Halloween party in Fourchu - one of the best dances yet!!!

first off - there were no out-of-towners!!! we now understand why the people who live here full-time do not like the "cottagers" or "out-of-towners"...they usually come up here to the "country" to blow off steam. and that translates into drinking and causing trouble.

and it's worse when someone "lends" their cottage to someone - we never know who these people are...and they always end up at our dances.

but anyway - none of that happened at the Fourchu dance. it was tons of fun. jambaloney and i told everyone that we would attend - they all were so worried about him - but that we wouldn't dress up. everyone understood. they just wanted to see us - just to make sure that we were ok.

but on saturday afternoon, jambaloney said - "let's dress up as tourists". we have heard from people around here that some summers they have seen the strangest tourists end up here having no idea where they are - or how they got here! so we put on stupid-looking-touristy-type clothes and made little name-tag thingies. jambaloney made them on the computer, printed them and then we taped plastic all around them. they looked really tacky.

they had a nice clipart border (teehee) and they said " Discount Bus Tours". and then we signed our names to them like you see when there is a bus load of tourists. we also carried maps of cape breton with the Framboise/Fourchu area circled. jambaloney wrote on his map "WTF? where are we?". i wrote on my map- "Where is Halifax? maybe ask the locals...".

here's a couple of pics...first jambaloney:



and here's me:



everyone loved our dumb, improvised costumes and loved that we turned up. we made stupid jokes about being dropped off in Halifax and that the bus had pulled out without us. everyone laughed.

anyway - i don't take pics of the events cuz alot of people here are afraid of having their pics on the internet and i can respect that.

but we had a really good time. we planned on making an appearance and then leaving after an hour. first we went to our friend Blair and Cathy's house and the house must have held 30 people all in costume - all our friends. and we were able to spend a good hour there before the party with some of our closest friends, assuring them that jambaloney was okay - showing everyone his stitches, his black and blue face and his swollen green and purple elbow.

then we all went off to the dance and had a blast. we couldn't believe how much fun we were having. everyone was having a really good time. everyone danced and danced. i danced 59 songs in a row - i swear. and i got to dance with just about everyone there. slow songs are always saved for jambaloney. but it was 1:30 am before we knew it. and we had had such a good time with our friends.

they cheered us up, we cheered them up, a lot of stress and pressure was relieved and we all just had a really good time. to be honest - it was the best dance so far - and that is saying something!

today we actually did some work around the Manor and got some stuff up into the attic which frees up space for us around the house. tomorrow we plan to do some more and put some more stuff in the attic. then i have to take out jambaloney's stitches - is anyone interested in pics? cuz i will take some if you want. then we have darts at 7:30 - do you believe that these people hood-winked me into playing darts?!?!??!?

anyway - just wanted to let you all know how the party went. i am off now to do my rounds of checking everyone's blogs. i hope you all had a fantastic Halloween weekend. we sure did!

the Framboise Manor diet

i mentioned in a comment waaaaay back in a previous post about our diet. we have been trying to eat locally-, and seasonally-available food for several years. and not for any other reason than that we think it is a healthy way to eat. we have made sure for the past few years that all of our locally-, and seasonally-grown food is organic. if it is not "certified" organic (which is very expensive for a small, family-operated farm to obtain), then we do our research, ask friends and ask the farmers what their practices are. we were very lucky to have a farmer's market only 2kms away from our house back in the city - and the majority of those were certified. but when you stop at a stall and ask a few pertinent questions to a very tired-looking farmer's wife (she's been up since 4am) - and she can look you in the eye and answer your questions - i trust that. so on top of the food that we grew ourselves in the city - we had access to some beautiful, organically-grown food.

now that we are here on the island - it gets even better. the most miles that the majority of our seasonal food travels here is less than 80kms (50ish miles) - if you can believe that! notice that i mentioned the word "seasonal". we don't wish to eat tomatoes in january - unless of course they come from one of the farms around here and are green-house grown. we are working on a green-house of our own so that we can eat OUR own tomatoes in january. but we are extremely fortunate to be in this situation and i realize that not everyone is.

anyway - just wanted you all to know that for the past several years we have become very conscious about where our food comes from. which lead us to gardening. which lead us to canning. which lead us to dehydrating and smoking.

and has made for a rather interesting dietary mix. i have researched all of trendy diets like carb-free, protein-free, atkins, vegan; as well as the "victim" diets like gluten-free and dairy-free and nut-free. please don't get me wrong when i say "victim" diet. what i mean is that there are victims out there who suffer from certain kinds of food and cannot eat it. which must be sheer hell on them. but again, we are very fortunate. we love our red meat, we love any kind of fish or seafood, we love our dairy, we love our veggies, fruits, nuts and grains.

