At The Peterborough Zoo Yesterday

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the zoo with my youngest son Ryan and his beautiful family, his wife Desiree` and their daughter Gretchen.
We had a great time as you can tell by the pictures.

What did you do on your sunny Sunday?

Sunny Sunday

Well the weatherman is calling for another hot day out there again today.
I decided that I am going to take my son and his family to the zoo, maybe have a picnic and my granddaughter can cool off in the wading pool.

I have alot of plans for us for this summer it is just a matter of scheduling so that everyone is available at the same time to enjoy family time together.

I want to be sure to take Gretchen to Centre Island in Toronto this summer to get an old fashioned picture taken of her, I made sure when my boys were small that we went and had their pictures done and now it is Gretchen's turn and hopefully we can do another one with Blair, Ryan, Desiree`, Gretchen and myself.
It is great to see the costumes everyone chooses to have their picture taken in.

Blair's Visit

OOPS! I missed Saturday!

Kathy, Mom and I at the Stirling Festival Theatre Thursday May 27, 2010.
We went to see The Judy Garland Show...wonderful evening spent with wonderful ladies.

Theatre Night

Tonight I am looking forward to the theatre.
I am going with my Mother and my girlfriend Kathy.
We are going to see the Judy Garland Story.
Should be fun and a great way to beat the heat!
What have you planned for this hot Thursday?

Wednesday's Wish

This week my wish is that you all enjoy this beautiful weather we have been blessed with.
Today we are suppose to break a 100 year old record for temperatures for May.
If that is true I hope you all find a way to stay cool and well hydrated!
I am sharing with you my recipe for iced tea, I hope you make a jug or two today.

Laurie's
Iced Tea

Boil water and pour into a glass jug over your tea bags leaving a couple of inches of head space.
(I staple the tags of 8-10 tea bags together and place in jug).
I add sugar to taste, usually 1/2 cup to 1 cup depending on the size of jug, stir until sugar dissolves.
Allow to steep until the tea cools to room temperature (I like my tea strong so it does not taste watery if ice cubes melt, sometimes I make ice cubes with the iced tea ).
Remove tea bags (if they are tied together they are easier to remove).
I then add lemon juice and lime juice to taste.
I also add a couple of drops of orange extract.
Refrigerate until chilled.
I place slices of lemon and lime and orange in a glass full of ice and pour the chilled iced tea over the ice and fruit.
Enjoy!

Great Long Weekend

Long Weekend Fun

Family Visits

Today my youngest son and his family will be coming for a visit.
I must thank my Mother for going to pick them up on the long weekend, I was going to go get them but my car is not in working order so Mom generously offered to go get them.
I decided not to fuss too much over our meal, I picked up cold meats and buns and Dewey is planning on making potatoe salad so I think that should be plenty for everyone.
I am so excited to see them come out here for a visit, I usually go there.
I promise to post pictures tomorrow.
What are you planning for this beautiful Sunday?

May 24 Weekend Begins!

The large amount of traffic on the roads and over- crowding in the liquor, beer, grocery stores, bank and bait shop are the first indicators that it is the long weekend...

All week I have seen cars and trucks loaded, trailers and boats all making their way through cottage country.
I often fear driving behind these trailers as most of the citiots(as I call them)don't know enough to check their trailers before taking them out onto the highway.
A large number of trailers are without brake lights, signal lights and atleast 80% of the persons pulling the trailers haven't a clue how to properly park with a trailer on behind their vehicle and when they stop in town here they take up to 5-6 parking spots or they just pull up infront of an establishment and block the driveways.

Many yard sales will be set-up for the long weekend and I plan on taking a peek at a few this morning.

Tomorrow I pick-up my Son, Daughter-in-law and Granddaughter in the afternoon to bring them out of the city for a visit with my Parents and myself.

Monday I am baking a birthday cake for my Father's birthday bbq we will be having in the afternoon!

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and enjoy each moment we can share together .
Unfortunately my eldest Son has to work this weekend but will be coming next weekend for a visit.

