Fall is coming...

They say pride goeth before the fall, but that's not the fall I'm talking about.  I'm talking, AUTUMN!  I know, I know, it's a dirty word, especially after the abbreviated summer that some of us have experienced, but tide, time and seasons wait for no man (or woman for that matter).  We're trying to get the house winter ready, which involves all sorts of industrious home repairs...window sills to be replaced and weather proofed, doors to be re-weather stripped, better curtains to be found, to cut down on the nasty nor'easterly winds etc. 

We've been quite pleased with our geothermal heating, as we're averaging (over the last 9 months) about $225 on heating and electrical, which is impressive given the fact that electricity is 3 times what you would pay in BC per kWh.  Be that as it may, there are always improvements to be made and maintenance to be conducted.  Ron spent 3 hours last weekend dumping out our two water tanks to clear them of any sediment which purportedly stretches out their life span by another ten years or so.  Because of the geothermal, we have two 60 gallon water tanks, so it took some time in doing.

We've tried to climb back on the workout band wagon and went for a 8.5km run (well, I had to walk some of it) this morning.  It was a fairly good day, as it's not too hot, but we did find ourselves running against the wind on a few occasions which made it a harder go.

My cake orders have fallen off once again and I'm starting to think about logos and such.  goDaddy.com shang-haied my URL and they want over $30,000 for it.  (Cheeky devils!)  I think I can secure takethecakePEI.com fairly cheaply, but that begs the question, what if we move?  Oh, I know...we never move!  (HA!)  The last tenants of this house were here only three years, but I'm still not certain that we'll break their record.  It's hard for both of us to imagine staying in one place longer than that, even though we managed to in the 90's, but the kids were little then.  The longest I've ever lived in one location is with my sister and that was for almost 8 years.  (I'm sure she thinks it was longer!)

Ron took pictures of the machine that makes the giant marshmallow shaped hay bales, so I thought I'd throw those in for fun and I made fish tacos a couple of weeks back & thought I'd throw in a picture of those as well.  (Too bad the cabbage wasn't a darker green, but the chipotle salsa was fairly tasty (HOT!) and the Mexican cream sauce made it go down quite well.  We used tilapia for the fish, but the batter could have been crispier - maybe my oil wasn't hot enough.  Live and learn.

The back hinges open and spits out the bale of hay.

Our farmer is old school - if it runs, why buy something new?

Not as pretty as I had hoped, but fairly tasty!

That's it from PEI this time.  I've added a flavours page to the cake blog, if any one's interested! www.takethecakepei.blogspot.com  Be well, all of you and congratulations Tom & Michelle on your 30th wedding anniversary!

Hey, hay! And Yet Another Cake!

For those of you in doubt of the fact that your urban friends actually live amongst fields etc, here are some photos to prove our rurality.  (Okay, I know that isn't really a word, but it makes sense to me!  Spell check certainly doesn't like it.)

Yes, those are actual hay bales, right by our house!  The farmer came by and mowed his field (the tractor breaking down after just a pass or two - not a John Deere, I must point out) and, several days later, returned, got the thing running and completed the task.  This was followed by a squarish trailer attachment  that sucked up the grass, bundled it and spat out round bales, reminding me of a large metal rabbit.  (Too graphic??)

This picture is just a showy-offy picture of a summer sunset, right from our driveway - yes that's a hay bale on the left side.  Indeed, we've had moments where it seemed like summer was almost real!  Imagine!  Here is the Casablanca lily I was bragging of earlier:

My shadow...aren't I clever?  Oh well, the flower is pretty.

Last but not least, our kitchen has birthed yet another cake, this one for a 50th wedding anniversary.  (I'm sure you would have gotten it without the description, but there you have it, none the less!)  Making the bow almost did me in, but I prevailed...apparently it was so warm out that one of the hearts slid down the side of the cake.  Stupid humidity.  When you hear them complaining on those cake shows about heat and moisture, they aren't kidding!

Front (obviously)

Back

One side (the other looks basically exactly the same)

Will update you soon on any interesting happenings here on our sleepy little island!

Take the Cake!

Hello All! Many greetings from the Gentle Island.  It's official, I've launched my cake business website/blog.  (I haven't bought a domain name yet, so a free blog, it will have to be!)

Here's the link: TAKE THE CAKE!  The site is under construction, but I do have a few pictures up, most of which you've already seen, but it's nice to see all the cakes together.  It you don't want to leave this stimulating blog to check it out (ha ha) here are some pictures of my latest cake (showing the process):

Hand made - each one by little old me.

Butter creamed bottom layer & fondant in the foreground
(The cake isn't off kilter, but it sure looks like it is!)

More hand made flowers

With fondant, ribbon & topper

The final product.

