mini quilt

I have managed to finish another project  ..... mind you, at the rate I'm going perhaps I should save this to share closer to Christmas.  ^^ 

The yellow nasturtiums were on their last legs so I  tossed them into the compost where they seem to be very happy.

The sweet peas didn't bloom until last week - how crazy is that; so far there are only white and mauve blossoms but who cares since the fragrance is so beautiful!

 

I was surprised although pleased at  how good these colours look together - mother nature is awesome.

And look at these wild asters .....

Whilst out walking I saw a baby garter snake - I've never seen one this little before .... looked like a large earthworm.  This week I've seen several baby mice dead on the road and this a.m. there was an adult vole dead in our yard. One would think that whatever is killing them would eat them. And just the other day an adult vole ran across the road right in front of me - these guys can move very quickly. By the way we've had another tomato stolen but not eaten - just dropped .... some critter must be hungry and can't or doesn't know how to hunt; two years ago it was a stray dog that we found a good home for.

Some of you who are no reply have asked if we're living at the cabin.  The answer is yes and no.  To recap what we've been up to - the house sold very quickly, new place isn't ready yet, moved temporarily into a min-condo in town; town is just an hour from cabin so we haven't spent an overnight there yet since we drive in weekly to pick up the mail, do laundry, get groceries, etc. and return to the cabin.  Basically we lived at the cabin this month - and hopefully will for some of September - but will not be doing so for the winter.  

don't count the days ... make the days count

 

wonky star

This wonky star is the brainchild of Jenny Doan.   This one is my prototype and another stray block to add to my collection.   ^^

work hard - dream big

an interesting week ....

 It's been an interesting week.  The sun is lower which means our cabin yard is in the shade most of the afternoon - not a bad thing when it's a hot warm day but it's taking a toll on our solar lights.  lol  There was a tomato thief in our yard one night - found the tomato behind the car with one puncture but have no idea what critter took it off the plant .... it was a beauty, too.  There is a skunk in the neighbourhood that leaves evidence on the road and there have been a couple of piles of scat in our yard .... makes me wonder if the skunk was the tomato thief.  Last year their little ones were wandering around.   The later sunrise also means my morning walk happens a bit later now - closer to 6:15 .... I don't want to be out on the road with the wildlife that are returning home from their overnight prowling. ^^  The geese are all flying now and with gusto!  A yearling deer swam by and crossed to the other side - we couldn't believe our eyes!!!  Just this morning we were sitting by the water with a couple of neighbours when a mink swam by under the water but when it got just past us it popped it's head above water and looked at us as if to say 'hi'.   Of course, the shorter, cooler days are a perfect excuse for using the firepit!   I've been catching up on reading blogs and finding out what everyone has been up to ... you've all been so busy!

We finally got the internet connected at our new place so we're starting to feel like we're getting back to normal ..... and at our age normal is a good thing.  ^^  We've eaten our first tomato and it was so sweet.  Neighbour R who lives year round in cottage country has a large garden and has very generously shared his potatoes, beans, beets, shallots, and dill with us.   We've got good neighbours in cottage country.

This is the only counted x-stitch that I've worked on this summer.  It's one of Lynn B's designs --  I do love her designs.  I have a couple of ideas on how to finish this one.  (BTW, the colour is a little off - it's actually stitched on white - and I think it's because I downloaded the pic to the laptop).

This is our sweet potato plant growing in an old wooden box - it's a beauty and seems to be very happy where it is.  I had a better photo of it but can't find it on the laptop, lol. 

 

every moment matters

a dilemma

A bit of a dilemma - what good is a blog post without pix?  All my pix are on the desktop at home where we're still waiting for an internet connection.  I couldn't figure out how to download pix from the camera to the laptop (which is online at the cabin) but an sos message to my son J quickly remedied that.

We were fortunate to have a pair of kingfishers visiting this year - other years we've only ever seen one at a time.  This is a table topper I made many years ago - it's machine appliqued.

We're used to hot summers but haven't had one this year - yeah, there have been a few days of heat here and there and lots of wicked storms ..... I can't ever remember so many tornado warnings/watches for our neck of the woods.  The garden is proof that the weather wasn't that good.  I have 6 tomato plants with 9 tomatoes .... how sad is that.  There is actually 1 zucchini and I had to do the pollinating; I've discovered that never is there a female and male flower open at the same time so it's no wonder the bees can't do their job .... must be some sort of zucchini birth control.   There are male flowers only on the cucumber - what the heck!  There were no beets nor chard.  Flowers have done well especially the nasturtiums - some of them were huge (but not the ones in this photo ^^).

  Some herbs grew vigorously whilst others didn't do much; there is lots of basil but very little parsley and dill.

 By the way, the potatoes in a bag did quite well producing a half dozen baby potatoes each before the tops died off.


The wild saskatoons (berries) were abundantly plentiful, big, and juicy - they were hanging like grapes.   I have several bags of them in the freezer to enjoy this winter.

Cabin neighbour E introduced us to frog legs, beef heart, and smoked sucker that tasted like smoked salmon this summer -all were delicious!   One evening he served up a smorg of meat - venison, moose, goose breasts; the goose breasts were purplish and quite tasty - I had to ask what they were.  The moose is excellent!  ^^ 

in the rhubarb ....

This is a post I'd planned to post some time ago but it didn't happen.  We're all moved and mostly settled in.  The internet at home won't be connected till August 19th - the joys of living in rural Canada.  Yesterday we finally got our cabin internet sorted out so I can finally make an appearance again. ^^   This post is old news and I still haven't had a chance to make the rhubarb bbq sauce.  

The rhubarb is beautiful this year and we love rhubarb.  It was nice to see some creative recipes appearing and this is the only one that I've had time to try just yet .... rhubarb soda and I assure you it is absolutely delicious.  The first batch I made disappeared rather quickly but I made sure I got a photo of the second one.  It's really easy to make and I recommend you use the reddest rhubarb that you can find.  Interestingly, after I strained the rhubarb out of the syrup I tasted it and it was as delicious as the soda.  I used club soda for mix.

http://www.chatelaine.com/recipe/drinks/pink-rhubarb-pop/

Next I want to try some rhubarb bbq sauce that fortunately can be made with frozen rhubarb. 

 
While our rosebush has taken a beating from the heavy rain it's still blooming and the fragrance it's absolutely delightful! Last spring she had a lot of winter damage so she's rather free-form .... I didn't want to prune her till I knew she'd survive.  As long as I keep deadheading her she'll bloom for weeks.  I will miss this girl.

These are larkspur that seeded themselves last year.  They are so beautiful and we were surprised to see so many of them.  They don't so this well at the cabin so I'm hoping to gather more seeds before we move and try again.

did you ever stop to think .... and forgot to start again?