Administrative Secretary's Week

These are the lovely flowers I received from the unit to celebrate Secretary's week. Gerberas are a favourite flower, they last so long.

The Colours of Spring

Yellow



Pink/Red



White


Blue

New house

Drove to Port Rowan to see the progress on the new house.
The interior is almost done. Exterior has to be bricked yet.
House will be finished the week of May 3rd.
Moving in at the end of June.
Here are some of the pictures of the white kitchen ,
with stainless steel knobs, appliances will be stainless as well.
the bathrooms,

The rooms are all painted white for now until I see what I want, what the light is like in each room. Very happy with the
ceramic tile, manufactured flooring. living room

Earth Day, April 22nd

It is Earth Day.

What YOU can still do!


1. Flip the Switch to Cleaner Electricity. Most people don't realize that making electricity is the leading cause of industrial air pollution in the U.S. By purchasing a 100 percent new renewable energy product for a year, an American household using an average of 920 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month could help avoid contributing over 15,000 pounds of CO2 annually. This is like not driving your car over 16,000 miles or as much CO2 as 900 trees would absorb in one year.

2. Reduce where you can, neutralize the rest. 1) Reduce — When you incorporate some of our easy-to-follow reduction tips into your lifestyle, you’ll quickly begin lowering the size of your carbon footprint; 2) Offset — While it’s nearly impossible to reduce your carbon footprint to zero, you can offset the emissions that remain from your household’s driving, flying, natural gas and electricity with BeGreen Carbon Offsets. By purchasing BeGreen carbon offsets you’re investing in cleaner technologies that help neutralize your impact on global warming. To purchase a BeGreen carbon offset product or to find out what your carbon footprint is, visit: www.begreennow.com.

3. Drive Smart. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere! Keep your car tuned up, combine trips, limit idling to 30 seconds, never “top off” the tank, drive less aggressively and maintain proper tire pressure. Keeping you tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3 percent.

4. Upgrade to EPA’s ENERGY STAR-Certified Products. With the help of ENERGY STAR, Americans saved enough energy in 2005 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 23 million cars.

5. Switch to Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs). CFLs last 10 times longer and use about 72 percent less energy than a standard bulb.

6. Recycle More. You can save as much as 2,400 pounds of CO2 emissions per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

7. Reduce at Home. Turn off computers, televisions, CD players, and other electronic devices when they won't be used for at least half an hour.

8. Say No to Plastic Bags. When shopping, bring a reusable bag to carry your purchases. A plastic bag can take an astonishing 500 years to decompose.Reuse your plastic shopping bags: use them as trash bags( which I do) so as not to buy others that are more energy wasting.
Use paper bags rather than plastic bags when you are given the choice.
Use reusable grocery bags, which always have a lower environmental impact.

9. "Tune up" your home. Caulk around windows and doors; clean your heating and air conditioning system to improve operating efficiency; and insulate attics and crawl spaces.

10. Make Every Day Earth Day! Make a pledge starting with Earth Day 2008 to live greener at home, at the office and in your community by Making Every Day Earth Day.

Wing Chairs

I have had these 2 wing chairs for over 20 years .
Can you tell?
Was it the pink covering giving it away?
Decided to have them reupholstered . Used an upholsterer from Dorchester.
Shopped around found this nice pattern at Fabricland.
Deep Chocolate brown with a diamond pattern in cream with a wine and gold small flower motif.

Here they are finished, with a plain chair back. Bill even made arm covers for them.

The picture is not quite true to colour as they look lighter then they are.
I am very pleased with them, should work well with a cream damask love seat and chocolate brown leather couch in my new living room.

Blackberrry Crunch Coffee cake

Blackberries were on sale at the grocery store this week. Not green friendly re eco system but since they were there and one of my favourite fruits I purchased 2 packages.
In my Joy of Cooking cook book I found a recipe for Blueberry Crunch coffeecake and adapted it using my gorgeous plump blackberries.
This is a very good recipe for a superb coffeecake.
The batter is mixed like biscuit dough. Brown sugar and almonds in the bottom of the pan are transformed into a cloak of crunchy toffee over a very tender coffeecake.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 loaf pan ( 6 cups). Combine and sprinkle in to the bottom of the pan
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 TBSP. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. nutmeg or cinnamon ( I used cinnamon)
Add;
5 TBSP.cold unsalted butter( regular I used)
Cut in the butter using pastry blender until resembles coarse crumbs.
Do not allow butter to melt or form a paste.
Whisk together in another bowl;
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Pour over flour mixture, and stir until about three quarters of the dry ingredients are moistened. Add black berries.I used about 3/4 cup. Fold gently until the dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake 55 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes . Invert onto serving dish or rack. Serve warm or wait until cool for a crunchier top.
This recipe was quick and easy and one of the most tender coffeecakes I have ever made.

