The Blue birds are back

Lynn sent me her photo of the bluebird



It looks like we have a little flock of about 6 bluebirds that have returned. They are loving the newly cleared property next door. it must be full of little insects that are getting stirred up after David goes over the grassy areas with his mower/chopper machine.

Use your bifocals to see these ones in the brush



Lynn came out for the weekend and we had a mini belated birthday dinner last night.
Here she is with her strawberry shortcake!




The three of us at Jackson's Hole... whats with that cheesy grin, B?
Lynn met Joyce and I after work on Friday and we all enjoyed a yummy dinner out at Jackson's Hole in Nelson. I have to say it was noisier than I would have liked with little kids running around and screaming. I guess we should have stayed in the lounge part of the restaurant. However, the caesers were very good...came with two fat green olives instead of celery, and they do serve good sized portions.
Friday night after we arrived home, David, the new neighbour had started a bonfire and emil and Lynn and the two doggies all went over for with our refreshments. Around 9, it did get cold on the butt,so Lynn and I came home.
For breakfast on Saturday morning, I made blintzi which I served with fried up ham and boiled eggs and then fresh strawberries and sour cream for the blintz... All very good as I hadn't made those in quite a long time.
Lynn helped me immensely with my weekly household cleanup and laundry and then I spent some time in the kitchen preparing the Phyllo wrapped salmon from the Whitewater cookbook. I heard it was quite delicious. I used a filet of Emil's nice rainbow trout and substituted spinach for the kale. So essentially one cleans and chops up the white and a bit of green of three leaks, then fries them up. Steam the spinach ( I used one med bag)( in the microwave) (and drain) and cut the salmon into 6 pieces. You lay out one sheet of phyllo dough with the short end horozontal in front of you. Brush it with melted butter and lay another sheet on top and brush it with butter too. Place your piece of salmon a few inches from the front and in the middle. I sprinkled on a little lemon pepper and then put a sixth of the fried leaks on top, and then a nice clump of the drained steamed spinach and then abunch of dill I had frozen, but fresh would be good. top that off with a few tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and the lemon zest from the peel..
Next fold the left side over top of the salmon ( I brushed on a bit more butter and then folded the right side side over and another brush of butter and then start rolling it up into a neat packet from the the bottom to top. These lovely bundles can be made ahead and frozen or kept in the fridge until ready to cook. You bake them on parchment paper for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and sizzling. The fish was very nicely done, good and moist and a good portion for one person
The sauce that accompanied the salmon packets was a white wine sauce made from fish or clam stock, ginger,a shallot ,all reduced and strained, then cream added . At the end you add fresh lemon juice and dill. I served it with brown and wild rice mix and the sauce over top of all. I have a doozy of a cold still so I couldn't really taste anything but the lemon in the sauce. I think I would try a lemony coconut cream sauce next time... as it seemed pretty fishy to me ! (It was my own homemade fish stock)
Have a good Sunday!


"The Creator"

Chelsea's Grad Exhibition! Occular!

Yes, it could be described as Mega Occular... all about the rose coloured glasses without the roses! Chelsea is my bosse's niece who just completed 2 years at the Kootenay School of Arts in the jewellery program,and I'd say she was the top notch student in the class! Her work is creative, fresh, and well accomplished! She will go far in her trade, if she takes after her Uncle!


Crazy but true... all these pieces are for your eyes, and the littel one in front hangs from a chain and you hold it up to your eye and look through a beautiful clear gemstone to see a kaleidascope world... very amazing. The one on the left is made of brass and actually telescopes in and out... Don't you think these fine pieces could be in the next Star Trek movie?


My boss Chris, and his sister Audrey...mom of the star Chelsea

Chelsea -proud grad... Beautiful work. The piece behind and to the right is a magnificent magnifier with candles tucked into her personal leaf motif... very beautiful!

Audrey, Chelsea and Tibo, in front.

Emil and I took in the grad show on Friday night, then after our schmozzing, we went to Bogus town for a bite. By then I was starting to notice I couldn't smell anything and my head was feeling quite stuffed... ( not to mention my belly)

We spent the night at our town huse ( Stan's) and that was sure nice... Thanks Stan... We even brought Silky there and she spent the night as well. One thing I didn't count on was the downpour of rain and hail first thing in the morning whe we were leaving... I didn't bother with a coat since it was so pleasant and warm on Friday... Even Silky wouldn't stop in the rain to take a pee!

We spent some quality time in town, had a little A&W breakfast and did some groceries and were back home by noon...in time for me to get down to my garen. The sun had poked its head out intermittantly..enough to give me courage to plant some seeds!

