Star of Christmas

My baking sheets have seen a lot of action these past six weeks, very likely as much as in the previous 10 and a half months.  I've reacquainted myself with the location of most of my cooking apparatus, with the exception of the still long-lost coffee grinder.

Like cinnamon, allspice, and cloves, the flavor of licorice is inextricably tied to Christmas for me. This is the time of year my mother indulged her love of licorice allsorts, an affection I believe she shared with her father and passed along to me.  I'm not a fan of bags of licorice, knowing that I'll be the only one consuming it.  Oh, I can do it ... but its better if I don't.

In conversation with Cécile the other day, I mentioned that I'd like to try my hand at making some sort of licorice cookies since cookies had kinda been 'my thing' this year.  She had some fresh star of anise that she dug out of her spice drawer ... and so, here we are.

The recipe for Star of Anise cookies comes from The Messy Witchen and I think I have to agree with her when she says "yummy."  They actually looked so good that I didn't mind making the ground star of anise or caster sugar.  What I did mind was that the recipe was in metric grams that I needed to convert to Canadian cups.  The kitchen scale that normally sees use for diet measures - and otherwise sits forgotten in a dark cupboard recess - came in very handy today.

The end result?  These cookies were worth the extra fuss.  I dyed them blue and added the white sprinkles for a snowball effect.  Blue food may look strange, but it's delicious.  I can't wait to share them with my friends.

It's Christmas Eve .. that means we're about to sit down to the annual showing of Alastair Sim in "A Christmas Carol."

Have a great festive meal everyone!

My buddy Chuck

I find Chuck Norris jokes hugely funny.  I can't help it.  They make me giggle. They probably make him giggle.

My friend Eric posted this today and I just had to share it with you .. in case.

In the comments below the youtube video .. you can find this:

• The men on the top of Chuck's head were actually skydivers who got pulled in by Chuck's gravitational force.

• The planes were also unmanned. Chuck piloted both planes's takeoff and flight.

• Who needs cruise control or autopilot when you have Chuck Control?

I am soooo amused.  Merry Christmas ..or Merry Chuckmas .. whichever!

Christmas napkin craft ...

I just had to go and ask Bruce for Christmas napkins for our dinner.

A snowgnome in a snowstorm

Creative genius strikes again!

Blowing the Wings off Christmas

Bruce sent this to me a few days ago, but I just opened it. I'm not one to get overly emotional .. unless we're talking about kittens, then all bets are off ... but this .. I found myself crying before it was over.  Crying in a good way.

Apparently, Santa dress in purple.  Who knew?

Gary the Cylon

Those of you who remember the first Battlestar Galactica might find this amusing.  Bruce and I watched every episode.

Slow down and smell the peppermint

This is how my day started ... Bruce and I made refrigerator cookies yesterday, rolled out the dough (flour everywhere, oh my!) and got these pinwheels ready for morning baking.  The green are peppermint flavor and the red are cherry pinwheels.

These will go into gifts for those people we see all year who do nice things for us .. chiropractor, my stylist, our dental office.  And of course some for friends :)

Snow Day!

We got snow!

I took the picture so I could mock my Alberta relatives and friends, because .. hey, I'm that kinda girl.  This is how snow is best enjoyed ... in wee little bits.  Bruce wore sandals to clean the driveway!  He bought a new snow shovel and just had to try it out. Ian, Liz... we miss you on days like this.  We know you and Bruce would have raced to strap on those snow sandals to clean the walk before the other got out of bed.

I shit you not, one of the school districts up-island an hour or less called a 'snow day.' No wonder the people who grew up here love the snow.  Come to think of it, I might have a greater appreciation for it as well.

This picture is of the pyracantha outside Bruce's office.  We grow it in yellow, orange and red varieties.

Gabriola Thanksgiving Artwalk

Thought I'd share a few pictures with you of our trek around Galiano Island.  I've already shared our experience with Bruce's allergies, but notwithstanding, we had a great time!

This piece was on display .. not for sale ... at one of the artist's studios.

We grabbed a coffee first thing when we landed on the island .. this was the first work of  art
that Bruce and Richard enjoyed.  It was in the parking lot beside the coffee shop.
You can see why boys fall in love with chrome on their vehicles.

The Dorothy, viewed from the wee loft in the workshop.  To the right, you can see the original
painting of the artcard I purchased, below.

