A Teacup and a recipe

 We went to drop off another bag of "stuff" and also had to return something which meant choosing something else because you don't get any money back, you just exchange it for something else. In order to make up the amount I needed to buy a small item and what's smaller than a teacup?   This one is nothing special but I liked the thistle pattern so home it came.

 

 I saw a recipe for an Orange Loaf on Pinterest and after shopping I made it.  It turned out just lovely, moist and tasting very much like orange.  I'll put the recipe down below in case anyone wants to try it.

Next time I make it I'd like to add a couple of Tablespoons of marmalade to the basic recipe. Marmalade can only improve it, right?

 Thanks for visiting

Whole Orange Blender Loaf

Ingredients:

- 1 large seedless navel orange, unpeeled and cut into eighths
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan, or line it with parchment paper for easy cake removal.

2. Place the orange pieces into a blender and pulse until they are broken down into a pulpy, smooth consistency.

3. Add melted butter, eggs, and sugar to the blended orange in the blender, and blend again until the mixture is well combined.

4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5. Pour the orange mixture from the blender into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir together just until combined, making sure not to overmix.

6. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

8. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove it from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

 

note: in my oven it took 40 minutes

Puzzles and Peonies

 

 Days go by so quickly it seems.Our weather continues to be cool and wet. Yesterday we walked in heavy rain, today was much better, the rain was so light we didn't bother carrying umbrellas. Now it's getting close to lunchtime and I see the sun has actually come out.

We used to do a lot of puzzles but when it became more difficult  to see we put them aside. While tidying up a closet I found this 500 piece one and we decided to give it a try. I don't think we'll do very many in summer but maybe next winter we will get back into them.  No more 1000 piece ones though.

 

In spite of the rain my one and only peony is blooming. I brought some in to enjoy.

Yesterday we dropped off another 4 or 5 boxes at the thrift store as I continue to declutter my house. I was afraid to go in to the store in case I found some treasures that I couldn't resist.
Nothing much else to blog about.  If the weather improves I'll be in the garden ( in case you drop by).

Thanks for visiting 

Birds

 

 

We walked in a light rain this morning but later the rain came down a lot harder. I'm glad we got our walk in before the deluge.  We were thrilled to see a Wood Duck with her 7 babies. In all the years we've never seen baby Wood Ducks....I didn't take the pictures that I'm posting today mainly because I didn't take any in the rain.  Isn't it amazing that a duck would choose to nest in a hollow tree?  The babies have to be brave and leap to the ground, in this case they would have had to make their way through about 15 feet of tall grass and weeds to reach the water.

from the internet

We also spotted a Tree Creeper , another rare sighting.....

....and an American Dipper.  According to my list of local birds this one shouldn't even be here.
We sure were fortunate to see one. They are usually only found in swiftly running streams but here was one right in Fish Trap Creek where the water didn't seem to be moving at all.

again, from the internet

After all that it was time to do the regular Saturday chores.

Thanks for taking time to visit.

Flowers and a Cake

 It's been another chilly day....the forecast is for this weather to continue.  One thing I did was to take apart the bouquet I received for Mothers Day and discard any flowers that were not in good condition any more. I rescued some and made an "arrangement" in the window over the sink. Something nice to look at while doing dishes ( no dishwasher here).

 The cake I made was an Applesauce cake. The recipe didn't call for raisins but I'm glad I added them.
 Here's the recipe in case you want to make it.

APPLESAUCE CAKE 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

********************

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup water

1 1/2 cups applesauce

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 9X13 pan

Combine first 5 ingr3edients

In a separate bowl combine the rest. 

 Combine dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.

At this point you can add raisins if desired. Pour batter into prepared pan
and bake 35 to 45 minutes (. in my oven it took 35)

Thanks for visiting

In the Garden

 

In the very back corner a straggly Weigela blooms, mostly unnoticed by anyone.

 This Clematis, on the other hand, is close to the house and much admired.

English Daisies continue to do well.

 And the chives need cutting down but they look so cheery I've left them for now.  Looks like Pansies are also vying for that space.  This is supposed to be my herb bed.

 I've mentioned how most of my Foxgloves didn't make it through the winter. Now I'm finding tiny ones in odd places and I'm watching them carefully. I doubt  they'll bloom this year but by next year they will.

 We did the grocery shopping this morning. I baked a cake and worked in the garden this afternoon. So the day goes.
 It was a good one.

Thanks for visiting today.

Odd Plates

 

 Recently some of the family joined us for supper. I thought I'd use some of my odd plates for a change.
They're all one-of-a-kind except for the 4th plate of which I have 2. That pattern is Harebell by Royal Albert.

 My favourites are the first and last ones ( although I do like them all).

It's a long weekend here in Canada, not that it makes much difference once one is retired. Our weather has been a mix of showers and some sunshine. I believe our temperatures are below average unfortunately.  The tomatoes that we planted out are shivering as they await the warm weather.

Thanks for visiting.

Interesting Facts

 

 

It was very blustery yesterday and this morning the park was littered with branches , some quite large, on the ground.  It's still a bit windy  but not as bad. Many of the branches  blown down were from these fine trees....Horse Chestnuts. These are very common around town and at this time of the year are extra attractive with their large flower heads.   Here are some facts from the internet  to bore you this morning...

