....but life in general in that time period....but then...doesn't every life?? My assessment.....my love, my life....I couldn't have functioned without him. He may not say a lot....but he has ALWAYS been there for me when I needed him. I am tough to live with and he does it admirably!!
I noticed tonite that whenever I stress about something....I tend to want to retreat to childish things....simple books, easy games, things that don't require my mind to concentrate....and they make me happy. I was playing a game on the computer called Poppit, where you pop balloons with prezzies in them...and the prezzies are stuffed toys (I think) and they float down to the bottom of the board and sit there in a nice little line. If you don't make it through the round ....all the toys disappear and you have to start over. I felt a touch of sadness as the little toy icons flew into oblivion to make room for the new balloon board. When I actually finish one level....I sit and look at the toys for a minute before I blast them away for the next level. Sigh....so cuddly and non-threatening.....ok I know that's all very weird, but it's an outlet ok????
I have a new art project that I'm contemplating. A mixture of art journalling, collage and maybe a little polymer clay. I have been perusing blogs and sites of various and sundry artists and gathering information and inspiration. So the other day, I thought I would sit down and try to put something together. It's like I have a lock on the door of my creative mind. I see all these things I want to do, yet I cannot transfer the ideas outside my head. So......to while away the time, I am teaching myself to draw...after a fashion. I'm hoping that with a little exploring and experimenting I will find the way to unlock the door and fill pages with much creative drivel, which hopefully will turn into something meaningful at some point. I'll keep you posted.
We have been sorting through my family history...in letters, photos, newspaper clippings and albums. It started when we decided to go to an 80th birthday party for my cousin....and were asked to bring pictures etc that we might have from his past. I have lots of pictures and I think I have a letter or too as well. However, in doing this, we've also come across lots of other family stuff and that's only two boxes.....there are three or four more to go. I came across a lovely photo album that my father made while he was stationed in Newfoundland during WWII. It was with the old fashioned black pages and the little corner stickers...but he had illustrated and embellished it with white ink. It was just wonderful. I really didn't know he was such an artist....but then I'm not surprised, considering his sisters and mother were artists of varying types....all good. He also wrote little blurbs about the pictures as well as labelled them all. I'm not sure who they all are....but they are definitely a part of history. His history and Canadian history
We have recently also gone back over the genealogy of our family and reread some of the information given to us by my cousin in England from his research. It seems that we are well and truly from Irish stock which pleases me no end. The roots of our family go back centuries to the pagan chieftan's of Ireland.....a proud heritage to be sure. There is still more to be researched but I think that's to be left until we actually get to Ireland.......a wish of mine yet to be fulfilled.

I think that's it for now....life continues on apace with new things every day. I'll try not to leave it so long for the next post. In the meantime......

Slainte!!

Yet another applicable quote!!!!

2007-05-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

So.....I have thought of various and sundry topics to blog on....but they will wait...as they always do.

I have another quote....which is SO applicable to those who are frantically getting ready to travel tomorrow......

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. "

— Kurt Vonnegut

so....relax and laugh and it WILL get done. Ty and Magnificent M. , enjoy your trip and the conference:-)

Slainte!!

On sleeplessness......

2007-05-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

" Night time is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep. "

— Catherine O'Hara

Yessss!!!!

I knew there was a reason to stay awake!!!!

Slainte!

Something for foodies....

2007-05-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

I subscribe to Real Simple's daily inspirational quotes....not all are relevant to me....but this one I thought, was not only relevant to me, but to a few other bloggers out there....and you know who you are ;-)

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
— Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own"

I now have it (along with an appropriate picture) as my wallpaper...which I was able to download from Real Simple

Definitely words to live by....you think??

Slainte!!

To Journal or not to Journal.....

2007-04-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

I have written some form of journal for many years....off and on. I have bits and pieces of journals in various and sundry little books, mostly stashed in my bedside table...or in my workshop...or in the bag that I carry everything that doesn't fit into the suitcase.

But now...I have a journal in my laptop computer...password protected (of course!!)

I have journaled in my computer before in Word and then password protected it and then forgotten the password when I discovered it months later....sigh!

However...now...I have a program!!

About a year ago, I discovered that when I installed Office 2003 into my laptop, it had also installed a program called Microsoft Office OneNote. (One of those things that you discover after using the program for about a year!!)I believe that the original and most logical purpose of this program is for business use....but it can be quite well adapted for personal use. There is a section.....yes there is .....called.....JOURNAL!!It's lovely....it dates itself with date AND time no less....it saves itself automatically when I close the program....and you can password protect it easily....it's great!

