I'm so glad you could stop by. This is my personal blog of daily life and my journey through life. You will find a strong emphasis on family and friends as well as finding my ancestors through genealogy. Unlike my other blogs this blog is more of a catch-all so any topic is fair game.
A few years ago we had the great pleasure of meeting one of our kid's soon to be spouse. As a way of breaking the ice the kids gifted us with these extremely cute cow mugs. I think they are just adorable! Now that the grandkids are toddlers Grandma is always looking for something just a little special to surprise them with. I spotted the cow mugs in the cabinet so thought they would be an excellent way to connect the kids who couldn't be here for the brunch with the grandkids.
Oh my gosh! The grandkids loved these mugs! The two oldest grandkids were just a hoot as they discovered the cows hiding on the bottom of the mugs. They petted the cows and had quite the conversation about the cows. Their faces were shining with animation as they excited talked about the cows. I'm still chuckling over it. And these are the things memories are made of!
This certainly has been the year of battling nasties on more than one level! On the home front, spiders have become a huge problem. Four venomous (toxic to humans) spiders have been identified on our property including the brown recluse spider with the funnel spiders reaching huge numbers. While funnel spiders are non-aggressive so the chances of being bit is low their sheer numbers greatly increase a chance encounter. They are everywhere! I finally decided we had no option but to take drastic measures by hauling out chemical insecticides something I try to avoid at all costs.
Yesterday I loaded up the pressure pump spray with the first insecticide that would take care of the funnel spiders in the cedar and boxwood hedges. They were my first target. Then I reloaded with a residual spray to treat the outside of the house, sunporch and garage. Tomorrow I will do a bit of back tracking to check for any active webs left on the hedges then spray targeted areas of the house indoors.
We last treated for spiders in 2007 so hopefully won't have to treat again until their numbers get to the point it causes a potential risk. At any rate we should see a significant decrease in the venomous spiders and spiders in general while driving all spiders back from the house lessening the chance of a chance spider bite. It was a productive, preventative action day.
All three of our grandbabies were here for brunch on Saturday. They are now very active toddlers so I guess I'm going to have to start referring to them as our grandkids. Grandma has a large plastic tote filled with Lego building blocks that they like to play with. In fact every kid that visits us knows about the Lego bin and it is quite common to see the entire bin dumped out onto the floor so they can look for their favourite pieces. It's also common for the adults to join in the fun of building something with the kids.
Lego has always been one of my favourite toys! This bin of Lego has quite a long history starting with the first pieces of Duplo (large Lego blocks) we bought for our first kid's first Christmas. Each Christmas more Lego would find it's way into the house. One Christmas small packages of Lego from McDonald's even hung on our tree. There's the little girl's Lego in pretty pastel colours, camoflauge Lego, glow in the dark Lego and moving Lego. There's even a few rather old instruction sheets for how to build certain things. I really should laminate those!
This past week started out to be so very hot and humid but full of blessings. Lack of rainfall this summer has been a real issue for local farmers and home gardeners. Wednesday, the day we were hosting a large dinner party, the forecaste was hot, humid and thunderstorms. It rained during the wee hours of Wednesday morning and a bit during the day but cleared enough to enjoy eating outdoors for the dinner party then it rained overnight. Thursday and Friday we woke to more rain with clearing in the afternoon. The rain was very much welcomed!
The dinner party was a huge success! The event was not without a bit of sadness though as we found out one of our friends who did not attend had recently been very,very sick resulting in the partial amputation of her leg. Our support, thoughts and prayers are with her and her family as she goes through the healing process!
On Friday a couple of our kids arrived with our second grandbaby, now a very energetic toddler, to spend a couple of days. This little one is just a real hoot! Those great big, brown winkers remind me so much of one of parents at that age and you know Grandmas and Papas are very prone to falling under the spell of the huge puppy dog looks grandbabies can give. The following morning a couple more of our kids arrived for brunch with oldest and youngest grandbabies. We try to get together this way as often as possible. Not only do we get to enjoy our kids and grandbabies, the grandbabies get to enjoy a strong family support system. I think it is wonderful that our grandbabies do play dates together and get lots of interaction so not only are the cousins they are friends, just as their parents are friends with their sibs. All in all there were many blessings all around!