 Both horse chestnut and edible chestnuts produce a brown nut, but edible chestnuts always have a tassel or point on the nut. The toxic horse chestnut is rounded and smooth with no point or tassel.

What is the difference between pink and white horse chestnut?

The key difference is the colour of the flowers. Instead of being white they range from pink to red as there are several cultivars.

Enough about Horse Chestnuts.  Here are some other interesting ( to me, at least) facts, this time about white cats.  Did you know that ....

 

 Researchers found that only 17 to 22 percent of white cats with non-blue eyes are born deaf. The percentage rises to 40 percent if the cat has one blue eye, while upwards of 65 to 85 percent of all-white cats with both eyes blue are deaf. Some of these cats are deaf in only one ear.

 

 So, not all white cats are deaf and not all blue-eyed white cats are deaf, but a great many of them are so-affected.

 

Obviously I need to get some work done here and the first step will be to get away from my computer.

Thanks for visiting today. 

Oh yes, here's another fact. My cookies didn't work out quite like I wanted. Once I had them mixed there was no way that they would hold together so I could form balls of dough so I pressed the whole thing into an 8X8 pan and baked it that way. It's really tasty!!!

 

 

Flowers

 Thursday morning and we finished doing the grocery shopping. We also went to Walmart where I had photos ready to be picked up. No one in that dept. to help me so I got them myself. I've seen which drawer they are kept.  Over the weekend I will scrapbook the Mothers Day pictures.

It's so chilly today.  I have no plans to do any gardening but I think I'll bake bread and cookies.  That should warm up the kitchen.  I found a cookie recipe on Pinterest that looks a little different from my usual cookies.  Buttery Coconut Oatmeal Cookies.

In the front garden a perennial Bachelor Button (Centaurea montana) is a recent "gift from a bird".
I know that this perennial can self-seed  and be a problem so I'll try to deadhead the flowers before they go to seed. 

My white Bleeding Heart struggles but at least it made it through the winter. Maybe I should give it some fertilizer.  The pink ones are seemingly easier to grow.

 This pink and white Columbine has popped up near the front of the flowerbed. 

a patch of light blue violets

A hedge of rugosa roses that hide our view of the neighbour's driveway. They smell wonderful.

I better get some work done here before it's lunch time. The mornings seem to fly by.

Thanks for visiting.

 

 

Kitty

 A pair of Robins unwisely began to build a nest in a large tuft of Clematis.  It didn't take long and Miss Kitty noticed the activity and went up to investigate.  Needless to say the Robins changed their mind about the location.

 She came down and curled up on a lawn chair. The sun shining through the lattice that was just behind her created a cute pattern.   She does manage to amuse us.  

Thank you for the comments on the new header. I cannot take credit for creating the collage. It was all done by my grandchildren.

 Thanks for visiting.

 

Flowers for Mothers Day

 

 

 

 

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a lovely Mothers Day.  My family got together for a BBQ at granddaughter Kate's and I was thoroughly spoiled.  

Did you have trouble with Wordle this morning?  Some days I get the answer quickly and other days I sit and stare totally lost until after several tries I either get it .....or message Sheila for help. Silly how it seems important to get it.

 Flowers for Mother's Day

 

 

 

Oh...look who came to see what I was doing!

Thanks for visiting

Pelican, Clouds, and Dandelions

 It was a lovely morning for a walk and as we went along I saw this bird with a very huge wingspan sailing over the water at Willband. I watched and not once did it  flap its wings as it seemed to float through the sky.  Eventually it landed and we saw that it was a white pelican, a bird that's not *supposed* to be in this area.  Wonder if it got blown off-track or why it's here!.
The pictures I took were inferior so here are a couple taken by others.

 

  clouds....

 

.... and dandelions gone to seed.

Thanks for coming by 🌷

Ducks and Geese

 

It's later afternoon as I finally sit down at my computer. I had a productive day if I say so myself. I got all my new plants either into pots or in the ground.
  On my morning walk  I saw a duck family; those ducklings are so cute!

 The 2 goose families have joined forces. I suppose there's safety in numbers. I wouldn't want to mess with the adult geese; they are so protective.

 Some housework also got done today. There were cobwebs high in the stairwell which I had no chance of reaching even with my long-handled mop.  A 6 foot son on a 6 foot stepladder holding that mop sure made short work of that job.

It's 26C (79F) and the change from recent cool and rainy days makes it seem very warm. I think I'm done for the day.  I hope you had a good one too.

Thanks for visiting

Plant Shopping

 DH was kind enough to drive me and eldest daughter to the plant shop and sit bored while we had fun choosing plants.  It was overwhelming with so many other people who were also taking advantage of the sunny morning to shop.  Eldest got many more than I did as you can see by the long receipt she's got in her hand. The back of the pick-up was quite full!

 Here are my choices that include an Autumn Fern, another tomato( San Marzano). I  haven't seen that one available before so I will see how it does.  In the pink pot below is my second lavender "Meerlo" which DH asked me to buy after seeing the one I bought on our last trip.  He really liked it. It's unusual for a lavender with its variegated leaves but the scent is definitely lavender.

 

 

The pink Columbine is one I have growing in the garden ( it made it through the winter) but the yellow one is one I got this morning.

It's very warm and sunny today and none of these new plants was out in the full sun so I'll have to get  them used to it gradually.

I saw this and found it amusing 💗

 

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