Mother's Curry.....

Yesterday was so hot I just sat outside in the 'garden' and took some pictures of Tansy, Curry Plant and Lavender... i was trying to get my little Canon G9 to take some close ups.. its not as good as my Nikon D100 but not to bad for a point and shoot!

a wee Skipper on a Lavender stock... i think of the insect world, Skippers are just the cutest, flitting about from flower to flower..


Tansy Ragwort being visited by one of our local bees


the beautiful and much maligned Curry Plant most people i know don't care for it... because it 'smells' like curry, but i love it and i love eating curry!! reminds me of a childhood favorite meal that my mother would make with leftover roast beef... there was no 'recipe' it was always just what was leftover!


boil several eggs, peel and cut into quarters (or close to)
chop leftover roast beef in small cubes
handful of raisins

dice an onion and saute in 'butter' (my mother used butter) with the cubes of beef and raisins
add a tsp of 'store bought' curry powder or garam masala if thats what you have,
a HEAPING Tbs of flour and mix all together...
add your chopped eggs, mix gently and then add water to make a sauce.... ( i add a bit of Yogurt if i have it)
salt and pepper to taste

serve over a bed of cooked rice...
that was it.. pretty simple ingredients but most delicious and stretched out that last bit of roast...



the setting sun and rising moon, the end of a very HOT day... thank goodness for the coolness of evening... we westcoasters aren't used to the baking heat, will be glad when the temperature drops down to 80!!

Bountiful Beans.....

yummy yummy, beans and more beans!! and did i mention zucchini and cucumbers AND my first eggplant!! behind it is a lovely bouquet of kale, swiss chard and cilantro.. the cilantro is bolting like mad, so decided i needed to pick the flowers, so i'll get longer use out of it... i'm thinking a stirfry this evening.. yum yum!!!
yesterday i had to leave the house, was sooooo hot, so off the puppies and i went... and went and went.. drove from Nanaimo to Port Alberni and then over to uculet.. was a lovely, abet, very HOT drive.. we stopped in several places for puppy drinks and wading in water.. felt so good!!!
stopped in Port Alberni to check out the Mars Water Bomber..they are located on Sproat Lake in Port Alberni and being used as water bombers for forest fires... next time i go, hopefully will be much cooler and i'll be able to go into see them better... if your familiar with the fires in california last year, they were utilized there... as well as forest fires in b.c.





on the way back fro Uculet i took a picture of the temperature in Port Alberni... was more than a little toasty... the humidex figure was much higher... 41 celcius is 105 Fahrenheit... so yep yep.. toooooo hot for me... it's not so bad when you don't throw in the humidity factor..

Accessories....

well, doggie accessories that is... home'spun' sorta kinda... with a flick of the nose a full wrapping of slobber then down to check out some bug on the ground.. and tada!!! self made glued on nose accessory... only a doggie lover would appreciate i'm sure...

today i went on the hunt for a new doggie friendly swimming hole and actually found one! i'm not sure how empty it will be in the heat of the day, but thought that i'd go back later for another check.. it's not far from the house, and was just deep enough for doggies to swim in.. not suitable for human swimming so don't think too many people will go there... anyways... my car now stinks of two very happy wet cool dogs.. i guess i'll live with it ;)

made a new suntop today, out of my head... wrap around with elastic and straps.. done deal.. cool and comfy!

The Joys of Poo....

are wonderous if you have a garden.. and try to be organic... i have a half dozen large, filled to the brim and over, wheelbarrow loads, and 3 very old but still usable bales of hay... i used several loads on my compost pile and the rest are 'stored' in a hay bale 'compound'... to be tossed on the compost heap when i get another load of grassclipping, weeds or maybe even some soil!



in the process of organizing my compost pile, i found my little lizard friend.. i hadn't seen him in several weeks and thought perhaps a raven had picked him off... there were a few empty flower pots in my way and i went to move them, there he was! Lizzie (why not huh) scurried under the pile of bricks and haven't seen him since.. Lizzie could be a female, didn't stop to chat and find out :D if so... lets hope there is a family of Lizzie babies in the rubble pile..

