Good-bye June 2012

Mornings are good when one wakes up before 6:00 am to find there is not only a Tim Hortons double cream awaiting her ....

".... not only one, but two Endust !  One wasn't enough?  I am not sure I am reading the right thing into this picture that maybe I should be ???  LOL, should I be thinking I am not cleaning enough that I needed two, or impressed you bought two when I asked for one, so I would have backup?"

Thanks Honey, once again, for stopping for me to pickup some necessary household items I obviously can't live without .... lol.

"Really now I am not sure why I bother going out with the girls so early, as they are way too busy to be bothered with my presence some mornings.  There they go, "off like a shot" !"

"At least I know I am never totally alone."

I had to head downtown Wiarton to our local Foodland store, for the umpteenth time this week, as I forgot to buy the Pie Crust for the pie I have been planning on making for the arrival of our company this day.

First a load of wash into the washing machine, then off I went before 8:00 am.

Really can you imagine me going downtown to pickup "just" the pie crust?  of course it being the Canada Day Holiday weekend, there were numerous Garage/Yard Sales going on around town.  What was a girl to do when she was faced with one on every street she turned down???  

" .... and she "scores" !!!  Check out this terribly cute little rooster I got to adorn my stovetop. I do love yellows and blues together, don't you?"

I also picked up a little something to add to the housewarming for my Niece's new home, as well as two scatter rugs, once which worked perfectly in our bathroom  I am certain I only spent a grand total of $8.00.  Oops a little more then $8.00, as I did have to buy Pie Crust, and honestly that is all I bought in at the grocery store.

"Back home I "fired" up the oven while I gathered everything for the Strawberry/Rhubarb pie I was getting put together."

"Mixed and filled just waiting for the top crust."

"All oven ready now the finishing touches have been made."

"Fifteen minutes at 450* F, then another 50 minutes at 350*F ... Viola', ready to cool before the taste buds get "rocked" ! "

My "Crabby Cabbie" put on his hat and was out the door by 11:00, I had a couple of loads of wash out on the clothes line, all before our company arrived ...

"YAY !!!  It is so nice to have company ! "

" ... cause Company arriving meant I got to sample the pie I made !  oh yes, I let our company sample a piece too."

All three of us, myself, Vicki and Doug absolutely LOVED the Strawberry/Rhubarb pie I had made.  Vicki said she enjoyed it more then the Rhubarb Crumble Pie I had tried out on her last Year at this time.

Recipe please?

Photo Courtesy Exchange Member~Cindy Masterson-Roth.
Recipe Source: Rhubarb Central.com




Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie (from frozen fruit)

Note: Pies using frozen fruit tend to be much juicier than those using freshfruit. As a result, frozen fruit pies require more cornstarch or flour as thickeners.

Ingredients
9" double pie crust
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups frozen strawberries
2 1/2 cups frozen chopped rhubarb
2 tbsps. butter

Directions

Roll out half of the pastry and fit it into a 9" pie plate. Trim edge even with the plate.
In a bowl, mix sugar and cornstarch together.

Add the fruit, and turn the mixture into the pastry-lined pie plate and dot with the butter.
Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into strips.

Arrange strips in a lattice fashion over pie. Tuck edges under bottom crust and flute.

Place pie on a baking sheet, and bake at 450° F for 15 minutes (or until pastry is golden), then reduce heat to 350° F and continue to bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until filling bubbles and is thickened.

— at "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".

NOTE:  I used 4 cups of frozen strawberries and a heaping 2 cup measure of fresh rhubarb

Once we all enjoyed our "slice of heaven", Doug and Vicki headed on out to attend to setting up their living quarters for the next couple of days, while I did my own thing.

"A couple of months ago I received a free "Schick Hydro Silk" razor in the mail I had requested from an offer I had came across.  Let me tell you, I am so very impressed with this razor !  It is the "bomb" of all ladies razors.  I will be purchasing refills when so required at this is my "new best friend" in the grooming department !"

My dear Cousin Paula was so kind as to check out the Sears Outlet in Brampton this past week on a quest to find me a quilt for our bed.  Our queen size bed mattress is 15", so requires deep pocket sheets; being much higher then the normal sized mattresses.  Since this is the case, I also need top bedding a little larger so it will drape properly to cover down each side of the mattress.

