a supposed-to-be quick update

here's a beautiful pic of the sun rising on the river...

near takes your breathe away eh? i know it near takes mine and jambaloney's away!

anyway, a quick update. it's been a busy but thoroughly enjoyable weekend. as i mentioned previously, friday night was the annual roast beef dinner. we got to see our regular crew of friends plus some people that we only see a few times a year - it is always nice to see people that we don't see regularly and re-establish connections.

saturday night was our friend H's family reunion. oh what a screech! he must have had 50 family members show up from all over the place!!! and all of the family members got "screeched in" halfway through the party. for anyone interested in what being "screeched in" means (yes, Linda, i mean you!), here is a link.

basically, being "screeched in" is a newfoundland tradition (another island province in canada not far from cape breton. the people in newfoundland and cape breton are very similar except for the fact that most newfoundlanders can't swim - bahahahah! but cape bretoners and newfies have an affinity for each other that isn't found between any other 2 provinces in canada. we love our newfs and they love us capers!). anyway, the ceremony involves putting on fishing hats, pants, boots and gear, drinking a shot of screech (moonshine...and it is god-awful!), reciting where you are from and saying that you want to become a newf and then kissing a cod! it's a wonderful tradition, fun, funny as heck and many cape bretoners have been screeched in...including myself.

at the party, we had a lot of fun. we sat at our usual table with our framboise family - including our Matriarch v, our brothers D, D, and R, our sisters S and E. it was soooo great that our brother G and sister C were there...our sister C takes the p*ss out of jambaloney and it is sooo funny to watch. we also got to meet 2 more of our brothers that we had never met before - B and T - oh my - were they a freakin' hoot. they were up to do some work on V's house and brought their 2 crew members with them - those boys were so nice and fun! we were laughing our fool heads off on all of our smoke breaks together! lastly, our nephew M came down and he is precious and has my heart! he's such a good young man, finding his way in the world. he is so interested in so many things and i love to talk to him because he has these huge brown eyes, but you have to be very careful. he sucks in everything that you say and do, and then reflects very intensely. he was very proud to tell me that he was at chapter 25 in the book of Genesis.

continuing on, we got to meet a few more people that we had never met before. 2 of these people, DM and J - well, we just hit it right off with them! they have a cottage up here and love coming up but they don't do much mingling. anyway, we spent quite a bit of time talking with them and we all really got along so they invited us to their cottage on sunday for a bbq.

then there was lots more dancing and lots more laughing and then finally it was time to shut down the hall. S and jambaloney did the inventory while i cleaned all of the tables, gathered garbage and put the chairs back. the men carried all of the licquor upstairs to the locked cabinet and then we were good to go. it was a fantastic night!

the next day, we went to DM and J's at the right moment and then we all started laughing about they didn't know if we would really show up and we weren't sure if they really meant to invite us. we were worried that they might have forgotten and then we show up and they have to scramble. DM admitted that they had talked about would we really show? or not? but just in case they got the steaks out of the freezer and got ready for us.

DM and i sat and yakked at the table while jambaloney and J cooked the steaks. we brought 4 shish-kebab skewars of onions, mushrooms and 4 different coloured peppers. jambaloney was in charge of bbq'ing the shish-kebabs and J was doing the steaks. while i was talking non-stop with DM - we had so much to say and tell each other and talk about - i could hear jambaloney and J doing the same thing - non-stop talking. it's rare to feel so comfortable with people that you can just non-stop talk with - but that's how it felt with them and that's how it feels with most people here??? it is the same feeling we have with our brother G and sister C!!! i'd say that it's strange except it just feels so dang nice!

anyway - supper was delicious! the steaks were cooked to perfection, DM made a delicious caesar salad and both of them had never had shish-kebabs before but they both ate their whole skewars and said that they loved them! i was so happy. i am always nervous feeding people!

continuing on - we played music and talked for another 4 hours!!! we had been there for 7 hours and there was never a lull in the conversation!!! it was an awesome time and we look forward to meeting up with them again!

but after all of those events, dancing, partying and having so much fun - we were bush-whacked on monday. so we kind of took it easy. today we did a bunch of stuff in the garden and tomorrow we have to go to the city for an appointment - bleck! i hate the city! although our city is only 36,000 people pretty spread out - it's still the city to me!

here's dinner today - spinach salad with peas, apples and mint. with my delicious chili/lime dressing! yummeh!

