My Canvas and A Bit of This and That

I'm finished the 16" x 20" canvas. It hangs on my bedroom wall which still needs to be painted, but I didn't want to wait. It's a 'flat' canvas and I think I like the thicker ones better, but hey, it's done and I do like it :) If you like, you can check on my sidebar under Canvas Picture, to see the earlier makings of this one.

I picked a couple of roses from my garden. Some slugs are feasting on their leaves I'll have to get something to get rid of them before they ruin my plants. So far nothing else is touched!

A nice little reflection of my patio door and a sunny day :)

I babysat over the weekend.

My poochies didn't think much of that! But, we managed and all was good in the end.

I made some soup, even in this heat! And darn good it was too :) I found it on Pinterest, the recipe is from The Greens Cook Book, called Mexican Vegetable Soup with Lime and Avocvado. You can find the recipe here
I didn't have the hominy or chipolte chilies, so I added half a can of stewed Italian tomatoes with herbs (it called for fresh), big spoonful of salsa and a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce. I didn't have green beans so I added some frozen peas. Instead of chicken stock, I used a package of Lipton Chicken Noodle soup and took out half the noodles.
To make it stretch even further, I threw in a large can of Italian Wedding soup. So what's left of the original recipe, lol, the carrots, onion and spices--I love adapting a recipe.

Dish up a bowl and add chopped avocado. I added the lime, squeezed over top, with a spoonful of sour cream. Wonderful flavour!

Also, I made this little mug cover I saw on Pinterest, you can find the pattern here. It's cute, but I can't drink out of the cup with that yarn right there :) however, it could work on a taller mug.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer weather we've been having :)

Paper Bag Card and Other Stuff :)

I went to a cardmaking evening with Friends and we all made a paper bag card.  

I'm quite pleased at how it turned out.  There's a tag to pull out and room in the back to add a little goodie   :)   Very easy to make, just fold the bag in half, creating the front 'pocket' for the tag.    

On to new things, here is a Word book I started last Fall.  And a new book from Close To My Heart--as is the lovely paper. 

Just had to show you my Mandevilla in bloom, there are a bunch of new buds coming  :)  It just kind of 'hung out' in the living room all winter and is now coming to life.

Another metal flower, love this one too.  Put the largest petal through the cuttlebug.  

And last but not least, three of the pets (one cat still sleeping) sharing a sunny spot this morning  :)

  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit  :)

Two Crochet Projects

 Two more winter projects done....now that Spring is around the corner   :)  

The shoulder wrap covers the top of my shoulders and goes down to my elbows. 
It's quite bulky yarn and very soft and cuddly.
I have a big basket in the living room for cozy wraps,  throws, and extra slippers.

The wrist warmers are going into next winters gift box   :)



My soothing tea today  :)

This is Emma.  

She heads for the bathroom when the alarm goes off, to get her fresh drink every morning   :)

That's me in my housecoat and camera.

Join other tea drinkers today at Kimmies  http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Sad Sack

Poor little thing, I'm sure she feels as though she is being punished.  She just got spayed and isn't too happy about anything.  I have to pack her up and down the steps to go outside.  The cone isn't on all day, I take it off a lot.  But she has to wear it all night and when I'm too busy to watch her.  

 Something I found in my junk drawer.  It needed new strings  :)   well, I just whipped out my waxy flax and fixed it right up.  It's now back outside, over my little deck garden, sounding quite pretty in the breeze.  It says:

 'Sun Shine fades, Stars appear, Garden Angels gather here'. 

Isn't that lovely?   I can't wait till the snow is gone to see my yard  :) 

A friend picked up a recipe for a Mango salad and knew that I'd be interested.  The ingredients are: avocado, mango or orange (I used mango), green onion, red pepper, toasted sesame seeds ( I used almonds) placed on a nice bed of lettuce mix. The dressing is: lime juice, maple syrup, olive oil, ground cumin (I used nutmeg), and soy sauce. I also threw in some craisons.

I teamed it up with a nice slice of this egg dish that Sue, from http://abittatteredart.blogspot.com/, calls  Dutch Baby. 
It's usually topped with lemon juice and icing sugar, but today,

I thought it should have a little maple syrup on it too  :)  

It was beautiful and puffed up, but I may have taken it out of the oven too fast  :)

It's like a cross between a soufle and a yorkshire pudding.  That said, next time I'm going to try my extra large muffin pan, for individual servings.  

