A bunch of unrelated photos

 Remember my beautiful moccasins? They took a beating from a dog and then from me. I wear out shoes, socks and slippers like no body's business, and always have. Had my parents tried to keep me in shoes they would have had to forgo other nessessities like food and electricity. Thankfully I loved to go barefoot....but at work I must wear shoes. Moccasins in rubbers are great in the spring and  late in the fall when it is wet and cold out......these are now officially worn out. I can't bear to throw them in garbage so they sit by door waiting for......not sure what. 

Love love love summer time snacking on a tractor......a baggy of this and 

A baggy of this

There are apples!!!!! On MY apple tree! Oh how amazing

There was one perfect cherry on my cherry bush.....maybe more next year. Seriously doesn't it look perfect?

Did you ever pass a truck on the highway with a box full of geraniums ..... you should have waved, it was me, spiffing up the 13th tee box at work

A little man came to stay with me for 2 weeks......sweeeeeeeeeeeeet, so soft and squishy he is. 

Apparently some termites hitched a ride to Canada in my high chair that i brought back from Mexico ....buggers!

 

Sometimes on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I paint and Thelma and Louise get to roam around in the yard....sometimes I paint? Once I painted...I think, maybe twice. 

Their coop is still their safe place, they feel out of place on the other side 

They do my weeding for me, so far I have enough weeds to satisfy them they haven't eaten any vegetables......that is why I don't weed....humm ...yes that's why. 

This didn't turn out as great as it actually was. 

Summer supper are the best, a big bowl of salad, different each day depending on whats available....add some feta, oil and vinegar 

Last but not least, I will print this picture and take it with me to Mexico and get someone to build this for me for my little Mexican kitchen......maybe I'll build it myself. I heart this very very much...mucho

The tale of a yarn gone wrong

Let me tell you it has been very hot here, very hot for a long time (and dry) so hot in fact that it seems I have a melted brain...yup, had a total meltdown. Here is the story;

But first....this is how hot it has been here for weeks, this gauge faces West, I have a South facing one and the red needle is wrapped all the way around in the afternoons.

A long time ago (a few years ago) a lady that loves to knit decided to knit a very challenging project during the Olympics and she challenged knitters around the world to join her. The goal is to start a project on the day the Olympics start and finish by the time they ended. I joined in one year and didn't finish my project (surprise!) So this year I decided that I wasn't busy enough with my work, my gardens, my already started knitted projects, my already started paintings (all 5 of them) and my already started quilts...etc, I decided I needed a more challenging project than all those, because apparently I like to push myself all the way to the edge....the edge of sanity I guess.
I have this sweater, the one that I have written about before, it's too big for me and it's falling apart, it's rather ugly but I love it because when I wear it I feel like I am hugging a big warm sheep all day, (and who desn't want to hug a sheep all day?) but it's so big and starting to unravel in places.....So I decided that my Olympic knitting project this year would be to unravel it and reknit it.

Really needed some mending

My sweater hanging out on my tractor.....just  in case I need a sheep hug throughout the day

Don't do as I do, but do as I say, and now I am saying to you " do not ever, ever unravel your favorite sweater, unless you have practiced with a sweater you don't like....and it went well". This is not going well at all and my sweater is becoming a pile of about 24 inch long pieces of yarn.....lots and lots of pieces, it is not unraveling as it should ,(in one long piece)  there is some kind of funny knot at each end making it impossible to unravel from end to end. I am watching my favorite sweater become little pieces. I could cry. I might yet. This was always my go-to-comfort sweater and now it is lying on the couch in a heap of curly sheepy looking yarn bits.

Don't sit there.....that is where my sweater is sitting....and has been sitting there since the Olympics started .

Gourmet Meals & Dish Soap

All is well again with Thelma, she is her usual chatty and pushy self and is back to laying an egg a day. I am still adding a bit of flax seed oil to their yogurt everyday just in case they are in need of some omega 3. I scored yesterday at the grocery store, they had some outdated (by one day) Greek organic yogurt on sale for 50% off, the girls were so happy. Which makes me wonder, what do they do with it if it doesn't sell, most likely throw it out,  might go back and ask if I can have it for the girls. 