Not being able to get me a King Size Quilt/Comforter to accommodate my mattress size needs, Paula did find a really nice blue/beige/white quilt in a Wedding Ring pattern she thought I might like, however it was Queen size, would it work?  

"Not only did I like it, it fit across and down the sides perfectly !  It was immediately washed, hung to dry and place on our bed, as I am so going to start enjoying our new quilt right off the bat !  Thanks dear Paula ... I appreciate your efforts in giving me your hand in helping me out in this matter."

Later today, Vicki and I took Bandit down to the Government Dock for a bit of stick throwing, as well as a swim in the Bay.  Once home we all had a nice little chit, chat before we all headed off our separate ways before it was time for us all to get ourselves settled in for the evening.

"Happy Canada Day Celebrations to everyone tomorrow, as ..... "

".... and I know I will be enjoying them to the best of my ability!"

I am off to go in, out, around and about with each of our "pack", then get myself settled in for the evening, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".

I Missed The First Day

In all my anticipation, all Winter long, of Summer arriving, it went right on by me on the 20th of June without me even batting an eye.  I can't believe the first day of Summer went by me unnoticed, or can I ?  Regardless .... hooray !!!  So happy, happy, happy you are here Summertime !

Here is an old (not that old, lol) song I remember from Summer Rolling Skating days ...

... oh those were wonderful Summer nights.

Once I had done my early blog post last night, there was still plenty of daylight, so off I went back down to the Government Dock at Colpoy's Bay.

"This time Buddy got to go along."

"He didn't mind the water one bit, doing a bit of racing and shaking off of the water from himself."

Once back home it was the girls turn to race around like Banshees ... lol.

"Moving out they were !"

"OMG, Rob had planted a whole package of Zuchinni seeds.  We are going to have them coming out of our Ying Yangs !"

Should you not have the room for a garden as large as my husband keeps putting in every year, here is a great idea for fresh salad that Virna from Craftmates has done in her back yard ....

http://craftmatesetc.blogspot.ca/2012/06/wordless-wednesday-salad-table.html

Since I am on the subject of Blogger friends, Carla is having yet another "give away" over at My 1/2 Dozen Daily, found at this link here ....

http://halfdozendaily.typepad.com/my-half-dozen-daily/2012/06/its-giveaway-time-.html#comment-6a016300f919ba970d017742d6da01970d

"The first bloom yesterday for these lilies.  Now I know where the saying, "Lily White" came from."

Then began this day ...

"North of the Checkerboard" I went this morning to see Dr. Loney for my weekly allergy shot in the arm.  I have been having extreme sinus and tension headaches with the pain almost unbearable at times.

"Dr. Loney was good enough to send me home with some "different" methods to try out for my sinus.  We will see if they make any type of a difference or not after a couple of days.  Oh yes, and the jar of cream to see if that will help my poor dry skin any?"

"While up in Lion's Head I wanted to pickup to brochures for the Bruce Peninsula Artist's Show Tour 2012 at Marydale's Restuarant.  When parked I noticed the 2nd Chance Store, that I had never noticed before... they do Auctions, so the sign on their door said, "open by chance"."

"I did so get the Brochure for the Tour on the 14th & 15th of July, with further information at the following link:  http://www.brucepeninsulaart.ca/ .  I do so hope I am able to check it out, as I am pretty sure I would find it to be very interesting."

When I returned back home, Rob wanted the two of us to head on down to the Saugeen Gas Bar, located just outside of Southampton at Saugeen First Nation.

"Today was the Saugeen Gas Bar's "Customer Appreciation Day".  I received a lovely fridge magnet, saying, "Migweetch" (Thank You), and pen."

On the way back home, I stopped in Wiarton at the Foodland store to pickup some Striploin steaks they have on sale this week.

"Six lovely steaks, BBQ thickness, for $25.00.  We will get a few meals from these to last us a bit."

"There had just happened to be a huge bag of mushrooms on the discount rack for .99 cents the day before this."

