Tuesday Round-Up

Wood Carrier

Yes, we still need our home fires burning, in our case, wood.  Most years, we have not needed to keep them up much into April.  But winter is clinging on this year. We have burned 6 cords of wood; all that we had stored in the garage and more that Hubby has been cutting himself.

Mess Maker

No 3 year old makes the mess that I do.  I must have earned my PHD in mess making by now.  I can't believe how many threads and bits of cloth I generate when I spend time quilting or stitching.  I am in the process of trimming my Farmer's Wife blocks into 6.5 inches on all sides.  This is a time consuming process with 80 blocks, which is how many I think I have made.  Cutting the sashing pieces is next on the agenda.

A failure

 These are Paleo pancakes made with coconut flour.  I looked around the net for a recipe and found one for making fluffy, it said, pancakes.  Mine were flat and didn't taste very good.  I think the recipe had a mistake in that it called for baking soda instead of what I think it should have read...baking powder.  Hubby used lots of syrup and said they were fine.  This made me wonder...has he got any taste buds left.  He says all my food is fine; believe me, if he thought these tasted ok then he is not my trusty taster like I thought he was.

Some of the critters around...

The gray squirrels in Older Daughter's back yard last week.  We all feed the birds and whatever other critters drop by.

The deer in Younger Daughter's back yard two weeks ago when we had Spring ever so briefly for a couple of days.  

Counting on indoor colour these days

                                                                      Parrot tulips.

February in April and A Bevy of BLoggers

Well April is not acting very April-ly.
  Even one of the meteorologists labelled it February-like today. Temperatures well below normal; we are still experiencing wind chills in the minus areas and the constant slight snow falls are keeping the world white. And then there is the freezing rain in between.
 Still wearing my winter parka, winter boots and gloves.   Brrrr and Grrrr

Thank goodness there is lots to occupy my teensy mind inside the house and especially on my computer. I love to share with you the efforts of my fellow bloggers.  Some are professionals and others are like myself, blogging for our own entertainment and delighted when some one else reads our posts.

Rhonda at Down to Earth  wrote a post called "So Now It's Liver Spots" that echoed so many of my feelings about aging...."youth is over-rated, old age is under-rated" for one.  I too think I have less patience with far too many things to mention now that I am old. This was one of her most commented upon posts in recent weeks with everyone agreeing with her well put sentiments. This particular post is well worth a read, as are all her writings, of course.

Florence at her Buzz and Flutter blog has set up a night camera and is showing all the creatures stopping by her garden overnight.  I love looking.  In the post I've highlighted, she shows Mr. Fox so I couldn't resist telling you about him.  Florence also shares wonderful photos of the birds at her feeders in her little corner of Ontario.

I would love to have such a night time camera, though I think it might frighten me to see what is passing through our property at night.  And I'm not thinking of raccoons or skunks!


This is a video of Stephanie Pearl McPhee at Yarn Harlot demonstrating a knitting technique that maybe accounts for why she can produce so many knitted items in such short order.  Stephanie is huge in terms of fans and her very amusing blog is one of the reasons.

Here's a couple of other videos I found that I thought very interesting.

The fastest knitter in the world, Mariam Tegels.  I don't know if Mariam is a blogger but I couldn't resist showing you this snippet of her knitting.

This is Barb Demorest demonstrating her invention, Knitted Knockers... knitted forms as breast prosthesis for those who have lost their breasts for whatever reason.   What a great idea.

Quick Rex Update 
 He appears completely recovered but he is still on the medications.  Will have his stitches removed on Wednesday.  The test results showed he had a splenic infarction.  No one knows what exactly causes them but German Shepherds are susceptible.

Now I just have to worry about Murphy who ate an entire plastic plate yesterday...still watching but no signs of anything amiss yet.
 Just what kind of stomachs do dogs have anyway!

A Pyjamas Kind of Day

I grew up in a house where everyone appeared at the breakfast table fully dressed.  Christmas morning was the only time us kids could be in our pyjamas.  I still feel the same way, but occasionally there is a day when I feel like wearing those flannel pants and a comfy fleecy top and lounging around.  Yesterday was one of those days.

I'll blame it on the snow storm.  Wednesday, we had 15 cm of snow and a bit of wind which was discouraging weather-wise and a real spring setback.  White again as far as the eye could see.  Those little tulip and daffodil sprigs I showed you earlier, covered under a fresh wintry blanket.  Then yesterday gray skies and pouring rain off and on all day.  Not a spring out of bed kind of morning.  It banished all thought of getting in the greenhouse to sort things out, or doing any raking, obviously,

April 5 th View from my Front Door

I felt hungry all day too.
 I started with two cups of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal, three 'ants on a log' celery sticks, half a grapefruit and it was still only 8:10 am.  I just knew it would be one of those sort of insatiable kind of days.

