Special Day

 

It was on November 30, 1963 that these two very young people embarked on a new adventure.  So young and clueless, nevertheless we made it and have reached our 60th anniversary.  

THEN 

NOW

We'll celebrate quietly with our family.  I remember my parents 25th anniversary; they had a big church "do".  I think that was the way it was done then. 

December is just a day away. Are you frantically shopping and baking?  Or are you going into the Christmas season organized and relaxed?  Maybe somewhere in between.

Thanks for taking the time to visit.  GM

A Full Moon and a Birthday

 

  November's second last full moon of 2023 will rise tonight.  Only one more and that one will be the Cold Moon on December 26th.     We saw the moon in the western sky when we walked this morning. Sheila took this picture which, as she says, doesn't capture the real beauty of it but no camera or phone beats seeing it with the naked eye.

Here are some more of her pics taken with her phone.

She'll be coming by later today because tomorrow is her birthday and we're going out for lunch ( she's on holidays this week and next).
 A tea party is planned for this afternoon. If I remember I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

The week is off to a good start.   Thanks for coming by

Decorating the Christmas Tree

 
Happy Sunday, I hope you are enjoying a relaxing day.  It was freezing when we left for our walk but no wind so it was great for walking.  Over the water there was mist which always looks so mysterious.

photo by J.M.

Here at home the tree is up and decorated.  All  that's left to do is put up the nativity set(s). 

 

I couldn't quite get the entire tree in one picture it seems.

I'm glad you took the time to visit today,  GM

Christmas Pillows and an Advent Calendar

 

I rarely buy anything through Face Book Marketplace but when I saw these 3 Christmas pillows for a very good price I decided to get them. It wasn't quite as easy as I thought because we had trouble finding the address but in the end we got there.

 Another Christmas related item we got yesterday was this old fashion  Advent calendar that Sheila brought when she came by. I call it old fashion because it's hard to find one that doesn't have chocolate or something similar behind each little door. We used to reuse our Advent calendars from year to year but eventually the doors wouldn't stay shut any more ( and the children outgrew the tradition).  This year I'll open the doors myself unless M is interested. At 14 he might not be, I'll ask him and see.

 

Another chilly morning but mostly clear sky. No walk for us though. We did the grocery shopping and that always seems to tire me out.  

Thanks for coming by today, 

Granny M

Cookies and a Visit

 

 Sheila is coming by for tea after work so I baked her favourite shortbread cookies. I've asked the grown kids which Christmas cookies they'd miss the most so I won't be making those that no one mentions. So often there are too many left after the holidays and I'm trying to avoid that.

I noticed unusual activity across the street and now I see that the huge pine is being cut down today. That makes me sad.

 As you can see in the picture, it's a lovely late Autumn day. Two degrees above freezing when we walked and no wind at all. Perfect walking weather. We came upon a young raccoon who wasn't particularly afraid of is. We stood about 8' away from the bushes where he sat, watching us. Cheeky little fellow.

That's about all that's happening here. I hope your day is going well. 

To all my American friends...Happy Thanksgiving.

Sunrise, a Recipe and a Silly Idea

 

 This was the sky this morning when we were walking. So beautiful and relatively short-lived. By the time we got back home clouds had moved in and the sky was gray. I'm so thankful that we didn't miss the sun rise. That's Mt Baker in the background.

I had milk that was "going" so I had to find a use for it.  The Impossible Lemon pie was all gone so I made an Impossible Chocolate pie.  I had not tried this recipe before but it was as easy as the lemon version and even better. I like all things lemon but chocolate even more ❤❤

I hope you had a good beginning of the week.

Thanks for taking time to visit,   GM

 

 

Here is an idea for decorating your bathroom. Somehow I don't think it will catch on.

Mystery Plant

 

 I found this cute little potted plant at the grocery store. The display said they were Christmas ferns. When I brought it home I went looking for information how to keep this Christmas fern alive. I finally found one site that had a photo of "my" plant and found that it isn't a fern at all. Selaginella "Frosty" is what I have.
Apparently it is what is known as a spikemoss and is very hard to keep alive. It needs a very moist environment...even frequent spritzing won't be enough. So I'll enjoy it through the coming month and see what happen.