After that, week-end went by in a frenzy, especially once I felt this nasty cold/cough/earache thing coming on... I hope you don't have it yet! Seems like everyone in our neighbourhood has had it, including Emil ,who mysteriously is getting better!


Here is hwat happened to my nice "Stokes" weeder tool when I tried to dig up a nasty dandylion... yep, she snapped right in half. The Stokes folks will send me a replacement free of charge... how nice of them!

I worked my hiney off on Saturday in my garden and actually accomplished a ton... planted some salad greens, and fifty gladiola bulbs... Now who was the crazy who bought all of them? Now I have to plant some sweetpeas, which I discovered that I never ordered from Stokes. Thats ok...they will be sent with my replacement weeder. I still have about two thousand dandelions to weed out of my raspberry patch. For some reason they have a knack of lodging themselves right next to or on top of another plant. I already hacked off about five lilies just trying to remove one dandelion... It was a biggy and wasn't the one that broke the tool...just broke my heart instead!

By the time I came in from gardening ,every body part was frozen cold and aching and my cold was worse than ever... I headed for the jacuzzi and some muscle soak and some nice smelling eucalyptus bath salts that Annette sent me.

On Sunday morning , I awoke , feeling much better ...not so achy in the joints!

I cooked up a big pot of beet borscht for John and Ronda, who popped over later in the afternoon. We heard the whole story of Ron's surprise... getting a brand spanking new ATV from his thoughtful wife, Phoebe! Such a nice treat for him... he certainly deserved it!

I called it an early night after dinner with John and Ronda as I could feel my head getting stuffier every minute ( like it is now) .

Thanks to John and Ronda for coming over... always nice to have a little visit with them. We will see more of them this summer as they have some camping and golfing in mind!

Ok... its past my bedtime and Silky has come looking for me to go to bed...

Have a good week everyone and try not to catch this miserable germ. I can't complain as I think it has been well over a year or maybe two since I have even had a sniffle!

"The Creator"

Just in Case you aren't:

IF you are using a bum email client, how about making your life easier and switching to Microsoft Outlook Express and experience the freedom of email?
If you have it already, you can check by clicking Help in Outlook express and then at the bottom, click "About" to see which version you are running. It should be version 6.
http://outlook.express-email.info/outlook-express-6/index.php
"The Creator"

My Wed.Morning walk

'Bout the only thing blooming in my garden...Globe Primulas


Ring Necked Ducks that made a funny Breeping quack...well, only one was doing the quacking and it sounded more like honking. I haven't seen these kind of ducks here before. They had quite a pompador Knottop...one female and five male suitors...She must of been the queen or high priestess.

More than half the week gone already,so have a good remainder of the week...and enjoy this warm weather!

"The Creator"

Big Sale at La vie en rose

If you are near a Store, check out my link for a dandy coupon that can save you 50% on Sleepware or 30% on other products... It doesn't seem to apply to online shopping...boo-hoo... but I recommend the magnetic clip bras... they work like a hot damn and are easy to fasten and unfasten! ( Not so great if you are buying them for your 16 year old daughter:-)) Anyhow... get a coupon and save a bunch at in store shopping.
Ok...time to go check and see if Lost is really on...
Have a great warm week
http://magneticattraction.lavieenrose.com/vip/VIP_web_2010_en.pdf
"The Creator"

Just checking...

I am using a new template from Blogger in its Beta state so it may change from time to time as Blogger tweaks up the templates. One new feature they will have is links to other pages... so maybe I will be able to link to a recipe a little better. I will work on that. If anyone can't view it at all, then let me know...like Eileen did this morning. I changed a few things so we will see how it goes.. I'll play with the colours some more as I have time. In the meantime, have a great weekend out there!


"The Creator"

Photos that Joyce took

Joyce sent me these adorable photos she took while on her little trip to visit the kids and grandkidlet... and she took her new partner in crime... Little Amigo. She said that Kendra had a ton of fun with him and made sure she explained that he was a rescue dog from Mexico! Someone asked her if he spoke Spanish and she said: "No, but he loves rice!"


Kendra and Amigo


Wow...check out C's new shoes! Right out of the Wizard of OZ and Beyond! I love them...

She is a bold woman and maybe has a few of those Grandma Romas shoe genes lurking in her system
...A gal after my own heart!

Joyce and Kendra having a swing!

Here is Eva's husband , One of the newly formed group called "Bald Eagles!" Way to go Dave for shaving it off for cancer...We all love ya for it...not a bad shaped dome at all!