 I soldiered onward and tried to do everything as usual.  I took the dogs for a walk but found the heavy wet snow made walking hard.  We were all panting by the time we came home.

I sat down to finish a novel I began reading on Monday, The Untold, by Australian writer Courtney Collins. (Originally titled The Burial.) I liked this book from the moment I read the first page. I love books that have a real story and also have excellent writing and this one has both.  I also love women protagonists who fight against horrible circumstances, who use their grit and intelligence to outwit the people who control them.  I didn't know till today that the book was inspired by the life of Jessie Hickman, a legendary outlaw in early twentieth century Australian outback.  A good read.


                                         


Lunch was a thick piece of pumpernickel bread with ham and some sauerkraut.  I felt like I wanted something substantial and Hubby usually is happy with whatever I make.
 That kind of hit the spot.  

 Later in the day I did a little stitching...got to use DMC 839 Dark Brown, DMC 161 Dark Lavender and DMC 160 Lavender.  The lavenders look kind of blue to me.  I drank a large coffee while doing this to keep myself from snacking.

While watching House of Cards, I crocheted two more of my hexagons, these in that pretty blue/pale turquoise colour.  Beside them in the photo is a sprig of geranium I put in water a couple of months ago.  It has thrived forming many roots and now surprisingly a pretty little bloom.  I'm hoping it can hang on till I can plant it outdoors.
 I'm at the part in House of Cards where Claire Underwood has aspirations to become vice president; being First Lady is not enough for her.  Such raw ambition has me rivetted.

I gave up on that in time for supper.  We had oven baked chicken breasts and sweet potato and I fried bok choy and mushrooms in olive oil to go with it. It was filling and tasted okay.

My lazy day...  No housework got done, no paperwork, no research, no exercise, no multi-tasking.
And I don't know when it occurred to me that what started out as my lazy day was actually a very quiet and peaceful day.  Maybe after our scare with Rex, we needed a day like that.

 A little reading, a little stitching, a little t.v.

                 
                     

April 7, 2016...a day I can declare I was calm and peaceful.

Hope there is calm and peace in your days this weekend.

Should I Be Working Smalls??

I read blogs all the time where writers have a dozen (or more) projects on the go at the same time.  Usually they are very organized with each parceled in its own special container. Some assign a project to a certain day of the week.  My friend, Jenny, at Romany Quilting  has assigned each of her projects a number and rolls a dice to decide which she works on that week.  This is fun and is working well for her.  Every now and then, someone pulls out a UFO that is decades old, begins working on it again and gives it new life.  That is always fun to hear about.

 Of course, I too have projects coinciding....I love having a cross stitch or embroidery piece, something in wool and a quilting project all on the go at the same time.  I have to get each finished though before I can pick up another project in that category.  That's a little rule I try to stick to.

And I do need rules...you all know how I love looking and finding new projects.  I think at this point I have a couple of years' worth in my head.

Sometimes I think I should just work on 'smalls', little stitching projects where the end is in sight very quickly after the start.  I wonder is that more inspirational overall.

 Take for example my present cross stitch project, Grace Coolidge Floral Bouquet.  It has many colour changes which means juggling a lot of shades of the same colour which can get to be tangly (no pun intended).   This reminds me of the Magnolia bird and nest project I finished last year with all the shades of each colour.  Hours of work with just a tiny portion stitched.  You know what I mean.  But then the Finish is so fulfilling.

Moving down into the lower right corner- Progress!

 My ideal day is morning with quilting, afternoon on cross stitch or embroidery and evening with the hook or needles and wool.  There is usually two days a week I can achieve this...Super Happy Stitching Days for me.  Sooo grateful for retirement!

Loving crocheting these hexagons

I've been meaning to tell you I am taking part in the Jenny of Elefantz Stitchery Club this year.  So far I've just downloaded the patterns for later stitching.  I am so pleased, as I knew I would be, with the quality of Jenny's designs.  They are unique, professionally presented and so representative of Jenny's signature sweet style. What a keepsake.
 The link is Jenny of Elefantz to read more about this club plus all her other wonderful offerings.

                                                 

Our Loves Can Have Humble Beginnings

Photo by Eric Abbott

The dark coloured house in the right hand corner is my grandparent's house.  Granda and his step-brother built this house when he married my grandmother.  She had only one request, a built in china cabinet in the kitchen which she got.

  I visited this house every summer growing up and always had a wonderful time with them.  I was fascinated by the egg laying hens, the real feather mattresses which could feel pokey, and the way you could pick all the partridgeberries and blueberries you wanted within sight of the house.  My love of berry picking began then and there.

One day Granda said he had seen something he wanted to show me.  We walked to the old stable where a bush was growing a little taller than the fence.  He lifted me up so I could look.  I was staring down at a nest with three blue eggs sitting there warming in the sun.  I was amazed.  Then he told me to hold my breath and be careful not to breathe on the eggs.  If the mother bird returned and smelled a person on them, she would abandon them, he said.  You can bet I held my breath.

