Tea for two

 With soft snow falling and warmish temps, we headed into the woods again...

 We had spent most of the morning bringing in wood and breaktime was upon us.

 So we took my dad's Thermos, filled it with milky tea, grabbed a couple of cups and headed back into the woods to our picnic table.

Chairs are stored under the table, so they were nice and dry. We sat back and enjoyed the silence.

A bridge...not so far

 Okay, so the stream my parents' sarcastically called "The Mighty Mogelon" is not very wide but balancing over two 2x4s was starting to drive me crazy. And I have terrible balance. I asked Richard to build me a bridge. He came up with the simple solution of throwing a piece of plywood over the 2x4s. Yay for ingenuity!

Meanwhile, the frozen and slushy stream is a busy highway for a few raccoons, awoken from their slumber because it's been a warmish week.

The only thing caught on the webcam for the past few weeks was this snap of a very large raccoon.

A day in the woods

 Since I burn wood to heat the house, Richard and I spend much of the winter cutting and gathering. Here's Richard crossing the frozen Mighty Mogelon pulling his chainsaw and gas with his toboggan.

 When the creek freezes I'm in mind of the lyrics to a Joni Mitchell song that goes, "I wish I had a river, that I could skate away on..."

 This is another creek that rarely, almost never freezes. I always threaten to do a polar bear dip in it, but never actually have taken the challenge.

This was an odd sight. Walking by a tree, my eye caught a glimpse of something reddish. At first I thought it was a dead pine clump. But upon further examination, it is some sort of bird's feather. Wonder what the back story is there...?

Issie hits the jackpot!

 I made this cake for Issie who turned 96 yesterday. She loves playing the one-armed bandit.

 Issie looks terrific! I especially love this photo with her hand on the lever, in this case a jaw breaker, ready to play!

And I also love this pic, with Issie making sure that the cake is cut correctly. Go Issie go!

Deer beds and cat beds

 Out in the back woods, my dad planted spruce and pine trees 40+ years ago. The deer like the shelter the trees provide and generally sleep underneath them making indents in the snow.

 Meanwhile, a bed of a different sort! Jack, my boarder from Montreal cozies himself up with a blankie and his stuffed pet fish.

I adore Jack and look forward to his visits. He was originally born here. I found him as a kitten and friends in Montreal adopted him. I'm so lucky I get to spend time with him from time-to-time.

Retrospectives

I've been making cakes for enough years now that I've had many returning customers. I've been making birthday cakes for my favourite triplets,
Ela, Nikki and Leah since they were five years old. Last summer I did their 10th birthday. So much fun to see them growing up.

 Cheryl loves flowers and after a cake, we switched to cupcakes, each dozen with a different theme.

I've done three cakes for sweet Famke who chooses her theme every year,
one year a fairy land, another year a nod to her cello/piano lessons and last year, her calico kitty Liko.