So I have used this for about a year...and I have used no other. I don't write into it everyday....just when I feel the need.

I have found that journaling can help me to dissect problems and worries into smaller groups so I can examine them more fully and try to decide what it is about the problem that IS a problem. It helps to unload the worries into written form and seeing them that way makes them more manageable....at least for me. It's like I "leave my worries in the laptop"...at least for a time.

It's not all about worries either....I like to write about things that make me happy and joyful so they remain with me..... people I love and activities that I love to do and events that put me in a positive frame of mind.

As I said, I have always journaled intermittently in one form or another, but as I grow older it seems to have become more important to have a record of the process and it's ups and downs....emotionally, mentally and physically.

Interesting.......

Slainte!

Book, books, and more books.

2007-04-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

So in this healing time, among other things we have turned our attention back to books.

When we were in Massachusetts, we went to the Borders store near Stella's place and came out of it somewhat poorer than when we went in......and that was only the first trip.

Since we have been home we have visited Chapters at least once and then there was the symphony book sale this last week...and DH visited a second hand bookstore...on the way home from the library no less!! Luckily we only went to the book sale on the last day (when things were half price) but we still came home with 2 bags full of books.

The excitement of going to a bookstore...new or used....for me, is right up there with a good concert!!

We have a cupboard in the guest bedroom full of books we have yet to read....and there are various bags of books lying around the house.....

I ask you....is it no wonder that I never get out of the house!!!!

But....I do love books....and never more so than now, when we need the time to relax and recoup our energy. Sometimes I feel the urge to do something else....and I do it.....but then after..I end up back in my corner of the sofa under the reading lamp with my latest book and a "tisane" and the dog curled up at the end of the couch. DH has taken to sitting sideways with his feet over the the arms of the big chair to read and the dog lies on the back of the chair. When we are both reading in the same room, poochie switches between us at regular intervals....

Among other things...retirement has brought me back to reading...and for that I'm grateful. It's a therapy like no other.

Slainte!

The stresses of life....

2007-03-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

I do not do well the stresses of life. I try....but I don't do well. ...and neither does DH as it happens......
......because we internalize everything.

In the past month and a half ...

we have been incredibly ill with the flu and cold,
we, very suddenly, lost a brother/in law (DH's brother),
regained our daughter to the West Coast, and
experienced travel, moving worries and their effect on dear Stella,
stress of the highest level from both Stella and ourselves,
some worries about things back home and now...

...we have been hit by a massive exhaustion that has depleted our reserves and left us filled with anxiety.

I managed to play a concert this weekend, but it was a tough go. Having J & C here for the weekend to quietly visit (and do after dinner clean up!!) was wonderful...but the fact that both DH and I are still in our jammies at 9:50 pm, having done virtually NOTHING all day says everything about how we're feeling.

I am SO happy that Stella and King D are together again, it was good to be with her in Mass. albeit at times edgy. I love them both so much and wish that we had been stronger for her in Mass. but it was an experience that I would not have exchanged for anything. We finally got to experience everything she had talked about first hand and in that respect it was a most memorable time.

I think that DH and I need to pamper and really look after US now and hibernate for a while to recoup the lost energy.....you see, we never fully recovered from the flu before we were grieving and then travelling. So now is the time I think. When a good portion of my day is felt to be on the verge of tears and I see tears in DH's eyes when we talk, I know then that we have no strength to continue and we must stop and recover and finish the grieving process and heal.

We will go to a wedding in Pitt Meadows on Sunday....but that will be it for a while I think.

This is not meant to be a whining post, or even a sad post......I just needed to say something about how we were feeling..........and the eyes are starting to brim....so.....

Slainte!!

Massachusetts et al........

2007-02-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

So....we are in Massachusetts.....and have been for the past week and a half. It's been a busy time, a time of some sleepless nights(what's new), a time of worry, a time of exploration and wonder, a time of exilaration, and a time of relief. The weather has been good, although we landed in Montreal in a snowstorm and had blowing snow on our drive down to Mass. However, since then, it's been cold and sunny with a bit of rain and a couple of warmish days. The air is very dry.....lots of moisturiser needed...on lips and skin....and lots of water needed to go into the body.

I have a few observations of Massachusetts......

