All on a Summer's Eve...

A hot air balloon

gently floating by 

the farm.

Reminding me that

these are the days of Summer.

Sunsets streaming through

the back yard arbour on

freshly mowed grass.

Summer evenings (and 

monster mosquitos).

A garden doing it's 

best to produce

fresh edibles in spite

of a late start and sparse germination.

Summer's promise...

Summer blooms .....

Sweet stir fried snow peas 

from a friend's luscious garden.

Summer's treats.

Happy Summer's Eve to you .................

Bench Memories

It's been a busy, full and fun week!

There was a lot of shopping and

an unexpected "Tea Party"...

Beautiful quilts....

An interesting Amish Sale Day

consisting of homemade everything from

donuts to quilts to baking to kettle popcorn

to almost anything you can think of!

The children caught my "lens" - they are so

adorable with their ice-cream stained faces ...

and oh, the horses - amazing!

I loved this vintage

threshing machine with it's  

folk art painting.

There were rows and rows

of "treasures".

Rows of horses and 

buggies!

But one of the best treasures of all

were these church pews that my friend Jan spotted!

They are the pews from our old church!

Apparently the congregation that had purchased

the building have replaced them with new ones.

We were so excited and waited hours till

the auctioneer finally came to that 

special row - because we just had to 

have one or two of those.

The skies were threatening but

we used our best bidding strategy

and were able to acquire a few at 

a very decent price.

Like the farmer said, "Now what do we do with them?"

Time will tell, but we just couldn't leave without one, right?

These are the benches of memories where we sat for our

weddings, our baby dedications, baptisms, summer bible schools,
four part harmony, where we shared our most sacred moments.

Did I tell you - it's been a busy, full and fun week?

Thanks to our dear friends Dave and Jan, Larry and Debi and Bill

It's been terrific!

Bench memories made?

Till next time ...... our hearts are full.

Week of Blues

There's been a bit of blue stuff going on this week!

Mulched the flower beds around my blue house....

Started making a "blueish"

table runner for my

friend who is coming for

a visit next week....

The piecing only took me a few

hours - but the quilting

is going very slow....

What was I thinking!!!!??

It was a blue rainy Monday

that got me started on

this project....

I really have to learn how

to "machine" quilt!

Even after watching umpteen

Youtube videos on how to do it,

I'm still afraid to try it on a 

"real" project - ugh!

The best blue thing that happened was

when the farmer found me this awesome

bike on Kijji!!!

I love it and am on the hunt for a sweet little

wicker basket parcel carrier.

It's my new blue touring vehicle....

What's blue in your life these days?

Hope all is well where you are "blueming"

Here's to a new week with blue skies and wonderful visits with

dear friends from Kentucky .....

Happy Canada Day!

Canada Day is starting off a bit soggy today.....

However, we need the rain and with all the

hot and humid weather of late,

the crops and gardens have been flourishing

and growing by leaps and bounds!

It's the perfect day to chillax on

the deck with a banana cupcake and a glass of milk....

I love long weekends!

And, I think I finally found the banana cupcake

recipe that works for me.....

It's a "Taste of Home" recipe

The only thing I changed was the frosting.

I used my mom's old fashioned 

brown sugar icing.

BTW - perhaps the trick to getting this recipe to work

might be that half way through mixing the batter,

I remembered that I was to take a snack to the church

for the morning Vacation Bible School children?

I turned off the preheating oven, covered up the half mixed batter,

grabbed the cheese and whisked off to deliver it.

1 hour later I returned to my cupcake task

and it turned out great, 

in spite of me.

The cupcakes baked

nice and rounded and didn't drop while cooling.

I think I'll keep

this recipe....

Here is the "Easy Brown Sugar Icing" recipe - it's yummy on any kind of cake or cupcake!

Easy Brown Sugar Icing

1 Cup packed Brown Sugar

¼ Cup milk - I used coffee cream

½ Cup butter

1 ¾ Cups Icing Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Melt butter and add the brown sugar.  Cook over low heat for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Add milk and continue stirring until mixture comes to a full boil.  Remove from heat, cool slightly and then add the vanilla and  icing sugar– mix with electric beater till smooth - add more or less icing sugar as needed until the right consistency to spread. Spread on cake immediately while the icing is still warm.

Till next time ............ Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and family. We are truly blessed to live in this great country!

Peony Experiment

A few weeks ago I read about how 

you can pick Peony buds, wrap them in newspaper

and keep them in the fridge for up to two weeks!!!

This was mentioned on a comment from

"Just A Little Something from Judy"

on Lovella's "What Matters Most" blog post.