My comments: This email has been circulating throughout Ontario and each time Dalton McGuinty adds another tax or does something else behind closed doors it is added to. What isn't mentioned in this email is how Dalton McGuinty evoked an ancient law to give police extra powers during the G20 Summit in Toroto which results in a huge abuse of police power stripping Canadian citizens of their constitutional rights and freedoms, turning Toronto into a police state. This has resulted in several lawsuits against the Toronto Police that will ultimately end up costing Ontarians millions of dollars. Dalton McGuinty's actions with respect to the G20 brought both shame and shock from Ontarians as well as the rest of the world. It is very important to remind Ontarians of the negative effect Dalton McGuinty has had on this province since becoming Premier of Ontario. Thanks to Dalton McGuinty's leadership Ontario has gone to hell in a handbasket! Re-electing him would be a horrible crime against Ontario.
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PLEASE READ, PASS ON AND REMEMBER NEXT ELECTION. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT:
Here is what our Premier has done for Ontario in the past seven years. Remember...he had a no tax increase election message/campaign:
He has increased all the licensing fees from your car to your boat including fishing and hunting.
He introduced the health care premium (not called a tax) and some couples pay as much as $1,500.00 a year.
He has put an ECO tax on many containers such as paint cans and window washer fluid most and people still don’t realize it until they see the bill - he kept that one real quiet.
He put a disposal tax on all electronics.
He put the disposal tax back on tires.
And now he has passed the HST tax - the largest tax on the province ever and the only other tax in Ontario that ever came close to this in the past was the health care premium. He passed this bill even though 76% of the people in Ontario were against it.
This HST will provide the Province with an additional THREE BILLION dollars a year.
Soon, July 15th, we will all have our S.M.A.R.T. Meters on which we will have to pay perpetual rent and will end up doing our laundry in the middle of the night. We are also going to pay big time for air conditioning from now on because when we need it the most it will be in the prime time of usage.
Let us not forget the E-health scandal with 1.2 billion dollars wasted and paid out to friends and relatives. What was Mr. McGuinty's answer to this? “ Well, if the people of Ontario don't like it, they can show it in the next election.” Nice attitude. This after he fired the CEO and then gave her a severance package of $300,000 - not bad for only being on the job for seven months.
And what about the SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS windmill power plant contract that he awarded to KOREA ? One would think there was some place in Canada or North America that could have built these.
He also closed the emergency rooms in Port Colburne and Fort Erie because there is not enough money. There have been two deaths since then because by the time they got to St. Catharine's it was too late.
But he then awards a hospital in Toronto three million dollars - of course, that was in the riding where there just happens to be a by-election to replace George Smitherman!
He has taken the richest most prosperous province in Canada down to one of the 'Have-Nots' and, over the past six & one half years, has increased the budget deficit from $5.6 Billion dollars to TWENTY SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS and he still has a year and a half to go.
And don’t forget his nice little salaryincrease of $40,000.00 a year - millions of people in the province don’t earn even half of that.
Have we forgotten all the MPP’S who also got a 14% increase? And now that they've had their increases he comes out with a new budget to freeze all provincial employees wages for two years - a bit late don't you think.
He increased the hydro tax by 10% in April of 2010.
He has increased the tax on liquor and wine by 10% in May of 2010.
He continues to permantently 'Blight' landscapes across the province with unsightly wind turbines.
But, Mr. McGuinty will retire with his nice comfortable pension and all his benefits paid.
I hope this gets passed around the province of Ontario and everybody remembers the way we got screwed by Mr. McGuinty and the Liberal party and - remember - not one Liberal MPP had enough guts to vote against any of the above.
Wake up Ontario ....!!
And all pensioners got no raise at all over the past 18 months!!!!!!!!!
