Spring Hike and My Greenhouse

Walking Through The Woods

Hello Friends :)

How is your weekend so far? It's raining today, a nice kind of warm spring drizzle. I'm taking it very easy today and catching up on housework - oh the horror...

Big-Mouth Jack

I have 54 little doggie nails to clip and file and 6 sets of furry ears to clean today too!

The other day, I went on my first 2 hour hike of the year. I decided to bring Charlie. She had her first swim in the river! I wanted to try and get her energy out, but what did she do when I got home? Jumped the fence again...WITH her collar attached to a cord! She somehow broke loose of the clip AND her choke collar (I have no clue how she did this)...this time she was out of sight for much longer and she came waltzing back about 10 minutes later like it was nothing.

Sleepy Marlene

I changed the regular clip to a mountain-climbing clip and shortened her cord, I don't know how she'll figure out her next escape, but I hope she stays put. I'm re-training her each morning now, I hope it sticks. Marlene (above) would never even think of escape, she has it too good here! :)

I spent all of yesterday in the sunshine! I went ahead with my "greenhouse" idea. Last week, the frame was put together out of an old porch swing frame and some bed frames. Yesterday I used those cheap dollar store "pool noodles" on all of the rough edges. Then I put my leftover porch screening around the triangles on each side of the frame for ventilation.

The last step was installing the row cover all around the frame. This is rated "P-12" (don't ask me too much about that)...all I know is it's the lightest cover I could find. It lets in 90% light, moisture and air. It's not meant for frost cover. The main idea for the greenhouse was to protect my tomatoes from air-born fungal infection. 

I used ground staples to secure the sides and back of the row cover into the ground. The row cover is SO delicate, so I had to be extra careful and quadruple up the fabric before inserting the staples or it would rip.

From My Office Window

For now, the front is secured down with rocks and bricks, unless I think of a better solution. I need to be able to get in and out of there easily. I have about 10 pots of tomatoes in there right now and more in my window growing! All that's left is covering up the sides under the triangle screens to make sure the whole greenhouse is contained, I have some plexiglass that will take care of that. I'll take care of that when the rain stops. I really hope it works!

I made some pizza subs for dinner, they were really good. Just sub rolls dressed as a pizza - I didn't feel like making dough!

A View Of The Lake Through The Trees

For those interested, next Thursday's Art Date theme is Trees (click on the link for inspiration and ideas!).

Thursday Art Date: Sea Creature

Hello Friends! :)

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date! Today's theme is Sea Creature. What did you come up with this week?  

I have no idea how Sylvester got stranded on such a tiny deserted island...but who are we to question cartoons? :) Tweety Bird is having a good laugh, scaring poor Sylvester with his fake shark fin! (Between us, I think that cat deserves it!) 😊

Siren At Sea (oil)

I had some fun with my oil paints again this week (it's a little dark)! I thought about my Greek Mythology courses many years ago, learning about Sirens and how they lure sailors to their death through song. Many sailors would plug their ears with wax to avoid the Siren Song - which often entranced the entire crew of the ship, leading to shipwreck and death.

Hammerheads (Watercolour)

And if the shipwreck didn't get the crew, maybe the sharks did! :) I've always been fascinated by Hammerhead Sharks. They may look a little funny, but they are dangerous creatures weighing up to 1000 pounds. They evolved to be better hunters; the placement of their eyes helps them see their prey better. To me, they look very prehistoric. Another good reason why I don't want to swim in the ocean!!!

Sea Creatures (Acrylic Pouring)

I tried my hand at acrylic pouring too. If you've never seen/done this, check out this video, it's really quite neat and I intend to do more of it when I have more vibrant paint colours! I did this one with dollar store paints which are kind of dull. But, it was a lot of fun to do! I was originally going to use this as a background for my sharks, but as I kept looking at it, I saw all sorts of sea creatures in it! What do you see? Maybe a Giant Clam or two? :)

More breakfast for dinner: Fart and Dart Beans, Lacy Hash Browns, Homemade Bread and scrambled egg whites. I can't wait to have my own chickens so that I can harvest and prepare my own eggs!

Tuesday's dinner was a Tomato, Ham and Gruyere Quiche. What comfort!

And last night I made a Cannelloni with Besciamella Sauce. We have plenty of leftovers, this was so easy to make and SO tasty!

