NO REST FOR THE WEARY!

You know you are retired when......all these grand
kids need something on the same day...

The two girls on the right need a ride to go shopping and the girl in the middle is getting her kayak delivivered and the boy is getting ready to descend on us with a friend for the weekend so that means lots of shopping today.

So, with the orthopedic surgeon cancelling my appointment to look at my bunion and a hammer toe that I tell you I inherited (thanks) from my mother's side of the family, I am put off for another few months of consulltations. It's something that I don't want to put off as I get older because I look at my mother's feet and she didn't do anything about her problems, which she inherited etc. I know that there are not many surgeons who specialize is surgeries below the ankle...really....so I am fortunate that it will only be one year before he operates or at least gets a cancellation and I get in sooner. I have patience, my sweetie was very disappointed for me, but that's life and it's ok for now.

Thank you all for complimenting me on the photo on my blog. It was taken 3 years ago and I have so few of me as I am always the one taking the pictures that there aren't that many and that one was taken by my friend Linda. So then, my friend Barb in Florida gave it to her son for his photoshop study and he returned it to me with a BVI beach in the background. It's my favorite place on earth, so I posted the photo because of that. The beach is where Jimmy Buffet used to go in the 70s and 80s on the Savannah Jane, his sailboat. (A story for another day)

Karen has awarded some of her regular blogging friends a friendship award and I was included. It is appreciated. After a year and a half of quilting and blogging I find that both of these things have taken on a life of their own. Don't you agree? I so look forward to see what everyone that I follow is doing, and visiting others just to see if we have a connection besides the quilting, then I add them to my blogroll. Some don't visit that often, but I still like to see what they are doing with their lives.

Just a couple of questions that pop up to me sometimes...why do some bloggers have security and others not. I don't, but it's probably because I didn't know how to do it at the time. The other is why some people have such beautiful headers and sidebars etc and I, for the life of me cannot seem to do anything without screwing it up. Yeah, yeah Crispy noted a site for new bloggers with all kinds of hints, but I must have brain locks in there as I didn't really figure it out.

I am finishing reading JackDawe by Ken Follett, an oldie but a goodie. It's a great espionage story. Kelly, my daughter as you know loves to read and Robert Crais is her favorite author with a recurring character. She loves Joe Pike, so she is off to the second hand bookstore to buy up what she can find of Robert Crais...

Yesterday, the dog from you know where went to the groomers. I almost didn't recognize him when they gave him back. When I took him in, was so dirty, with tufts of mud I think on his Westie whiskers from hunting mice at the cottage and long overgrown hair on his legs. (forgetting to shave) so he is now white and looking quite handsome. However he spent quite a bit of time last night rubbing on the carpet. I think he was quite itchy from the shavings...He's a handsome little guy though.

Oh, our neighbours next door have a Newfoundland puppy. Well he's now about the size of a shetland pony but so very cute. It's funny to see a dog that size doing all the puppy stuff, but with his long legs he falls over a lot. He is apparently eating anything that is in sight in the house and the mistress of the house says he is like a vacuum cleaner so her housework is done in half the time...lol here. They put out one of those kiddie pools for the "puppy" yesterday and when they turned on the water hose, the dog tried to eat the hose...We were all howling as the master of the house got soaked protecting himself. The cats that belong there make the dog's life as miserable as they can. You do know about cats don't you.....they are only 5 minutes away from leaving their captures....except for the good food they get, they would be gone in a flash!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS AND GRADUATION

We are home for a few days. The baby photo is of the baby in our family, Adam ; he is 46 years old today. Now of course he has a family of his own and has more clothes on usually.

The photo below is of Jeremy who als just turned 14 on Sunday and graduated last night from 8th grade.

He looked so handsome, in a dark tux like suit, a blue vest and white patent leather shoes! Yes the shoes were what he wanted. He looked so sharp. The school this year had 4 classes graduating so it was a packed house with over 600 people attending the ceremonies.

The girls of course were dressed as if it was a Hollywood premiere. They all looked so grown up. Then there was a slide show that showed how they looked in real life. they all cleaned up real good as the saying goes.