 The Dorothy is Canada's oldest sailboat and she's being loving restored in the workshop of Art Grove. To see the full story and perhaps contribute to the documentary being shot during the restoration process, you can head over to dorothysails.com.  Under the stern of the boat was an area where a young Gabriolan entrepreneur was selling taste samples of his island-crafted beer and brewing up some return business.  Richard tried a porter and while I stuck with a more traditional amber.

I loved the bright orange on this boat and the simple style of the painting.

Céc was looking for a purse that she'd seen at another fair.   None of these came home with us
but the artist was generous in letting me take a picture of the colorful display.

Outside the studio of an artist whose work was done with a shopvac (I kid you not),
we ran into a delightful garden with a variety of little outdoor rooms

Lunch at Drumbeg Provincial Park.  Cécile packed a picnic!
At least, I think its Drumbeg .. could be Sandwell for all I know.  Have I mentioned I get lost
when someone else navigates?

Loved the front of this old van almost as much as the pontiac at the top.
Seems to me this old van could tell stories.  I'm still not sure what color it really is.

There's something about boobs that make men go silly.
These two are about to burst into a 12-year-old giggle fit.

Henri, Part Deux

For those of you who may not have seen this .. and for those who have, but still enjoy it, I give you Henri. Enjoy!
 

Geo-caching with Richard

One Sunday afternoon in October, after the morning outrigger paddle, Richard was looking for something to do.  I'm sure that man never sits still for more than five minutes, unless he's got a glass of wine in his hand.  In that case, he's all about the relaxation.  He doesn't do things by half measures.

Richard decided geo-caching would be fun because, like most geo-cachers that I've talked to (admittedly, not many .. decidedly less than oodles, but more than one and possibly more than two) they are keen on finding lost trinkets to the point of craziness.  

Richard finds the first cache.  Although it appears that
we're in the middle of a rough patch, we are at
the edge of a conservation area.

He knows there's a geocache in my neighborhood and enlists my willing cooperation by telling me its fairly close.  We can go for a walk .. its a beautiful fall day .. the kind that make you want to enjoy crisp air, the smell of pine needles crushed underfoot and maybe even the sight of horses - safely across a fence where you don't actually have to worry about horse pies, which might be an even bigger blight on the landscape, and therefore more dangerous, than cowpies.

So I grab my camera, my shoes and a determination to make it up Rutherford Hill before I collapse from exhaustion.  Don't laugh .. that hill is biiiiig.  Up at the top of Rutherford Hill is a park where there's a housing development with another in the works, which as you might image, is a bit of a contentious issue in the tree-hugging society where we find ourselves living.  Part of Linley Point is a designated conservation zone ... boggy marsh area .. that is home to some sort of birds and a whole lot of thistle.  

The pond at Linley Point

From our first geocache, we headed off to find the second, which was at the left end of this tiny lake.  I'm not sure if this is Cottle Lake or if this is a pond designed by the developers, in which case .. good job!  The mallards are certainly enjoying it.

Here is where the citified trail ends abruptly at a someone loosey-goosey planned crosswalk which at the moment crosses nothing except hardpacked dirt and scrubby grass.  Here's where shit gets real.  Richard breaks out the gps and we head out into the unknown.  Well .. our unknown.

The extremely dry summer is telling on this cedar we encountered alongside the

dirt trail. At the time, we wondered what would cause the phenomenon we 

were seeing.  I opined that this was likely a natural process, but as it turns out, 

the lack of rainfall has had a considerable impact on all cedars, not just

the ones in my backyard hedge.  Ha!  Good old CBC Radio to the rescue again.

Arms draped in rich green velvet reach out to forest dance partners, swaying
to the rhythms provided by capricious air sprites

By this time, the afternoon was wearing and yet we were generally within a decent range of another geocache, so we'd go tramping off to find that one too.  My feet began singing their own song .. a sort of muddled up blues number that started out just with a few basic pieces.  Later on, a horn section was added and when I didn't immediately stop and put my feet up, being many many many MANY yards away from my own house, they pulled out wailing steel guitars and other assorted stringed instruments to add to the cacophony going on in my shoes.  

Can you see a path here?  Yea, me either!