Lots of big houses and expensive cars (especially in small exclusive towns like Concord)....but the houses are nice, stylish and historic for the most part and lots of the cars are Volvos!!
People are, for the most part, nice and friendly and usually have been north of the border or know someone who has been north of the border.....but there are some still, who don't have a clue about our wonderful country.
Development of housing.....(at least in the outlying areas)...our leaders could learn a thing or two. Lots of trees, no clearcutting.....it's as though lots are sold and the homeowner clears only what he needs and leave trees around .....they are everywhere.....no clearcutting here. But then, that's the New England charm....the autumn colours....so they preserve it. But the concept is a good one. The housing is interesting, unique, fits with the landscape. None of these chicken coops of all the same shape and colour, that go on endlessly.
Still with trees.....they are everywhere, especially along the highways.....we even found a huge Target store all by itself surrounded by trees with the roads in and out through trees. The DHL office was in a industrial park opposite a fairly exclusive residential area and the industrial park was landscaped and surrounded by .....TREES!! So much nicer!!
U turns....they are legal here....people do it all the time....especially at advance left turn signals....in some places it's the only way to get where you want to go.
Some of the driving habits here boggle the mind.....like....when you see that the traffic on the opposite side of the interesection is stopped and hasn't moved for some time....why would you travel through the intersection and end up stopped in the middle, thereby blocking traffic going the other way (we were one of the fuming blocked and of course, told ourselves that "We would never do that in Canada....would we???) We extricated ourselves by dashing across two lanes of traffic following a similar fuming motorist into a small opening in traffic when our light was green.....Yaayy!!!.

We are taking the day off heading into Boston tomorrow with Stella ....so I'm sure more observations will be forthcoming.

In the meantime....back to packing and sorting out last minute details.

Slainte!!

Freedom ......and witterings....

2007-01-31T18:33:00.000-08:00

So....today was a banner day....
After being housebound for a week and a half.....I finally went out!!
Yayyy!!!
....to get some more cold medicine and groceries and library books....

....you see.....I may be on the tail end of this NASTY cold/flu bug....but
DH is right in the middle of it!!

I so need this all to be over by February 13th....because I have heard that flying with a headful of "ick" is a most painful experience......and of course we have things to do.....a "list" of things to do before we go.

The upside of all of this is...I have lost 5 pounds. One can only hope that it will stay off.
I rather stumbled upon a solution to the "weight" problem. .....let my husband do the cooking.
You see I do the "mothering" type of cooking.....good, tasty food and lots of it.
He has the "don't overdo it" attitude to cooking dinners...single tasty portions ...at least I think they're tasty. Due to this D'd virus I have no smell or taste. It looks good and fills the stomach, so I can only assume it tastes as good as it looks. I am very much a visual person :-)
In any case, it works for the weight loss....we will see if that continues....although I'm doing the cooking tonite, being the least ill of the two of us! Chicken burgers here I come!!!!! *snirt!!*

So the agenda for the next week is to GET HEALTHY, lose another five pounds (I don't THINK so), get organized and prepare for a bit of a working holiday. Exciting hey???? I am SO looking forward to this trip mostly because Stella and Bastet will be coming home with us and secondly we will hopefully be able see a little bit of New England in the process.....oh....and I forgot.....we get to experience TRADER JOE'S.....Woohoo!!!!!

Ok...now I have to get the chicken burgers out of the freezer......;-)

Slainte!!!

Doggy Funk....

2007-01-25T10:45:00.000-08:00

So our little Bichon is in a bit of a funk. We're not sure why. He gets this way now and then where he just drops his tail to "drag" position, doesn't eat (snacks or otherwise) and needs cuddles or goes into a corner by himself to mope.
.
He seemed fine this morning, but something has niggled him and so he's gone into a funk.

The cure for this is usually a walk with DH......which is what will probably happen this morning.
The scents around the neighbourhood get him into "move ahead" mode and when he returns his tail will be up and curled again and he will head to his pillow to munch on his morning snack.

Whatta dog!!

Slainte!!

Muddled and Settled.....

2007-01-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

I have not posted for some time.....

I'm excited about my daughter returning and happy that my son-in-law returned safely

My life right now is a mixture of reading many books, organizing my workshop and talking to Stella and J'lil bro. .....and feeling the growing anticipation of our trip eastward to Massachusetts.....and lying awake at night going over everything in my head.

I'm presently fighting some kind of respiratory thing...probably a cold that can't get attached (yay Vitamin C!!) and so I rest....for now.

I really want to post something profound.....but my mind just isn't working that way.
Let's just say that...despite the muddled state of mind and current events.....I feel more settled than I have in a long time.

