Tuesday, July 3, 2012

thunderstorms, squirrels and bright pink lemonade!




 here's a beautiful pic of the sky after the thunderstorms we had yesterday - it was awesome!!! the worst of the storm hit the west side of the island as storms tend to do around here. or they blow by us by riding the ocean. we never get the bad storms here and for that we are always thankful! (PP - i asked this storm if he has a cousin in your area and he said that he will look into getting a storm your way)

here's some yummy hamburgers - we love hamburgers for supper. the one in front is my famous mushroom-melt - i saute the mushrooms in butter and garlic before dumping them on the burger - they were deelish!



here is some naturally-occurring Heal-All....which is both edible and medicinal. there is a lot of folklore about this herb being a cure-all for everything, hence it's name. according to it's wikipedia entry, it is showing promise in Aids research. i like to make tea out of it for jambaloney and i to take regularly.


here's one of our little squirrels sitting and sunning himself (NO PP - he's not a varmint!). we have about 8 or 9 little squirrels that live here. 4 of them are brand new babies who follow jambaloney to the shed every morning - they know that he feeds them! they are so cute and funny to watch. especially when they are chasing off bluejays that are twice their size!!!


now it's time for everyone to get their favourite sun hat. come on, Helga, get your hat!


sun hat? kymber you don't wear sun hats??? ya, i know, but this one was pink with a big rose on it so jambaloney got it for me. and no, i don't wear it but i do use it for other purposes. like decorating the front step. other uses are many and varied but here's one that i'll share with you today:

collecting wild rose petals!!!!


once you have collected your petals, make sure to check every petal and shake off any bugs. this guy below must have hung on tight cuz he made it all the way into the house. rinse your petals and then put them in a pot of water.


and boil them.


until they lose all of their colour.


and you'll make some delicious rose water lemonade. so pretty!


here's a pic of the sky right before the storm - so beautiful!


and here's another.


it's a misty, warm day out today. jambaloney has gone in to town to get more tires to collar our potatoes. i'm off to start dishes and figure out what to make for supper. have a super fine day y'all!

33 comments:

  1. Sweet Kymber,
    I love the pictures of the sky and clouds. Especially the storm rolling in, this way you don't have to worry about watering your garden. It's watered automatically :-)
    Wow, that's one very big delicious looking hamburger. Did you cook it on the bbq?
    When you make rose petal lemonade, can you taste the roses? The lemonade looks so refreshing!!!

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    1. Your Friend, Sandy
      P.S. Give Jambaloney a hug from your Okie friends :-)

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    2. ya Sandy, you and me both like the sky pics - teeheehee. yours were awesome the other day! and ya - i hate saying it because so many are suffering from droughts and fires - but we have been getting exactly enough rain that i don't have to water much at all. yep - the burgers are always cooked on the bbq and the buns get toasted as well. if you let the lemonade sit in the fridge for about 6-8 hours you really get the taste of the roses - not so much if you drink it right away which is what we did - bahahahahah! it is pretty refreshing but nothing beats my ginger lemonade on a hot day! i'll pass the hug to jambaloney as soon as he gets home! xoxoxox

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    3. Happy Independence Day To My Favoite Canadian Friends Kymber and Jambaloney!!!!!
      What are you plans for the day? Doing anything special?

      Everyone's working here at our place, we will have a BBQ later this evening.

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    4. Happy Independence Day to my sweet American friend! we don't celebrate Independence Day up here in Canada - we celebrate July 1st as Canada Day instead. although because it is a special day for many of my American friends, i always try and say Happy Independence Day on all of their blogs - yours included - teeheee!

      i'm sorry that everyone is working - i thought it was a national holiday? enjoy your bbq and make sure to take pics of all the food and festivities!

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  2. Yummy I love mushroom burgers, add in some onions, and home fries. Time to eat...Two please. We are having some rain again in our area, wish we could send it to PP and to all the wild fire areas. Thanks kymber for sharing.

