New Brunswick Day

Wanting to wish you all a Happy New Brunswick day!
Our Province is small but it has a whole lot to offer. Have a great long weekend Everyone.

Growing Kitties

My the last month has flow by. Bindi Sue kittens have grown and are now running around. The girls are having so much fun playing with them.

Jayne has fun with all of them.

Jill's Princess Peony is so cute

We are expecting a nice weekend for weather, so I am hoping to get some yard work done. Have a great weekend everyone!

A Fishing We Will Go

The sun is out finally after a few days of cloud and rain showers. We are expecting a high of 25 today with 29 with the humidity.
I filled the line with laundry this morning as I have had so much catching up to do with it,as the weather was not in our favor.
Monday evening Hb and Justin went fishing trout. Fishing is Justin's favorite thing to do. From the time he was very little he always loved to fish. He can spend hours at it. So when Justin gets the chance he's gone. Yesterday for Dinner he decided he was going to cook up his fish. He filled them with butter and onions,salt and pepper and wrapped them in foil. Took them out to the BarBQue and cooked them up. He enjoyed them!

Here are the trout he cooked for lunch.
He froze the rest in bags with water.
Last evening Justin was asked once again to go fishing. This time to fish off the beach with a  next door neighbour, in town for mackerel. Of course he was ready in a flash and was off.
They go back around 11 and Justin caught around 30.

I will do these up today for winter and keep a few out to cook up.
I guess they are suppose to go back this morning around 10 again, as they go with the tides. If all else fails we will eat fish all winter.

HB is off for tomorrow and thus making it a long weekend for him. Monday is our Provincial holiday but HB will be back then. We were suppose to go away on vacation this weekend but my Mom needs me to take her to a appointment tomorrow and Justin was asked to work for the  for the neighbour weekend tearing down a deck. (Justin is saving his money for a Skidoo and is working three different summer jobs to get the money for it) Maybe he should be selling fish?  So our Summer Vacation will have till wait for a couple more weekends till HB is off again.
We are hoping to get a good chunk of hay made this weekend.
Well my hummingbird food is boiling on the stove, so I must go for now. Take care and I wish you all a great day!

Herbs

Well we all worked hard at getting the land back to normal after our terrible Saturday. The huge clean up that had to be done is almost finished now. Thank goodness. It is amazing how fast rain and wind can take down trees.
It has been a busy week besides cleaning up the property. Monday I had 2 appointments, one for myself and one for my Mom. So that took care of that day. HB and Justin went evening fishing and caught some nice looking trout. Tuesday morning I had a foot appointment for my feet,as I have terrible cracked feet and watch them very closely as thus is how mo Mother started in this whole mess.
In the afternoon I had to go into town again for a eye appointment. We picked up a very special treat for supper last night as I was so much longer then I had thought to be and did not take anything out for supper. I bought a pizza. It was very good and sometimes change is good. (When you have to wait 3 1/2 hours in a Doctor's office)
Anyhow we had a lovely supper and headed out to get some more work done. HB worked on the other side of the new part as we have not been getting to much done over there lately with hay making under way.
Justin cut the lawn and I weeded the herb beds.
The herb beds are doing very well this year. I have some many different types growing now, basils, to chives, to coleanders,to parsley, to lavender, just to name a few.

I have moved my herb garden this year next to my lettuces and spinach.

We use our herbs daily here fresh in meals, salads. drinks,and even to scent things, and treats for the cats. We also dry many for later use. We dry our herbs by hanging them from the ceiling in the greenhouse.
I have recently found a neat idea for hanging herbs from a cloths hanger, and thought it to be a pretty cool idea as well.

I even screen some herbs as well like summer savory.

Herbs are so much fun to grow. We grow just a couple year round in the kitchen in clay pots, but mostly if it is not in season then they are used dried.

Do you grow Herbs? If so I would love to find out what you do with them as we are always on the net looking for new ideas to do with them. I can't wait to hear all your ideas.