 Today we walked around Fish Trap Creek in a very light rain. Hardly had to open my umbrella. There were not many birds around,  but yesterday we walked around Willband Creek and saw the heron, an eagle, a lone swan ( where were the others?) as well as a nice assortment of ducks. Now we'll walk here around Mill Lake during the week. It's just a couple of blocks from our house.

I want to thank Far Side and Furry Gnome for the book suggestions. I will be looking for those books at the library and  if I can't get them there I'll look at the thrift store and also used book shop.

Are you ready for another week? I realize that for you American friends there's a lot to get ready for Thanksgiving.  Whatever your week holds I hope it's a pleasant one.

Thanks for visiting, GM

Friday Chit Chat

 I went to the (used) bookstore to ask if they had anything about how women coped in WWII. I've seen some mentioned on Pinterest and asked if they had those titles. They didn't. I was directed to the Herstory shelves. I had no idea what the young woman meant but she took me to the section marked Herstory which was right next to the section marked History.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who never heard of this new word!  I did find some books that look as if they might be interesting but as far as I can tell they're all novels. I was looking for some that were written at the time and were about the life of the author. Oh well. I'll keep looking. I know some are available on Amazon but I don't feel like paying those prices.

 We had a strange day today. We received a notice last week that on this Friday our power could be turned off any time between 10 until 4 o'clock.  We waited and kept watching but no workers ever showed up. Meanwhile we hadn't turned on any computers nor the stove or washer & dryer.  DH stayed home from Gleaners in case the Hydro workers needed him to move a section of our front fence ( which is really close to the pole that was supposed to be replaced).  Now we are left wondering when they'll show up. I doubt they work weekends so maybe Monday?

Thank you for all the comments on the Impossible Lemon pie.  We enjoyed it ( it was gone in no time at all) but both of us agree that the Impossible Coconut pie is better. I make those Impossible pies quite often because they always turn out.  If you're interested, try the savoury recipes. They're good too and so easy.
There's a recipe on-line for make-your-own Bisquick. I mix up a double batch and keep it handy in the fridge.

Bisquick

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon butter or vegetable shortening 

  Mix together and keep refrigerated
  

  
  

I hope you have a lovely weekend,  GM

Impossible Lemon Pie

 

The temperature hovered at the freezing mark this morning. The boardwalk by the lake was slippery and we had to be very careful. I hope the city workers will start spreading sand soon because I even saw one poor woman fall.

I had a lemon that I needed to use or lose so I decided to try making an Impossible Lemon pie. I followed the recipe ( for a change) except I used fresh lemon juice and also grated the rind.  I don't think the lemon flavour would be strong enough without it. Also...if you decide to make it be sure to use a deep dish pie plate ( I used a 9" regular and had to put some of the filling in a ramekin). 
  We already made inroads into ours so the pictures here are from the internet.

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup Bisquick baking mix
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup butter melted and cooled
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup lemon juice bottled is fine

Instructions

• Spray a 9-inch pie plate generously with cooking spray.
• Place all ingredients in a blender.
  2 cups milk, ¾ cup sugar, ½ cup Bisquick baking mix, 4 eggs, ¼ cup butter, 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ cup lemon juice
• Mix on low speed for 3 minutes then pour the pie filling into the greased pie plate. Let it rest for 5 minutes before placing it in the oven.
• Bake at 350 for 40 minutes and allow the pie to cool before cutting. Refrigerate leftovers. May be served straight from the fridge if you prefer it chilled.   Thanks for coming by,  GM  
  

Autumn Storm

 

 We had quite the storm overnight with strong winds and lots of rain. There were ferry cancellations and power outages. I saw on the news that an estimated 170,000 BC Hydro customers were affected. DH made sure our generator was ready to be used if necessary but thankfully we were okay. The back yard is littered with branches. On our walk we saw lots of branches on the ground as well.