Some mornings I'm exactly as pictured - LOL. Honestly those are the days I'm behind before even getting up and it takes me until noon to wake up enough to function. Today is one of those days! I can't even think enough to tweet on Twitter. It's the tell tale signs of the busiest time for canning. The night before I was up late canning the third hamper of tomatoes this season. In return I have 7 L, 5 - 500 ml and 1 - 250 ml jar of gorgeous fire roasted Italian pasta sauce with mushrooms. Then I was up early yesterday to get things ready for a dinner party we were hosting. I've managed to get a good part of the cleanup done this morning from last night's party just by puttering here and there for a few minutes at a time. The dishwasher just finished running so will be ready to empty shortly. I still have to label the jars of sauce that are still on the counter then they can be moved to the pantry. Home canned foods should sit undisturbed for 24 hours once out of the canner to avoid and detect any sealing problems. I have a small amount of hand washing to do then once that is all put away I can do a final wipe down through the kitchen and it will be ready for the kids and grandbaby when they get here for dinner. They are staying with us for a couple of days so that should be quite enjoyable.
This is the time of year that I'm extremely busy processing tomatoes. Along with canning excess tomatoes from the garden I also process an average of 10 hampers (6¼ bushels) of commercially grown tomatoes from a relative. Pictured is one of the first tomato based sauces I made this year. I will be blogging about it on my cooking blog along with the other tomato based products I stock my pantry with. I thought you might be interested in seeing what I'm up to this time of year. The gold lids are standard Bernardin single use metal canning lids. Once used they are not to be reused for canning. The white lids are Tattler reusable lids that I'm testing out in the hopes of eliminating the disposable ones. Doesn't that sauce look yummy?
Those who have been following this blog will know exactly what the significance of the donkey is. For those not aware of the significance of the donkey please check the archives. Here's a cute little video of a donkey apparently not happy with things not going her way that I find just a bit on the funny side. In some respects this rings rather close to home for a certain donkey but without going into further detail enjoy the chuckle and have a great Monday :)
Tomatoes started this past week. While I grow lot of tomatoes most of them are fresh eating. I don't grow any specifically for canning although some of my home grown tomatoes end up in the canning pot. Most of the tomatoes I grow come from a relative who grows commercially. I usually process somewhere around 10 hampers of tomatoes when in season. Last week I processed 2 hampers into roasted tomato and basil sauce, smooth Italian sauce, marinara sauce and tomato stock. It is a lot of work but the tomatoes are free so and it is a great blessing to replenish the pantry. This is the time of year the pantry begins to burst at the seams. What a wonderful blessing!
My husband and I have decided to commit to at least one daily 30 minute walk for the next 30 days. There are a lot of health benefits to simply walk daily and it doesn't cost anything. Today will be Day 4. I've managed to get a couple of 30 minute walks in two of those days and 30 minutes the first day. My husband has done his as well so this is a step in the right direction. This should be an interesting challenge. Won't you join us on our challenge to walk 30 minutes daily for the next 30 days?
I can't recall the first time that I was diagnosed with allergies but there is no doubt that I am highly allergic to a large number of allergens. The problem is and I do understand the immunology as I age I get more allergenic to things that when younger I could tolerate but no longer can. The science behind this is allergies work on the threshold principle. This means you can be exposed to a certain allergen up to a certain level without reacting but if you go over that level you will react and then each exposure will result in stronger reactions. I think I experienced my first outbreak of hives about 15 years ago. Well apparently hives is now a part of my almost daily life. I would have added a picture but that would just gross you out. Anyway, the last few days have been a bit on the brutal side with respect to hives. If you haven't had hives imagine a mosquito bite the 10X the reaction. I react bad to mosquitos as well but hives are seriously so much worse!
A few days ago I went out to the garden to do a bit of picking. I know I was not bit by anything and yet in less than 10 minutes I had an outbreak of hives. I broke out with hives while canning tomatoes and again on the boat a couple of nights ago. I refuse to take anti-histamines due to the side effects but my gosh I might have to given this recent round of allergic reactions. I am certainly not impressed but I'm not going to let it get me down! I think I will start increasing my daily dose of Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. Quite often supplementing with Vitamin D will alleviate the symptoms so it is worth a try. At the same time I am will be working on getting outdoors a bit more daily to stimulate natural Vitamin D synthesis. Unless it is raining out I'm back to my daily walks. This should help boost my natural Vitamin D synthesis while getting me a bit more in shape and that's not a bad thing. Besides if boosting the Vitamin D levels in my body eliminates the hives I will certainly be a happy camper!