Critter Time!! We have had so few sunny days, Jack is taking advantage of them! :)

Oscar the Cat, Charlie, Jack and Dana enjoying a sunny morning on the porch.

And...we had a scare the other day. Charlie our husky, decided to hop our SIX FOOT fence, chasing after a cat. Huskies are knows as escape artists and runners...but in the four years we've had her, Charlie has NEVER tried that move before. Luckily Alex and I were out and we ran after her. I called her and she came back like nothing happened. We were furious but relieved at the same time - I couldn't imagine losing one of the dogs...poor Charlie is now tied up any time she's out in the yard.

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

June 6th: Next Thursday's theme is Trees. Click on the link for ideas and inspiration!

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes.

Don't forget to add the URL link to you post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations!

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

Pumpkins, Mint, Corned Beef and Pets!

Hello Friends :)

I hope you're having a nice weekend! The sun finally showed up here in the Laurentians, but only for a few hours on Saturday morning - I took full advantage and spent as much time in the yard as I could before it started to pour rain again!

Alex and I treated ourselves to a nursery visit last week and we got some really nice plants! Since my strawberries didn't grow at all last year, I decided to buy a plant and is it ever beautiful! It's a mix of mint and strawberries, I wish I had smello-net to share the fragrance of this plant, it's intoxicating! Mint is supposed to repel deer and I also read it repels squirrels, so I hope those little critters stay away this year!

I have some mint tea steeping and Alex is going to make us some Mint Juleps! :)

At night it gets really cold still, I bring the strawberry plant in and it sits nicely in my window garden! Alex bought me some geraniums and a begonia plant too - they really brighten up my window!

"The Great Pumpkin" (Prismacolor Pencils)

A little pumpkin challenge is afoot!! :) Many of you know our friend Mama Pea. Well, she and I have a friendly little contest going on this summer to see who can grow bigger pumpkins! (I think she'll win) Does anyone else grow pumpkins? Would you like to join in and compare notes throughout the summer? No pressure, no rigid competition, just a friendly game between friends who love pumpkins and gardening!

I have my seedlings all planted in the pumpkin patches! I have carving pumpkins and sugar pumpkins. Half the patch holds the seedlings I grew in the window and I planted more seeds in the empty side of each patch. Last year I got 4 pumpkins in total, I'm hoping for more this year!

I got some dollar store solar lanterns too, I love them. I may get some more to put all around the yard.

Here's a neat project we're working on - a homemade greenhouse! Last year all of my tomatoes were infected with some kind of spore-generated fungus and I lost all but a few of them. This year I'm going to try to protect them but didn't want to spend too much money. I had an old porch swing frame and there were some bed frames in the basement here when we moved in. Alex set the frames up for me in an "A" shape and the next step is to put row cover around it. The poles are dug into the ground for stability. I'll keep you up to date on this project! I can fit about 12 pots of tomatoes in there!

My tomato seedlings are growing fast so I need to get this done in the next few weeks! I also have another 6 pots that I seeded the other day - last year was my potato year, this year will be my tomato year!!! (fingers crossed!!!)

Breakfast for dinner: Corned Beef Hash with Eggs with fresh-out-of-the-oven homemade bread, yum! Over easy for Alex and scrambled whites for me!

We don't see the phrase "corned beef" here, just "smoked meat"...which I'm told is basically the same thing? Is pastrami the same thing too? I always buy the smoked meat from a restaurant here called Dunn's - one of the best! Montreal definitely does smoked meat right - that and bagels!

Charlie and Oscar the Cat are at it again - so much love between those two besties!!! :)

Shifty-eyed Jack wondering just how many photos I can take of him! :)

Shark (Watercolour) September 2017

If anyone is interested, next Thursday's art theme is Sea Creature (May 30th) - click on the link for ideas and inspiration!

Thursday Art Date: Emotion

Hello Friends! 

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date! Today's theme is EMOTION. What emotion inspired you?

The emotion that inspired me was WONDER. Oxford defines it this way: 

"A feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar."

