Where to Start?

I've been back from Ontario a week now.  I've wanted to blog but just didn't know where to start.

How much (or not) to say about my time away.  Just know that my sister and her four kids will be okay, it will just take time to learn and accept what the new normal is.  My brother-in-law was a well loved man, heavily involved in his community, and will be greatly missed by many many people.  The turnout for the wake and funeral was huge.  The food delivered to my sister's house was unbelievable.  Another father and husband leaving his family too soon.  My sister was 26 when our dad died.  Her eldest child has now lost his dad at the same age.  The reason for all this sadness...ruptured aortic disection.

Two  Farmer's market weekends came and went while I was gone.  Larry and Meredith went to the markets.  They were very successful weekends. Unfortunately I couldn't convince either of them to make jam in my absence:),  so after the second weekend, there wasn't a whole lot left.  I had three days when I got back, to play catch-up. Nineteen batches of jam made (about 250 cups).  

The BC/Yukon Dog Agility Regionals were held last weekend.  Larry and Meredith did the markets again.  I had been undecided for the longest time as whether to enter.  Finally I decided that I did want to be part of the party.  I entered Jake an hour or two before the entries closed.  Figured one dog would help to keep it more relaxed, and since Jake was the oldest, made sense to take him.  Of course at that point I didn't know how things were going to change so suddenly.  When I got back from Ontario, I was really wishing that I hadn't entered, as I just wasn't 'into' going when I got back.  But since I'd paid my money, and it wasn't cheap, I was determined to go.  I purposely hadn't entered any of the warm up games held on Friday, so was able to just show up Saturday morning and start walking the courses.  I had asked Donna if I could share her shade tent, so didn't have that to set up either. Was sure glad it worked out that way, as it was fun to have the companionship and another dog for Jake to hang out with.

I wasn't expecting much from the weekend, as the last trial I had taken Jake in, back in February, was a bit of a disaster.  We weren't working as a team, and there wasn't a clean run to be had.  We continued on with our fairly regular Monday night club practices, the last one being the 13th of May.  The next Monday was a holiday, and the two Mondays after that, I was in Ontario.  So I was prepared for things to go very, very wrong.  Instead, they went very, very right.  All three of Saturday's runs were clean, and of decent speed, so lots of bonus points collected.  At Regionals the scoring is done differently, and a clean run will give you bonus points if you did the course in less time than was allowed.  There was only one weird thing on Saturday.  It was in the Gamblers class.  In this class, you make up your own course, collecting points from different obstacles.  Some obstacles are worth more than others, and you can only do an obstacle twice for points.  At the 40 second mark, a buzzer goes, you run to a part of the course that has a line on the ground.  You have to stay behind that line and send your dog over or through 4 or 5 obstacles in a given order, before the next buzzer goes.  This is called the Gamble.  If the dog does it successfully, it is worth 35 points.  I thought the Gamble in this class was relatively easy.  The dog went into a tunnel that made a 90 degree turn to the left.  They then had to go out to a jump that would have been the obstacle the farthest distance from the handler.  No problem for Jake, except he couldn't seem to see the jump.  He was looking for it, bouncing around out there, head up, searching.  Finally he got it figured out, went over the jump, and laid down.  What the...?   Seem to take forever to get him moving again, and up and over the A-frame and out the other way to the last jump, but he actually did it with time to spare.

The event was held at Thunderbird Show Park, a world class horse facility only ten minutes from home. The footing was some kind of sand, with felt pieces added to it.  It packed nicely and was great, although quite bright to look at when the sun came out.

When I got there on Sunday morning, my friend Donna said she had been to look at the scores, (she and Breeze were in the same division as Jake and I) and did I want to know how we stood.  I said sure, and she told me Jake was in second place in his division.  (The divisions are based on a dog's height and age).  OMG.  Of course, I did know that he had done decently on Saturday, but wasn't quite expecting to be in second place.  So then I felt a bit of pressure to try maintain that placing.  Three more clean runs on Sunday.  I was really nervous before the last run, but we pulled it off just fine.  And when the results were added up....

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~Drum roll~

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It was a very tight race though.  Jake ended up with 607.70 points.  There were only 2.20 points separating first and third place.  Wow.

Up to this point Jake didn't know Larry was even on the grounds.  Larry had come by after the market and had been standing behind the podium area. When Jake and I went up there,  he caught wind of Larry, and kept looking in that direction.

Donna coming over to share a hug.  She was thrilled to finish in 4th place with Breeze.  She didn't think she had a chance of finishing in the top 6, because she had a not so great first run.  The rest after that were clean.  Unfortunately she didn't have Breeze with her at the award ceremony.

Love you, little red dog!