Detail of top.

Back of cake.

As with anything this continues to be a learning process.  I have another cake to get ready for next weekend and a possible third in September, so I'm back to being a cake factory.  At some point I'm hoping that I won't need to buy anything to complete a cake order, but for now we're learning as we go.  (Things like: mental note, make fondant of ribbon a grey colour & THEN paint on the silver!) 

We spent part of the morning watching a hawk sitting up in one of our apple trees.  He seemed quite put out about something, as he kept yelling from his perch.  He must have sat there for a half hour or so & then just flew off towards the river.  Not sure what he was trying to tell us, but it was lovely spending some time with him.  We also have a marvelous Casablanca lily blooming out back.  I'll bore you with pictures on another installment and we've harvested our coriander seeds.  Its very nice having fresh herbs for cooking!

Ah well, not much else to report from the land of potatoes and lobster, but we are getting ready to have a lovely feast of mussels!  Living la vida loca!  Yup, in the wilds of PEI!

Around, Then Off the Rock.

It's hard to believe that the family visit is over already. It seems like we spent weeks preparing and then the time just went so quickly. The weather was mostly uncooperative, but we muddled through anyway. Better cloudy and rainy than 50 on the humidity index. Here are some photos from the visit, proving that we went from North Cape to East Point & places in between and even left the Island to go see some more of the Maritimes.

Seacow Bay, I believe...the map is in the car.

North Cape - one of the windiest spots in Canada

Still North Cape

Singing Sands Beach

Singing Sands is named for the strange squeaking sound your feet make when walking on the beach.  Its rather like a chirp, but can only be heard when the sand is the right temperature.  Fortunately for us, the day turned sunny, just as we arrived, so we enjoyed a lovely picnic and some lazy down time and sand that sang to us as we walked.  The clouds (in the photo above) were amazing.  The picture doesn't do them justice at all; they looked like a painting (not really surrealistic, but impressionistic, I guess).  It was truly amazing and almost everyone at the beach noticed and commented on the unusualness - that may or may not be a real word.

East Point Lighthouse

And we then ventured over Confederation bridge (a 13 kilometre stretch, for those of you curious about such things) and made our way to Nova Scotia.

Steel Sailing Vessel in Lunenburg, NS

Quaint Fishing Shack in Lunenburg

Michelle and Tom venturing in to see the Blue Nose II (under construction)

Pretty Lunenburg Street Scene

Morning Fog on the Inlet - Halifax

Changing of the guards at the Citadel...pure fluke that we were there!

Peggy's Cove - a must see if you're in Nova Scotia

It was a wonderful trip!  Many thanks to our tour guide Liz (one of Michelle's girlhood friends).  After 3 full days in Nova Scotia, we hopped back in the  car and headed home.  I'm very much a fair weather photographer, for the most part, so there are very little photos of our trip when the sky was filled with clouds.  We did visit some lovely little (& larger) places like Victoria-by-the-Sea, Brackley Beach. Souris and, of course, Charlottetown.  We had two very lovely dinners, one at the Inn at St. Peter's and the other at the Dunes Gallery and Restaurant.  At the Dunes we also enjoyed a lovely thunder and lightening storm and were lucky enough to have finished dinner before the power went out.  (No espresso for me...)  That sounds so dreadfully rural & backward, losing their power, but I don't think I could recommend the restaurant any more highly, even for the most distinguished of palates!  It really was delicious.

From the PEI Side of the Confederation Bridge

View from our front door
(Yes, we've put in a new screen door, isn't it pretty?)

 I have three (yes, count 'em) cake order over the next little while, so expect updates.  I had mostly given up on the cake thing, as orders had evaporated, but here I go again!  Be well & don't forget about us!  Lots of love from Prince Edward Island.

Summer at Last

Well, it seems that I'm in the mood to blog this weekend.  I'm coated in paint, slightly dehydrated, but completely happy with the progress we've made with the front porch.  It's a daunting task as everywhere we look is something else that needs to be scraped and washed and painted...pillars, trim, window & door frame...oops, don't look up!  Yes, even the ceiling of the porch needs attention.  The new storm/screen door looks fantastic...it was a bit tricky to put in, but the results are well worth it!  Ron is going to paint the triangles etc in the peak of the porch yellow, to make the details stand out more.  (See picture below.)

Pillars now painted...not like this picture!

Window frame?  Painted, too.

Day lilies, so called as they only last a day, I believe.

My little herb garden seems to be tolerating my amateur care...the chives and thyme are blooming:

 What?  You didn't think I wouldn't put flowers pictures up again?  Silly you!

