Elmira Maple Syrup Festival Part 1

I seem to be narrowing things down to posting once a week at the moment. Whenever I`ve been on the computer it`s been to check mail and look at decorating pictures.
But this morning we went to the Maple Syrup Festival in Elmira and I thought I`d post some pictures today and tomorrow of it.
This first one is just before entering the town and shows the tapped trees where the syrup comes out of the maple trees and a Mennonite horse and buggy. The old order of Mennonites dress all in black and have no modern conveniences.....

There were tons of tractors giving wagon rides into the woods to see the process of making the syrup. Next year we`ve decided to check that part out. Last year we left around 6:30 in the morning to get here and this year we were a bit later so it was already very busy...

This dude was at one of the stalls that serve pancakes.

Loads of places selling yummy maple syrup.....

Tons of food. The air was filled with delicious smells....

At only 8:30 in the morning the crowds were huge on both sides of the street.....

We went here for our pancakes. The line was waaaaaaaay longer than last year at this time already, but we got there eventually.....

It was worth the wait....

Went inside the small animal barn and this poor sweet baby calf was trying to take a nap. More likely he just wanted his own bed!

What a cutey this little piggy is.....

Poor Mama sheep didn`t like this situation at all.....

Her wee baby was so precious....

Out amongst the food and things again.....

Fresh honey.....

Last year they estimated that 70,000 people attended the Maple Syrup Festival and that it gets more each year!

I`ll post the other half tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. It`s chilly and cloudy here for the whole weekend but there are some spring bulbs popping up in the garden amongst the tattery dead things I left to winter over...hehe tsk.

Could It Be Spring?

The Princess of Cups is a messenger to the emotions. She is tender and idealistic, take her hand and flow with her. Although at times she is given to flights of imaginative fantasy, lets hope that the coming of spring is not one of them :)

I took this picture the other day as the snow was melting in the morning. We`ll need to dump a bit more sand over the bricks yet.....

This is why we have to make a raised pottager garden. Just look at that collection of water! By the fence is where I found that stuffed dog that freeaked me. It looked dead, wet and real if you happened to have read about that adventure.

This one above is from this morning. I`m afraid I haven`t been on the computer much this weekend so I`m still trying to visit all my blogs. My sister-in-laws birthday dinner today so reading will be postoned yet again.
Hubby has the foor all finished except for the trim along the sides now. I layed down the rug at the back and front doors, choosing a darkish brownish indoor/outdoor because it`s easier to care for and won`t get dull and dirty looking. The front entrance.... we have to sort of treat like a mud room, without the mudroom and only a long low bookcase separating it from the hall and frontroom. Still wondering if we should, afterall, have a wall going up from it. And the back is where we`ll be coming in and out from the garden. No pictures yet, everything is still plain for now. I`m not going to be as cluttery as I`ve always tended to be, I`ve decided. At least that and loads of green with splashes of something brilliant in complimentary colours and garden accents is decided. Oh and not pink and all floral and frilly, but cozy enough to want to have oneself wrapped in the room. I like floral and frilly, have done it many times over the years but I`m tired of it now and it`s not practical with men and dogs. Now if only I could find some pictures!
The boys came this weekend and I made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to munch on and went to the library for some decorating ideas. Still haven`t found much though in what I`m looking for. I`m afraid in the end I`ll have to "wing" it. That could be scary LOL
Hope everyone is having a great last bit of the weekend that always goes waaaaaaay too fast!

Melanzana Ripieni

I`m still trying to make my way through my links list and haven`t gotten very far yet.
Yesterday was the first official day of spring and the snow is still melting. Yahoo!
I pulled this old chair from the bedroom to add in the livingroom. It`s pink but will eventually get re-covered. Isobell likes it......

The other night I made some country style mixed grain bread........

And tried out a new recipe called Melanzana Ripieni......

It was quite good. Elvis agreed.....