High Unexpected Winds

Supper time tonight, it seemed as we were going to get rain, so we decided to hurry and BarBque up our supper of Hamburgers and hot dogs.
Then out of the blue a strong wind began and within a minute it turned to 100 km winds. We ran to close buildings, grap our awning on our trailer that broke and took off over the trailer. It was totally terrible. Trees were falling all around us. The whole storm lasted about 1/2 hour, and the rain has just stopped.

HB is trying to fix the awning, and we are still trying to pick up things that blew in the yard.

Trees fell on buildings.

 Trees fell on fences.

All we could here and see were trees cracking
A large branch fell on my Beetle,but lucky did not do any damage.

We lost the chicken coop door. The wind tore it right off the hinges.

I found my cloths line on the ground broke from a tree as well.

Even my poor flowers were tacked by the strong winds and rain.
The next few days will be busy picking up and cutting up and trying to put our home back together. Thankfully we were all alright.

End of the week already

This has been another busy week.
Yesterday I had taken my Mom and Dad to see a diabetic Doctor for my Mom in Moncton which is about 2 hours away. We had a good fast trip and we an into rain about a hour from home.Then it rained all night. (we much needed it) the gardens are so dry.
The only problem with all this rain showers we are getting is that  it is bringing back the humidity with it. Another bad one for today. High humidity.
Well it's off to get some long awaited cleaning to be done. Take care and have a great weekend.

Aprons

Do you own a apron? Do you wear it? or does it sit in the closet collecting dust, or do you just use it at Christmas.
I love Aprons, I have so many. I always use them on a daily bases. Some more then others. (well one most of all) the one that's been washed a million times and is a lot smaller then it use to be. The one that has baked up so many storms for my family.
I also have one for Christmas,and my grandmother's as well. I often will think back yo my child hood with my Grandmother and remember here wearing it.
I also have collected vintage ones that I have picked up at second hand shops over the years and yard sales. (these are my favorites because I often wonder who wore these and what did they use them for) My girls do the same they have their favorites and have created beautiful ones throughout the years.


A friend sent me this poem the other day about Grandma's Apron and I read it to my girls. It is all so true.

Grandma's Apron

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears…

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.

After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men-folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

t will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.
Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.
They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I never caught anything from an apron…But Love. (Author Unknown)


THIS IS SO TRUE!!!!!


Also i found this one to.

'Grandma's Apron'

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My Grandma always wore an apron something we don't see much anymore. She would put it on over her dress the first thing when she got up in morn. She would carry eggs from the hen house cupped in her apron pulled up tight. She would also carry apples in it too then washed her hands and on her apron did wipe. Her apron hangs in my closet now as a reminder of those days. And sometimes slip it on over my clothes and pretend I'm my Grandma for that day. I go to the same old hen house gather eggs for my apple pies. I wash my hands and wipe them too and with Grandmas' apron, swat a pesky horse fly. Nothing I have seen of yet, will replace those aprons worn they were from those days of long ago in the day when my Grandma was born. HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE.

Cinnamon Loaf

Here is that great and easy recipe for Cinnamon Loaf, we love it for breakfast.

CINNAMON  LOAF

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/8 cups sugar, divided
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 1% buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk just until mixed.
2. Transfer half of the mixture to a 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar. Sprinkle three-fourths of mixture over batter. Top with remaining butter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Road Trip

On Saturday afternoon HB came home from cutting the fields,and the temps were high in the 30's. He asked if we would like to go on a little road trip to friends of ours about 2 hours away, as he had to drop off a few things and pick up some stuff with the truck.
We were all pretty excited as it had been awhile since we did any trips together with the whole family since my Mother had gotten sick.( I always had to stay behind) So we packed up the cooler and headed out.
Jill decided to sit up front with Jerry and I while the other 2 sat in the back.

We were all pretty cozy. Jill loves her pick sunglasses.

 Jayne loves her Doritos chips.

Justin  sang most of the way.

