Art and Food and Joy!

Hello Friends!

Happy Sunday! :)

I hope all is well with you. I'm totally bouncing back from the house-hunting disappointment! I've planted lots of seeds and they are sitting in my office window, soaking up the sun. :) My garden won't be quite as big as last year's. We got rid of the tires in anticipation of moving, so I won't be doing my "tater tires" this year!

But I do have lots of lettuces, herbs, tomatoes, beans, pumpkins and flower seeds in the pots. My Butter Crunch lettuce is already sprouting up!! :) This will be the summer of RELAXATION.  Tell me what you're up to with your gardens! It always inspires me! :)

The snow has nearly almost melted, but with the last week of heavy rain and the snow melt, the river down the road has overflowed its banks...the forecast looks dry and sunny for a few days so let's hope it recedes!

With all of the house-hunting hub-bub...I didn't post a photo of my Easter cake!!! It's really the only baking I did in the last few months, it's a Carrot Cake decorated with chocolate bunnies and M&M's on a bed of shredded carrots. :)

Painting on the porch today!

Let's talk about art! As many of you know, I used to participate in the weekly Scribble Picnic. Well, it has dissolved unfortunately. I've really missed it though, so I made the decision to start my own weekly art "date". I'm calling it the Thursday Art Date With Rain. What do you think? Anyone want to join in? Every Thursday I'll publish a post with a link gadget so that anyone who wants to participate can add their post link to share their wonderful creations. I found it always very motivating and I loved seeing other people's interpretations. I met lots of nice friends through the picnic too! :)

I created a page here: Thursday Art Date With Rain. This page explains things a little bit; I also posted prompts/themes/ideas for the weekly art date...I've gone all the way up to the end of September in case you want to take a look in advance to come up with ideas!

Summer Bird (watercolour)

On my right side bar, there will be a link to the prompts.

Each prompt/theme/idea has a link to a separate page that will give you some inspiration and ideas for the piece. For example, this week's prompt (May 16th) is Drips Drops and Splatter. If you click on the link, it'll bring you to a page with some ideas and inspiration. Even if I'm the only one who posts my art, that's okay, I won't give it up! :)

Linguine Carbonara (minus the bacon because I ran out!)

The following subject makes me happy...I have my cooking MOJO back my friends! It's been a year and a half since I've found cooking and baking to be a CHORE and a RESPONSIBILITY rather than fun and a creative outlet. I could cry with joy that I'm feeling back to my old self again. It's been a very difficult year and a half...but lessons have been learned, pain has been processed and hurt has been (and is still in the process of being) healed. Life is wonderful. :)

Open-Faced Garden Veggie Sandwiches: This was SO good with zucchini, tomato, onions and eggplant. I'm not usually a fan of eggplant, but the flavours mixed together made me a big fan. Oh my gosh...the "Muncho" chips...we wanted chips with our sandwiches, but these were like eating pure salt!!

Spinach Ricotta Lasagna Roll-Ups : It smelled so good I forgot to take a photo of our plates, but trust me, ooh lala, very yummy!!!

Ricotta and Strawberry Toast with Strawberry Sundaes...decadent...a dash of Fragoli Strawberry Liqueur in the sundaes was the perfect touch! When strawberries are in season, take advantage!!!

And some smoked meat sandwiches. This is toasted Rye bread smothered with yella and Dijon mustard with (pre-bought) smoked meat and Swiss cheese melted on top. With sauerkraut, fries and a Dill pickle...it's an awesome deli-style dinner!

I even made some Quick Mozzarella this morning for tonight's dinner. I'm feeling good again! :)

Thanks! 😍

Check out that foam! I'm a master with the milk frother! :)

I just wanted to say thanks for all of your encouragement and kind words my friends! Life is getting back to normal, we're unpacking what we started to pack, sigh! I'm looking through my cookbooks to prepare for the monthly shopping and I'm selecting which seeds I'm going to start this year for my garden. We won't be looking for properties again until the new year so we're going to try to get back to our beloved routines and enjoy life.

And in passing, I'm getting an INORDINATE amount of spam comments...you know them I'm sure, the escort services from the other side of the globe...so annoying. I deleted a load of them today and I'm hoping nobody's comments got lost in the shuffle!

