A Spot of T

I’m sad to say that I’m almost finished this book - Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I love to read, but had been going through an odd *dry spell*, not being able to sink my teeth into anything more than a magazine article for months.

My aunt Myffie, who lives in California recommended this book, written by Barbara Kingsolver, author of Poisonwood Bible - one of my all time faves. I ordered it a while back but didn’t open it until I was away from home (fishing) and actually had some extra time on my hands.  I was hooked from the very first page.

She is truly an excellent writer. I think Barbara can take almost any topic and just make you want to keep reading, but this time, she really peaked my interest.  Totally nonfiction,  she elegantly chronicles a year of back-to-the-land living with her family. Not only does she make you laugh, she makes you think, and even more importantly, she makes you learn. I knew our food chain was screwed up, but she does a thorough job of explaining just how bad things are.

Here’s more about the book:
Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that’s better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

Rick’s going to read it next, but if anyone local would like to borrow it afterward, please let me know. Click on the book to order it from Chapters.

I have a tremendous need to complain about the weather. The last post in this blog was the last time we saw sunshine, and it was probably even a week before that that we had a decent day. This weather is really getting me down. It’s been cloudy and gloomy with rain off and on for days now.
And then there’s the fog. On a nice day it may burn off by noon, only to return long before dusk. You can actually *see* the fog rolling in most days by late afternoon.
We moved back east from southern ontario about 4 years ago. During our time there, I LOVED the weather. OK -the heat was pretty intense, but being from the east coast it was a real treat for us. Especially the evenings. We adored being able to sit outside (by the pool) at midnight. Sometimes, the kids even swam at that time of night. Gosh, it was fun. Only a memory now. People just don’t do that here. Evenings are for wearing jackets. Warm ones.
Tonight, it’s windy and cold. There’s so much fog, no planes are landing at our local airport - a common occurance.
I hope and pray that I’ll be eating these words this time next month… but somehow, I doubt it.
These are common symbols on our weather guide:

cloudy with showers and

FOG!!

Right after work tonight we went out on the water. The weather has been horrible so when the sun shines, you have to take advantage of it. It was a gorgeous evening and we all had a great time, but now I’m in excruciating pain. My back is killing me - must be from the weird position I was sitting in right at bow of our boat when we were going fast. I was sort of holding on for dear life, yet it wasn’t uncomfortable at the time.  How will I ever sleep tonight? What’s it going to feel like in the morning? Will I even be able to get out of this chair? It’s getting worse by the minute!! Ouch!!

Here’s a picture of Jeff enjoying himself just a little over an hour ago:

It’s late but if I don’t record this day now, I never will. I think Rick had one of the best Father’s Days he’s ever had. And he worked almost all day!

Actually we went to church this morning first and really enjoyed the service so that started the day off on the right foot. Now, I joke about the fact that if I want to make Rick happy, all I have to do is put on my apron. Its so true!! Then, he knows I’m cooking (or have been cooking) and such a simple thing, even in this day and age, really DOES make my man happy. So, when we got home, I said “would you like this to be an apron day?”. He just laughed… knowing darn well that I knew he did.

Anyway, I made him a delicious lunch served to him on a tray while he sat in front of the TV watching a fishing show. The weather was terrible, cold and cloudy - so our boat plans were out.

For Father’s Day I bought him two trees to replace two other tress that he hates. For years he has been complaining about two huge shrubs that we have on either side of the front deck walkway. They are impossible to shape and in his view ugly - I don’t mind them. But I thought, what the heck, if it makes him happy - so be it.

To make a long story short, he spent the whole day outside puttering around in the yard getting a lot done, including digging up the old trees, replanting them, and planting the new ones. Our sons, Jeff and Bobby, were with him every step of the way, and Rick’s comment at dinner was music to my ears: “What more could I ask for for Father’s Day than having my two sons helping me all day”.

Of course, I was on hand with the camera:

Here they are digging out one of the shrubs with Rick wearing his *Old Guys Rule* 50th Birthday T-Shirt:

and here are the boys carrying it to the back yard to be replanted:

I should have taken a picture of the news tress planted for a true Before & After. Next time.

If you’re still looking for an update on the adorondak chairs, please don’t ask. But I’m not complaining and definatly NOT nagging.

Woops… It’s quite a mess. You may think these pictures look good, but for all the work I’ve done and the many years I’ve been at it [gardening], it’s pretty crappy. Plus, I’m only showing the best. After working like a dog these past two weekends, then examining my progress, I have finally come to the conclusion that maybe gardening just isn’t for me. My only question is, what took me so long to finally come to this realization? Maybe I should just give up and keep it tres simple. Maybe I should blame it on our parents? Neither one of us had a single parent who kept a garden… maybe a few pots, but that was it. It’s not like we had any family knowledge to build upon. I’ve picked strangers brains, bought numerous gardening books, attended local gardening shows, scoured the internet for information, and I still pull out perfectly good perenials, plant flower beds that look like crap and sometimes die, and forget the names of all my plants.

