Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday Is Here, A Bit of Sadness, A Bit of Joy

In a little while I will be leaving to attend the funeral of a good friend and best friends Mother.

Doris passed away much too quickly. One minute she was here and the next I was getting a phone call from Debbie telling me her mother had died.

Doris was Kurt and Kris's boss for a few summers. You see she ran the park that is quite close to us and when I mentioned the boys needed summer jobs, Doris was already hiring them. They loved working for her, and when I would camp for my week of alone time during the summer she would always visit me for a morning cup of tea. After Gerry and Doris decided not to manage the regional park anymore my camping trips were not the same. No more sharing a giggle or two over cups of tea.

It will be hard to say good bye, but I do know she is in a much nicer place where she no longer needs to suffer any pain. If you have a few spare moments in your day please say a prayer for this wonderful lady and her family.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Wonderous Sight

As I do every morning before it gets too hot or rainy (has happened a great deal lately) I took my walk.

I followed my usual path, minding my own business and breathing deeply of the fresh air. Nothing wakes me up more than a walk. I was looking at the flowers and such in peoples front yards when I heard a small squeak.

I looked down and saw this just in front of me.


A small little baby bunny!!! It looked at me and I looked at it. We must have gazed at each other for at least 5 minutes. I sat down on the ground, and it still did not hop away. I slid a bit closer and reached out to pet it slowly. Oh so very soft.....

Finally after a good 15 minutes it hopped away. I would have loved to bring it home with me, but I am sure it would have missed its life in the wild.

This made me realize even more that I love living in my small city. You never know what you can meet on an early morning walk.

I will be gone to our family reunion starting tomorrow. I will try to check in but one never knows how these things go. If not I will see you all on Monday.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Learning A New Skill

Today we were under a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the day. Towards supper the storm rolled in.


The sky grew dark and I could see the wind picking up. That is pretty much all that happened. The storm rolled in, we got a smattering of rain and then the clouds disappeared!

A couple of days ago I decided to try my hand at using my knitting loom. The loom has been sitting in my closet for awhile and as I really can't cross stitch in the evening, I have been working with this once the sun starts to disappear.


I think this will make a lovely cowl to wear this winter. I think this is a lot like corking only the hole in the center is much, much larger. I am having a great deal of fun doing this. It takes me back to my childhood when Mom would be knitting and I would be corking using a wooden spool and her scraps of yarn.


This is a picture of what it looks like inside.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Menu Monday

I am early this week!!

Here are my weeks menus and as we will be gone for 4 days and 3 nights.... my plans are shortened some.

Monday

Grilled Chicken Quarters, foil veggie packets and cole slaw.

Tuesday

Leftover Ham made into another type of casserole. Served with leftover cole slaw.

Wednesday

Pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots.

Thursday

Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Got to use up some of the stock in the freezer so I can make some more.

Gone to family reunion for the next few days...so no menus for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Depending on what time we get home on Monday the menu is up in the air.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

Today has been a very strange day. It started out rainy and cool. The sun came out for awhile and things got warm and humid. Now, it is cool and overcast, looking much like this.


No rain as of yet, but it is cooling off and I am pretty sure there is more rain on the way.

Thought I would share a few pictures of our garden.

First the veggie garden. Everything is so nice and green. It needs to be weeded, but with all the rain we have been getting that is an ongoing problem.








Now a picture of how big our Hosta plants are getting.

They are loving this cool, wet weather!!!

Here is a picture of my perennial bed. It is mostly lilies and some are getting ready to blossom.

When it is too rainy to go out and enjoy the great outdoors I have been spending my time knitting. I have made two more ruffled scarves. One for the silent auction and one to perhaps keep for myself, just can't figure out which one.

Everyone have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Sad Day

Today has been one of ups and downs. At 5:30 tonight my best friend Debbie's mother passed away with a short fight against her cancer. She lived long enough to let her family gather around her to say goodbye.

Please say prayers for the family as they are lost without their anchor.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Thursday Tidbits

It has been a rough week overall. My best friends mother is dying and really all I can think about is her and her extended family. Everyone got the call to come yesterday and things are still not good. I understand how this is affecting them having gone through the loss of my own father 9 months ago.

I did not get the prayer shawl completely done for her mother but finished it off and gave it to Debbie to take to the hospital. I hope it gives Doris some peace.

