winter winter winter!!

jambaloney here.. miss me? ;-)


i know most of you have been suffering this winter - in truth we haven't had it THAT bad as, being canadian, we are accustomed to severe/cold weather, still, we are getting sick of this (pretty tho' it may be)

so what to do? how about attending an ice fishing derby yesterday - a window of nice weather sandwiched between storms...


after a couple of hours a beer is in order ;-)

kymber and our friend c came for a visit - it wasn't as exciting as they might have thought ;-) here they are, hiding in front of our friend d's ice fishing tent.

here i am using the 5-hook rig that our friend wildflower sent us -  i only caught 4 smelt as the sun went down, but there was only other guy who caught any fish - the rest got SKUNKED! i learned a LOT of valuable info and had a great time - next up - DOZENS OF SMELT FOR KYMBER!!!!!!

back at the ranch this afternoon, wind is a brewing... we had rain this AM and a massive rainstorm friday - most of the snow has melted again and you can see  where work halted dec 6 - been iced in place since - i am NOT very proud of the chaos, but hey, blogging is all about sharing, right?? (greenhouse is mint though ;-)

yep, carnage - that is overturned  furniture on the berm.

and 1/2 finished shelves behind vandura

honestly, i pack better than this but i thought i had all of dec to tidy the yard before spring...

lost the bbq cover friday, no clue how far in the woods it went..

my lumber yard cover is finally ripping apart..

some free stuff from the fire hall buried in snow..

more rubber hose - woot!

today was another episode of what i call "the curse of the plastic porch repair".  after a couple of years, the sun has taken is toll and the plastic gets brittle and the wind does it's thing and rips it, i have been patching piecemeal - this spring a full replacement... EVERY time i go out to fix it, the wind picks up and it starts raining - today was no exception... the instant i walked out with plastic wind went form 20 to 60 km/hr and it started snowing...

today's addition - uuuuuugleee isn't it?

hey a bonus form lobsterrus - they we ditching some old pvc - free for the taking - it will make nice hoop-house support!!!

wind is gusting to 80 now...   brrrr!

winter isn't all bad, i leave you with these pics from the inside of the greenhouse about a month ago when the temp dropped and the condensation made art..

sweet!

every one is different!

pictures of leaves..

and art deco fractal patterns!

 these look like ferns!!

 these look like moss..

the whole interior was a temporary art gallery

i leave you with a tease of the ongoing work - nasty stuff... back to the crawlspace!!!

cheers all !!!!


btw - kymber has fired up the good eats again, here is her latest and MAN was it divine - i am a lucky man ;-))))

valentine's day: redux!

here is a post that i wrote in 2012 about Valentine's Day! we wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day, but for us, our big day to celebrate is February 13th! as February 13th is our big day, and i have learned over the past 13yrs together that i actually love my jambaloney more with each passing day, i thought i would just re-post what i had already written about him.

that...and the fact that we are getting ready to climb on the couch to cuddle, snack, watch movies and nap - bahahahahahah!

----
this is a very meaningful day to me and jambaloney. not because of today - but because of yesterday - February 13!

13 years ago on February 13, jambaloney told me he loved me for the first time! i near swooned and/or fainted. it was touch and go at the time with the knees all week and my stomach doing backflips - but somehow i managed to hold it together and tell him that i loved him, too. it was the first time i said it to his face but i had said that i loved him many millions of times by that point to just about anyone who would listen to me. we had only been dating since January 19, almost a month, but i knew the moment i looked at him that he was mine. plus there was a big, flashing sign on his head, put there by angels, that blinked "kymber - he's yours!!!" over and over.

i worked at my absolute favourite job at the time. i worked with some of the greatest colleagues and friends ever. i would walk into work, floating on air, and dead tired from another night of no sleep. jambaloney and i used to be phone hogs during the first few weeks of our dating, and we would stay on the phone all night talking during the work week. we fell asleep together so many times on the phone it's not funny! anyway i would float into work and as i approached my desk i would hear all of the little songbirds (my colleagues) singing - "kymber's in lerrrrrve!". i loved it! two of my friends, J and my boss V, would invite me into V's office for a full run-down on the previous evening's marathon phone session. and they would ooh and ahh with me. they always said that he sounded to good to be real, or true, for that matter! but when they met jambaloney they fell in love with him almost as much as me. i was fighting those women off until the time i left that job!

