Bit O' Everything!

Here are some random ly recent pics... cute one of Annette and Kaleigh in Alberta


Handsome Josh escorting his grad date

Tributes to Josh



Last but not least, a pic I took at our hum bird feeder with Francis's new Canon camera... Taken from our balcony...lots of clarity there...but I heard that Joe took a pic of the hummingbird's tongue... I can't top that one!

Thankfully, Saturday blessed us with some sunshine and a little warmth to go along with it. I was coaxed outside by the sunshine and headed to my garden where I managed to unearth a giant ant hill tucked away under the black plastic...They were swarming everywhere and headed straight up my leg as soon as I tried to dig up their nest... I am not good with multitudes of any kinds of bugs...especially ones that are apt to bite. I left them alone for a bit after I turned over the soil and when I came back there were far less of them running around on the dirt, so I went ahead and planted my beans... tall ones ,short ones, green ones, yellow ones, white seeded ones, brown seeded and black seeded wax beans... I should be able to supply the food bank this summer with beans if they don't rot before they grow! I found a whole packet of climbing wax beans, and went ahead and planted them near the fence in behind the raspberries and the peas that are growing there. If one has a nice wire fence, one should make good use of it..right?
Now that I have mentioned the peas... why are they growing AWAY from the fence? I guess I will have to take their little feelers and get them jump started on the wires of the fence in order for them to begin climbing ...even tho they are not supposed to be climbers.( They are already a foot tall!)
I found a variety of flower seeds from Zinnias to coriopsis and cosmos and more marigolds and clarkia left over seeds in last year's box of seeds... I stuck them all in and have high hopes for them to grow into a recognizable shoot that I don't yank out with the weeds... I think I already ended the life of the first packet of coriopsis.. I snapped off a part of my old peony bush and busted a bud on an iris... like a bull in a china shop!
At least a few things are blooming and by week's end the flower part of the garden should be a flood of colour. I will try to take some pictures. My new white clematis has an abundance of flowers and the irises and poppies are ready to pop open... All we need is some heat!
On Saturday night we went over to Deb and Ashley's for a nice bonfire, but it was cold enuf that I walked back home and suited up in fleece to keep my back warm. We called it a night relatively early as Emil had to get a bit more gear ready in the morning so he could leave for his annual fishing trip with his buddies, John, Bernie and Wayne.
With him off, I hope to get some more plants planted... anyone check the forecast?
I managed to get all of my cucs and squash planted, but pray for warmth to get them out of the ground. I'm holding back planting all of my basil outside as the first four turned white with cold. Joyce suggested a tent and I said..."Right!..I'll get on that soon!"

I had a nice chat with Annette this afternoon and she sounded pretty happy with their new house...washer and dryer are on the upstairs level where the bedrooms are so that saves a lot of clothes hauling up and down... and they got their new stove and dishwasher installed - thus the kitchen is taking shape now and getting more user friendly. Little by little ,they will get things in place and then they will be wondering what to do with themselves! ha-ha! ( I am still waiting for that day! )
Have a good week ahead...time to hit the hay... I made a great batch of chow mein in my new wok and yowsers... it works like a hot damn! This will give me lunch at work for the remainder of the week! YUm YUm!

"The Creator"

Grad Girls get together

Karen (second from Left) was here visiting so her and her sister Chris (Far left) came out for a nosh last Sunday

Chris and Karen..

Along came Anita and Judy... Judy and I went to school together and Anita is her younger sister...now living on the family homestead in Oasis

Last but not least, Moi and mi favourito, Lynn..the cousins who are sisters by heart... We've been so close over the years and grew up together...MAybe we even look alike???( that is really a small beer foreshortened by the camera to make it look much larger!)Always nice to get together for a chat and a beer.
We all had a good blab and visit and lots of food. Chris and KAren ordered Edame beans...a soy bean in soya sauce and they were a great tasting appetizer. Look for them in the frozen food section at Save on. They can be steamed up and then sauced to taste for a vegetable or nice appie.
Later this week, Judy and I met at Jackson' Hole for an appie or two after work, and had a nice visit... we'll have to do that more often, since we both work in Nelson. We had intended to sit out on the deck, but it was pouring cats and dogs out...and cold.. Maybe next time!


"The Creator"

The Brewer 6 Then and Now...

