Ahhhhhh, summer! And Books!

The school year wrapped up too quickly and involved a room change (and a grade change! I'm teaching Kindergarten next year!). That left me exhausted and ill-prepared for our yearly pilgrimage east. I have finally recovered from my high-energy students, and from the move ( moving classrooms is like moving houses - I had about a hundred cartons)(mostly books)
But now I am in beautiful Port Mouton!
Mr B and I have had numerous road trips so far this summer. One of our favourite destinations is LaHave. The LaHave bakery has a fabulous selection of baked goods -- and some wonderful breakfasts (the wraps are delicious)( better this year than last? Perhaps it was the sundried tomato aioli? - see the article about the South Shore in the most recent issue of Saltscapes for the recipe :) .
At the back of the bakery is a great craft co op ( definitely look here for souvenirs) But even better is the new book store!!! LaHave River Books opened last summer. It has something for everyone. Current fiction, interesting non fiction, childrens books, local authors..... it has a used book section, and a free (used) book section.

I LOVE bookstores. I decided right then, that I need to be buying books every time I go into independent bookstores. (Instead of buying them online) I went a bit overboard here :)

I bought a board book for Baby G (Atlantic Animal ABC), and the Row Bot book is so much fun! We will have fun with that one in Kindergarten. I had looked at Morgan's Boat Ride before, and i had regretted not purchasing it! Town is By the Sea is illustrated by the same person who illustrated Sidewalk Flowers (which is a wordless book, set in Toronto). Hand Drawn Halifax is really fun. Both Mr. B and I have been trhough it a few times already. Road Signs that Say West is a Young Adult book by local author Sylvia Gunnery, who also works at the LaHave River Bookstore! After I read it, I will lend it to some Grade 8's at school :) oh! Not shown in the above photo is 50 Ways to Save the Honeybees - a personal crusade of mine... I also picked up a free (used) cooy of Petersons A Field Guide to Wildflowers. I definitley needed that.

A trip to LaHave always includes a visit to Westcote Bell Pottery ( just a few buildings away from the Bakery). And I never seem to get out of there empty handed. We have purchased both Vaughan and Jackie's work over the years!

Sometimes we take a trip across the cable ferry (if we are going to Lunenburg). But today we are going to Mahone Bay (and Bridgewater).
I can't wait to get back to LaHave!

Valentine Swap

Vivian hosted a one on one Valentine Goody Swap this year.
I am so very lucky to be Viv's partner!
I am crossing my fingers that she gets her box before Valentine's Day.
I had such a hard time deciding what to include. Because if you know Vivian - you will know that she has everything! And what she doesn't have, she can make. I've never met such well rounded, talented artist.
I forgot to take photos of what I sent before I had wrapped everything. But here it is, in the box.

I made her some mittens out of recycled and felted sweaters. The pink sweater is cashmere :). There are lots of other goodies in there including heart shaped gingerbread cookies, and some vintage sewing notions.

And YAY! Both of our parcels made it to their destinations before Valentines Day!
this is what came from Viv:

such fun goodies! Thank you Vivian!

super cute lovey dovey swans :)

and a vertical garland - it looks awesome on my classroom door - but I could not get a decent photo :(

Valentines - Love is All Around

This year, to help jump-start my creativity, I joined a few valentine swaps.

First up is Aunt Peaches Valentine Swap. I think that I have joined this one 3 times. I've received lovely valentines from around the world. We send 3 out, we get 3 back. Easy peasy. ( well, it should be, I don't usually get three back :(

I was a bit inspired by the song Love is All Around (the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show).
so I included the lyrics on the back.

It's funny -- all these years I have been singing it to myself as "you can have it now" not "you can have the town" . When I researched the lyrics I found many different versions ( "you can have it all") . And apparently the lyrics DID change after the first season. I never found an official copy of the lyrics, so I chose this one.

Hmm, funny -- now that I look at these onscreen, I wish that I had stitched the hearts. They look a bit detached and floating. Oh well! (they were made from a very thick piece of felted / fulled sweater, so I decided not to stitch because I thought it would destroy the paper. I should have stitched first, then glued them on...)

so, 3 strangers will receive one each, and the rest went off to friends.