A happier occurrence came this afternoon. One of the students I worked with and later became friends with is graduating this year from High School. He phoned and asked if we could meet at the school and have our picture taken together.

Jayden is the young gentleman on the left in this picture. Hard to believe that the youngster that I knew is getting so mature. He is such a sweet boy, every time he sees me I get a big hug from him. It does not matter where we are or who is around he greets me the same way every time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.
 

Monday, June 17, 2013

Menu Monday for the Week of June 17 to June 23

Good Monday morning to everyone out in blog land, or at least to those who read or glance in!

It is that time of the week again.

Monday

Leftover stew that I froze from an earlier meal. I am going to make dumplings with it this time.

Tuesday

Hot Beef Sandwiches (using the leftover beef roast from Sunday), oven fries and coleslaw.

Wednesday

Chicken Breasts baked on a bed of rice, smothered with mushroom sauce. I will make corn on the cob to go with.

Thursday

Leftover Ham used as a sauce with spaghetti. Coleslaw as our side salad.

Friday

Tuna Pasta Salad, our favorite summer time dish.

Saturday

Pork chops, served with tin foil packets of potatoes, carrots and onions. Hopefully there is some coleslaw left as well.

Sunday

Lots of leftover ham in the freezer so I am not making a ham this week. Instead I will make ham and scalloped potatoes. Green beans will be one of the sides.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

Well today was Father's Day and it is the first one that I have not been able to call my Dad to wish him a happy one. It kind of brings back lots of memories of other times and other Father's Days.

The boys have both called Harvey now to wish him the best today. Kris wished he could have gotten home to take his Dad fishing, but considering the wind this weekend I really don't think they would have gotten much fishing done.

This is a picture of Harvey on his fishing trip to Tofino  six years ago. He is doing his favorite of all things and seems to be having a great time.

There is my sweetie. He is one happy fisherman!!

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Just A Windy Day



Today has been extremely windy and if there is one thing that sets off my fibro it is the wind. It has been an uphill battle today between my neck, shoulders and hands. Out of all the pain the worse is having it in my hands and fingers.

Typing is a big problem and for every word I type correctly there are three that I have to correct..... Makes working on projects difficult and slow, but I am nothing if not determined to get things done!!! So I am continuing with the prayer shawl very slowly and other projects around the house.

Tomorrow is another day and it can only get better!

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Thursday Tidbits

No pictures tonight just a bit of a catch up on what has been happening here and how we are fairing.

I have been working on the prayer shawl every night and once I am done this post and checked out a few of my blogging buddies I will be at it again. It is moving on slowly but surely and hopefully I will have a picture of the finished product soon. Since my friends mother has only been given 2 to 4 months to live.....it needs to be done and done as quickly as possible.

My basil turned brown and withered over the past few days, so today I replaced it with a healthy one. Now as long as we don't get inundated with rain this one should be okay.

I have weeded the hosta bed and the perennial bed and feel that I am keeping on top of things. Wonder how long that will keep up. I sometimes get tired of all the weeding that needs to be done and kind of let things slide, I hope not to do that this year.

Dad's estate work is slowly but surely coming to an end....well at least the corporation part of it. I am going to take a big hit in taxes, but what else can I do. I am putting as much as I possibly can in my RRSP, but believe me that really isn't much. My sister can tax shelter almost all of her share. Makes me almost wish that I could have made more, or even not put in as much as I did over the years. Oh, well, this is extra money so I guess I should not complain too much. My accountant on the other hand could have a bit of a problem next year making out my tax return.

I went shopping today. Yikes, grocery prices are going up by leaps and bounds. I have a feeling we will be reworking the budget sooner than we thought. As I filled my cart, my thoughts went back to when my mom used to send me grocery shopping. Boy could a person get way more in the way of food back then. Even with inflation I think that those people who are on fixed income are going to have big troubles. I don't think the increased cost of transporting the food has even reached its high point as of yet. I could have fainted when I picked up 10 pounds of potatoes and looked at the price.... $11.99!!! Two weeks ago it was $8.99, if only I had known. Waiting for the garden to start coming in and save us a buck or $11.99.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A New Recipe

Tonight I got on line looking for a new recipe to use our leftover pork roast. I found one. It is on Allrecipes and is called Pork Supreme. This was so good it is going to be made again and again. I don't have a picture to show you so sorry.