speaking of fighting off women - man oh man - i have been doing that since the first day i met him! needless to say, i am a pretty good fighter! naw, jes' teasin' wit' ya! but i have yet to encounter a woman that doesn't fall in love with him on sight. he is incredibly gorgeous, ya know? but when they see how kind and generous he is - they love him more! when they realize that he is a true and proper gentlemen (you did good, Liz!), they love him even more! when they find out that he can fix anything, lift anything, cook, clean and do laundry - that's when i have to get the boxing gloves out!

did i tell you that i won a chainsaw from the VFD raffle? no? well i did - woohoo for jambaloney! anyway, last saturday, at the Fourchu Spaghetti and Meatball Dinner, everyone was congratulating me on winning. one of the women said, "now kymber, you can take the chainsaw out in the woods and jambaloney can do the dishes"! at the exact same time, both jambaloney and i said that he always does the dishes. i then said that he cooks, cleans and does laundry, too! the next words out of her mouth were, "can he please come and live with me, then?". we all laughed. but trust me, she was dead serious. i might need to get the gloves back out soon. jeesh!

so today is happy love day and i have a stupid, little homemade love day gift for him. but yesterday was the important day for us. February 13 will always be my second favourite day of the year. January 19, the day i met him, will always be my first!

wanna see something goofy but fills me with incredible happiness, joy, awe, wonder and a feeling that someone so wonderful really loves me?

here's 2 pics from a summer day not too long ago. we were laying in the sun and jambaloney braided my hair and put flowers in the braids.





i hope he knows just how very much i love him. i know that he knows...but i don't think anyone other than me could ever really know just how much.

~you have no idea, babe~
------

again, i hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day...and be sure to tell the one that you love, that you love them, everyday, NOT just on Valentine's Day.

LobstersRUs and a whole schlew of other stuff!

it's been a crispy couple of days this past week!

 

although it has been a little chillier than normal, we haven't been hit with any more snow - thank goodness!

anyway, i mentioned in the previous post that jambaloney was doing some contract I.T. work at LobstersRUs. here is a link to LobstersRUs for anyone who is interested. LobstersRUs is a pretty huge facility that holds, handles and sells all of the lobsters in our area of cape breton island. LobstersRUs is also the EXCLUSIVE seller of the now world-famous Fourchu Lobster! here is a link to an article about the founder and CEO of New York City's premier chef school, the French Culinary Institute, who believes that Fourchu lobster is the best lobster in the world!

you will recall that our tiny sister community is Fourchu! Framboise and Fourchu share our Volunteer Fire Department! our best friends c & b live in Fourchu! our bf c works on the crab boats all summer long and our bf b is a lobsterfisherman, as is our dear friend d and just about everybody who lives in our 2 communities!

Fourchu lobster is really making a name for itself due to it's inclusion on the menu at the French Culinary Institute's restaurant.

i don't have a pic of the sign that says Fourchu - but i do have one that shows South Fourchu and Framboise.

here is a pic of the tiny harbour from the main road.

 a different shot which shows more of the houses.

across the harbour.

one of the docks.

some of the boats at the dock.

lobster traps!

Fourchu is a tiny little community that we just love! the charity game that we play every friday night called "chase the ace" is held in Fourchu. it's such a pretty village!

anyway, last wednesday night we went with our Fourchu best friends, c & b, to our nearest little town, St. Peter's, for a night on the town to celebrate their daughter c's birthday! we had much awesome food, great conversation and a wonderful time was had by all! then on friday evening, c & b invited us over for supper before chase the ace - we had delicious fried rice, pineapple meatballs, pineapple pork, and the most awesome beef stirfry with onions and peppers - it was to die for! c also made her delicious potatoe salad and macaroni salad. because i was stuffing my face on the rice and beef stirfy, i didn't have much room for the potatoe and macaroni salad. that was ok because for my dessert i chose a plate of potatoe salad - bahahahahahah!

