uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh

I think I'm finally coming down with something. I had been so proud of myself for being so healthy all Winter long. Well, now that it's Spring, so I guess I was healthy all Winter long. (I think that seasons are deserving of capitals.) Oh yeah, except for the bladder evils in January. Okay, never mind. I've been feeling progressively worse all day and am sore all over, with chills, right now. So, I have a cup of peppermint tea to drink until Phillip is really, truly asleep. Then my plans include a nice hot bath, some reading in bed, and lots of sleep. Good night!

forcing branches

For the past few years, I've forced branches every February or so. I did the same this year, but a few weeks ago when I was cleaning up in the garden on a beautiful March evening, I found a few other little branches strewn around on the ground, and wondered if they would do something interesting if I plunked them in some water. Did they ever! The spirea is pictured above, and there are teeny-tiny little buds in the leaves, which I'm guessing will turn into some sweet white flowers.
Some Japanese Cherry blooms are almost open, too. They're extra special to me, since they were blooming when P was born. Some great friends cut some of the branches from our tree and brought them to me in the hospital.
And I had heard of farmers sticking willow switches in the ground, which would then grow into beautiful willow trees. Now I can see why. These little twigs were in water for a week or so when the roots started to appear. It's been a little more than two weeks now, and check out those roots! I think I'll be starting some little willows in pots.
So go and see what you can find on the ground or in the yard, and stick it in some water. For woody branches, it works best to cut a notch into the bottom of the twig, where the branch was cut from the tree, so that it can soak up plenty of water. For flowers, try quince, cherry, forsythia, or spirea. I love the little fuzzy yellow willow 'flowers' (seeds?), and think they're gorgeous, too. I've never tried lilac, but something tells me they wouldn't work as well. Have fun!

off for an adventure

My in-laws are here for a few days. MIL bought me this sweet little begonia for my upcoming birthday, and I love it. Especially since I plunked it in the clay pot with the antique saucer. I love pink and green together, especially in Spring.
Speaking of Spring and green, we ate our first food from the garden with last night's supper! The chives are up a wee little bit, so I picked some and we ate them sprinkled on tacos made with local beef. Delicious.
And lastly, I cleaned the windows two days ago. Yesterday, a very loud crash scared me, and I couldn't figure out what it was. I searched the house, and finally gave up. Later on, I realized that those smudges on the window weren't more of Phillip's hand prints, but a greasy bird print, left after a high-impact collision with the glass. Ouch.

I'm glad that you're finding the dishwasher info helpful! Baking soda really is an amazing thing.

Phillip and I are going to visit the in-laws for a few days, so I will be back in a few days. In the meantime, here's P, singing in the pantry with an oven mitt. Happy Spring!

perfect Saturday breakfast

First of all, I brought some spirea branches in to force. I bought the plants at Canadian Tire on clearance last fall for 50 cents each. Not bad, eh?
Today's my first day of March Break! We had a celebratory breakfast, including all of the essentials: butter, maple syrup, and (warning: gross meaty picture coming up): bacon.
I had never cooked bacon in the oven before. This is probably because we buy it approximately once a year. I treated myself to some new baking sheets (some people are addicted to drugs, others, cookware), and I thought it would be a good way to use them. If you've never done it, it's easy; just place the bacon on a cooling rack over the baking sheet in the over at 425 for approximately 20 minutes, or until it's crispy and lovely. This way, it doesn't just cook in its own fat, and the slices stay nice and flat. You might want to line your baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier clean up. Downsides: 1) even though it's done in the oven, your clothes will still smell like a dog treat, and 2) it's a pain to scrub the type of cooling rack I have.

How many songs do you know about baking/bacon? I love wordplay. We've been singing this one:


Other fun things I've enjoyed on this first day of the break: going to the Old World Bakery with Phillip for "muffins juice" and seeing some friends, getting the last faucet that was on sale at Canadian Tire, hanging out a full line of clothes, and reading Donna Hay's Fruit. It's a very good day.

recipe-a-week #9: zucchini bread & exciting garden developments

First things first: when the snow melted this week in the raspberry patch, look what was hiding underneath! The first snowdrops of the season. I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted them from across the yard; I zoomed over (in Adam's shoes, since I was emptying the compost and his were closest to the door) to make sure that my eyes weren't betraying me. Yipeee! I can't even express how very, very exciting this is. Prepare yourself for this year's garden pictures!