speaking of babies...... Mr and Mrs Limpy had 4 baby peacock chicks.. will go take some pics in a few days, hopefully they will be good till then.. i've not gone to see them yet, just letting the family be for now... baby chicks are food for many critters so hopefully Nora #2 will be a good momma.... up to this point she's probably laid a 100 eggs and never sat on them.. that job was left to Lucky the duck who didn't seem to mind being broody...


not the greatest picture... but......
my new quilt is on hold at least until the weather cools a bit.. even to hot to sew these days...i found some 'sally ann' specials, all of $3.00 worth, which should join all my beautiful Moda squares... for whom the quilt calls.. i know not... ;)

somethings grandbaby was doing may be in the quilt as well... i've been saving her art and was hoping to use it at some point.... she does everything from memory.. will just ask for paper and pencil and for an hour or so will draw and draw then whoosh she's done ....these days she's got a fascinated with Pokemon....

Bon Voyage........

grandbaby is leaving for a month.. ah well, i'm sure she'll have a wonderful time and life will be good... Calgary isn't so far away and she loves her daddy....today we had a bon voyage party for her.. she loved it.. cake and hotdogs and chips.. what more could a 9 yr old want!!

in case your wondering.... i've not posted in the past few days.. been busy quilting, gardening, ummm cleaning (not my forte) and sorting fabrics.. i'm going to take some pics of them and post them, should be fun... i got some nice prints from the thrift shop, and a couple of very large quilting hoops.. woohoo!.. more 'projects'!!!

i got lost in the blogging dept., instead of writing.. i was snooping!!! i'm still snooping and hopefully will be snooping for awhile.. it's funny how 1 blog can lead you to 10 and so on... been checking out a lot of art/quilting/textile art blogs... there are some extremely talented ladies out there in cyberland... i say ladies because i haven't found any male artist bloggers yet...

Flowers on the graves.....

sometimes thinking about past pets makes me a bit melancholy but i know that they're in a better place, they're time was up and life goes on... new pets/best buds.. and enjoying every moment with them... all the dog hair and bits of outdoors i vacuum constantly is okay, all is well, when one gets a lick or a wag of the tail... daughter and i have been trying to get things to grow on Uno and Shadow's graves, but with so little water in the summer, and multitudes of snow in the winter, it's a tough go for them. She's planted some roses for Uno and i sprinkled copious amounts of wild flower seeds.. of which.. well.. not much came up and pretty much everything is looking a bit sorry... but there were a couple of things doing not so bad...

unfortunately because of the dryness, not much is growing on Shadow's grave.. but a very few of these did.. and some very tiny tiny purple cosmos... something much like Shadow, when the going gets tough, we hang on!!

this very beautiful paperwhite hollyhock is struggling on Uno's grave, am hoping that a few seeds will make it and new holly hocks will sprout next year...
cheers to our past buds...

Sooooo onto a better topic.. BERRIES!!!! i picked this lovely bowl of berries.. in the bowl are Raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries all within about 50 ft of my kitchen... YUMMO!!! am thinking that i might make a cobbler, but will have to wait until later tonight when it cools off... going to be another dry scorching day..

mmm cobbler with these berries and perhaps... ice cream!!!

Bread baking morning....

Picture of the Day...

Scarlet Runner ... a BEEutiful sight!

mmm second day of making the Turkish Flatbread, BUT this time i changed it again... i have a great deal of trouble sticking to a recipe, can't leave well enough alone, god help me and everyone else if i was a chemist ;) ..

this time i substituted 1 cup of white flour for a 1/4 cup of millet flour, 1/4 cup of coconut flour, 1/4 cup of quinoa flour, 2 tsps of Xanthum gum and 1/4 cup of kamut flour... we shall see, i just checked the rising bread dough, and it's working!!

as for my garden, i seem to have some wee buggies in some of my pea pods... ahhh to share with nature! a PEA MOTH or 3 have arrived, discovered just how delicious they are!! i picked a bunch of peas this morning, just to take a photo of.. and nope, not even one could i find! the last one i found with the wee buggy, got fed to Sampson, who LOVES peas.. a little protein is good for puppies!!!

going to be another hot day and i just discovered that a lot of my pepper flowers are falling off...
not sure of the cause but could be wind, not enough moisture, cool temps at night.. or even all three.. have tried very hard protect them with my little reemay house and the tomatoes and eggplants seem to be doing okay, sooooo i will have to say a little prayer for the peppers and hope for the best!