Sauerkraut

This month'sFood in Jars Challenge is Salt Preserving. I wasn't interested in most of the salt preserving ( salt preserved lemons seem to be a favourite of most people - but in the north, I don't have a bumper crop of lemons that needs "putting up")( although this salt preserved grapefruit with black pepper and loves sounds pretty wonderful! - and really, it only takes one grapefruit - maybe I will try it today....)
Marisa suggested making sauerkraut -- which is made of only cabbage and salt ( and other veggies/ spices as desired). I used Marisa's recipe from her blog -- find it here.
So I broke out my new mandoline ( Mr. B calls it my banjo) and shredded up some cabbage and some carrot. I added the salt, and it bubbled away on the shelf for a few days. Now, a week later, it has stopped bubbling, but continues to ferment. My kitchen is a bit cool, so it might take another week. Sauerkraut can take a week, or 6 weeks! You just have to keep tasting it to see if you like it :). When I tasted mine, it seemed salty and hot, like horseradish! I'll test it again in a few days.

Marmalade!

Marisa McClellan of Food in Jars is hosting a year long Food in Jars Mastery Challenge on herwebsite and on Facebook.
The January challenge is Marmalade.
Marmalade is not my favourite preserve, but I was willing to give it a try because Mr. B loves Marmalade (and so does my mom - more on that later).
First up, I tried Cranberry Lime Marmalade. It was beautiful and jewel-like. Lime rinds just look terrible when you boil them though! (greenish, greyish, brown). So glad that they were hidden in the cranberries. Mr. B liked the tartness, but agreed with me -- it needed more lime. I'm going to try again this week with double the limeyness. I haven't seen my mom yet for the taste test.

Next up I tried Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme's Three Citrus Ginger Marmalade. Apparently she doesn't like bitter marmalade, so it was less bitter. It is made with Ruby Red Grapefruit, oranges and lemons. Mr. B declared it his favourite marmalade! And apparently it will get better as it ages :) But sadly I realized that my mom shouldn't be eating this one because she isn't supposed to eat grapefruit. Doh! I'm going to have to make another batch of orange marmalade. Here is the Three Citrus version in progress:

Happy 2017!

A new year....
And we started the year off right -- at the beach (wishing it was warmer!)

2016 (and earlier) was all about blog troubles. Blogging has become increasingly more difficult for me. I want to blog from my iPad or phone, but Blogger no longer has an app, and wants you to blog from your browser (a grand technological leap back, in my opinion) , and the other apps I used (blogpress, BlogGo) don't work anymore. Seriously, blogging died because it was murdered.

I have so many problems with photo rotation! It used to be so easy, if a photo loaded and was rotated, then just click it and rotate. That feature is no longer on desktop blogger. AND all of the past photos that's I did rotate, have, years later, reverted back to sideways or upside down. So disappointing and frustrating. Yet, here I am, in an attempt to revive this thing! ( I am posting with the app Blogo - which appears to be great so far. Unfortunately, you get one blog for free, then you have to pay a yearly fee to add more - I'm starting with the one for free, then will re-evaluate)

2016 was bittersweet with my friendships. I was so busy with school, and I didn't see Meep as often as I wanted to, and my dear friend D retired. After 10 years of her being my teacher partne-in-crime, she retired. But I still saw her often (weekly!) as she lived near school. Then she moved :( I still see her, but not as often -- but she has a fabulous house :) . And then MC, my other teacher-partner-in-crime, my lost sister, left my school for greener pastures. I miss her terribly.

2016 also brought much joy! Baby G! Adorableness. And the Lovely Miss L is such a wonderful mommy :)

My "one word" for 2017 is NURTURE. I am going to nurture myself first. Reconnect with my friends who I miss so much. Spend more time with family (that's you Mr. B). And, of course, nurture the kiddos at school.