And the high heels. I mean 3 and 4" worn by these girls. Mind you some had difficulty walking, but oh well, we have all been there.

On the right is a photo of the birthday boy at two years old. He and his sister used to love wearing hats while playing their games at our old house.

The photo is one that is cherished by their mother and me. So very very cute....because they grow up so fast. Jeremy is now taller than me and I thought he was 15 not 14. But that was ok as he knows his Nana forgets some things at times.

So, we came home for the orthopedic appt for me and can you believe they cancelled it this afternoon after waiting for months. A foot specialist is difficult to find, so we are making it for September when I return from the cottage for good. Also my old doctor didn't order xrays, so I must get those done before I see him in the fall. We came home for this and there was a screw up in communication as I would certainly have had the xrays for goodness sake.

But on the good side, my sweetie gets to spend the day with his granddaughter, by delivering her kayak to be loaded for the time trials this weekend. We just want her to do her best. She is very calm and we are nuts with anxiety....

I bought some fabric to take to the cottage, as I am going to be on a roll in the next couple of weeks. I have a 9 patch design in mind and Crispy inspired me to do some yellow sashing for what I want to do. It's summer and I cannot work on pale fabric...it just doesn't work for me.

Oh, gee I gotta post this story...I was sitting on the dock on Sunday and I noted to my sweetie that I had to shave my legs because I was going to the specialist....anyway, I look at the one leg and it seems ok.....I am so fair that I really don't need to do it often....I noted that since one seemed to be more in need of shaving than the other that I may have shaved the same leg twice....he is still laughing....

As a treat, I went for a pedicure and manicure...OMG it felt so good. I am going to treat myself more regularly to this absolute bliss of a treatment. Particularly the pedicure, that was a real treat.

We are having great weather! That's all I can say, I don't care if it's hot, or humid as I just am happy to not be cold. It's summer!

BEACH BAG OR SHOPPING BAG, YOU PICK

Everyone is making bags these days. I made this for food shopping and beach too. It's 15" wide, 7" side panel 22" high. I stitched the straps all around the bag to make it really sturdy to be able to hold heavy groceries. Also the strap is long enough to fit over the shoulder. I actually made two, though they are not belonging to me. One for Mary who visited and the other for my neighbour who is just super. This is the fabric I bought at Fabricland for $5.00 per metre and it's outdoor fabric so it's sturdy. I also reinforced the seams. Easy peasy. About 40 minutes of work and I now have the pattern down pat. I could reduce the size or add, whichever suits me and the fabric of course.

Ah, it's Sunday morning at the lake. We had rain just as Mary, Bob and their red dog left yesterday afternoon. By the time my sweetie came back after the 12 mile round trip, he was quite wet. Now, it's morning, the lake is calm, the birds are singing, although not in harmony and the fish are jumping right out of the water. Isn't the sun wonderful? I never take the morning sun for granted. It sets my day, my mood and my energy.

We are thinking of going home today, as one of our grandsons is graduating tomorrow, however we can go tomorrow morning too. Depends on what happens as the day progresses. My instincts say tomorrow morning. It's only 2 1/2 hours to home, lots of time to change and be presentable for the boy! He has rented a "cool" outfit. I have been instructed to bring the telephoto lens to ensure great shots of him graduating.

We actually watched an old HBO movie last night about AIDS...And the Band Played On. It was such a wonderful little movie with Mathew Modine as the principal player. And all based on facts of the terrible desease that has stricken so many. I recommend it highly.

I am currently reading Ken Follett, Jack Dawe ....it's about the French resistance during WW2 and from the German side too. Very compelling. I don't know who "Jack Dawe" is yet, as I'm just into the book. Very very good read so far.

We are going home the Mennonite way when we go as they grow the best strawberries which I hope are starting to come. The local berry season is so short for all of us that just getting to eat them for a few weeks is wonderful. Strawberry shortcake, and I have rhubarb saved to make a strawberry/rhubarb pie too. I also make.....when the gang is here...a sort of strawberry trifle thing that the kids actually put together and it's also one of the family favs.