Then after eating of that junk they all settled down and had so good games on their DS's.
I read a bit and talked to HB.
We had a really nice visit at our friends. They Dan always had the neatest stuff there. He is a big antique collector,and is always building new building to house his stuff in. We enjoy seeing whats new every time we get to go. Ann had a lovely bread that I got the recipe for and will share later this week.
After a little while we were back on the road again. Before leaving the city Dad promised the weeones a trip to DQ(dairy queen) for a treat.
Can you guess what color slushies the girls got?

We decided to take the old mine road home,which runs right through the middle of nowhere in the woods. It was so nice. We saw foxes,rabbits,and this deer.

It was so calm and tame it almost came right up to the truck.
After half way through we came across the spring falls where everyone comes to get good drinking spring water. We stopped so that the weeones could fill their bottles.

After playing in the water for a bit and cooling down , we drove a bit more.

We stopped one more time and the weeones ran around and burned off some of that sugar.

We headed on our way and came out at my in-laws for another visit. My mother in law is a green thumb as well,so we had a lovely visit and tour of the gardens. 

Jill went to her pond looking for her pet fish.

The girls loved playing in the flowers

Nanny's dog Willy was very happy to see everyone as well.

All in all we had another nice visit. The flowers are beautiful 

She even has a good sense of humor. 

We headed out towards home with the sun coming down and a truck full of tired weeoens. What a great day!

CONGRATS! to "One Crafty Mumma"

I want to say a big Congrats!!! to Mel over at http://melissagoodsell.typepad.com/ at the One crafty Mumma blog.
If you have not checked out her blog then your missing all the best that the blogging world has to offer. My girls and I enjoy reading it daily, from all the way on the other side of the world to us.
Mel has just won the 2011 kidspot 50 top bloggers.

You can get all the details of the awards at.http://www.kidspot.com.au/MySpot-Top-50-bloggers-2011-Top-50-Blogger-winner-and-rankings+5969+416+article.htm
I can't wait to see where she will be off to next and blogging about.

Summer Season Treats

The weather here has sure changed. Last week and up until Wednesday we had very hot and humid temps. High 30's and soooo very humid.
Then the air changed with 2 days of thunder and lighting storms,and a bit of rain.
It has cooled down without the humidity now,BUT!!!! it is coming back for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. BONUS!!! It is also HB's weekend off. YEAH!!!!
A couple of weeks back HB had built a new set of stairs leading up to the pool deck. The old ones were steep,had no railing, and were in a bad place. But the new ones are perfect.

Great Job Hubby!!!! I had to just show them off.

With all the great warm weather the weeones are living in the pool. They are so much enjoying their Summer Vacation. They sleep till 10 or sometimes even later,have brunch made either outdoors or in the trailer. Then laze around and play outdoors in the PJ's then change into their Bathing suits and send their day in the pool. Eat late lunches,do some sort of craft around 2 and then back to the pool. WHAT A GREAT LIFE!!!!!
As for me I am enjoying my summer so far. Besides nice weather I am getting a lot done. I have been cleaning out my studio,the potting shed and am no working on finishing my back porch.
I am also lazing by the pool reading up on my favorite blogs, magazines,and getting ready to start a new book that Jayne got for me.
Yes Life is good right at the moment.
HB has begun the hay cutting for this year, and even though we have had such a late spring and with not so good weather until now the hay is ready for cutting and it is even a couple of weeks early.
He has just cut one field and is hoping to finish it up tomorrow.  Thus making it a busy next couple of weeks.
We took a couple of days and picked the 2 fields in front for Strawberries. We had a strawberry shortcake

MY GRANDMOTHER'S STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
2C. flour
4t. baking powder
4T.shortening
2T. sugar
1 egg
2/3cups of milk. Beat egg and mix in with milk.
Roll out on floured board about 1/2" thick. Bake in round pan. Put butter in between layers and bake for 20 mins.
Layer with strawberries mashed with a little sugar. then with whipped cream. Repeat and build.
Top with whole strawberries for a pretty finish.

 and I made some jam

. I also made 1 pie. I would like to get back out today to get some more. I also need to freeze more rhubarb before the rest goes to seed. I made a few crumbles for the freeze and 2 rolls as well. I also had a rhubarb roll for desert last evening. One of my families favorites.

