and he's off....

my beautiful man, my life, my heart and my soul....just left. he'll be back on tuesday evening.

he's gone back home to ottawa...that's where he was born and bred. a couple of side-trips to england and various provinces in canada...but ottawa is his home. that's where all of his family are.

he goes back once a year for an annual general meeting at a fishing camp that belonged to his grandfather. this year he wrote up a report about the fish in the various lakes. he knows everything about his grandfather's fishing camp...which actually now belongs to his mother.

he loves that lake....how appropriate that it is named "Heart Lake". we visited that lake twice when we lived in ottawa - we have such good memories of our time on the lake.

he will visit up with some old work buddies that he loves this evening, visit his dad tomorrow and then head out to the lake. he will probably do some fishing with his stepdad Ted and his mom. then he will attend the annual general meeting. and then more time fishing with his mom and stepdad and probably his sister too. his brother is the one picking him up at the airport.

then finally on tuesday he will get back on a plane and fly home.

i hope that he has a wonderful time!

he's only been gone for 30 minutes but i miss him like crazy!

belated fishing post!

jambaloney here!

it has beeen waaaay too long since i posted, but it seems like only yesterday.. we have been crazy sick/on our butts with black fly bites - the worst year yet!!  we can't wear the bug nets when it is too hot and when we step outside for "a couple of minutes" they are on us... deet works but it wears off....


anyway - first off - here is a nice sky pic! on the river when the fishing happens ;-) this is an all-fishing post covering a few weeks...

so pp and sandy can fight over the trout, but leave a few for the rest woodja??

first day of fishing - april 16 - i hadn't been down in a while and the canoe got flipped in a windstorm - lotsa water!!

dump and get it in the water - pretty late spring this year - all brown grass from last year..

beautiful day on the river..

but still a little cool - snow left over from the march 30 snowstorm..

i got skunked first day  - but the canada geese didn't care  - lol!

april 23 - one single trout - it was delish!!

then the greenhouse got in the way and took over our lives!!! next fishing was may 30 - and the water has warmed up a bit  - limit of 5 per day - here they are!

there is the greenhouse coming back up the road - almost as big as the house!!!

back down for another trip june 07...

wild strawberry blossoms...

and nice late spring green!!!

beautiful calm waters..

a big trout...

and 4 more - no drooling sandy/pp!!!

june 17 - misty and mellow!

soooo inviting!!!

another big trout!

parked for a pic...still hazy...

but the sun is peeking out...

a couple of smaller trout to add to breakfast!!

june 25 - wild purple irises are out!!!

warming up in a hurry - these are hot days!!!

now it is allllll sun - off with the coat!

calm and serene - but the water is still cool...

enough for these babies - another 5pack!!!

june 28 - days are still very long - there is light on the horizon @ 3:45 and still there @ 20:00 hours - the water is getting warmer...

and the trout harder to find - one nice one though.. next time, i have to try a couple of deep pools...

until then..... cat in a box - w, this one is for you!

cheers all!

a rainbow, my brothers and holy moly - sick as crap!

here's a beautiful rainbow that jambaloney got a pic of a few mornings ago. he was out screeching at the ravens to get off the roof. they just squawked and jumped up and down harder. he pointed and clicked. so beautiful! minus all the raving squawkings that had us up by about 4am - arghghghghgh!

this is me and my gorgeous brother B in our fire truck. it says L'Ardoise on it because we bought it from the town of L'Ardoise for 10 bucks! he was teaching me and jambaloney all of the different parts. he's qualified in using/running it and he has been doing training sessions with it. we really appreciate that! he is going to teach us everything about that truck and have us both driving it in no time!

here is me and my brother B standing outside of my brother G and sister C's house:

my brother G and sister C were tearing down a shed on their land, then planning to burn it and a bunch of brush and needed a permit (sorry CC!), and a licensed member of the VFD had to be there with the truck. much fun, and many black fly bites were enjoyed by all. i got sick out of my mind for about 4 days!!!

next up - our brother G and sister C were up to visit for a week and to put new siding on their house. our brother B and our other brother D, as well as jambaloney helped out. i helped my brother D make the cuts in the siding - it needs to be very precise measurements! but here are my 2 amazing brothers and jambaloney acting like goofs. they work so well together and can get an amazing amount of work done in a short time. i love them all!

and i find it incredibly refreshing that my brother G yelled "come on kymber. we're going to ganormans!". i will explain how people are called what they are called here in another post. it's hard to learn unless you grew up here. i was going to need my new work boots for this job! see my new work boots below that my sister C gave to me. awesome eh?

she also got me some new slippers on this trip up. but they aren't slippers - they are more like little fancy dancing slippers and they come with a little gold bag. i will only use them at dances - they are just too fancy! but anyway, on the drive out to ganormans, my brother G called me sister for the first time. and then when we got to ganorman's, he called me sister a few more times. holy eff that felt so good!

