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!

Happy Birthday To Mark!

Today is.. almost was, Mark's birthday! He asked me not to post his photo up, like I normally do, so here you go, a slice of his cake instead. I asked him the other day what kind of cake he wanted.. he replied oatmeal. I do believe he was kidding but that is what I baked him, an Irish Oatmeal Layer Cake! It is delicious, very much like an old fashioned oatmeal cake his mom bakes. I will try to post the recipe tomorrow, I am too tired tonight.

We had a delicious dinner, he picked it out of the March issue of Gourmet.. I will also post those recipes tomorrow too!

So, Happy Birthday to you Mark!! It was a quiet birthday but very nice!!

Bircher Muesli

Tomorrow is Mark's birthday. I just made muesli for our breakfast, a little treat. We have been watching our pennies since he was laid off a few weeks ago, so this is a splurge. We all know how much I love birthdays!! A time to celebrate life, as well as the first day of spring!

I will give the recipe for one serving.. I just made it times 8... extra is always good, and we eat big... especially when it is this  yummy!

Bircher Muesli

1 heaping tbsp rolled oats

3 tbsp water

1 tbsp cream

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 apple

 1 tbsp strawberries 

Soak the oats and water in a bowl. (The recipe says to let this soak overnight, and then do the rest in the morning. I just mix everything together at night, so it is ready as soon as you get up. You can do it either way, up to you.)

Stir the cream, honey and lemon juice into the oat mixture. Grate the apple and quickly mix it into the oats. Chop strawberries finely, or if you are like me and used the grater of your food processor to grate the apple, you can just grate the berries too. Add to the oat mixture. 

You can add blackberries, raspberries, raisins or chopped nuts if you would like. 

The recipe says to serve with brown sugar nd cream, but it really isn't necessary, it is delicious just as it is!

Serves one.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Rose Pink

I am still playing with pearls and vintage lucite beads. I am really loving them both!

Funky carved lucite flowers in a soft rose peachy pink, with chocolate brown pearls, faceted Czech glass beads and copper. So pretty!

chocolate rose pink ... earrings

chocolate rose pink ... necklace

Sweet Chili Chicken Recipe

I made this chicken recipe for dinner tonight. The recipe is from Bonnie Stern's Heart Smart Cookbook, it is delicious and easy!  I served it with brown rice. A very simple dinner.

Sweet Chili Chicken

1 lb (500 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 tbsp (45 ml) hoisin sauce

3 tbsp (45ml) sweet Thai chili sauce

2 tbsp (25 ml) soy sauce

1 tbsp (15 ml) vegetable oil

1 tbsp (15 ml) chopped fresh ginger root

2 green onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups (500 ml) fresh baby spinach (I used 4 cups)

2 tbsp (25 ml) cilantro .. (I did not add this)... 

1. Pat chicken dry and cut into cubes.

2. To prepare sauce, combine hoisin, sweet chili sauce and soy sauce.

3. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet or wok on medium high heat. Add ginger, onions and garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add chicken and stir fry for 2 minutes, or until browned.

4. Add sauce and combine well. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Add spinach and cook for 1 minute longer. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Makes 4 servings.

Earthy Elegance

I am not a feminine kind of girl... it reflects in my jewelry. As I age I am more attracted to pretty than I used to be. I am an earthy natural kind of girl. The beads I choose to work with, mostly reflect this earthiness. I am also still playing with photography, I suppose I always will be.

I fought the urge to buy vintage Lucite for ages, as it is plastic, goes against my grain, but wow, they are such pretty beads. Lightweight as well.

I love these gorgeous Lucite beads with the rich creamy chocolate brown pearls. They are stunning in their own earthy elegant way!

chocolate marmalade... necklace

chocolate marmalade... earrings 

Silvered Plums... earrings...

I have been playing with display, when photographing jewelry. It is difficult for me, to satisfy myself, aesthetically.

I am pleased with these two photos of these glass and silver earrings. The pale mauve in the earrings is shadowed by a touch of mauve in this goblet. It works for me!

earrings displayed on the side of a goblet (made by my friend Sherri)

silvered plums

Spring Is In The Air!

Today was our nicest day so far this year. Once the wind died down it was downright warm.. yeah that ever present wind we seem to have. It does die down in the late afternoon. I went out with Mark and the dogs before dinner. We heard the gulls flying overhead singing their hearts out, spring tonic for me, I love the gulls, they are so beautiful! While we walked we spied little pussy willows bursting forth, and closer to the ground were millions of snow fleas, springtails.. jumping everywhere. Whoohoo spring is in the air!!

I couldn't sleep last night, so I got out of bed, came down here, and installed an upgrade to the operating system on my computer. It took longer than I imagined it would so I went into Thomas's room and played with beads. I started working on a sun catcher. I finished it this morning. I absolutely love it, I have used some of Gillian's gorgeous translucent lampwork glass beads mixed with glass beads and copper chain. Gorgeous! 

sun catcher in green, purple and pink with copper

gorgeous beads!

Happy Birthday to Thomas!!!

Wednesday March 11th!!

Happy Birthday to my Thomas! 

Wow 27 years old... young... time sure does fly!

It just seems like yesterday when we were camping at Pukaskwa..

happy camper boy

Thomas and the happy dogs, 2009..ice fishing

Thomas, I hope you have a fantastic day today in Vancouver! Have fun & eat something yummy! I wish I was there to help you celebrate you!!

Love you!

Bell Flowers & Dew Drops

It has been a few days since I last posted, darned flu bug got me! I am starting to feel much better thank goodness!

Two new listings in my Etsy shop today. One made with vintage Lucite and the other with pretty Czech glass flowers! Pretty earrings for spring, I post this in the middle of hopefully our last snow storm. Yikes they are calling for 45 cm. of snow... I hope they have predicted that amount wrong!

bell flowers

dew drops

Charred Coal

Much to my surprise and excitement one of my treasuries graced the front page of Etsy this afternoon. My tribute to charcoal grey!

the front page!

my treasury with the alternatives

a couple of things did sell!

 the front page is such great exposure for the artisans,

item hearts, shop hearts and sales!!

Ice Fishing on Lake Superior

This morning Mark and I decided to get my moms new treadmill put together for her while she's away. Luckily we were saved by a ringing telephone, our friends asked us to go fishing with them to their ice fishing hut. They picked us up after lunch and we drove out to Nipigon Bay on Lake Superior for the afternoon. The treadmill will wait for another day!

ice fishing hut

Kiera (sorry if I spelled your name wrong)

school of smelt swimming by

Mark with some of the afternoons catch, whitefish and herring!

We will have a fish fry with our friends tomorrow night, yum!