Cooking Free Night

Another trip to Boston Pizza and this time I remembered to bring my camera along. It was a nice evening out. The place was busy, but the service was good and the food was delicious.

Days in June

Several years ago we had a yard full of flower beds. We had many kinds of perennials and also lots of annuals. My favorite annual was the petunia. Now we don't have too many flowers anymore, but there are a few blooming despite the changing weather.

Street Festival

Well, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Mind you it was a little cool, but that's better than walking in the rain. Talking about getting wet, there were those getting wet in the dunk tank. The main street of town was closed to traffic, instead was full of people and activities. Crafts and plants were for sale, popcorn, cotton candy, hotdogs, etc. The crowds were being entertained by singers and musicans on stage in the gazebo. Kids were jumping in the bouncy castles and adults were looking for bargains!

Much Needed Rain

It's raining for more than five minutes! WOW! It must be a dry year, otherwise we would not appreciate this much rain. It does look pretty wet out. The Street Festival committee is probably a little worried about tomorrow's activities. They've been planning this outdoor event for a year now. The weather is indeed unpredictable! The other day it was very warm and now it's turned rather chilly and it's raining the night before the big day! Hopefully it will rain itself out overnight and tomorrow will again be sunny and suitable for a Street Festival - Mexican style.

Summery Day

It was warm and sunny outside today. I even went to work without a jacket this morning! I hope it's not our only day of summer. I also noticed that our Burr Oak has made it through another winter. It is slower than the other trees in leafing out. It looks so dead when everything else is showing signs of life. I'm afraid if someone else moved in here, they would have cut it down already.

I decided today also was a good day to return refundable containers to the depot. What a messy looking place that is. Now that the milk containers have a deposit on them, we'll be making more trips to the depot. What a job that will be. I really don't know if those places are ready for that kind of volume. At least the one here I don't think is.

Spring Flowers

It's a rather blustery day today, but I thought I should go out and at least look at the few flowers that are blooming. There is the beautiful purple pasque flower which is among the very first flowers to push its buds thru the frozen ground. The little mini iris lilac white color is so petite, but rather short lived. The old reliable poppy in yellow, orange and white. As a child I remember walking in my grandmother's garden, she had these poppies with their plump buds, and I always wondered what color would pop out. I'd be so curious I couldn't help but break open the bud to see what color was inside. I also have the bergenia (elephants ears) in my yard. Its tight clusters of rosy pink look so strong as they barely move in the wind. Oh, I almost forgot there is also the very prolific yellow alyssum. It's a perennial and spreads around even when the soil isn't good. It is pretty though.

Mmm..good!

Tonight took us to our neighboring town for a quick browse in the mini mall and supper at Boston Pizza. They make one of my favorites, the California pizza.. no mozzarella or meat, just onion, tomato and mushroom, well there's sauce too! See then I can eat the whole thing myself. Would we like some dessert? humm? Yeah, the warm chocolate brownies with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream please and two spoons. OK...that was good!

Walking Around Town

I took my camera along last weekend when we went for a walk around town. Sometimes things do change in a small town, new buildings are built, little renovations done, or big changes. One building that had been here forever it seems, was the building that was once the Barrhead Alliance Church and later the antique store. It has been totally renovated into apartments. The house that was beside the church to the west was taken away and so it looks very different.

Snow Day in May

It's May 19th and we wake up to SNOW! What gives with this weather? I'm sure glad I didn't buy plants for my yard. The May long weekend is usually when we go out to the greenhouses. We see the masses of plants all lined up, looking so beautiful and hard to resist that we just have to buy them. I heard some people went camping and were happy to get back to their heated houses. In this country the weather seems to be very unpredictable. We can't plan too far ahead. However, the forecast for next weekend is much better. A warm +20C. The walking trails will have to wait until then.

Gaithers Concert

Well, we'd never been to a Gaither's Concert before, so it was pretty exciting. Of course we'd seen them on TV, but now we were actually part of the audience. Yipee! Rexall Place is pretty big, confusing if you're not a regular!

Our tickets said Sec.118, row 14 seats 16 & 17... hmm. where's that.. ooh here it says 118... down the steps we go to row 14. oops wrong side, should go to the other side of the section. ok.. here we are got all that food from the concession, try to balance two fries, two hot chocolates, hamburger, a large pretzel and a bottle of water... crazy, hey did we really need all that? $25 worth, wow! Anyway made it around and excuse me, excuse me, over three ladies who were already comfortable in their seats.. here we are trying to get seated, holding all this stuff and trying to lower the seats... had to have help, oh there were volunteers around us, one wanted to hold the hot chocolate, smell it I presume, well maybe they wanted to taste, who knows. Very entertaining I'm sure, and the show hasn't even started yet! ok you got the picture, we ate the food before the two vacant seats on our right were requested and we would all have to get up again.

Well the show got started and we were entertained as each of the performers came out and did several songs. The lighting effects were bright and colorful. Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry gave us some good laughs as did others. The piano player, Gordon Mote was fabulous. He is the best. He won the award as the best pianist in country music! And he's blind! Obviously not a handicap. Of course, he's played the piano since he was three years old.

We also enjoyed Jeff & Sherry Easter and their children. And then there was also Janet Pascal, Jesse Dixon, Signature Sound and the Gaither Vocal Band.

A most enjoyable evening and we got to let our little lights shine!

Flowers

Well, it's Mother's Day weekend and I think that means flowers. For several years now our church has held a free car wash, free burgers and of course a free flower for the moms. This is held on the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend. This year we were a little slow in getting set up. It looked like it might rain, but we continued to get ready. The sun came out and the people came out. Some come to get their car washed, others walk over to have a free burger and some just come to chat. They know we do this every year and they look forward to it. We even have some come from farther away, so it's a great opportunity to meet people from different walks of life.

