martha moments......

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate chip cookies...

Has a great sleep last night and felt a "martha day" was in store to feed my family and nurture them ..got to go with  the inspiration. Tomorrow is going to be a cooking day maybe a Sheperd's pie and beet soup...

yummy and healthy..added..applesauce

Oatbran Blackberry Muffins....

Breakfast  for sunday morning!

making homemade bread...hope it rises!!!

Dried Plums...

So our plum tree produced alot of plums this year wchich is very exciting. Especially since last year we only got 6 plums. The issue became what to do with them all. We gave some to my inlaws, some to staff, some to school volley ball team and then we eat them daily. Well at my book club the idea of drying them was introduced and I decided to venture into this project not realizing the work and well the smell.Yuck!

First you pick the plums from the tree....

Next wash the plums.

Cut the plums in half. Try not to cut your finger like I did.

Place plums on the dehydrating racks.

Turn dehydrator on.

The Plums are drying...look pretty.

Plums dried and boy do they smell...not my favorite. I ended up putting them inthe oven because I thought the dehydrator was smelly but it was the plums. It took about 8-12 hours or so. I turned things off and on again.

After the have dehydrated  and cooled down you put them in a jar. I did put some in the freezer in a baggy too.

I don't think I will dehydrate plums again but it was a fun experiment. Maybe I will try grapes as they are ready now.

Garden delights.... and yummy treats

It was a challenging gardening year. Cook temperatures, slugs and snails.... but still I persevered and look I grew beans and peas and well tons of blackberries....

 

OH ! I even grew a yellow pepper!!!

 

                                      
We picked so many blackberries that I made pies, jam and a yummy blackberry coffee cake....

 

  I also made a peach pie with okanagan pesches which was melt in your mouth. we did have a peach tree but it died....booo hooo. We had a lot of raspberries that we just ate. I grew lots of lettuce, tomatoes and brocoli. I have moved some tomatoes inside as the weather is cooler so hopefully they will ripen or it will be fried green tomatoes..... I think I need some help in this area? If anyone knws some secrets  do tell.

 

 This year there were some special garden moments and delights. One delight was the stargazer lilies that smell delicious.... also my mom's favorite that she did plant.
As well, Dave my amazing husband built a beautiful Asian pergola or arbour.... in the garden after the tree that fell in our yard broke the other arch. It really is a great contribution to the garden.

sailing this summer

Well it has been a busy spring and summer and I have not been doing the blog thing. One activity we have been in to is sailing. So I thought I would post some photos from a few of our experiences. I really need to take lessons and hope to do so this summer or fall. It is a lot to learn and to get used to but I am enjoying being our on the water and seeing so much. One thing Dave and I  did was to make a sail cover and it is a pretty red. I also made covers for the kitchen cushions. Still need to make the berth cushions. Well more blogging updates soon.

Felt Tea Cozy

My first Felt Project!

Heart appliques...

Tea pot cozy in action!

Well, I finally made my tea cozy from a sweater I felted in the fall. I added some heart appliques to make it a bit more interesting.... and voila.

I do have to say the felting process was a lot more work than I anticipated. As well, I am not sure if it is worth it financially. I bought the sweater at Value Village for  around 9 dollars and then it took about three or so washes to get a felt result. I think it can be hard to find a 100% wool seater that is cheap. But if you do or someone gives you one then I think it is worth it for the experience. I would do it again but I need to have something in mind that I would make. I would like to make slippers and a bowl. So perhaps I will do it if I find a cheap wool sweater I like.

This looks like fun too!

 I also would like to learn some other felting techniques so hopefully I can find a class and learn more about felting.There are some great books out there if you want to learn more. I got a few from the library. Happy Felting!


Here are a few techiniques I would like to learn.

This project by Martha Stewart looks cool...

A pretty Blue Bell Yahoo ! I Grew you!

The exciting part of gardening is seeing things you planted a year ago come up again. Well last year my obsession was the blue bell. Every where I went I saw them and wanted them in my garden. The sweet little blue bell who knew you were so desirable. I guess the feeling of nostalgia over came me. In the house I grew up on Fulton in West Van we had plenty of blue bells all in the front left part of the garden. As a child, I remember seeing them when I was playing or helping my mom in the garden. So last year when I was reunited with the blue bell; I knew I had to have some in my garden. Luckily, I was able to buy one lonely blue bell at the Hospital thrift store plant sale last year. So this spring, I was thinking where are you blue bell?  Well out of the ground and to my great surpise there popped out my Blue Bell.

Pretty Blue Bell the one and only!

White Bleeding hearts...oh so unique!

Tulips happy colour!

Wild bleeding hearts

Graden blooming- lush and green!

According to the internet, the formal name of the blue bell is Hyacinthoides non-scripta (formerly Endymion non-scriptus or Scilla non-scripta) is a bulbous perennial plant, found in Atlantic areas from north-western Spain to the British Isles, and also frequently used as a garden plant. It is known in English as the common bluebell or simply bluebell, . In spring, H. non-scripta produces a nodding, one-sided inflorescence of 5–12 tubular, sweet-scented violet–blue flowers. It  is particularly associated with ancient woodland where it may dominate the understorey to produce carpets of violet–blue flowers in "bluebell woods".

Remembering.....

Last week was the fifth year of living without my mom. It has been a tough few years. Everyday I miss her. Our family misses her being the matriarch of the family. Odelia misses the strong grama that spent hours with her.....So to celebrate her life we went to Georgia Beach and put flowers in the ocean that we chose from the garden. I think mom would have liked that. It was also special to do this with Penny my birth mother. It was a very special day for all of us. We also were creative by painting rocks that we chose from the beach. It was a sad but good day as the sun shone down on us; I knew mom was looking down on us smiling. In fact, at one point on the beach a duck took a flower and swam away and then went under the water. We never saw it again. Perhaps a spirit visit from Paulean. Love you mom!