RHUBARB ROLL
Mix together
2c. flour
2t. baking powder
1t. salt
1/2 c. shortening
add 1/2c. of milk mix together. roll out and spread butter on top of dough. Add 2 cups of finely chopped rhubarb, 3/4 cup of sugar, 3t. flour. roll up like jelly roll.and cut in pieces 1/2 " thick. place in pan. combine 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup of boiling  water and pour over roll. Bake 45 mins at 350.
Very good warmed for Breakfast( MY FAVORITE !!! growing up and still is.)
also very good with whipped cream on top for dessert.

It is so nice to see things going back into the freezer again. As it was just about empty from last seasons goodies.
Well I should  go and hang some laundry out on the line. (Another blessing to Summer)
Take care and I wish you all a great day!

For My Love Of Flowers

I have always enjoyed the beauty, colors, and completeness that flowers bring us. I have always found that a yard was not complete unless it had flowers growing. My Grandmother,Aunt and great Grandmother were and still for my Aunt, amazing Green Thumbs. I do believe that gene has carried on to me and will continue to carry on through my Children.
On my Birthday my Children picked me the cutest little wildflowers. I found them so cute and love them so much.

These are the little things I will remember forever.

As for my greenhouse everything is now out,and in the yard or garden. All the flowers I had stared this year from seed,did very well. I am super proud because we had such a slow start to Summer that everything just would not grow and fill out. But with a couple weeks of warmer temps and loads of sun they are where they should be.

These 2 are my favorite hanging baskets this year. The red ones are my favorite. I picked up 2 tiny little humming bird feeders at the dollarstore earlier this year and stuck one in here. The birds really love these and I am filling every few days.

They all have filled out so much. These were the 2 old deck boxes made out of slabs that HB made for me years ago when Jill was a baby, so that she would not fall through the bottom crack. They have rotted over the years and I thought I would have lost them this year. HB did some patch work and they are as good as new, but with the old rustic look that I am looking for. The only problem this year is that my shrubs are getting to high. (I never had my bleeding heart grow so big) I am already making changes for next year to move some of the bigger stuff around, and to take pieces off and stick them other places.

This is my odd window box. It is located on the side of the house off of a tiny window. I use this window in the winter to hang a large bird feeder from and a humming bird feeder in the Summer. I bought this window box in a yard sale for $2 a few years ago and stuck it here. I use my left overs every year to fill it. But it always seems to turn out really nice, no matter what I put in it.

Remember back this Spring when I was so excited to get out planting and adding a new bed to the front of the house after planting some petunias into the ground and adding a new bird bath,and Hb adding a fence to keep the dogs out of laying in it.  they looked so skimpy (In better words)  I thought they would never amount to anything.

THIS WAS BEFORE !!!!!!!!!

NOW LOOK AT THEM!!!!!!!!

They have grown so much! The Golden Glow that was in there also grew too!

My love for flowers goes a little further, as Jill has taken more of a green thumb this as well. All my children have always loved to work in the garden. From a very young age. They have all love to plant in the green house and help water daily and transplant. They all grow there own veggies,and the girls love flowers. But this year I noticed that Jill wants a little more as well. She has been by my side gardening from the time she was only a year old in the green house in her stroller, till now.
This year she planted a lot of plants and decided to start her own garden at the back of the house.
She has done very well for her first year, and I am sure she will expand more in the years to come.

These little stools were something I picked up in the "big garbage" on the side of the road. I had no idea what I would do with them, but just loves them. Jill knew what to use them for.She has also added her patio tomato   here as well.

She had planted more shrubs and a Mum  that was given to my Mother from a cousin while in the hospital. She dug out my old faries and placed them there too. She has the eye for this stuff.

Walking past here everyday to put Laundry on the line makes me smile. She reminds me so much of myself.