Things Can Change in an Instant

Shortly after I wrote my post last night, gently poking fun at Larry, I received a call from my sister.    It was one of those calls that made me really want to say 'This is just a joke, right?'  But no-one ever jokes about that.  My sister told me that her husband had just died.  He was 56.

Today has been spent trying to get things planted, seeded, transplanted.  Bringing Larry up to speed  about the garden and what to take the to markets, and where things are and what to do with them.   It is opening day at the White Rock Farmers Market this Sunday.  Meredith offered to help Larry out this weekend.  I'm flying to Ontario tomorrow to stay with my sister for a while.  I still can't believe it.

Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars

A woman and a man set off on a bike ride.  The first part was downhill, and woman was in front.  She kept checking that the man was coming behind her, which he was, but he seemed farther back than usual.  When she got to the really really steep hill, the woman put her brakes on a bit, as she had mental images of losing control and skidding down the hill, bare skin to pavement.  That was too bad, because the next part was a really steep uphill, and she needed as much of a run at that hill as she could get.  The road curved here, and part way up the hill the woman looked back and could not see the man at all.  So she gave up all the impulsion she had, and got off the bike and waited.  Eventually the man came into sight, and when he got to where she was waiting, the woman asked the man why he was so far behind.  The man said he came down the hill slowly, and he looked kind of grumpy.  The woman got back on her bike and made her way to the top of the hill and continued along.  She realized that the man seemed to be going slower than usual, and he still looked grumpy.  A few miles passed, and the man still seemed grumpy.  Finally it was too much grumpiness for the woman, and she stopped and asked the man what was wrong.  The man said he  had a painful earache because the cool air was blowing in his ears.  The woman wondered to herself why the man hadn't said anything sooner, before his ears started to hurt. The woman asked him if he wanted to go back.  He didn't say anything.  She asked him if he wanted to keep going,  he said 'slowly'.  The woman started looking through everything they had brought with them so see if there was any tissue or something that the man could put in his ears.  She found nothing.  Then she had a brain wave.  The woman told the man to take off his socks.  They were white anklet socks.  The woman folded them in half, tucked one end under the edge of the man's helmet, so that the rest of the sock covered the man's ears. She then adjusted the helmet straps to make a small 'vee' right over the ears to hold the socks in place.  The man was happy, the woman was happy because the man was happy and not grumpy, and the bike ride continued on and was much more enjoyable for both.  The woman was sad that her camera batteries died and she had not remembered to bring extras, so that she could not record the ear covering socks for all her blog readers to see.  

The End.

The moral of the story:  Speak now or forever have your ears ache.

Thrifty Thursday

By the time you all read this, it will be Friday.  But Thrifty Thursday has a much nicer ring.  I did write this post Thursday evening.  I'm usually sort of a day behind, but that's how I roll.  Since you all know that I'm a fan of thrift stores, I thought I would show you some of the things I picked up recently.   Some are great bargains, some maybe not so much, but I love to look, and it's a rare day that I leave a thrift store without something in my hand.  And with the joys of Google, my second thrill is to come home and find the that the item I paid a few dollars for sells new for $80.

Apres ski boots.  Well that's what the website said.  Since I don't ski, the apres part doesn't apply, but they do make nice slippers, felt lovely on my bare feet. Like new - $3

Cute little fold out sewing box.  Can be used for anything.  I`ve seen them before, but not in as good shape as this one.  I want to paint it and add some little feet and add some graphics to the top.

It's already got cute paper in the bottom of the compartments.  $2.50 (50% off)

Some Josef Seibel sandals. They need a bit of shoe polish.  My mum would say "That's a good make...'  $1.50 (50% off)

Danskin yoga pants.  I'm not really a yoga pant kind of person, but then I'm not a PJ's kind of person either.  These yoga pants are sooo much more comfortable than PJ's, I wore them last night, but not to bed:) They are black, not charcoal.  Like new $4

I've been giving my farmers market stall a make over.  So these things here cost me $10 total.  The big piece ( a cabinet door) will be a sandwich board to stand out in front of my booth.  The egg sign is a picture that I painted over to make into the sign.  The two empty frames will have thin wood painted in chalkboard paint slipped in to them.  One will say 'Brown Free Range Eggs for sale', and since it can be two sided, the other side will say 'Sorry, eggs all sold out'.  There is a heavy stand-up flip photo album, and another little box that will come in handy for something.

And these sandals, well I've been keeping my eyes peeled for quite a while looking for something like this.  It was just a fluke, I happened to check the men's shoes at the same store I got that tin box yesterday.  I wore them lots when we had our warm weather last week.  I washed them and they looked like new before I started wearing them.  $6

And I did get some information on that box in yesterdays post. $2.99 minus 20% seniors discount.  If you are going to ask me if I get the seniors discount, I am going to take it.