"What goes better with BBQ steak then loads of mushrooms !  I have no idea why this photo went sideways on me here, as it is right side everywhere else .... regardless it was "delish"!"

Once Rob adorned his "Crabby Cabbie" hat, I headed out to my friend Andrea's to pick some rhubarb she had previously offered me.

"I had a little company on the way ... lol, since I hadn't taken the watermelon I had bought on sale for $2.97 out of the van yet."

"The watermelon wasn't the only company I had go along on the ride with me."

"Rhubarb all ready cleaned and ready to be made into a Strawberry/Rhubarb Deep Dish Pie tomorrow morning.  Yummy !"

Here it is 9:00 pm already, with me having to still have the "pack" all out for their nightly jaunt here, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".

Not One But Two Today !

What a gorgeous morning it was, before the humidity set in today.  Being the smart "cookie" I am at times, I took advantage of the early morning.

"I texted my friend, Sharon, loaded up the Lexus girl and we made off for town for a early morning walk this day."

We managed to get back home just before it really started getting more humid.  I was then able to get some dusting and a bit of the vacumning done, and a couple "Crabby Cabbie" business calls in before Rob made us a light lunch of turkey sandwiches.

Speaking of Rob, last night he was so kind enough to go pick up a couple of items I had purchased on the Saugeen Super Swap yesterday.

"I was so pleased to have made this "score", as I have two pair of Capris which they will go perfect with.  Pretty good deal at 2 for $5.00, do you not think?  and they are both made in Canada !  oh yes, and they both fit me ! "

Thanks Honey, I do appreciate you having to go do these "little" pickup calls for me on occasion.  The funny thing about where Rob picked up for me, he had given this same person a ride the past Saturday night in his Crabby Cabbie vehicle.  Is that spreading business around or what?  LOL

When on Sunday we scored the deal on a much needed dehumidifier for our basement ....

"... in the way of a 50 pint Danby with a remote for a great price of $125.00, which can be purchased for $238.00 plus taxes at the Home Depot.  Hooray another steal of a deal !"

" We needed to get rid of the two older models.  Rob knows of a guy who takes "scrap", so he loaded up the two old ones to deposit on his way into work.  More savings, and Lord knows we can use it."

My plan to join Lena over at Frugal and Thankful for the end of June Fiscal Fast, HERE, isn't going to be happening for me until after the Canada Day Weekend.  Hopefully I won't be going alone on my "no/low spend" week then?

Bandit and I were hot, while the girls were cool in the basement, and Buddy shaded with lots of water in the kennel run where the puppies had been, so what else were Bandit and I to do but....

".... load ourselves up and head on over to the Government Dock at Colopy's Bay, just a matter of a couple of minutes from our house."

"We weren't the only ones going to enjoy the Bay this day."

"This guy actually looked on and stayed the whole time were were here."

"While Bandit literally enjoyed the Bay."

"This was my "cue" to stand way back as the "shake" was going on."

"I am sure what had been at least 1/2 hour, it was the look, "let's keep going, can we Mom?"."

As we were walking back to our vehicle, we were stopped by a guy, who happened to looking on the whole time I was throwing stick and Bandit had been fetching.  After a bit of chatting, off I went home with his phone number promising to call him next Spring when our next "Checkerboard Aussie" litter arrives.  One never knows, does one ..... who needs a business card when I can take mine along with me in the "flesh & fur" ?

We had a pretty good time together this afternoon my Bandit and I, with me not only having one but two outings today !!!

When we got back, despite the humidity, the girls had quite a good romp in the yard before they got too heated up longing for the cool of the basement in short order.

"The lace of the Hydrangeas is filling in the blooms, and the blue of the Johnson's Geranium makes me feel good just looking at them."

Oh yes, should anyone be looking for Canada Day fireworks going on in and around Bruce County this upcoming weekend, try here at the following link for a location near you:

http://www.explorethebruce.com/canada_day_july_2011_bruce-county_towns.php

Another early evening with my "Blog" post almost done.  I am thinking I will take advantage of the daylight, load up Buddy and take him down to the Government Dock at Colpoy's Bay to see how he likes water.

Then there will again be another new day to look forward in the morrow, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".