Every spring I get all excited and inspired… I buy too many plants, plant more seeds than I can take care of, and by mid July, I’ve lost interest. Four homes over 23 odd years, and I’m not much further ahead. I had some pretty nice perenial gardens going in at the house we lived in before we moved to ontario… but it took 12 years to get to that point. And hubby had a huge rassberry patch and nice plantings around the brook. Then we moved.

My best gardens were in St. Thomas Ontario. That house and garden area was sweet. What a great climate for gardening. Then we moved again back east to our current home and it’s been down hill ever since.

This is a small part of what I’ve been up to, but don’t get overly excited… Like I said, I picked the best to show:

Oh - and if you’re wondering how we’re making out painting the adorondak chairs - don’t ask.

My daughter Jenny often goes into great detail explaining her days at school. She does talk alot, but I love it, I’m NOT complaining here. Anyway, I’ve heard so much about lunchtime that I just had to check it out for myself. All this year I’ve been planning to go, and with this the final full week, decided to take the plunge.

She’s in Grade 11, and although it sounds totally weird for a mom to go to their kids school at such an age, this school is quite different. I can’t put my finger on it, but the kids, and her friends especially, really seem to *enjoy* adults. They’re good friends with many of their teachers and often have other adults visiting at lunch time.

The senior high lunch starts at 1:10, and I just made it for grace. Yup, they say grace. Twice. Once before the meal starts and once afterwards. Just short graces - a line or two. They are assigned tables, which change throughout the year, but the focus is to sit with a variety of people from all grades, including at least one teacher at each table. Everybody takes turns doing what is referred to as “dragging” and consists of putting on an apron, going back and forth to the kitchen to bring out the meal. Then they switch with the other assigned person for that day and that person clears the table.

The menu today was tomato soup (served in pitchers), grilled cheese sandwiches, and carrot cake muffins. There is also a full salad bar available at every meal.

At the end of every meal, the headmaster stands up, says grace again (???) and gives the day’s announcements, also allowing some of the students to speak. Of course I brought my camera:

This was taken from the entryway:

This was our table, see me??

Me and Jen laughing:

Jen, Patience and Ashlyn outside after lunch:

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Bobby, my middle son’s summer job.

Today, my eldest son Jeff, got some great news. He was offered his first post-college, career related, full time job! He graduates from the Natural Gas Tech program at NBCC next month and he’s already got a job to go to! The company that hired him is the same company he did his practicum with and was his first choice employer. So he’s a happy guy and we’re proud parents! Honestly, it feels like just yesterday he was beginning kindergarten - the time goes soooo fast.

Jeff’s been through a lot and this is a fantastic accomplishment for him. We celebrated by taking everyone out to dinner tonight.

Below is a picture of all three kids. Bobby on the left, Jeff in the middle, and Jen on the right.

Last night we had our first Lobster feed of the summer. Our friend, who is a captain on a large ferry that operates between NB and NS had them delivered to us live, caught just that morning. They were crawling around on the deck, much to our dog (Molly’s) horror. We cooked them in a big pot outside. Correction: The men cooked them, we stayed inside and prepared everything else… it was freezing out there!

What did we have to go with it? Melted butter (of course), crusty bread, and a huge ceasar salad. Yummy, yum, yum! Finger lickin’ goood! Here’s a pic of hubby (Rick) with the cooked lobsters right before we chowed down:

Update on Adorondak chairs: Ha - not much. We bought the paint. Rick pressure washed them to remove old paint, they sat on the driveway to bake in the sun and dry. Then it rained. Sunday - well, we got sidetracked… what can I say?

So, it’s Friday night and what’s going on in my life? This week we all suffered from a bug that lasted 2 or 3 days. It slowly made it’s way from person to person in this family… some sort of flu… sore all over, chills, total exaustion, stomach cramps, and a constant feeling of nausea without going over the edge (of the toilet). My stomach noises were LOUD! Anyway, glad it’s over and everyone is now on the mend.

As I write this, by husband Rick, and our son Bobby are downstairs watching the Blueman Group DVD. It’s so loud I can hear it all up here at my desk. I’m not complaining, I love their music. Here’s a picture from the fall of 2006 when I took Jen (pictured on the right), with Sydney (on the left) and her mom to NYC and we saw them live in concert.

Well, wouldn’t you know that the big Blueman group show is coming here to our fair city this summer… and of course we have tickets to see them! This concert will be a lot different than the one we saw in NYC - I hear it’s the whole orchestra. Should be interesting.

The weather is suppose to be sunny and warm this weekend for a change. Among other things, we’re planning on painting our 4 adorondak chairs. I’m thinking of some bright colours… like yellow and orange?? Right now they are lavender and green… we shall see. Stay tuned for pictures of the finished product

This is cool and shareworthy. Plus, it’s tres simple for both windows and mac users. I have so many digital pics hiding away in files. Now they can be seen!

How to do it:

In Windows, click the Start button, and then choose Control Panel/Display. In the Screensaver tab, choose “My Picture Slideshow.” You can then choose the folder you wish to feature. Took me 5 seconds to set up.

If you use a mac; in System Preferences, click Desktop & Screen Saver, and then choose the “Pictures Folder” screen saver.