Isn't this amazing... They look as young as ever! That was 12 years ago maybe at Virginia's wedding! so the get togethers don't happen too frequently, but once again they all got together in Red Deer! It was Josh's graduation and Kaleigh's birthday... Annette came from Halifax, Sonia nd Kaleigh came from Victoria and Derrick and family from Kamloops. Correna is in Edmonton and both Virginia and Eva live in Red Deer. First the girls shopped till they drop at West Ed Mall ( that was Kaleigh's birthday present) then they hit up Ikea and on Saturday nioght, travelled down to Red Deer to the snow belt where they had a good group visit saturday night at Virginia's and of course, on Saturday, they all wound up at Josh's graduation at Eva and Dave's.

From Left to right, we have Virginia, Eva, Annette, Derrick, Sonia nd Correna... These are the sum total of the cousins descending from Arlene, Joyce and Beatrice, the daughters of Pauline and George Lester Brewer hence the name I dubbed them : "The Brewer 6 !"

Annette and Sweet 16 Kaleigh and Sonia -Just missing Maddie which we will have to photoshop into place! They are the Bea and Emil family descendants

And from Joyce and Morgan's family, we have Virginia, and the only male, Derrick and then Correna

Just missing a pic of Eva who is the only child of Arlene and Lou.

However down below we have everyone's children ( our granchildren)

Josh is the Graduate- the son of Eva's hubby , Dave ..then Kaleigh to his right.

Son of Derrick is ethan, then Virginia's daughter , Kendra, then Eva's daughter Mackenzie, and Derrick's daughter Jamie holding the latest addition to Joyce's granchildren, little Meghan who has already turned one years old. We are just missing Maddie , Sonia's youngest, daughter ,in order to complete the grandchildren picture. She doesn't get to go to the west Ed Mall until she turns 16!


All of our beautiful children who came together and made a little part of history in these wonderful photos...I say a great big thank-you and just to say that all six of you have grown up to be fine upstanding women and men(man) with adorable kids who will carry on this legacy started by my mom and dad...bless their souls for instilling proper values in us that have shone in our children and their children... I wish they were here to see our amazing family...my mom would have loved every one of them so much! We hope she is looking down proudly on her legacy !
"The Creator"

Party Supplies, Party Supplies Decorations

Party Supplies, Party Supplies Decorations
Keep this place in mind for your next big shindig that you are going to throw! You can have stuff shipped right to your door and the selction is amazing, and the prices pretty darn good... check it out!
"The Creator"

Happy Sweet 16!!!!

Happy Big Sweet 16 Kaleigh! You are...soo oooo beautiful and Garanny and Grumps are so proud of you!
And here I thought you were joking when about your boyfriend being a real hunk...maybe you said "Hulk"
Hope you had a blast up in Edmonton and got a taste of Alberta weather so that you aren't foolish enuf to decide to go there for Uni! Brrr!

Grrrr to you too!

Down at Harbourfront

And the best one of all... Kaleigh all bright and cheery before school in the morning!


Love you darlin'! I can't wait to hear all about West Ed Mall!
"The Creator"

New Lawrence photos!

Now here is the Musical Lawrence we know!

Thanks Lori for passing along some current pics of the young lad! Cute little caterpillar under the lower lip! seems to be a trend these days...my boss has one too... Any name for those babies?

Sounds like it was a Happy Birthday and Anniversary too...Have a great trip to see the kids!

"The Creator"

B.C.’s new impaired driving laws: What’s changed?

B.C.’s new impaired driving laws: What’s changed?
In case you aren't up to speed on the new rules regarding drinking and driving... better read up! Even the most minor charge is going to cost you $600.00 and a 3 day suspension of your driver's licence... that is for .05 impairment level. ( you need to spend 250 of the 600 bucks to reinstate your driver's licence... icky...very icky!) So the best thing is to stick to "Happy Hours" in your neighbourhood where you can walk home. We will be the first advocates of the Happy Hour Program for Alternative Drinkers and will be found around a campfire or on a deck between 4:30 and whenever ( Happy Hour) on the sunniest day of any summer weekend. Long live Happy Hours!



"The Creator"

Happy Birthday LAwrence

Here is Lawerence at Shawn's wedding...in his serious mode




Lawrence with Chris and Josh at the wedding last year..