We've been doing quite a bit of barbequing.  (I did a rather nice halibut steak on the grill last weekend and it turned out very well, considering I've never barbequed fish before.  I also ventured down a new gourmet path by trying out some tilapia.  (You'll have to google it, I'm afraid, if you don't know what it is or where it's from, as I haven't the foggiest!)  I did it Cajun style and made a nifty little nectarine salsa (you heard it hear first, folks) and steamed veg.  Here's the outcome, sorry about the splotch on the plate...but hey, I'm not Michael Smith now am I?  (If you can't see it, well then bless you for it!)  The salsa features cilantro from the aforementioned herb garden, as well as a bit of garlic chive (NOT blossoming, fiendish thing!)

The fish came out moist and everything was actually quite delicious!  I shall add the photo to my meal of fame album on Facebook.  We'll it's getting late (supper a la Island time) and we haven't yet eaten.  It's hard to pull away from my view; dark green potato fields interspersed with citron green fields of waving grass.  (No amber waves of grain here, nope this is Canada!)  Until next time!

Unretired and Ready for the Western Invasion!

Yet some more time has passed since our last post.  Here on the Island many things change rapidly and yet, everything stays the same.  (Sorry if that sounds trite, but honestly, it's the truth.)  Most of the flowers have come and gone, but we have some hold outs in our hydrangea, day lilies and other bushes that I don't know the name of.  The bird life is very active here and we daily witness the battle for the bird feeder (both seed and sugar water).  The hummingbirds are the dare devils of aerial manoeuvres, as they all seem to take the same stand "Step away!  Get your own feeder!"  Its fascinating to watch them hover with their tail spread trying to look threatening.  I don't imagine it helps when I laugh and say "Aren't they cute???"

Stolen shamelessly from the Internet, but ours do look like this.

We had big news last week, Sami delivered a beautiful little girl.  Her name is Mackenzie Grace and I guess that makes Ron and I grandparents.  I think it's all very surreal, but we're glad that mother and baby are doing well and are looking forward to hearing all about how Mackenzie is growing and learning.  Pictures are pending, as we aren't there to take any!  Congratulation Sami & Chris!

Ron has picked up a part time merchandising position.  We're hoping it will keep him from being house bound and having the extra the extra money doesn't hurt either.  I have yet to make another cake and we aren't sure whether the business will work here, but as previously mentioned in some earlier installation, we haven't really advertised.  We didn't plant a garden this year, but we did a couple of planter boxes and Ron grew grass in the places that didn't have any.

I managed to grow the fuzzy thing in the middle.

My sister and hubbie are due to arrive in a couple of days, so we're preparing for the visit.  There is much house cleaning and sprucing going on.  Ron is currently hanging the new front storm door and has done most of the hard work on the front porch.  It looks really great and suits the house style, unlike the previous incarnation with it's dirty vinyl lattice and unpainted hand rails.  The deck is also quasi-level and much more solid.  Ron's handyman skills continue to grow.  I think at some point he'll be able to build a house.  That's all from the wilds of the East Coast, be well and know that we think of you all.  Back to vacuuming!

Spring in to Summer! (?)

Okay, I admit that the title of this installation sounds like a bad department store flyer premise, but it was the best I could come up with!

We woke to another misty morning which presages a fairly decent day.  It gives an eerie sense of calm and isolation which is both comforting and disconcerting.

We've been forced to patiently wait for spring to arrive and I'm horrified to realize that June is coming to an end and I've only updated the blog once this month. 

Our garden is a voyage of discovery, we're slowly finding out what all the buds actually are and enjoying the little surprises.  The weather seems to finally be reaching some sort of summer-like temperatures, but we've experienced the coldest wettest Spring in who knows how many years here.  (Much like all you "Wet" Coasters! Oh, come on,  you know that what everyone call it!)

Due to the weather progress on the house has stalled.  Ron works on things whenever he gets some good weather, but by then the grass needs mowing again and the regular chores need to get done.  We have no news on the cake front...but we haven't even attempted to advertise, so what can one expect?

We are experiencing an influx of adorable golden finches and have purchased specific bird seed to entice them in to your yard and we've also invested in a hummingbird feeder.  It was successful, but the hummingbirds seem to have fled our property.  Additionally on the wildlife front, Ron has been matching wits with a wily raccoon (nicked named Rocky, of course - an homage to the Beatles!)  He's not around all the time, but we don't want him getting any ideas about a cozy winter nest in our lovely home.  I was, I want to say yelled at, but it's not quite right...thrummed at by a hummingbird yesterday.  I was at the front of the house checking out the garden and he hovered at face level just out of arms reach, staring directly at me...it was the most interesting thing.


Happy Canada Day to all of you!  We're hoping that you get a sunny beautiful weekend.