Cuteness!

The weekend was rainy and perfect to spend time indoors visiting our neighbours who are in the midst of lambing. I could hardly contain myself. Too much cuteness!


All the mums are put together in one large pen...


There were some pretty proud mums in there!


This little lady gave birth to triplets two days ago!


It was pretty hard to keep them still to take a group shot.


She was pretty interested in what I was up to. Sweet thing.


Meanwhile, the boys were kept on the other side of the barn and kept poking their heads through to see what was going on.


And to top off an already perfect day, there was a big, gray barn cat that wanted his belly rubbed. What a great day all round!

Nutmeg's Nap

Why do cats love unmade beds?


The second I get out of bed, and after her breakfast (natch), Nutmeg crawls back into bed and cuddles in.


She has that "if I don't make eye contact with her maybe she'll go away" look.


Snooze-time Mum. Go away!

A Taste for Spring

With the warmer weather, the asparagus is starting to poke its head out of the ground.


And in the woods, the fiddleheads are appearing too.


We headed out amidst the blackflies (they're out too!) and picked some fiddleheads for supper.


Back inside, I stirfried them with some sugar snap peas...


...while outside, Richard barbecued some lamb sausages to mark our first bbq of the season.


Yum-o!

Backyard Birding

I loved birding and was thrilled to see my name mentioned in last weekend's bird column in the Ottawa Citizen.


Although the article says that this was my first time seeing these birds, actually, rose-breasted grosbeaks appear here every year, like clockwork. Lucky me.


Other spring visitors are the white-crowned sparrows who like to scratch for food on the ground.


Lovely coloured birds this time of year! The purple finches are showy...


...and the American goldfinches, who I feed all winter, go from a dull olive colour to canary yellow. Wowee!

Happy Birthday Lis & Nik

I made this cake for my friend Lis's 65th and her nephew Nik's 40th...


...a combination of 105 years young!


Happy 105th birthday you two!!

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Studies in Metal

Richard's car needed an early morning look-see at Canadian Tire so we were killing time well before other eager shoppers were out of bed. Richard pointed out the long line of grocery carts just waiting to be pushed. They look kind of cool in that long line, don't they?


What about the red carts at Zellers? As artistic you think?


Back at Canadian Tire, I made my way to the washroom. Check it out!


Okay, now that's creative. A hardware store where the taps are made from metal bolts. Love it.

Spring's Advance

At the back of the property was an old bass tree that finally fell in the harsh winds we've been experiencing lately. We moved part of it away from the only patch of wild garlic in the woods.


Last year's walk shows the tree upright, although look how hollow it was. It wouldn't have taken much for it to have fallen down.


We came across a pile of grouse feathers, the remains of some forest creature's lunch, no doubt.


Last year's dried mini-puffballs on a stump. I'm going to have to remember to revisit this in the fall.


Some other sort of dried mushrooms. Love the amorphous look of them.


Spring beauties, one of the first wildflowers of spring were starting to pop up.


The trout lilies were up too. This one came up early, sitting next to a warm rock and was the only one visible. I came back to the woods four days later and the forest floor was covered with them.


Vultures sailed above us. We made sure to keep moving...

Topiary ATCs

I traded these artist trading cards at last weekend's monthly session. I created the crazy topiary using watercolour and ink. I especially like the TV set with the stick antennas.

Retro Desserts: Tomato Soup Cake

I came across this photo of a service men's centre in Saint John, New Brunswick, 1944. My grandmother is the lady dressed in black near the far end of the counter. My Aunt Gloria is at the end of the counter with the flower in her hair. Just check out those cakes on the counter. Got me to thinking. Retro cakes.


From a terrific book I found called "The Kitchen Sink Cookbook: Offbeat Recipes from Unusual Ingredients," I managed to find the Classic Tomato Soup Cake recipe which has been around since 1925 (according to Campbell's).

2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
10 oz. (284g) can tomato soup
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.

In large bowl, combine all the ingredients with 1/4 cup water.


With the mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping the bowl with a spatula. Beat 4 minutes at high speed. Pour into prepared pans.


Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; then remove from pans and cool completely.


I frosted mine with seven minute icing and drizzled chocolate to get that '50s retro-look. (Don't you just love the vintage tablecloth?) I brought the cake to a potluck supper and every bit of it disappeared very quickly! The cake is easy to make and yummy.

Canada: It's Time to Vote!

Click to enlarge.
Before I placed my first-ever vote at the age of 18, I wrote the leaders of the three political parties and asked why I should vote for them. As it happened, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau was my Member of Parliament, so in this case, HIS name was on my ballot!


He wrote a very eloquent letter as to how I should place my first vote.


Joe Clark, the leader of the opposition wrote a good letter too. (For some reason, I didn't hear from the NDP.) At any rate, I thought it was good of these two leaders to respond to a soon-to-be 18-year-old voter. I wonder if the leaders today would do the same thing?
My late-mother always said that if you didn't vote you couldn't complain. So I'm off to vote today and I hope all my Canadian readers are doing the same. For better or worse, let's get out there!

Say "Awwww"

On occasion Cookie likes to hide under a blanket. I suppose she does this to keep warm.


On the other hand, her sister Oreo loves to follow the sun rays around the house.


She may look all cuddly but deep down she has the heart of a hunter.


Richard's Millie enjoys any spot to lie down...a laundry basket seems to do the trick.


And these little chicks seem to like to huddle together for comfort...


...as do these sweet little ducklings. Cute or what?