Send me a more recent pic Lawrence to see it in this spot!

Have a great day!

"The Creator"

Beautiful Victoria, beautiful Sonia and Kaleigh and Maddie

Here are a few preliminary shots of my trip to Victoria... It was so much better to fly down...sure beat the 12 hour drive.. Here is poor Spike on his walk after he had his summer shave down... naked as a buck, he was embarrased to go out. I just wanted to photograph every flower on that Rhoto that you see Sonia walking towards. It is an unusual tri-coloured one that is magnificent!


On Sunday we did a little tour of the inner Harbour and then took in a show at the Imax...It was called Hubble and was all about the repair of the Hubble telescope and the amazing images it has captured on its journey.Also we got the bird's eye view of our precious earth from outer space... It would certainly look inviting if you were an alien...all beautiful blues and greens and white clouds... Now the quest is on to find a sister planet in the universe possessing our similar qualities...and from the Hubble images, there is no shortage of galaxies floating around in our massive universe.

A trip to downtown Victoria wouldn't be complete without a pic with the Empress hotel in the background!



"The Creator"

Beautiful Day in Victoria

I have to admit that the weather hasn't been stellar until today... pure blue skies and warm sunny weather...very nice for coffee on the deck and a little "Be a tourist in the town" afternoon. Kaleigh volunteered for duty at the Highland Tattoo and games being held in Victoria this weekend. We picked her up this afternoon to the bleating of bagpipes in Topaz park... loads of people attending and from Kaleigh's retelling...there was everything from sheep herding with border collies to Hagus tossing. We didn't partake ...just picked up Kaleigh and headed into the city to eventually go to the Imax theater. We parked down in ther harbour and walked back along the harbour front, checking out vendors and hawkers of every sort.(I will post pics when I get home!) We picked up our tickets, then wondered back up to the mall and the food court for a sushi lunch that wasn't looking like it came from a stall screaming"Ptomaine Poisoning!"I have to say that the waffles smelled great and Kaleigh had to go to the giant Lemon pod for a drink of Lemonade!
We returned to the theatre, loaded up on a giant pop and popcorn that did us all and settled into our seats for a three-D showing of "Hubble" This was amazing ! It first showed how the astronauts trained in a 16million gallon tank of water four stories deep on how to make repairs to the huge Hubble telescope once they were in outerspace. Then it showed the launch of the Spaceshuttle Discovery and the tedious job of repairing the lens of the Hubble telescope while they were in orbit The images were real and the view of our planet earth was spectacular! The astronauts experienced a new day every 90 minutes, so they often worked through darkness before getting back to daylight within the next 90 minutes. Then the show explained through actual images taken by the Hubble, how vast our universe is... how galaxies abound, and how they are being formed and how they are dying...The mesmerizing thing about the whole show were the real images of stars and nebulas and galaxies and how the telescope Hubble has sent us those profound images. It could have never been possible if the space program hadn't of continued after the deaths of the whole crew from the Columbia shuttle.
All in all, we are such a small entity in a sea of stars in our own galaxy, the "Milky way", but that is only one galaxie of billions out there... Makes you think that more planet earths are not only possible , but totally probable...but how do we find them? ( Of course if you are a regular subscriber to Spaceweather.com, you will know that scientists are working hard to track the shadows of planets fourth from the aclose by star and - being reflected onto that Star(sun)...to check the revolution times...are they similar to earth's 365 days around the sun? If they are, then they could be another planet earth? Their job has only just begun,and it is a theory, but a good one....lots of stars out here to track..
"The Creator"

Flying beats driving! Happy New House Annette and Shawn!