I'm going to sit on the dock this morning with my coffee and my book and my little white dog will follow and sleep in the morning sun. Doesn't that just sound good?

SATELLITE BLISS!

Well we just couldn't stand the dial up and since my sweetie had to do business on line, well, you know what happened....this, I can now read blogs, post photos and just be smiling when I have my coffee in the mornings and read what you are all doing with your blogs!

The rainbow is to show my happiness! Isn't it a beauty? My friend Helen called from her cottage and said to look out as the rainbow was just there across the lake and it was awesome! I just clicked one photo...yeah I know, I should have taken more, but this was it and it's a beauty.

I am finally out of my funk and started sewing yesterday. It really was because of Mary my neighbour from Whitby who is visiting, said that it was time to get going on projects. So I started. I hope to do lots today and maybe get something to show you tomorrow.

I have been pressing and trimming my grandmother's little blocks. 2 7/8 is small for me to work with and I still have no idea what I will do when I finish with them. I have about 8 books from Helen to inspire me. I have a bunch of ideas rolling in this head, amongst other things in there, but as yet, no concrete idea as the fabric is mainly blue tones and I have no blues in my life of quilting...no pun, but today, I am happy, no blues at all.

One of our neighbours, not next to us thank goodness has decided that the path that has been in existance for 30 years for islanders to walk to and from each other is bothering them because the path is in front of their cottage....so he has asked us to walk in the back of the cottage. Good Grief! There's bugs, garbage, brush and no defined area, so it is quite difficult to find a spot.
I did try it but I had to balance myself by hanging on to their cottage and I could hear every word they said....it's just not safe and a few confrontations have ensued amonst the neighbours but not me yet.

So it reminds me of a story of a different cottager's solution on this lake. It seems that one guy, Mr Brown decided that he didn't like Mr Smith's grandkids running on the beach areas at the front of his cottage. He told Mr Smith to keep his kids on his own property and actually drew a line in the sand pointing out the property line. Now Mr Brown's wife was trying to calm him down and he was having none of it.

So...........Mr Smith called a local contractor, ordered fencing about 8ft high, instructing said contractor to install a fence on his property 12" from the property line and to please paint the fence on one side florescent orange....Got the picture?

So early one morning, the crew arrives with posts, diggers and installs about a dozen 8ft posts and proceeds to put up the fence. You can imagine the reaction from Mr Brown. He came yelling outside his cottage and asked what the h... they were doing? The contractor said that he had been instructed to put up a privacy fence 12" inside the property line and that Mr. Smith was on Mr Brown's property by about 12"....Mr Smith's wife came out and asked that the Brown's please come and discuss this. In the end, Mr Smith paid for the materials, the contractors 3 hours work ($45.00 per) and the removal of said fence.

Now, I don't think we are coming to that as the adjoining neighbours here will just stand firm I think and tell them to make a proper path and define it without us to make a march into the forest behind all our cottages. Stupid people I tell you. To cross the property takes about 15 seconds and it's only 2 or three people that do it and it's maybe once during any day...It's a cottage life and we are supposed to be relaxed here...oh well, it will work itself out.

I am having my coffee with you all this morning. My life is good, and I thank the persons who ever thought of satellites for internet!

COTTAGE TALES

This is just a short post to let you know that we are alive and well here in Paradise. The bear is long gone from the island. The bear tale did get bigger and bigger as the stories were told and the footprints were deeper and deeper in the sand. ....You know how stories go.

We are having wonderful weather and finally having warm days to kill the black flies who can be very pesky.

I am not able to read the blogs you write, but will be able to soon as we are getting satellite internet sometime this week. Wahoo! I can hardly wait.

Thinking of you all and will be back soon.

THE BEAR FACTS

My friend Helen who is a few cottages over had a guest from Switzerland visiting on the weekend. Of course the weather was rainy and cold to boot. Anyway, while getting ready to return home on Tuesday morning, Helen looked out her window and saw movement in the trees in front of the cottage. Yep a huge black bear was poking its head in the bush about 20 yards from the door!

