Wednesday, October 31 - Happy Halloween!

It appears that the hurricane has missed us, as expected. We were forecast to get drizzle the last couple of days but that never materialized. Lots of wind on Tuesday, but nothing out of the ordinary for us. It was devastating to watch the film footage of the damage in New York City yesterday morning. It will take a long time and a LOT of money to recover from Sandy's impact in that city and the surrounding areas. We should see some rain today, and it's still quite windy, and although it might cast a shadow on Halloween festivities, it's a lot better than what could have been if the storm had come this way. It's also still quite mild, sitting at 13' this morning and heading for 15' later.

Needless to say, the hurricane has been first and foremost on most peoples minds the past few days so not much else going on. Lloyd was off work on Tuesday because of his finger, but it's feeling much better so he's heading out this morning. The swelling has gone down considerably and he can bend it much more freely than was possible on Sunday. He did take our suggestions and went into town on Monday and got a tetanus shot - just in case.

Last night was week 7 of our cooking class. The girls wanted to talk about gravy and I wanted to teach them a simple white wine cream sauce I like to use. So armed with some filling I'd made on the weekend, and some store bought won ton wrappers, we made lobster ravioli. The filling was just some lobster, mixed with some cream cheese, a bit of chives and salt and pepper. Blitzed in the food processor, it becomes a lovely little bit of stuff to pipe or spoon onto the wrappers. Then the second wrapper was placed on top, after brushing the edges with egg, and then pressed together. To make them a little fancier, we cut them out with a round cookie cutter before boiling them. We made the White Wine Cream Sauce and everyone was impressed with how quickly it came together and how tasty it was. While we were doing that, I had put a small chicken in the oven to roast while we worked. After the break, we attempted to make gravy with the drippings in the chicken pan. Unfortunately I hadn't been watching it and the drippings and veggies that were in the bottom of the pan were burnt to a crisp. We still managed to make a gravy but it wasn't great, but at least they could see the process.  I suppose it was good that they also got to see that I can totally mess up as well.  It happens to all of us from time to time, and I'm no exception!

This morning the Guelph radio station is broadcasting from James' school. He has to be at school by 6:00 and I'm assuming in costume. Not sure why they're doing this but thanks to technology, I'll be able to listen in on my computer at work.  Needless to say, I know what Patti was doing into the wee hours last night - finishing said costume. James is quite intrigued with the War of 1812 and is dressing as a British Soldier - good thing for him he has a mom who worked as a professional costumer at a theatre in the past. I'm looking forward to the pictures later today.

Monday, October 29th - are you ready for "Hurricane Grandma?"

Out here in the Maritimes it's a pleasant 12' at 5:30 am with no wind - perhaps just the calm before the storm. We should reach a high of 14' later. They're telling us we could reach winds up to 80 km an hour but that's not at all unusual here, so at this point it might not be too bad for us. Southern Ontario, on the other hand, may not fare too well from Hurricane Sandy. But it's really anyone's guess at this point so we'll just have to wait  it out and see what happens.  We'll see if it lives up to the hype.

It was a pretty good weekend here, although we did get a bit of rain on Sunday. Fortunately it was sunny and clear most of Saturday so with a lot of help from some great friends - Bernie and Will, Lloyd was able to get the trusses all finished. Will came over on Friday afternoon and there were 14 done by the time they called it a day.

 By the time I got home around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon, they were all finished.

There was no one around when I got home and the car was gone. I assumed they'd gone for something to eat. But then I noticed a couple of drops of what appeared to be blood, on the floor inside the back door.  I was going to call Lloyd to find out who got hurt, when I noticed the house phone and his cell phone sitting on top of the BBQ.  So instead I called Brenda to see if she knew where everyone was. Her guys were out in the fields somewhere and she had no idea where Lloyd was but did say that Will mentioned that Lloyd managed to hurt himself but it didn't sound too serious. Good, nothing to worry about. A short time later he arrive home having been to Stratford to order more wood for the roof. 

Turns out he put a nail through his index finger on his left hand, with the nail gun. It went all the way through and was completely sticking out the other side. Fortunately he wasn't home alone. Bernie performed surgery on the nail by cutting off the piece sticking out the back side, so there wasn't so much to pull back through when it was removed. Needless to say there was lots of blood once it came out, so I'm really surprised there wasn't more around the place.  When I got home we took the bandaids off that he'd put on quite tightly to stop the bleeding and we cleaned it all up, applied some antibiotic cream and covered it with some gauze and tape. It's a little sore and a bit swollen but he says it's not very painful. Of course, you wouldn't want to hit it very hard on anything. Fortunately it missed the bone so it should heal okay, but we'll keep an eye out for any signs of infection.