Yes, I have seen the light...Flying to Victoria certainly beats the long drive down! I arrived feeling fresh and happy and it was sunny and my daughter was at the airport to pick me up... all very good indeed. I had a deja vu kind of moment whe I entered the airport and looked up to the second level to see a couple of little girls waving down at the people coming in fromt he plane. In a flash I had a vision that it was Kaleigh and Maddie there all excited about my arrival... then I woke up... those girls couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old!! Instead, my beautiful Sonia was there to give me big hugs... so nice to see her and to be in Victoria within a few hours of leaving Castlegar... all good, and definately worth pursuing the next time I wish to come down for a visit.
Both Kaleigh and Madeline were home sick from school that day... more colds and sore throats... some strep throat going around their schools. Maddie's face was all flushed from a bit of a fever... She took another day off school today...poor kiddo! Sonia made that delicious
When we left Castlegar, it was pouring rain and again in Vancouver it was coming down by the bucketful- however fifteen minutes by air and we were in the sunshine in Victoria. sonia cooked up that delicious Phyllo roasted fresh salmon and we enjoyed a delicious dinner.
Today is another story...grey with showers. We ventured out to LA Vie en Rose... a lingerie store that I usually buy my bras at on-line...so it was fun to go to the real store and see all of the bargains! I had to get a couple of new nighties and found a special blue bra that I have been looking for, for three years now so it was a succesful shopping trip!
We hit up Super store and I nearly cried when I saw all the bedding plants... Multiply everything we have in Nelson by 10 and there it all was , right before my eyes.I guess that is when I thought that having a car here would have been beneficial! Sonia found wave petunias for her flowerpots.
I made a batch of Chocolate chip cookies ( see sidebar under chocolate chip cookies ( Sues) .


"The Creator"

Thursday's Laugh! Baily does Rackelle

"She's a fine looking bitch to me!" "What do you mean she ain't a dog?"

"The Creator"

No Pardon for Karla Homolka a.k.a. LEANNE TEALE - Signatures

No Pardon for Karla Homolka a.k.a. LEANNE TEALE - Signatures

Her and Paul Bernardo should never be pardoned for their horrible crimes. Click on the above link to sign this petition

"The Creator"

Happy Mother's Day weekend!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there!
Share my beautiful bouquet of flowers that Annette adn Shawn sent me yesterday.
Have you ever seen a flower like this before? She asked for orchids so maybe it is from the orchid family... It is five inches tall and the other one is short and more ripply... very unusual for sure and they feel quite soft.
Thank-you Annette and Shawn for this magnificent arrangement!
My sweet Sonia is taking me somewhere special when I go down in a few weeks....so we will celebrate then...since we are BOTH mothers! Have a great weekend out there.
There is a Mother's Day tea and plant sale out in Proctor if anyone is out this way tomorrow.
I am still a sickie with this darn cold so I am sticking pretty close to home!In fact, I think I will go have a lay down right now... Its the ear.........What?







"The Creator"

Happy 38th Anniversary Lynn and Bob...

Hope you have a wonderful day and a big Congratulations for hanging in there for 38 years... thats a good role model for the younger generation... I didn't have a pic of Bob recently, so just imagine that you are looking at him instead of that White bird of Paradise!






"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Annette!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Daughter who is so far away! We love you! Hope your day is absolutely the best Annette!




"The Creator"

Monday, Monday

After Lynn helped me so much in my garden by weeding out all the dandylions in my raspberry patch, Emil came along and rototilled the parts that weren't planted yet. I need to cover up the newly cultivated parts with new black plastic to keep the weeds from appearing. My next plantings won't be for a few more weeks, by which time the weeds could be two feet tall!

My beautiful Mayday tree that Correna and Joe bought me. The blossoms are opening up
in time for Mother's Day!


A new structure appeared on my walking trail today. Looks like an omen from the show "Lost" ( Is it the part of an old ship? a rail car accident? a piece of a sawmill? Who knows?)Not there last week, but clearly a sign to warn trespassers... Wait a minute... that beach is public below the property lines and high water mark anyhow?
As I walk, I clear away the stones to make a nice walking path. Two weeks ago , the horse lady starts riding her horse along my new trail and redistributes many rocks. A week ago, along comes several ATV's and a Jeep of some sort who totally wreak havoc and rocks on the trail. After that, the mystery person whom I call "Trailbreaker" has come along and put five or six long pieces of driftwood across the trail in order to block it, as one ascends or descends the steep bank that brings you from the main road to the the beach or visa -versa.

Days later the trail is littered with huge rocks to disguise the trail, and days after that, the twigs and branches appear to obliterate the start of the trail along with more large rocks. Today, the skelton was there. Who is the Trailbreaker? I only want to walk there with my doggie.

The dark side of the Rock Trail

Deliberate rock blockers

The warning... If I disappear after one of my morning walks, you'll know it was the "trailbreaker who did it!"

"The Creator"

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"