This and That

 It's still raining here. I didn't even try to go walking, instead I spent the morning going through old cards and such. I decided I'd keep only as many as could fit into a smallish  suitcase.  I find it hard to throw away cards from dear ones.  Of course I kept all the drawings made for me by my children and grands. Those are so precious.

I found another wedding photo;  we are very serious. No smiling allowed. No pictures were allowed during the ceremony so this was taken after.

I often complain jokingly that packages are delivered almost daily to my son and DIL but not to me. Ignoring the fact that I don't order anything. Well, today TWO packages came for me neither of which I had ordered. I was even more confused when I opened the boxes. Each contained 3 random items. Package #1 contained a small book of journal prompts, a box of fruit fly traps (some of which had been removed), and a sort of coffee stomper which I'm told is for an espresso machine. Package #2 had 2 collapsible dog bowls, a jar of silver polish and an extremely heavy mortar and pestle.  

 

Teacup #39

Thanks for popping by,   G.M.

Floods, Tea Pots, and an Anniversary

Our flooded farmland surrounding town is still very much under water. Another "atmospheric river" is on its way. Apparently the new term was created because these extreme weather conditions may become more common in the years to come. Many local streets are closed as well. Our immediate area is in no danger but we feel for the people who have to evacuate then later go back to heaven-knows-what.

 

 The army was called in and have been busy building dikes. This "tiger dam" is essentially a enormous tube which is filled with water; the tubes are capable of being stacked up to a maximum of 32 feet and can be linked together seamlessly for miles.

On a more cheerful note I went to the thrift store and found yet another teapot that I loved. It's the one on the left.  I already had the others and since I couldn't think where to display them I put them on the table.

 

Tomorrow ( November 30) is our 58th  anniversary. I was too lazy to go looking for a different photo and just took a picture of a picture ( it was in a scrapbook).  My, but we were young.

 

teacup # 38

Thanks for coming by,   GM

Thanksgiving

 To all my American friends I wish a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!!

 We here in Canada of course had ours the second weekend in October. I'm always glad to have those extra weeks to get ready for Christmas.

Nothing much is happening here. We are getting ready for another rain storm which is not forecast to be as bad as the one we had earlier. 
I had my eye appointment this morning and I don't need new glasses. That's the good news. The bad news is that the problem of  dry eyes ( which is making it so hard to read and impossible to do anything like puzzles) is not easy to remedy.  I just have to live with it.

teacup # 37

Thanks for visiting,  GM

 

Monday Morning Sky

 

 

 This is the sky we were greeted with as we left on our walk this morning. By the time we came back all was uniformly gray.  By midmorning the rain had begun.  Luckily before that happened I was able to finish cutting all the old foliage off the Hellebores. I think this is the first year I've gotten that job done before the end of November.  I did look it up  and one site said to cut them back in November another said to wait until February. That makes no sense here because by then they'll be blooming.
Anyway, now it's done.

Nothing special happening this week. I do have an appointment to have my eyes checked on Wednesday. I expect I'll have to get new glasses because I'm having more trouble reading these days.

This little gem is #36  made in Japan. I have a number of teacups that were made in Japan and I think I'll post those for the coming weeks. I thought I had a plan not to get mixed up but if I should accidentally post a repeat please let me know. Or chalk it up to old age.

 Granny M

Life goes on

 The day dawned clear and beautiful. Hard to believe the storm that passed through on the weekend. 

I'm posting a couple of pictures which show some of the surrounding areas.

 

 

Life goes on, doesn't it?  For me this meant the usual Friday morning grocery shopping, some housework and a lunch visit with a couple of my children coming by.  My heart goes out to all those whose lives have been turned upside down and now have to pick up the pieces..

Teacup# 35   made in Japan

Granny Marigold
 

Pinterest and Hellebores

 Winter is a time to dream about Spring and what new plants to look for. I like to browse on Pinterest and I find many lovely things I like. Like these Hellebores which I find absolutely gorgeous. I don't really have room in my Hellebore area but for one of these I just might dig out one of my old ones.  I like all 3 of these and can't decide which is my favourite. Can you?

 

Here's another cute thing I found on Pinterest. I never learned to knit or crochet but if I could I'd make one of these Itty Bitty Christmas Kitties!!  Do you find them adorable too?

 

 

Marit asked if my marmalade was made with fresh cranberries and the answer is yes. They are available around here mainly at this time of the year. I'm sorry I don't seem to be able to reply to comments in the comment section. Blogger is being difficult again.