it's time to go make supper - liver and a quinoa and pepper salad on wilted spinach...i am so looking forward to it! after supper we'll go for a walk, read, take a few dips in the hottub and then i'll be back here and reply to all of your comments on my previous posts. then it's a movie on netflix and bed. it's been a really good couple of days. i hope that you have all enjoyed your last couple of days too!

a good couple of days!

check out this pretty sunset from last tuesday evening...just after jambaloney got home!

here it is from the other side of the front yard....soo pretty and soo fitting as my man was finally home - woohoo!

i can't even begin to explain how happy i was to see him and i haven't let go of him since! we spent the last few days doing odd jobs around the manor and spending some quality time talking. he had a fantastic visit back home! everyone was really happy to see him, he did some fishing with his mom and step-dad and enjoyed the annual general meeting at the fishing camp very much.

here's a delicious and simple pasta with a very light sauce. the sauce is made with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and vinegar. at the last minute i threw in a ton of fresh, home-grown oregano and some fresh chives - deelish!

and another beautiful sunset!

last evening was our community annual roast beef dinner - yummeh! it was a huge success and we made some money for our community centre. we had roughly 96 guests but a third of those were our friend H's family members - he's having a family reunion and brought all of his family out here for a party tonight. H and his wife S don't live here full-time, but they are planning to move here soon. we are looking forward to them moving here as they are very good people!

jambaloney and i served and cleared tables and then helped clean up afterwards. jambaloney is a king when it comes to serving and clearing. he can serve 5 times as many tables as anyone else and nobody can clear tables, nor run up and down the stairs as fast or as many times. he makes me very proud at these events. and if he didn't bust down tables and re-set the hall afterwards as fast as he does - we'd all still be there!!! 

how about some fresh peas, fresh mint and my first italian sweet pepper - woohoo! we are going to be swimming in peppers this year! with some fresh mint tea.

i pulled my first garlic the other day and look at that baby! fresh-grown garlic is soooo much tastier than dried. we will eat fresh for the rest of the summer, dry whatever is left and then try to grow some more in the greenhouse in the fall. we love garlic!

and some cold pasta salad with carrot, broccoli, peas and fresh mint. with lime/chili dressing.

well that's my update for now.  tonight we are going to our friend H's family reunion party at our community centre. it will be nice to meet up with all of our friends and party. hope all of you are well.

omg - i am sooo tired that i can't even sleep!

i am missing my baby. yes, i am a big whiny baby. but, sorry if this is TMI, i just got my period yesterday, i haven't slept in 2 days, nor eaten. and i had to go to a party and be all cool and stuff. i was successful.

then i crashed for only 4 hours, probably because of the booze. but then i had to get up and make it through a 1 and half hour drive to the funeral home. for my friend. and i survived like a trooper. then i had to look at my beautiful friend laid out in a casket. i wish i could have done her hair and makeup. she was so particular and always looked so "done". i wish i could have done her up the way she would have wanted.

then i had to look at pics of her over her life. i have only known her for 2 years but let me tell you that when she told me stories, and screeched through most of them, my heart was happy! i won't tell you about the episode when she talked about crab and how much she hated it...jambaloney still imitates it to this day and it is NOT pg13. oh my goodness she had a mouth on her.

i am dead tired. i need to eat something but i did eat some canteloupe earlier...i promised jambaloney. i don't want to take a migraine pill because it will knock me senseless...and i have cats to feed, birds to feed and plants to water tomorrow. and probably a million more cat plates to wash!

sweet Sandy, sweet Jane. Practical P, Harry - if any of you are still up, please put up a post about anything so that i can have something to read? thank you.

i don't even have a picture for this post!

nope. no pic. just too dang tired to bother putting one up.

i went to our friends' son's graduation party. i represented. i probably drank too much. my friend B made up some lobster. he gave me a piece. it was the best darn lobster i have ever eaten. he offered me some more. i just couldn't eat. i told him i'd get some later. EPIC FAIL! all of the boys at the party cleared that lobster out in minutes. oh i could just kick myself in my own head!!!!

i came home and crashed. got up this morning to 10million dirty cat plates and just left them. i had to get ready for the wake/funeral.

my friend S came and picked me up. it was a long drive on a very hot day and we were both dressed in full-length, head-to-toe black. i am sooo glad that we went. we got to spend time together and talk, like really talk.

we got to the funeral home. i think that we broke protocol or something. when we got to the funeral home, there were all kinds of people standing outside. we didn't know any of them, they all kind of looked at us funny, but we were on a mission to show respect for our friend.

so we walked in to the funeral home and started wandering around a bit. then one of the director's asked us who we were visiting. we told him and he seemed kinda strange, wringing his hands and stuff. he showed us where to go. we go into the room and no one is there?!?!??