Life is good!! (Cough Cough!!)

Slainte!

Nappen??????

2007-01-03T04:24:00.000-08:00

I was so pleased.....I managed 5 nights of good solid deep sleep.....I had hoped it would continue....
But...alas it is not to be.
It is presently 4:25 am and I have been up all night....
However, as is my habit, I will think positively of the new day ahead, try to get at least one thing done and of course there is always....NAPS!!

What WOULD I do without naps.....they are the glue that keeps my life together....

I rarely nap in the bed (only if I'm REALLY tired)....usually on the couch, or sitting up in a chair watching TV or looking out the window and sometimes even in front of my laptop, or on the couch beside my laptop, which I might add, I put there for that very purpose!! I nap in the tub and I even have been known to nap at the dining room table whilst reading after lunch. I seem to have the ability to close my eyes and drift off without any problem if I'm tired. It's a handy trick, especially on road trips.....put sun glasses on and no one knows your eyes are closed....(and no I'm NOT driving!!;-))

So I was interested on how the word nap originated....(I think of these things when I can't sleep...)
and I came up with the following......

nap. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 03, 2007, from Dictionary.com website:

[Middle English, from nappen, to doze, from Old English hnappian.]

nap'per n.

Word History: The famous verse 4 of Psalm 121, rendered in the King James Version as "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep," is rendered in a Middle English translation as "Loo, ha shal not nappen ne slepen that kepeth ireal." The word nappen is indeed the Middle English ancestor of our word nap. Lest it be thought undignified to say that God could nap, it must be realized that our word nap was at one time not associated only with the younger and older members of society nor simply with short periods of rest. The ancestors of our word, Old English hnappian and its descendant, Middle English nappen, could both refer to prolonged periods of sleep as well as short ones and also, as in the quotation from Psalm 121, to sleepiness. But these senses have been lost. Since the word has become less dignified, we would not find nap used in a modern translation of Psalm 121.

....all I can say is....who knew?????

On that note......to bed!!!

Slainte!

.....and then the day was done......

2006-12-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

So, Christmas Day is over.....and the shopping madness begins (or continues?)

It was a quiet day....slow starting, slow moving, and slow ending.....
We webcamed with the travelling offspring to open presents and it was wonderful!! For the rest of the day I felt that I had actually spent time in the same room with them ....in person....and it was a good feeling.

Because it was a sleepless night for me on Christmas Eve, I napped for 2 hours in the afternoon and then we had our M & M dinner!! I must say that their Beef Wellington and frozen veggies are quite lovely. We had a huge turkey dinner last weekend, so turkey was NOT an option for us on Christmas Day. We decided to go the convenience route and bought 2 single serving Beef Wellingtons from M&M and a bag of assorted frozen veggies (so much fresher and tastier than the supermarket assorted veggies!!) and then we had potatoes. ....and that was our dinner ....with wine of course. After dinner we relaxed on the couch drinking wine and chatting (mostly reminiscing!) and then watched a VHS version of Holiday Inn. That was about it for me.....I headed to my bed to read and then snuggled up to sleep the night away.....and didn't emerge until 10:45 this morning. It's amazing what a couple of glasses of wine will do to you!!

Today, it's present wrapping for J'little bro's prezzies as he's arriving late on Thursday....and then tomorrow we just may attempt to tackle the crowds and pick up some last minute stocking stuffers for J.

We have snow on the ground and more to come today if the forecasts are right.....so I guess it's just stay at home day for sure.....time to make appetizers for New Years Eve......hmmmmmm.......or not. I'm going on gut feeling here.....do I feel up to it.....or is it just wrapping and reading today? We will see. Time seems to fly by so fast.....

All in all.....a very satisfactory Christmas Day.

Best wishes to everyone and I hope your holidays are special and full of good things.....and as I recently heard one person say in his greetings.......just don't forget to laugh!!

It's all good !

Slainte!!

A pictoral essay....getting ready for Christmas...

2006-12-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

The tree is up!! In it's little nook, surrounded by accumulated stockings draped on the railings.
It will sit like this for a few days "to let the branches fall into place"......or so they say. Who is "they" you ask??? Well....that would be the people who sold us the tree.
I miss the tree farms....:-(

Time to take a break and enjoy the snow falling in the back yard. The top picture is of an apricot tree stump that used to have a bird feeder on it that I haven't set up for this winter yet.....tsk tsk....I really must get to that. Poor birdies!!