"The Creator"

Blue Birds of Happiness...

But first, my clean and clipped Silky after her bath today!



Look what the wind blew in... a flock of about 6 Mountain Blue birds...now aren't they beautiful? The males are the bright blue ones! You can't miss them!

They never stayed more than ten minutes.. just hopped from one tree to the next, but the amzing thing they could do was to flutter their wings and hover in one spot like a hummingbird would do... very amazing. Most of them were brilliant blue,and a few were more grey...the poor females, I guess! Anyhow I felt blessed to see these beautiful creatures, and so many all at once. Makes me want to set up bluebird houses now!



"The Creator"

Bear with me...Grrrrrrr

I am trying out a Beta version of blogger that allows this template, but as you will notice, there are a few problems...mainly with my videos.. you can still click on them to view the photos, but certainly they are not working right. I will either delete them or try to improve the situation. Same with the photo I had in my header... it seems to cause problems, so I will stick with the mountain scenery available in this template and may change it from time to time... or maybe I'll jsut go back to my old template... who knows???? it is all in the day of a blogger!
So Bear ..grrrrr With me...
"The Creator"

Hawaii meets Harrop

Five young'ens were out on Saturday doing some fabulous Kite surfing/boarding ( that's what I call it!) The winds were strong and the waves big, and they were performing a few tricks when they could catch a big wave.It was quite the phenomena for this area.. and yes, they were all wearing wet suits! I was amazed that they hung on for over an hour... Their arms must have been dropping off!




The water is at its lowest now and as you can see, the sandbar is showing
and the sand bridge to get out to the bar is completely out of the water... but perhaps not for long. Soon the lake will begin to fill up and that will be the end of all the beautiful beaches for another two months nearly. I guess it all depends on our snow melt. The cool weather of last week brought 40 centimeters of new snow up to Whitewater ski hill,which might help to keep our forests from burning up this summer!

Last night we had a lovely bonfire in Ashley and Deb's burner that they set up in the courtyard... The wind wouldn't abate, but we all stuck it out! Randy and Frances came and later our new neighbour, David joined us with his two sons for hot dogs roasted over the open fire... Yum! it wasn't without the gourmet touch, as Frances made an extra thick home made pizza dough pizza stuffed full of feta cheese and pineapple and good meats... yum! Also she made a home cooked apple pie that was pretty tasty too! Deb and I brought wieners and buns and she made her famous lemon squares... a thin layer of shortbread type buttery crust, and a layer of real lemon filling topped with a very thin layer of something sweet to give it a topping... very delicious also.
Seeing how I worked on income tax stuff most of yesterday and filing, I made a quickie pizza with a Naan bread crust topped with tomato paste, spices, mozzarella cheese, sun dried tomatoes and yellow peppers and sliced mushrooms... It was tasty too and with all that good food, I can honestly say, there weren't a heck of a lot of left-overs.
Ok, on with the day.
I had a nice chat with Annette this morning, and a little Blackberry chat with Sonia who sent me pics of her and Lawrence walking on the beach... how cool was that?
Time to bath the dog, then back to shredding up more paper while Emil sands the deficiencies in the Men's lounge. I love this annual clean out of the file cabinet...no mi favorito!
It is windy and freezing out, but if it warms up, I might go try to stick in a row of spinach.
Have a great Sunday!
"The Creator"

Redstone Resort :: Free Round of Golf

Click on the link and fill out the form and you could win a free round of golf in Rossland!
Ours seems to be only good during the week, but thats ok... we might make it up some holiday weekday... Thanks to John and Ronda for ppointing me to the site!


Redstone Resort :: Free Round of Golf

"The Creator"

Happy Birthday to Lynn!!!!

Wishing you a big Happy Birthday all Day long, Lynn! Hope you are having a blast in Nadine's new house! Maybe they will give you the day off today!

We'll celebrate when you return!

"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Madeline!

I want to wish my sweet grandaughter, Madeline, a very very Happy Birthday today! Happy Birthday to you!

Love you loads...Granny B and Grumps!
"The Creator"

Cascade Action Pacs

Do yourself a lightweight favour and pick up a big bin of these Cascade Action Pacs for your dishwasher




The littel puffy pacs of dishwasher soap are light weight and easy to pop into your dishwasher... One pac cleans a full load of dishes just fine. Note I have two colours here, becasue I found some on sale at Safeway and just added them to my bin.