Elephant Garlic flowers, loved by bees and other insects

my eggplant is doing well, only one fruit but for the west coast it's doing very well!

wee cucumber flowers, tucked under the leaves, might be needing some human pollinating help!

Momma and her Fawn......

was spotted by me this morning... and the 4 legged childrend didn't see!! so momma and baby wandered by, grazing at the edge of the bluff, where all the tall trees and shrubs are. Was a pleasant site indeed!

am making another batch of the Turkish Bread, i gave away 3/4s of what i made last time and it's nearly gone... very tasty and seems to be holding up to being on the counter for a couple of days... a good sign for a home made bread!

am slowly getting my sewing area cleaned out and a bit more organized... difficult when i'm in such a small space, but i've got a quilt thought and can't wait to get it started!!

i've been saving grandbaby's drawing and finally scanned them today, and will print them out on the PhotoFabric that i bought.. i'm going to make a throw quilt for daughter's birthday in September... i think it's going to be cute... grandbaby doesn't care for colour much, but does great pencil drawings of Pokemon and other cartoon characters so i'm going to intersperse her drawings with some nice fabrics that i have bits of... should be fun i think.. and not terribly difficult, will be a scrap-athon!!

picture of the day-----

i'm not sure if the inhabitants are alive or dead, but momma wasp must have thought a fishy mouth was perfect! it's been there a couple of weeks, just as you see it and i'm hoping that they are a bust and not just waiting for the perfect moment to hatch!!

MMM YUMMY..... bread!!

Am back to normal, watering garden and generally being at home... all good things!
Yesterday i finished off my 2 day bread recipe... all i can say is DELISH!!!! I got the recipe off the net and it's a goodie!! it takes 2 days to make, but well worth the effort i think... wasn't yeasty as a lot of homemade breads can be, it used much less yeast than normal, i didn't have either Nigella seeds or Sesame seeds so used Celery seeds... i cooked the breads on my pizza stone, an item that i use often for Pita bread, rarely for pizza :D

Turkish Ridged Flat Bread (Fladenblot)
ACTIVE: 30 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 4 HRS 30 MIN PLUS OVERNIGHT RESTING
SERVINGS: makes 4 loaves
Make-Ahead
Ingredients

DAY 1

SPONGE
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup all-purpose flour
DAY 2

DOUGH
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
Cornmeal, for dusting
Nigella or sesame seeds, for sprinkling
Directions
MAKE THE SPONGE: In a medium bowl, mix the water with the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour. Cover loosely and let stand overnight.

MAKE THE DOUGH: In a large bowl, mix 1/4 cup of the water with the yeast and sugar and let stand until foamy. Add the yeast mixture (the SPONGE), the remaining 1 cup of water and the olive oil. Stir in the flours and salt until a dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth. Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand until doubled in bulk, about 3 hours.
Place a baking stone on the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°. Punch down the dough and divide it into 4 pieces. Flatten each piece into a round. Cover them with plastic and let rise until puffy, about 30 minutes.
Sprinkle a pizza peel with cornmeal. On a floured work surface, with wet hands, flatten each round into an 8-by-10-inch oval. Make 6 or 7 deep grooves with your fingertips down the length of each oval. Sprinkle the ovals with the nigella seeds. Slide the ovals onto the peel, then onto the hot stone in the oven. Bake until crisp on the bottom, about 10 minutes. Serve warm.

BugZoo part 2....

Well pictures anyways... thought i'd like to post them, just because...







note the centipede on his head.. ewww

grandbaby finally held one of the stickbugs :D

am making some Turkish Flatbread, Fladenbrot, it sounds great, hopefully it turns out!

had to run into town today.. masses of people and cars... i think i'm a perma country gal, even tho we're now on fairly busy road, i still have space around me... life is good!!