Our artificial Christmas tree is standing in the sunroom waiting for me but so far all I've done is straighten out the branches that always get crunched and I found the tree skirt and put that around the bottom. We'll see if in the coming week I get busy and bring out the boxes I need. Maybe putting on some Christmas music will inspire me.

Thanks for visiting today,  

 

Focaccia and a Thanksgiving Cactus

 

 

It's another cloudy and cool day. Good day to bake something and I decided to make a focaccia.
The dough is in the breadmaker  and if all goes well I'll have it hot out of the oven in time for supper. It will look like this one ( picture from the internet) except if that's Rosemary on top I'll leave that off. I grow it but we're not fond of the pine taste.

In the sunroom the yellow Thanksgiving Cactus is blooming. I think I've established that it not a Christmas Cactus as I thought. 

 

 

 

That's it for today. Thanks for visiting,  

Pink

 Just for fun I have images from Pinterest for those who like looking at pink pretties. 

Feel free to skip this post 💗💗

 

 

I think my favourite is the pink kitchen. Although I'd get tired of it very quickly, I'm sure.

If you're still here, thanks for coming by,  GM

Sunday Walk

 

 After yesterday's heavy rainfall we had to find an area where the paths were not washed out. We knew there was no use returning to Fish Trap Creek where we encountered deep puddles on the path yesterday so we tried Willband but it was also under water at places. We drove a little further and found another trail which seemed to be dry enough to make walking possible. We came upon a fast flowing stream much like this one and walked beside it as far as we could. Finally we came to a washed out bridge and had to turn back. We saw Salmon trying to swim upstream ( to spawn) but we never saw a single one that actually made it. I suppose they just keep trying until they either succeed or die of exhaustion. We were told that a school class had released baby Salmon,( called fry), a few years ago and now those babies had matured and were making their way upstream to the very place they were originally released. 

Thanks for coming by, GM

Thrifty Finds and Wet Weather

 It's a very wet morning. We managed to get a walk in during a lull in the rain but there was an unavoidable puddle on the path and the water actually went over the top of my 6" boot. Needless to say that felt uncomfortable.

Not much to blog about today but I do have a couple of thrifty treasures that I don't think I've posted about. The first is a Royal Albert mug ( the pattern is called Winsome). It matches a saucer I already had.

 I also found these cute winter themed place mats just the right size for lunch or a snack. 
 I like the first side better than the one with the oversized snowman. For a dollar I was not going to leave them behind.

 I hope you're having better weather than we are. The weather network is calling this an "atmospheric river" which is going to continue tomorrow and possibly cause flooding in low-lying areas. Fortunately we won't be greatly affected. I'm so relieved that we had our roof redone when we did.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

      Thanks for visiting, GM

Linda....I use Firefox but could maybe try Chrome and see if that helps with the problem with commenting. I keep hoping it will rectify itself as suddenly as it began.

Baking and more

 

 It's a very wet day, perfect for baking. I made a lemon loaf using Ina Garten's recipe. It turned out but I've noted on my copy of the recipe that next time I'll decrease amount the amount of oil and maybe bake it 5 minutes longer. It's fall-apart moist.

 I'm still using up the apples that DH brought home.  Apple crisp in ramekins ...perfect size for desserts.

 We did the grocery shopping this morning and as usual there were items ( on sale) that were difficult to find. That happens almost every week.  We came home and DIL had left a note that Miss Kitty had left a half-eaten bird at the back door,  DH went to deal with it and also noticed a dead rat nearby. She must have killed that too. I'm not distressed about the rat but I wish she'd quit hunting birds.  

Thanks for visiting, GM

I posted that I cannot leave a comment on the following blogs:
My Home and Garden
Furry Gnome's adventures
Linda Letters

Now I'm sad to say Happy@Home is also blocking me.

Please know that I'm reading these blogs faithfully and will keep trying. Maybe one day something will change and I'll once again be able to comment.

It seems all the 'problem' blogs have the same blue rectangle that says Sign in with Google. Well, I am signed in. It's frustrating.