What a shock! This is an island, not very big either, so not much food for the poor bugger except maybe a human or something like that....grinning here....Anyway, their friend was absolutely delighted to have seen a black bear and lived to tell the tale as the saying goes.

Those that follow the bear thing, say that there isn't enough food source here and that it was probably in transit to the main land. I hope so as we have our dog here who would be in danger if a bear is around.

I know that the bear hasn't been here long because I have been keeping the garbage bins outside at the back door and there has been no disturbance of any kind at this place.

They saw the tracks on the little beach near them when they went out later and said that the tracks were "deep" indicating the weight of it.

Exciting heh?

There has been so much rain since last week and it looks like we may get a bit more in the next couple of days, but at least it's not cold. Damp but not cold. The next few days we should be in the mid 70s right where we are supposed to be.

I don't know where my brains went in the past week but I forgot some sewing attachments at home and today when I was sewing my bags, I thought I would zig zag....Doesn't work if I don't have the right foot. Thank goodness Mary and Bob are coming back and I shall have her get some attachments for me. And can you believe I actually travelled here with fabric and didn't bring a stitch picker? I looked everywhere for my little tupperware box of goodies that I use and I know just where it is at home...

Last night I made homemade Pizza. The recipe for the dough would make two or three large pizzas and so therefore I have leftover dough. I have tried to put it in the fridge and see if it will keep for a couple of days....it does...but it also doubles in the fridge, so I must keep punching it down and so I thought one day...what about a loaf of bread? OMG....it is so good.

So, I may post this recipe which is so super duper easy. I think I could also put cheese in it to make it a cheese bread...But for now, we are enjoying excellent homemade bread.

Thank you all so much for your comments about Courtney! She was a tired girl, but said it was a great experience...17 races in 3 days I think it was. My daughter, as you know will correct me if I make a mistake...She has read your comments (Courtney) and thought it was nice of my friends to say such nice things.

Oh, just to finish, the black bass is still sitting in the water guarding her eggs. She is alone now, no male around....you know how they are....there she is a single mom doing the best that she can for her young ones...and the hummers are all still here, which makes me happy.

Life is good.

OLYMPIC DREAMS!

This is one of my granddaughters. She has a
dream.

She wants to go to the Olympics, hopefully,
London, 2012. If not that one then the next will still be there for her.

She has just made the Ontario Provincial team coming out of the unranked to be one of the top
girls in Ontario.

We are so proud, brought to tears by the joy of her accomplishments in the last year. She has been dreaming this dream for about 3 years when she started sprint kayak racing. She races alone, with one partner and also in a 4 person kayak. She has a talent that will hopefully move her to the Canadian Team in preperation for the Olympics.

To go with all of this, she is a good student, has good friends, has time to tutor so is generally a good all around girl.

The photo was given to her at Christmas by her mother who also works hard, making many sacrifices in search of the "big dream" for her daughter. Her dad and step mom are also there for our girl.

When we hear of our youth endeavouring to be the best that they can be, to achieve it, there are many many sacrifices made by many families to help realize the "dream".

Isn't this just the best news for today?

A PS to you all. We are off to the cottage tomorrow. Hopefully we will have better weather than last week. I am taking up my sewing table too. This will help get me going on projects.

I have 5 seat cushions to cover. The result will really change the sunroom. I am so looking forward to showing you the result. I am taking "before" and "after" for when I post in a couple of weeks from now when we return.

I bought the fabric for $5.00 per metre. (40") at Fabricland. It is outdoor fabric and I just loved it. I bought lots of extras to do other cushions too. I also bought some other fabric to make shopping bags. One cannot go anywhere now without paying $.05 per plastic bag. So I am making a bunch of them for me and friends too. I have ambition don't you think?

It has been so nice to have been back for these few days, checking all the blogs and just catching up. Isn't it funny that we don't know each other face to face but it's like old friends getting together to give encouragement and to say "well done" for all that we do. I'll miss you all for the next couple of weeks. Knowing that I am thinking of you, I remain....a quilting friend.

