Predation

A few weeks back I showed a photo of a chipping sparrow nest with eggs in it. I've been keeping away from it to give them some privacy. I figured a month or so had passed and it was time to make sure they had flown.

Richard pointed out the egg sitting on the edge of the nest and I knew that wasn't a good sign. Most mother birds will carry the empty eggs away to make sure predators don't know there's a nest around. I held up the camera and shot this pic. Looks like a larger bird got in and with his beak pecked both eggs open. Sad. But I guess that's nature, right?

Cover Girl

I had one of those "gak!" moments yesterday at work. I had gone into the archives and pulled out several weeks of newspapers from 10 years ago to put together the "Auld Lang Syne" column that appears weekly in our paper. Yesterday, I opened the drawer and EGADS! There I was starring back at myself on the front page of the paper!

Floral Beauty

I made this cake for a friend whose good friend is leaving the area after 30 years. She's a 78-year-old lady who loves gardening and flowers and in particular forget-me-nots.

Summer Pose

Most summer Sundays are spent on a lawn chair, with a cool drink, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. Ahhhh.

Monkey Cake

I'm having so much fun making cakes lately. This one was for Isabelle's to help celebrate her 28th birthday. Apparently she's a big fan of monkeys!

Sweet Dog

The weather was a lot cooler this past week so I wasn't too alarmed by this dog in the car. But I figured I'd hang out a bit and make sure he was okay.

He didn't bark and seemed to like listening to me. In a few moments his owner came by and he told me all about how happy this dog was. Sweet fellow. Love his face!

Ruffle Wedding Cake

My neighbours were hosting an intimate wedding -- only 10 guests -- in their backyard where their daughter would marry their son-in-law to be. The bride asked me to make the cake. I was delighted.

Garden Goodies

As dry as it's been this summer, it's also been hot and my garden has been loving it. The squash plants seem to go on forever (and bearing fruit too) but the most amazing thing is my artichoke plant.

The fruit is huge and if you look closely, you can see other ones appearing too. Who'd imagine that you could grow artichokes up in Canada?

I planted ground cherries too. These little babies grow, as their name suggests, along the ground and bear fruit that are encapsulated in tiny paper lanterns. I'm hoping to get enough to make jam, but if not, they sure are delicious fresh from the plant.

And I have peppers coming out my ears this year! Last year I had almost none and this year they're bearing fruit like crazy. I left this one on the vine a little longer and voila! A red pepper. Love this time of year. My backyard is my grocery store. Now I need a cow. And some chickens!

Cakes! Cakes!

I made this cake to salute Blair and Jean Williams who were instrumental in building and fundraising for a fabulous pavilion that now sits on the premises of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan.

At the same event, volunteers were recognized for all their good work and time donated to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum over the past year. A big barbecue and corn roast was held along with a live band to celebrate the many volunteers. This second creation, that fed about 65-70 of them, ended the evening and was the icing on the cake!

Wedding Bells

 I made these two cakes for Sam and Byron's wedding last Saturday.

 Richard and I brought them to the Ramada Inn in Cornwall for the reception.

They got married in Williamstown in a pretty little church. I especially love this wedding photo that Richard took of an onlooker and his dog.

En Plein Air

 This week, a bunch of us decided to get together to draw and paint outside.

 Holly had suggested a spot in Cornwall on the St. Lawrence River.

 With a babbling brook and plenty of shade on a hot day, it seemed we were miles away from a busy city.

Half the group, which I never managed to photograph, stayed by the picnic table where we had lunch and watched this flock of ducks.

This fellow decided that we must have a good tidbit to toss to him, but alas, we kept drawing and he waddled away with no prize from us gals.

Sunday at the Martintown Mill

Every Sunday through the summer, the Martintown Mill hosts an art show and farmers' market.

 The art show is housed in the newly renovated Martintown Mill, an historic site.

The space inside is really nice, divided up for four artists. Natalie chose one wall and her colourful hooked rugs looked fabulous.

 My painted china fit in nicely in the setting I thought.

I haven't done much painting as of late, so stock is running low. 

Meanwhile, Natalie was finding her inspiration behind the mill at the water's edge photographing the myriad of painted lady butterflies that have been inundating the area as of late.

A Day at the Williamstown Fair

On Saturday we headed to the Williamstown Fair for its 200th birthday, Canada's oldest fair. We started off in the Rare Breeds tent. Nice sleeping piggy.

 And another sleeping piggy with very large feet.

A rare white turkey.

 And some happy ducks.

 We took in part of the dairy show.

 Some beautiful cows.

 And seeing them all lined up was pretty impressive.

 There were a couple of long horned critters brought in from Upper Canada Village.

Meanwhile on the other end of the fair, there was cotton candy...

 ...and rides...

 ...and games of chance...

...all taking place while there was a horse show going on. For me, going to the fair is like taking a step back in time. It could have been the 1940s or '50s! I just loved it.

Meanwhile...at a bakery booth, Nun's Farts were for sale! How'd you like dem apples?

Baby Butternut

A butternut must have fallen under one of the boards on the way into the barn. It was positively identified by a butternut expert from the Rideau Valley Conservation Area.

We decided to transplant it. We were advised that if it was under 3 years old it wouldn't have a tap root and would be easy to move. I thought it was 1-2 years old...and I guess I was right.

 We moved it to a nice spot.

 Richard dug a hole.

And we planted it. Sure hope it grows!

Wicked Weather

 Driving back from the Williamstown Fair on Saturday we saw a huge storm in the distance.

As it turns out, we ended driving directly into it.

I sent the video I took of the storm to CTV Ottawa News. Click here to see it.

Helping a Little Critter

I found this poor butterfly with a broken wing alongside the road when I picked up my mail. It had been hit by a car and its wing was broken. When I picked it up, it was still alive and walked on my finger. Since it was pouring rain, I decided to place it under a footstool near my front door, where it was dry and sat it on some nice moss.

I brought it a flower to rest on. When I checked on it later on in the afternoon, it had died. It made me sad to see something so beautiful and ephemeral pass away like that, but I am happy that I gave it a nice place to rest instead of the hot, wet concrete of the road.