I'm also hoping to make something every week! Nurture my soul! This week I have made quince paste from the frozen quince that I found on the ground underneath the quince in Nova Scotia, and I made rosehip jelly. I sewed a tea cozy, and knit a scarf. I sewed a hat from felted sweaters. Of course, being on holiday really helps :) but, even before the holidays I sewed a lot for Baby G!

Summer recap :)

Whoa! I haven't been here in a LONG time. I planned to blog a lot this summer.... but I had a very lazy summer :)

The end of school is always a busy time -- but this year was busier than ever. My daughter, the Lovely Miss L -- had a baby! I'm refering to him as G -- my little Grandpeanut. He will call me Mimi (mimmy). I just can't face being called Grandma yet -- besides, my mom is Gramma -- and we don't want to confuse the little peanut, do we?

I had a lovely time this summer on the East Coast. I missed the little peanut, but Miss L was SO GOOD at FaceTiming with me, and texting me photos.

Andy loved rowing with our neighbour, B! She took us out into our inner harbour. So peaceful!

 

 I taught myself how to filet mackerel. The internet is one awesome teacher.

 

I went a little overboard with the preserving. I canned blueberry sauce, rasberry sauce, raspberry jam, raspberry lime jam, raspberry-saskatoonberry jam, blackberry rhubarb jam,  pincherry-lime jam(my favourite), saskatoonberry jam, and many kinds of blackberry jam (seedless is worth the work!)  I filled about 100 jars. Guess what EVERYONE is getting for Christmas this year!
And I made watermelon rind pickles (sweet) and some curry pickles (vinegar)! (I also made watermelon jam. Not my favourite)
I tried to make choke cherry jam -- but I couldn't get that weird astringency to go away, so I composted it.

 Lots of pin cherries. Imagine pitting these. Not so fun. But so worth it!

 All of those berries, i picked from my yard, or from the sides of the road. Foraging is so fun. I picked those pin cherries, and then  later that afternoon, the birds swooped down and ate ALL of the cherries from the tops of the trees (and the few that I missed lower down)

 Freezing raspberries

I picked so many blackberries that I had to give away a whole grocery bagfull of frozen packs at the end of the summer.  I couldn't fit them in the cooler to bring back to Toronto. Uh, we had 3 coolers full of jams and berries....

A very huge thank you to Marisa McClellan from Food in Jars for her brilliant blog and her perfect recipe books.

And a shout out to Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison for their awesome recipe book, Batch (I made my own pectin!)(And that is where the watermelon rind pickle recipe came from). And they are home town favourites (Toronto). Their website is Well Preserved.

If you want to get into preserving -- there are so many places to take classes. Last fall, Mr. B and I took a CSA canning class at the West End Food Coop. Last year, BlogTO created a list of where to take cooking classes in Toronto -- lots of them have canning classes. And so many other cooking classes.... (Mr. B? Pick a class! - MY birthday is coming up :)

My perfect dream life would include canning and preserving every day. I LOVE teaching, but canning would still win :)
I bought a food dehydrator this year too. So far I have made rhubarb candies (from Batch) and dried apples and dried raspberries (I was picking 4 quarts a day at one point! my freezer filled up too quickly!) I'm hoping to dry a lot more this fall.

Well, that was summer. Let's see if I manage to blog more often in the fall :)

Mixed Tape Memories - Rheostatics and The Lawn

Side 1 -- The Rheostatics -- Melville
Side 2 - The Lawn -- DeBussy Fields

 Obviously, this tape is a keeper. I'm not sure where all of my other Rheo tapes are -- I had lots....
(That's my writing for Melville -- I think that is Jamie D's writing for the Lawn tracklist.... )

I first started listing to the Rheostatics around 1990. They played a few times at Call the Office. I remember Blue Rodeo joining them onstage for an impromptu gig -- because Blue Rodeo's outdoor concert was cancelled (it was pouring rain). That was a fun night :) . I spent some time before and after most of their London shows just hanging with the band. I don't really remember it much -- almost 30 years ago. I just remember one of the guys saying (every time he re-met me) "I have an Aunt Martha" :) I wonder who it was. I'm thinking Tim?