I'm Still A Renter

It's been a grueling and emotional month...things didn't pan out for many properties. Out of thousands I checked out online, there were only three that met my needs over the last 6 months. The first one was just too much work; the second one I got out-bidded; the third...well the listing agent didn't disclose obvious problems with the structure of the house.

Money and time and energy wasted....so I had to make the phone call of shame and ask my landlord to reneg on my lease cancellation and let me renew for another year. He was fine with it, but I felt kind of like a failure.

But...I've shed my tears and shook my fist in anger at whomever would pay attention! Now I'm ready to move forward with baby steps.

So there we go...renting still at age 51. Such is life. I will recover! I'm trying to think of the positive now. I'll plant some kind of garden, I'll be able to walk the dogs in the woods that I love, I'll take my bike to the bike path and enjoy rides a few times a week, I'll even look out for a used kayak to enjoy in the nearby lake.

I'll get back to my painting and drawing. I'll somehow find it in me to start cooking and baking again.  I'll get back to blogging and reading blogs again.

I'm healthy, Alex is healthy, the six furballs are healthy, we're not completely broke...things will be just fine! 

Now if only the snow would melt...

❤️ Love You All!!!❤️

Crazy Days!

Oscar and Jack keeping warm under blankets on the porch.

Hello Friends!

My life is passing by so quickly these days and there is so much to do! I've been traveling, looking at properties, staying in motels and my gosh the paperwork...we are so close to making an offer on a house, I'll keep you in suspense for now 😏...but we have our fingers crossed that all goes well. My next post will be either titled "I'm a Homeowner!!!" or "I'm Still a Renter..." (let's hope for the first one!).

Marlene and Charlie enjoying the sunshine while keeping cool in the snow.

We still have way too much snow here. The other day I sank to my hips. I actually got stuck and had a terrible time getting out, Alex came to my rescue thankfully. This is a dangerous time of year in the back yard...I am very happy to bid farewell to Old Man Winter this year I have to say. 

A sure sign of spring is when we see robins, red-winged blackbirds and grackles!! The cats spotted them! :) They are spending lots of time by the window these days.

Thanks for all of your comments, emails, messages and positive support! I miss you all, don't forget about me! :) Happy Easter to everyone!!! (Even my post reads as someone in a hurry, I can't wait to nest and relax again!!!)

Mexican Fiesta, Loose Husky and Knitting Project

Hello Friends :)

I hope you're all doing well and have a nice relaxing weekend planned. I'm still on the hunt for a home...time is going too fast, eek! I thought the market would pick up in April, but it seems to have slowed down lately. Nothing new to show you! 

But I have one thing to show you in the above video..it's snowing again. This is the snowiest winter I can remember! We are expecting another 20 cm over the weekend. As Lucille Ball would say...whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

At the beginning of March, I decided I wanted to knit myself something - ANYTHING...I chose a little handbag and it's nearly done! I just have to add a button and I'm thinking about a lining. Thanks to Stefanie for your help! :) Mahalo you sweet lady! :)

Cowboy Jack taking a siesta

Do any of you remember this time last year when I mentioned we had a loose husky in our yard? Well, two nights ago...I guess it was morning, 3am, Jack woke me up barking. Then I heard howling. Alex and I thought it was a coyote! We looked out the window and saw this:

It was that same big male husky that's been in our yard EVERY April for the past 4 years!! He was howling so loudly in our back yard. Poor thing, it was -15C with the wind that night too. We got into our snowsuits and tried to lure him over with some cooked pork.

Last year when I tried to call him over, he put his heckles up and growled and I bolted back to the house. This year though, he barked a bit, then carefully walked right over to our porch and ate the pork. He is SUCH a sweet dog! We ended up calling the police to see what could be done. They suggested we call the waste-of-time-lazy-won't-get-off-her-a$$ local dog catcher. She's the one who only took action last April because I emailed the town mayor. But she basically told us if we needed help, not to bother calling her. We explained the situation to the police officer and she called the dog catcher; so that lazy woman was forced to do something right away. Not wanting to get up off her duff, the dog catcher called Alex and gave him the phone number of the owner of the dog, since we were able to read the number of the license. She gave us the phone number and hung up. Why do they pay her??? We did all the leg work, but whatever...The owner drove over and picked up his dog Ralph. At least we know Ralph is friendly so if he gets loose again, we can just call the owner and avoid that horrible dog catcher!