 

 

Teacup # 34  by Rosina

Thanks for popping by,  GM

Storm and a Recipe

 Just a few images of the devastation that all that rain caused. Mudslides and flooding over much of B.C.  We're so fortunate not to have been affected much, didn't even lose power as so many tens of thousands did.

In the park this morning we saw how much the lake has risen. We saw many trees down ( there were also strong winds with the storm.) Here are a couple of photos of surrounding areas of town.

 Lorrie asked if I'd share the recipe for the Cranberry/Orange Marmalade that I made so here it is. I don't remember where I found it and when I copied it out on a recipe card I didn't include much of the info (such as exactly how to cut up the oranges) but I'm sure that won't be a problem.

 Cranberry/Orange Marmalade

2 large or 3 normal seedless oranges
2 cups water

Boil cut up oranges and water for 30 minutes.
Then add 1 cup apple juice
2 and a half cups sugar ( I used only 2)
4 cups cranberries ( I used one bag. Didn't measure to see if it equaled 4 cups.)

Bring to a boil then simmer stirring often until it reaches setting temperature  220F ( 105C)

I don't have a proper thermometer ( that's on my to-buy list) so I sort of guessed and ended up using a small amount of cornstarch to guarantee setting. As you can see it's an extremely easy recipe. 
Oh yes, the recipe did say to keep it refrigerated.

We're enjoying ours on our morning toast and I'm sure I'll be making it again. Really it's no different than the cranberry sauce I've made for Christmas because in recent years I have added orange to the as well.

Teacup #33 made in Japan

As usual I appreciate your visit and the lovely comments so many of you leave. 

Granny M.

This and That

 It's Sunday evening and it has been a very wet day. I believe we've had almost 4 inches of rain today which will probably break records. A number of roads are closed due to flooding. We didn't go walking but we went to look for some new Christmas lights. Not only did we find some I also spotted this cute little Lemon Cypress(?) in a Christmas tin.

Up on the shelves in the sunroom 7 of the little houses had burned-out bulbs which middle son was kind enough to change.

I made some Cranberry Orange Marmalade. It's very tasty and I'm sure I'll be making this recipe again.

 

These pretty little teacups with elf-ear handles are a recent thrifty buy. I think I'll just lump them together as # 32.

 Thanks for visiting. Have a great Monday!

Granny M.

Teddy Bears

 My morning walk in a light rain was quite uneventful. Didn't even see the Eagles that I saw yesterday on one of the tall trees overlooking the lake. Yesterday's walk was interesting as we saw 3 police officers subdue and cuff a young man who apparently had been throwing knives at a tree. It was not a good idea.

 I have put away my Autumn teddy bears and taken out the Winter ones.  I think it's the first step in my preparations for Winter and Christmas. As usual I must apologize for the poor quality of my pictures.

 

 

Teacup #31

Thanks for stopping by today,   GM

Lebkuchen and Christmas Cactus

 Remember the Ideals magazines that I bought last week at the thrift store?  There were interesting-looking recipes in there and I thought I'd make this one.  I failed to read all the way through the recipe before starting and I also mismeasured the honey but they turned out okay. I am not fond of them but DH thinks they're good and will take them along to Gleaners to share at coffee time. 

Just an aside: The volunteers are currently working on the 10,000 lbs of sweet peppers they received and apparently 40,000 lbs of onions are on the way. I dread when he works with onions because he comes home smelling like them but they definitely make a wonderful addition to the dry soup mix that Gleaners makes (to send to poor countries).

 

 Both my Christmas Cactus are blooming now and as you can see one is white and one yellow/peach coloured.

 

Teacups # 29 and 30 are some of my Autumnal-toned  ones .

 Thank you for stopping by,  GM

Saturday Musing

 

It's another very wet day. We noticed on our walk how the water level is rising. Fortunately the path is raised. We also noticed that many of our winter friends are back on the lake: Shovelers, Scaups, Buffleheads, we even spotted 2 Pied-Billed Grebes.  

Abbotsford has a large East Asian population and they are currently celebrating Diwali which is also known as Festival of Lights.  Many of their homes are decorated with Christmas lights and it's lovely to see. This past week we noticed a lot of fireworks being set off. At first I thought it was someone who was using up leftover Halloween fireworks but then it dawned on me that it was all part of Diwali celebrations.

Remember my trip to the thrift store this past week?  Here's the rest of my treasure trove....

I collect pot holders and these cat ones are so sweet. They're actually big enough to use as place mats for tea time (which we never fail to have daily).  The butterfly ones just need ribbon attached to the corners so I can hang them up.  The red ones are already hanging in my kitchen.

This last treasure I've put aside until I decorate for Christmas.  For .50 I wasn't about to leave it behind.

Teacup # 28

Granny M