Monday, September 26, 2016

In the garden

Every week, I make the garden a little bit more mine.

It is hard because I feel Dad everywhere but I am sure he would agree with my changes.

I think in the last few years he got lazy and just didn't bother with varied plant choices....

The garden is in dire need of fertilizer ! Which I will apply shortly .

 And it needs color, but it is harder since it is a shade garden...
I decided to put a pumpkin for fall color...
Those darn squirrels did quite to party with it...

The mums are doing better!

 I planted most of my spring bulbs: Snowdrops, crocuses,
bluebells....and a few bare root astilbes.
Like this one....It will be pink

Of course I am crossing my fingers!

This morning I went to visit Yoda at the vet.
She spent the weekend there....

Since she's diabetic and had diarrhea and some vomiting
for a couple of days...it was best they keep her to monitor the situation.

This morning she ate dry food and moist food and tried to make a break for it!
She is on the mend!
her cat friends miss her....

I had to replace my old laptop and I finally figured out how to add pictures to
my blog posts, with help of course, and hopefully I will post more often!

Take care! 

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Catching up!

Wow! Already September 18th!


Back in late August, I celebrated my 51st birthday. That is such a strange number, I feel 35 years old at most!

I got beautiful and surprising gifts!

such as....




Yes faithful readers the Le Creuset gods gifted me a beautiful turquoise braiser .

in its original box no less!

 This had been on my bucket list ever since I saw Jamie Oliver cook with one.
Dan said: I hope you won't get mad because it costs a lot of money...
Why would I get mad it is not my money after all!
Love it!

I also got lots of goodies from Vero, which I use and love!


This is so cute! it is a portable desk grill with all the accessories....
When life at the office is super dry and boring, I re-arrange it.

 I've hated my Dad's fridge from the get go.

even if it was fairly recent, my Dad had it fixed twice and
all the veggies in the crispers would freeze anyways.

It was cracked inside and super noisy...
so it was not a big surprise when it went dead on
Labor Day!

 It just made a lot of noise and stopped cooling on top.
The freezer kept freezing, thank god!

We managed to keep our food cool with the help of our back up fridge
(downstairs) and a cooler.
I have to tell you that going down the stairs
15 times to prepare dinner was a real bummer!

Here is the new fridge
I love it but it is not the one I wanted...
It just didn't fit!



new fridge smell, even better than new car smell!

Sleep tight!

Friday, September 9, 2016

Time Flies

I was in shock to see I last blogged on August 14th! Whoa, time sure flies!

And it is not like I wanted a break....I wanted to blog 20 times and then I did other stuff!

So I'm back at work full time, and it is a-okay. the succession is still active and and I have no idea what is going on and that is okay too.

I've let go of a lot of issues and problems...and what do you know? They have a life of their own and fix themselves when I let them be!

We are cleaning out the basement, my Dad's , of course and fortunately there isn't a lot of things!

I found about 15 bottles of wine made by my Dad's Portuguese gardener...They are about 10 years old and did not age as well as they should.....

I also found this...

 A vintage Miss Piggy mug!, yes in my Dad's basement, all by herself...
I remember that he loved Miss Piggy and she made him laugh...

 The grapes are ready to harvest but they taste like crap!
This is the Concord grape variety...
Maybe they lacked water, they are small and very sour!
YUCK!
I remember making some fantastic concord grape jelly...

I made Potsticker Noodle Bowl from Iowa Girl eats

It was easy and so yummy....I will be making this recipe very often!

Here's the link : Potsticker noodle bowl 

This girl has some really great recipes, even if your are not Gluten challenged.

The recipe calls for a bag of coleslaw mix...I used to get that in my deep, deep suburbia
for .99cents...Now that I live in the city, I can.t find any!
How crazy is that?
Don't the manbun hipster people eat coleslaw???
Thank God I had a cabbage and carrots in the fridge!!!  

 also added a couple of teaspoons of toasted sesame oil...and some sprouted mung beans

Another lovely weekend is upon us and I have a load in the dryer!

Take care!