our friend was laid out beautifully...there were flowers everywhere but she also had individual roses in her casket, lining the side of it. there were 2 displays of pictures of her, her family and her husband, C.

we couldn't understand why no one was inside???

so we left to head back to the parking lot, with all of the people standing outside staring at us some more. when we got to the parking lot, C, and his family had just arrived. he gave me the biggest hug. he and i were both crying and smiling and crying. so was S. he had me and S hold his hands and we walked him to the big group of people standing outside. he told everyone that we were his Framboise friends, that N's Framboise friends had come to show their respect. i was really glad that we went.

once he met up with each of the people standing outside - then he went in to the funeral home. and then the people followed. woops. i guess you are supposed to wait for the family to arrive first???

anyway, we went back in and mingled a little. but we could tell that it really was all his family and N's family. so we left and decided not to go to the funeral service. we felt a little out of place.

but we showed our respect to our friend, N, please rest in peace, and please never lose that screeching laugh. heaven will love it!

and we were there to show our support to C. his Framboise friends.

highlight of the day: our friends J and his wife I also went to the wake but not the service. the service was held in a town called New Waterford. that's where J grew up and people there are still telling stories about his antics! anyway, we hugged and he called me "buddy" at the wake, but when the four of us were leaving, he said "whattaya think buddy? this is my old stomping grounds!". then he laughed in a way that only a 6'5, huge gorgeous blonde man can laugh. i swear he's from texas!!!

anyway, i got home, dead-tired, so hungry i could cry. and finally - the phone rang and it was my baby!!! he was all full of p*ss-and-vinegar because he had met up with his dad, had gotten to the camp and had been out fishing. they lost the power there for 2 days from a freak storm. they didn't think the power would be back for a week. and his mom and stepdad were hosting the party after the agm today.

but he and his stepdad were out fishing last evening, in the dark, and the power came back on. the agm meeting went really well and people were very happy with his fishing report. i could say more but i don't want to be braggy. he did really good and i am super proud of him. for the party they made a million pizzas in his stepdads cobb oven. needless to say, that went over really well. the party had just finished when he called.

he's getting ready to head out on the lake again. he loves fishing and he loves that lake. him and his stepdad caught 3 bass which they had for supper last night.

i am just glad to hear his voice, know that he is having a super time and enjoying his vacation! i gotta go wash cat plates now - ugh.

i need a nap!

i have talked to my man several times - he had a great time with his buddies and PioneerPreppy, strippers and Windsor was not involved - bahahahahahah!

here is a pic of our last breakfast together. it's fresh-picked peas, green onion and a couple of sad looking radishes. and fresh mint. we dumped a load of my lime/chili sauce on it and it was deevine.

tonight is our friends' sons graduation party. they are B and C, our Fourchu family. they were so worried that he wouldn't graduate. but he did...and now they are having a big party for him. they are soooo proud of him! i am excited to attend, already shaved the bottoms of my legs - sorry if that is TMI! but i am still walking around in a daze with jambaloney being gone. there's that, and then the fact that i just found out that my friend, N, just died on wednesday. she was diagnosed with lung cancer just this past april. the only good thing to say is that she was fine right up to the day she died.

my friend, N, was a hoot. oh my goodness did she have a screech of a laugh. and there was absolutely nothing genteel about her...except her always perfect hair, makeup and nails. at one of the last events that i saw her at - we were out smoking together and she said that we were special friends. then she pointed her finger - AND cigarette right at me, right in the face - and she said "you just know with some people, kymber. you just know right away. i got my eyes on you gurl". then she laughed her fool head off. i said back to her without skipping a beat, and pointing my cigarette in her face, "N. it's true. you just know. and i got my eyes on you gurl!".

my goodness - all i can really remember is that she had such a laugh. it was so genuine. and she was a real person in every sense of the word. she loved life and she laughed at everything. i will never forget the sound of her laughter.

i am so worried about her husband C. i haven't gotten a hold of him yet. but tomorrow is her wake. my friend, S, is going to take me. so it is with a heavy heart that i am going to my friends' sons graduation party this evening. i wish it weren't so. i wish jambaloney was here. ugh. ya, i am a big baby!

in the interest of trying to lighten things up, here is some dried oregano the me and jambaloney cut and dried the other day. that is enough oregano for a year...but we still have 3 plants going full-tilt boogy!

he was so crazy to dehydrate some oregano. i am so glad that we did it before he left.

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!