In indoor news, I'm having fun baking this afternoon while P is sleeping and Adam's at the gym. First, I whipped up these simple and quick brownies, as per Adam's request. I can't say enough good things about them - they are what I would call a perfect recipe. One pot, 4 or 5 minutes, and into the oven they go. Delicious, too, of course. (Edited to add: I originally posted about them with pictures, here.) The second thing, which is currently in the oven, is zucchini bread. I still have some frozen and grated zucchini from last fall in the freezer, and decided that some zucchini bread would be a great way to reduce my stores. The recipe I used is from More-with-Less, and it goes like this:

Zucchini Bread
350, 1 hr, makes 2 loaves

Preheat oven to 350. Combine in mixing bowl and beat well:

3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 c vegetable oil (you can use part applesauce; I used butter)
2 c raw, peeled, grated zucchini (mine was frozen and thawed; I drained off some of the water)
1 tbsp vanilla

Sift together:
3 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
3 t cinnamon

Add to zucchini mixture and stir until blended. Add 1 c coarsely chopped nuts (I didn't.)

Pour into 2 greased bread pans. Bake 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on rack. Yum! I like is best cold and with butter, à la post-funeral/celebration/exciting gathering in a church basement. Enjoy!

adamgrahamphoto.com

My fantastic husband launched his new website today. He's been working at it for a long time, and I think it looks great. Have a peek! If you're in the area, he is now photographing weddings and other happy events such as babies and family portraits in addition to his gorgeous fine art pieces. One of the latter is in a show of local photograpers' work at Th'YARC, as of today. Notable note: as he's building his portfolio, he's offering discounted rates for the weddings he does this season, so contact him if you're interested.

**
P.S. The first hyacinth flower is opening today, and is starting to smell wonderful!

vines & food week

It's the garden's off-season. It's certainly still beautiful, in a very different way.

So, are you ready for food week? It starts tomorrow, and if you have a blog or flickr account and want to join in, please do! Each day will have a specific type of recipe to post.

Monday - Breakfast
Tuesday - Lunch
Wednesday (you guessed it!) - Supper
Thursday - Vegetable (a vegetarian vegetable dish)
Friday - Dessert

They can be recipes you've already posted on your blog, ones you have in your head, ones passed down - anything goes. What I want is your very best recipe (by my standards) in each category. Very best. By best, I mean it's relatively simple, delicious, and quick, using mostly ingredients I would have in my pantry already. And hey, since I'm making up the rules, no boxed ingredients in the recipes (like boxes of jell-o, packages of cake mix, or canned soup). Boxed broth and frozen phyllo or puff pastry are fine. (I love making up the rules!) Really, though, I'm not going to boycott your post if it doesn't strictly meet all of those requirements - I just want more great recipes to go around!

I will post a list of participants tomorrow (Monday) along with my breakfast recipe. So if you're in for sure, please leave a comment on this post, to make sure that you're included. It would be great if you could link back to my blog with each post throughout the week, but don't get your knickers in a knot over it if you forget - things are pretty laid back around here.

I'm hungry already, and can't wait to see all of your fantastic recipes!

**
P.S. Speaking of hungry, Adam made these cookies the other day, and they are chewily divine. Phillip loves them, too. Also, we're making these for dinner tonight - I hope they're as good as they look!

snow day 2.0

I had a second, consecutive, glorious snow day yesterday. I took a nap, which was divine. And despite all of the snow, there is still lots of green in the garden, if you know where to look.

How do you like the new header? I was completely inspired by this, and had to buy some baby's breath tonight at the grocery store to take some pictures of my own. It's really too bad that such sweet flowers are used so tackily in French braids (as Ingrid pointed out tonight) and Valentine's bouquets. I'm happy to bring them back to their simple, sweet selves.

a home for all seasons

This is a great little book I picked up this week for $4. (When I say 'little', I mean physically little. It's very cute.) It is full of beautiful pictures and inspiration. I've been gazing longingly at the light, bright, summery images. Although I do enjoy winter, too.

It's snowing today; beautiful, fat, wet flakes. I'm hoping to take a few more pictures later on.

Tomorrow, I'll share the next Recipe-a-week, from Barefoot in Paris! It's a dessert, so save some room!

*sniff* *blowing of nose* *sniff*

I still don't know if we're going to get a 'real' tree this year. This may turn into our tree. It's a few branches from our Quince, strung with a sweet beaded garland. I had a beautiful, simple, modern picture in my head, but now that it's together, it looks a bit too much like cobwebs on the branches. I think the addition of a few ornaments might be called for. More pictures to come.
A better picture of the tealight thing I posted last week.
And we do have a green tree; a tiny little Norfolk Pine. It's on the kitchen table, and when P notices it, he says "kiss-masss... tee!"

I have a cold. Ugh. The kind where my head is completely plugged and fuzzy, I'm constantly blowing my nose, and I generally feel disgusting. And it's been pouring rain all day. Not terribly festive.There. I feel better already.