Who Likes A Heel?

Well, me for one  :)  This is a wonderful multi-grain bread that is so light and flavourful!  A good friend gave me her recipe, so I'll pass it on to all of you:  1 1/3 c. water, 2 tbsp. powdered milk, 1 egg, 2 tbsp. honey, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 c. white flour, 3/4 c. 9 grain-for cereal and baking,  2 tbsp. flax, 1/4 c. molasses, 2 1/2 tsp. yeast.

Ok, I added the flax, but there is flax in the 9 grain and I used fancy molasses.  I end up using at least another 1/2 cup of flour when kneading--take your choice.  I usually take the 1/3 cup of water, warm it, add 1 tbsp. of the honey and add in my yeast to set.  By the time the dry ingredients are all mixed, the yeast is ready, then just mix in all the moist ingredients and throw it together.  I usually punch down twice and put into pans.    





Well, we got another dump of snow last night!  One good thing is the exercise I'm getting lately, but the baking is maybe going to start counter-acting the benefits of shovelling  :) 

The poor dogs couldn't even get out their door this morning until I shovelled and it was pretty hard to find the 3 steps that lead to the lower deck that was clear last night.  I think some of it drifted to make it so deep--a little  :)

I thought we were going to get a break when it cleared up a couple of days ago.  We have three kinds of light: the lamp post, the almost-full moon and the sun shining on the hillside, just as it went down.   

The key holder is finished, I hung it close to my back door.  It's great for hanging the dog leashes.  I don't usually hang my car keys there, but I think it may be a good place for the shed key.   

Break is over, it's time to make lunch and I see the snow has stopped and a wee bit of blue sky is appearing.  It may be a lot nicer finishing my shovelling this afternoon!

I hope Everyone is having a great day   :)

Wednesday......need there be words

Nina

Tea on Tuesday in the sunny Cariboo

Well, I made it for Tea on Tuesday :) it has been a while! I think my pictures are reflecting the beautiful blue skies. I'm in a lovely shady spot on my little deck, enjoying a mild breeze.


I'm having Arizona Green Tea with ginseng and honey, so soothing. I love the apple, raison, cinnamon pitas. I just toast slightly and add butter. Some cherries from the tree--just some I could reach, riper ones were too high :)



Some company to help with the cherries!





Contemplating what to do with the rocks that I picked up by Moberly Lake, just a few miles from Chetwynd.

Not sure if I want to paint on them or wrap some wire around them and hang from a piece of driftwood. Maybe a bit of both.




A lovely piece of bark found at the same Lake. Such pretty waves on this side, reminded of a horses mane.



This side looked as though it should have goats climbing on it. I'm not sure if I could paint that, but maybe I'll have to give it a try. The whole piece is about 5 inches by 8 inches.

I will post a picture in the near future so you can see what I decided to do :)

I brought my journal outside with me too. I'm trying, once again, to keep it going. This one I started when I moved into my new home :)

Join others for tea over at Kimmies, check out artinredwagons on my side bar.

Dogs or Monkeys

Instead of two little dogs, it sometimes appears that we have two little monkeys or at the very least, two very young children.

Cassie the 1 1/2 year old has claimed the old rocker as her look-out post. As you can see, she has her sad face down pat and I think it is because she would really like to have a friend to play with, someone her own size to keep her company. So, I take it upon myself to convince my husband of this and we get a new puppy!

After years of only owning larger dogs, little did we know how these two little monkeys would win us over! They are constantly amusing us with their antics, love to play and be where we are and have completely become our 'kids'.

Mischa, the black and white one, now 5 months old, is affectionately called Squishy face while Cassie is Fuzzy Butts.


Cassie came to us when she was about 6 months old and is a very well-mannered little dog. I wish I could say the same for monkey number 2! Don't get me wrong, she is pretty good, however, sometimes I feel that we go two steps forward and one step back! I'm sure it is just the puppy stage and she will learn from her big sister.

The kids are all gone, but we now have a different basket of toys in the living room. Ones that we are suckered into playing with too :) and most are spread about the house with various socks and slippers--nothing chewed or destroyed, just deposited everywhere. Also, there are twigs, leaves and other interesting tidbits from outside!

Good thing they are so cute and funny!