i have also researched the Blood Type Diet. and this has made the most sense to both of us as we are both O negatives. we both digest pure protein much easier than grains - too much grain or carbohydrate and we bloat. so we keep our carbs and grain intake down. but both of us could eat half a steer and ride the rest home to snack on later. we both love our fruit and veg - jambaloney prefers fruit while i prefer veg, but according to the Blood Type Diet that is normal as he is a male and i am...well...you guessed it...a female.

i have also researched Ayurvedic medicinal eating and Qi Gong (Chi Gong). and we have taken those practices into consideration as well.

lastly, my Korean teacher's sister was a certified homeopath/naturopath back in Korea. and the first thing she did when she tested people for certain food allergies or whatnot is kind of crazy but really works. if you are bored one day this winter - give it a try. take a small piece of food, say a piece of apple. hold out your dominant arm perpendicular to the floor. have someone hold you at the wrist and be ready to apply a pull-up pressure. place the piece of apple on your tongue - don't chew or suck - just place it there. and try to push your arm down while the other person tries to pull it up. if you can't push your arm down - that food is no good for your body. and it doesn't matter if that is your favourite food in the world - it is no good! place a tiny piece of steak on your tongue - try again. if you can't move your arm at least a little bit down - the food is not good for you.

now keep in mind that you have to do this with someone who is roughly your size and weight - otherwise it won't work. jamie and i have done this with a bunch of different food - he has learned how much pressure to apply on me and as i am pretty strong for a girl - we can tell when we are both struggling when we practiced this on him. and that let us know what isn't so good for him.

both of us are powerhorses with any kind of meat on our tongues - any kind. he gets a little weak with milk. only milk. not ice-cream or yoghurt or cheese. so he doesn't consume a lot of milk. jamie is strong with just about all fruits and weak with some vegetables. i am the opposite - i am strong with any kind of vegetable (even the ones i hate), but i am weak with citrus-based fruits. both of us are powerhorses with ginger, garlic and honey. as well as cider vinegars WITH the Mother in it. and when we did our ayurvedic tests on-line - it was quite amazing how much our ayurvedic results matched up with the tests we did with the food on our tongues. and both matched up with our blood type diet tests.

so naturally, armed with all of this information and diet information that i knew from gymnastics (11yr. trained competitive gymnast) - we have created the Framboise Manor Diet. which i will be copyrighting soon. and if someone has already copyrighted this - i will be sueing!

the Framboise Manor Diet consists of this: (i will put it in quotes as i am sure to have a book deal soon - bahahahahah!)

"screw the food pyramid. and screw religiously following any "organized" diet. find out what works for you. and read up on the Blood Type Diet. you might just be amazed about what you find our about your blood type. and be sure to check out any other diet that interests you. do your research! however:

#1. make sure to include fresh garlic, fresh ginger, vinegar WITH the mother in it, and un-pasteurized honey in your diet every day - have those things in an infusion (tea) or put those things into at least one meal a day. it's better if you can get those things into 2-3 meals a day - when combined, they are natural antibiotics. you can hide those 4 things into just about any meal that you make.

#2. eat at least 1-2 servings of nuts a day. if you are allergic to nuts...well...i am not a doctor, nor do i play one on tv...so i do not have any advice. but if you aren't allergic to nuts - eating a small handful of almonds or peanuts or sunflower seeds a day will help your cholesterol and aid in digestion.

#3. eat 2-3 servings of raw, un-cooked food a day. there is a reason that they say that an apple a day will keep the doctor away. an apple, an orange, a handful of berries, some raw carrots, a piece of raw turnip, some raw spinach - whatever is in season and local - eat some every day.

#4. eat 2-3 servings of fermented food a day. fermented food, you ask? yes - fermented food. it is the way our ancestors preserved food for millions of years and fermenting some types of food actually makes it better for us! think pro-biotics! the latest trend? i think not. sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, yoghurt and a bunch of other foods are loaded with vitamin K and pro-biotics. and don't forget about pickled food - which is just another way of saying fermented. enjoy a couple of pickled beets on the side of that steak. or add them to your salad. or just eat them out of a jar. olives and cheese anyone? and if you make these fermented foods yourself - then all of the better!

#5. eat 2-3 servings of steamed/cooked food. STOP BOILING FOOD! you are draining all of the nutrients and unless you are going to drink the boiling water you are wasting those nutrients. steam, roast, grill, fry or bake. NO BOILING. i mean it! and look into cooking using the papillote method, which is a french method of cooking food in parchment paper.