I also started the prayer shawl for my best friends mother. Her favorite colour is light blue and that was one colour I did not have in my yarn stash. So off to the store I went. I never realized how hard it would be to find a light blue yarn in a bulky weight here. So I bought a lighter weight. Sure hope it turns out.

Here is a picture of the shawl so far.


It looks slightly purple, but believe me it is a light blue.

I also finished off the last of the family reunion silent auction items. I have one more skein of this yarn in blue, and after that one is done, I doubt I will knit with it ever again. Just too temperamental. I do like how it turned out though.


Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Menu Monday June 10 to June 16

This weeks menus will be as follows:

Monday

Slow cooked pork ribs, rice, and beets. Chocolate cake for dessert.

Tuesday

Leftover pork roast made into a casserole of sorts. A one dish meal.

Wednesday

Slow cooker stew that I will get started in the morning before I work in the afternoon. The leftovers will be frozen for a meal next week.

Thursday

Hopefully nice enough that Harvey can grill some steaks. Served with baked potatoes, sour cream and chives from the garden. I think green beans will go nicely with this.

Friday

Lazy perogies.

Saturday

Leftovers from the week, I may make some potato salad to go along with the meal.

Sunday

Beef roast, roasted potatoes, and carrots.

Dessert will be chocolate cake until it is all gone and then I will pull out one of the crisps I made.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

Up until about an hour ago, the weather was absolutely lovely. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm. Now clouds are building up and I heard thunder in the distance. We may be actually in for another storm. Not that we have had a thunderstorm this year yet but we have had more than enough rain to last us for awhile.

This is what the sky to the north of us looks like.


I hope it is not as bad as it looks!!!

Mass today was very long. We were confirming the grade two classes from our Catholic schools and we had 42. All of them looked so cute and so solemn as our priest anointed them and gave them each the sign of peace. It did get extremely hot in the church and I was glad to go outside in the fresh air.

I checked on my friend and she is gradually doing better. I think it does her a world of good to be able to talk to someone who has been on this journey before. I will continue to talk to her as much as she wishes and she knows I am here for her.

We had a pork roast for dinner tonight and Harvey just could not get over the cost. Prices keep rising and I keep looking for ways to cut costs, we don't have a problem as of yet and hopefully will not I just somehow wonder how those people that only have a government pension and no savings make it from month to month. Our Food Bank has been advertizing that they are extremely short on staples so I hope to pick up a few items and drop them off this week. No one should go hungry when they live in one of the richest countries in the world. As Christ said "Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me."

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Saturday, June 8, 2013

Rainy Saturday

Today started out to be like this.

Waves of rain kept coming all day. A few times we thought it was actually clearing, but that was a lie. Usually a down pour started within a few minutes of it seemingly clearing. Right now we are not getting rain, but I see dark clouds coming in again.

It was once again the perfect day to get some baking done.

First off I pulled out the bread machine and made a loaf of bread.

Then I moved on to something a bit sweeter, chocolate cake. Still have to ice one of them.


I made two of these and one is residing in our freezer right now. The other I will ice and we will have it as dessert this week. Or better yet just something to snack on.

Next I pulled out some frozen pie fillings, both apple and cherry. I moved on to baking some crisps.

First the apple.

And then the cherry.


These are all residing in our freezer and will be sweet treats throughout the summer.

By this time I was so very tired out from all the baking that I decided to spend some time knitting. Got another part of the silent auction items done.


I have now started the last of the items we are donating. Whew, soon I will be finished with that project and can mark "Silent Auction Items" off my to do list.

I will be moving on to a project that is not as happy but dear to my heart. A dear and wonderful friend of mine is losing her mother to cancer. I want to go through my yarn stash and knit a prayer shawl for her mom (the mom is a friend as well). I do hope I have something suitable.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.




Friday, June 7, 2013

Things Are A Growing

After the nice weather we have had the last couple of days, things are really taking off.

Our Hostas are finally showing some growth.








Some are a bit slower than others, but at least now I know they are still alive after the terribly long winter we endured. Looks like I have to weed again, a never ending chore around here.

 Day Lilies are getting nice and bushy. Should have lots of flowers this year as we thinned them down a bit last year.

The Asiatic lilies have started to spread out once again. I am hoping for an amazing show of flowers this year.

The Virginia Creeper is a bit slow this year, but it is finally filling in the area surrounding our deck and giving us a bit of privacy from the monstrosity of a duplex behind us.