at ganorman's i met R. i told him my name and told him where i lived and he said "wait. i think i know your husband. he gave me a lift from sydney (the city) a few weeks back." i gave him a big giant hug and told him that my husband had nothing but good words to say about him and he told me that my husband was a very courteous gentleman...i love hearing words like that.

anyway - some background on all of these brothers and sisters that we are accumulating like royal dalton china. my brother B...he was there when jambaloney got sucker-punched in the head. when i fell down crying - he and his wife, C, and his mother V were there to console me in seconds. but he was the first. and when we were doing the siding and i was getting eaten alive by black flies and deer flies - he kept waving his hat and saying "honey. you have to go in. you can't get any more bites". he always hugs me with the most warmest hugs. i love my brother B!

i love my brother G because he has spent an entire career in the canadian forces and the man knows everything about everything. i love him most tho, because of the talks that me and my sister, C, his wife, have about him. she sings his praises to high heaven and i gotta admit - based on what she says - the man is a second Jesus. yep - walks on water and the whole she-bang.

do you have any idea what it feels like to finally have family that truly care about you? i do. it is the most wonderful feeling in the world.

Edited - woops - that's how sick i am. i didn't even mention that getting eaten alive at G and C's, plus being out around here in the garden and getting eaten alive - yo dudes - i  have been sick for over a week! it's truly awful! but i am on the mend and hopefully have been able to hit up your blogs at least once or twice. give me a few days eh?

jealous as oh heck...but really happy, too!

check out this beautiful sunset from the other night...

the sunrises, sunsets and skies in general are always so beautiful here. me and jambaloney sometimes spend hours just staring at the sky.

anyway, why i am jealous as oh heck? well, a hundred years ago, or so it seems, when i was involved with the cpn and apn, i met some really good friends. SciFiChick and i were like sisters. she and i were in almost the same place in regards to our prepping. i have talked about her many times on this blog. and if she isn't on your "must read" list, she should be. anyway, her and i had a bit of a "prepper" crush on 2 ladies who talked the talk, and walked the walk. that would be Phelan and MMpaints. i have spoken about both of those great ladies on this blog many times.

anyway, just this weekend past, SciFiChick had some visitors. holy moly - she had Phelan, Phelan's husband and 2 sons, as well as our own sweet Sandy and her husband come for a visit!!! they actually all got to meet! i have it on all of their trusted authority that they are all fantastic people! i also have it on good authority that Phelan is as awesome as she seems, that sweet Sandy is the sweetest person ever, SciFiChick is an absolute darling, Mars makes the best ribs on the planet and that everyone was very happy to meet up. you can read SciFiChick's post about meeting here, sweet Sandy's here and Phelan's here.

ya, i am jealous that they all got to meet but i am also very happy for them. it's a wonderful thing to finally meet people who are already your friends. and they have all been there for each other, and for me, all this time. they are a great group of people who can be counted on through thick and thin!

another great person is our friend mmpaints. although she has had a pretty tough couple of weeks, you can read more about it here, she is going to reach her farm project goal through the help of very kind strangers and friends. you can check her progress here. i thank all of my friends who helped out, not only the people who donated, but the people who shared her story. you are very generous people and it makes me feel proud to call you all friends.

up next - mist rising off of Strachan's brook. the mist rises like that when the water is warmer than the air. it's really cool.

oh...did you notice all of the beautiful roses on the rose bush? the rose bush is really putting out roses this year - so beautiful to look at!

here's a yummy vermicelli salad with cucumber, pineapple, shrimp, fresh mint and coriander, chives, green onion and lettuce. accompanied with a "belt-you-in-the-head-so-hard-your-kids-will-feel-it" lime/chili dipping sauce.

and i hate bragging but bragging i must!

teeheeeheeheee. that's my first baby tomatoe. is that awesome or what?!?!?!?!?

garden update

well, this year's garden is nothing compared to SciFiChick's beautifully weeded and maintained rows, and it's certainly not as "sexy" as Pioneer Preppy's, and we have had some hits and some epic fails, but we are still pleased with some of the progress.

here check out this beautiful sunrise. it was taken at about 4:15am.

yes, we are early risers but not at 4:15am!!!! but that's what time we have been getting up, every single day for the past few weeks. a family of 5 ravens, all of whom are the size of a dog (think lab not shiaztu!), have been showing up every morning, landing on our roof, jumping up and down and squawking their fool heads off!!! arghghghgh. jambaloney gets up and goes and shoos them away, sometimes they listen, sometimes they just jump up and down harder. if they listen, they just sit in trees near the house, squawking and squawking! we try to go back to sleep but it is near impossible!