  I never forgot the sight of those beautiful eggs and I think my love of birds began about then too.

How our loves can be rooted in humble memories during childhood.

Do you have a simple but lovely memory from your childhood that began a love for you?

Ice Cream Cake, My Way

For Easter Sunday, I made the dessert for the family get together.  I usually make Carrot Cake for Easter, but I'd been wanting to make an ice cream cake and figured it was time.  My ice cream cakes are very basic...one of the reasons I love making them especially in the summer time.

Ok, should have frozen each layer before adding the next, duh

As a base, I always use a package of  oreo cookies pulsed in the processor to which I add 3 tbsp of butter. This got pressed into a 9 x 13 in. pan (since I was transporting this one, I made it in a large tupperware container) and popped in the freezer long enough to stiffen it up.  Meanwhile I had 3 containers of ice cream softened, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.  These I layered with a drizzle of caramel sauce between each layer.  I usually use Skor bars broken in bits sprinkled between the layers too.  I don't bother to freeze each layer before adding the next though it would probably make the finished cake look nicer.  The melting ice cream does tend to mix a bit by the end but really, once frozen it doesn't matter to me.
 On second thought, looking at that picture above, perhaps it would be best to freeze between each layer of ice cream...it would look much nicer.

So far, it's just been melting ice cream and pressing oreo cookies for the base...not hard at all.

The topping can be a large container of Cool Whip which really speeds up getting this done and into the freezer.  But in this case, because it was for company, I used whipping cream.  I sprinkled little cookie sprinkles and some chocolate curls over the top.

The only real work was the whipping cream topping.

I beat a medium container of cream with 3 tbsp of icing sugar.  Towards the end I slowly drizzled in a small packet of plain gelatin that had been softened in water and mixed with a couple of tbsp of water.  This, the experts will say, helps stabalize the whipping cream throughout the melting process when you go to eat the cake.  If not the cream would just be a sodden mess.
I find this whipping cream topping makes the cake taste more like the Dairy Queen cakes.

Why didn't I take a picture before it was cut...

I love desserts for company that you don't have to worry about, like whether something will rise or what it will taste like.  With ice cream, you already know it will taste fine and just about everyone likes ice cream. 

 I have not made this cake with frozen yogurt but I bet it would be good too.

Tulips-To-Be and a Scary Spleen Story

Look what I found when I went on a walk with Murphy yesterday.  They weren't there the day before..

Tulips- to- be.
 Yay! Those are the remnants of the giant English daisies that are lying over them.  Hope to get the rake out this weekend and clean them up.

And in other news

We've had an interesting and scary two days.  Rex, our German Shepherd, has been under the weather since last Thursday.  A little tired, not eating as well, not jumping up on his bed -that sort of thing. Most notably, he had lost his bark and he is a barker.  Just not himself so we took him to the vet Wednesday morning fully expecting her to say it was just a virus or something equally benign.
However, I could tell something about the list of symptoms gave her pause.  She asked to  x-ray his belly and draw some blood.  And sure enough, the x-ray showed his spleen was very enlarged.  She thought perhaps a tumour and dog tumours in the spleen have an 80% chance of being malignant.  Not good. We were completely taken aback.

 What a horrible night we put in Wednesday.  Hubby has never had children and his rescued dogs have always been like children to him.  You might remember the post I wrote about what he went through when we had to say good bye to Lacie, the Dalmatian.  So I was worried for him as well as Rex.

 We took Rex back to her office for surgery first thing Thursday morning.  Two hours later and we had some good news. Turns out it wasn't a tumour at all.  The problem was a two inch area of scarred tissue on the spleen that must have been bleeding.  She took a photo of the area to show us and send to the pathologist.  It seems to be a bit strange; whether there had been a cyst which cleared up on its own or some damage to the spleen somehow we don't know.  We do know for a fact he hasn't been hit by a car as he is never ever off our property.  So it is a bit of a mystery.

 But he is a strong boy and was able to come home at 5 pm yesterday.

 He was a little bit medicated still when we picked him up and went right to his dog bed in the living room when he came in the house.  I could just imagine his thought being" there is nothing like your own bed".  He slept all evening.
 Results of the biopsy should be gotten in a few days.  Perhaps then we'll know more about what ailed him.

Murphy really had her nose out of joint because she couldn't go on these car rides which she loves.  So as compensation, she got the longest walk and a new rawhide bone.  She says it was a help.

 We ate breakfast in a diner after we dropped Rex at the vet's that morning.  When I used the ladies room, I was surprised and pleased to see this sitting on the counter.

Someone's little framed cross stitched picture saying

                                 Those who give Love, Gather Love

I hope there is some love, whether given or gathered, in your weekend.