Spring

Spring has well and truly arrived , although with the temperatures one could say summer. Just 2 weeks ago we still had lots of snow on the ground and only climbing to about 5 in the daytime. Friday the temp. reached 24 C.
Here are a few of the bulbs flowering. This one is called Tete d' Tete.

Large Narcissus



This spring because we are moving at the end of June find myself appreciating
more, all the plants starting their growth, yes there is still light maintenance , raking and light pruning and surprise even some weeding already but less of "I have to get this done" attitude more "smelling the roses " time.

Pay It Forward

Thanks to those that responded to my PIF , please email your home address and in 2 weeks you will recieve a little kindness from Canada.

This is a simple and beautiful idea. Give an act of service to someone else, with no expectation of personal reward. It helps if this person is someone unrelated to you, and if it's done anonymously. Thank you for your part in making the world a more beautiful place!

Brayden's 12th Birthday

Celebrated Brayden's 12th birthday last evening.
With his choice of Black Forest cake, yummy.
Sherry made a great cake.
guests funny cardproud DadBrayden with some of his gifts, t shirt and basket ball .

Spring flowers

The sun is shining and temperatures are around 15 C.
Flowering in the garden right now are what are called minor bulbs.
They brighten the early spring days.
The snowdrops have gone already and just starting to put on a show are the following.





One of the wood anemones that is particularly appealing is the one with lavender-blue flowers. The foliage even has a lavender-blue tinge. This particular favorite was introduced many years ago about 1870. Another little bulb that deserves much more garden space is the pretty little bulb, Puschkinia that is sometimes called Siberian squill.
The flowers are pale blue, a rare color in spring, with darker deep-blue lines down each petal. The display are short-lived, so I would suggest placing these bulbs where they are easily seen. For the longest time, I assumed this bulb was named for the famed Russian writer, Pushkin. But I have since learned that the bulb was named for Count Puschkin who collected unusual plants in the Caucasus. This one, too, is a spreader, especially if the flowers are allowed to set seed.
I have placed these bulbs by the side walk and over the years they have indeed spread.

I been tagged!

Rosanne tagged me to relate 7 things about myself.
The rules:
1 Post the name and URL of the person that tagged you.
2 Post the rules.
3 Write the 7 things about you.
4 Put the links up to 7 of your favourite blogs.
5 Name 7 people you tag.
6 Post a comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.
It has been rather quiet this week on my blog because of the following 7 reasons.

1 Trip down to see how the new house is coming along, fun to see how it is coming along , Sherry got her first chance to see the house.
it is drywalled
basement floor is poured

bathroom vanities and kitchen cupboards and flooring are all waiting to be installed



2 Packing boxes everywhere, found out I do not like a mess around me.




3 Sorting for moving yard sale loading up the garage, downsizing it is called.


4 Making an effort to take a break each afternoon to sip a cup of tea with a small healthy treat or not.
Sour cream coffee cake with cinnamon,lemon zest and montmorency cherries.


Loving apple and peanut butter together.


5 Spring yard work, snow is finally going , sore already..



6 Love spring bulbs
The first snowdrops and crocuses


Icicle pansy starting to flower

Rosemary plant out from winter storage


7 The concept of Pay It Forward Exchange appeals to me. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness will pass on more acts of kindness.Wouldn't it make a nice world.
So here’s how it works. I will send a handmade gift to the first 3people who leave a comment to this long tag post requesting to join this PIF exchange.
I do not know what that gift will be yet, but it will be sent (within the next month) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. Or if you don't have a blog you need to do an unexpected nice thing for a friend, family or coworker then add a comment here to let us know what you did. Hope you will join this party.

Seven blogs I visit regularly are;
Bits of Life
Living and Gardening in Idaho
Empress of Dirt
Canadian Baker too
My Cottage Rose
Country Cottage Chic
Bumpkin Bears

These are also the 7 people I have tagged.