Melanzana Ripieni for Two

1 firm eggplant
1/4 lb. or more of Mozzarella, sliced
1 small onion, finely sliced
Basil leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 tbs. Parmigiano
1/4 cup olive oil
Flour
1 Ripe tomato
1/2 cup marinara sauce
Salt
Pepper
1 pinch of sugar
(for more zip, add 1/3 jalapino pepper and handful of olives chopped)

Wash the eggplant. Remove the stem, and cut length-wise into slices not thicker than 1/4-in. Place the slices on a large platter, slightly on an angle. Sprinkle it with salt, place a weight on top, and let stand for about one hour.
In the meantime, brown the onion and the garlic and pepper in oil over a very low flame, and then add the tomatoes, olives and sauce and let simmer for about 1/2 hour, stirring frequently. When this is done, pass through a sieve and add a pinch of salt.

Cut the Mozzarella into very thin slices and let them dry on a cloth. Chop the basil and mix it with Parmigiano.

Wash the salt off the eggplant and dry it. Dredge in flour and fry in very hot oil. Turn them to brown and when both side are done, lift them out and drain on a paper towel.

Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF. Coat a deep baking dish with olive oil and put in a layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with Parmigiano, pour on a layer of tomato sauce, and cover with slices of Mozzarella. Repeat this layering until all the ingredients have been used, and then cover with tomato sauce, sprinkle with more grated Parmigiano and bake for about 30 mins.

Shnoozin' and Stuff

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and the snow is finally melting......

Teddy was the first to enjoy sunning himself on the old couch put back by the window...........

Someone else thought it a grand idea.........

The floor is almost finished. Just the edges left to do. The furniture is put back but the room is stripped bare of everything else. A few throw pillows are off to my sister because they`ll match her black couch. It`s easier to picture future decor in my mind`s eye without any old frills on furniture, floor or walls. Keep it stripped as bare as possible for now. This being decorating on a budget, I`m starting with pieces I already have that only need a bit of paint to change them. Then next will come the fabrics, bit by bit. The couch and chairs, a couple lampshades etc re-covered. That will be a huge project but fun if I can make the paper patterns correct. The curtains. A window ledge on the new window. Plants. Prints for the walls. Then one area rug to start. Bit by bit it`ll all come together. There won`t be a "room picture" for a good while but there can be pictures of the bits and pieces as I go that will be in the room. Then one day I can show it all together. I`m really excited about this one. Part of the fun is in the planning and imagining it unfold.

Looking through all my magazines, I couldn`t find much of what I was looking for. But this picture held me for some reason. The colours are much nicer than the camera could capture but it gives an idea. I`m going to use it as a jump off point by imagining what the room behind those nice green doors might look like. How it might visually flow out to this quaint and peaceful little area. What would it look like? Hmmmmmmm......loads to contemplate and plan.
We went to see Number 23 last night with Jim Carrey. The movie was interesting with some plot twists but not one I would say "you just have to see this movie!". He did a good job playing such a serious part.
Hope everyone is having a really nice weekend :)

Two dogs, please


Two Scottish nuns had just arrived to the US by boat when one said to the other, "I heard that the occupants of this country actually eat dogs."

"Odd," her companion replied, "but if we shall live in America, we might as well do as the Americans do."

Nodding emphatically, the mother superior pointed to a hot dog vendor and they both walked towards it.

"Two dogs, please," said one.

The vendor was only too pleased to oblige and he wrapped both hot dogs in foil. Excited, the nuns hurried over to a bench and began to unwrap their 'dogs.'

The mother superior was first to open hers, then, stared at it for a moment, leaned over to the other nun and whispered cautiously, "What part did you get?"

Work has kept us both far too busy so the floor isn`t finished yet. But on the weekend I took two things and made them new to match the future room. The first was originally a dark brown and then I had it painted gold. Now I`ve painted it white and aged it by adding watery brown and green......

This was originally beiges, then it became white....now it`s a green.....

I`m on a find and use what I have role at the moment. It gives me something to do while saving for fabric for the couch etc ect ect. And loads of time to think of ideas. I want an all green room with teeny tiny spurts of colour and lots of plants and a few flowers in pots. That`s the plan so far.
Now back to work and catching up on my blogs :)

The Weekend`s Almost Here!

Just wanted to thank everyone for all the comments here at my blog Not sure when I`ll be posting next. Need to take some time when I`m on the computer to visit long neglected blogs. Happy weekend!!

Play Toys, Trippy Things and Dreaming..........

We`re in the frontroom now and hubby is working on that part....

