Calico Corners

My latest barn cat is a calico. Isn't she sweet? She's terribly shy but knows me and meows when I call her.

This sweet calico showed up last spring and was really shy. I couldn't get near her and took this photo through the window, very carefully! I didn't see much of her.

This calico visitor hung out at my bird feeder all last summer and fall.

I wonder if she ended up at a neighbour's barn?

I'm wondering if this gorgeous calico is the same one as the above photo?

I think this gal has more red on her nose and a different white stripe blaze?

 She hung around quite a bit but also disappeared.
I see snow in the photo so I guess I fed her last winter...

Seven years ago or so, this pair of cuties, later called Jack and Jill, showed up and were adopted by a friend in Montreal. Jill is a very dark calico with very little white.

 And these are my two lovely calicos, Nutmeg and Cookie. Both showed up here about two years apart, 13 and 11 years ago. And this is why my house has been dubbed Calico Corners!

Snow Days

 It's been snowing like crazy around here. Richard got on the roof to alleviate some of that snow's weight. It took him a couple of hours!

There was also time to play in it a bit too. We went for a snowshoe in the back and most times the snow was up to your knees.

Richard found this cute little nest that had been blown out of a tree. I placed it back in a tree, perhaps to be fixed up a bit and used next year? Who knows...

Tomatoes and Visiting

 My cousin Jane has collected vintage tomato-ware for some twenty or so years. When we both lived in Toronto, we'd spend time on the weekends searching for them at flea markets and antique sales. I was lucky to find this teapot and one salt shaker at the Lachute Market last September and even happier that both pieces were stamped "Made in Occupied Japan."

Jane and her husband James and daughter Maddy now live in Nashville but keep their cottage up in Morin Heights, QC. Richard and I met them for lunch last weekend, halfway between our homes in Lachute. And I was able to give Jane her tomatoes as a belated Christmas gift. She was tickled pink, or maybe red!

Flower Basket Cake

 I made a cake for a friend whose Mum had a birthday just after Christmas. 

She decided to celebrate! (The only place where I could get even lighting was in my outdoor studio...now, sadly, full of snow!)

Cheryl's an avid gardener so I made every flower I could think of and placed them in a buttercream basket weave. Cheryl loved it.

New Year's Eve, Southern Style

 This year I hosted a New Year's Even dinner which had a Southern theme. Living in cold Canada and having tons of snow this year, I thought i'd be a way to warm up and bring in the new year in style.

We started with mint juleps (with Jack Daniels, natch)

 Then we attempted fried okra. Here it is soaking in buttermilk.

 Here's how it turned out. Really yummy.

 I made shrimp and grits. Definitely a keeper!

 A friend brought twice baked ribs. Yum-o!

Another friend brought buttermilk coleslaw and sweet potatoes. I also made cornbread, black-eyed peas and green bean casserole plus a pitcher of sweet tea.

 And for dessert? Lemon meringue pie...

Upside down pecan-apple pie...

...and banana pudding, natch!

Happy New Year, ya'll. Hope 2013 treats you right and you're healthy, wealthy and happy. Cheers!

Of Mice and Men

 My friend Natalie made truffle mice for the holidays.

 Richard ate them very much like my cat Cookie eats hers -- tails last!

One of them tried to run away and oooooops! Got caught in a mouse trap.

Florida Panthers cake

 Due to the NHL strike, there's been no hockey this year. 

Which makes Leonard miss his Florida Panthers even more.
Their logo was a real challenge but I stepped up to the plate.

 Happy 65th Leonard! Let's hope the teams get back on the ice sooner than later!

Redpolls and Finches, oh my!

Snowy days bring many birds to my feeder...

 ...and the the ground below the feeder too.

 The redpolls are tiny and very active and colourful.

 I especially love this photo with one redpoll flying in, looking for a perch.

 Meanwhile in the trees there are a pair of cardinals. Mrs. Cardinal is a light buffy colour.

Mr. Cardinal is a bright colouful red. So darn handsome.

Step-by-Step Starry Night Cake

I started with a double layer chocolate cake which I covered with vanilla buttercream. I lightly sketched out van Gogh's Starry Night with a toothpick on top.

 I started filling in colours with a round tip. I did three shades of blue...

 ...and two shades of yellow.

 The sky was fun but then there were the mountains and houses to do too. Oh my!

 The tree was piped in very dark green with chocolate added.

I did some white highlights to really make the sky swirl. The little town below has a few yellow lights on in those teeny houses. Van Gogh's loose painting style really lent itself to buttercream...it was just like painting on canvas except it was cake.

Marlowe Learns to Dance

Could this little cat be any cuter? Yup, he's the same little guy that I found in a garage and my friend Scott adopted. How cute is this?

Winter Basil

This year, I kept my basil in a pot, instead of planting it in the garden, and brought it inside. It's hard to believe it's lasted this long!

 Richard made some spaghetti sauce this weekend and it seemed the perfect time to use all the basil up.

It really added a nice flavour to the sauce. Next year I have to remember to keep a few basil plants in pots. I've been using the leaves from this one to flavour sauces, omelettes and salads since the summer. All with that same plant. Amazing.

More Gummy Cakes

 I did this cake two years ago for seven-year-old Zavier who wanted a gummy worm
cake for his birthday.

Now nine, he requested another one. This time I did it with gummy rattle snakes and gummy rats with a few gummy worms thrown in for good measure. It's great to be nine, eh?

Heeere's Marlow!

 Okay, so all kittens are cute, right?

 This little orange guy is cute beyond words.

 He's one of the two the little kitties  who were living in a cold garage that I found homes for three weeks ago.

 My friend Scott was ready to have a new friend...

...and it seems to be working out swimmingly.

I'll try and get photos of the other little guy but I hear all's well on that front as well!

PHEW!