We think Ralph is after our Charlie who is starting her heat. She has her heat around this time every year. These blokes travel miles for a gal don't they? ;)

I think I uttered at one point "oh, can we keep him???" Get that out of your head Rain! :)

On to the good stuff! ¡Arriba! I made a Mexican Fiesta last night complete with crunchy Cheese Quesidillas, Mexican Rice, Papas Fritas, Enchilada Sauce and a Lemon Ice Cream Pie (without the meringue)! I made some Pina Coladas...though they aren't Mexican, they just seemed to go well with the meal. See the little umbrellas? :)

Some more comfort meals of late: Linguine Carbonara with my Homemade Bread.

And a Pizza Napoletana with a thick diner-style crust.

I'm trying to keep things together lately - what with the house search, dealing with agents and brokers over the phone and by email, doing due diligence on our own by researching the potential towns and municipalities...and now it's nearly time for the monthly shopping. Alex and I are swamped, it feels like work - which I'm not too thrilled about! One little bit of good news though and I'll try to make this short! It's about real estate so if that doesn't interest you, just gaze at my pizza! :) 

Seashell (watercolour)

Or enjoy my latest painting! :) (I'm trying to keep balanced by painting/drawing daily, cooking, baking...trying to keep some kind of routine going so that I don't go loony!)

I found a house that was on 2 acres - the previous owners had built outdoor bread and pizza ovens! How cool is that??? Sadly, there are neighbours within just 20 meters on each side, so it's not for us.

When I say that some of the properties I'm interested in won't be financed by the bank, I'm just kind of making it simple. To qualify for a 5% down payment mortgage, the bank needs to be able to insure the property. That's where the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) comes in. They will decide if a property is insurable or not. If the CMHC disapproves, the bank won't finance. In fact my new mortgage broker just told me the CMHC will rarely insure any acreage above 5 or 10 acres. That really bummed me out. But...I got some more information, I learned today that there are 2 other companies that also insure mortgages in Canada and they seem to be more flexible about acreages. So perhaps some of those homes I've vetoed due to the CMHC saying no-no...I can revisit down the line and hope the other two companies may be okay with them.

I have to say, despite the stress, I'm happy that I'm learning so much about real estate and mortgages! I hope this is the first and last time I have to deal with this though! :)

Italian Feast!

Hello Friends!

I hope you're having a quiet, relaxing Sunday! I am. I took a quick 17-second video of the pets this morning, I love when they all hang out with me! :)

It's kind of a yucky day outside today. Our big predicted snowstorm turned into rain and it's a SLUSHY MESS out there. It's a good day to test if you have holes in your boots that's for sure!! The dogs didn't care so much, they were sniffing around for forest critters!

I mentioned on my Thoughts Blog yesterday that I was making a big ol' Italian dinner last night! It turned out so delicious. I'd kind of lost my kitchen mojo for the last few months, but I'm slowly but surely finding it again!

For the main course, I made pasta. Alex really likes my Linguine Puttanesca. I can't digest the Kalamata olives so I made myself something different.

My pasta was Cappellini with Fish and Olives. So fresh and yummy!

Fresh homemade bread with butter is an absolute must!!! I made my No Knead Bread - but this time I made it the same day as I started it. The recipe I usually follow indicates starting the bread on day 1, then putting it in the fridge overnight and baking it on day 2. No issues here, in fact, I noticed it rose a lot better when I baked it same day. 

For dessert, I made my Italian Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta Cheese. We had red wine with the meal, it was a great success! For so much food...it was very easy to digest! :)

A few days ago, I was playing around with some "scratchboard" style art. Scratchboard is actually done on a white canvas or surface, covered with black ink - and you scratch your design through. I used black acrylic paint as my surface and a white gel pen to scratch in my tree. :)

Here's another property I found on the realtor pages. But again, it's a property that will not suit the bank's criteria (no foundation). FIFTY acres with a little cabin for 40k. Small cottages, houses or cabins don't bother us if the price and location are right. We're always willing to build or add on over the years. Here's the link: 2749 Pleasant Ridge. (I love the name of the road too!) Gosh fifty acres of land... :)

Wrapping Up March

Hi Friends :)

I hope you're doing well! I managed to get out the other day for a THREE hour snowshoe trek, my gosh it was invigorating! It was a nice sunny day and again, hardly anyone was using the trail. 