Bugs seems to be in absolute wonder-mode as he discovers Rabbit Heaven does exist! 😛

Aurora Borealis in Watercolour

I decided to do something a little different this week. I was so inspired to paint...maybe it was the Full Moon, maybe I'm getting more MOJO back than I expected...but I painted the Aurora Borealis in oil, acrylic and watercolour. Watercolour has been the medium I've been using for years now because I'm finding canvas way too expensive and the paints really stretch out. Also, I'm out of wall space to hang  big canvas paintings!!

Aurora Borealis in Acrylic

Here is my acrylic version. This was SO MUCH FUN to do! I learned how to really blend the colours so that they were soft and you can't really see the brush strokes. I was out of canvas, so I took some tips online and used my 140lb watercolour paper. I applied 3 coats of white gesso on the paper, let it dry overnight, then weighted it under a bunch of books to flatten it out. It worked perfectly as a makeshift type of canvas.

Unfortunately the photos don't do justice to my paintings at all - boo! I need to figure out how to photograph paintings...any tips?

Aurora Borealis in Oil

Here is my oil painting of the Northern Lights. The way the paint blends is one of the reasons I love using them. I'm so happy I decided to try my oils again!

I started to paint after watching some Bob Ross videos back in 2013. Alex got me the entire series of The Joy of Painting, I learned so much from following his videos. If you ever want a simple and relaxing tutorial for painting, check out his You Tube Channel - all of his tv show episodes have been uploaded. I've applied his techniques to all of my paintings, not just the oil paintings!

I've never seen the Northern Lights in person, but one day I hope it happens. Until then, I'm in absolute wonder just seeing videos of this beautiful act of Nature!! Please enjoy this video from National Geographic!

All of that painting made me hungry! :) I've been craving this dinner for months. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with corn on the cob. I finally found some fresh corn at the market. It's not the local corn, it came from the States, my gosh it was so sweet! I didn't have any macaroni noodles on hand, I used capellini, nothing was stopping me from making this dinner! :)

We've been cutting down a lot on the meat lately, but were in the mood for burgers so I made some Veggie Burgers. They were pretty good and I'd definitely make them again! I served them with fries and some Coleslaw with Old Bay Seasoning. Yum! :)

I just had to show you guys a photo of the ridiculous amount of condiments we have...Alex pulled a pile of them all out and I had to snap a shot! This isn't all of them either....eek!

We decided to try and "catify" our porch a little more so the cats have places they can sneak up on and enjoy the summer with us. Alex put up two extra shelves and glued on the leftover fake grass rug we had in the basement. They all love it! Leo is always the first to jump up on the highest shelf each morning!

Best friends...Charlie and Oscar the Cat. :)

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

May 30th: Next Thursday's theme is Sea Creature. Click on the link for ideas and inspiration!

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes.

Don't forget to add the URL link to you post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations!

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

Back In The Woods - FINALLY!!!

Marlene, Jack, Charlie

Hello Friends!!

Guess what? We are walking in the woods again!!! I have to say this is something I've missed terribly since last December! For a while there I was walking Charlie every day in the woods, back in November and December - with my snowshoes on...but once all the snow piled up, I couldn't get into the forest anymore and I've been walking them all along the dirty back roads. FINALLY the snow allowed us to enter! What peace I felt as soon as I left the road and entered the woods.

Just as I snapped this shot, a deer ran across the back trail, dang if I missed her! The dogs heard her before I did! They love being in the woods...so many scents to sniff! :)

It's still pretty cold, down to freezing each night and there are still pockets of snow all over the forest.

I was really sad to see all of the fallen trees though...we had such a harsh winter.

Our first walk in the woods was a long one as I kept the three leashes in one hand and tried to move branches, limbs and logs out of the way with the other! I tried to only move what stopped us from getting through because I treat these woods like they are my own - if the path looks blocked, then maybe (hopefully!) nobody else will walk here!! :)

Look at my little pumpkin seedlings pushing out of their seed pods!!! I love to watch them grow! I hope that in a few weeks, the weather will permit me to transplant them into the pumpkin patch!

Cold and rainy days call for comfort food in this home! Four cheese pizza (Mozz, Parm, Cheddar, Ricotta).

And Breakfast Tacos with my Homemade Salsa. These are just so good! I make mine with egg white and Alex likes his with the raw yolks on top.

"Monster Love" (Prismacolor Pencils)

To those who are interested, don't forget that this Thursday's Art Date's theme is EMOTION. What emotion will be your muse? :) Click here for inspiration and ideas!