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful weekend. We had a wedding at the Rec Centre on Saturday night so that was pretty much it. Sunday was wet in the morning and kind of drizzled once in a while so it wasn't a great day to get out and do anything. Instead I stayed indoors and baked a batch of bread, made some cookies and a baked pudding for dessert. Lloyd had made a big pot of split pea soup on Saturday night, sore hand and all, so we invited the Van Gaals to join us for a late lunch/early supper - whatever you wish to call it. Lloyd also made a warm Cheese and Sausage dip that was really tasty with nacho chips.  So a hearty soup with friends over a couple of glasses of wine - what better way to pass a dreary fall day.

But we can't complain. Rumour has it that there was snow falling in Guelph yesterday afternoon,  and Caitlin advised that they had to shovel snow in Edmonton yesterday! So sitting here in the rain at 10' doesn't seem so bad. Patti and Greg and the kids were in Gravenhurst for the weekend for a hockey tournament. They made it to the final game and lost 4 to 2. But apparently they played really well and James was voted player of the game so there were some redeeming qualities about the weekend. He even got to do a little fishing with some of his teammates but it was cold and wet so not a totally successful outing. But I'm sure they still had fun. Bonus points for the really nice hotel they stayed at with a great indoor pool so everyone had a great time, even the non-hockey playing members of the team!

Friday, October 26th - a chilly one this morning

Currently at 5:30 am it's 2' outside but we should reach a sunny 10' later. Looks like southern Ontario sent us some of their weather. Yesterday it was apparently in the low  to mid 20's in various parts of Ontario but that wasn't the case here. It was quite chilly and with a light breeze it felt very cold. We still have to get used to it. But watch out - Hurricane Sandy is on  it's way. We may or may not feel it's impact but it's too early to tell at this time.

Not much going on around here. Lloyd is hoping to finish work at noon today so he can come home early and do some work outside on the trusses. It should be a good day for that, weather wise.  He was talking with Bernie last night and they are hopeful to have them up by the end of the weekend but we'll see how that goes. I have to work tomorrow and there's a wedding at the Rec Centre tomorrow night so I'll be of absolutely no help whatsoever. But that's the way it goes sometimes.

Caitlin made it safely to Edmonton and is now on the hunt for a place to live. It's helpful that she already has some connections there upon her arrival.  Now Brenda and I can settle back into our previous routines. We got off to a good start last night with some wine and spring rolls and a chance to catch up a little.

So I made the Butter Chicken and Curry Vegetables for Lloyd for supper on Wednesday after work. His response was "You can make this for me any time you want - breakfast, lunch or supper!" so I guess it was a hit. Fortunately there's a little left so he has it for lunch today or tomorrow. I have to admit I enjoyed it but I wouldn't want to eat it all that often.

I'll be waiting to hear this morning about James' first school dance. It was last night and when he was asked if he was going to ask anyone to dance, his immediate response was 'no' but when he was asked what he would do if anyone asked him to dance he pondered 'I hadn't thought of that'.  I have no idea what school dances are like today but I still have memories of my early high school years when the boys all sat along one wall and the girls along another and never the two shall meet!  I can't imagine it's changed all that much, at least for this age group.

Wednesday, October 24th - class # 6 complete

Fall is finally here, if the temperatures are any indication. It's currently 4' this morning at 5:30 and we're heading for a high of 7' that's apparently only going to feel like 3'.Good thing my honey had the fire going in the wood stove when I got home from school last night!

Our theme this week was curry. Someone had asked if we could try making some curry recipes. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of curry. I have had it and sometimes enjoyed it but it's not usually my first choice for a meal out. So I did some research and found some recipes that didn't look too difficult to execute. First up was a vegetable curry. It required the making of a curry base sauce first so I did that on Monday night as we wouldn't have had time to do that at school. It simply needed to be added to the sauteed vegetables and then simmered.

Next up was a Butter Chicken recipe. It was also very good. The sauce was made first, then set aside. Then the chicken is cooked, and added to the sauce to be simmered for a little while. To add to this we cooked a bit of Basmati Rice and heated up some Naan bread.

Butter Chicken on Basmati Rice

After the break, we sat down to our feast. I have to admit I quite enjoyed it, especially the chicken. In fact, that's what we're having for supper tonight. I'll get Lloyd's opinion on the two recipes as he's a big fan of curry dishes. We'll see just how close we got. A fellow that he used to work with in Toronto, invited Lloyd to dinner with his parent who are East Indian. Needless to say, he was treated to a feast. It was nothing like you get in restaurants. Everything was homemade, authentic and fresh and he says it was absolutely wonderful.  We'll see what he thinks of my feeble attempt.