As near as I can figure, they seem to last forever ,as I use just one a day, so a bin of 90 will last you three months..no measuring , no pouring , no lifting of heavy dishwasher soap... easy peasy. Watch for it to go on sale, but a big bin of 90 is around $12 0r 13 bucks if I remember correctly. I like them and will never go back to the heavy Cascade or any of it, again!

Just remember to handle the little pacs with dry hands as they are made to dissolve in water!


"The Creator"

Seasaltwithfood: Hasselback Potatoes

These potaotes looked so yummy... I think I will try them this week. Sorry if I have been out of touch. we have been in painting mode...no time for my bloggy, facebook or most anything else. Wishing Phoebe well when her bionics get turned out...Keep us posted!
Seasaltwithfood: Hasselback Potatoes

"The Creator"

Happy Spring on Saturday

This plump robin turned its head just as I snapped the pic, then it flew away... She looks as if she is ready to pop any day now! Spring is in the air!

A serene view up the lake on my early morning walk

Guess who in her new baby jacket! Isn't she special? Don't laugh, she liked it! A woman in Wal -Mart was buying up five or six different hoodies and t shirts ...yep, you guessed it...for her dog! At two bucks each, its a win win situation. She said she modifies them by cutting off the hoods or shortening the sleeves! I thought it was such a good idea that I bought one for Miss Silky...cute eh... yes, I know, she will be sweating like a porkey pig , however it is a pretty good idea to keep the snow out of her leg fur! Oh yes...what snow????

I was looking for the two trumpeter swans that were swimming upstream yesterday, but all that was left were the old reliables...Canada Geese!
Have a great week-end everyone. We will be painting the basement...care to join us?

"The Creator"

Stumbleupon

This is quite the interesting site called Stumbleupon. You join up with a simple password and it will ask if you want to run a couple of things... I know, kind of taboo, but I did it anyhow just because I have anti everything installed on this computer... and then here you are at the Stumbleupon website. First you tick off areas of interest...say art or gardening, unitl you have selected all that interests you. Then it puts a Stumbleupon button on Internet explorer and when you click on it, the web page will go to one of the Stumble upon sites.

You can choose to like it, dislike it, or share it. So I checked off photography and when I selected to stumble upon photography, it brought up a wonderful gallery of images taken of wild animals in Africa... amazing photos. Next I tried Games, and went throught several that were either cute or too hard for me. Then I tried Art and it took me to a Jackson Pollock painting site, where you could draw like Jackson Pollock. Another site had me drawing snowflakes that could revolve in 3-D. So it lets you stumble from one web page to the next and you get to choose which area is of interest to you. Also, you may suggest websites. In five minutes and ten websites, it made me realize how tunnel-visioned I have become, by going to the same websites over and over. This can offer up all sorts of new and exciting websites and you don't even have to get your brain out of the cobwebs to find something pretty amazing to look at. I like it!

Go to http://www.stumbleupon.com/and sign up today.

Have a Happy St. PAddie's day tomorrow!

"The Creator"

Happy St. Paddie's Day everyone!

Wear a little green and watch out for the leprachun! Happy St. PAtrick's day.... Have a good one on Wednesday!


Byki Free Holiday eCards

"The Creator"

Ten Swans a swimming...

To the day, these, perhaps same ten swans migrated through on the exact same date as they did in 2005- March 11th! How is that for an accurate bird? Ron had seen the swans down his way about a month ago, which I thought ws early , but perhaps it was a different migrating group. These ten might well be the same ten that lanmded here in 2005! They never stayed laong...just kept paddling their way up the lake, and as you can see by this photo, they were nearly on the other side of the lake by the time I caught up to them. Thank goodness for a telephoto lens!



The same day... I switched this to Black and white as it was kind of a gray snowy day up in the mountains


The rest of the week was much the same... snow on the mountains ,pouring rain down here...



But...Look at today! Brilliant sunshine Yea! To top it off, we spring ahead tonight... and the radio announcer said to be careful when you drive just after the time change as that is when the highest number of accidents accur on the highways...people are still in sleepy mode in the morning ,I guess.


So have a very nice week-end... I am going down to the basement to paint...we are coming along with it, albeit slightly slower these days!
The good news is that our new neighbours have been busy clearing and cleaning up the invasive weed lot next to us over the past few weeks, and what a difference it has made! I feel sorry for the deer and the birds who will no longer have their favourite bushes to hang around, but I guess it is all in the name of progress. We had nary a bird here for a few years, despite hanging out a bird feeder ,when we first moved in. Now with our trees quite grown up, we have all kinds of birds...and the deer..well, as we know, there is no shortage of those beasts just yet.
Have a sunny weekend!
"The Creator"