Our first canoe trip!

 We took the canoe out on Friday afternoon!!! It was pretty gusty - click on the top photo and check out the white caps.   Undaunted, we decided to go out anyway!!  We were unable to launch at the beach because the water was too shallow.  In an effort to get ourselves out there we had caved in one of our rattan seats and had both already stepped into the water with our good runners.  I just kept thinking that the guys on Amazing Race just do whatever needs to be done so I did the same.  Once we were wet it seemed reasonable to just keep going.  We decided to set off towards the boat launch to find deeper water.  Brian drove the car and trailer over while I pulled the canoe in the shallower

water near the shore.  I have already apologized to the canoe for our rough treatment of it on our inaugural trip.  I expect it is not used to such rough treatment considering its condition and age.
Anyway, once away from the beach we were able to find some deeper water and get going.
The wind was coming from the north and blowing towards shore so getting any head way took some energy.  We went up the west shoreline a little ways and you can see here in the second photo the beach as the wind pushed us back to the shore which was kind of nice after paddling hard to get out a ways.

Finally, we decided that we had done enough considering the conditions.  We had several inches of water in the canoe and our feet were wet and getting cold.  The boat launch provided a better place to come to shore as well so it was fairly easy to get the canoe out of the water, drain off the water and clean it up from the foam and weeds from the waters edge.  We devised a new strapping down system which takes much less time so that is good.
We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Unfortunately, this late in the season there was no maple walnut so pistacho almond did almost as well.  We sat in the car to enjoy our cones because were were cooling off pretty significantly.  We were already looking forward to a warm tub by the time we got home.
So now, we know that we need a few things:  new seats or a refurbish job of the old ones, two shorter paddles, two whistles and some new non ratcheting straps.  We may need to invent something that attaches to the trailer to support the canoe as well.
We left the canoe on the trailer in case it is nice enough this week to go again.  I expect after that we will have to set up one of the support systems and get the canoe up near the ceiling for the winter.
So it was a great first trip and we are really happy with the canoe and are looking forward to more canoeing in the future.

Therese

Pimbina syrup!!

Sylvia came this week to pick pimbina.  We picked in the evening because the adjoining area is under construction.  We picked one pail.  I have some left canned jars from last year and some in the freezer from the year before so I did not really need any this year.  We did do up three small jars for my friend, Paula.  We forgot our cameras when we headed to the bushes so we brought back a sprig to photograph.  They were very nice this year.  So we stored the pail in the garage over night and did up our pimbina in the morning.  We managed 21 little jars of about 1/2 cup and 5 large jars of 1.5 cups.  We each had a jar of leftovers and only one jar that did not seal.  So we are set for pancakes for another year!!

Therese

New perennials - irises and day lilies

I love freecycle!!  I managed to pick up some day lilies - peach and deep red colour AND some irises  - yellow and yellow purple from a woman who was thinning her flower beds this past week.  She threw in a few lily bulbs but she had no idea what colour they were.
So I will have a fun spring when all these new plants come up in front of the ones I have planted on the side of the garage.  These will eventually be dispersed in the area once the sidewalk is in place and they can be given permanent homes.  It is possible some of the daylilies will be relocated to the far side of the house along the fence that borders the walking path.  Brian likes the way the leaves bend over and allow him to cut beneath them with the whipper snipper yet not have to get close enough to damage the stems.  Makes for a neat edge with less upkeep.   We shall see!!

Therese

Dried tomatoes

 Having so many fresh tomatoes has prompted me to dig out my dehydrator and use it to dry some tomatoes.  I simply cut the washed tomatoes into slices, removed the seeds and spread them over the trays.  I added some greek oregano and set it going.   It took 12 hours to dry the pieces to a nice flexible texture.  I am sure these will be very tasty for adding to soups and tomato sauces this winter.  I will be doing it several more times as the tomatoes ripen though I expect I will be canning pints this coming week because there is a multitude of red tomatoes in the boxes.  Therese

Fresh salsa

Paula has donated some tomatoes to me for helping out with the garden so we are again this year enjoying fresh salsa for lunch!!  Not quite as multicoloured as it was last year it is as tasty!!

Therese

Black currant and crab apple jelly

I had some juice left over from making my first batch of applesauce so I decided to add some black currant juice from the freezer and make some jelly.  It has been some time since I made jelly!!  I managed fairly well but was a bit time compressed getting my jars ready as the jelling process did not take very long at all.  All in all, it worked out well and I have a few jars of jelly to show for my time.  I will be giving a couple to Alison for her generosity in sharing her crab apples with me. The colour is very beautiful!!

Therese

Rain

We had planned to take the canoe out to Gull Lake this weekend but this is what it looked like on Sunday afternoon!  It rained the rest of the day and part of the night so our canoe trip has been put off until the end of this week when they are predicting 20C.

Garden will have to be harvested this week and will be picking pimbina with Sylvia as well.

Therese

Crabapples become applesauce!