What do you have planned for this first long weekend of the summer of 2010?

Friday's Favorites

Well it begins...it is the first long weekend of the season and it is going to be a hot one by the looks of the weather forecast.
This weekend is usually spent celebrating my Father's birthday!
This year we are planning a bbq on the holiday Monday .
in our household the birthday person chooses what type of cake, pie or goodies they would like baked for their birthday celebration.
This year Dad has chosen my pineapple upside-down cake for his birthday cake. Here is the recipe for this moist favorite in our home.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

1- white cake recipe
1 3/4 cup of flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup of milk

Combine 1st 3 ingredients and set aside.
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light.
blend in dry ingredients alternating with milk beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
Set aside while you prepare pan with:
1/3 cup butter melted stir in 1 cup brown sugar
Spread evenly in bottom of cake pan place cherries and pineapple on top of the brown sugar/butter mixture then pour the cake batter over top .
Bake at 350 F for 65-70 minutes cool for 10 minutes before turning onto platter or cake plate.
Enjoy!

What are your plans for this long weekend?

The Long Weekend Approaches!

Well I completely forgot that this is the long weekend coming up, for some reason I thought it was next weekend.
I don't usually have plans except to try to stay away from the highway on the Thursday,Friday and Monday!
What are your plans for this holiday weekend?

Wednesday's Wish

The breeze is blowing and the lilacs appear to be dancing...
the new leaves on the trees are swaying and fluttering in time to the tune the song birds are singing...
What a beautiful time of year to celebrate and laugh in the sun.

This week I am sending out birthday wishes to my family members that are celebrating their birthdays!

My Uncle is celebrating his birthday tomorrow, my Grandmother is celebrating her birthday on Monday and my Father is celebrating his birthday on Tuesday!

Tuesday's Tour

Today I am off to take my brother to Toronto for his treatments he gets once a month.
These days are very long and start very early.
What are you doing today?

Making Fruit Leathers

Wash and peel the fruit.
If you are using fruit with stones, take them out, chop up the fruit.

Place fruit in a large saucepan. If you need add a small amount of juice if mixture is too dry, bring to a simmer, cover and let cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through.

Uncover and stir. Use a potato masher to mash up the fruit in the pan or put in blender to puree`.

Taste the fruit and determine how much lemon juice, and/or what spices spices to add.

Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time to help brighten the flavor of the fruit and keep it's colour. Add a pinch or two of cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices to augment the flavor if you like.

I don't add sugar, but if you like it to be a bit sweeter I suggest using honey, real maple syrup, yogurt(using yogurt it takes longer to dehydrate) or applesauce.

Continue to simmer and stir until the fruit purée has thickened, another 5 or 10 minutes (or more).

Taste again and adjust lemon/spices if necessary. The purée should be very smooth.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with sturdy plastic wrap (the kind that is microwave safe). Pour out the purée once cooled slightly into the lined baking sheet to about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, try to keep any plastic wrap from touch the sides of the oven or the oven racks.

Heat the oven to a low 140°F.

Let dry in the oven like this for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather. I keep it in the oven overnight, so about 8-12 hours. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky, but has a smooth surface. I always dry my fruit leather in the heat of the summer outside. Cover with cheesecloth (Tent) and let dry in the sun all day. There are times depending on the humidity in the air you will need to finis drying in the oven. I find on humid days I bring it in at night and take it out again the next morning and it is usually ready by the evening.

When the fruit leather is ready, you can easily peel it up from the plastic wrap. To store it, roll it in plastic wrap, put it in an airtight container and store in cool dry pantry, refrigerator or freezer.

4 cups of fruit yields about one baking sheet of fruit leather.

My boys cut their teeth with fruit leather, very healthy alternative to teething biscuits.

You can do the fruit leathers as a puree` cold but I find the flavor is enhanced much more if you heat it, especially if you are adding spices.

Sunday!

This week has flown by, and the lilacs are gorgeous !