Sunday afternoon was sooooooo FUN!!!!

we went for a journey, 1 daughter, 1 granddaughter and me... went to Victoria B.C. (not too far from us) and went to the Victoria Bug Zoo.... wooohooo bugs galore... BIG bugs galore!! there were a lot of mantis, stick bugs, centipedes, millipedes, tarantulas, ants.. if your on the island and in Victoria and have children (well even if you don't ) its great fun.. make sure that u go around with a guide because it's well worth it! they had several guides at one time, so if you could switch if you liked...

here's a short video.. sorry about the quality, but i wanted to show it because 'they' make a tea from the Malaysian Jungle Nymph Walking Stick poop... mmm yummy ;)after our host told us about the insect, then he put it on the ground and she proceeded to dig a hole to lay and egg....

laying an egg

mmm cockroaches

bush crickets... and yes they were very LARGE

just hanging around

will post more pics tomorrow... i'd go back there any day... we stayed for over 2 hrs., watching and listening to our hosts...

A quiet Sunday?

a very heavy OLD plane just flew over and rattled my windows... sometimes wonder HOW such things do fly... like Bumble Bees that technically aren't supposed to fly!! Tell that to the masses that have been pollinating my garden. i love to watch them buzzing around heavily laden with yellow pollen.. and very grateful that we are blessed with them... a neighbour has a few hives and this year we've been blessed with honey bees, the past few years they've been far and few between.. being on an island we have strict regulations about transporting bees... but unfortunately some people chose to ignore the regulations and brought some from the mainland.. disaster, same as on the mainland, dying off in hordes.. i can only hope that the bees have transfered the virus or mites or whatever it is that is the problem, to the local populations.. here we have several different species of wild bees.. all wonderful to see hovering over my comfry or climbing into a foxglove flower...

MMMM breakfast ... grandbaby made her own version of 'granola' rice crispies with things she picked, cherries, blackberries, saskatoons and huckleberries.. yumm!! Thank you to all the bees and wasps, hummingbirds and any other creature that helped to pollinate all the berries and cherries!!!

sleepy Sunday mornings are always good for a doggie rest... note the ear holder (my slipper) :D

It was a more quiet afternoon, but hot, muggy and generally icky in my house... so off we (me and doggies) went, searching for the perfect photo... well we didn't find it.. but i did get some nice pics of some of the places we went to...i'm having troubles uploading them.. so you'll just have to wait!! Yay I finally got them uploaded... I went to Cowichan Bay which is on the Southern part of Vancouver Island, a beautiful area.. beach, river, fields and mountains in the background... doesn't get any better!!











Red Osier Dogwood

Red Elderberry

Red Elderberries



the corn is tall this year because of the amount of sun and heat we've had... should be a good crop (weather permitting)!!!

Technoratic....

told me to make a post with this ( nf69vbetw3 ) in it, so it can find this blog... whatever i say!!!

Yay it's Friday!!

a rather very lovely Rose, not sure which one tho.. am just lucky to have any grow it seems.... daughter who lives across the field grows gorgeous ones!!


Sweet William

Sweet Peas

Bee Balm

another day, another sunny day!! can't complain i guess.. we had several days of rain which has made my garden very happy.. i have noted some odd things in the garden.. one of them being the peas have produced like crazy but on very short vines... its not the type of peas either, same kind i've always had... so not sure if it's because they didn't need to grow because of the unusual amount of sunshine we've had this year or something i'm not giving them in the way of nutrients...my Scarlet Runner Beans are doing the same thing... only 1 bean has decided to be a bean and grow tall, winding it's way up my deer fence post, the others look rather pathetic but they are starting to form little flowers.. my sweet peas have done the same thing... producing like mad but just short vines...

i have my granddaughter with me still.. just visiting :D and yesterday my two girls and grandbaby all went Thrift Store shopping... hit a couple of them and the dreaded Costco for a certain book... a very cool pop up book of the human anatomy...
anyways the thrift shopping was good, i got a couple of shirts, some crafty items and the girls both got some clothing as well.... one thing i've noticed is the increasing volume of shoppers at the thrift stores.. a vast majority of seniors... our shrinking dollar is causing havoc, especially amongst those of us with limited incomes, but maybe it's a good thing, we'll be recycling big ticket items, clothing etc., all good things, keeping it out of the landfill and extending it's lifetime of use...