Evans cherries and a simple pitting tool

 I picked the Evans Cherries at Linda's this morning and got about a 1/4 of a pail. They are very ripe and tasty!!  I have cooked them up and got three cups of juice which I will transform into pancake syrup once I get my apple pectin made up.

 Out in the blueberry patch we met neighbours from home and we got talking.  She shared an easy pitting tool which she had tried (from a You Tube video) and worked well - a straw from a sippy cup!!!
So I checked my drawer this morning and found this straw which works perfectly.  Not sure where it came from but it will now be renamed "cherry pitting tool" and be put into use when I will need to be pitting some cherries.  I expect to juice the cherries I picked this year but my friend Paula made some jam with some of hers and she said it was very delicious so maybe next year I will consider that option.  So if you have some cherries that need pitting consider giving technique a try.  Apparently, very slightly thawed cherries are quite easily pitted so that may be a consideration for those of you who want to freeze your cherries and pit them when you have a bit more time.              Therese

Another puzzle

Brian finished this puzzle while I was away.  It is very interesting and because all the pieces are different and angular and irregular!! It is off to the second hand store!!

Therese

Blueberries and cranberries

 Went blueberry picking with Mom and Dad one afternoon and picked a few more after the move with Madeleine and Robert at the campsite.  They are few than last year so it was a bit harder to fill a pail - I got about a half pail in all.  The low bush cranberries were very plentiful and much quicker picking so I managed to get about a half pail of those.  I put them in the sun yesterday and they are much redder than they were when I picked them so they are headed to the freezer!!

Therese

Ripe tomatoes

 

Ripe tomatoes when I got home!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy to have ripe tomatoes from the garden this year.  Mom managed to pick all her garden before she left the house as well.  She brought her box of tomatoes to put under the bed!!

I picked tomatoes, carrots and a few cucumbers when I got home.  We had fresh toasted tomatoes sandwiches for lunch!!  The very best!!!!

Therese

Final day at the house

We headed back to the house the next day to sort through what was left at the house.  We sorted and organized  - garage sale stuff, plastics and garbage.  Those who wanted anything that was left picked up or made piles to pick up later.

Stella and Gord  and Brian and I headed to the house just before leaving to pick up the few items we had set aside to bring home.

Final day at the house!!!!! Grateful for the house that has been a blessing for our family for the last fifty years!!!             Therese

The new apartment

 The new apartment!!  It was a good move.  Robert and Madeleine with Gregory's trailer, Carmen and Alan along with Curtis, Marty and Lotus and Anthony, Loraine and Alyx, Sylvia and Brian and I were there to load and unload.  We were all grateful for the young guys who provided the muscle for the heavier items.  We started unloading when we arrived and thanks to Courtenay A&W was organized at lunchtime for the troops while Sylvia and I went to Panda Gardens with Mom and Dad.  We finished afterwards and started unpacking with Mom's direction after that.  Everyone cooperated and by 4pm the job was done.

 The final task was to get the spare room sorted out and organized so it could be used.  We set up the sewing machine and the plexiglass for Dad's rosary making.

 The cable/telephone guy showed in the afternoon and took care of setting up phone and cable.

The freezer will be coming in next week and the frozen goods will be brought over after it is in place and that will be the end of the moving.

Mom will be going back to pick her large apples and the grapes as well sometime in September!!

We are grateful for a wonderful place for Mom and Dad that will be closer to all their essential services and have less up keep than the house.

Therese

Move Day!!

 Move day!!  The trailers - Dad's little one with boxes and Gregory's with furniture  - are loaded and we are ready to roll!!!  Out of the yard by 9:30am and at the apartment by 10am.

Therese

Boxes are packed and picking up the key

Well, the last of their belongings are packed into the porch and ready to be loaded in the morning.  There are quite a few more already loaded in the trailer from previous packing sessions with some of the others who came.

 Mom and Dad are picking up their keys for the apartment.  The process of reviewing the lease agreement was fairly lengthy but provided a good amount of information about what they can and cannot do and they were able to ask any questions they wanted.

A totally new experience for them!!

Therese

Apple pie filling

 While I was home helping Mom and Dad pack for their move we took time to pick the crabapples and the apples that were left on the trees.  Mom was not really wanting to leave them behind.  I picked while they had their nap and Dad helped cut them up and then they cooperated on passing them through the food processor to make apple pie/crisp filling.  One of their last activities before the move!!                     Therese

Another fun and artsy puzzle

We have finished another puzzle - it has cut into our screen time quite a bit but that is how it goes.  It has all its pieces so it is going back in the box and will be a good one to do with Mina next time she visits.

Therese

Tomatoes are turning red!!

 I have tomatoes turning red!!  I did not have any tomatoes turn red in the garden last year so I am very pleased to see some turning already this year!!!!  Vine ripened tomatoes make the very best sandwiches and salsa.  Two days ago there was no red at all and so I anticipate the next two bunches will have red showing in the next couple of days.

Therese

Long weekend puzzle finally finished

We bought this puzzle last week at a thrift store along with a couple other artsy ones and a cool Scotland Yard game by Ravensburger.   I LOVE this puzzle!!  It is such a fun collage - the only thing better would be that it would have been letters!!  For a couple of bucks we had nothing to lose - no missing pieces so this one is a keeper.  We will probably make several more times - I am sure Mina will enjoy it - and then I expect it will become craft room decor in some way!!  We started it on the long weekend and have been progressively working at it.  It is not particularly difficult but the transitions between elements means that sometimes you have no idea what colour of piece you should be looking for.  