Today the Van Gaals are saying a temporary good by to Caitlin (she'll be back at Christmas for a visit). She heads off this afternoon for a new chapter in her life. She's starting a job in Edmonton and is flying out tonight. We wish her all the best as she takes on this new challenge. But she's pretty adaptable and she'll do just fine. There's also a handful of people out there that she knows so that will help in getting adjusted.

So my Christmas shopping is well underway. It helps if you know what you're looking for - it makes it much easier to get started. James and Meghan are done and Tristen just has to be sourced. I also found the items I was  searching out for James' birthday, which happens to fall on the 22nd of December. Not sure if he'll be able to use his birthday gift right away or not, but we'll see.

Monday, October 22 - a relaxing weekend - mostly

After lovely warm temperatures in the high teens all weekend, it's a slightly cooler 10' this morning and will only reach a high of 12' later, with a mix of sun and cloud.

All in all, it was a fairly quite weekend. Nothing much going on Saturday. I worked in the morning and Lloyd worked on roof trusses. So far there are 7 completed - only 21 more to go. I was lamenting the fact that I wasn't home to help. Unfortunately when I am home, I'm pretty much useless anyway. They are way too heavy for me to lift up so he has this complicated series of braces he uses to slowly lift them up and then flip them over, lowering them the same way. Needless to say that takes some time, but they are getting done. He's going to be off on Friday and Saturday and figures he should be able to get them done next weekend as he's also taking the following Monday as well. At this point the weather is looking like it might also cooperate but of course, it's WAY too early to count on that!

It was lovely and warm when I got home on Saturday afternoon so I puttered around outside and put my wood rack together. Then I loaded it up so I have a supply of wood in the back porch. I'm ready! We've been pretty lucky this fall, I've only had to light a fire a couple of times. Or maybe I'm just getting better acclimatized. I remember the first fall I was here, in 2009, and I had the fire going in September. I found it very cold and damp. But now it needs to get quite cold and damp before I feel the need to build a fire.

Sunday morning dawned foggy and wet. No bike rides for the guys that morning. So I busied myself by doing fun stuff inside like laundry! But I also baked some cookies and put a ham into the slow cooker for supper. Then in the afternoon Brenda called to suggest we go kayaking just down the road. But when I got there, the plan had changed ever so slightly. Let's go canoeing instead. I've only been in a canoe once in the past 30 years and it didn't end well. But what the heck, let's give it a try. So Bernie, Brenda, Caitlin and I headed out to a local spot known as Riverton, where there's a bridge crossing over the upper end of the Morell River. There were several people in the water fly fishing for salmon. James will want to know where that spot is! So, we put the boats in the water and headed out to sea!

The water was quite fast moving in some spots and at first it made me slightly nervous, especially in light of my last outing on the water in September. But I got over that fairly quickly and was able to enjoy the ride. For the first half of the trip, we had to do very little paddling because there was enough of a current that carried us along quite nicely. Pretty much all we had to do was steer. It was absolutely beautiful with the colours of the trees and a new section of river to explore. After we reached the Indian Bridge, a spot Brenda and I have put our kayaks in a couple of years ago, we made to decision to continue on to Morell.  Unfortunately for us, the current stops at the Indian Bridge so we had to pretty much paddle the entire way to the end. Needless to say, we were all pretty much done in by the time we reached our destination. But it was a beautiful day and I'm really glad I got out and did something physical, although my muscles might not be quite so pleased in the next couple of days.

Once home, I made a quick supper, watched something on TV while we ate, then headed off to a nice hot bath - the cure for everything!

Friday, Octobedr 19th - another sunny day in store

The last couple of days have been absolutely glorious. When I went out for lunch yesterday afternoon, I was lamenting the fact that with such glorious weather, I should have been home giving the lawn it's last cutting for the season. Alas, I had to go back to work. Today is supposed to be even nicer. It's a cool 6' right now but should reach a sunny 15' later. Let's hope a little of that carries over to the weekend but so far it's not looking good. As I was checking out the weather I came across this photo submitted by someone in Timmins - a place I lived in, a long time ago - I don't miss this scene so early in the year.

These warm days and cool, clear evenings, are bringing us some pretty spectacular sunsets. I snapped this photo outside the back door on Wednesday evening as I was putting the dog out just as the sun was going down.