He has to do it backwards due to wanting everything matching up right. A bit complicated but as always, he figured out a way by holding each piece up with a flat tool in order to slip the sticky piece underneath.

This is what it looks like at the moment. Everything in the hall that`s not stuffed in the spare bedrooms........

Elvis seems to be staring with dread at that broom for some reason LOL. But Teddy seems quite content. That table has been hauled out of hiding to re-finish by my Mum :)...

Ooooooooh. Toys!

Teddy loves the bare floor. I caught him scooting back and forth the other day like a kitten! The cats are very bored right now because it`s too cold to venture outside. Isobell is getting into mischief nd has ripped the wallpaper off of a plug plate.

These are curtains I had packed away so I`ve used them for now. Eventually I want some flowy gauzey or shimmery sheers in some shade of green on either sides of the windows. Light and airy to let in the light. Oh I have plans. But only plans for a good long while. I want to do several shades of green but no minty or dusty greens. More of the garden greens. And a new area rug someday and fabric to re-cover everything and.....well you get the picture :) That smaller window has a mate on the other side of the larger one, but this one holds our air conditioner and looks like crap but we need that in summer here. I don`t know how to fix that dilemma. Oh to be able have a proper interior decorator fix everything like they do on tv LOL!

Snow dog......

The British Isle Show Toronto

Entering Toronto...


This picture came out blue unfortunately. We were stopped at a light. A young mother and child had just stepped inside this door. It was their home where I glimpsed shoddy stairs and a dirty hallway leading up to some rooms above an old run down shop. It made me grateful for the many blessings I have and I silently hoped and prayed that better things would come for them. To think that even this would be a palace to some. This world is so badly lopsided. The city as in most, carries both the stench of poverty and an over extravagant abundance of money. Of course there is the middle, but these two extremes are so evident and disturbing.

Not far away....the people inside these nice homes are very lucky compared to that young woman and child. It`s amazing how there are extremely expensive homes and high end shops mixed in with run down falling apart ones in some parts of the city.


Arriving at the Exibition Centre and to the Queen Elizabeth building where the British Isle show was held......


Lots of yummy baked goods....


Some really nice sauces and dips that we got to sample. I bought some pickled onions for my Mum from England, some Scottish bread, Eccle cakes and tea biscuits. Is it noticable that I was hungry for dinner?

Herbal Teas gallore.....

My daughter took a picture of us in front of the Coronation Street set up.....

There were dancers and a fashion show on stage....

The place was packed with people, even when we got there at around 3pm....

We saw Jennie McAlpine who plays Fizz on Coronation Street. She`s really pretty and was answering questions from the crowd.

We missed Mathew Turpin who is the famous Prince William look-a-like. He was supposedly walking around in the crowd somewhere.

Time to leave for dinner. You can see the CN Tower from the parking lot. Speaking of which....they had to close some roads in Toronto today because massive great chunks of ice were falling off the tower. One was the size of a table top and 3 inches thick! Thankfully no one was hurt. But a taxi did get his windsheild smashed from one. This winter here is insane this year. We`ve had no thawing at all. Just snow and rain making layers of ice under the snow. Coming home today from work was disasterous. Closed roads, cars in ditches. Complete thick white outs that went for long stretches. You could hardly see the stop lights. The winds were 45 kilometers an hour and had been up to 90 at times. There`s going to be some bad flooding when all this does melt!

We arrived at Sotto Sotto for dinner. My picture was taken as discreetly as possible so it isn`t good. I didn`t try again because it was embarrassing my daughter half to death LOL None inside because that would just not be the thing to do there. But the meal was delicious even though I forget what it was called now. Slightly more expensive than Spuntini`s which is right above Sotto Sotto and where we went last time though. It sure doesn`t look like much from the pictures but it also is a favorite with the stars when they come to the city. Framed photos all over the wall in the entrance. We never saw any and didn`t really expect to at this time of year. I grabbed the only other two pics off the net but better pictures here http://www.sottosotto.ca/home.html

The meal and wine was lovely.


Back to my daughter`s for a bit then off home. The roads got a bit snow covered as we got further from the city and we saw 3 cars off the road. Hopefully no one got hurt.
All in all it was a fun time. Now if only this bloody winter would leave. There`s so many accidents every darn day.