One of the luxuries of being single, aside from owning the whole closet, and using the passenger seat in your car as a closet as well....is that you can have whatever you want for supper and not feel bad about it, you are no longer responsible for anyone else's health or setting an example for anyone. Last year some time I read "Alone in the kitchen with an eggplant" by Jenni Ferrari Adler, it's a collection of short essays of single people reflecting on their eating habits, it's a good quick read. Some people love eating alone, some don't, some just can't do it, it was very interesting. After my daughter left home mealtimes were down right depressing for me, just the thought of sitting down at a set table all alone was just awful, I hated it. I did it for awhile and cried in my soup bowl many a times until I started just standing over the kitchen sink and eating my food as fast as I could to get it over with.
Then I lived on the beach in Mexico and started eating outside, who could possibly be depressed eating on the beach with the sound of the surf. It was so relaxing, peaceful, and saying grace with sincere thanksgiving was just easier than when you are facing a big empty table where there used to be chatter and conversation but is now silent. The ocean is not silent, it lulls and rocks you continually. After I came back home from Mexico the first time I started eating my meals outside as well, and now I love it, I enjoy my food again, whatever it may be. I have even learned to enjoy cooking for myself. No one ever says "ewww what's this green stuff under the cheeze" or "why are the eggs slippery" or "what's this floating in the soup?" or "why are we having this AGAIN" When there is no one to criticize every meal is gourmet and perfect....what's not to love about that.

A great supper, granola, saskatoons, yogurt, watermelon and topped with ice cream, and some toast. 

My strawberry patch was told last year that if it didn't produce this year I would replace it with something more productive....it heard me. About every 3rd day I can pick a bowl of strawberries....also makes a great supper topped with yogurt and ice cream.

Things are coming alone, I love my green fence. 

Getting greener every day

This is a "before" shot, before the lilies are blooming...soon

On to a totally different subject and not related at all....that's how I write. I ran out of my favorite dish soap and it's only July. I bring this stuff back from Mexico. Seems strange to bring dish soap back when we have so many kinds in our stores. I like this stuff because it is solid, not liquid. Since I live alone I don't have enough dirty dishes everyday to fill a sink up with water and put dish soap in, it seems a waste to wash one plate and a spoon this way. With this soap you can dip your scrubbie in it and wash your plate and spoon real quick just under the tap, no need to fill the sink, because it's solid you have better control as to how much you put on your scrubbie, with liquid dish soap I find I always use way too much. I forgot to bring some back this year and just had the one container from last year. I need to start checking my list sooner when I am down there instead of leaving everything to the last week. 

Some more chicken talk and cake of course

As soon as I come home from work and undo the latch on my gate the ladies start talking frantically before I even get to the back yard, they both want to be the first to tell me all the exciting things that happened in the yard while I was at work, you know, things like the neighbors's cat stopped by and they stuck their tongues out at him, Thelma caught a big daddy long legs and Louise laid a monster big egg, the couple living in the condo behind us had a fight and the police came (again) you know the normal chicken stuff...they are quite the gossipers.
A few days ago I came in through the gate and no chattering....none, nothing, just silence, just like it used to be before chickens (BC). Now some bloggers would stop the story right here and keep you hanging for another week, I thought about it but that would be way too mean. I'm just not like that. 


I raced to the back to see what was going on....nothing was going on, they were both there but had nothing to say. Weird. I just finished reading Joel Stalin's book "Pastured Poultry Profits"no I don't want to start a chicken farm this is just how geekish I am. He writes that happy chickens are always chattering, when all is quiet (just like with children) something is wrong.....but what? So I grab a handful of spinach and Louise is all excited and eats from my hand but not Thelma, she just stands there and stares at me, lets me pet her but won't eat. I run to the house and get some yogurt and again, Louise is all over it but Thelma is not interested, just stares into space, every once in awhile her eyes slowly close and stay closed for about 1/2 a minute. I am worried. I suddenly think "Flax seed oil" that cures all (I believe) so I mix some with oatmeal and run back out, but Louise wants it all, I can't feed Thelma with her face in there so I decide I will have to take Thelma out of the coop, I think that a blanket to wrap her in would be nice, she is sick after all, she needs cuddling. I run back to the house  (it sounds like the house is so far away) I look around real quick for a blanket of sorts...a chicken blanket that is, I can't find one, a big rag maybe, can't find one, I see a white tea towel laying on the dryer, it was my favorite tea towel, a cousin of mine hand embroidered it and gave it to me as a gift some years ago, I notice the last time I used it it had lots of tea stains on it and I was debating whether I should try bleaching it or just use it as a rag, I hadn't made my mind up yet, it was defiantly too pretty to throw away and almost too pretty to use as a rag but perfect for cuddling a chicken,I grab it and run back out. 


