Craft Closet Compact.....

I used to have a full size closet in a seperate room for storing all my craft goodies in, but since we've moved, the areas of our house are having to do double (triple?) duty. So our guest room, which is only used occasionally for guests is my music room, yoga studio and now also my craft room - in the closet! So I've had to sort and organize my odds'n ends to the 'nth' degree and now I'm ready to show it off.

I made a little card today in it and one thing I've realized from the experience is that I'm going to have to really clean as I go. Tidy, tidy, tidy!!! My mantra. So here are a few pictures for your inspection. Do you think it will do?

Kid Pictures for Great Grandma and Everyone Else

I just thought you might like to see a few more pictures of the weekend. Playgrounds, beaches, and just plain cute kids. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Can You Hear the Punkin People Laughing?

I know that this is pretty much a family blog and so I'm not interested in drawing strangers into it's sphere of influence (pretentious aren't I?), but I'm still having the hardest time trying to figure out how to get going here. I think it's a little like the artist who stands frozen in front of the huge, blank, white canvas, unable to make that first mark. I think all of us have these kind of moments. Fear of failure, rejection, fear of being the boring guy that everyone loves to avoid......how many ways are there to overcome this kind of anxiety? There must be some tried and true methods and one day, maybe I'll do a little research and tell you what I've found, but for today, maybe I shall be happy enough to quietly sidestep into this post, as I've done here.

The marks have been made and they all lead back to one thing. They take me back to the weekend, they take me back to the sound of Liam, happily announcing from his place beside his Pappa, "the punkin people are lauging" and followed by his little example giggle! So adorable and so wonderful how he insists always on sitting by Pappa. And those brush strokes that are the colors of my memories, take me back to the sensation of little Elsa, reaching up with chubby baby hands to pat my cheek as I snuggled her close and absorbed her sweetness. Surely moments of pink and gold amidst the feelings of love.....we were wonderfully blessed by spending time with Kim and Oliver and Liam and Elsa.

One of the nearby towns decorates every Fall with 'Pumpkin People' which are really just scarecrows with pumpkins for heads. But not just one or two, here and there, but large groups, with themes, and all over town. There was a Transformers group, and a wedding party, and the standard scarey Halloween bunch, and knights and horses and robots and moms shopping for groceries.... and Liam wanted to stop and see every one. And some were too scarey, but some were ok, and I think we stopped to see a lot of them and soon even the scarey ones weren't so bad.

There's a beach near our house, covered with the most fascinating collection of rocks that have speckles and streaks and crystals of color. We spent a couple hours there, filling our pockets and a rather large plastic bag with tiny treasurers. Liam didn't collect, but he threw rocks and he threw more rocks and then even more rocks. I don't think he stopped the whole time we were there and he had a ball because for a change, no one was telling him not to throw rocks. Apparently that's one of his favourite things to do right now. Who knows, maybe he just amazes himself with the prowess of his throwing arm and it makes him feel like he's strong!

And then the weekend was over, and they had to leave, and the house seemed so quiet. But November is coming and Elsa's birthday and we plan to be there for cupcakes and baby hugs and little boy wrestling matches.

All my darlings are getting old(er).......

It's 5:30 in the morning and I can hear the birds staking their claims, warning off rivals, expressing their joy at simply being alive. It rained hard during the night but now the air feels fresh and clean and the dirt that was so dry and powdery is a dark chocolatey brown and the sound of myriad tiny drops of water falling down, from leaf to leaf is the chorus behind the bird songs.

I'm out early this morning because there's no hay left in the feeder and I want Ambra and Sierra to spend a few hours out on the grass before the heat of the day brings the flies back out of their hiding places. They just watch me as I pass their stalls on the way to opening the gate. I expected that they would follow after me, eager to get out to the grass after the long night of taking refuge from the rain but they don't. Strange. So I've had to go back and lead them out.

But as I take the bottom of Sierra's halter and begin to lead her I realize one more time, how old my darling has suddenly gotten. Her steps are halting and she moves each foot with hesitation. I'm reminded of the old people that shuffle behind their walkers. When did this happen? When did her bones begin to ache so much that it takes her time to warm up and begin to move easier? Because she will warm up, and her movements will become more fluid and it will be easier for her. Ambra doesn't seem to suffer like this as much, she walks easily still.