Is your March predicted to go out like a lion or like a lamb? I just saw the weather forecast, and go figure...OUT LIKE A LION here with 20cm of snow over the weekend. Sigh. 

I was playing with my watercolours and acrylics this morning and came up with this lonely old tree at sunset. I decided it was probably housing some bats too. :)

Check out what I discovered this morning:

Planting a PIZZA GARDEN...I think this is really a neat idea! You plant all the ingredients you'd enjoy on a pizza! What a nice project! Although, I think I'd rather it look like this:

One can always dream...

I wanted to show you another little treasure of a house that I found. It has electricity, water and septic...but it's not on a cement foundation...so I don't know if the bank will be okay with it. I'm gathering a list of properties to send to my mortgage specialist and I'll ask him to okay/veto the list in a week or so. It's a small house, but get this...it's $49,900 with 32 ACRES!!! Here is the Realtor link: Little House With 32 Acres.

Here is the cadastral map that shows the acreage. There is a river running through the property! Isn't that just so dang cool? :) And the yearly property taxes are under $500. Very affordable. It's on the list of possibilities!

So...just like Bugs Bunny...I'm still on the hunt for that perfect home! :)

Painting and Pooches

Have you noticed now that spring is (apparently) sprung...that time seems to be going by a little too quickly again? I have! I'm happy to say that it's mild (ha ha) enough that I can take all three furballs on a walk together again! It was touch and go for a while, the temperatures were still falling to -10C overnight and in the mornings. But the last few days they've been hovering around freezing, so as long as little Mr. Jack wears his hand-knitted :) sweater, we're good to go! :) No rabbit sightings this morning, but a wily pair of squirrels got their attention. One on each side of the road up the snow banks, chirping away!

We've been in a soup kind of mood lately. Last night I made Italian Orzo Soup, with some warmed up home-baked No-Knead Bread and a little green salad. I can't wait to grow my own lettuce again! My digestion has trouble with the store-bought stuff.

Cold Winter Night (acrylics)

Yesterday I pulled out my last canvas (boo hoo!) and decided to paint something, kind of à la Bob Ross. I haven't painted a thing since early February and I actually had a lot of difficulty with this one. I didn't feel like I had it in me at first and nearly gave up...but I pushed ahead and I'm happy with the result! Since Alex and I are on a spending freeze...I decided I'm not buying any more painting supplies until we're settled, so I'll make do with what I have for now!

On that note, my friends know that I've been participating in Michael's weekly (then bi-weekly) Scribble Picnic. He would come up with a prompt and those who participated would paint/draw/scribble their vision. Well, unfortunately due to lack of time, Michael has put the picnic on hold indefinitely. But I'm going to continue to paint an acrylic or watercolour; and draw my Looney Tunes every week for fun, just to keep my creative side going! I will definitely be sharing those as I create them!

Still on the house hunt! This is such a nice little cottage. Here is the link on Realtor. (I think you have to agree to something before you can see the listing). It just seems so perfect for us, $35k, about 1 1/2 acres, in the woods, a little fixer upper...but the bank will not finance any property that has no electricity and no water...even if they have electricity and water, if there is no septic, they will veto the financing. Sigh...I asked what they thought of composting toilets, they said it didn't meet the criteria. So this house is out sadly! April is just around the corner, so I'm sure our dream home is too!

Lemon Tree and a Snowshoe Trek

Lookie lookie!! :) My lemon tree is coming out of hibernation just like me. :) Little lemon blossoms are popping up all over my plant, oh, it smells divine! I wonder if I'll get any lemons this year!

Yesterday I took a very long snowshoe trek along a trail in the mountains. I spent two hours and snowshoe'd 6 kilometers. It was so wonderful being out in Nature!

The most southern parts of the river were running rapidly.

As I walked more north though, the river was still covered with ice and snow.

Close ups of the frozen waterfall show the nice blue hue of the river!

Then the snow started...Alex and I spent a nice evening playing board games and sipping a cocktail in front of the fire with all the furries around us. 

Looking out my front door this morning, we got another 2 feet of snow overnight.

I think if it were up to Charlie, we'd have permanent winter! She spotted a few rabbits on our walk this morning. I tell ya, if I didn't have a firm hold of that leash, she'd be GONE...she's a Houdini dog!