This is looking out directly from our patio doors to the terraces in the back yard. The rocks are where the wee meeces hide out in the winter in the hopes of grabbing a few tiny seeds that the birds spill about! I took both of these pictures with a flash at night and the falling snow came up wonderfully....although I'm not sure you can see it in these pics.

Well....the lights are on the tree now, but not so visible in the daylight......mini-lights also went up around the front windows so we could view the North Thompson valley through a halo of slowly changing colours.

Whew....that was exhausting....time for a nap with the cat!!!
...note the bins of decorations...they will remain there for a few days.....keeping the lights on the tree company!!

Saturday was tree trimming day....a day of memories with each of the ornaments collected for J & T over the years. I believe there are at least two that T (Stella) cross-stitched for Grandma, which I inherited ......also little stockings with coins in them that were knitted and crocheted by Grandma for J & T...with their initials worked into the stockings.....a silver bell with J's name engraved on it.......and somewhere (not on the tree) there is an ancient Christmas card given to my Mom and Dad many years ago, with a little lad in his jammies and plaid dressing gown....singing...."Oh come ON all ye faithful". That card always sat on the piano when I was growing up....and always made me giggle!!

The finished product, taken at night without a flash. I do think that this is the nicest way to view a decorated lighted Christmas tree......don't you?? It glows!!

Slainte!!

A good evening.....

2006-12-18T00:07:00.000-08:00

A good evening.....2 brothers, 1 husband, lots of Christmas food, wine, single malt scotch, and much conversation full of many memories.

Far exceeded expectations!!

We definitely must do this again sometime!!

Slainte!

A Sad Day....

2006-12-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

Today has been a mixed day.....which has ended in sadness.
We started the day with excitement, planning our trip to Shrewbury, flights, car rentals, dates etc.....it was wonderful and we finally got it sorted....although nothing booked yet...but itinerary has been firmed up.
After this, I decided to make some more shortbread, still feeling pretty upbeat, thinking about Christmas and the upcoming visit with my brothers......then the phone rang.

My mate answered it and I knew from his voice that it was my dear aunt from the coast....and then I detected a note of distress and surprise in his voice. He mouthed to me that my cousin, whom I've only just over the last few years gotten to know again, had passed away this morning.

A huge weight has settled on my heart.....

My aunt (his mother) of 95 (whom I've blogged about previously) was remarkable. Apparently it was a lung cancer that travelled very fast - weeks rather than months and the end was days rather than weeks. She was grateful for that. He didn't suffer long and now he is at peace. She lost her husband four years ago after a long drawn out battle with cancer and she could not go through that again.
"My dear, I am so thankful that I had him for 73 years!!" was her response.

I didn't see my cousin that often, but we did send emails and cards, and my aunt kept us both up to date on each others comings and goings. He used to bring her out to visit us when we lived in Langley. I have memories of my childhood when he used to babysit me and my brothers. He was a bit wild at times, but always so much fun and he thought the world of my mom and dad.

There is a lot that I can say, but suffice to say that I will miss him, or rather I will miss knowing that he's there if I care to email him....I will miss hearing about his studies at SFU (just to keep his mind active)......I will miss hearing about the excursions that he and Auntie D. took to Steveston ....... I will miss hearing about the good natured ribbing between he and his brother.....and I will miss hearing about the close friendship between he and his lady D. that lasted for 50 years.

It has all become memories.......

It seems that, lately, so much of my childhood and past is being relegated to memories.

But as we get older I guess that's as it should be.

Rest well cuz...

Slainte

Funnel Dogs, Craft Fairs and Such......

2006-11-28T23:13:00.000-08:00

Today we took our little Bichon, Chauncey, to the vet because he had been licking his right paw incessantly. Well...it appears he has a compulsion to do so...for whatever reason...and so to stop him and let it heal...he now wears one of those awful collars. So it looks like he has a funnel around his head....
He is not adjusting awfully well.....and we still have tonite to go through. I really hope that he gets used to it....it saddens me terribly to see him like that.