BIRTHDAYS AND FISHES

We were getting ready to leave on thursday morning while the lake was calm, and we looked down to the left of our docks and there were these two black bass making a nest and mating.

If you look carefully you can see the fish one on top of the other, the third is just the reflection of the sun. The fish go round and round, scatter the stones around and then the female will guard this spot for about a week.

All we ever see of the result is a bunch of tiny black fish swimming under our docks. As the summer goes on and they get bigger and venture away from our docks, and the surrounding rocks, the loons will come close enough to dive and have a bit of a feast. Now the water has to be calm for the loons to come close and if you look at a few previous postings, calm is not a word we use frequently describing where we are on the lake. So our little black bass are usually a source of joy for the kids to lay on the dock, look in the calm morning waters and see the little bass and sometimes the larger ones that they catch and release. Yeah they like the fishing part, but I tell you now, Nana does not remove fish, do the worm thing so they must learn to gently remove the hooks from the fish as a first lesson from their poppa. Gloves are used to secure the fish and voila....the fish live!

We went to the birthday bash for my sweetie's best friend's 60th. I did take photos, but they shouldn't be published! So much fun was had. Years ago, about 15 I think, this guy and my sweetie were going to someone's 50th birthday. They saw and Elvis head with lights all over the collar part of the bust and thought Peter would just LOVE this! As much as the girls protested, the boys were more adament. They wrapped it up and gave it to him with the instructions that it must be displayed for a year in a promonent place, therein Peter would never have to have it in his possession, but that the head should be passed on to someone with the same promise made.

Well my sweetie got the head back for his 50th and he made a prominent shelf in our garage so that Elvis could be seen from the street. With a Corvette in the garage, and Elvis head on the shelf displayed prominently for the year, the thing went it's way to the next person.

Well, last night Elvis came back to haunt Rod twofold. He got TWO of them. The original and one with the black hair and eyes etc. Everyone just howled. His wife was horrified (lol) that now she would have to look at the thing for the next year. It was very funny to see the cheering from his friends who have had to endure Elvis.

It was a fun night needless to say and seeing friends from years ago who congregated together for this party was wonderful!

COTTAGE PHOTOS AS PROMISED

Who knew when I took this photo on Sunday morning what was to follow. I was actually trying to get a shot of the little hummer who sits on the railing and fights anyone coming to "his" feeder.

It was cold but so bright that I took a few photos of the lake and our views from the deck. Then about 5 minutes later, I looked to the west and saw what was to be the storm of the spring.

Just a note to say how hard it is to put photos where one wants them when posting...ssishh

Anyway the next photo is of the storm that came so fast that it was like second photo just a few minutes after taking the first one.

Was I lying about weather? See the flower pot is still outside and my sweetie rushed to bring them in because of the storm and it was so cold

We had our neighbours up for a week with their

dog Quincey and here is a photo of both the

puppies getting ready to go for a boat ride.

We have had "boat coats" for our dogs for years as it is such a safe way to transport them to and from the cottage. The handle on the top of the coat allows one to grab and position the dog when travelling by boat. It also helps to lift them into the boat.

Whenever our dog sees his coat he knows that life is about to get interesting. He knows he will be going for a ride and be able to feel the wind in his face..

Remember when I said I had spent a fortune of my hanging baskets for the cottage? Well here is one them. You can see why it was expensive!

There are two of these and two others that are orange daisies and purple verbena.

Leaving the cottage for a few days is a chore as all the plants must be brought to a central spot, and the sprinkler positioned so that when the timer (which is connected at the taps) is set, the flowers will be watered a couple of times a day . Isn't that clever? We bought this little device at the hardware store the second year we were at the cottage. Now, I have no idea, I mean it, no idea how it works as my sweetie sets it up and reminds me when I remove said item from its storage spot...."don't touch the dials" and he does the work of setting it up. I hope nothing ever happens to my guy as I have no idea how this contraption works so I would be unable to have flowers such as this.

This last photo, (shiiiish) was taken while riding up to the deck. I think this gives you an idea of the lift that I have been talking about for so long.