#6. instead of 3-square a day, try to eat smaller portions several times a day. instead of having 2 big scoops of potatoes with your 8 lambchops at 5pm - eat one small scoop of potatoes with 2 lambchops AND a spoonfull of sauerkraut AND some fresh fruit. it's ok - you can go back for another small plate in an hour and a half!

#7. and try to eat as seasonally, and locally, as possible. if you can get some local swiss chard and are able to dehydrate it for use in soups and stews later, or if you are able to can it - then buy a ton of it. when food is in season it is much cheaper than when it is not. and always try to get as local as you can. there is another diet that i researched called the "100 miles" diet. and it recommends that you get your food as locally as possible - but that if you have to - don't go further than 100 miles.

i hope this post has not come across as too preachy - but it is a very important topic to me and i think it is very important to "prep" for our diets. as an example, i believe that jambaloney is healing up the way he is - and he really should be a lot worse - is because of our diet. he was super-healthy and super-strong BEFORE he got sucker-punched. and that, i believe, is because of his diet.

the most important thing to me, personally, is to learn to grow as much of your own food as possible. if this is not possible, find someone who can grow a lot of your food for you. start up a community plot if you don't have land. find a CSA farmer and meet him, really meet him and his family. volunteer at his farm. if SHTF - you already have a source of food - and maybe a place to go and stay!

and once you learn to grow your own food, or have someone else do it for you - learn to can, smoke, dehydrate or freeze (if possible). there is a real sense of peace of mind that comes with knowing you are not only stock-piling YOUR own food, but that you are able to replenish it.

again - not trying to preach but i want all of you to be as healthy as possible in the event of SHTF. and i think that being able to control your diet, and know what is best for you to store, is of utmost importance.

*stepping off of the shoebox now*

fishing post #2 - a trip upstream

on one of the last days of the fishing season, i decided to try a little adventure and travel up one of the streams that feeds our river - it was a stunning afternoon to do so. i got the bob's special all loaded up and ready to launch (note the high water, this is when the river was blocked from entering the ocean - you can read all about it in kymber's post "take a walk down the beach with us and why the river was so backed up!".



and out into the framboise river i go!



my destination is marked in red "here" - you'll have to look at the pic full size!


time to do a little trolling on the way... in a canoe you ask?


yep, in a canoe! i paddle on the right side the whole time with a steady j-stroke and anchor the rod under my right foot and above the left rim of the boot on my waders so that the rod won't bang off the gunwale and chip the carbon fibre shaft. waders will be coming in handy later ;-)



okay now i am close to my destination so i have fun peeling in around a reed bed that is covered by the high water, foot and a half deep, no problem for a canoe!!



stunning pic of the entry pint to the stream!


and further up the stream i go, around the bend comes the first challenge..



but before that, here is a pic from behind, not the river anymore to be sure!


ahhh, the first challenge, ripply rapids, very rocky and shallow so i disembark and pull the canoe along..


now i am back in the water, but you can see that there are more disembarks ahead.. i'm having a blast!

trees overhanging and land i'm sure most people never see..


this shot is blurry but i had to show y'all the maple that makes a complete arch over the stream, had to duck for this one!


paused at the gravel bar to soak in the beauty of it all, this is not a well traveled area at all, no paths to the stream and the only way to get here would be to canoe up the stream... there aren't a lot of canoes in cape breton! (oh yeah, caught a few trout in the pool to the right)


more gorgeous stream to traverse, i'm a famous coureur des bois! (well, in my own head anyway)



just past that rock is where i turned around, it was starting to get dark..

i caught a LOT of these tiny brown trout. i kept this one as he was badly hooked. i thought they were all parr (yearlings) because of the markings, but when i cleaned him he was full of sperm. i think they are all stunted or a weird midget type of trout. i have research to do.


on the way back i let the canoe go first in the shallow sections, holding on with a rope and letting the current do it's thing.

back on the river - a nice shot of where i had just been, was nearly pitch black by the time i got back to fm!!



hope you enjoyed a trip up a little-known stream. i will be scouting it for deer tracks next summer before hunting season!

cheers!

good eats - breakfast series 1

i have decided that the "good eats" series will be an ongoing series - one that features breakfast, brunch, dinner, supper, snacks and drinks (NO - i do not mean the alcoholic kind!) on a regular basis. as well as a "good eats down at the river" series (GEDATRS). and so today - we will start with good eats breakfast series 1 (GE-BS-1).

being able to get fresh delicious wild brook trout anytime that we want is a real treat! not really though - cuz we eat them pretty much every day for breakfast and/or dinner and/or supper. we really are living the high life here!!! sometimes we eat them with potatoes on the side, sometimes with a salad, sometimes with whatever is left over from last night's supper. but man - they are some good eats.