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    1. oh yah Rob, buddy - jambaloney sometimes likes raw or cooked onions on his hamburger but not me - i love cooked onions in fajitas tho - yummeh! and strangely enough, for last night's snack i fried up some left-over mashed potatoes - almost as good as home fries, i'd say! buddy, if you come to visit i'll cook you as many burgers as you want - bahahahah! and ya - i wish we could send the rain to PP and Beth and everyone else who needs it!

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  3. Beautiful pics of the sky..we have had some pretty good Thunder boomers here as well. Ironically we had burgers last night as well...great minds think alike eh mate?

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    1. hey hon - you guys have been getting hit with some serious boomers! Happy Birthday to your big boy! and ya - we are both pretty great and we both got us some great minds - bahahahahah! xoxox

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  4. Hey!! PP can't hog all the rain!! We need it too! Got back yesterday evening to a house that was 96.1 inside! Gardens are frustrating even with no rain the weeds will grow, go figure! Every thing is brown and crunchy here even the trees are starting to turn fall colors at the top (a early sign of dormancy from the drought).

    The burgers look great though, think we will be doing alot of grilling outside to try to beat this heat.

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    1. so sorry about that Beth - i'll try and send a few storms your way, too. i meant to ask you if you wanted me to get you some heal-all seeds - let me know and i will start collecting them for you. also, we have a ton of wild comfrey that i can get seeds for you.

      ick on the trees already starting to colour - that's awful! and ya - grilling outside is best in the heat! xoxoxo

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  5. Mushrooms... yuck. Rose water anything... yuck.
    Big monster burger = win!

    But, I certainly wouldn't refuse anything if the server was wearing a 4x6 foot hat!

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    1. bahahahahaha Max buddy - i am making some rose water and sending it to you!!! you can add it to your relaxing bath! and if you ever visit - i'll make you a ton of monster burgers with whatever you want on it - and i'll wear the hat - bahahahahahah!

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  6. Varmint - vermin are usually pest animals that would eat some part of a farms output. So I guess most people would not consider a squirrel a varment.

    But they are good eating, and are the right size for a varmint rifle.

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    1. Russ - between you and Stephen and eating squirrels.....jeesh!!! they are way too small to bother! maybe you guys got bigger squirrels down in the south than us but honestly, these little guys can fit in my hand!

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    2. Squirrels get pecans, grapes, strawberries...they seem like pests to me, ones that need to be eradicated. Lots of people eat squirrel and have done so because families are hungry. Cook them up, take the meat off and put in a nice dark gravy to eat with potatoes and greens. Not I. My father loved to eat them.

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  7. bahahahahahahah! oh bahahahahahahah! oh you got me nailed gurl!!! bahahahahahah!

    and Happy Getting Your New Turd Delivered Day! i can't wait for pics and i am over-the-moon excited for you all!

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  8. Hey sis - A good burger done on the bbq and fixed anyway with whatever on it - yummy on the mushrooms ! I didn't figure you'd be wearing that hat - but you should wear it the next time you go to town - Might turn some heads ! Come to think of it - it sorta matches your gypsy top - worn with a long black skirt and bracelets, big silver hooped earrings, bling all over - what an ensemble eh !?!?!? I'd do it for sure !!! Bahahaha - and I think I will ! Watch out Cape Breton - here I come !

    Guess what - mother used to boil all her rose petals and make rose tea, rose lemonade, rose gravy - kidding on the gravy ! Buckets of petals would be put in her bath water - soothe the nerves, she'd say.

    I adore your squirrels and want to see them all - we have rain again today. I like thundershowers - it's so fresh afterwords.

