Turning 40 and Celebrating 45

 My sweet girl turned 40 last week. WHAT????? Didn't I just 40 last year? HAHAHAHAHA......

With help from her friend I was able to contact a few of her work friends as a surprise and boy was she surprised. She was beyond thrilled and happy to celebrate her special day with family and friends.

sandwiches, chips, veg, cake, pool time, soccer, baseball, freezies, laughter

Our backyard certainly was feeling the love.

Can you believe it is the last BD party at the Raspberry Patch?

Oh ya and these 2 celebrated 45 years of wedded bliss.....

Peaches for Everyone

 Here in Ontario it is peach season. Can we ever have enough of this sweet juicy fruit? I never buy peaches out of season. I make as many peachy goodness recipes as I can in this very short month.  And I freeze a few bagfulls to have for peachy recipes in those horribly long winter months. This year may be a bit different with the move but I am going to try to do the best I can.

Peach Ice Cream

 

Peach Streusel Muffins

My tomatoes are ripening fast and furious. Did you know you should pick your fruit before it ripens? Let it sit on a window sill or counter. You won't have to deal with blossom end rot. 

Thank goodness for raised garden beds. With the amount of rain we have had and are expecting it helps a wee bit. I do have 3 plants in the greenhouse that are doing ok. They may need to be put in bigger pots. That may be a project for next week.

Hope to get a few bags of these too. I  freeze skinless whole tomatoes in freezer bags. If there is time this year I may make a couple jars of salsa.

HB's birthday was at the start of the month.  He decided he wanted a quiet celly just us. I was in charge of making the pizza and a wee sweet . Peach, prosciutto, 2 cheese, basil,  with a balsamic glaze. 

It was delicious.

 I found a recipe for a mini cheesecake that was enough for us.

Cosmos and zinnias 

Have a great week!!

Moving the Raspberry Patch

 As the ole saying goes "the best laid plans of mice and men"

I had every intention of journaling our adventure in this moving adventure.  So here we are numerous months in and I am just doing it. The house has been decluttered ---- to the best of our ability -- cleaned up and prepped. As of a week ago the sign went up.

 So far we had 2 showings. We know it is going to take someone looking for a lovely family home but is willing to put lots of TLC in.  Right now it is very slow on the selling and buying front. People are on vacay and aren't looking at the market. Fingers crossed  August perks up.

On the garden front. I must make a huge admission. I am not terribly inspired this year on the garden front. I am enjoying the bit of puttering in the greenhouse and bits of weeding and fussing but deep down gardening is not enjoyable. Now having said this our potager is looking fantastic this year.  We have eaten radishes,

lettuce, swiss chard, kale, and of course lots of basil.  

The tomatoes (San Marzano) are starting to look like, well, San Marzano tomatoes!! 

Oh yes the jalapenos are delicious.

This is the hottest July in the world's yes the world's history. Humidexes in the high 30's and 40's. Crazy heat and then heavy downpours. Bad air quality is a daily reminder of wildfires and climate change. 

Now that I have regaled in self pity and complaining it's time to put a brighter spin on this post.

So far we have had day trips with the grand kids, birthday parties, new ice cream recipe, graduations, garden posies, baking, and enjoying a sweet relax on the patio.

Let's see if I can continue with this blogging.

I do enjoy looking back and consider it one of my ways of keeping track of things in my life.

yay we are getting summer next week

 After many many weeks of cold frosty nights it looks like we are in for a week ahead of summer type temperatures. Maybe just maybe I will be able to get the gardens in. I'm not going to lie my gardening mojo has been waning. I still enjoy puttering in the greenhouse but I want to get my hands in the dirt. So ya next week. Looks like high 20s and perhaps a 30 thrown in. Nighttime temps 15 or so. My plant babies can certainly handle that. They have been extremely pampered in the greenhouse with a heater on at night. It keeps the GH at about 10 overnight.

I have pulled out a few of my summer cookbooks for next weeks meal plan.

 I don't even have my summer pantry stocked yet. I guess Monday will be stock up day. Here is an idea of what I have on hand in the summer pantry:

cans of black beans

tortillas

salsa

jello

pudding

graham crackers

marshmallows

chocolate {for s'mores}

cookie mix {homemade or store bought}

FREEZER

Frozen burgers

lemonade

frozen fruit

corn

burger buns 

grated mozz and tex mex 

naan

pizza

chicken breast --- always 

So that's just a sampling of my summer stock up. Of course everyone is different. If I have these things in the pantry and freezer it makes for planning meals and spur of the moment entertaining a little easier. Of course there is always a quick trip to the grocery store for fresh produce.

Decided to make myself scones. For GF biscuits they taste pretty good. Of course there is that GF texture but for most things I can overlook that. If it means I can have a biscuit without feeling like a puffer fish I will take it. Search gluten free. They are not dairy free altho you could make them that. I use real butter but replace the milk with soy. Sometimes you have to have real butter. Nor are they egg free. I have tried making them with flax egg and let's just say I did not have success.