i put flour on a plate, add a bunch of sea salt and fresh-cracked pepper and dredge the trout through it on both sides. then drop them into hot, hot butter. have i mentioned that the dairy around here is to die for? (bahahaha - i think i have mentioned it several times before!). if you ever get the chance to try tatamagouche butter - do so! it is divine.

anyway - here is a pic of those yummy babies frying in the butter.



and here is another. look at them sizzle!



and here is heaven served on a plate. with roasted home-grown potatoes, asparagus and strawberries.




oh ya - that is some good eats. the breakfast of champions. and ya - we eat like kings!!! more good eats coming your way soon!

DIY shelf/storage projects

thank you all for your support over the past few days - it has really meant the world to me.

jambaloney is stiff and sore and bruised like oh heck - but all of that is to be expected. we got up this morning, had a nice breakfast and now i have a roast in the oven - he is dying for some red meat as am i - can't wait to get at that roast and potatoes and veggies - oh and gravey - yummeh!

anyway, i think my last several posts are bringing people down and that is not our intention for this blog. we have a very up-beat and positive outlook on life and we created this blog for each other - kind of like the way Stephen created his blog for Little Bit. so i thought it was time to put up a post that wasn't about his accident, my panic or his recovery. he really is strong and healthy and i kind of freaked out over the past few days. i am sorry to have worried any of you.

so - on to our DIY/shelf/storage projects - woohoo!

i have mentioned many times that we are lacking cupboard space, storage space, shelving space...actually, we are just lacking SPACE!!!

so, while waiting to renovate properly - we have been building storage space in every nook and cranny possible. and replacing some stuff. like this horrible pantry-thingy? the previous owner put in this metal frame shelf-thingy and it was sagging in all of the wrong places. (oh and make note of my brilliant idea to hang pots and pans from it!)



so me and jambaloney ripped it out - it was a much easier task than we were expecting! - and put in a sturdy, and kind of ugly, pantry-thing made out of 3/4inch plywood, 2x8's and 2x2's. at least this one got painted.

here is the sturdy, pantry-thing. sorry the pic is blurry! i will take a better pic and post it in a future post. (oh ya - notice the stairs are still bare? well - they still are. you gotta pick your projects ya know?)



here is the second storage area that we built, this one STILL hasn't been painted, neither have the puke-peached coloured walls - but we'll get there someday - it was built using 3/4inch plywood and 2x3's. this is in the hallway leading to our bathroom and bedroom.



here's the weird room-divider thing which eats up a ton of room in my tiny kitchen - arghghgh! we put in a few shelves using 2x3's and 1x8's. it has yet to be painted as well. but will be. some day. i hope.



and this is a tiny shelf on the wall, next to the front door, which we put a seeding tray in front of. after we replaced the door. i'm blathering - y'all have no idea what i am talking about - future post coming about seeding tray and replacing the front door. this little shelf was made using 1x3's and 1x8's. surprisingly enough - it IS now painted. a newer picture coming soon!



we really have no storage in our bathroom so we put a bathroom stand over the toilet - sorry no pic of it but i will update later - am in a bit of a rush right now if you can't already tell. but here is the shelving that we built around our vanity - i love this thing! and please do not note that i am wearing jambaloney's workshirt in this pic and it is filthy! i have been wearing it since sunday - i just haven't been bothered to put anything else on.



Edited to add: you can't see it in the pic above but when the bathroom door is open you can't even see this shelving! which is why it is so awesome! it is using up precious un-used space! i will take a pic with the bathroom door open so that you will see what i mean. Edit over.

we have DIY shelving projects all over the house. i will keep taking pictures. and remember, if you don't have floor space - go for wall space!

and just for fun - here we are getting ready to go to the halloween dance. i am p*ssed that i didn't have my Hello Kitty sunglasses on in this pic - my Hello Kitty sunglasses were a real hit at the party!

here is hippy jambaloney:



and here is me:



the worst of what happened is over and although he is very stiff and sore - he is mending. he is sleeping right now but the wafting smell of the roast will wake him soon - of that i am certain.

one last time to say thank you all so much. the comfort that you all provided helped both he and i through a scarey few days. thank you.

and to MDR and Matt - i promise a post with naked bums swimming in the river soon - bahahahahah!

thanks everyone!

i promise to visit y'all* soon!

i do promise to get out and make the rounds - i always enjoy reading your blogs and keeping up with y'all* but just haven't spent much time on the internet over the past few days - just putting up posts because it keeps my hands busy. i just can't really read right now. i am really tired and am kind of walking around in a daze but i know that the worst is over. i hope. PTL.