I get Thelma all wrapped up and try to feed her some oatmeal and flax oil, she doesn't want any, I keep rubbing some on her beak in hopes she'll lick it off. She doesn't, just stares at me. I am so sad for her. Then I remembered that I had also read that one should give chickens a little vinegar in their water sometimes to help with respiratory problems when the temperatures fluctuates. It was blitzin blazin hot today maybe she is dehydrated. I run back to to the house and get some vinegar and try getting some into her mouth, I might have gotten some in. I am so sad. I put her back in the coop and give Louise the rest of the oatmeal mixture, she loves it but isn't talking, I guess when her sister is sick she had nothing to say to me, I guess they were talking to each other all the time and not to me like I thought. Before I go to bed I try giving her some oatmeal again and still nothing. Sadly I go to bed and hope for the best. I did put some vinegar in their water just in case that is what they need. 
Before I was even out of bed  the next morning I could hear some chattering, not loud and boisterous,but chattering I run outside in my pjs and Thelma is moving around and eating, scratching and talking a little, she dives into the oatmeal and flax this morning but her eyes still closed once in a while.
When I came home from work all seemed to be well again except there is only one egg. I have had 2 days now of Thelma holding back an egg, but she seems perfectly normal again, her usual chatty self. I am so happy she is ok, I don't even mind the missing egg.

That's the chicken talk for today, now on to some cake talk...I tried something that I have wanted too for a long time but was too afraid too. I made a Tres Leche cake, Tres Leche is Spanish meaning three milk, it is a very popular cake in Mexico and because it is vanilla and not too sweet (depending on the icing) it is a cake that I like and have always wanted to make but there is a scary component to it that and up until now I have not been brave enough to try....I did it.
The cake itself is easy enough, it is like a heavier yellow chiffon cake with 5 eggs in it, it helps if you have chickens in your backyard laying eggs every day (which I do teehee), it helps if the yolks are really really bright orange (which they are) The cake calls for white sugar and white flour, I really really don't like white sugar so I used brown but I did use white flour, because I thought using whole wheat would make the cake less yellow.....I wanted a bright yellow cake., and yellow it was, oh my it was beautiful yellow, I couldn't believe the yellow goodness and I even licked the spoon, I couldn't help myself it just happened, had not done that since the 70s.

Beautiful yellow goodness....and one happy licked spoon

Once the cake is baked you take it out of the pan and cool it and then cut the sides off (the crusts if you will), I must have heaped the baking powder on my spoon too heaping or my eggs were extra fluffy because my cake had a round top on it so I had to trim that off too to make a flat cake, then I had cut it crooked so I had too cut some more off and then some more, soon I had a plate full of delicious yellow goodness cake trimmings...hummm. Then you put it in the fridge. Now you take a can of sweetened condensed milk, a can of evaporated milk and a cup of heavy whipping cream and mix it in a bowl and put it in the fridge too, chill them both for a bit...until they are both chilled....you'll know when it's chilled......when you're so anxious you can't wait any longer that's when it's chilled. Then....here is the scary part, you cut your cake into pieces (that's not scary) and poke holes in them with a shish ka bob stick then.....here it is, you pour ALL the milk ONTO the cake...oh, you put the cake pieces in a bigger pan that has a lip or a side to it...so milk doesn't run everywhere. Yup all the milk is poured onto your beautiful yellow cake. This has always frightened me because it looks like the beautiful yellow cake will become a soggy messy soggy soupy mess. But I am telling you, I promise you it doesn't. Now you put it in the fridge to soak, yes you are putting your cake away to soak....how long? Depends on who you ask, some soak overnight, some for 4 hours, some longer....me, I decided to go halfway, I soaked for 6 hours. After 3 hours I turned all the cake pieces over to soak the other side. After 6 hours the cake had not soaked all the milk up there was still a little milk left in the bottom and I was getting nervous (about getting a soggy soupy mess) and I was so anxious to try it so I took the cake pieces out and put them in a different pan....now, here is the really really good part....what to do with this milk mixure, ah ha! I had thought about this the day before already when I was contemplating this adventure and I had a plan...oh yes. I heated it up just a wee bit and put .....are you ready? In my coffee! Genius! I whipped it (coffee and milk) in the blender for s few seconds...oh my, bliss! Pure bliss I tell you. 