Yesterday afternoon,  Brenda called to inquire as to whether or not I would perhaps give her a ride home. Of course! So she headed out the by pass to meet me, as it was such a beautiful day for a walk. I picked her up at Motor Vehicles on my way through. We threaded our way through Stratford and took a back road home. On the way we passed a house with some great Halloween decorating. They have this amazing witch on the power pole at their corner that Brenda had told me about. I tried to get a photo but it didn't turn out very good. I know she took one with her camera as well so I'm hopeful it turned out better. It's a homemade witch but it's great.  I always have such admiration for people who are so creative and can make something so great out of the simplest materials. It really is just a mask, some fabric and a couple of pieces of wood. Wait till you see it! It looks a little like this one someone has posted on the Weather Network...but this isn't it (although they could be sisters as they are both in Stratford!)

Otherwise, not much else is new. Brenda has a cousin who raises chickens and delivered some to her house last evening. I took 2 and she had 6. When I went to pick them up, we took that opportunity to dismember the birds in question, freezing them in small packages. Being as their household is quickly dwindling once more, it looks like it may just be Brenda and Bernie again. No need for enough food to feed 6 people at a time. Fortunately we didn't take any photos of the mess made in butchering the birds.  When I got home I also put ours in the freezer so we should be well stocked for a bit, as I had another one left over from an earlier purchase. I should do a re-arranging of my freezer because he's going to have more available in the next couple of weeks. They are such tasty chickens and it's really nice to know where they came from.

Wednesday, October 17th - Belated Happy Anniversary

It's a cooler 7' this morning and quite breezy. It should reach a high of 10' later with a mix of sun and cloud. The last couple of days were amazing. On Tuesday morning it was 17' at 5:00 am! I was listening to a southern Ontario radio station and at 8:00 their time it was 4'. Guess it will be headed this way soon. Tonight will be chillier at 1' so a fire in the stove might just be in order.

Just want to wish daughter Patti and husband Greg a Happy Anniversary, which was yesterday. They're usually too busy carting kids around to activities to do anything together but one of these years they'll be able to go out for a nice dinner somewhere to celebrate on the actual day.

Sticky date pudding

Last night was cooking class number 5. We did New Orleans style Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce and traditional PEI Sticky Date Pudding, which is really just a very dense and moist cake. Both types are doused with an alcohol based sauce, although the alcohol is optional, but necessary in my opinion. It does add so much flavour.
Brenda came over on Monday evening and we made both dishes in advance, to take with us. They take a very long time to bake and we didn't think we'd have time to bake both as well as eat, so we made the eating ones ahead of time. We did have time to finish baking the sticky date and eat it, but the bread pudding I brought home to bake here.

Both recipes were a hit and everyone enjoyed them.  Brenda and I talked about the class on the way home and for next weeks class we'll once again go back to the demo style. One student mentioned that she hadn't actually seen a step in a recipe the week before because she was busy working on something else. That got us to thinking that if they are there to learn, then they need to see all the steps. So next week, we'll have the students prep all the ingredients and then I'll cook it on the induction burner at the table so they can see what we're doing. It may be a better way of dealing with such a large class in such cramped quarters. Brenda found it a bit confusing and disjointed last night and I have to agree with her. So, we'll just have to fix it!

I stopped in at Brenda's on our way home to drop her off and we had a glass of wine while deciding  the fate of a couple of items she had in her freezer. There are definitely a couple of new dishes on the way.

Monday, October 15th - very bizarre weather

This morning it's a rainy 9' but we're heading for a high of 18' that will feel like 22' later today, with even warmer temperatures forecast for the next couple of days. Saturday morning we woke up to our first ------ snow! Not a lot, mind you, at our place but some spots got quite a bit by comparison.  We just had little patches but on my way into work, about halfway into town, the roofs were completely white and the grass was covered.

The sun had come out so it was melting quickly but it was just not something we were expecting - none of the weather forecasts mentioned the   'S' word! 

There was certainly no inkling when we left town late on Friday night.  After work, I met Lloyd, Brenda and Bernie at the Gahan House for supper. Remember the Burger Love compaign in the spring?

Well, the pork producers have gotten on that bandwagon and declared October as 'Porktoberfest' month. Various restaurants around the city are featuring gourmet sausages on a bun. We thought it only right that we should check it out. So we chose the Gahan as our first sample. Once we were all seated and enjoying a beer we decided it would be most prudent to order one sausage per couple. That would allow us to split it, then go somewhere else for a second sample! It is, after all, half way through the month, so time is of the essence here.

We really enjoyed the first sausage.

Once we finished up there, we wandered over to the Blow Out Sale at the Civic Centre. A little shopping  worked up our appetite for sausage # 2 at the Redwater Grill,  at the Holman Grand Hotel. We chose this particular one for our second sample because
a) it sounded good and
b) we'd never been to that particular restaurant before.
It was good but not as good as the first one, so the Gahan is still the one to beat, in our books anyway.

What was interesting about the Redwater Grill, was the dessert.We ordered the Chocolate Pate but it came with a beet sauce. Certainly unexpected and I can't say the flavour combination totally worked for me but some of the others liked it.