Grandparenting Last Evening

Her smile just melts my heart

Friday's Favorites

Cream Of Asparagus Soup


Cook asparagus (a pound or two)
Drain and mash the asparagus
for each pound of asparagus add 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of cream, 4 cups of water and 1 cup of chicken broth and 1/2 cup butter
Cook down on low heat until thick.
If you feel you need to thicken soup which you shouldn't if you cook on low all afternoon, use cornstarch mixed in a bit of water to thicken it.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some nice french bread.

Thursday Is Trash Day!

Every Thursday for as long as I have lived here has been trash day.
For some reason unknown to myself I forgot to pick-up garbage tags at the town office this week ...not trash day for us!
I will now have to wait for Saturday and take the trash to the dump.
Thursday our dump is closed as well as Friday.

Funny thing, when I went out yesterday I had planned on going to the town office to pick tags up and knew once I got back home that there was something I forgot to do but could not for the life of me remember what it was until it was too late and the office was closed.

I suppose I should be making a to do list each evening for the next day so that I won't forget the things I need to do each day so that this won't happen again.
It isn't even that I have so much to do that it slipped my mind, plain and simple I forgot...damn menopause!

Wednesday's Wish

I thought I would try something new for Wednesday!
I will share with you in words and/or pictures my wish (an expression of a desire, longing, or strong inclination).

My wish this week would be to have my cat Smokey-Joe to sleep at night and quit waking me up every 20 minutes so I can get a decent sleep !

Since my other cat Smudge passed away (she was 11 years old ) Smokey-Joe wanders the house at night looking for her for about an hour at bedtime.

He then figures I should be up with him, so he jumps up on the bed and walks over the pillows and stops at my head he will nudge me trying to wake me and if I cover my head he will dig me out of the covers or make his way under just to pat my face with his paw and try to wake me.

I usually put him down and not 10 minutes later he will be right back up and this time lays at my head and purrs, head butts me and starts pulling my hair by kneading his toes into it and pulling!
This goes on all night until I get up with him.

You would think a 14 year old cat would love to sleep, nope, he is the most active 14 year old cat I know of.

I know you are thinking , why doesn't she just close the bedroom door but when your bedroom is a loft there are no doors to close.
I would put him outside but he has no nails to defend himself out there so that is out of the question.
I have tried spraying him with a squirt bottle of water, unfortunately he likes it!
I have tried buying him a little toy to cuddle with and all he does is wander around the house making howling noises and then brings the toy to me and continues to disrupt my sleep.

I am out of ideas, anyone have a suggestion to help me make this wish come true?

Turtle Tuesday

Good morning, I know it is almost afternoon, I have been in "Turtle Mode" today for some reason.
Not only am I just sitting down at the computer for the first time today, I am having my first glass of juice!
I have spent the morning doing alot and getting nothing accomplished or so it feels.
I have been cleaning out closets and once they are pulled apart I have been bagging things up to send to charity, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation of Ontario comes every couple of months and picks up your donations from your front step.
Then I have bags I make up to send to the autobody shop down the highway of rags they use there.
I will be quite happy to have some closet space again.
Funny the things we accumulate over the years, clothing you keep in hopes of fitting into it again and clothing you keep to do dirty jobs in and clothing you keep for sentimental reasons...I decided if I haven't worn it in the last year then it is gone.
In case you are wondering, yes I did keep one item that I don't wear often but can not bear to part with, a beautiful sequined top my I remember my grandmother wearing when she was going somewhere special, I always had admired it and when I was 21 my grandmother found she could not wear it anymore and remembered how much I liked it so gave it to me.
I wear it only when I go out somewhere very special as I am so afraid to lose the sequins off of it.
After I spent some time walking down memory lane, I completed the task at hand.
I think I did very well parting with as much as I could to make some space in my closets.
Do you have an item of clothing you just know you could never part with for sentimental reasons?

Wonderful Mother's Day

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day, I awoke to a message from my son Ryan asking me to come for a visit around 10am.