A quick orange glaze swept over them and voila scones for Saturday morning breakfast

Garden Musings

 With the thought of leaving the Raspberry Patch sometime this year I am left in a bit of a quandary as what to to with the veg patch as well as the pots of annuals I like to place around. My family and friends say just DO IT!! What they don't seem to understand is the amount of thought and planning I invest in the summer garden. Do I want to take all this time and effort for someone else to enjoy the fruits of the labour.? One thing I know for sure is that there are a few perennials that I will be digging up and letting them have a visit in Arnprior for a few weeks. Of course this will happen before the house gets put up for sale. Right now the gardens are bursting with spring altho spring does not want to show up right now.

I do like picking fresh radishes and lettuce for a summer salad. And there are the herbs that I find are essential to cooking at the Raspberry Patch. Then of course there is my mini cutting garden. I really do like having a few posies for the table or take to a friends house. 

It looks like I have kind of convinced myself that i will be just as passionate this year as I have in past years with my planting.

I guess sometimes all it takes is sitting quietly and putting my thoughts in words.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

 Happy Cinco de Mayo

After eons of rain we finally got sunshine and a lovely temperature.

I spent the afternoon in the greenhouse transplanting and tidying up.

There are lots of seedlings and I am wondering what I will do with all of them.

I prepped supper stuff then made margaritas for us to sip on on the patio.

It was awesome enjoying the sunshine.

Then it was time to to put all the prep together and enjoy our supper.

Mexican Street Corn Chicken Bowl - A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

Great website ... check her out!!

Prepping the Raspberry Patch

 Well the serious part of the move prep has begun. This past week Max the painter has been busy painting ceilings and doors. Our ceilings have never been painted so you can imagine 45 year old ceilings just sucked the glorious paint in. 

 

Unfortunately it is taking an extra day . The doors have been painted a bright white and we have chosen  Balboa Mist for the wall colours. It is quite the job as we have not painted for 10 to 20 years ...... oops.

Our main floor is draped in drop cloths and plastic wrap

April 17

After a lovely weekend of sunshine and glorious temperatures ( 27 to 30s)  Getting caught up on laundry and a bit of baking .

 A great afternoon in Arnprior.

 Max is back at it putting the paint on walls and repairing a lot of bad stuff.

 I do feel a bit , as my friend Monique says, paused. I did a bit of organizing donations boxes in the basement this morning but it got a bit overwhelming so I stopped. Now I am hold up in my bedroom writing this.

Max is going to to do the stairs too YAHOO!!

I had planned on doing them but he has offered of course with an extra fee which in the grand scheme of the full reno it is next to nothing. And I don't have to do it which is worth it to me.

April 20th

Here we are on our 7th day of painting. Yes I am overwhelmed . Yes I feel cluttered. But it is almost finished and the result will and is fantastic. Max is very particular which I enjoy making the work last a bit longer.. We are hoping today is the last full day and tomorrow can be used for touching up.

Yesterday we took a wee hike on the Beckwith Trail just to get out of the house. It was pretty dismal but nice to do something different. It was cold and the only bird calling was a robin altho we did see trumpeter swans flying over a field. That was Iain's hi lite. 

Today we are having lunch with the Roys. Paul's brother unexpectedly passed away last week. tt will be nice to touch base with them. I don't think we have seen them since coming back from Costa Rica.

April 23

Painting is done and now we just have to put the house back to a minimalist way of living. No point in unpacking boxes just to pack them up in one or two months. 

Yesterday we viewed 5 homes and I am exhausted. We saw one at the end of the day that was the best we had seen and I think if we felt ready we would have made an offer.  This week I am focusing on getting the laundry room and craft room organized.

I also have to get back to a normal routine now that the house is back.

 Cleaning, Laundry, meal plans.

I have had friends ask why we/I want to move. Cuz let's face it HB would stay put. I want a change and would like a more updated house. A smaller more doable yard would be nice. I love my yard but over the years it has become more of a chore than a joy. A bungalow would be ideal but we have been looking at some lovely townhomes. 

Wishing you all a wonderful week......

Second Week Flying Solo

 My second week of "flying solo".

 I thought I would be going bonkers by now but I have kept busy with lots of little projects. Don't get me wrong I miss my HB more than I can say. 

Lots of old movies, knitting vlogs, hockey games, and decluttering. I did spend most of last weekend cleaning up a horrible flooding mess in the old laundry room, Suffice it to say it was not the way I wanted to spend the weekend. It's all fixed now and cleaned up.

I have been trying to eat as gluten free as much I can. I've made up a gluten free baking mix and have made blueberry muffins and banana bread. Great for my mid morning snack. I'm finding that if I do eat a bit of bread or any gluten product my stomach gets a very bloaty feeling ..... not pleasant

GF Baking Mix

1 cup white rice flour

1 cup brown rice flour

2/3 of a cup potatoe starch

1/3 of a cup tapioca starch

I have read if you are making a dough say for pizza you should add one quarter of a teaspoon xanthium gum to 1 cup mix. It helps to give the dough that gluteny feel.

I haven't tried this myself yet but may give it a try this week.

My thoughts are crazy pants with Christmas. Got my cards and have started organizing my planner. I had a planner for the past 3 Christmases but I CANNOT find that sucker anywhere.   So the only thing to do is yes start a new one. Norman is rolling his eyes at me.

This weekend Holly and the kiddos are coming for pizza. The weather has been spectacular. Saturday is supposed to be sunny and 21c (70F). Is it really November??? Global warning sucks but this is one of the nicer side effects for us anyway. The garden is still showing off its beauty.