'THE' election....

is driving me NUTS!!! blah blah blah... half told truths, half hidden lies... thats my opinion on it.. and i'm seeing a country bamboozled by beauty and newness... sort of similar to a new chocolate bar... mmm good to the eye, bad for the tummy.... not everything in the chocolate bar is listed.. a burp is coming .... my opinion of course...

here's an article by Gloria Steinhem... well written and thought out.. i was never a feminist but i thank them for the inroads they made into society, and the importance of their work....
anyways... Palin: wrong woman, wrong message .... i do worry that there is a reversal of the breakthroughs of the 60's, the freedom movements, the feminist movements... somethings i'm in agreement that they weren't all good things.. but personally, i'm not in favour of going back to the 'good old days, of mama in the kitchen, keeping her mouth shut, producing babies at a bunny rate'... if your interested, at the bottom of Ms. Steinhem's article is a link to the comments... YIKES is all i have to say...

speaking of the kitchen.... i'm in there because i want to be, because i love to cook....
so we canned our hearts out again... managed to accidently fall into some very cheap pears, plums and nectarines and corn on the cob ... we got 21 quarts of pears and daughter froze the plums and nectarines until we're ready to make jam or jelly... mmmgood... thank goodness for the feed store that gets 'deals on fruits and veggies..... as for the corn... today i scraped the cobs and made a pretty interesting casserole...
corn, zucchini, kale, swiss chard, peppers, garlic and onion, all sauteed then i sliced tomatoes and grated some mixed cheeses and baked till golden brown and bubbling....

i took a small 'holiday' .. to Youbou... spent the evening and sunday at my friend's house, she cooked, i cleaned..... her puter.. was great!!! had a lovely visit with her and another friend... and when i went to leave... she gave me a huge piece of spring salmon... mmmm Candied Salmon here we come!!! perhaps tomorrow we'll start on it.. takes a bit of prep work, the smoker and a great recipe!!!

Kitchen mornings......

are great... at least i think so... this morning i made yogurt and am trying out a new recipe... it's from Gluten-Free Vegan and is a gluten free bread recipe, it's in the oven and smelling delicious as it's cooking... so will update later... it was easy to mix, but i'm terrible for 'rearranging' to suit.. since i didn't have all the ingredients... i've added a few 'extras' such as coconut flour and a dash of millet flour, some quinoa flour and a bit of nutritional yeast... it didn't call for any eggs, but i'm thinking i might try an egg next time for better binding... then it should be easier to slice...it's all cooked and cooled.. had a slice... it's got an excellent flavour, i think it's one worth repeating, including my 'extras'...

this recipe also calls for it to be in the freezer or fridge after cooking... does that mean i have to actually CLEAN OUT the fridge??? yikes!!! i know there are green monsters lurking in corners.....

this morning is lovely and peaceful... the sun is out, the dogs are outside, the t.v. is off... ahhh silence except for the quiet tapping of keys... and slurping of a leftover morning coffee...

not bad for a hump day :D

First day of school...... (and some pics)

THANK GOODNESS!!!!! YAY... that says it all doesn't it!!... was a wonderful summer, full of suprises and drama... children do that ..... but i survived another year... more grey hairs that i'd like to know about!!! well only myself and my hairdresser knows how many!!!
Labour Day weekend consisted of 2 cases of peaches that needed to be canned.. NOW, not tomorrow or the next day... so we canned 1 and a half cases and the rest were eaten... yum yum.. i'll take a pic of a couple of jars, when i get them back.. we did the assembly line at daughter's house... we're quick and organized so an afternoon went by quickly with 17 quarts looking all "peachy" and yummy...

yesterday was a certain grandbrat's 15th birthday... she's offically old now.. if you double her age, she'd be 30... remember the saying... 'never trust anyone over 30'... think that came from the 60s but i could be wrong!!! anyways dinner was a bbq at the other grandma's house, the grandpa cooking burgers and chicken... was pretty tasty and i got to sit around looking ravishing... just kidding!!!