You can see the gate at the top and it has plexiglass inserts to keep one safe from falling when on the deck.

Oh it is so good to be home for a few days. I have seen my mother, who was in great spirits and although the nursing home had been under quarantine for a bug that had affected a number of the residents, I was allowed to see her. She said that she had been hit with the flu bug, been confined to bed and been served her meals in her room. She loves that part of living there. She says it's like having room service.

So that was good! Today, I am having my hair cut, having lunch with a girlfriend, doing a bit of shopping and will try to get into the quilting mode again.. I do think the weather has a lot to do with it and also because I am using up my grandmother's stash, the colours aren't me. It's hard to get excited about what I am doing. But really dear dear friends, I think you sustain me and since I haven't been able to read your blogs....I must be in a bit of a funk. So when I go back to the dial up....I think if I do it all manually, you know enter your blogs into google, then I can read your blogs.

I am getting my coffee, and am reading the blogs after this. Ahh, am so looking forward to that!

THE RETURN OF WINTER!

OMG. You just wouldn't believe the weather we had here yesterday! I was feeling like Nanoook of the North! Or a postman....We had rain, snow, sleet, hail, sunshine all in one day. It started out as a bit of rain which we could see about a half mile away on the other island and then I looked to the west and it was like a blanket was coming to cover us.

The rain was sideways it seemed and then in the span of about 2 minutes, we got hail, then we got the SNOW. I mean huge snowflakes that were so heavy we could hardly see our dock about 50 ft away! Unbelievable to say the least.

Now in the middle of all this....remember the flowers I bought last week? Well there was a fortune in those hanging baskets and my sweetie went out in the storm and brought them into the sunroom which was only about 45 degrees....did I mention that it was bloody winter? We put the heater on out there just so they would survive the day!

Of course the hummers were feeding in a frenzie and I looked out and there was this little guy, covered in huge snowflakes! They just kept feeding, I took photos of the storm, but just couldn't get the birds.

I kept feeding the woodstove all day, just to keep warm! It was a wild day and the guests at the cottage next door, who by the way were young, in love etc...arrived on Friday afternoon, and the guy...did I mention young?....jumped into the lake. He was moving so fast getting out that my sweetie who witnessed the whole thing said he was out faster than he was in...Water temp is about 42 degrees....well anyway they left early Sunday morning between storms. I assume they made it safely to the marina as we didn't hear from anyone....lol. After the weather we had during the past week, of course the water was cold! DAH!

My sweetie decided when the sun came out to go and work on the little deck he is building for the lift so that we can just walk up to it and not climb into it with our stuff. I looked down at the dock and then to the west I could see another storm. He said it was hard working in a snow storm, but was afraid to leave his tools in case they got blown away! He usually works with only one sweater on, while I have sweater and jacket doing outdoor stuff, but yesterday he wore two sweaters and said even then it was cold. Well, yeah, with the chill factor, we were below freezing!

I am so sick of the cold damp weather. I am not alone I know as many people have been experiencing the same, but we are ready for spring and summer days people.. Let's get the feeling going and enjoy the warm rays of the sun.

My friend who quilts and has a cottage a few cottages away is working on a quilt for her granddaughter. This is her last, she says, hand quilt. It's so beautiful and I shall take a photo the next time she brings it up. After that, she is going to make fun quilts and will learn to do free motion quilting.

Well, with 21kbg on the dial up, I am still unable to read the blogs. I am so looking forward to seeing what you have been doing! I see the sidebar notes and can't wait till Thursday when we get home to go online and see them.

Till then, think of me in the cold north of Ontario.

RAIN AND MORE RAIN THESE DAYS

I have had so much trouble with this dial up thing...24kgb is just not enough to work with. I tried to view my blog list as I can see that you all have been busy blogging, and I only managed to see Trish's blog which said she had had an other adventure at the Elton/Billy concert.

Trish is so funny when she writes of her goofs...I knew it would be fun to read. However, I could not read any more as the dial up thing kept booting me out.