They are both 21 years old now and I thought that they had many more years ahead of them and yet here are the signs of that old age that I didn't expect - yet. The one downside to this paddock that they live in now is that it is a bit of a hillside and I wonder how they will navigate this in the years to come. But one thing I have learned in the past fifteen years of having them in our lives is that it is senseless to worry about tomorrow or next year or......I'll figure that out when it comes. In the meantime, I will make a point of spending a little bit of time each day, encouraging them to move, encouraging them to get a little exercise, encouraging them to keep on living.

Early Photos of our New Home

We love our new home!!!! We love the house, we love the area, we love the weather, we love the lack of bugs, we love the birds.....we love our new home! Yessiree, this last move was a good one. The only downside is that instead of it taking only two plus hours to get to Kim and Olivers, it is now about five hours if you take the ferry over to PEI. That makes me sad, because it would be so great to see the kids (big and little) more often. But it is what it is and thank goodness for cheaper long distance rates, especially when Liam eventually is more willing to talk on the phone and of course, Elsa in her time.

But as for our new home, I thought that I would put some pictures up here, so that you could see them. Now keep in mind, these pictures were taken about two months ago, just after we moved in. I would have posted them sooner but I couldn't find the little wire for connecting my camera to the computer and so any pictures I took were 'stuck' if you know what I mean. But I finally accepted that I might never find the wire (which I really should have tucked away in an obvious spot for the move) and I bought a new one and so here we are with those photos. I should maybe have taken some new pictures, but my house is a bit messy because I've been spending more time outside trying to get things squared away with fences and so on, so for now these will have to do. And maybe next time I put indoor pictures up, the curtains will be hung by then. I'll also get some outdoor pictures for next time, but today the weather is grey and overcast and not good for pictures. Anyway, here we go.....

Moving, Pain and Beautiful Views.

I've been sitting on the couch for most of the day, leg elevated, periodically freezing it with a bag of peas and yes, today we were loading the trailer up yet again with boxes to take over to the new house. Actually, let me correct that last bit, I was helping load the trailer until I missed the last three steps as we brought down a mattress from the guest room. The only injury was my ankle, my teeth and my face are intact and no broken bones. Just my ankle and my composure suffered. So here I am, laid up and in the midst of a big move that Don and I were very nicely managing on our own. We've already brought over most of the outside stuff and now it's time for house things and then this! But I iced and elevated it immediately and I think that even as soon as tomorrow it will be much better and I will be able to get involved again.

As for our new house, it is fabulous. Frustrating as we found the process of choosing fixtures and so on, it has all turned out really well. And the light, oh my gosh! the light is lovely in there. Even on a gloomy day it is bright and we love it and we're looking forward to living there so much. Once things have settled down, I'll post some more photos. The one this is included with this post is the view from our living room window. It is not a very large pond, but it is currently home to a pair of mallards and in a couple months will have both pink and yellow water lilies adding to the prettiness. So whether it is winter or spring or summer or fall, it will be gorgeous.

Our contractor Darrell was also wonderful to work with. We've all heard contractor horror stories, but this is not one of those. He's been great, totally capable, efficient, is willing to work with us on 'ideas' and on time. The worst part of this whole process has been the difficulty that Don and I had in choosing things. But we're almost done and then the work of prettying up our new place begins. Such fun!!!!

Picking a Site for Raspberries

Gardening season is looming and we are all champing at the bit I'm sure. And while the evenings and even the days for that matter are far too cold yet to actually put stuff out even if you are living on the west coast of Canada it is a good time to make some plans and come up with ideas. The gardening magazines are beginning to appear at the checkout in supermarkets and they are a great source for ideas and products. I used to buy those all the time because the photos were so darn appealing. Made you want to run out and dig something up and move it. Don used to joke that my plants, including trees, should be on wheels because I moved things so often.


Last year, I became aware of an issue in my own garden, something that I was going to change in the spring. And if I'd stayed here, where we are living now, I would be making the necessary adjustments, but we're moving in a month and when I do a new garden this is definitely going to be factored in. When we first moved here, I dug up an area of meadow behind the house and this was my garden. And on the one end of it, I included a row of raspberries. The first year they were slow and only setting in roots. What I didn't realize is that raspberries spread by underground runners and in their second year, I was finding raspberries all over the row next to theirs. I'm sure that if they are left there, they will spread even further and it will become an ongoing nuisance. Raspberries growing in the asparagus bed and the carrots and everywhere else. If I were staying here, I'd be taking them out and resettling them.