I think that this is my favourite song from Melville... but, seriously, I like them all. I have this on cd. I have 2 copies of this cd -- and 2 of Whale Music :)

Mr. B and I went to see the Rheostatics on Friday night at Massey Hall -- read about it here, on the tumblr blog: Tales of the Rabbitfish.

 

At first, the signage (letters on poles) seemed to be a mistake. But I posted on facebook -- "An epic typo, or a new era?"

 

 

 

 

 I am so happy that we went (we also saw them in September at the AGO). I'm hoping that we can see them again, soon -- they are playing in Dundas, Ontario on August 27th at  -- but I don't think I'll be able to go to that one :(

Hearing Martin Tielli sing is like listening to angels :) It made me so incredibly happy to hear them. I'm still on the high 2 days later :)

My favourite Rheostatics Song:
California Dreamline from Whale Music (also my favourite album)(of all time :)

Another favourite -- a cover of Jane Siberry's One More Colour! (from Introducing Happiness)

And... The Lawn... What ever happened to The Lawn? I think that I heard somewhere that the drummer, Mike Duggan, is the owner of my neighbourhood brewery, Duggan's (Parkdale). Good beer, good food - you should try it sometime :)

Indigo dyeing

Yesterday I took a class at The Workroom. I needed to take a brain break from school.

Indigo Dyeing
Check out the link to The Workroom class HERE. I would HIGHLY recommend taking this class.
 
For those of you who have known me for awhile, you may remember that I have taken natural dying and indigo dying before. I'd send you back to my past post to look at it, but all of the photos have disappeared off of my old posts :(

But this was much more in depth. The instructor, Julie Sinden was very knowledgeable. (go and have a look at her BEAUTIFUL felted hats here). Her dyeing blog is here -- Julie doesn't post on it anymore, but there is lots of interesting information.

Anyway, back to the class. I wasn't really feeling well this weekend, so I was a bit off my game (a lot off my game, actually)  and didn't feel like doing anything :( . And I don't really like tie dye, and I don't really like dark blue, lol -- so that didn't help. I saw a lot of what other people were doing and that will inspire me more at home.

We mixed our own jars of indigo and then made our own vats. (we also had the opportunity at the end of the day to make a "live" jar to take home. That is right up my ally -- fermenting, etc, but I was just too tired to do it). Here is my jar, in the process of turning to a yellowy green - which is what colour the dye is when it is ready. It truly is magical. You put your fabric into this yellow dye, and then when you pull it out, it chemically reacts with the oxygen in the air -- and the oxidizing colour goes from green to blue!

I did dye a big pile of fabric -- and I did a bit of shibori. I will like to experiment a bit more with clamping resist -- which was my favourite part of Glennis's class when I took it. but I just didn't feel like it yesterday. But I loved the results of what everyone else did in class! If you do instagram, check out #workroomindigo.
 And there are many photos on Flickr of past indigo class work!

I'll use a lot of this blue in some small wall-hangings that I'm working on (sand and sea).

Some of the pieces are also some antique napkins. I'll use them for sure in Nova Scotia.

I did a bit of stitching to the front of a yellowish tshirt/tunic that I had, but didn't wear. It's still kind of yellow and green, so I think I'll put it in another few dips of indigo to make it more... green and blue? I'm not sure if it is salvageable :) Unless I just keep dipping and make it more solid :) . I should have just dyed it solid to start with :)

 

I also did some stitching around the neck and armholes of this sleeveless tunic -- it was white linen. I'm happy with how this turned out. It will be a Nova Scotia tunic. I wear a bit of blue there :)

The next class I want to take at The Workroom is Visible Mending --you can see some photos in the flickr pool here. You can check some of the work out on instagram here too! 
 I missed the boat on the current offering of this class -- but I'm hoping that another one will come up -- in september or early fall.

Mixed Tape Memories -- Dead Milkmen

I was surprised to find 3 Dead Milkmen tapes in my carton.

I saw them play (a long time ago -- maybe 27 years ago?) in a small venue in London (Ontario) -- Call the Office (which is still open and hosting live bands!)