Then I went next door to wish my Mother a Happy Mother's Day she was thrilled with her blanket we gave her.

I spent a few minutes chatting with my Father and wishing them a safe trip to TO for Dad's first round of chemotherapy.

I then received a phone call there from my other son Blair who had tracked me down to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.
We chatted for a bit on the phone and made plans for our next visit which will be on the long weekend May 24!

I then came home and got ready to head into Peterborough to have my Mother's Day visit with Ryan, Desiree` and Gretchen.

When I arrived, Ryan had baked me bran muffins with a slice of banana on top.
They were fantastic!
I wished Desiree` a Happy Mother's Day and enjoyed our visit very much.
I spent a bit of time reading and playing with my little earth angel Gretchen and then Desiree`'s Mother and brother came and had a great visit.

I returned home in the early afternoon and enjoyed a cup of tea then off to my Mother in law's to bring her Mother's Day gift and wish her a Happy Mother's Day.

When we arrived she had made a pan of cabbage rolls and baked my favorite pie Strawberry- rhubarb the berries were from last summer and the rhubarb was fresh from the garden...yummy!
She also made butter tarts and gainsborough tarts.

We stayed and had a wonderful supper and visit.

Upon my return home I had a nice hot tubbies and settled in to watch a movie before retiring...Wonderful Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I thought it would be appropriate to post a picture of the 5 generations of women in our family, and wish all of you a Happy Mother's Day!

Rainy Saturday

Today I spent the whole day watching the Turner Classic Movies channel cuddled up on the chesterfield with the cat.
I love spending rainy days watching old movies.
What did you do this rainy Saturday?

Friday's Favorites

Lilac Jelly

4 cups lilac blossoms, green parts removed
4 cups boiling water
8 tablespoons lemon juice
2 packages powdered pectin
8 cups sugar

Rinse lilacs and place in a large glass or stainless steal container. Cover with boiling water, cover with a lid and let sit for 24 hours. This will make a nice lilac infusion which smells nice but doesn’t look anything like you would expect. It is murky and either greenish or brownish.

Strain the lilacs, squeezing out the excess water, and discard. Add lemon juice to the infusion, stir in pectin and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Add the sugar all at once and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, skim and pour into jelly jars.

Process like you would any other jelly.

This recipe is a favorite over at Roscommon Acres, it happens to be one of my favorite blogs to read...check out some of the wonderful recipes they have for lilacs! http://roscommonacres.com/

Thursday's much needed rain

Well when I awoke today our temperature outside had dropped quite a bit from the 26C we had yesterday, it is 10C and although the weatherman called for sunshine all day long it is pouring rain out there.

I had lots planned to do out in the gardens today but now will have to put off until we get some sunshine.
I am sure not complaining of the rain, we need it so desperately, the average rainfall for last month is 68mm and we have had less than 27mm.

As I am writing this the rain has stopped and the sun is trying hard to peek through the clouds...I may get out in the gardens today yet!

What are your plans for the day today?

Windy Wednesday

Today it is very windy outside that even though it says it is 24C out there it feels cool enough to wear a jacket.
The little bit of rain we got and the sunshine has made alot of the lilacs bloom and the wind is carrying their sweet perfume into my home ...loving this day and praying for many more like it.

The Apple Of My Eye

Rainy Monday Morning

It is fantastic that we are getting some very much needed rain.
The birds are singing and taking baths in the moisture in the long grass, unfortunately the ground is so dry there are no puddles for them to bathe in.
The leaves on the trees are open and the buds on my lilacs are starting to pop!
I just love the springtime and all the beauty it brings...

Toybox

This morning I took the toybox a friend of mine made for me to Gretchen.
It was so sweet watching her climb in and play with her toys, it reminded me of when my boys used my hope chest for a toybox and would play in it for hours...
This toybox could double as her hope chest when she gets older if she wanted.
Our visit was alot of fun and I look forward to spending more time with her in the near future.