Although my sense of direction totally failed me ... Richard's gps was proof positive I was dead wrong when was saying that "this" direction was the right way to go home ... I did recognize this shed from a walk that Bev and I had taken a couple of years previous.  My feet started to get a bit happier until they remembered that we'd been driving that day.  Still, it's at the top of Rutherford somewhere .. damned if I could find it again except by accident.  We plunged off through another set of trees and eventually found the road that wound down through the trees to Bradbury Road.

I learned two things that day.  Richard doesn't mean it when he says "one hour," and despite that, he's a good-hearted colossus and I'll be making that trek with him again.

A little holiday spirit

Today .. I turned this

Into this ...

and then this ...

Its in the garage right now, cooling off.

Hopefully that toffee sets up properly .. I had the worst time today .. all because I made what I thought was a simple substitution.  Most times you can get away with using brown sugar instead of white.  Not today ... the first batch didn't have any sticky qualities at all.  I freaked out over the second batch and undercooked it and it looked and tasted okay, but was the wrong color.  So I tried to fix it all by jury-rigging another recipe. I may be stuck dropping this into the freezer and breaking it out when there's no one around but Bruce and I. It's been one-of-those-days in my kitchen.  I really should learn to follow recipes.

But where's the fun in that?

Moonlight Serenade

I connected with my art program today .. hope you enjoy!

Catch up!

Bracing.  That's what we call a day like today.  It reminds me of my Granny and walking the the Scottish Highlands with a wee scruffy dog .. although I've never done that.  I must have seen it somewhere and totally related to it though.  Because today reminds me of that picture in my brain .. although why my Granny Gideon and a small Scottie are in that picture is also a confusing muddle.

It's beyond blustery .. the weather here on the coast has been the usual sort of mixed bag of goods .. sunny one day .. raining sideways the next.   However, the gusty, blowsy breezes have consistently gone past sporty to the point of 'small craft warnings' that tend to keep the less adventurous paddlers off the water.   Certainly not Bruce and his Huligans, who like to embrace the waves and thrive on this sort of weather.  I just make sure that he's got enough ID that they know who to call when the body rolls up to shore.   I've given up trying to make the safety argument.  You know that one that goes "small craft warning" means small craft .. and that means an outrigger canoe.   He's all "Logic bedamned!"  

::sigh:: Men!

It appears I can have a wholly unexplained reason for a mental picture of a "bracing" day and yet .. in the very next paragraph .. totally discount my husband's proclivity to make up his own rules regarding wind and water based on things like .. experience.  ::frown:: That doesn't make him less wrong.

Bruce has actually been trying to behave himself the last couple of weeks ... he's just finished a round of medication to recover from pneumonia and is still working in clearing the last vestiges from his lungs.  The wet-and-cold combination are making him a bit leery on the very windy days when he knows that there's absolutely no hope of not getting soaked to the skin.  I say "trying" .. I mean that the siren of the waves weaves her haunting melody and tugs at him ... he's a bit powerless to resist her full will.  

::sigh:: Men!

I put this post together in October and got distracted by other things.  So as I sit down to write a new post, you get the old draft too.  My distraction then actually allows me to add more news now.

We had a scare on Thanksgiving weekend.  We'd been to Galiano Island with Céc and Richard for their annual Thanksgiving artwalk and were enjoying ourselves thoroughly, chatting with artists, making friends with stray cats, trying on hats and making faces in mirrors as a result, climbing lofts to look over old boat reconstructions and watching a glassblower at her trade.   I'd picked up a couple of pieces of art and Bruce picked up a cup of chai tea or ate something that gave his usually dormant allergies a chance to surface.  As we were leaving the island, Bruce's reaction had gone from mild to surprising and by the time we landed back in Nanaimo, had escalated into alarming.  Although there is no medical clinic open during off hours, we did get into London Drugs and got him sorted out with some allergy relief pills.  However, on the way home, 'alarming' had again escalated to the point where we took him to emergency.  Fortunately, he didn't have a long wait; although we did leave him there while we made dinner.  Bruce and I would both like to thank Cécile and Richard for their caring, help and patience as it was very long day by the time Bruce was back home.  Bruce now carries medication with him and has some in the car ... and I have instructions on how to use the epi-pens  it as well.