I always liked Punk Rock Girl (their most successful single) -- but I never had the album that it was on ( Beelzebubba).

After playing all of these tapes, I'm keeping Bucky Fellini and East Your Paisley -- but tossing Metaphysical Grafitti -- it's too "produced" for me :)

No actual mixed tape with Dead Milkmen on it. Because no one else that I knew liked them! Well, my bestest friend and band watching buddy Miss Kitty Cara did, until there was an...incident.... at the Dead Milkmen show. And then she didn't like them. lol. Remember that Miss Kitty Cara? :)

I took the tape photo when it was sunny out, and I'm so happy that I did  -- BECAUSE IT IS SNOWING LIKE CRAZY OUT!!!

Mixed Tape Memories #2 - Jane Siberry

*Each weekend I will be sorting through my cassette tapes and justifying my reasons for keeping them, or letting them go. Please join me in my journey....

I had no idea that cassette tapes were making a comeback. I don't really think that they are. But there have been numerous articles lately about their re popularity. Really? Read about it here. Even Justin Bieber has released a recent album on cassette. Whaaaat?
I'm ignoring this new trend -- because as soon as I heard about it, I though "Maybe I should save these tapes that I'm culling?" NO NO NO NO NO!
Some companies are still making cassette players. Sony just stopped making the cassette walkman in 2010. I get that. I use them in my classroom. But let's not bring them back, ok? They deserve a natural death.

On the chopping block this week is Jane Siberry. (She was briefly known as Issa around 2006-2009). Let's see how she fares :)

I was introduced to the music of Jane Siberry in 1985 by my friend Miss Kitty Cara. We went to see her play in London (Ontario) at Althouse College. Her voice was like angels singing. It was a kind of  new music genre for me. At that time, I preferred (and still prefer), guitar driven music -- and less "produced" music. But something about Jane struck a chord in me :)

Here she is around the time I first heard her:

Here she is singing Calling all Angels with KD Lang in 2014

So, back to the tapes:

 We have The Speckless Sky and The Walking (commercial tapes). and Bound by the Beauty and No Borders Here are recorded onto a tape. It's my writing -- so I copied them from someone!
The Speckless Sky is my favourite of the bunch -- It's a keeper -- although one of the songs is all wonky and stretched out. I actually would replace it on cd, but it's not available - well, it is available used... from England.  Also not available on itunes  but it IS available on bandcamp :) via Jane's website. I think that I'd rather get a digital version and have the money go to Jane than buy a used copy.
The verdict:
I think that I'd play The Walking again, so Speckless Sky and The Walking will go into the keeper box. I like Bound by the Beauty too -- but I could live without No Borders Here, I think. Too bad that those two are "attached".  (I'm not actually throwing them away -- I just put them in my neighbourhood "Little Library" and someone takes them all.....). So I guess that I'll be keeping them all!
Not doing too well on this sorting, am I?

Mixed Tape Memories

It's March Break! and it feels like spring! It's raining and miserable out :)

Lately, I have been puttering around my basement (cleaning, tidying, sorting, jettisoning, sewing). I listen to music on my basement stereo. When my cd player broke a few years ago (Denon! But it changes 3 discs, and that mechanism quit), I pulled a handful of tapes out of a carton and I have been playing the same few tapes since. Yes, my tape player (Nakamichi) still works. Beautifully. Does anyone else still have a tape player? Anyone? Bueller?

This week I have decided to sort my tapes. I have an unopened carton. I'll open pandora's box, and hopeuflly there will be some happy surprises. Get rid of the ones that I will never play again. While doing so, I have been reminiscing about the music, the mixed tapes, my youth.... I also have some blank tapes..... so maybe someday soon I will make a mixed tape. That only I can play :) I'm going to work from the top of the carton down in no particular order.

So, I guess that I've decided on a new blog feature. Weeklyish.

Mixed Tape Memories. 

I will sort the good, the bad and the truly awful. I might not show the truly awful.