I read with great dismay that one of my favourite bloggers, Maitri is stepping away from most of her online life. She has said she will continue writing one blog but she has let the other blogs, Facebook and Twitter go in favour of living more in the real life. I'm saddened by this because Maitri's blogs are one of the first I visited on a regular basis back when I started blogging a little over 4 years ago. The thing is I really do understand where Maitri is coming from. I know it has been a rough year for her especially with the loss of one of her beloved pugs.
There are days that I honestly think walking away from my online life would just make things so much simpler. There would be no pressure to try an get posts out on schedule and no dealing with any online nonsense. In many ways I have cut back on my online activities especially when it comes to forums and groups but I'm considerably more active on social networks. At the same time blogging fills a need for me so I have no intentions of cutting back on that any time soon.
If I could turn back time...I really think I would be right here where I am right now. I'm content and happy so that's all that matters. It's funny thinking back how our first computer, an Amstrad 88 has taken me to here. Well actually our very first computer was an Atari but one of our kids used it all the time, spending hours typing in code just to get a little ball bounce across the screen. The Amstrad was different. Our first internet set up was Internet in the Box and I learned Gopher, Pine and Linux. It was unbelievable that I could easily talk to others half way around the would. Those really were good days for going online. They weren't as pretty but there were no worries about trojans, viruses and spam was almost unheard of. There were great ICQ and bulletin boards. I got to know the newsgroups. It when I learned by trial and error how to create a homepage using a funny language called HTML. My favourite operating system was Windows 3.1 and back then I was a die hard PC (Windows) user. I got into internet security and privacy so learned a lot about that something that still helps today. One of our kids got me into Mac for home use although I was quite familiar with Apple through academia. I made the move to Mac at home about 7 years ago and have never looked back although my current iMac is dual core so partitioned to use both Windows and Mac opperating systems.
In terms of online activities at some times it would be nice to turn back time to a quieter, less intrusive time of being onlin; a time when trolls were dealt with accordingly with a few well placed LARRTs. People respected online privacy and online stalking was a non-issue. It was a time where people just wanted to connect and really it was the first form of online social networking. I do miss those days! But I enjoy these days too so won't be walking away from the internet.
There have been a lot of storms in our area recently. The hot and very humid weather has created the conditions for pop up thunderstorms, some rather violent. The resulting clouds have helped to create some incredibly vibrant sunsets. They are just absolutely amazing! Pictured is the sunset from a couple of nights ago. It was stunning to say the least, just gorgeous! True to the say a red sky at night, sailors delight the following day was rain free.
We haven't had the boat out much this year. There have been a lot of storms in the area, all around us but few actually hitting us. This had made it rather iffy for taking the boat out. Last week we took advantage of a clear evening to do a bit of boating. After we got back from an wonderful ride I sat on the dock enjoying the darkness as it fell upon the water. The moon was rather bright making a lovely twinkling path across the water. It was a perfect ending to a gorgeous day!
My gosh we have had quite a spell of very hot and very high humidity weather over the past few weeks. I was hoping the weather would break before I started into my busiest time of the year for canning. I really don't like running the canners when the AC is on if I can help it. Canning generates a lot of heat and moisture in the kitchen something I don't mind doing during the heating season but prefer not to when the AC is on because it makes the AC work harder which in turn costs us more money. Late Monday afternoon I got my wish just in time for the almost 19 lb of peaches my husband brought home for my canning pleasure. With the garden producing nicely and local produce quite abundant, I was so happy that I could get the peaches put up with a nice breeze coming in the open windows! What a lovely blessing :)
I took this picture from the boat the other night. The water was smooth and the sun shining brightly gave a lot of photo opportunities. Obviously the lens reacted to the glare of the sun in this image resulting in this rather interesting artifact. I like getting shots like this not only for learning purposes but because the the effects. Quite often the image is just a delete and forget but sometimes I like the effect.
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
"I have called this principle, by which
each slight variation, if useful, is preserved,
by the term Natural Selection." —Charles Darwin from "The Origin of Species"