At this point, here's my take on raspberries in the home garden. Take up the sod in a long row and make it 18 to 24 inches wide. I would use landscape ties or something like that to edge the bed, or perhaps that plastic lawn edging stuff that keeps the grass from growing into your raspberry planting. Add enough soil that the surface is once again level with whatever you've edged it with. At each end of your row set in a couple of posts and in the middle too if the row is long enough to need additional support there for the wires that you will attach your canes to as the plants grow. I would set my plants in at whatever distance apart the package tells you too, and then cover the top of the soil with sawdust or some kind of mulch to keep the soil moist underneath. Once your new or recently moved plants have had time to settle in again, they will do what comes naturally which is to send suckers out all over the place. The only difference now is that when you mow your lawn up and down the sides of your row, you will trim them off and they won't be going where you don't want them. This effectively restricts them to their own place. A lot easier than spending the summer trying to dig the silly things out of the other veggies without causing havoc and mayhem in the rest of the garden.


Hope this helps as you plot and plan and good luck with the weather, the only thing we have no control over.

THE Most Delicious, Ugly Mushroom Sauce,

This is not a company dish. Let me start off by giving that opinion. Dark green spinach leaves in a salad are ok, or even in a little steamed heap, green lettuce is ok, but for some reason, the appearance of this delicious pasta sauce is just a little off-putting. And really, I think that deleting the offending ingredient so that the sauce is more appetizing to look at, would also lessen the taste appeal. So what can you do? You mix it up and learn to like the sight of a bright green pasta sauce.

So here's the recipe and I'm almost positive (99.5%) that you will love this as much as I did. Here I don't post for ages and suddenly twice in one day! Go figure. Anyway, I'm going to write down the recipe for you here and it gives me a chance to write it down before I forget what I did to get this yumminess. So enjoy the sauce folks:


Mushroom Parsley Sauce

(could be served over pasta or any vegetable dish)

1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup water
1/2 vegetable soup cube (or to taste)
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1/4 tsp Herb de Provence
1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1/4 cup coconut cream

Take note here: If you don't have coconut cream, then sub the water for coconut milk and you could add a few more mushrooms just to make sure you get enough of their thickening power in the sauce.

Chop up the mushrooms and saute til tender
Put all ingredients, including the sauteed mushrooms
Blend til creamy.
Return to pan, cover and warm til needed.


So there you are, and yes it is bright green, but it's good for you and (maybe even a learning experience). So if you try it and like it, let me know---or not---and enjoy the day. There's gotta be something good about it; maybe a new and easy recipe!






I just want to say that I borrowed these beautiful photos from another site and I couldn't see anywhere that said they had to be purchased, so I thought you might enjoy seeing someones wonderful talent.

A Semi-Clean Break

I was just looking at the date of my last post and it's been a long time! My gosh time flies when you're having fun doesn't it? But in that time, I've made changes, started some things and finished others. One of the things that I decided to do was change the focus of my blog and to that end, just to make it a 'semi-clean' break, I have actually started a new blog. You can find it here, http://quarkspiritualstuf.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-all-just-opinion-isnt-it.html The blog you are looking at now will be maintained (and I do promise to try and keep it up better than of late)and will be more along the lines of what is going on in our day to day life for the benefit of family, and the new one will focus on my philosophies and viewpoints as regards the environment, the economy, spiritual stuff and so on. And in the spirit of my developing outlook on life, you may enjoy the new blog, or you may not, but it's all ok with me, because after all, we are all welcome to our differing perspectives. Besides, those various viewpoints all lend themselves to creation of a fascinating world right?

Latest art....

A few pictures of a recent art project. Polymer clay over an armature and painted to finish.

Beginning the Cycle Again!

So one more time, we begin the cycle of packing, moving, unpacking. Will it never end!!! At this point, I've given up saying never again. There must be something about living in a state of anxiety/anticipation that we find titillating. So there, we're moving again. Mind you it won't be until May but there's much to do before we get to that moment. We're planning our own little house, nothing elaborate, but keeping a few things in mind. Things like, almost no windows on the North Side which is also protected by a windbreak of 30 feet worth of trees, and the other side of the house, situated directly south facing will have windows the full length of it. Extra insulation in the ceiling, insulating foam on the exterior and an on demand hot water system. Little things like that will make the house a little bit environmentally worthy. So lots to think about and plan we'll keep you posted.

And PS: it's snowing today and I was planning on going into town today, but I think I'll wait. Sure is pretty to look at and not even really cold, only about 0 degrees.