First out the door are the 3 on the right. Fine Young Cannibals, The Pop /will Eat Itself and Andy Prieboy. I think that I got them all from "The Columbia House Record Club" You know, when they send you a whole whackload of tapes for free, and then they send you one every month that you have to pay for? Don't judge. That was the teenage me. 
Anyway, those 3 just had one song that I kind of liked back in the 80s... early 90s?
I thought that the Matthew Sweet tape would go with them, but after a play (because I am playing all of these tapes first- it seems wrong to just toss them) I thought that I might listen to it again :)

 

 The mixed tape is a bit of a mystery. It looks like my brother's writing -- but it is not his style of music at all.

 On one side is David Bowie's Let's Dance (I have the CD :)  The hilarious thing is that it seems to have been recorded over some classical music, because in between songs, you hear some faint music underneath the slight hiss of the recording.

The flip side is a true mix. The Smiths (I wasn't a big Smith's fan, and still am not). But I like most of the rest of the songs, however unrelated they are --Joy to the World by Three Dog Night; Should I stay or Should I Go by The Clash; There is some Ramones, Public Image Limited, then Wild Thing by Tone Loc (yikes!) (not by The Troggs which would have been much, much , much preferred),  REM, and then, oddly, Helter Skelter. Which gets cut off abruptly when the tape ends mid-song. 

So, despite The whiny Smiths, this mixed tape is a keeper -- because I will listen to it again.

Possibilities

My word of the year for 2016 is "possibilities".
I'm celebrating all of the things that could be. All the things that I will become.

 

There are so many things that I would like to do this year. Some I have already started.
I want to sew more.
I want to take more classes. (I miss Art Unraveled!)
I want to share more of what I am reading. (I'm working my way through the Governor General Award winners for 2015)
I want to can more. (and build a proper pantry)
I want to walk on a beach every weekend. Or at least most weekends.
I really do want to spend more time with friends and family.
I want to get even stronger!

All of these things are possible.

It's a definite possibility that I will post again this year :)

 

Happy 2016!

Holiday in the Hood!

If you are in Toronto this weekend, please come to visit me at the Holiday in the Hood Artisan Market! 
 

Station Eleven

I have an obsession interest in books that have to do with the end of the world as we know it. I've just finished reading Station Eleven.
My other favourite books about Post Apocalyptic society were The Dog Stars (which I wrote about here), Oryx and Crake and the others in the series, The Road (too depressing), The Stand....

On TV I am fascinated by Walking Dead -- and my interest isn't in the zombie storyline -- it is the interactions of the people after the collapse of society. I thought that the short-lived  Revolution was going to be good -- but it dealt too much with the wars (the revolution) and the whys -- not in the "hows" (how to survive). I need to know how I will be able to survive come the apocalypse.

So, I'm not a survivalist (have you seen some of those survivalist websites???) But I hope that I would be somewhat prepared if it did happen. And Station Eleven makes it not seem so bad (except for that big fact that almost everyone in the world has died).

In Station Eleven a highly contagious and lethal strain of the flu sweeps the world and causes the collapse of civilization in a matter of days, leaving behind isolated groups of survivors struggling to come to terms with their new world. Much of the book follows a group of survivors (The Symphony) who are a traveling band of performers (Shakespeare!) who roam through Michigan from settlement to settlement. Parts of the story is told in flashbacks from the past -- throughout the collapse, up to the  "present" -- 20 years from now. It is a sad, sweet book, but it gave me much hope :). I would definitely recommend it!

And on a related note -- I've become a weee bit obsessed with preserving food!

(I love this book -- and especially love the tags on the jars!) 

Mr. B and I are taking a canning course through the West End Food Coop. We come home with about 10 jars every class (every two weeks). Last session we made quick pickles (i.e. not fermented) AND cranberry sauce. Up next is Pumpkin Maple Jam and pumpkin pickle. And this weekend I canned 10 jars of Apple Pie filling!  I am ready for the holidays!
So, if any of my friends are reading this -- please don't put canning jars in the recycling -- give the jars and the rings to me when they're empty (I am always surprised when I see them in the recycling -- re-use them, people!). Anyway, give me some jars, I will give you some jam. Win - win.