Sunday was cool at  3' in the morning, so it was time to fire up the wood stove for the first time this season. Our chimney guy had arrived on Saturday to clean it so we were all ready to go. It was nice to come inside to a warm fire after being out in the cold. Lloyd had worked all day Saturday on cutting the pieces for the trusses, and finished up the last of the cuts on Sunday. Now he's ready to start joining all those pieces together.  That should go much faster. Then it will be time to put them up and cover them and we should be good for the winter. But one step at a time.

Sunday afternoon Brenda and Bernie came over for supper - something we haven't done in a while. We had Butternut Squash Risotto, made with butternut squash I grew myself, herb crusted rack of lamb and brocolli in cheese sauce. Everything turned out well and it seems to have been enjoyed by all. Good food, good wine and great friends -does it get any better? I don't think so.

Friday, October 12th - it will soon be time to turn on the heat

It's a cool 6' this morning, heading for a high of 11' later with a chance of showers in the afternoon. Yesterday morning it was a balmy, but windy 16' when I left for work but it cooled off to 9' by the time I was on my way home, with some rain in the morning but very high winds all day long.

Lloyd picked up whatever bug I had last weekend and was off yesterday and given the high winds, I was glad he wasn't standing up on a ladder somewhere. He was feeling much better when I got home after sleeping most of the day, so it seems to have run it's course, through our house anyway.

I'm hopeful that the chimney cleaning fellow will be here this weekend. He was meant to come last Saturday but something must have come up, or his other stops took longer than expected. I've been holding off using the wood stove so it will still be cold when he gets here - but he better get here soon!!

I had an unusual email the other day, from a lady who stumbled upon my blog and has taken it upon herself to read the entire thing from the beginning. She sound really nice but I'm seriously wondering about her mental state!  It's really quite ironic that she found me because there are so many parallels that it's almost scary.

She's a southern Ontario girl but her husband was born and raised here, although he's lived in Ontario for a very long time. They're building a summer home here, little bits at a time, although I did look at her blog (yes, she also has a blog) and it's quite a lovely spot and much more a project than our little summer home was. Theirs is beautiful. In fact, when I saw the artist rendition of the finished project on her site, I recognized it right away as one of the plans that I really liked when we were looking at plans to build ourselves.

Her name is Patti and so is my daughter's. She lives in Caledon but is familiar with the Guelph area, at least the Stone Road Mall part of it! (My Patti had a really good friend in high school who lived in Caledon so many trips were made to Caledon during those years).
They plan to move here permanently when they retire.
Now this is the part where it gets really weird!  It seems she and I took the same program at the same College in Oakville. She started the year after I graduated back in the early 80's! How bizarre is that?

So I can totally understand why she found my blog of interest as she will be doing the very same thing. She does have one advantage in that her husband's family is all here on the island so she at least has some connections when she gets here.

I read most of her blog yesterday and saw the pictures of construction as it progressed.  Part of me was a bit envious as we were planning to build a new house. But then I also could see how frustrating the whole experience can be at times and I think that is probably normal for any mostly do it yourself project. I think I'm glad I missed that. We have enough of that just getting the garage built and it's nothing compared to building a house. It's especially difficult when you live in Ontario and you only have little pockets of time to work on it - everything has to fall into place when you need it to, and that's not always the case. So I guess I'll have that experience vicariously through her blog. I do admit it was nice to just move here, unpack everything and then just get on with my new life - and I do love my old house, even with all it's warts and wrinkles.

They won't be back on the island until sometime early next summer and I'm hopeful that we can get together. I'd love to see their house and hear all about some of the challenges that aren't in her blog - and I'm sure there are many! 

Wednesday, October 10th - Class # 4 wrapped up

It's a milder 10' this morning, although only reaching 12' later with a 40% chance of showers later this afternoon. Yesterday turned out to be not a bad day - sunny for the most part but started off cooler in the morning, at only 6' when I got up.

Our 4th class went well last night. We made 3 pasta dishes:

1.  Fettuccine Alfredo
2.  Penne with Red Pepper Sauce and Spinach (almost forgot the spinach)
3.  Garlic Lemon Shrimp with Orzo and Dill

Everyone loved the Fettuccine Alfredo, although some are not used to eating pasta 'al dente' and prefer it a bit softer, and that's totally the diner's choice. The penne was equally good, having been made with a sauce of pureed roasted red peppers, onions, garlic and fennel seeds. Once they were fully roasted and soft, we pureed them with an immersion blender to make an instant sauce - a nice change from tomato sauce. I added a little bit of red pepper flakes but some found it a little too spicy. I sometimes forget not everyone likes things hot! We did forget to add the spinach until we'd already sampled it so that just meant we had to have two servings. The last dish was the shrimp with orzo. We cut the quantity down to 1 lemon as opposed to the 2 lemons that were called for and it was still very lemony. But it was equally delicious. All three dishes were a hit and everyone was impressed with how quickly they all came together. So a big thank you to Chef Michael Smith once again, as these were all recipes from two of his books.