we had a great meal and then jambaloney and b went down to the community centre to open it for chase the ace. me and c stayed behind and did the dishes to some awesome 80's music radio channel that she found and danced and chatted. then we went down to the community centre to wait to see who won this week. once we cleared the hall - we went back to c & b's house. a tiny bit of a party ensued and yes i drank a whole bottle of wine!!! over the course of 4 and a half hours, mind you, but still eh? jeesh! blame c - she's always telling me to have another glass of wine!!!

then saturday night was a benefit dance for one of our friends. our small communities and people from other small communities in our area managed to raise $8,600 to help offset travel costs and other expenses associated with our friend needing chemotherapy. a wonderful time was had by all - we had a hypnotist do a show and it was pretty hysterical. our friend b goes under in a blink and the hypnotist thanked him especially because b has been to several of his shows and always acts as a volunteer. our other friends who volunteered to be hypnotized were all really funny - but the funniest was when the hypnotist told all of them that they were michael jackson. they were all trying to pull of michael's moves but when b started trying to moonwalk all the way across the dance floor - we really lost it - bahahahahahah!

anyway, jambaloney is under the kitchen floor trying to prop up some sagging spots. that poor guy's work just never ends!!!

and for anyone interested - i have started up the Framboise Manor Good-Eats blog again. today's recipe is carrot/ginger dressing.

tomorrow's recipe will be kimchi!

a night out on the town!

woohoo! tonight we are having a night out on the town...something we haven't done since we moved here in 2010!!! yes, we have gone to a variety of events and dances at our community centre...which is exactly 1km down the street!!! and we have also gone to events and dances at our sister community centre in Fourchu...which is about a 12 minute drive from here! but we haven't had a "night out on the town". more about that later!

these next few pics are for Mamma Bear at Challenged Survival...actually, they are really for her Marine. i thought that he would like to see what the cats have been up to while we have been having such a nice couple of warm, sunny, winter days.

here's our cranky little Nudie-Noo....he's the oldest of the bunch, we think he is about 12 or so. doesn't matter how old he is - he loves getting up on truckdura!!!

 

we were all on the porch when we heard a thud - so of course, both of our other cats went running to see what was going on!



Nudie-Noo is on the truck, Mobie-Moe is sitting on the stones looking at him and Frankie Blue Eyes is on the step. Frankie Blue Eyes does everything his brothers do.



The Man was craving some steak yesterday but i was craving teriyaki...so we split the difference! he almost cried when i took a beautiful t-bone and cut it in strips to marinate. we used 2 steaks and i cut a bit off of each one to marinate. here's one of his cut-up steaks:

with cabbage, green pepper and hot pepper in a ginger carrot dressing...with kimchi of course!

and that there is my teriyaki-marinated steak strips with delicious sticky rice, a bit of the cabbage salad and of course - kimchi!!! we love our kimchi around here! it's so good for you!

 next up - we love an afternoon snack to share between dinner and supper. here's one that's loaded with goodness and will keep you working until suppertime!

that's some spinach sauteed in butter with salt and pepper, kimchi - of course! some pickled onions and some pickled hot peppers - what a great afternoon snack!

to be followed 2hrs later with stirfried cabbage, 4 different coloured peppers, onions, broccoli and cauliflower - served with spagettini and all of it drenched in garlic/ginger olive oil. some parsley, some parmesan and kimchi round out the meal.

speaking of meals - woohoo - tonight we are going out to dinner. if the weather holds, that is. we have a storm warning of anywhere from 2-40cms of snow so it's anyone's guess?!?!? if the weather holds, we will be going out to our town of St. Peter's - a prettier town just doesn't exist! we'll be going with our friends c&b to celebrate their daughter's birthday which was like 3 weeks ago - bahahahah! the weather has not been co-operating for this birthday celebration/night out on the town for a few weeks now. fingers crossed eh? we want to spend time out on the town with our friends and their daughter! i am not sure if i will order the fisherman's platter or the regular fish and chips.

anyway - jamby is working at LobstersRUs today. my friends will pick me up and take me into town and we will meet jam there. i am quite excited. it should be a really fantastic time!

woohoo - it's feb 1st!!!