got a few new pics..











this was a painting that Sian did last summer... and i love it... i framed it and it was on the wall, but needs a new home... at least while i have spare folks here....



i'm afraid the photo doesn't do it justice, the colours are very vibrant.. its really quite delightful... i guess its a grandma's thing, but hey i love it.. :D

A day of Rest...

i lied!!.. but i actually didn't do very much... picked a few ripe tomatoes, pulled all my broccoli and brussel sprouts and several kale plants.... damn aphids terrorizing my garden... what were they thinking... besides.. mmm nice organic veggies... good old organics, even the bugs grow well... it was cool this morning, as it was yesterday, but warmed up this afternoon... t-shirt weather.. not so hot you can't be outside, and not so chilly u need to be bundled up...
i went to daughter's house and the cute peachick has a name and thinks Mommy is her... soo Sidekick is a happy go-lucky little chick... eating well, likes crickets and anything that moves... yay!!! the other poor little fellow passed away yesterday and his body was recycled to the pine snake... our loss and the snake's gain...
have been watching CNN for the Hurricane Gustav news.. make me glad i'm here, and that the hurricane force storms that we have in the winter are nothing compared to Atlantic hurricanes...
i wish everyone well and hope that it passes by without much trouble... to see a whole area of millions of people evacuate was amazing....

Beets......

are done...... so for now all my canning is finished.. woohooo... the tomatoes are ripening on the vine, but slowly...





i've had to cover them the whole season... never got the cover off.. but what is coming is good... so i guess i can't complain about them... just not the quantity i was hoping for... but since i got 2 cases of tomatoes, mixed paste and regular, i okay with whats there.. nothing like a fresh picked, pop in your mouth tomato!!!

last night i picked a couple of cabbages from the garden, the green cabbages are tiny, but the red ones are okay and look much better... i only have a few, but hey, a few is better than none...


i'd like to move the one garden spot and put it closer to my house.. maybe next spring... when i have more energy... LOL... i have big plans... now to find someone to build them.. i want a small greenhouse next year too... i'm getting some decent peppers this year, but only because they've been covered and treated extra special... the eggplants... well, they will make nice compost ;) .... thats all they are good for.. but compost is like gold, so i won't complain!!!

Baby Peacocks and mama Ducky...

and did i mention... a snake!!! Daughter phoned this morning... welllll i guess mama Ducky has been sitting on some eggs..... a LOT of eggs... and no, none of them are hers.... a bit of background on Ducky... she was given to my daughter from our vet's office... someone had tried to have her for dinner, and someone else had rescued her in mid 'throttling'... and she had this Z in her neck for quite some time... anyways.. it's gone, she's fine.. but she thinks she's a peacock!!!

now that nest is minus 2....

one of them isn't doing very well.. and we don't think it will make it.. but hey one never knows... mother nature has some weird twists sometimes....

speaking of twists.... grandson found a snake... i tried to get a pic of the neck.. but its got a L neck.. so it's in rehab too...just a wee one... so it should have a good chance of survival.. we have more than enough slugs bugs and other things around.. we've been swamped with rain...

Tomatoes and Peppers....

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers..... and i got to can them... i thought there was about 10 lbs of peppers.. mmm nope... about 20 lbs and over 50 lbs of tomatoes............ ahhhhhhhhhhhh all done... but took me 2 days... the last batch of jelly i just finished... it's not cooled yet, so don't know if it set.. but hey, no matter, its always good for glazing, as a dip.. whatevers... mmmgoood....

i got 17 quarts of just canned tomatoes, 12 pints of salsa, 8 pints of hot sauce and 8 pints of jelly... and not a bit left over... YAYYY

alas.. the canning isn't done yet tho... i have about 10 lbs of beets to go... this year, i'm just going to can them, plain jane, no pickled beets... but only because i already have pickled beets in the cupboard...