We changed up the format a bit last night. With so many students it's difficult to have enough for them all to have something to do. So I assigned each a prep task and then I used an induction burner on the table to prepare the dish in front of everyone. There was less participation but on the other hand, we were cleaned up and I was on the road by 8:45. I don't think anyone minded being home a little earlier. Doing it this style made  it easier to talk about what I was doing and they could all see what was going on. It's easier to explain things each step of the way and everyone can see whats happening in the pan  and are able to ask questions if they have any. We'll try it that way again next week and see what happens.

We were pleased to have Caitlin join us again this week. She has only two more classes before she leaves for Edmonton and has asked for a class on making curry. It's not something I've done much of (well, none really) but I can learn along with everyone else.

Monday, October 8th - Happy Thanksgiving Day!

It's a rainy 11' this morning but should clear a bit later in the day but stay around 12' for the high. We could see our first frost tonight. The other two days of the weekend were beautiful weather. Saturday was 20' and sunny while Sunday was a little cooler, but not too cool for the guys to go for a lengthy bike ride.

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling really great Saturday and Sunday so my lovely long weekend was a little spoiled. I had a lot of things planned  but unfortunately none of it got done. Needless to say, everything I didn't get to, will wait, so no worries!

Today I'm feeling much better so I'm hoping it will be a little more productive. Lloyd was supposed to work today but it was cancelled due to weather so he's hoping to finish cutting his boards for trusses, most of what he got done on Saturday. If those get finished today then he can start putting them all together.

We had a large roast chicken last weekend so no turkey for us this weekend.  We ate left over chicken all week so we really didn't want to be eating left over turkey all this week.  If we were going to have turkey I would have planned to cook it yesterday as Lloyd was supposed to work today but I can't imagine cooking a turkey yesterday. It wouldn't have been a fun experience.

Needless to say, it's been a pretty uneventful weekend - just lots of sleep for me and work and biking for Lloyd. I'm really lucky that Brenda came over for tea yesterday morning and helped me sort out what we're doing for our cooking class on Tuesday. I just couldn't get focused on it and had no idea what to do but, thanks to her assistance, it's all planned.

As I write this, someone at the Van Gaal household is driving Meghan(1) to the airport to catch her early flight back to Toronto. I'm sure they had a lovely meal last night with the whole family home at the same time. It's been a while since they've enjoyed that and it might be a while before it happens again so that was really nice for all of them. Our family was a little more spread out. I got a text message from Patti yesterday. She was in Vancouver, James and his dad were home in Guelph and Meghan(2) and Tristen were at Greg's parents for the weekend enjoying turkey.  Guess the rest of us will have to wait for turkey here on PEI at Christmas.

Finally, one thing we really enjoy here on the island is having the neighbours over for a meal. We have one neighbour who frequently drops by for a bite to eat whenever they get hungry. But not to worry, they just come, have something to eat and then go back home.  They seem to really enjoy the choices of food here.

The view from my bathroom window

They still can't find how our visitor is getting out or back in but several times a week we have company. I guess the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence!
See you Wednesday morning.

Friday, October 5th - is it time to change the format a little bit?

It's late this morning - almost 10:00 and we're sitting at 13' with some pretty heavy cloud cover but they should clear a bit and help the sun move us up to a comfortable 16'. Tomorrow is supposed to be a warm 19' and no rain so it should be a good day to work on trusses for our roof.

Today I'm not really feeling very well - in fact I haven't been feeling very well since last yesterday afternoon. But I'm trying to ignore the nausea and light headedness in hopes it will just go away. If it wasn't the Friday before a long weekend, of which I've already requested Saturday off, I might have taken my first sick day in a year and a half but I don't really think I would believe it if I were them. So I'm sitting at my desk huddled under a sweater and hoping that a) the phone doesn't ring very much today and b) that not many people come in the door that need assistance! But that's what I'm paid to do and so that's what I'll do and hopefully time will be on my side and I'll feel better later on.

In light of that, I didn't do my blog first thing this morning. I did, however, notice how many people visited before 9:00 Ontario time (10:00  here).  Since Lloyd moved here, there's not as much going on. Not that he's boring or anything, but our life has seemed to settle into a basic routine. That's not a bad thing but it makes for pretty boring posts. Brenda has been busy with travelling and company for a while as well, so we just haven't gotten out as often as we used to. I'm sure now that fall is, here that will change slightly.