i got a little more sleep this morning - almost feel human and almost feel like the panic-time is over. we had some lunch together and went out on our backdeck - it was a beautiful day so we sat together in the sun for a few mins. the swelling in his face is going down - now he looks like he has an apple in his cheek and that side of his face is sagging. his elbow is going down as well - but it is bruised from his wrist right up to almost his shoulder. PracticalP - i have not forgot your advice!

we were outside only a few minutes when our friend Sara showed up. i have kept the driveway chain-locked since this happened as i just knew that everyone and their dog would keep stopping by and i wanted jambaloney to sleep. but Sara parked her car at the bottom of the driveway (130ft with a steep incline) and walked up. but she has been receiving calls from everyone in the community for the past few days, she has apparently stopped by the last two days and banged on the door with no answer. she, and everyone, were very concerned that maybe i took him back to the hospital or whatnot. they have all been on pins and needles. i turned the phone off when we got home from the hospital and didn't turn it back on until Sara left. tons of msgs from very worried people. Sara said that she would make all of the calls to let everyone know that he is ok. i just can't deal with that right now as it will just start me crying again and i have to stop crying.

Sara said that everyone is worried that we will leave. she also said that most people wish they had have taken the sucker-punch and not jambaloney - he is a very wonderful, sweet, handsome man and they all love him - he will put up siding or he will pass out sandwiches at Senior's day. it's why i love him so much! Sara said that everyone is really worried about us and want to bring us ready-made food, and go do grocery shopping or bill paying but we can handle all of that stuff. Sara said that our matriarch wishes she took the sucker-punch....and to be honest, this woman is 84, has been through hell, was raised in North Korea, eats rocks - i kinda' wish she had have taken the sucker-punch too - bahahahahah! no, i don't mean that but this woman is STRONG! and me and jambaloney try to suck her brain dry as she is a walking encyclopedia of all of the things that we need to know.

i'm kind of blathering. it's just that i am up and don't really know what to do with myself. i have read all of your comments on the other posts and my heart is swelling. which is making me cry and i really need to stop crying as i am losing my voice - bahahahah!

thank you all so much. it is a weird thing to come and sit at a computer and feel soothed. and that is what y'all* have done. thank you for being here. because i had locked the chain on our driveway no one was able to drive up. and if you saw how long and steep it was, you would think twice about walking up it, too! so although people have been concerned and wanted to show us support - it was our internet friends that provided the support for the past few days.

and i really thank you all from the bottom of my heart. we'll be back to normal soon. and be out visiting with y'all*. just give us a few more days k?

thank you.

-----
*y'all - a word that i stole from my friend MDR. and y'all already know that. but i am big on proper citation and footnotes, etc. - bahahahahah!

no really, thank you for providing me with this place to vent and feel supported. i can't thank y'all enough. but i can say that anyone of you is welcome to come visit - we only charge $10 a night for vandura. but for you folks - it's free!

thank you.

sorry for all of the drama

he slept all day - just like the doctor said. and i finally went down at about 4pm. the cops banging on our door - banging, banging, banging - woke us at about 6pm. we gave our statements - his was much more coherent than mine. they took pictures of his injuries. a few friends called. he apparently was up and made comments on this blog while i slept. his head, and elbow, and cheek were killing him.

he ate 7 eggs, 3 tomatoes and a bunch of one-yr old aged cheddar. then i made him drink some chicken broth that i had made from herbs and a chicken carcass. he took some more naproxen(?) that the doctor gave us. and he went down again. thank my Beautiful Lord!

the whole time that he was up all he talked about is how his "vaccuuming" arm is still fine. my friends - he is one hurting unit.

but he slept. and he ate. which means he does not have a concussion.i have spoken to the nurses at the hotline. i am going to take PracticalP's advice about his elbow. but he seems ok.

so now i just need Warlock, SC, PracticalP, Stephen, Mudbug and a few of you others to come down and sit on him for a few days while i try and get him to re-cooperate. cuz he is gonna be hell to try to keep from doing jobs around the house for the next few days. i need you guys!

i am trying to think of a way to thank you all for your comments to me and him...we have since discovered that my cheek is swollen from buddy punching me, i have 5 perfect fingerprints on my arm, and some blonde girl tried to hit me in the nose and missed - but i got a bit of a bump!

this week was supposed to be about getting the house done. it's now about getting him healed. i need a few volunteers to help me hold him down. i'll pay for the plane tickets, k?

thank you all from the bottom of my heart. i will leave individual comments in a few days. i honestly could't even read through the indidvidual comments left on the last 2 posts.