 I picked beautiful red crab apples at Alison's this week.  She was not going to have time to do anything with them so I picked four ice cream pails.

 Donna on the other side had also said I was welcome to pick any I wanted off her tree because she did not have time to use them.  I did not recall from last year how large and beautiful hers were.  I may have checked them out too early in the year to really appreciate them.  They are larger, beautiful and juicy!!  Great for eating out of hand.

I decided to document how much different they were in size!!  You can see that they have hail damage so I decided not to can any whole which need to be perfect and have a tail on them.  Too much of a challenge for this year.  

I managed to get 6 whole jars in my first batch - had one jar break.  Yesterday, I did another seven and still had quite a bit of applesauce left over so decided to do another go around and got another five.  So that gives me a 18 pints of glorious red applesauce for the winter.  I use some in every batch of muffin I make so I am sure I will make good use of them.  We shall see if they all go.  I had only a few jars canned last year and quite a few packages of applesauce in the freezer.  Works much better to have it canned.

So far , so good!  I have received several boxes of tomatoes from Paula so I expect I will be canning some of those once they ripen.  Most were picked green to avoid the cold evenings we had this past week.

Therese

New Canoe!!!

We have a new canoe!!!  It is a used canoe that "has been everywhere" that we purchased on the weekend from a nice gentleman in Calgary!!  It is a 16' Clipper Prospector with a Kevlar Duraflex hull and wood trim and it is red!!!  It is in very good condition.
I have had a red canoe that looks EXACTLY like this one on my window back ground for a few years now!!!  So I will be putting something else that I want there until it shows up!!
We got it for a good price and much less than we would have paid for a new one so we are happy.  It is a bit heavier than we were looking for but don't anticipate it will be a problem.

The guy included three wood paddles, a hoist system, a bailer and two paddling life jackets. We hope to have it in the water one day this week though it is likely later in the week because it is predicted to rain for the next several days.

Therese

Neighbour passes away

Our friend and neighbour passed away last week. Unfortunately, with company here and so on we did not find out about the memorial tea organized by her friends until the last minute.  It was wonderful to hear from so many people who described Gail with their own words and shared a few stories about memorable moments with her.  As always, these events bring us closer to our friends and neighbours.  It was great to see so many of the people we have met since we arrived.

We will miss her regular visits as she walked Carly, her four legged friend, around the neighbourhood.

Therese

Peggy from Ontario comes for a visit!

 My friend, Peggy from Ontario came for a visit this week!! We have been Skyping regularly for our Book Club meetings for the last couple of years so we have managed to stay up on each others lives but is was very nice to see her in person and talk face to face.  She brought me this wonderful bouquet of sunflowers which her daughter picked at the farm where she works.
Peggy was in Alberta visiting her daughter and her boyfriend in Bowden.  They took a little drive around the province and did some sightseeing within the week that she was out west.  With her daughter off to school she had one day to spare so drove up for a visit.
It was a great visit!!  We managed a bit of a walk around the lake as well.

Therese

Suzanne's birthday - 39 for the first time!!

Last weekend we went and celebrated Suzanne's birthday with her family, Richard and Sylvia.  It was a few days early but it was easier to plan for the weekend than trying to make it happen on a weeknight with kids in school.
It was a great visit!!  Time simply flies and we headed home shortly after supper just as the kids' bedtime.

Therese

Refurbished cradle

Brian refurbished the rockers of this large wicker cradle for one of our friends.  The cradle has been well used - at least 8 babies have used this cradle in this family - who knows how many before that!!  The rockers had been ruined by having larger children getting in with the baby!!  Brian cut them back, added new hard wood and reshaped the broken portions.  To finish them off her added some sturdy hardware and a coat of primer.  It was a fun project and Peggy was very happy to have her little cradle back!!  She is all ready for grand babies now!

Therese

Paula's garden

Went out to help harvest tomatoes that did not fit under the covers as it was threatening frost overnight.

Fortunately, it did not freeze so the rest of the garden will be hanging in for another little bit!!

Therese

The Danish Canadian National Museum

 My sister, Sylvia, was here last week and we went on a road trip to the Danish Canadian National Museum.  It was a bit of a drive and we were hopeful that the weather would improve by the time we arrived.  We did end up with some very light rain over the course of our our door exploration and did end up heading home with wet feet.  Fortunately, they had a restaurant and an indoor component to the museum so we had several opportunities to warm up over the course of our stay.

We started with lunch which was good but a bit of a small portion, so we had dessert too!!  We shared a pancake ball with saskatoon jam - very good!!!  We did manage to beat the crowd which surprised us considering the weather.

We took a lot of photos!

Inside, they had several rooms.  A library, a bedroom, a children's room and an office with the appropriate furnishings upstairs from the restaurant.

Outside, they have a Viking Ship in an out building, a little church, several outdoor displays, beautiful flower beds and a little water feature along with informative trails.  On a warm summer day it would have been a much more pleasant experience but all in all we were happy with our visit.

Therese