Sandy and Melvin dropped by this month .. and when I say dropped by, I mean they were on the island to visit with her parents who have moved to Cowichan Valley.  We made the most of the day and caught up with our two friends.  I swear, its like we've never left them 16 hours away and 8 years behind us.

Yup, they're as much fun as you'd think.

Melvin taught that look to Miley Cyrus.  Go ahead, blame him.

Fence update .. because you were waiting with bated breath .. right?  We finished!  Done for at least one more year.  Bruce says it took six weeks, but really .. it took all damn summer.  Because we like to not stress ourselves over deadlines.  Its the best way, really.

Mr. Tippy and Murray take their Construction Foremen job seriously.

September - Bruce is measuring to keep the headers parallel before he drills that last screw into place.

Trina, Dad and Dorothy at Myranda's wedding

Kelly's daughter Trina, oldest of the gaggle of nieces and nephews, travelled to Northern Alberta for Myranda's wedding and a chance to catch up with cousins and extended family, bringing her boyfriend to meet the gang.

I ate a flower .. and I liked it.

Yesterday, Cécile dropped by with a large box of organic veggies she'd got from her new co-worker at Bodhi Bakery.  Inside was a bag of mixed salad greens that were stunning both visually, and as it turns out, in taste.  Included in the greens mixture were baby beet greens and nasturtiums.  They made a great shrimp salad for lunch!

Céc is a pretty fine hand when it comes to baking bread herself, but she's learning fast at Bodhi, an education that includes the making of a fine cappuccino.  Once she learns how to make designs in the foam, I'll grab my camera and go.  In the name of journalism, ya know.  It will have nothing whatsoever to do with those lovely chocolate croissants they make.  None at all.

August garden

I don't think we need many words here.  Enjoy!

Family smiles

Dusting and cleaning isn't something that happens often enough at our house.  Oh, you'll say, but we've been there and the house is fiiiine.  That's because occasionally, we are motivated to move beyond our slothful, sinfully negligent ways and actually do something about the cat hair in the house.  We find a slightly furry house to be a sign of comfort because "cats live here" and its only natural they should also want some say in the decoration.  At least that's what we tell ourselves on the days when visitors are not due.

A visit from family or friends warrants a tidy up and a quick check around to make sure there are no stray socks in sight.  A visit from our cat allergic friends always results in a full-blown massive, hospital-size cleaning.  On those days, I come armed with toothbrush to get the dirt in all the cracks.

So Kent's arrival is always preceded by "the big clean."  Which I'm sure most people don't recognize when they step in the door, other than maybe the odd lingering whiff of cleaning product.  Still, Bruce and I both know that we've done what we can to put the welcome mat out and make our guests as comfortable as possible.

This is a truly fantastic picture of the two brothers.

In other family news, Myranda and Ryan are to be married in four days time.  Sadly, Bruce and I are not able to be there, but we sure wish it were otherwise. I just got an email from Trina who will be there.  I'm sad I'll miss gossiping with her as well as seeing the rest of the Gideon gaggle.

I had planned on visiting also with Samantha and DeeWynn who have just added a new member to the family.  All dolled up for his introduction  ... may I present Layne Harrison Toews.

Grandma Debbie reports that he arrived at 5:08 am after just two hours of labour!  He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs, 3 oz.  Congrats DeeWynn and Sam!  Won't be long until you'll be adding another dirt bike to the collection in the garage.

Working on the Stain Gang

As is Bruce's wont, we sang showtunes ... with slight variations ... as we painted the fence these past couple of weeks. Chiefest among the the soon-to-be broadway versions was his interpretation of "Chain Gang," entitled "Stain Gang."

Here, for your amusement is The Pretenders version.




The fence along the steep drop off has needed painting for a year or two, but you know how it is ... you convince yourself that you'll get to it "one of these days" and that turns into "one of these years."  This was the year.  Now, unfortunately, we can no longer purchase the oil base stains we've been using, so we're trying out an latex version to test its durability against the fence we painted on the other side a couple of years past.

It's not all been singing and dancing though, Bruce has been working on perfecting his high wire act as well .. kinda.

Bruce at the start of the project.  You can see how faded the headers are.  We eventually
removed them for painting as it was a lot easier and faster.  You can also see how clean
Bruce's pants are.  He's as messy painting as I am in the kitchen.  Creativity requires
a bit of chaos, after all.