thank you all so much.

thank you.

i don't even know what to do with myself

i am just sitting here. checking on him every 5 minutes. i can't even read the comments on the last post. i am just crying. for him and for me. last night the matriarch of our community (she;s 86) held me and i told her that he is all the family i have in the world, that he is EVERYTHING tp me. and she told me, that no, i have all of them now. i have the community. and i told her that he is my life. and she told me that she lost her husband when she was 36...with 8 children...and she never re-married....

i can't live like that! i love my husband too much. i have had a few internet friends tell me that i am making too big a deal out of something so simple. but my husband lies bleeding in his bed. his pillow is covered in blood still. after 12 stitches!

and i must, must, must take better care of him! i have not been a good helpmate. i should have never let him get in that situation! i must never let it happen again!

i keep walking from the kitchen, with dirty dishes, to the bedroom to check on him, to the bathroom - to make sure all of the gauze and tensor bandages and the alcohol and stuff is ready, to the phone to call the hospital, to the computer room to write a stupid post!

i am so tired. but i am so afraid to go to sleep.

not so good at all right now

ugh. i don't even know where to begin. i can barely type i am crying so hard.

the birthday party today was a huge success! such a large turn-out and there was soooo much food. my salad disappeared in seconds - they ate it! and everyone had some of the cranberry sauce and the ginger-lemonade was drained.

and then we all went home for quick naps and then to got ready for the halloween dance.

we were all having such a good time at the dance. all of us. just about everyone dressed up and in funny costumes - no devils or demons or anything. we were all so tired but proud of the work we had done on the Fire Hall. and we were all dancing even though we were all tired. we were having so much fun.

but some people from another town showed up. and were rowdy. and raucous. and we all kept an eye on them out of the corners of our eyes. but we still were having so much fun.

and then the fighting started. i can't explain the hows or whys right now - they just don't make sense. and in trying to keep the fighting parties separated - somehow we all ended up outside the community centre. and tried to keep some people away from other people. jambaloney and i were both trying to calm different people down and then out of nowhere - someone sucker-punched jambaloney. it was so cowardly. they hit him when his back was turned. and hit him hard. he landed on his elbow and then his head bounced off the concrete. everyone was yelling and screaming and i didn't know what was happening until i saw my rock, my angel, my soulmate, my life - laying in a pool of blood on the road.

our first responders did an excellent job. he was unconscious for only a minute or two. he never saw that punch coming - it came from behind him. when we called 911 and learned that the ambulance was being dispatched from over an hour away...the first responders boarded him and brought him into the hall. i was hysterical. everyone took turns holding me and kissing me and telling me it would be ok. then i layed on the floor in front of jambaloney and kept him talking.

at one point, someone told our matriarch to get me up dancing so that i would stop crying. that's when jambaloney called out to our BIG friend Harvey to come over and hold his hand. everyone laughed. me and Harvey held his hand for the next 30 mins - Harvey never let go once.

the ambulance came and it was an hour and 20 minutes to get to the hospital. i rode up front with the driver who talked to me the whole drive. two paramedics were in the back with jambaloney and they kept him talking the whole time - there were a few times i heard the three of them guffawing!

jambaloney's elbow had a lump on it about the size of a large watermelon. one side of his face was swollen to twice the normal size. and he got 12 stitches in the back of his head. and they drained his elbow.

we got to the hospital at 1amish. our friends came and picked us up at about 7ish. jambaloney held it together the whole time. we had a wonderful attending nurse and doctor. they saw him and fixed him up right away.

i only cried for about an hour when it happened. once we were in the ambulance the driver kept me talking which kept me from crying. i didn't cry at the hospital at all nor on the drive home.

but now that he is in bed...and i have made sure that he is comfortable with a gazillion pillows all propped up and around him...now i can't stop crying. i just can't. i wish it had of been me that was cold-cocked. i could handle that better. i never want to see him like that again.

he looks a right mess. but is incredibly healthy and strong and a good healer. but i just had a brush with his mortality. and i need to take better, better, better care of him.

i cannot ever let this happen again.

still tired and busy!

just wanted to let y'all* know that we cancelled the Seniors Blind 45 card game. but we are heading down to the community centre at 9:30 in order to decorate and set up the hall for our friend's 75th birthday. she is a very sweet lady and the heart of this community. and she yells at us when we miss bingo on sundays. and this sunday - we are definitely missing bingo!