So I've taken a chapter from fellow blogger Cory Gallant aka "Zesty Cook" (check out his site http://zestycook.com/ ) Cory posts blog entries 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think I will do that from now on in hopes that I have something interesting to contribute three times a week instead of  not much five times. So for those who stop by on a daily basis, you now have two days off. What ever will you do with that spare time? I know a couple of people who will have to find something else to do while they have their  morning coffee but maybe they can start following another, more interesting blog - heaven knows there are lots of them out there.

Assuming that I'm feeling better later, I'm meeting the Van Gaal women for a bite to eat  after work. Meghan has a wedding in town this weekend and will be leaving for Toronto on Monday. Rumour has it that Caitlin has a job offer and may also soon be heading off soon  for parts unknown. Then I suppose things may return to their previous activity level.  In fact we've just booked tickets to see a favorite performer - Jesse Cook - in Halifax in November. Brenda and I have talked about heading over to Halifax sometime for a weekend and staying over somewhere,  for the past three years, and it looks like we'll finally have that chance. 

I need to be feeling really well for tomorrow as I've taken the day off work to help Lloyd with trusses. He says just having someone to hold onto the end of a board wil be helpful. So hopefully I will be of some assistance. The cold weather will soon be here and it would be really nice to be able to utilize that storage space.

So I'm off now. I picked up my usual muffin on the way to work this morning and for the first time all day, it's now appealing to me so my tummy must be feeling better. Have a great weekend and Happy Turkey Day!

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Thursday, October 4th - who knew???

It's a very pleasant and starry 10' at 5:00 this morning. I took the dog out (on his leash this time) and it was quite lovely outside. Not yet a hint of what will be in a few weeks I'm sure. We should reach a little bit cooler 15' later today with a mix of sun and cloud. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous - warm and sunny all afternoon.

Not much to write about this morning. Lloyd didn't get home from work last night until almost 8:00. I called his cell at 7:45 to inquire as to his whereabouts to make sure he wasn't

a) lost and aimlessly driving around trying to find his way home or
b) lying in a ditch somwhere.

Fortunately he did answer his phone  and advised he was about 20 minutes away. It seems they left his bosses house (in Cornwall somewhere) in the morning and headed out to Malpeque to work on a job there. It's a fair distance away and they worked till later than usual so that made for a much longer day. It didn't help that he'd left his phone in his car and driven with the others to the job site.
But he did eventually make it home so it was a late supper. Good thing it was an easy one. He's been hankering for pizza for a while and I'd made a homemade one a couple of weeks ago but he just wanted a take out pizza. Good thing I didn't pick one up on the way home. Instead I picked up a cook your own deluxe one at the grocery store.
The other night Brenda was telling me she made "Crisper Soup" with items from the crisper of the fridge. We had "Refrigerator Pizza". I decided I needed to sort out the fridge because it's always got too much stuff in it. In my search for space, I found a few items I could add to our 'deluxe' pizza. I added two kinds of cheese - an Italian blend, some boconcini (aka fresh mozzarella), - some roast chicken that I diced, and a container of pitted, chopped black olives. I spread all of these on the prepared pizza and they added so much more flavour. Of course, I'd never be able to duplicate it again!

So this morning, I was checking my email and I received an update from Chef Michael Smith's camp, regarding an event he's attending in Toronto this month. Who knew that they hold conferences for - apparently - people like me! It's called Blissdom Blogger Event and it's for people who blog, or do other social media ' stuff' .  Check it out - who knew people like me have initiated a whole new industry!

http://blissdomcanada.com/events/


I would consider going if I stilled lived in Toronto. I might actually learn something. I suppose most people who blog are doing it for the purpose of sharing information with the masses. I, on the other hand, don't really have anything very interesting to say to most of the masses so I don't particularly need to attract hordes of people to my little ramblings.  I'm fortunate that a few friends and family care enough to check in from time to time to find out what's going on and if they do, I've served my purpose here.  ( On bad days, it also gives me a reason to drag my sorry butt out of bed!!!) Fortunately there are not too many of those days. But sometimes it is good to have a purpose first thing in the morning - it does get the brain going and then usually the rest of the body will follow!

Wednesday, October 3rd - 3 classes down, 7 more to go

It's a very pleasant 12' this morning with a bright moon and lots of stars. We're heading for another beautiful day with sunshine and 17' expected later.

Lloyd had the day off yesterday and was able to complete his first truss for the roof of his building.  I'm told once the first one is done, the rest follow much easier. He had it standing when I got home so I could see roughly how wide my space is going to be.  Just picture this with side walls, a ceiling and 8 feet off the ground and you've got the general idea of what my new 'craft studio' will look like.