I topped the cake with a wee bit of whipped cream.....because there hasn't been enough milk and cream consumption here already and some of my homemade berry sauce that I made last fall...remember when my kitchen was a berry berry big mess....ha. Seriously people this cake and this coffee will change how you look at milk and cream and the farmers chickens that you pass by on the highway. You need yellow eggs....and lick the spoon. 

Tres Leche cake and the best cup of coffee ever

There are many recipes on the world wide web for a tres leche cake and they all vary in some ways (yellow eggs are not negotiable)  I choose this one from Joy the Baker http://joythebaker.com/2010/04/tres-leches-cake/ I love Joy the Baker and have been lurking on her blog for some time now, you should visit her too.
Put on some Anna Gabriel and romance your self with some Tres Leche cake and coffee....you'll like it I promise.

Happy Canada Day......may it rain on your parade, sorry but we need rain so badly. 

chickens, tequila, and of course cake

Aren't they cute, I love them. There is an advantage to having 2 backyard pet chicken to having a whole coop full on the farm, you can spoil them....yup, they love treats and I am having fun experimenting with different treats to see what excites them most. Right now the winner is yogurt, they get so excited that they have it all over their faces, of course they won;t let me wash their faces yet. I put some oats in the yogurt so they have something to grab it with since I don't trust them with spoons, they keep their coop way too messy, I would never get them back...just kidding. The also love spinach, so I have planted extra for them. I can tell them apart now, that's Thelma on the left and Louise on the right, Louise is a little bigger and Thelma is a little friendlier....and  they both love yogurt.

So I am reading farmer porn now too.....I know...geek

I am still loving my little cake pan that I brought back from Mexico, I love making a little cake, who wants to eat a whole huge cake? Who wants cake all week? A nice little Sunday cake is so fun and you don't have to live with it for a whole week.....especially  if you share it with a friend.

I am still knitting for the little grand boy, another little baby sophisticate, (I call it a little old man sweater) pattern is here www.ravelry.cpatterns/om/patterns/library/baby-sophisticate. I also had to make him little pants and then had to make dad a matching tie and pocket handkerchief because I am a geek and can't stop myself. So...I went to the store and bought a tie (they are not cheap) and ripped it apart so I could use it for a pattern....seriously, once I had this idea in my head I couldn't stop myself, but isn't it adorable? Think about it....the impossibilities, you could make your husband a tie out of the same fabric as your dress...how cute, or as your little girls dress...cuter yet hey. If you want to borrow my ripped up tie for a pattern let me know....don't buy one they are not cheap.

I also finished another project, that "Bloomin Bus" is done, and it is one hot bus if I say so myself.

It really needs chrome wheels and bumpers doesn't it?

We have had many promises of rain but no rain to speak of, last weekend we got 6mm, barely a 1/4 inch, it wet the ground but just left us thirsting for more.

It was all drama...no rain.

Look who came to visit me at work, the little ol' man himself, a sweet little pea he is.

In amongst work and all my other geeky shinanagins that keep me busy I do get lonesome for Mexico quite a lot, not because I am not happy here just because ..... just because, when that happens I put on my blingy jeans that I bought there, crank up some Anna Gabriel and dance in my living room and drink tequila. The picture doesn't really do them justice but I warn you, should a bright light or the sun hit my butt in these jeans I could blind you....don't follow too close.

Of course I don't dance while drinking tequila.......that would get messy.

Where have I been and what have I been doing that was so important that I neglected you all?...notice how I an pretending my followers (all 4 of them) haven't gotten tired of seeing nothing new and didn't all move on to better and more funner blogs. I haven't gone anywhere (I can't go anywhere during golf season silly) but a lot had happened. 

I came back from Mexico with my brain all scattered, it was a mess. (the thoughts in my brain, actual brain is fine) so much was going on and still is but now I have a better handle on things. 