we spent the last 3 hours making a veggie salad for the BD party tomorrow. it consists of blanched broccoli, cauliflower**, snow peas, carrots, cilantro, mayonnaise, sour cream, parsley, basil and salt and pepper. hopefully some of the people here will try it - they don't eat very well around here and we are really trying to change that! we also made a cranberry-pear sauce with fresh-picked cranberries that a friend of ours had, fresh pears from the island, grated cinnamon sticks, grated whole cloves and the zest of a giant orange - it is delicious. lastly, we made ginger-lemonade...i hope people will put down their cups of tea and try some! i will let y'all* know how it goes in a few days.

i have stopped in on a few blogs today - and i promise to catch up on everyone's blogs on sunday.
i hope that y'all* are well and next week we will be back to normal posting. i have a few half-finished posts ready to go up - they just need some refinement.

now off to go and get dressed to go to the hall to set up for the party. i pray we will only be there for an hour or so. we are both really, really tired.

we normally look a lot younger than our ages (me:40, jambaloney: 45), but today we are looking like we have been dragged behind a truck for an hour or two.

i promise to visit y'all* soon!

-----
* "y'all" - a word i took from my dear friend MDR. check out his blog. it's listed in the blogroll on the right!

**cauliflower - also known as "smurfbrains" according to my friend FLier389. his blog, Granddad's Corner, is also listed in our blogroll!

busy, busy, busy!

sorry we haven't put up any new posts or checked out our favourite blogs in the last day or two - but we have been busy putting up new siding on our Volunteer Fire Hall. it looks great - picture coming soon! tomorrow we will spend the day making several salads for a friend's birthday party on saturday, attending the Senior's Blind 45 card game tomorrow night, then on saturday attending our friend's BD party from 2-4 and after that it's the Framboise Halloween Party. everyone is supposed to dress up - that's a big thing around here. next saturday is the Fourchu Halloween party and we all have to dress up for that one too! so we will dress up as hippies for this weekend's party. which won't be hard as we have been accused of being hippies by most people that we have met in the last 10 or so years. and have lots of hippy clothes! and next week - who knows? stay tuned - i will keep you informed.

do i sound like i am blathering? it's because i am. we're tired. really bone-tired. and sore. and need sleep. jambaloney is down for the count - but he was the last guy standing on the scaffolding when we finished the siding. i am going to join him for a nap in a few minutes. i will try and hit a few blogs before i go down.

give us a few days and i promise that we will catch up on all of your blogs. and i promise to get a new post up in a day or two...ok?

your friend,
kymber

good eats - an ongoing series

around here at the Manor - we like us some good eats. so i am starting a new series about some of our good eats. i am also going to start a new series entitled "good eats that we had at the river this past summer". there's going to be some good eats there, too - but for now - we will just focus on ordinary, every day, good eats.

me and jambaloney eat like kings. we ate like kings back in the city as we had a farmer's market less than 2km away from our house. here in Framboise, we have a lot of locally-sourced food available to us. we are not vegans - ick - makes me shiver - but we eat a lot of veggies and fruits. like a lot. we eat a lot of meat. and fish. we love eggs. we love dairy. we eat everything.

but over the past few years i have been combining a bunch of different diets into the "Framboise Manor Diet". this diet is based on a combination of my knowledge and experience as a gymnast and the way that we were taught to eat, the Blood-Type diet (we are both O negative!), ayurvedic medicinal eating, Qi Gong, the raw food diet, the fermentation diet, etc., as well as stuff that we just like to eat!

so now we keep a food diary. and we write in it daily. in order to assess what we are eating and if we are eating correctly. from all of my combined research, i have decided that we should eat daily: raw food, cooked or steamed food and fermented food. and that is what we try to eat daily. but of course, sometimes mess up. we are not strict with our diet - we have just tried to incorporate good, healthy eating into our normal routine. we have been doing this for years. and because we support and help each other AND do all of our food-preparation together AND love doing so - it makes the routine easy to follow.

pictured below is an example of one of our delicious salads:



featuring raw mixed lettuce, raw spinach, raw pomegranate seeds, raw grapes, fermented (pickled) hearts of palm, fermented (pickled) artichoke hearts, fermented black olives (pickled) fermented beets (pickled), goat's cheese (fermented) and a dressing made of cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar (with the mother), honey, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, sea salt and pepper.

absolutely delicious! we try to have one of these, or something closely resembling it, every few days.

next up - home-made mushroom soup. i fry the lcally-sourced mushrooms in a ton of locally-sourced butter. the dairy here is to die for and i think i mentioned that in a previous post - teehee. then i remove half of the mushrooms to run through the food processor. in the pan of fried mushrooms i add 18% percent cream and either home-made beef or chicken stock. i'll explain how we make each of those in a later post. i let the stock and cream heat up with the mushrooms still in the pan, run the other mushrooms through the food processor, add that back to the soup, give it a good stir, let it slowly heat and then serve the soup with one-year old-aged cheddar. as can be seen below. and home-made bread.



