Decking decisions.....

had to be made this week... my wee porch is just that... WEE, only 6 1/2 x 7,  so i wanted some sort of addition, i wanted a greenhouse, i wanted a sunroom.... i wanted i wanted... but had to settle for something multipurpose... at least for this year...

i now have an 8x10 deck addition which will have a clear polycarbonate roof next week.. this ensures that i won't lose much light in the kitchen window or the bathroom window.... i've requested it to be built so that eventually it can be enclosed and become a 'sun/greenhouse room, with steps and a lower deck leading to my small shed.... oh and did i mention in my 'dream' a small hot tub sitting on the lower deck... . one day!!! in the real world i'll be saving for my 'real' greenhouse, you know the kind.. with automated vents, glass windows.. good flooring... and enough space for a comfy chair for when i'm old grey and needing a good warm sit in the early spring.... okay okay... back to reality .... i'm very excited about this new addition... it maybe small but when one lives in a single wide mobile... any addition is a good one!!!

not only is there a new deck in the works, a new raised bed!! YAY.... now my lilacs and mulberries will have a home!

   in case your wondering about the pictures... i took the above one many years ago... a few houses ago... fond memories of sitting in the shade, on my balcony, with my new Canon SLR camera, experimenting with different shots... my Oakley's when i didn't need glasses and a gorgeous begonia flower...

 

i believe (please correct me, if i'm wrong) that this was a ladybird larva.... there were several attached to piece of grass ....i love insects, as long as they don't eat my veggies or bite me or my dogs... RAIDDDDDDD .... just kidding!!!!

Monday Monday....

is dark and dreary and rather blustery.... a typical January morning.... a cup of coffee and one puppy snuggled behind me, another at my feet, life is pretty darn good...on Saturday i went for a bit of a drive, cabin fever finally getting to me, and ended up at Russel's Farm Market....  they had red peppers and cauliflower on 'special' so ended up with a big bag of red peppers and a couple of heads of cauliflower.....
daughter has been hinting at the fact that there was no more red pepper relish left and could i make some...
the jar of relish that she had actually was made by a friend.. so i got the recipe from my friend and sunday morning was spent making relish...
the recipe is very simple, not a lot of ingredients, the hardest part was chopping and grinding the peppers the night before and then doing the same in the morning for the apples....

 Red Pepper and Apple Relish


12 Red Peppers
10 Apples

grind peppers and put in a colander, sprinkle with
2 tbsp of pickling salt

let drain minimum of 4 hrs, best overnight

in the morning
grate or grind peeled and cored apples
add to drained and lightly rinsed red peppers
add
3 cups of white pickling vinegar
5 cups of white sugar
2 tbsps of pickling spice in a spice bag

cook till peppers and apples are soft, and thickened, about 40 mins at about medium low... or low if sticking to bottom of pot...
ladle into hot sterilzed jars, seal

this relish reminds me of a sweet, slightly vinegary jam and is delicious on rice, with meat, on crackers with cream cheese.....

also this past weekend i was sorting out my photos... yes REAL negatives, with REAL pictures... not digital... i must admit i really miss film... it's getting harder and harder to find and expensive to process.. which has encouraged the digital age... unfortunately i think that a great deal of our history will simply vanish... the quick turnover in technology will see to that... remember the 'floppy disc'? cds which are soon becoming defunct, replaced by huge storage external hard drives which will be replaced by..... ???  i still have floppy discs and one very old laptop which i've saved because it still has a compartment for floppy discs... anyways... you see where this is going.... the mom and pop history will vanish quicker than the dodo bird...
i've scanned a few of my pictures just to post here...
i took these 2 pictures in Alberta, about 100 miles south of Calgary.. i don't know if those are 'pre-tornado' clouds or not, but definately not something i'd seen before... imagine the wind blowing, distant thunder and standing on the edge of a field in the middle of flat land... was very cool!! i left the date on the picture, just for historical sake... i should actually hunt down the negatives and scan them.. some day!

if you've noticed some changes in my blog your correct... i've been trying hard to organize it, so one could find that old recipe of Grandma Wilson, or how to made Antipasto... i've change the header, put in a spot for 'home' so i can change the photo once in awhile and added a few more links to some great blogs...

just a quick mention of a GREAT blog, done by a friend of mine...

