Mid May

Nothing too exciting going on around here so let's start this off with a taste of lemon cheesecake tarts :)  Last Friday, I went to the school I worked at for 11 years. I didn't go empty handed. I made and baked the pastry, then added a cream cheese filling, topped with a tangy lemon sauce. Since the recipe had called for 2 egg yolks, I decided to whip up the whites into meringue. They tasted light and delicious, even if I do say so myself, and I was welcomed back at anytime. ;)



Because it was Friday and it was a sunny day, some of the staff from that school and the staff from the school I retired from in December, met for a gathering at a local golf course. We sat on the deck munching on appetizers and enjoyed the view.










On Sunday, it was Mothers Day, and my sons, girlfriends, other mothers and grandparents met at a restaurant which was located at a midway meeting point on the island. There were 10 of us, and it was very enjoyable sitting out on yet another deck. We noticed a blue heron standing near a houseboat. At first it seem statue like, however once it moved its head, we knew it was just waiting patiently to see if supper was going to swim by.












Other than that, I have been working in the garden, cutting lawns, visiting plant nurseries, reading, sitting on the deck, walking, and generally just enjoying this lovely spring weather.

Merry Month of May

Continuing on ....

As I was saying, once the food preparations were made, and I'd cleaned up, I opened the dishwasher to empty it and I gasped. Everything was covered in black. I was stunned and could only assume that a gasket of some sort had blown oil over everything. However, on closer inspection I found an open container of stove blacking that I had recently removed from a kitchen drawer. This stuff was used for polishing the cooking elements on the old kitchen stove we used to have. How it got into the dishwasher, I've no idea. I can only assume that it fell into the top rack of the dishwasher from the kitchen counter...I don't want to even consider the possibility that I might have put it in there! Needless to say I have been trying various methods to clean it out. Pretty crazy!

Meanwhile, I made an animation of the pineapple/cantaloupe owl chomping up one of the radish mice, but for some reason it didn't upload to Photobucket properly. What we are left with, then, is the owl with, what looks like three mice dangling from its chompers. I know, I should get a life. LOL

 

Also when the mice were originally presented on the table, they were nestled in amongst some holey Swiss cheese and surrounded with animal cutout tortillas that had been sprinkled with herbs and baked ~

Around the edges of the cucumber race cars were snails made out of slices of tortilla rollups and gherkins with protruding knotted chives.

OK, enough already with the owls, mice and various other tasty morsels, except for saying that some mice just shouldn't be invited to tea, even if they are cute, as was the case at Uphilldowndale's meeting.

Recently I have been clearing out the garage. There will be no photos of this event in progress. Let's just say, I can now see the workbench, and many things have been removed and recycled. My car always fit inside, but once I clear the garage out, there might be room for two vehicles...which is handy, because I just bought a van (older model but it has less mileage than my car, and enables me to haul stuff out and away much easier). I'll be in the garage for some time yet...

However, I do come out for air and yesterday enjoyed a glorious walk to and through the Woodland Gardens which at the moment is buzzing with colourful rhodos and azaleas. It's great to have an annual pass so I can wander through any time.

The day before yesterday was a blustery one, with even a hail storm!

New leaves provided protection and a canopy in the woodland gardens ~ the golden birch and Japanese maple added a tint of colour to the fresh new spring green.






























The last blooms of this camellia bush seemed to be lapping up the sunshine after the rough treatment of the day before.












An interesting outcome of reading other blogs, is that it reminds me to look at things from various perpsectives. Recently, NiC showed a heffalump, but when I peered at the ferns in the woodland garden, I found musical notes, punctuation marks and seahorses! Perhaps his was a bracken frond like the third photo in this group.














Meanwhile, on the home front, the pink dogwood is reaching for the sky! I can see it clearly through my upstairs bedroom window.














Yesterday, I noticed a robin in the back garden with a mouthful. He hopped into the apple tree, and then back onto the ground, every so often twitching his head around on the ground ~ probably keeping all the contents together, or adding more?... anyway the beak was still full when he flew off.












And finally, two tiny birds...one in the apple tree and a little golden headed kinglet in the pink dogwood tree.

...oh, and this one (for sale) at the gift shop ~ it looks like it's one of the frequent visitors to Flighty's plot or ShySongbird's site.

Blogged Down!

I know it seems I flew off with the Snowbirds

and disappeared from blogs without a trace.

It’s true, I went once more to see them flying

but now I have returned to cyberspace.

The last two weeks have passed without a posting,

although I’ve read what others had to say.

I’m sorry that I’ve had no time to comment

but life has intervened, as is its way.

Oh, nothing much has caused me aggravation,

just minor little glitches out to play! 

Perhaps you might remember that I mentioned

requests for snacks for children – a buffet.

Well, last year, veggies, fruit and tiny muffins

just seemed to be consumed in no time flat,

as adults seem to pop out of the woodwork

all hungering for tastes of this and that.

So this year, being retired, I decided

to spend some extra time and make much more...

I didn’t get a photo of the peacock

with sprouted tails of fruit kabobs galore.

I had to jab them in at the last minute

before I served the melon to the chicks.

The owl kept their attention in the meantime,

its head of cantaloupe attached with sticks...

So late at night when all this stuff was ready,

the dishwasher was loaded, front to back.

I sighed with much relief that I was finished,

until I checked much later – it was BLACK!

To be continued