Sisters....

m & p 1965

I was having a not so great morning, and my sister emailed me this photo. It made me cry.. I told Mark it is a good thing..crying, stress relief... 

I love this photo, and my sister, a lot! Thank you!

Ice Storm, March 2009, Terrace Bay

Tuesday night we had freezing rain.. lots of it. This is what we woke up to Wednesday morning. Our poor trees! Our poor hydro towers, eleven of them collapsed east of Terrace Bay. It will keep Hydro One busy for quite some time. They are doing an amazing job, hats off to them!

A few photos of the ice and trees...

birch in our back yard

truly amazing the resilience of these trees, it is standing back up again

the ice covered trees remind me of creatures...

poor trees

ice sparkling in the sun

big birches bent over from the weight of the ice

this is the road we walk the dogs on north of town

Sun Catcher

I have been playing with copper chain and translucent and transparent beads. I have made a few sun catchers, they are upscale catchers, I have used some gorgeous beads in them. I got a new order of beads in today and in the packet were these pretty brass enameled dragonflies. The dragonfly looks very pretty dangling from the bottom of the catcher. (Mark thought I should call them dangly downers, he was kidding, hehe!!)

dragonfly sun catcher in blue

Freezing Rain

We have had freezing rain most of last night and all of today. The ice is building up out there, very slippery underfoot. Not a good place for me to be, as I do not have much balance to start with! I am really quite worried about our frail little pine tree, it is heavily coated and the branches are hanging low, I sure hope they do not snap. A friend from St. Joe's Island, gave me the tree quite a few years ago, I traded some white dahlia bulbs for it!

close up view from our ice crusted kitchen window

view from kitchen out to the back yard

Pussy Willows

The pussy willows have been budding out for a couple of weeks. I went for a walk with Mark and the dogs  yesterday and these little pretties were growing close to the road. I didn't want to wade through the deep snow. A true sign of spring!

pussy willows

Irish Oatmeal Cake

As I promised, here is the recipe for the oatmeal cake I baked yesterday for Marks birthday. This recipe is from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts. Everything I have baked from this book has been fabulous!

Irish Oatmeal Cake

Cake:

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Butterscotch Frosting: ( I made 1 1/2 times the recipe, we like a lot of frosting)

6 tbsp butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter and flour two 9" cake pans.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a blender, whirl the oats to a consistency of cornmeal. Stir them into the flour mixture and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the vanilla and buttermilk and add alternatively with the flour mixture. Mix until well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until a knife tests clean and the cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes and then turn out onto racks to cool completely. 

For the frosting, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar and simmer on very low heat for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Cooking the brown sugar creates a smoother frosting, so don't cheat on the time.)

Transfer the butter-brown sugar mixture to a bowl. With an electric mixer, beat in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Add the milk a little at a time until the frosting is smooth and creamy. While the frosting is still warm, fill and frost the cake.

Serves 12 to 16.

Purple Plums

I was very excited this evening to have one of my treasuries grace the front page of Etsy!! It will always be a thrill! It is such great exposure for the fabulous artisans whose work gets up there.. on the front page! Congratulations to everyone!

purple plums.. my treasury, with alternatives

purple plums ... the front page!