So, I am in a bit of a funk. The weather has been bloody awful. English weather dear friends. Rain for the past 5 days, even the dog wouldn't go out. I just found it too depressing to even sew. I have been reading, watching tv, and playing my bridge game on this computer. It's not cold, but very very damp. With my fine blonde (yes) hair, I need to spray to keep the hair from looking like bed head.

I am loving Robert Crais as my new favorite author. Did I mention him before? If so, it's another praise. All his books are different, so I find myself wanting more and more. I read Nelson Demille like that. Just read them all and thought he was a lazy bloke for not writing one a week so I could be entertained....

We are coming home next Thursday so I will be on the speed mode again and will post some cottage photos. The flowers which I bought for instant gratification and cost a small fortune look absolutely amazing, so I don't feel bad for the indulgence. I was thinking I could have bought all the Moda colours if Ididn't buy the flowers. But...my little hummingbirds went nuts when they saw the baskets hanging off the balcony, so it was worth it.

Speaking of the litte buggers. They are absolutely crazy at dusk and it is taking my life in my hands to go outside at the feeder. I will try this week again for photos of 8 birds feeding. Quite a site.

I miss all your blogs and will catch up next week. Have a great weekend.

AT THE COTTAGE.CALM

Well, we have dial up finally connected after about 2 hours of me fiddling with it and not being able to know all the terms and numbers for the connection.
Bell was great with the patience thing...She must have been young...because mine was running out. I had to have peanut butter to sustain my energy!

We have been here 2 weeks and we have had all the weather that one can imagine, except floods. It was freezing for about 3 days, snow flouries for just show, then rain, then the sun came out and we had warm weather which brought out the black flies in abundance. I've never seen them like that before. I think it's because my sweetie raked all the property around the cottage so that when the weather warmed, well need I say more...And I got bitten which is unusual as this girl doesn't attract them very much. Oh well they will be gone in a week or so.

The hummingbirds are back, the males were waiting for us on the 15th when we returned and I now have 6-8 hummers feeding like crazy and doing the mating dances. Very fun to watch at dusk when the feeding frenzy goes on and the males do their thing by swinging and swooping to attract the females.

We had guests for the past week so I haven't been sewing, although I did cut out hundreds of 2 7/8" squares in preparation for my grandmother's left over stash that was given to me. I have no idea what to do with it all as it's blues and more blues. I am just piecing it all together.

Oh, I tell you it's so nice to be able to share my life on a blog. I have been missing this for the past couple of weeks. I can't download photos till we return home next week, but they are on the computer ready for high speed to get them posted.

My sweetie has had pneumonia and he was pretty sick for the first week we were here. Good thing we had amoxicilin in our meds bag or we would have had to return to the city. He is over it now, of course he thought he had a cold...men!

Memorial day in America. Today I watched the people at the Wall leaving flowers, touching names and just standing quietly appreciating the beauty of that Wall. A friend from Canada went to visit it and she was reduced to tears. So it's a day to remember.

THIS AND THAT

I received this card from Anya at Hills Creek Quilter. Isn't it just so cute? The note was written on the back. Anya won one of the prizes in my giveaway. My sweetie just couldn't get over the making of this in fabric! His question was "how'd she do that?" Thank you so much Anya!

Yesterday I received this rhubarb from Kelly. It was a very generous amount and so I cut it up, took strawberries out of the freezer and made

strawberry/rhubarb jam. I usually add apples

to make the pectin, but I didn't have any, so the

jam will be a bit runny, but it is yummy to say

the least. the berries were bought from an

Amish farm last year. Alex (granddaughter) and

I were driving home from the lake and actually

turned around to go back and buy the berries as they were just so beautiful. Organically grown, perfect berries. There was a box at the table, all the berries were heaped in the quart containers, and no one in sight. $5.00 for one quart, $20.00 for 5. We bought the 5 quarts, ate one on the way home, made shortcake etc with another and I froze the remaining 3 quarts.

So the berries were added to some of this rhubarb yesterday.

I also made the rhubarb coffee cake, which is really good to taste, but I made it into loaf pans as I wanted to give some to the generous person who let Kelly pick it for me. He will be getting a loaf and a jar of jam too!