Mother/Daughter Tea

The spring mother/daughter tea... hmm deadline to sign-up a week before. Well, I couldn't decide, should I go or not after all it was supposed to be a mother-daughter tea. Seeing I don't have a daughter and my mother didn't want to go I was in kind of a dilemma as to what to do. I thought well I won't go. So the day before I was at the church and happened to notice the white table cloths and peaked in to the room to see.. hmm looked very interesting, all pretty with tea cups, napkins and little bowls of jams on the tables. I thought this could be fun! OK, try and find a daughter or a mother to join me? Think, come on, who.. ran my finger down the list of names. Oh, there's a lady, lives alone, might she be available and interested? Dial, oh, nobody home.. should I leave a message.. oops waited too long, hi, I'm looking for a mother for the Tea tomorrow, would you be ? OK see what happens. Short while later the phone rings, hi, I'll be your mother.. relief, thank you Lord! The next day she picks me up at my house and off we go to the tea. We both brought our cameras and while I was welcoming the ladies in, she was out in the hallway taking their pictures. So cool! The rest of the afternoon was spent eating pretty little sandwiches, scones, cucumbers, cream puffs, squares & cheese cake and of course sipping tea!!

Friday Night Outing

Decided that Friday was a good day to go out for supper! So, we went with friends to the local Inn... had heard the food had improved again. The white board special was meatball sub and pea soup. Sounds interesting, hey? Then there was also Friday's Fish & Fries.. all you can eat. That's not all.. also on the board: Prime Rib; Ginger beef & noodles and Diane's Chicken stir-fry & noodles. These included soup or salad and fried cheesecake for dessert. Well!! decisions, decisions. I really wanted the fried cheesecake for dessert, otherwise I would have had the meatball sub. But maybe I should have just had the dessert, haha.. because serving sizes were huge! Way more than one should eat at a meal... obesity here we come! I ordered the ginger beef and noodles mixed with little cobs of corn, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and celery and lots of noodles. So, guess what I'll be having for lunch tomorrow! Oh and, by the way, the pea soup was very good too.

Mix it up

Hey, I really like stir-fry. Always start with extra virgin olive oil! Then add chopped up red onions, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, cabbage, red, green or yellow peppers. And look in the fridge to see whatever happens to be left over such as carrots, any other veggies, rice, noodles or potatoes. Heat it up and add some spices like my favorites oregano and dill. Hmm. It's good!

Heart Spa Weekend

I attended a ladies retreat this weekend. It was held at Angels Valley Retreat Centre, located in a very scenic area north of Fort Assinboine. Us ladies were pampered with facials, foot soaks, hand waxing and nail care. We had fun making a rice bag and card scrapbooking. Oh and we ate.. had three yummy meals, were treated to a fashion show and inspirational food for thought. Now I have to catch up on my sleep, because tomorrow it's back to work!

Haircuts

Getting a hair cut is always an adventure! One never knows how it will turn out. I think the best is not to have a really experienced person, because you tend to get an older style. Then a really inexperienced stylist isn't that good either, because she may not know what looks right on you. This week I had a different person cutting my hair and I think she did really good job. On top of that the salon was very busy the day I was there. So cheers to her!

Weather

I think it was on Tuesday morning that the thermometer said -40C. That's very cold for March. Then this afternoon, just two days later it's +4C. Crazy, eh? Last week was another story. We had two snow storms along with very strong winds. I'm guessing the roads were a nightmare! I'm glad we didn't have to go out-of-town. A good time to stay at home.

Blue & White

I really like the way blue and white look in the kitchen. Well, mostly I like the glasses, cups and dishes in blue and white. Probably other colors look just as good, but right now this appeals to me.

Small shelves

I was out shopping around for a couple nice small shelf or cupboard pieces to put in the office. It's kind of difficult to find something just the right size to fit in a small space. One shelf needed to be about 20x17x32"high, the other one about 16" wide. Anyways, I'm still looking for those two. I found a few neat pieces and took some pictures of them.

New Paint

Last month my office was a mess! A BIG mess! The furniture was all in the center of the room and it was covered up with bed sheets. Try to find something quick, not a chance! People stopped in, they wondered what happened to the church office. Well... we're painting you know! That's how it all started. One should have new paint every twenty years of so, right? Also, I had the notion that I wanted to move my desk away from the door. Hoping it would be a little warmer when people came and went. And the couch should be near the door where people come in, not on the other side of the room.

However, there was the small matter of no plug ins in the other corner of the room. As well, over the years with all the new technology and the wires needed to make that stuff work, we had cords tacked around door frames and scattered around the floor. These should really be inside the walls. If it hadn't been for a certain electrician giving up his precious time to spend evenings and Saturday it wouldn't have worked out so well. In order to put the wires inside the walls and put in new plug ins, a long narrow piece had to be cut out of the wall on two sides of the room.

The plastering job was overwhelming. The painter was not happy, and the work now took two weeks instead of three days. Patching, drying, sanding, patching, drying, sanding, painting, sanding again, you get the picture. The air and the bed sheets were covered with the white dust. Well now ... every corner, and everything was covered with this white dust. Not a nice place to be, never mind work each day! And the phone was still on the other side of the room, on the floor, covered up with a sheet. Now that's convenient, not! But it did get done and now looks really really good. The new blinds are gorgeous too. No more dusty rose! Welcome earth tones. What a relief! I love it!