The game has all the pieces but the  instructions are in Deutsche so we will have to translate them. We had not seen any before and Suzanne mentioned she had recently picked one up so the name was on our radar.             Therese

Library books - The Enchanted, Ava Lavender, The Buried Giant

I have finished these library books and they are headed back so I thought I would share them before they go.
The Enchanted - a death row inmate's perspective on the beauty of where he lives.  Very interesting testament to choosing your thoughts.
Ava Lavender - the blessings  - or not - of being different and how a whole family that has a wide variety of ways of being different and how they cope and some eventually come to see a different way of seeing differences.
The Buried Giant - memories - do you need them and what happens when you always remember.  Again, one about choices.  Remembering often leads to certain choices which you would not make if you did not have the memories of the past.  A couple who find unforeseen consequences to regaining their memories of the past.
All great books and very interesting reads!!

Therese

Flowers

I have put a pot of coleus on the front door step and they are doing much better than I would have expected.  I love the colours.  Will be looking for a few more varieties for next year and maybe a larger pot.  I filled a vase full of flowers from my garden.  I trimmed my dill again - it is monstrous in the square foot garden.  I included the barely developed heads in my vase along with some yellow and orange calendula and some pink zinnias.  Uncle Maurice's geranium is doing very well on the front step.  It likes it much better up by the door so that will be where it goes in future years.  I will be taking some cuttings in the fall in hopes of replenishing the container in the spring.  

Therese

Substructure for patio lighting

Brian has taken the time over the last several weeks to put in the conduit for the patio lighting.  With the conduit installed he will be able to come up with a plan for the lights he wants to install in the holes that were originally the supports for the fence around the hot tub pad when we moved it.  It is not all decided yet but I expect the lights will be LEDs and he will be installing some sort of transculent/transparent material into the holes level with the surface of the pad which will provide ambient lighting.  Another step finished for this project.
Therese

Moved the haskap and pointentilla bushes around the yard

 Worked on getting the bushes moved yesterday.  Brian dug up the two potentillas and moved them to in front of the fireplace bump out which we hope will keep the cold room cooler in the summer time because it will shade the outside.  We managed to get the second haskap planted as well.  The one on the left is Borealis and the one on the right is Honey Bee.  They can pollinate each other so I am hoping that in a couple of years I will be able to pick some berries.  We bought them at Canadian Tire in the spring and they are finally in the ground.  The plan of where they were going has changed a couple of times since we bought them but I am much happier with this layout so it was for the best that we took some time to put them in. 

Therese

Blackcurrants

 I picked my blackcurrants today!!  They were all ripe and yummy!!  I got about 2/3 of an ice cream pail which is probably twice as many as last year.  I washed them picking out all the stems and leaves, put them in the dutch oven and added water to just below the berry level and cooked them for about 15-20 minutes. I put them all in a jelly cloth and collected the juice squeezing the bag lightly.  Next, I passed the remaining solids through the food mill and collected about 2 cups of puree which I will freeze and add to pies, crisps and fruit compotes over the winter.  I put the remaining pulp back in the jelly cloth with a bit of water and extract a bit more juice.  I got a total of 7 cups of juice which I will freeze and make into syrup when I made apple pectin in the next few weeks.    Therese

Kale headed home!!

 We ended up with a very workable Plan B for getting Kale home on Thursday.  Suzanne made a middle of the night trip because Kale had been up asking to go home and we had agreed that if he asked we would make that happen. Fortunately, he did go back to sleep to afterwards so Suzanne was able to grab some shut eye before they headed back home after breakfast.  I made some cool honey drawings on Kale's pancakes before they were made into a sandwich and eaten!!
Wonderful visit with Kale and Mina!!!!!!

Therese

Bike track

 Kale right off started riding between the sand box and the sand pile and practicing riding as close as possible to each of them.  On one pass by the sandbox he collided with the fence after a really close ride around the sand pile.  After that he drew himself some lines to follow which were really only used as a rough guideline.  He would change it up and add the patio platform to the sequence every once in a while practicing turning around on it with a sharp turn.  He is very adept at making his bike do what he wants and very persistent at practicing until his vision is accomplished.           Therese

Catching air and working the side boards

 With a few friends at the skatepark Kale managed to get his bike to "catch some air". It was difficult to get a good shot of it but I kept trying and it was not like there was not enough opportunities.  This is the best I managed capture when the wheels left the ground for a half second on the way over the edge of this surface.  After watching the other kids use this boxed in area with curved sides he eventually was able to get his bike up there a bit and was proud of his Ninja Moves!!

Therese

Whipper Snipper cords

Brian worked out a tool to help Kale cut some whipper snipper cords.  They managed to get a few made but they were fairly difficult to cut and it was more fun to be outside on the bike.

Therese

Cooperative waterworks project

Brian and Kale worked on a cooperative plumbing set of pipes which spewed water in two different places!!!

Therese

Rain

 It did rain and we found a beautiful spider web that had been hightlighted by the rain!

The fog was very thick in the morning and the wet precluded using the skate park so we explored the neighbourhood nearby and the group campsite that had a large shelter.  On the way home from the park we found a rock that was full of little lakes left over from the rain.             Therese