Thursday, March 31, 2011

Another beautiful day in store


Conditions at 5:10 am: bright stars and -1'
Expected later: sunshine and 4'

It looks like today will be a repeat of yesterday, and that's a god thing! It was a gorgeous day with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine. So much so, that I think I'll take a lighter jacket with me this morning as it just gets way too hot driving around in the car. But I'm not complaining. I got a call from Brenda late in the afternoon yesterday and she had tried the split pea soup  had made a while ago and she had also made a batch of bread. So on my way home I stopped in and picked up a container of soup and a loaf of bread and the left over ham bone.  Good job, Brenda. The soup was delicious and sorry Bernie, but I toasted the bread to have with it. (Bernie thinks you should eat home made bread in it's natural state - not toasted). I'm embarrassed to say I had four slices of toast with my soup, it was THAT good. And the soup was delicious. I'll have to make a pot of that when Lloyd is here. It's much better than anything you get out of a can.

Yesterday I told you a bit about the mini mills. They manufacture spinning machinery that they ship all over the world. They also do custom spinning of many different kinds of fibres. One of the most intriguing items they do is Musk Ox. Sheila was telling me that the animals are killed up in the Arctic and the hide is frozen.. Then it is shipped to the mill in Belfast. Once here they thaw it out and hang it up. The guard hairs on the animal are very course and not really usable for any purpose and some of them are three feet long. These are removed and then the soft undercoat is combed off the skin to be put through the whole cleaning, carding, spinning process.  The hide is then sent away to be tanned. When that process is complete, it is then shipped back to the arctic where the leather is used.  Nothing is wasted.  I would love to be there sometime when the hide is first being worked on to see what it looks like. No doubt that could be possible, if I ask.

I've been following the blog of our friends, Mike and Carol. They've been traveling down around the southern US states for a while now in their camper. It sounds like they're having a wonderful time. We're really hoping they make it down here sometime this summer. It would be wonderful to see them and have the opportunity to share this place with them. I have no idea who might be down this year. Our accountant, David, mentioned that they might be traveling in the area and will get in touch when they are here, as well as Jim and Patti, from Guelph. We had talked about them maybe coming at Christmas but I think they would enjoy it more in the summer. No doubt Patti and Greg and the kids will also be here at some point so it might be a busy summer again but so far nothing is definite. We'll just have to wait and see what unfolds.

Another blog I'm following is all about food and is written by a fellow islander. Check it out. http://zestycook.com/

Grandson James has quite the sense of humour. He sent me this by email yesterday, and yes it did brighten my day!


 Sometimes we just want to bug each other for no reason, so for no reason, I am sending this email to bug you.
Sending a little bit of me to brighten your day.
 

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