    Motivate me to keep writing the story- I'm getting lazy here ! The album is easier and way more fun to do ... :)

    Have a good one guys ... love you always xoxoxoxo

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    1. and you know that i'd make you a delicious burger however you wanted when you come to visit, sis!!! all the little Helga's are coming up brilliantly and i'll take a pic in the next few days for you. oh ya - they'd die laughing if i ever wore that hat to town - i love the rest of the ensemble but not with the hat - bahahahhaah! as for you wearing it - no probs! i'd even still walk around with you - bahahahahahah!

      your mother was very smart - rose water is a soothing tonic and i put rose petals in my bath all the time! i also dry the last of the season's petals and then mix them with epsom salts for the bath - soooo soothing!

      i love all the squirrels too...and yes - it is so refreshing after a rain storm - i love the smell after it rains.

      hey you - get off yer lazy butt and finish the story - bahahahahah! no hon, it's not supposed to feel like labour and if you need a break then take it. only write it when you feel like it - no pressure k?

      love always back to you my dearest and sweetest! xoxoxoxo

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  9. I get so tired of having to figure out what to cook. This was a happy day indeed since we had leftover barbecue from yesterday and corn on the cob we didn't finish.

    I LOVE hats. I don't wear them though. I'd have to be very ostentatious to pull it off.

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    1. lotta joy - i actually like figuring out what we're gonna have for supper and i always make sure to make enough to have as leftovers for lunch the next day. mmmmmmm - corn on the cob - we haven't had any yet as it isn't yet in season - i can't wait for corn on the cob!!! i love it!!!

      i love hats too! and i have no trouble believing that you can pull off any hat - bahahahahah!

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  10. ever try making fish burgers?

    Wildflower

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    1. Wildflower - i make fish cakes - does that count? naw, i've never made a fish burger - bahahahah!

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  11. Your thunderstorm friend let us down. We had some scattered ones nearby but nothing came over to grace us with rain :(

    I like squirrels myself but they can do some serious damage if you get too many of them around but never in the numbers rabbits and rats can do. Mice and rats are the ultimate vermin, tree rats are ok to coddle though.

    Now I want a hamburger lol.

    Sow hat does rose pedal lemonade taste like?

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    1. wait for it PP - my friend might have to put in a few more calls to get you a storm - it's coming buddy! it seems that our tree rats are the only ones that live on our land - we've watched the new ones since they were babies and they are hysterical!!! and we are close to being able to properly coddle them - they are almost at the point of coming right up to our hands!!! there's hamburgers aplenty here and i'll be sure to keep a few aside for you! rose petal lemonade tastes like normal lemonade but with a strong hint of roses...it's deelish!

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  12. Oh ya I am betting those are gray squirrels and we get the red fox ones as well which are much larger. I do not care for squirrel much myself but my grandfather loved it especially the brains. He always instructed me to shoot them in the neck. I admit I rarely if ever actually hit the neck and he always chastised me for it.

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    1. ya - ours are just tiny little ones and a sniper wouldn't be able to hit one of these guys in the neck!

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  13. Love the look of that rose petal lemonade!! We're having a horrific heat wave and dry spell down here...roses were the first to go...

    Gonna be 104F again today...I'm heading out to water now...so far, nothing but the grass is dying. So far. We have 4 more days of this heat 103+..and at least 10 more of no rain. arrgghhhh.....

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    1. Akannie - i love the look of the rose petal lemonade too - it's gorgeous! oh heck - i am so sorry for your heat wave. thank goodness you can get out to the water - it will definitely be cooler by the water and you'll be able to have a dip. think of me if you do have a dip - our water is still waaaay too cold for swimming!

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  14. Ha ha you cracked me up with your pink hat coz I had visions of you wearing that round the garden and nothing else! Ha ha. Sorry, now I sound like a pervert, but you know I'm not. ;)

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    1. bahahahahahahah - you killed me with that one, ya perv! bahahahahah! no, yer not a perv but you did envision it correctly. i sometimes do put it on and walk around in the buff acting like Zsa Zsa - bahahahahahah!

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  15. So, you have another gorgeous sky picture! I would wear that hat in a minute. Sauteed mushrooms on burgers make me drool. I am drooling on the keyboard right now.

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  16. The rose lemonade looks picture perfect. Kymber, you have such unique ideas. Thanks for sharing!

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