We had an event coming up for which I wanted to use

some of these flowers, so I decided to 

give this a try.

June 16 - picked some buds.

Wrapped and refrigerated - so nice to have the garage fridge for this!

June 20 - unwrapped and put into water.

June 21

June 22 - beautiful and fragrant.

June 24 - fully opened!

This process totally amazed me.

It was so wonderful to see how even the leaves

came back to life after just a few hours

of being rehydrated!

I wonder ... could I have kept them this way for another week? 

Next time I'll have to try, but it will have to wait till next year

since all the Peonies have bloomed and are past their prime

as a result of our hot and humid weather these last few days!

That was fun ....

Till next time ..... enjoying the scents and beauty of these lovely flowers that have been growing here on this farm for more than 5 decades!!

Moon Flowers and Packages

It's Moon Flower time again!!!

We just had a stormy day here in SW Ontario

and the wind is still brisk

but, right on time - the moon flowers

opened their bright faces to shine through the night.

Here is the link of tonight's action:

http://youtu.be/JmIxqCZz0RE

Tonight was special in another way too....

some love came in a package from Grande Prairie, Alberta via Canada Post!

A sweet package containing

some lovely Stella and Dot

jewellery and a beautiful

cookbook "oh she glows" by

Angela Liddon

with favourite recipes tagged.

I can't wait to try these.

Then.... the best little charm of all!!
How sweet is this!?

Thanks Becky and Patrick
You're the best!!!

Toaster Oven Bread

Did you get a Toaster Oven (or two)

as a wedding gift?

We did - 40 some years ago!

Ye old GE self cleaning Toast-R-Oven

It even has that 1970's Chrysler Woodie
Station Wagon look to it!

I haven't used it for yearsdecades but got to thinking,

this might be a handy little appliance for the RV trailer 

when we are hooked up to hydro at our campsite???

What could you make in a toaster oven you ask,

especially one that old???

How about some skillet/toasted bread!!

I have my mom's well seasoned 6" teeny cast iron skillet

and it fits perfectly into the Toaster Oven.

I remember my Dad using this little skillet to fry his daily morning egg!

The recipe I used made a lovely little loaf of round bread

that was crunchy and delicious - just the right size for two.

The perfect little loaf

to go with a warm cup of soup!

The farmer really liked it and we gobbled it up while it was still warm (slathered with butter of course).

Toaster Oven Bread

1 Cup Flour plus another 1/2 Cup for kneading

1/2 tsp. yeast

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 Cup less a Tbsp. of hot water

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Warm the skillet on a hot burner for 30 seconds,

remove and add the Olive oil - set aside

Mix 1 Cup flour, yeast, salt, and sugar in a small bowl.

Add the hot water and mix till flour is thick and sticky.

Turn out the dough onto a well floured surface, sprinkle

with flour and knead till no longer sticky.

Flatten dough ball to the size of the skillet and put it into the

oiled skillet - turn over so both sides are oiled, cover with Tea Towel and let stand for 20 minutes till slightly risen.

Preheat the Toaster Oven to 375F

Gently turn the dough over once again in the skillet and cook

over low to medium heat on the stove top for approx. 8 minutes or until the bottom has browned nicely (check by lifting gently with a fork or spatula).

Remove from stove top and pop it into the 

preheated Toaster Oven for another 5-10 minutes till the top

is nicely browned.

Remove and let cool - slice and enjoy!

Hmmmm - what else could I make in this vintage appliance?

Till next time ........perhaps a small Coffee Cake??  Do you have some favourite Toaster Oven recipes?

Seeding's Done

Seeds are in the ground,

both the fields

and the vegetable garden!
Better late than never....

June Flowers are blooming!

Bachelor Buttons always bloom

in time for the

Stratford Festival Opening Night!

Allium - always a favourite.

Parrot Tulips finally 
showing their beauty!













So the farmer came in from the field, 
dusted off his camping shoes
and off we went to try out our
little Escape for it's "maiden voyage"
to MacGregor Point
After all, it's Bird watching week there!

What a great time we had
with our friends
even though the farmer
had to return home for one of the
days to finishing "packing" 
the bean fields.

We discovered that 
the Spring Woodland Flowers
were blooming too.

And the birdwatchers were
everywhere!!!









Needless to say,
we had a wonderful first time out with our RV trailer 
and on the last evening, 
we set the sun whilst lounging on the solar heated rocks on the 
beautiful shore of Lake Huron!!!

I think I'm going to like camping glamping like never before.

Till next time ........... the rhubarb is growing like crazy and I can't wait to see the seeds popping their lovely heads in the garden....