Do you ever just not be able to do your quilting stuff? Yesterday, which was supposed to be bridge day, I didn't feel like that either....just too much to do....too many thoughts in my head and too much running around to get into the artistic (???) mode of quilting. So I baked and made jam in the afternoon.

We are not leaving for the cottage this morning due to the inclement weather. It's raining here and there too. It's not much fun arriving at the cottage on a boat that does not have a cover to protect the passengers and their gear. We may rethink this afternoon. I'm ok with it as I am sitting here writing, having coffee and am actually thinking the good stuff and will get some sewing done this morning.

There are a few of my blogmates who are away on vacations, unable to blog or may be in the same funk as I am. It's the weather I think.

Christine at "The cutting edge" made the Cowboy Bread recipe. Have a look on the blogroll and see her photo. It's partly eaten of course as you just can't help yourself when it comes out of the oven.

PROMISED...RHUBARB COFFEE CAKE

RHUBARB COFFEE CAKE...350 oven...9X13 pan...35 minutes baking.

Blend together

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Then add.....

1 cup buttermilk, or sour milk or half sour cream and milk mixture.

To the above add....

2 cups apps flour mixed with 1 tsp soda and 1/2 tsp salt.

Mix together till blended....

Add 2 cups chopped rhubarb (fresh or frozen)

Pour into greased pan.

Mix together....the following

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinammon

Sprinkle the above all over the cake evenly

BAKE for 35 minutes.

Now, I am telling you that if you are on a diet....DO NOT AND I MEAN DO NOT MAKE THIS CAKE. One piece is never enough as the brown sugar mixture goes through the cake and OMG it is so good.

I got this recipe from a neighbour who had a lot of rhubarb, had been given the recipe years back and had never tried it....she passed a piece over the fence and asked me what I thought...we both have been making it ever since.

I have a Phillips 4 in 1 processor, with a mixing bowl which I have had for years. It's convertible to processing, mixing and blending too. It slices, dices etc and I actually have two because when we bought the cottage, my youngest son and his wife gave me one for the cottage so that I didn't need to be bringing my favorite small appliance back and forth.

I have used it to blend pizza dough as it also has this attachment, but since I like to knead dough I don't use this very much. However the kids when making the dough will use it.

Today, I am packing up for a month at the cottage and am picking up a bunch of rhubarb from my Kelly who went and got some from a neighbour yesterday. This neighbour has a garden of about 10 X 30ft of just rhubarb....so generous to just supply the neighbourhood with rhubarb for free.

The weather which has been good for the past couple of days is going to deterioate overnight so we may not be leaving till Friday morning, although I will be ready. I'm taking some quilting with me and will be sewing hundreds of 2 7/8 triangle squares to make my new quilt. I'll be good at doing small stuff after this.

YUMMY AND SUPER EASY!

Here is the easiest and yummiest recipe that we make at the cottage.

It's called COWBOY BREAD but I don't know where they got the name. Because I love cinammon spice, years ago while surfing Recipes Only site, this was a recipe posted.

Here it is.

Oven at 375...9 X 13 Pam sprayed pan.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup marg. shortening, lard or butter
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sour milk, or buttermilk, or left over sour cream (1/2c.&milk)
2 large eggs.

Beat eggs and milk & marg till smooth, add dry ingredients till not lumpy,
Pour into pan...bake for 20 minutes.

Super super easy...This is one of the recipes that the grandkids, boys and girls alike just make at the cottage. If they could read this, they could make it. It usually lasts only till it's cool as it is loved by them all.

I never ice this, sometimes somebody will add butter and maybe a bit of jam to it, but usually the knife stays in the pan and the kids take a piece as they walk by. It's that good.

I don't usually post a recipe, but it is spring and rhubarb is in season so will have to post my all time favorite rhubarb coffee cake tomorrow.

Baking is fun for me and I don't think anyone outside of Canada knows of buttertarts, but here they are a recipe passed down to generation after generation. A bit fussy to make, but once done...oh my so delicious. And they freeze well too.

Hope you enjoy the "Cowboy bread".