Rambling Jill  if you haven't checked it out please do.. you will see some truly spectacular underwater photography.... jill and her husband are friends of mine, on 'vacation'... national geographic move over!!!

To Bee or not to be......

the past few days i'm seeing bees ... not a lot but bees nonetheless... in January... i'm sad to say their lives will be shortlived with a change of the weather....i'm afraid it's much too soon, not many flowers out... my snowdrops ( all of a dozen at best) are looking lovely.. but not enough to feed a hive..aside from the bees there are an incredible number of other insects flying, walking, crawling around....and not even February!!

El Nino is busy busy heaping rain, hail and tornado warnings at California... some places having over a foot of rain this past week while we got a bit of a break this week and as much as i'd love to be digging in the garden, it's soggy and not safe to dig in....

today was a beautiful balmy day here on Vancouver Island...i took a pic, just because i really didn't believe that with just a hoodie and vest, i was nice and toasty, the warmth of the sun on my face.... ahhhh rejuvenation!!

what on earth?

was snooping around in an old bird bath i have, recycled as a stone bath, since it no longer holds water and there was one of my treasures... it's a 'rock' that my old Shadow brought home one day.. one of his rock treasures... and dropped it at my feet "here mom, see what i got for you!" so being the wonderful mom of 4 legged critters, i scooped it up and heaped praises upon him "what a good puppy" YAY.... then actually looked at it.. it wasn't just any 'rock', it was a fossil print of a shell... i have a habit of collecting rocks, one day when i'm too old to garden, maybe i'll have a rock garden with just a few herbs and some pots of tomatoes and peppers...

Just shut your eyes and imagine.......

SUMMER!!!!!!!! unfortunately it's only 3/4s of the way through January but yesterday was a pleasant treat.. it was sunny and about 45 plus degrees... balmy for January... any day that is sunny is a day to be outside, so after school pick up, grandbaby and i went for a short walk, with dogs in tow, actually us in tow.... there is a flat road just down from grandbaby's house and thats where we went... in our world, the ditches would be clean, no garbage, no dead animals, nothing but pristine earthly beauty... in reality there was garbage everywhere, remnants of carcasses, bits of bones, and the worst of all...... PLASTIC!!!! it's interesting to see through the eyes of a young one, who was dismayed by the garbage, fascinated by the carcass and bones, and wonderously excited by the view of the distant mountains.... she couldn't understand WHY people would just dump their garbage on the side of the road... in one patch there were about 10 garbage bags full of leaves, something that could well have been composted in someone's backyard, or even taken to our local compost company who love such items... as i explained to her, it's not so bad that they deposited the leaves, but to leave the garbage bags was a sin, that worms and other insects will eat the plastic and think they are full.. and die of starvation.... grandbaby's lesson 101 in ecology

on the way back to the car we found some pussy willows of which we picked one small branch to take home..it now resides on the windowsill in a jar beside the resident plants, waiting for some roots to sprout, and eventually will be planted in a back corner of the yard...

i wasn't quite done with 'summer' and as i drove home i thought about dinner...something light and airy was on my mind.... Falafel wraps... southwestern... mmmmm good!!!

Garbanzo beans/chickpeas in my mind are one of the best beans of all for cooking, extremely versatile and nutritious.... i don't have a good recipe for Falafel from scratch, so i keep on hand a few boxes of Falafel mix.. easy to whip up in short notice....

Falafel Wraps

wraps of your choice

1/2 box of Falafel mix made into falafel patties (directions on box) (lazy i know ;) )
1/2 tomato chopped

cucumber sliced or chopped

cilantro chopped

parsley chopped

sunflower sprouts

small can of corn kernels

small can of black beans

mayonaise and small can of chipolte pepper 'sauce' ... mixed to you spicy liking

spread the mayo and chipolte pepper sauce on the wrap... 'sprinkle' the wrap with the rest of the ingredients... roll and EAT!!!!