It looked much smaller when it was lying on the ground. Now all he has to do is build 27 more just like this one!

We had a great class last night. We were missing two students but fortunately Meghan and Caitlin were able to join us and filled those spots quite nicely. Our theme was "What is that and what do I do with it?"  We had a variety of things to work with and sample - dragon fruit, eggplant, fennel, plantains, celery root, bok choy.

We made a wide variety of recipes and then set them all out and sampled them together. Everyone had their favorites but most were a hit.

Everyone really enjoyed the Baba Ganouche, the Eggplant Caviar and the Fennel and Orange Salad.

Fried Plantain

Eggplant Caviar

Baba Ganouch

Fennel and Orange Salad

Enjoying our feast

Tuesday, October 2nd - a lovely fall day ahead

It was raining last night but this morning is clear and dry and 12', heading for a high of 18' that's going to feel like 21'. Yesterday morning on my way to work, I noticed there are little pockets of colour starting to show up in the trees here and there. Nothing too serious yet as it is a bit early but it's coming!

By the time I got home from work, the house and dog were sweet smelling once again! I had locked him in the back porch when I let him in at midnight so everything in there reeked of skunk. When I left for work I went out the front door so I didn't have to go near the smelly little beast or the area. But by 5:30 it was fine. Needless to say, from now on he only goes outside on a leash when it's dark out. So a big thanks to Lloyd for having to deal with that - but I guess it was his turn as I coped with it the last two times (wouldn't you think the silly dog might learn??)

I picked up the items I needed for our class tonight when I was out at lunch yesterday so I spent last night getting everything ready. I still have a couple of things to pick up today but for the most part I think we're in good shape. This week's theme is "What on earth is that and what the heck do  I do with it?"  There are still lots of things out there that I could have purchased and some of them I don't actually know either so what I've picked up is slightly more main stream but we can always do another class like this later on if we run out of ideas.

Dragon Fruit - one of the items we'll be trying tonight

Last night we sat at the table and discussed the structure of the new building. It's going to be way more than a garage. The upstairs will be all finished with dry wall and painted and will be my space. Because it is slightly higher than the house, and where it's situated, the view from the upstairs will be wonderful as you can see right down to the river between the Linden trees in the lane and the apple tree in the yard. We're thinking maybe a patio door at the front of the upstairs with maybe a small balcony outside so we can put a couple of chairs out there and sit and watch the sunrise. I'll have lots of space so I'm thinking I'll put the couch we have now (as it will be replaced at some point) out there facing the window so when I just want to sit and read a book or a scrapbooking magazine for ideas or just take a break and enjoy a coffee, it will be a lovely seating area for me and whom ever is there to play with me that day. Of course, now that I can actually envision it, a lot of ideas are running through my mind. It's going to be an awesome work space for me and my 'stuff', of which I seem to have a lot of!   I know it's a little ways down the road but I can at least see it from here - both literally and figuratively. 

Monday, October 1st - not the most perfect way to start the day

It's a mild 15', heading for 18' later with showers possible in the afternoon.

Last night the dog woke me up a little after midnight, needing to go outside. I know better but just wasn't thinking. I put his collar on and opened the door. Unfortunately we had a guest in the back yard who didn't particularly want any unwelcome company - you guessed it - a skunk (again!). So he was stuck in the back porch for the rest of the night, much to his displeasure. Fortunately Lloyd's hard of hearing and without his hearing aids, wasn't the least bit disturbed by the howling that took place roughly every half hour or so for a couple of minutes.  Needless to say there will be a quick trip to the store as soon as they open to pick up some peroxide to mix with baking soda and liquid soap to deskunk the smelly little beast!

It was kind of a rainy weekend but a productive one, at least for Lloyd. Bernie, Raymond and Richard came bright and early on Saturday morning. I had made a coffee cake for them and they were all sitting round the table having coffee and planning their attack when I left for work shortly after 8:00.

"Now, just how should we do this?"

Before I left for work

When I returned

Fortunately the rain held off long enough for them to get the walls of the garage in place.  He has the rest of the materials he needs to make the roof trusses. Hopefully he can start on that today as long as the rain holds out. (once he's done bathing the dog, that is!)

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. I did have a lovely visit with Brenda on Sunday morning after church. Bernie was gone to New Brunswick to pick up daughter Meghan and to visit his dad so Brenda was planning to catch up with a few folks after her trip.  It was a dreary wet day so I chose to stay home while Lloyd went into town to pick up blades for his saw. Laundry and reading a book pretty much rounded out my day. All in all a pretty quiet couple of days.