New Hat, Pets, Gardening and Summer Eating!

The River Down The Road (I walk the dogs in that part of the woods each morning!)

Hello Friends! :) !!!!!!!

I'm adding more exclamation marks because summer has FINALLY arrived in the Laurentian mountains! :) I'm sitting on my porch this sunny Sunday afternoon, "glowing" (NOT sweating) in the 30 degree hot and humid weather! I'm drawing and painting, sipping on a white wine spritzer, safely tucked inside my screened-in porch, hiding from the black flies. Ain't this the life? :)

The girls: Charlie and Marlene - smart lassies, keeping cool under the cedar trees!

Lazy Leo enjoying some top-shelf relaxation on the porch. :)

Dana and Baby Oscar are choosing to hang out in my office this afternoon - it's a bit cooler in there.

Handsome Jack - always keeping me company! :) ♥

Because I just can't seem to control myself...I made another raised bed the other day. I wanted a special spot to plant yet more lettuces.

I had some leftover 2x10's so I fashioned them into a raised bed, filled it with soil/compost and planted Romaine, Iceberg and Buttercrunch. We had a little pex piping in the basement, so I made a few hoops so that I can cover the lettuce bed if it gets too hot and sunny. The only cost was the soil, I had everything else handy. The three bins to the right are where I planted my potatoes this year.

And...with summer weather, comes summer eating!! After building the raised beds, I was pooped so Alex surprised me with a grilled cheese/tomato sandwich with fries. We ate on the porch, it was really nice!

Last night I was overcome with cooking "mojo" so I made a dinner platter for us. "CLT's" (Cheddar, lettuce and tomato sandwiches), homemade potato salad with homemade mayo, some olives, pickles and store-bought chips (can't seem to perfect my own potato/corn chips yet!). We brought this platter to bed while we watched a really bad, yet strangely hilarious David Spade movie called Joe Dirt.

Have you ever made mayonnaise? I had such a difficult time making it in the past, but I found a great way to make it - success each time! With my immersion blender! You take a deep glass container (like a large wide-mouth Mason jar), drop in a room temperature egg, a cup of olive oil, 2 tsp of lemon juice, some salt and powdered mustard if you like; then stick the blender inside and blend. It's SO EASY and works every time! I'll make a video one of these days! Alex loves it, the store-bought mayo gives him indigestion so this works perfectly. I can't eat it though, I have an egg yolk allergy, so it's (sigh) store-bought for me - which I'm SURE contains some kind of "egg product"...but my allergy doesn't kick in, so I don't ask questions!

Did I mention that I made ice cream sandwiches with my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies? Oooh la la!! :)

Alex got me a new hat!!! He wanted me to have one for the summer, it's a straw hat, a Resistol "George Straight" model. I love it! :) Consider this my new gardening hat! :)

Speaking of gardening, this is my gardening shelf. Alex found an old oar in the basement - we're guessing a previous renter left it behind; so we put some hooks into it for my gardening tools. Isn't it cute?

My "greenhouse" is doing a great job! My tomatoes, beans, eggplant and green pepper plants are doing so well! Yahoo!

Speaking (again) of gardening, this Thursday's art theme is Garden for anyone who wants to join in! (Follow the link for inspiration and ideas)

Thursday Art Date: Trees

Hello Friends :)

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date!!! Today's theme is TREES. Trees are one of my favourite of all the wonders that Nature provides to us! I love all trees! I paint them, I photograph them, I hide from them (in my dreams!) and I hug them! And I could swear at times they hug me back! ;)  I took the photo above the other day on my walk in the woods...what do you see? I saw some kind of creature with a bird's face!

Does anyone remember Snow White fleeing from the Huntsman into the Haunted Forest? Poor little gal, that evil step-mother sure got what she deserved in that tale! Can you believe that Disney originally put that movie out in 1937??? I did this one with sharpies and Prismacolor pencils.

With Snow White's trees in mind, I wanted to create a more cheerful tree so I pulled out my pastels. I felt it was a bit bland at first, so I put in some detail with Prismacolor pencils. I have "chalk" pastels, does anyone use oil pastels? I'd love to hear your opinion of them! I'm thinking of getting a set this week with my Michaels' Coupon!

I love acrylics for black and white painting. This tree comes from one of my nightmares...let's leave it at that! :)

I was having a LOT of difficulty with my watercolour trees this week...(I restarted 3 times)...until finally I decided to follow a You Tube tutorial on how to paint trees with watercolours. I'm so glad I did because I was trying to put too much paint on my canvas and not enough water. Do any of you artists brush up your skills from time to time? I love how these turned out and they were very easy to do!

Another watercolour tree tutorial...although at the last minute I added fireflies! :)

I had a really nice healthy dinner the other night! Tilapia with corn on the cob and a little salad with my first Buttercrunch lettuce!!! I just couldn't wait any longer, so I picked a few of the baby leaves...I wonder if I'll ever make it to growing an entire head!

Last night I felt like something potato-ey and mustard-ey...So I made my French Quarter Potatoes (ham instead of sausage and chicken) with the leftover corn on the cob, delicious!!

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June 13th: Next Thursday's theme is Garden. 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!

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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.

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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!

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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!