Through the pergola fence you can see the neighbor's house roof below.

A climbing harness has been part of the daily suit-up for Bruce as we work on the lattice panels, since he's on the neighbor's 20 foot drop side.  When he puts the headers back on, he'll be working on the top of our fence, adding another 10 feet to the drop.  I'll be within listening distance, but I can't watch.  Besides, I often add advice, which he doesn't seem to appreciate at the moment I'm giving it.  :D

Have you been watching Continuum on television?  Season finale was an awesome ending in a true science fiction "wtf" sort of way .. will keep me wondering what's going on until the new season starts.  The website link is full of all sorts of things to keep you poking around and you can influence the storyline too.

I've got more garden pictures, if you're not tired of them .. sorry, but my garden is an absolute delight to me and I insist upon sharing it.  :D

More posts to come in the next few days.

[Edit:  update to fix typos]

Weekend Spy Mission

The neighbors have a cat.  A kitten, to be more precise.  A kitten with the run of the neighborhood and  our lawn, flower beds and back patio. He likes to be with people and will spend hours chasing bugs and rolling in the needles and sap under the cedars while you work in the garden.

He is oh so squeeable and I'm rather chagrined to say .. everything my cats are not.  Oh, Murray and Mr. Tippy are adorable in their way .. but they are definitely not cuddlers and oh please do not try to pick them up .. they had just about as much of that nonsense a couple weeks after they were born.  They'll occasionally jump up in lap if it belongs to Bruce and it happens to be that special time of day that is their own particular Daddy hour.  Mr. Tippy gets his time in while Bruce is relaxing after the morning rush and Murray gets nap time in the afternoon. Once in a long while, Murray will come snooze on my lap and Mr. Tippy cuddles up with us at bedtime.

The neighbor's kitty, who goes by the name of Spy this week (Whiskers last week) is one of those charming little fellows that loves to see you coming and will drop what he's doing to purr like a little lawn mower.  He wants to cuddle, preferably up in your arms so he can rumble his way to sleep on your chest.  I miss cats that like to purr and cuddle and .. well there's nothing quite like a cat pn your chest to get you off to a great nap.

A couple of weekends ago, Spy's family was away for the weekend and it seems Spy was lonely for company, following a young girl home many, many blocks from here. She and her parents brought him back just as we returned from a night celebrating Richard and Cécile's 5th Canadian anniversary.  I offered to take him in and although he couldn't come into the house, he made himself right at home in our garage. It was almost a shame to give him back on Sunday evening when his family returned.  It's a good thing kittens and kids go together like peanut butter and jelly or I might have been tempted more sorely.

June garden

"Shut up," I told Paul.  I meant it with every fibre of my being, which is unusual because I'm not normally a rude person.  But there we was, standing over me, watching me hold a particularly intense position that fired all the muscles in my back, stomach, legs and shoulders ... saying "just another ten seconds." Screw that shit. I knew he actually meant "Hold that for eternity."  Then the bastard laughed at me and said "just one more rep."

And so how was your day?

Mine involved shopping for a birthday gift for Richard, my workout, a batch of weeding and finally getting that last batch of snapdragons into the ground.  And between the workout and the weather ... knocking back about two litres of water so far.  Still to come ... roast turkey breast .. which is almost done, so I have to run.

I grabbed my camera while I was gardening and took a batch of shots for you to see what's keeping me busy outside.   And now .. off to dinner.  Enjoy the pics.

Postcard from my patio!

The Mock Orange begins its ascendancy to garden royalty

First lily of the year!

Last year's fuchsia made it through the winter

Upper hedge .. needs a trim, but man this is too gorgeous right now

An overview from the lower patio

The clematis that twines throughout the pergola on the shady side
of the house, but still insists on flowering no the ground.
And yes, that is the shameful condition of the pathway on that side of the house.

Sunset over the birdbath

A riot of pink impatiens in yellow planters.
A little color never hurt anyone, right?

The campanula we planted last year seems happy
and that makes me a very happy gardener :)

Last year this stairway was pretty stark with no plants.
Ha!  I think I've fixed the monochrome grey issue.

I love what's happening to the concrete below these pots .. its looking
distinguished and a wee bit rubby .. patina, am I right?

The stairwell viewed from the lower garden.  Sometimes it takes a
bit of creativity to get that nice vignette.