first up in the garden update - check this out!



 that is a baby pepper!!! all 40 of my pepper plants are covered in flowers and they are loooooving the heat and humidity in the greenhouse! i already have a baby pepper and it's only the first week of july - wooohooo - score!

another score - almost all of my tomatoes have gone to flower - again - in the first week of july?!?!?!? oh it looks like we will be having a bumper year with tomatoes and peppers!



one of the reasons they are doing so well is that this year we are noticing tons of bumble bees, solitary bees and a variety of flies that look and act like bumble bees. we have been very concerned for the past 2yrs as we weren't seeing any bees. but by allowing the land around us that had been cleared to just return to it's natural wild state, and not mowing all of wildflowers and clover all the time - there are bees everywhere!

another reason why there are soooo many bees is this:

that's comfrey, a very useful medicinal plant. you can learn more about comfrey here. be careful if you plant it as it spreads and spreads. comfrey leaves make great mulch for around your plants and comfrey is excellent in your compost! we have allowed the comfrey to spread wherever it wants and i am allowing this plant to go to seed to gather seeds and then plant the comfrey in strategic places all around the yard.

the reason why is because of the bees!!! no matter what time of day, and no matter which plant you are looking at - the whole plant is covered in bees!!!! and all different kinds!!! honey bees are not native to north america and if you have a diverse population of solitary bees, then you don't need the honey bees for pollination. i am so glad that the bees are back! also, hummingbirds love comfrey too, so it is a very fun plant to grow! i love my comfrey!

another score for the garden - garlic!

just look at those babies!!! we have 8 tires planted with garlic and another half-bed besides the one above. we eat a lot of garlic around here! i guess that's why we never have problems with vampires!

how about i brag some more about the garden. thank you. i will. check this out!

oh ya, baby, potatoes!!! we have planted a ton of extra potatoes all over the place not just the ones you see here. we will have a definite bumper crop this year and we'll be eating potatoes until the first ones are ready next year! woohoo! score!

another score - check out the baby tadpoles!

they are just so cute to watch! and once they become toads or frogs or salamanders or whatever they are - they will eat all kinds of mosquitoes!

the peas are doing awesome this year - sorry no pic - i'll get one for the next update! the beans are so-so at best. the melons, squash and pumpkins - eh - it's anybodies guess.

now for the epic fails! my beets have been in the ground almost a month and still haven't grown! my french breakfast radishes which i should be harvesting, taste woody - like all of them! thank goodness that the easter egg radishes and cherry belles are ok - but we love french breakfast radishes!

the even more epic fail than the ones listed above - i transplanted 36 cucumbers and i have 1!!!! that's ONE!!!! ugh. i was getting crazier and crazier every morning when we would take our first morning walk and i would see that the slugs had decimated the actual stalks of the cucumbers! same thing for the zucchinis - i  transplanted 36  and have 3 and a half - the half is a little guy that looks like he is really trying but i don't think he's gonna make it - arghghghghgghgh! all of that work for nothing! and now i have to start all over again! i might see a zucchini or a cucumber in october! geesh, eh?

all of the herbs are planted and seem to be doing well - we love fresh herbs and now with the greenhouse built, we can fresh, homegrown herbs probably through to december! it's gonna be awesome.

how about a food epic fail? i am always tweaking recipes and trying different things but man do i hate it when what i thought was going to be the most awesomest pasta salad ever, turns into a bland piece of crap!

that up there is my infamous tuna, apple, mayonnaise and wasabi pasta salad! (i also put garlic, apple cider vinegar, turmeric, cumin and cayenne in it) - THAT pasta salad is one of our favourites! but i got to thinking - "hmmm, how can i add more punch. what would knock that pasta salad out of the universe?". and then i came up with it! AVOCADO!!!! what in the world doesn't taste better with avocado in it?!?!?!?!?

EPIC FAIL! normally the pasta salad belts you in the head with the flavour of the wasabi. i used twice as much wasabi as usual and twice as much of the other spices. BLAND! oh man were we disappointed. and i made a ton of it because we like to have something in the fridge to snack on when we don't want to cook. and we ate it. and groaned. and had to finish the big, giant pot for days, groaning.

but since i like to finish posts off in a positive way - check out another score.

that's our first full meal from our garden! we have sporadic things here and there but this is the first delicious breakfast straight from our garden - beet greens, garlic scapes and green onion. cooked until slightly wilted in a big 'ol chunk of butter! with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. DEEVINE!

happy canada day!

woohoo - it's july 1st which means it's also Happy Canada Day!



i hope that all of our canadian friends are having wonderful celebrations! and for any american friends interested in knowing more about canada day (yes, Linda, i mean you! bahahahahah!), here is the wikipedia entry.

Happy Canada Day to all!