Sunday Afternoon

Flying Solo + messing around on the canjo

I’ve been flying solo this last week, as Tuffy P and her friend Suzanne have been in Baltimore and Washington having an adventure. Me and the dogs and cats have done OK on our own, but I miss Tuffy P and I’m glad she’ll be back this afternoon.

Today I ran some errands in the morning, then spent a couple hours grooming Ellie Mae and Memphis. I prefer grooming them in nicer weather so I can do it outside. You can’t imagine how much underfur I strip off Ellie and Memphis when I brush them down. I filled two plastic grocery store bags jammed with Newf hair. Memphis isn’t a fan of getting groomed. She behaves for it but when she sees the grooming tools come out, she fades into the background in the hopes that Ellie has to go first. Of course after grooming I have to sweep and then sweep again as bit of Newf fur floats around everywhere.

Still lots of time before I pick Tuffy up at the airport, so I sat down and played the oil can banjo for a while.

Tuffy P bakes a pear tart

Basketeers

Tuffy P supports an organization called Basketeers each year by making up a big basket of good stuff to help out abused women in new beginnings. She delivered her basket this afternoon.

Tuffy puts a lot of care into preparing her basket each year, as do all of the individuals who participate in the program. Have a look at the roomful of baskets at the drop-off centre.

Thanksgiving

In case my non-Canadian readers are not aware, this is Thanksgiving up here in Canada. It’s a time we usually gather with Tuffy P’s family each year, often at Tuffy’s dad’s cottage. I usually make up a Thanksgiving feast, which we enjoy in a beautiful setting, surrounded by forests turning reds and yellows.

This year, Tuffy P’s dad is in the hospital,very ill, and in no condition to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. We decided to bring Thanksgiving up to him. I made up a turkey dinner with all the fixings and we packed it up in plastic containers and reheated everything in a hospital microwave. We had a great afternoon.

Tuffy P took this shot of me and her dad George enjoying some turkey dinner.  I will say he summoned up quite an appetite for the occasion!

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

 

While I was working on the Swiss Chard & White Bean Stew, Tuffy P was making raspberry lemon muffins. Fantastic!

The madness that is our kitchen…

This post is for Candy. I described the work Tuffy P had been doing in our kitchen on the phone, and she requested a photo, so here it is….

Lost Horizons

Most people around here do most of their planting in the spring. Our circumstance is a little different in that this season we have expanded our gardens mid-summer – and added a canoe garden. The new gardens are partially planted but we saved some room because we were planning to visit a nursery called Lost Horizons today.

We drove out to the nursery this morning. It’s located just west of Acton, less than an hour’s drive from here.

Lost Horizons doesn’t look like your average garden centre. It features extensive display gardens that in themselves are worth the drive.  They call themselves a small nursery but it’s large enough that I lost Tuffy P for 20 minutes. Early on in our venture, somebody armed us with their catalogue. Most garden centres have extensive labeling but at Lost Horizons, for many plants you need to look them up in the catalogue for some specifics about plant characteristics, size, light requirements and so on.

You can check out their extensive catalogue on their site. Just their selection of hostas was really extensive. I will say that the more unusual plants are expensive, but I suppose that is to be expected. For bargain plants there’s always the No Frills garden centre.

We loaded up the car with quite an assortment of plants and headed back to the city (stopping at a nice yard sale along the way).

If you live in the GTA and you love gardening, I recommend a trip out to Lost Horizons. They have put a huge amount of effort into their display gardens, and you’re likely to find a few unusual gems for the garden.

Dandelion Wine

In Toronto, some time back, we made a choice. We chose dandelions over poison when we outlawed the nasty crap that kills the dandelions. And so, our parks and lawns are filled with lovely yellow flowers and the wind blows all the seeds around the neighbourhood so everyone can enjoy them.  I’m OK with that. I’d rather have the pretty yellow flowers than the poison, all things considered.

This morning, Tuffy P came up with a great idea. Now that we have the dandelions, lets make Toronto the dandelion wine capital of the universe. We could export it everywhere, “Toronto’s Finest” dandelion wine. Finally, we could be known for something besides hopeless hockey teams. Once the concept takes off, there will suddenly be a demand for dandelions. Perhaps the wineries would offer up some coin for dandelions, say so much per pound.

Right now, I have enough raw material on the front lawn for a couple bottles of top grade vino.

Miss Magnolia