A wonderful Reference Librarian friend of my sister found some information in this book.

SMITHS FALLS - A Social History of Men and Women in a Rideau Canal Community - 1794-1994, by Glenn J Lockwood.  Falls Manufacturing started in 1946 and in 1953 was bought out by a British firm.  I think it's safe to say the file box is at least 60 years old.  It has aged well.

And for supper tonight, we had home grown greens to add our radishes to. Three kinds of lettuce, arugula, kale, chard and spinach, picked and eaten within half an hour:)
Can't beat that!

A Research Project for you Cathy

Yesterday I had some errands to do.  Drop off library books, return a ruptured, gel wheelchair seat cushion, stop at the butchers for some dog food.  Some trivia here....did you know that a low end seat cushion for a wheel chair, with a gel pack in it, costs $360? (that was with a 10% discount because my mum is in a care home.  Why does that make any difference?) That price just blows me away.  The gel pack in my mother's cushion had ruptured, less than 6 months after it was purchased.  Thank goodness there is a two year warranty.  So after doing things I'd actually gone out to do, I then stopped at the nursery and bought some plants, the produce place to get some fruit off the reduced table for fruit salad, and the grocery store.  Well it just so happens that there is a thrift store right across the road from the grocery store.  And I figure that I deserve a little 'reward' for doing all that other stuff.  Logical, right?  Not my favourite thrift store, I find their clothes a little expensive, but I always manage to find something to bring home.

I see this  vintagey  looking old metal file box.  Did I have a use for it....no.

But the price was right.

And when I opened it up, this was the clincher.

My sister lives there.  It's a small town in Ontario.  

So off to Google I go to see what I can find out.  An hour wasted and I found absolutely nothing.  So Cathy and the other one or two readers I have in Smiths Falls, I'm sending this little research project to you:)

Mmmmmm.....Mother's Day

Take some souvenirs from Hawaii....

That had just come back on the red eye with Meredith Sunday morning....

Add some strawberry sauce....(raspberries were too expensive, and I have none left in the freezer)

And some eggs....

Lots of love and chocolate....

And you end up with this.  Chocolate Stuffed French Toast.

Was it good....mmmm....:)

Thanks David and Meredith!

We had it for supper.  I'm not a breakfast in bed person, and I was out for lunch with my mother.

This recipe for stuffed French toast — perfect for breakfast in bed for Mom on Mother’s Day — is a little healthier than the original. We start with whole-wheat bread, replace some of the whole eggs with egg whites, and swap in raspberry sauce for maple syrup. Complement the finished French toast with some freshly squeezed orange juice and a pot of freshly brewed coffee, and you’re off to the races.

Chocolate-stuffed French Toast with Raspberry Sauce

Start to finish: 45 minutes

Servings: 4

1 pint (2 cups or 500 mL) fresh raspberries, plus extra to garnish

1/4 cup (60 mL) sugar, divided

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

1 cup (250 mL) 1-per-cent milk

1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) vanilla extract

Pinch of table salt

8 slices whole-wheat bread, lightly toasted

3 oz (86 g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Heat the oven to 350 F (175 C).

In a blender or food processor, combine the raspberries with 2 1/2 tbsp (37.5 mL) of the sugar. Puree, then pour through a mesh strainer. Discard the seeds and set aside the sauce.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg whites. Add the milk, vanilla, salt and remaining 1 1/2 tbsp (22.5 mL) of sugar. Whisk until well combined.

Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium. Dip 2 slices of the bread in the egg mixture until well soaked. Place the soaked slices in the skillet and sprinkle each with a quarter of the chocolate. Dip another 2 slices of bread in the egg mixture, then set them on top of the chocolate, pressing gently but firmly so the pieces adhere.

Cook for 3 minutes, then carefully flip and cook for another 3 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bread and chocolate, coating the pan with additional cooking spray. When all of the stuffed French toast has been cooked in the skillet and transferred to the baking sheet, bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until cooked through.

Cut each portion in half on the diagonal, drizzle with some of the raspberry sauce and garnish with additional raspberries.

Nutrition information per serving: 380 calories; 130 calories from fat (34 per cent of total calories); 14 g fat (6 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 95 mg cholesterol; 54 g carbohydrate; 9 g fibre; 26 g sugar; 17 g protein; 400 mg sodium.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Mother+breakfast+Chocolate+stuffed+French+toast+with+raspberry+sauce/8351137/story.html#ixzz2THJskCkC

Fresh out of the Garden

Picked this morning. Six weeks from seeding.
If I planted some this morning, they'd probably be ready in three weeks.  The soil is warm and wet with the two inches of rain we've had the last couple of days.