I had hoped to get some Christmas cards done this weekend, and I still might this evening. I got a few batches of soap made yesterday while P was sleeping, and had a little rest this afternoon. I was perusing an amazing book for awhile, too - Birth: the surprising history of how we are born by Tina Cassidy. I enjoy history - not so much details of wars and conflicts, but how daily life and events differed from what we know today. This book is brilliantly and extremely well written, completely fascinating and objective. I must say that I've read about half the book (beginning in the middle), because I was only borrowing it from the library for one particular section. I started and couldn't stop. Now that's a high recommendation, coming from me. And speaking of birth, congratulations to J&J in New Brunswick who welcomed a new son into the world yesterday! Babies are the best.

'the real deal' tag and a freshly-planted amaryllis

And what surrounded it when I took the first picture.

1. My $2.99 Value Village leather bag, which I use for work. It has handy pencil slots and everything. It doesn't usually end up on the table, but needed to be cleaned out. And it was. It is probably my all-time #1 favourite thrifted find.
2. Photo albums. Adam was putting together some of his wedding pictures for his site, and had them out.
3. A gorgeous handmade Japanese Cherry wooden bowl, which I bought at this weekend's craft fair. It's going to be a gift, so I will say no more.
4. A new book, which has unbelievable amounts of pink in it, but some nice sewing patterns I'm hoping to try.
5. The packaging which my Christmas present to myself came in! I adore it. I love wearing a beautiful little reminder of my little guy.

Amber (who consistently cracks me up) over at Amber's Ambry tagged me, which is the reason for this post.

Here are the rules:

"Here's the low down.... take a picture the way you would normally do to post on your blog, preferably crop it to showcase the subject. Then show us the "real deal"... the nitty gritty daily clutter that we sometimes try to avoid posting. Talk about the messes you cut out in the cropped picture. We'll still love you!!! Then tag at least two people and link back to your post. OK? Sound fun? Can't wait to be invited into everyone's real life."

Consider yourself tagged! I'm terrible at choosing people. Happy Wednesday! (We remembered to put out the recycling tonight!)

november morning

The calendar says that it's November, but the weather disagrees. When we went for a walk this morning, I was plenty warm in a long sleeved t-shirt. I think it was around 15 degrees. And it has been wet, which those sweet little mushrooms must love. I got a bit of yard work done while Phillip was 'resting' (translation: he should be sleeping, but he's talking to himself and reading in his crib), and it felt really good to be outside accomplishing something. When he was sleeping this afternoon, I got some soap made - a new layered Chocolate Mint Square (!) and a plain peppermint batch, which was a customer's special request. Fun - I can't wait to cut them tomorrow.

thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving long weekend together. The chinese lanterns in the garden need some serious talking to, as far as not being so controlling. But it was nice to have so many bright little lanterns around, especially when the sun was shining on them.

And it's election day here in Canada! If it's not too late, and you haven't voted yet, scoot on over to your polling station and VOTE!

blackberries

Adam took this gorgeous photo of blackberries from our garden last evening. They were just as delicious as they look.

poppy pod

We still have some poppies hanging around in the garden, and the most beautiful part of all - the pods. I'm enjoying them very much.

rain, rain, go away

It's been overcast, foggy, and/or cloudy for what feels like forever. Today, it poured, which was a welcome break - at least the weather was doing something and not just threatening to! I went outside this evening for a few minutes, and it was spectacular - the skies had cleared, and there was a gorgeous glow from the west which warmed the light on everything in the backyard. I picked a few straggling raspberries, checked out our blooming echinacea, and admired my sprouting lettuce. It was perfect.

I know I've mentioned it already, but I'm having a summer sale at my Etsy shop! There are bars for as little as $1.50. Less, even, if you snag one of my odds and ends batches of imperfect bars. Anyhoo, have a peek. I'm cleaning up and clearing out! We're going to be doing a bit of rearranging in the house, and my soap stuff will have a new space! Very exciting.

I have the feeling that *in a very, very, low whisper* summer is winding down. I don't wear a watch from the last day of school through the first one of the next, and easily lose track of days. But I looked at the calendar today, and it's mid-August. Part of me is looking forward to another school year, the change in routine, the smell of wood smoke in the fall, and wearing sweaters. But part of me wants to hang on to every last second of summer from my fingernails and cry. It will be really hard to be away from Phillip during the days again. And I certainly won't have as much time for soapmaking, blogging, housework, and all of the other things I enjoy so much.

A huge congratulations to T&K on the birth of O! All the best!

the great lavender harvest of 2008

I planted some lavender from seed last year, and it produced this one beautiful bloom!

great potato harvest of 2008

Like the tomatoes we had last year, these potatoes weren't purposely planted in our little vegetable patch. They sprouted from the compost we added earlier in the Spring, and I just let them grow. This one was picked by accident as I was staking some of our tomatoes, which are almost as tall as me!

pretty poppies

for now we see in a mirror dimly...
but then face to face.

poppy petals and no tropical storm after all

Well, the tropical storm didn't really hit here after all. At all. In fact, the sun came out this afternoon, and it barely sprinkled all day. I know I should probably be thankful, but I was kind of looking forward to a storm.