A New Month and a few Treats

 

 

I am so happy to change the page on my calendar to March. I know the weather won't magically change overnight to warm and sunny but we are getting closer. To celebrate the new month I bought myself another cheery Primrose. (As you can see the Primroses that I bought a week or so ago (Obconica) are still blooming)

And a jar of Bonne Maman Apricot jam and a couple of jars of Marmalade. These are treats for me because as a rule I make all our jams etc... Also I have a little collection of the Bonne Maman jars which I reuse. I like the pretty red-and-white checked tops.

Although it's not raining it's overcast and 8*C  (47F) so it's not exactly warm outside.  The forecast for the week is gloomy and full of days of rain.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll find lots that I can do inside.

What does your week hold?  I hope it's a good one.

Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

Birds and a Small Project

 

 A beautiful sunny morning with temperatures just above freezing.  Lots of people in the park.

There's an Eagle nest in the tree to the right of the path. I'll see if I can get it bigger...

If you look closely you can just see the Eagles white head sticking over the edge of the nest ( close to the tree trunk.)

 It's been a week with even more backyard bird activity than usual. We even had a Varied Thrush visit.  Something I've never seen before is a Hummingbird in the birdbath. We had one enjoying a nice long splashy bath one afternoon.   Incidentally  this picture is off the internet NOT taken by me.

Here's a nice blurry picture that I took. Maybe not about birds but birds were definitely on a neighbour's cat's mind  as he sat under the feeder and waited for a chance.  The reflection of the sun made for a bad pic but I couldn't resist including this photo.

 These pictures did not load in the order I wanted them so you see the lattice fence first although it came last and starts back beside the new garden arbour that DH and youngest son built. The fence does along the right side of the path.Hopefully I can take some better pics when we've had a chance to tidy things up.

 

Thanks for visiting, G.M.

This and That

 My stove is fixed. Middle son got the proper element and installed it with no problem.  

I'm doing the usual Monday laundry and also defrosting our extra fridge. It's very old and has to be manually defrosted which can be a bit messy but worth it. I don't understand exactly why it is that we need 2 fridges but apparently we do. I think the old fridges ( in fact the old appliances in general) were much less apt to give problems. Now we're told that one can expect a new stove, fridge or whatever to last 7 years. If you're lucky.

Lots of ducks on the lake. Amid all the Mallards there's one Wood Duck. He's hard to spot. Let me know if you can find him.

I hope you're week is off to a great start. 

 

Thanks for visiting,  GM

A Pie and a lot of Bananas

 I decided to make a cherry/berry pie yesterday using a can of cherry pie filling and some frozen berries that we had.  I had the pie dough ready to roll out and I thought I'd turn on the oven and let it preheat while I finished up making the pie.  There was a big flash and flames then just a glowing element on the bottom of the oven. If you've ever had an element burn out you'll know how shocking it can be.
I was able to bake the pie in my DIL's oven but until we get a new element I can't use my oven obviously. 

 Friday means grocery shopping for us. There were specials at 2 different stores and I bought quite a few bananas for .33 lb at the first store  then we went on to the second one and they were giving away lovely bunches of bananas! What could I do but say thanks and take one. The picture below is of the free ones. I think once we get the oven fixed I'll be making Banana loaves!!

We're enjoying an unexpectedly nice day with sunshine and 8*C. I think I'll go wander around outside and dream of what I'll do when the ground thaws and it's warm enough to actually putter out there.

Thanks for coming to visit today,  GM

Flowers!!

 

 

 

 

Well, the garden center is open and we popped in for a short visit  this afternoon. I chose a lovely pink Cyclamen and some Primroses.

 

 

These lovelies are Primula Obconica, a short-lived but pretty primrose that has "thick stalks that bear umbels of flowers in spring".

I wish I'd bought another of this kind of Primrose. It's Belarina which is described as " compact and  long-blooming. Easy to grow." I love the very double blooms and I wish there would have been other colours to choose from. The plants I saw all had speckled flowers so I assume that's the way they're supposed to look.

 Last but not least I got this little planter with 6 Pansies. I hope they'll be a variety of colours. Don't you just love the pretty faces on Pansies?

 It may look like winter outside but inside I have my own little taste of spring.

Thanks for visiting,  GM

Winter Weather and a Birthday Mishap

 

 

Finally we were able to resume our morning walks today. The paths in the park were not cleared but they were not slippery. The temperature is hovering around 0 C now. Unfortunately more snow is forecast for later today and also for tomorrow. "Hazardous conditions expected" is the headline on the weather page.