here is some of the delicious bread that we chow down on at the Manor. home-made bread is a wonderful thing...and very easy to make. and delicious! have a peek:



and oh yum...is there anything better after a long, hard day of work than a juicy steak? i like mine grilled into boot leather - but jambaloney likes his bloody. no matter. some nice, juicy meat is a good way to get your protein!



especially if it is served beside grilled peppers and raw strawberries. with a nice glass of delicious water.

that's some good eats there i tell ya!

more good eats coming up soon!

and try to remember to include raw, steamed and/or cooked, and fermented food in your daily diet. your body will love you for it!

hellhole - part 2: lighting up attic #1

jambaloney here - more creepy halloween attic horror for you!!

this is a follow-up to hellhole - part 1: access to attic #1 .... after i was able to get in the original attic, the first thing i needed was a light up there. there was no way i was going to build a floor with flashlights...round up the usual suspects... materials and a small snow shovel:


here you can get a view of the electrical kit up close, insulated pliers, screwdrivers etc.

we got them all @ Canadian Tire when on sale for 60-70 %off !!

(for our international viewers, Canadian Tire is "IT" for tools, their Mastercraft line is top notch and the weekly sale flyer has great bargains... not measly 10% like Home Depot. If you are looking for a tool, you just wait, eventually you can get it for a HUGE discount!!)


this light in the kitchen is in the way of the future (now installed) attic stairs. so i am going to use it as an attic light to use the existing switch in the kitchen and of course to reuse the light box:


turn off breaker # 14:


as you can see, some of the current breakers are bit overloaded, later project... i have highlighted the target in red:



okay, we are in attic #1 with the tools - max head clearance is 5 feet, i am 5' 7". notice current wiring sneaking in and out of the insulation:


i'll bet you wondered what the small snow shovel was for... to move insulation - what fun!!!



the pics suck from here on in as the insulation dust screwed with the flash, but in that mess you see, i have cleared away the light receptacle for re-wiring:

so after installation and when the dust settled - you can see a coil of wire that leads off to the right and some yellow duct tape holding a board in place over the existing hole to keep dust etc. out of the kitchen:


ta-dah!!! - a light in the attic switched on and off from the kitchen:


site of former kitchen light:



special added bonus - that WAS my yoghurt, ya snooze, ya lose!!



thanks for dropping in and feeling the pain of the gonzo handyman!! this horror story isn't over yet....no, not by a long shot!

Leaving Las Vegas

just so that y'all don't think we had too smooth of a ride getting here to Framboise Manor - here's some pics of our moving day...it was pretty fun stuff! (oh and i took the term "y'all" from my good buddy MDR!)

our movers were supposed to arrive at our old house in the city at 9am. they were an awesome crew and actually got there at about 10 minutes to nine. but like one of my old Lieutenant Commanders once told me - i have the exact opposite affliction that poor King Midas had. everything that he touched turned to gold. my LC told me that - somehow everything i touched turned to sh*t. what can i say - the man may have been right!

our moving truck came up our one-way street and then had to back into our driveway. and in the process drove over the meridian between the two sides of the street. and got stuck. not kidding here - the truck got stuck! have a look-see for yourselves.




yep - that's an 18-wheeler stuck in the meridian on a very busy street that goes one way AND it is at rush hour!

we had cops on both sides of the street after about five minutes - they were trying to re-direct traffic. on one of the busiest streets in ottawa. during rush hour. as my Uncle Gerald says - oh man!




jambaloney, the cops, the crew in the truck, passers-by - they tried everything to get that truck un-stuck. we brought out wood shims, cardboard, ruined 3 or 4 carpets - nothing seemed to be working. this is at about 11am-ish!



nothing worked. and because we had all of our stuff already packed, boxed and marked - we were told it would be a four hour job - maximum. it took four hours to get the truck un-stuck!



oh and then because i have the opposite of the Midas touch - remember? then we get a call from the bank saying that we have to go in and sign some more documents immediately or our mortgage payoff would be screwed or something! we had 6 strangers - nice strangers, mind you - in our house at the time. we had to leave to go to the bank. we called jambaloney's mom and stepdad and they dropped everything to come over and house-sit for us while we went to the bank.

AAAARGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!

ya - Leaving Las Vegas sure was a trip. one that we will never forget.

(*now making wave motions with my hands and arms. and thinking like the dolphin. just think like the dolphin. soothing thoughts. calming down.*)