And to make matters even better today, I got to enjoy the first fire in our fire pit of the season.....

Ahh, summer has finally arrived.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Thursday, June 6, 2013

Thursday Tidbits

One more finished project. This is the lapghan I have been working on for our silent auction at Harvey's family reunion at the end of the month. I finally finished it today and have started on another unfinished project that needs to be done for this occasion.

It feels very good to finally get another project done and have it erased from my white board!!!

We had a bit of excitement here yesterday. I got on Facebook yesterday morning and there were a couple of posts of Kurt on there. It seems he had been having chest pains since Sunday and when he awoke in the middle of the night with extreme burning in his chest.... Well he decided perhaps he should make a trip to the hospital.

I was greeted with a picture of him hooked up to oxygen, not what a mother wants to see first thing in the morning! He underwent some tests and was told that his heart was fine, this caused his blood pressure to drop dramatically. He did not teach yesterday, instead he took the day off and rested. Today he posts he is back to normal and feels 100%.

I really do wish that our children would think before they put their dear old Mom into a full blown panic attack!!

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Unfinished Projects

I thought that today I would share with all of you some of my unfinished projects. Hopefully they will join the ranks of finished projects very soon.

First some cross stitch projects.

This is a very small dragon and castle. The picture really does not do it justice. I started this on a silent retreat and was going to give it as a gift to Kris for Christmas one year..... Perhaps it will make an extra gift for this coming Christmas.

This is a large angel. I believe it is called Angel of Winter. I started this many years ago and put it away to finish when I had more time. I have a whole series of these to do, so I think I better get started very soon on completing them.

I have one top cut out to sew. Bad me it has been sitting in my sewing room for at least 2 months.

This will make a perfect summer top. A lovely addition to my wardrobe. If I want to wear it while the weather is still nice I better get to it.

These, with the addition of some cream coloured fabric, embroidered with burgundy butterflies will be made into a new quilt for our bed. I really want to get started on this and I am using it as a bribe. You know if I get "X" amount done I can start the embroidery...... I need to get 3 more small unfinished projects done first. Slowly but surely reaching that milestone.

I also have a red tablecloth, white tablecloth and a number of cotton dishcloths to get through. Plus I have some more clothing sewing I would love to complete.

Looks like I have a busy summer ahead of me.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Monday, June 3, 2013

Menu Monday

It's that time of the week again, so here are my menus for the upcoming week June 3 to June 9.

Monday

Leftover ham made into a casserole with rice, cream of mushroom soup, broccoli and cheese. Served with crusty bread.

Tuesday

Hamburgers, leftover pasta and baked beans from the freezer.

Wednesday

Chicken a la King, using up a package of the leftover chicken in the freezer. I will serve this over warmed up leftover baking powder biscuits. Salad on the side.

Thursday

Hot Beef Sandwiches, homemade oven fries and the leftover salad.

Friday

Baked Fish, homemade oven fries again and carrots.

Saturday

Leftovers from the week, or what we lovingly call Refrigerator Smorg.

Sunday

Roast Pork, roast potatoes, and yellow or green beans.

So that is what we will be eating this week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

Today was another sunny, warmish day. A perfect day to work outside.

Harvey cut the grass and I watered the hanging baskets under the eaves. Then the day was mine to do with as I chose.

I spent a great deal of time curled up with a book and then went for a walk. While on my walk I noticed all the lilacs were blooming, and their perfume was lovely.

Now I love lilacs but am not lucky enough to have any in my yard so what to do.......

I asked my neighbour if I could clip some of hers to enjoy their fragrance and beauty in my house. Irene said to go right ahead. I am now the proud owner of a lovely bouquet of purple blooms.

Now if I can just keep the cat away from them.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Yard Sale Season

It is the beginning of yard sale season in my neck of the woods.

Last year I started putting a few dollars in my pocket when I went for a walk on the weekends, and I am continuing the practice this year.

Today I stopped at my first yard sale while on a walk. This is what I picked up for a couple of dollars.

I usually spend some money picking up books for those long winter nights when it is just too cold to get to the library. Can't beat the price.

I also picked up this unopened tin full of recipes using that versatile food, cream cheese. It also had blank recipe cards in it. I am sure this will come in use sometime when the urge to make something totally decadent takes control.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.