On our walk to the park we passed this house with a cat in the window that looked a lot like our last kitty. He was such a handsome cat but when we got a dog he ( the cat) ran away. He came back once I guess he wanted to see if that annoying pup was gone and when he saw it was still around he ran away again and never came back.

We celebrated middle son's birthday last evening and I had made a cheesecake. I made it like I usually do, in a springform pan.  Unfortunately when my DH picked it up intending to put it in the fridge the latch thing on the side of the pan somehow unhooked and the bottom fell out onto the floor. Luckily right side up. Needless to say the cheesecake was very cracked up and although everyone said it tasted fine no pictures of it were taken.

As usual I thank you for coming by,   GM

What a Difference a Day Makes

 This was yesterday......

 ....and this is today.

It probably won't stay long because rain is on the way but for a short while we'll enjoy the way it looks.

 

 GRANNY MARIGOLD

Amaryllis, Hellebores and Valentines Decoration

 My Amaryllis "Nymph" is blooming!! The blooms are so different from the others that I have ( to the left on the windowsill).  Apparently Nymph is the only double Amaryllis that is guaranteed to produce 4 blooms on each stalk. There are 2 more buds that you can't see here.

The Hellebores seem to be slow this year and with this cold spell I doubt they'll do much until the temperatures get above 0.

I hung a heart on the front door. I'm surprised the blustery wind hasn't blown it away. In case you're wondering, that black thing in the middle is a door knocker ( we don't have a doorbell).

This one is on a side door.

 We're still in a deep freeze here and I haven't been walking. I hope to get back on track next week.     We'll celebrate middle son's birthday this weekend. He was a Valentine's Day baby. I hope you have a little celebration no matter how small to mark the day.  Post pictures even if it's just of a heart-shaped cookie you had.

Thanks for coming by,  GM

Monday

 

 

 The second week of the month already!!  It seems that many areas, ours included, are having much colder temperatures than so far this winter. Must be global warming...or would that be cooling?

There was no wind when I walked this morning and the sun was shining. Lovely for being outside. 

I saw 2 Robins and heard a Mourning Dove cooing. That always makes me think of something Susan Branch wrote after she and Joe came back from England. She said that the doves there sounded like they were saying "Who cooks for you?". 

Nothing much happening here except the usual and I hear youngest son has arrived to help his dad on another project. (I'll be out there with the camera).  Thanks for coming by.

Granny Marigold

Busy Day

 I had a busy day. The weather this morning was chilly and damp so after we had done the grocery shopping and had our walk I decided to bake. I made scones and carrot cakes ( with the help of my DH who grated the carrots, a job I find hard to do).  Next I baked bread  (using the breadmaker to prepare the dough) and mixed up Oatmeal/raisin cookies which just happen to be DH's favourite cookies.

It's been such a long time since I've made baked beans so that's what we had for supper.  I had soaked the beans overnight so it was mainly a matter of baking them for several hours. The fresh bread went wonderfully with the beans!

 The sun came out later in the day. Even if I didn't get outside it was lovely to have the sunshine in the kitchen as I puttered away. 

Thanks for coming by,  GM

Kitchen Project

 A number of years ago I asked my DH to remove two of the upper cupboard doors so I could enjoy my  teacups better. Hidden behind solid doors made no sense. Being next to the stove it seemed like the the shelves and dishes  needed washing far too often.  This week I washed them  and hopefully they won't need washing again for a long time.

We still had the original doors and DH carefully removed the middle panel and took the doors to a glass shop where they fitted the them with glass.

 

I love how they look and can't imagine why it took me so long to decide to do this relatively small project.

After many days of rain today the sun is shining and I'm off to look if any of my Hellebores are blooming yet. 

Thanks for visiting me today,

Granny M

 

February and Candlemas

 Aren't we all so glad to turn the calendar to February?  January has been an endless string of wet days and I'm sure I'm not the only one wanting some sunshine. The days are noticeably longer though and that's encouraging.

 

Candlemas falls on February 2 which is the 40th day after Christmas and marks the end of the Christmas/Epiphany season.  This ancient festival marks the midpoint of winter, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox.

It also commemorates Mary and Joseph presenting baby Jesus at the temple.

Traditionally pancakes are apparently eaten on Candlemas so that's what we'll have tomorrow. And I'll be sure to put candles on the table ( which I often do anyway in winter).

 

 Thanks for coming by. I hope you have a good week ahead.

Granny M