Lets start with my knitting, remember back in Mexico I was working on some baby things, I was holding out on you all. I have become "Miss Grandma", my one and only child had a baby boy, meet my grandson Loucas John born May 03 weighing in at 7 lbs 6oz, we weren't expecting him until May 16th. He looks exactly like my baby did 23 years ago except mine was wearing pink. 

Good thing I had started my knitting in Mexico this winter. 

As soon as I got home I went back to work, which I don't write much about because that is not what this space is for but I do like to post pictures once in awhile, I like to call them "The view from my office". So here are a few shots from my office

I think this will be the year of the Saskatoon they bloomed like I have never seen before. 

We even had some heat already

I even got to see a sunset, I don't usually see them here, I got to bed too early, but I see every sunrise. 

I feel in love with salads, yes salads. There is a restaurant in Mazatlan called "Mi Terreza" They serve an amazing salad (can't remember what they call it) but here is the recipe;

2 kinds of lettuce

broccoli

raisins & crasins (cranberries)

pecans & almonds

carrots

red cabbage

alfalfa sprouts
and if you want topped with grilled chicken breasts
This is a salad that even non salad eaters love, trust me, I have a friend that does not order a salad in a restaurant ever, he's from Texans, those boys down there eat a cow at every meal and he is one that recommended this to me. I change it up with whatever I have in the fridge and whatever crunch I can find, nuts, seeds, a handful of trail mix and I toss it with oil and vinegar and a wee bit of plain yogurt....here is the key, do NOT pour your dressing on the salad in your salad bowl, put the salad in a big bowl and shake it up, mixing it real good then serve in your bowl.....I know, now you have a big bowl to wash, trust me it will be worth it and only mix what you will be eating, do not put salad with dressing on it in the fridge...it will just not thrill you as much the second time around at all.
Oh I also put dry cottage cheese on it if I have. 

I can't wait until I have fresh produce from my garden

It is so good it needs wine....all really really good food needs wine. 

Then came some more excitement.......chickens, yes I finally have chickens in my back yard and this thrills me too, I am in love with them. Meet Thelma & Louise. 

I can't tell them apart, they are both so beautiful 

This is their home, still needs some painting and some finishing touches

These ladies figured out what they were to do as soon as they arrived. They got dropped off at 11 am and by 1 pm there were 2 eggs in the nesting box and since then they have faithfully given me 2 eggs every day. I am so in love with them. Every evening I sit on the grass in front of the coop and do my yoga stretches, they think I am pretty funny.  I am amazed at how they react to every sound, they have very keen hearing. A few nights ago I was in bed already and all of a sudden they were mad, making loud clucking and screeching noises so I jumped out of bed and ran outside in my pajamas and found a cat trying to figure out how to get in the coop, the ladies were some mad, one was upstairs screeching and the other was downstairs screeching, as soon as I chased the cat away they calmed down instantly, poor things, had such a fright. This has happened a few more times since and it's always a cat. You see cats can run around town but I have been told that if my chickens ever get out of my yard I will be made to get rid of them. I was supposed to call the fire chief to come and inspect my "housing" for them after I had it built, I have no idea what he will be checking for, why is it that dog and cat houses don't get checked? I still need to call him, I haven't done that yet. Once they will let me pick them up and come when they are called I will let them out when I am outside so they can wander around. They do let me touch them if I corner them and they have no choice but I want them to want to be touched and cuddled....yes I want to cuddle my chickens. 

The bounty from my garden so far....and some spinach

As if that is not enough excitement a package came all the way from Mexico, thanks to family and friends I had some stuff sent up that didn't fit in my suitcase. 

A Spanish Colonial high chair made of some type of hard wood, this is a very heavy chair. I love the leather seat. 

Some rat tail chilis, cinnamon sticks, coco beans, and Cardamon seeds, I also had sent me some pottery and  vintage cotton sheets...forgot to take a picture, it was a bit like Christmas because I had forgotten what was in the box. 

Then I spent a few Saturdays painting a friends bus, she owns a greenhouse and needed a bus to transport her plants up north (yes more north than this) As soon as she said she wanted to paint it lime green I knew it was a job for me, I can't resist a pail of lime green paint...that is just how I am. It is not done yet so you are only getting a peek.

Who could resist this? When I opened this I went "wooo" Stunning it was. 

That's all for now, I have more to say but now I must go say good night to the ladies and do my yoga for them.