once again, my recipes are vague, but this is definately a throw together meal... tasty and nutritious :D

i love chipolte peppers... yum yum... a wonderfully rich smoky spicy kick of which i can never use the whole can at once.. so i put it in tiny containers and freeze, thus always having some when needed...the leftover falafel, black beans and corn i'll turn into some other southwestern dish or maybe just another round of 'summer wraps'........ MMMMMMM

Morning memories.......

as i sat in my chaise, sipping coffee and cruising the internet.... i observed the most beautiful sunrise... glorious shades of oranges and blues, enhanced by the moving clouds.. another storm is on it's way... yesterday there was a terrific wind storm, of which the farm managed to miss... yes the trees were moving but nothing serious.. but the drama at the shore was ferries cancelled, trees blowing down, power outages..... and me oblivious of it all.. i must say i'm totally 'home'sick for my little hamlet of Yachats... i miss walking the dogs at sunrise, in the rain, in the wind, walking them along the ocean, watching the sunsets.....the excitement of a wicked storm, the raging sea ready to swallow you whole....

visiting friends, impromptu breakfasts, celebrating a birthday, anniversary or just because we could!

sometimes memories are good... they remind one to enjoy each and every day...

a winter's day just south of Yachats Oregon (2007)

the sunrise is gone.. the clouds rolled in... and it's pre-rain...

Borscht, buns and the blahs.....

Bronze Fennel skeleton

Brussel sprout greens.... and yes lots of little brussel sprouts are still there, waiting for me to pick and cook....

Winter... blah... this ol' gal is not a winter person at all... except for one thing... i love to cook which is a good thing, and i love making soups and stews... this past weekend i made Borscht and cornmeal muffins/buns... i wish that the veggies had been all mine, but alas, no.. i had to buy them... i keep looking at my very sad garden and wishing it was spring... it's knee deep in muck because of all the rain we've had lately.... seems never ending... and my pond unfortunately is full and overflowing in the winter, dry as a bone in the summer when i could use it!

there is a promise of spring... a tease if you will... some snowdrops are peeking out and saying hello again world...

my garlic chives are poking their noses out too... but i'm afraid it's much too early and at any time the weather could change, an arctic blast could do some great damage.. i'm seeing some catkins already on some trees in the city... or perhaps the plants know something we don't....

on a very serious note.... Haiti... i confess i've been watching the news... so sad.. makes me want to scoop them all up and make it better... but myself and millions of others are sitting here helplessly watching the drama, suffering and great loss of the Haitian peoples... so if you read this, please please donate to the charity of your choice.. even a dollar will help.... if 30 million people donated a dollar that would be 30 million dollars... the rebirth of Haiti will be a very long and difficult road...

the disaster is a reminder of why we should be more selfsufficient... we north americans are blessed.. even if we think we are hard done by... we need to remember there are millions of people who are a breath away from death....

on that note... i'm excited, from Freecycle, i'm getting six old windows.. old fashioned ones, with the weighted openers (like in 100 yr old houses) and i have 3 skylights waiting in my shed.... now to decided what to do with them... if the new windows are in good shape i'm thinking of building in my front 'porch'... and perhaps extending it a bit... or perhaps the greenhouse i've always wanted... decisions decisions....

From October to Now.......

Well, its been awhile since i posted... a long while as a matter of fact... much has happened since then... some good, some not so good... some deaths... some births... the circle of life...

suppose i didn't post because i had to go south and move... south being my wee hamlet that i so love... Yachats... 'the gem of the oregon coast'... actually i truly believe that area is the gem of the 'coast' including b.c., washington, oregon and california...not only is the country beautiful but many of the residents are as well...anyways.. i had to leave due to rental raises and income dropping ... gotta love it! much thanks to my friends there who so diligently assisted in my packing and purging....

christmas came and went.... quiet but not bad... made a few gifts, spent a little money, and the first time in years that i spent it with my family... was wonderful but strange..

new year's equally strange.. my new year's toast without my yachatian buddy... i decided that my new year was to start with a good smudging of my house, a final goodbye to 2009 and a lighting of a candle and prayer for the new year... goodbye 2009, hello 2010!!!

on a wonderful note... yachats's latest member arrived yesterday... wee baby..... it's amazing how a birth can bring hope and warmth to even the most jaded of souls.... welcome to the world baby... the world will be your oyster....