On to other things.....the craft fair.....that was

So after being so terribly organized (with the help of my mate) I was ready to go at 5pm on Saturday night....a totally new position for me to be in. My children will tell you that Mom always was up until 4am the night before trying to make that one last ornament which invariably didn't sell. So we relaxed on Saturday night and watched the temperature drop, the wind pick up and the snow turn horizontal and drift around our street. When we woke up Sunday morning we could not see the North Shore and the snow and wind were still horizontal and the temperature was hovering at -11 without the wind chill. However, not one to quit when committed, we loaded up the car and SLOWLY made our way over to the venue on the North Shore to find that many others had braved the elements to do the same thing. We crafters are a sturdy lot!!!
It was cold, but we managed to find our table and set up everything. Only 2 ornaments needed repair due to transportation damage, which was a miracle. A few changes had to be made on the table because I hadn't tried out the design in a practical fashion...mostly theoretical....but it was nothing that couldn't be changed on the fly.
After we set up....I got more coffee....and then I sat....and watched everyone.....chatted a bit....and the day wore on. I sold nothing....nada...not a thing. So I made a few observations....

Kamloops is just not ready for me as an artist.
what I do is not a craft anymore...it is art.
what I do is unique
several people loved my work, but didn't buy....and loved the idea of making a children's book out of what I do. (Encouragement is always good!)
there is STILL no one in my area who does what I do.
I am going to spend the next year improving, writing, experimenting and having fun
I will target a higher end show and maybe small gift shops
and finally....a comment was made to me that people in Kamloops will ALWAYS go to something that costs little or nothing to get into....as a form of entertainment....they don't go to buy so much as to see what's there. A different concept to be sure...but then it's the venue, large and full of a mixture of crafts and commercial ventures. One needs to have a show that specializes in nothing but handcrafted items....so we will see what we will see ....next year.

On the whole it was an interesting experience....I wasn't particularly upset about the non-sales....because I went into the fair with the attitude of experimentation....and if things sold... fine and if not...that was fine too. To see the new ornaments that I added to the mix, go here
and click on Nutfolkery II. The other work that was on my table is in the other folders on that site, with the exception of my Christmas photo cards. I would like to post them...just haven't figured out how to do it. I took photos of local snowy scenery around Kamloops (and my backyard!) and printed the photos onto glossy fronted cards and added original sentiments and non-original clipart appropriate to the pictures. I did the designing of them last year, but decided to try to sell them this year. I'm thinking that maybe I may not continue down that route....but time will tell.
So there you have it.....all the excitment....all the buildup....all the work....for nought...financially....but a true learning experience in showing direction.

And finally.....
All you Lower Mainland people ....for goodness sake....stop whinging about the snow and cold. Try being up here where it is presently -24 with snow on the ground....like this
and this.....
and you have to do this......
and it's STILL -24 outside....you know...that's when your NOSE HAIRS FREEZE!!! (However, I do sympathize with your power outages....but you know..it's all that WET snow!!) How can you tell I'm a former coastal resident.
..and I will not gloat to Stella and King D because their time is coming back there.....it's not a case of if the snow will come....but when....

On that note...the furnace is turned down for the night and my studio is getting cold....time to curl up under the duvet with DH with Funnel Dog on my feet!!

Slainte!!

Freak out time......aaahhhh!!

2006-11-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

So I head to the computer this morning to check out the inventory of photo cards I have on file.....that I made last year and want to sell this year.
I bring up Printmaster ( the new version that I installed when we got the new computer) and go to Import.....and there is....... NOTHING!!!
It's one of those times when you absolutely KNOW that you did something, but can't figure out how you did it. I KNOW I saved the Project Files from the old version of Printmaster.....now did I save them to CD....or did I save them to the "Old E Drive" which is now on my new C Drive?? Ahhhh.... therein lies the question.

I spent the better part of 2 hours searching through my files (and everyone elses!!), my laptop files, and any CD that had been burned as backup during the transfer to the new 'puter. I was beginning to feel desperate......even thoughts of backing out of the craft fair had entered my mind....I mean these cards make up a good portion of my stock. There was a short period of euphoria when we discovered that several CD's had been knocked down behind the filing cabinet....but that was dashed when they were all what they purported to be on the outside label....darn!!

My mate tried to get me to leave the chair and let him look, but I declined vehemently.......I KNEW they were somewhere.....they just had to be......didn't they?
I was on the verge of tears.....(I get that way sometimes )...

I glanced down between the filing cabinet and the desk and there was something there....."D., can you come and reach in and see what this is??" I called.
Sigh...it was just a slip of paper.....but wait!!
D. says "Oh look, there's a couple of CD's back here as well......(as he pulled them out) ...and one of them says PRINTMASTER PROJECTS!!" Yaaaaayyyy!!!

Crisis averted......panic attack quelled......NOW I can go and get dressed!!!

Slainte