Happy Holidays

 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  All the neighborhood are decorated and well lit.  The music on the radio has been playing a lot of my favorite holiday classics.  Which one, you might ask.  "All I want for Christmas is you" and of course the good old, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas".  I started baking a couple of weeks ago and I am not done as I would like to share some of my baking to some of my neighbors, the garbage and recycling man and the nice lady at the post office at Shopper's.  Anyway, I wish everyone a very merry berry Christmas and a healthy but happy new year!

Cranberry Walnut Artisan Bread (no knead)

Lime macarons with purple yam cream cheese filling

Apple and Pear Tart

Kitchen towel for a friend's birthday

Almond Lace Cookies

Campfire set for a friend's son who is crazy about camping.

The S'MORES to go along with the set.

Our front year decoration. Rudolph is new this year.

My Christmas Flag which I made over 5 years ago.

Lemon Poppy Seeds Muffins with Lemon Rumchatta Glaze.

Overjoyed October

There were a few words that I could have used for this month but I opted to use OVERJOYED.  Why, you might ask?  Last week since the weather has been getting very cold, I decided that my last round of golf would be October 21.  Technically the golf course does not close for the season until October 31, but due to the weather condition, I had to cut it a week in advance.  I am overjoyed because I was able to complete 108 rounds of golf which began on March 17 this year.  We are very fortunate to be able to golf early but due to natural reason, some of the days were either too too hot (45 degrees celcius) or too too smoky due to all the fires in our area. One time I read in the news paper (that's right we still receive a weekly paper in our next of the woods) that if you go out during the smoky days, an hour outdoors is like smoking cigarettes.  It's was so bad we couldn't see beyond the house across the street.  I actually almost forgot that I was still blogging and couldn't remember if I had done a post for October.  Well, I have a few more days before the end of the month, so here this is my post for this month.  There are a few photos that I wanted to share.  Thank you to those who are still reading or following my blog.  I can't believe that I have been doing this for 10 years.  I really thought I was going to quit but I change my mind and only doing it once a month.   

One of our neighbor has this pear tree in front of their home.

It is so nice to see the Kalamaka Lake without all that smoke.

Definitely a sign of autumn,

A beautiful sunset from our living room window.

Some portuguese tarts and cassava with macapuno squares.

A friend of hours gave this to me this month and it had 4 blooms - now it has 9.

September Sadness

During our walk today, there were so many signs that autumn is just around the corner.  Technically, I think that the 22nd of this month is the beginning of fall.  That also means that after three months, our winter in Canada begins.  Then why is it sad.  I can make a long list but I don't have the space so I will do the top 10 of why September makes me sad.  

1.  Golf season ends sometime in October unless the snow arrives early.
2.  All the plants starts drying and dying.
3.  Our daily walks will be less as I don't walk when there's snow.
4.  The RV's registration ended on September 17 which means no more glamping.
5.  We already took down the big umbrella from our patio.
6.  The outdoor furnitures are now stored indoor.
7.  My light spring/summer jackets are putt away.
8.  My winter coats/hats/toque/gloves/boots are all ready for use.
9.  I have started making soups for the winter months.
10.  No more outdoor get togethers with our neighbors (our bubble).

Although the above are the sadness part, check out these beautiful photos I took today during our walk. There are signs of life, signs of hope and signs of a different perspective.  I hope you enjoy this post.

Assorted August

Lately the smoke in our neck of the woods is a bit too much for me to golf.  For the last two days I have opted to just stay home and catch up on things.  I started with watering the front yard plants (I had to wear my mask).  Then I went to my neighbor to water their plants, pick some tomatoes, basil and a few hydrangeas.  Now I am tired.  This is a good time to do my blog while resting.  Actually if this gets posted today I am actually a couple of days early.  So exactly what does assorted means.  It will be a mixed up of photos from the past month.  There's be flowers, foods, scenery and maybe even some surprises.  I hope you are still enjoying reading my blog and now you only have to check it once a month.  Thank you for stopping by. 

I just love the way the flowers bloomed in a perfect row.

I just remembered we have not made this in ages.

My very first Chocolate Almond Braid (very easy dessert)

The first year these flowers bloomed since we moved in.

My very first hosta plant but the other one is dying.

Last year I only had one bloom, this year I have two.

Even with the heat, this plant never bloomed in 4 years.

Another very easy cake to make and very pretty.

This is the view from our living room window almost everyday.

This was the view along the highway from Vernon to YLW (July 6).

My plants are complaining

The month of June has been hot and the plants are complaining.  Some of the plants could not handle the heat. One of my tree, an dwarf Alberta spruce have turned brown and I am not sure if I can save it.  Others are barely surviving but I try and water them everyday sometimes even twice per day.  Good news is that one of my flowering plants actually bloomed this year.  This is the first year since we moved here that I have seen these plants flower.  I am not sure what they are but I am sure my BFF who is a master gardener will let me know after she sees this post.  I thought I would share some of my neighbors plants as they are just thriving.  Some of the photos are from our camping trip.  We were doing a wine tasting at the Celista Winery and the flowers in their garden were blooming.  I know this post is a few days late, but as the saying goes, better late than never. Thank you for stopping by. Please be safe, be kind and stay healthy.

Oh Deer

Now that the weather has been really nice and warm, we notice more and more deer are visiting our backyard.  We don't mind them visiting but we don't appreciate them eating all the leaves on the cedar trees that my husband planted a couple of years ago.  The trees are just starting to grow with some new really fresh leaves, so we understand them snipping here and there.  But lately, we noticed that these trees are starting to look bare and unhealthy.  Yesterday, while we were visiting our next door neighbor, we saw a deer in their backyard.  She looked pretty full (possibly carrying a baby).  Our neighbors was just letting her chew on the leaves on the tree.  But sometimes, the deer choses to eat away the beautiful flowers on their hanging basket.  Once we got home, I thought of checking to see if they picked on my new plants.  Sure enough, the new reddish plant I just added, the leaves are all chewed up.  Now I am not liking the deer that comes by to visit.  My husband will need to add some netting or some type of wire fence to protect the new plants, plus all our vegetable garden bed.  The problem is that we can't be outdoors all the time to protect our plants.  That's why most of the time, all we can say is "Oh Deer".

A variety of Kale plants

Some leaf lettuce and one tomatillo plant

Before the deer had dinner on my reddish plant.

After - notice the leaves on the reddish plant.

If you can see the deer heading towards the cedar trees, notice the difference
between the dark green trees and the smaller ones looking so unhealthy and dry.

I have two of this pot in front of our home and hopefully the deer won't like it.

Spring has arrived.

The golf season started very early in our area.  My home course opened on March 20.  It was still cold but if you just layer your clothes, it was actually not too bad.  There were a few flowers trying to come out and I was able to take some photos to share.  Our group of friends in the neighborhood was able to get together outdoors for St. Patrick's day.  We started a little early for dinner in order to take advantage of the warmth of the sun.  A few days later, we were told that restrictions are back but we are still allowed to have the same group of friends for outdoor gatherings.  No indoor dining and some of the business had to close again.  Luckily, the golf course were allowed to stay open as long as there's no indoor dining.  A few days ago, I took some photos of a very different topic so that I could share them with you.  I hope you enjoy all these different photos for this month's blog.  The best news of all is that more and more of my friends and family are getting their vaccines.