today was an awesome day! have a peak:



pretty eh? here's out back:




it was about 0C(32F) but the sun was shining so strongly and brightly - it was a super nice day and a great way to welcome the middle of winter! winter is half over and spring is right around the corner!

today was also "first-naked-playing-cards-on-the-plastic-wrapped-porch" day - woohoo! we went out on the porch at about noon, after many dips in the hottub all morning and after doing some odd jobs around the house. but at noon, the porch was about 20C (70F) and with the fresh air blowing in through cracks and holes in the plastic - it was like a balmy, sunny, summer, suntanning day out there. we promptly stripped off, got some cards and brought our robes out. the cats all enjoyed being out on the plastic-wrapped porch almost as much as we did!  we played a hand or 2 of cards and then ran out to the front step naked to let the sun work it's magic and get us some vitamin D, then we would run back into the porch, grab our robes and run to the hottub - it was tons of fun and we did that for about 3 hours. doing odd jobs in between.

2 of our cats are older and don't much care for snow. our newest little guy, Frankie Blue Eyes goes out in the rain, hail, sleet and snow - he's out all night and day running around no matter the weather! but on a day like today, our 2 older cats get the chance to get out and run around a bit.

here's Nudie-Noo charging across the deck. jambaloney keeps the deck cleared for him every day.



we call him "the country man" because he loves being out in the country - NOT! he comes out once a day, charges across the deck, acts like he's been hunting mountain lions, sneezes and then comes right back into the house. today he managed to stay out on the deck for about 10 minutes before the sneezing started but instead of running right back into the house he stayed on the porch suntanning with us for about an hour.

here's Mobie-Moe just loving the sun and being outside - he loves rolling around, back and forth when he is happy. he was really happy to be out today and also suntanned with us on the porch.



because Frankie Blue Eyes had been out running around all night and all morning, by about noon he was crashed on his little sheet in the living room.



yes, he sleeps on his back with half of him sideways and the other half sideways the other way!

here's some delicious deep fried haddock - i dipped it in egg, flour, egg again and then panko bread crumbs - man was it good!

we made french fries out of our homegrown irish cobblers - deelish! and some kimchi to round out the meal!

this morning i made a "cleaning-stuff-out-of-the fridge" salad.

it was quite an interesting flavour combination but we like trying to combine different flavours and textures in our food. this salad is romaine lettuce, corn, cucumber and pomegranate seeds. the dressing was EVOO with ginger and lime juice. it was fantastic! we ate some of it for breakfast and some of it for our mid-afternoon snack!

 supper was a chicken, potatoe, cauliflower and onion curry with blood oranges and kimchi.



we had a blast at chase the ace this past friday. our friends c &b invited us over for supper. they had also invited c's sister and husband, m&p. we had a delicious meal of spaghetti and c's homemade super buttery buns. all of us ate more than we planned on eating and were stuffed. then we all headed off to the community centre and much fun ensued. jambaloney and i drew the winning ticket and we won $58.50 - woohoo! that's 5 weeks of playing chase the ace already paid for! our kitty for our 2 community centres and volunteer fire department is almost $800!!! it was a real hoot when we won as jambaloney went up to pick his card out of the deck. we all near fainted when he pulled the ace of clubs - THAT was a close one!

after chase the ace a pile of us went back to c&b's and there was much joking, talking and laughter. have you guys ever heard of Tom, The Talking Cat? it's a cartoon cat that says back whatever you say to him. oh did we ever have a hoot with that.

ya. we're like a bunch of 12 year olds when we get together - it's a blast!!!

so we came home last night, watched half a movie and then went to bed. got up today and did "first-naked-playing-cards-on-the-plastic-wrapped-porch" day, did some odd jobs and had a pile of hottub dips. i can't think of a better way to greet february 1st!!!

one last thing - thanks to all of you who left comments on our previous post which showcased the beautiful sign that our friend MDR handcarved out of wood. we love that sign and it will have a special place at the Manor forever. we can't thank MDR enough for the time and care that went into the sign. but we appreciate all of your positive comments about our beautiful sign...that our friend made for us. so thank you!

our friend MDR and his family are off on a huge chili cook-off this weekend - we wish them all the best and hope that they win a bunch more trophies!!!