On a Sister Adventure.

My youngest sister Sabrina came to visit me last week. It's the first time she's been up here for a sister visit. She came on her own and got to enjoy sleeping in and having the entire bed to herself. A real luxury when she usually shares the bed with her husband, adorable little munchkin and their two dogs!

The weather wasn't as cooperative as I'd hoped. It stayed in the minus 20C range for most of her visit. This meant no shopping on Whyte Ave, no visit to the Ice Castle and no long rambles through the river valley with Jada. (I guess she's just going to have to come back when it warms up! ;D)

 I knew I wanted to take her on a visit to the Duchess Bake Shop. It's the perfect adventure for the daughter's of a baker. After the 6 month check up with my melanoma doctor (a good one!), we bundled up and headed out. We found a good parking spot and shivered our way over to the Duchess . . . who are closed on Mondays!

Whaaat??!

Luckily for us, Edmonton is full of great restaurants, so I took her to another one of my favourites: The Dish Bistro. They never disappoint. Yum!

Sabrina enjoyed a hearty bowl of their daily soup and I had my current favourite, Chicken and Waffles. Fried chicken on a Cheddar and green onion buttermilk waffle with a grainy mustard maple syrup. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

The bonus for me, is that I can only eat half, which means I get to take the rest home for lunch the next day . . . Double yum!

Don't you love if when you can share an adventure with your sister? I know I do!

It's time for Another Adventure!

I just checked in with West Jet. In a little under 20 hours I should be winging my way to yet another adventure!

I'm a home body. There's no doubt about it. In my day to day life I believe traveling more than 15 minutes to get some where is just way. to. far. Just ask any of my friends who don't live down the street.

However. I love adventure and travel. If I can travel and find adventure with my sisters, all the better!

There have been numerous adventures over the years. In the early days, when our kids were very young, it usually involved long cold trips at Christmas time and basement floors strewn with pillows, blankets and toys galore. Gingerbread houses were decorated, reindeer were fed and food fit for kings came out of Lisa's kitchen.

As the kids grew older and money was slightly less tight, I began to go on different kinds of adventures. The kind that didn't involve my kids.

Lisa took me on a three day cruise one year that took us from Vancouver to Victoria to Seattle and back again. What an eye opener! I would do that again in a heartbeat!

There were trips to the States, adventures in Vancouver, (Granville Island!) an epic trip to China with Tamara and sometimes Lisa or Tamara would come my way and we'd seek out adventure here at home.

I haven't yet had much chance to adventure with my sister Sabrina, in large part because she's so much younger than I am, but . . . one of these days!!!

I'm sharing my newest adventure with Tamara and I will say, it's not for everyone. We'll be attending Wordsmithy this weekend. Most people upon hearing where we are off to say,(very heartily) " Good for You! I wouldn't do it but . . . good for you!" (I'm pretty sure most of them go away shaking their head thinking " she paid money for that? And calls it a holiday???)

What?! Doesn't everyone want to spend a week end attending writing lectures and doing homework?

No???

I haven't been doing much writing in the last few years and that was certainly apparent when I sat down to do the homework that had to be handed in late last week. I've got some seriously flabby writing muscles and I sure hope they'll hold up through the weekend.  Have you ever tried to write 25 non cliched similes or metaphors???  No? Give it a try. I guarantee you'll have a bit less hair by the time you're done. I've got the comb over to prove it.

It'll be quiet here and probably on Facebook and Instagram as well, unless we find free wifi as we go, but not to worry, I've got my camera bag fully stocked and I will be sneaking in practice time every chance I get, so you'll all get to share in the adventure when we get back.

In the mean time . . . why not take a bit of time to search out adventure yourselves this week? It really can be found where ever you are . . .

Baby octopus. Yum.

 photo Dragonflight Photography

Still Not Done!

Last week I told Holly I was almost done planting and would begin to blog regularly again by Friday.
That obviously didn't happen!
The weather wasn't really cooperating and I was blessed with the opportunity to cook dinner for my sister Lisa, her husband, two daughters, one 'special friend' and a  couple of grand kids. Sarah also had her grad that day so I  tried to make a beautiful table setting for her, Morgan and their friend A who came up for the grad. Oh and of course mom and Crystal came as well.
I'd show you pictures but I was so busy getting the meal out that I totally forgot!
Saturday the weather wasn't great so I had no choice but to hang out inside reading, crocheting and snoozing.
It was a pretty tough day. . .
I really am nearly finished planting.
Unfortunately last week we had 2 nights close to freezing and one that dropped below zero taking me by surprise. I lost half my basil and 4 tomato plants.
So I moved the pots I had planted back into the greenhouse and held off on planting the last three.
Really if I put in a few hours I could have everything done. Which was the plan for tonight.
But then the thunder and rain started. . .
Which means no garden pictures either!
I have high hopes for tomorrow. . .
I'm sure I will finally get everything planted.
Of course if I keep bringing home new plants like I did today, (How can I pass up those beautiful Darvonda plants?) I will never get done!
Sigh.
Some days I think I may be just a little. . . well. . . crazy.
But in a good way. . .
Don't you think???

My Sisters Share Everything!

Did you ever wish you had something and knew it would be a looong time before you would get that thing you loved so?
Did you ever want to hug and squeeze the object of your desire?
Felt you heart melt?
Felt quite sure that one day you just had  to have one of those?. . .
Well I sure do and when you see this cutie patootie you're going to feel the same way I do!

Cheese!!!

Here I come!

I made it! Thanks for picking me up when I fell grandma!

Tamara was very generous and let me play with the Wee One all I wanted while I was out for Junior's wedding, (here's a sneak peak. . . For real pictures check out Tamara's blog)

Here is the other cutie patootie I was allowed to hold and squeeze and snuggle at the rehearsal. . .

"Just lean over a little farther Auntie Rosa. . . I need to grab that bible. It looks very tasty!"

Lisa's son and daughter in law Matt and Katherine were happy to share their seven and a half month old little boy with me and the two of us had a delightful time together!
I may not have grandchildren of my own yet, but. . .
not to worry. . .
My sisters share everything!

Granville Island

After Tam and I finished our delicious lunch on Friday we headed over to Granville Island in Vancouver.

It was under a bridge and what could be better than a bridge support covered in vines when you're a gardener? This is certainly not something we see in Edmonton!

There were so many things to see and do.
What should we do first?

Of course we started with plants and flowers. . .

And then went on to more flowers. . .

We made a quick stop in the Emily Carr Art Institute and checked out some of the art on the walls. It was too deep for us,(They were literally scribbles) so we moved on to the indoor Farmer's Market.



Tam and I both drooled over the handmade pastas and fresh boccincini so we picked up butternut squash ravioli with roasted red pepper pesto , linguine with basil pesto and two boccincini to have for dinner one night.

(Which by the way, was fabulous! Especially since we also added some spicy chorizo from the sausage stall.)

We spent some time checking out the various kinds of freshly made sausages. I was intrigued by some of the more interesting types such as the one that had apricots in it. (It was quite nice. You definitely tasted  the sweet apricots.) As I hope to try sausage making when/if  Henry brings home a deer this fall, I took lots of notes!

Thursdays  there is also an outdoor Farmers Market and we headed over to see what was being offered. One stand was selling organic vegetables which Tamara found rather lacking. Although I only grow organically and so have a higher tolerance for blemishes, I must admit that those veggies were rather sad looking. While perusing the stands we were serenaded by a man playing the steel guitar. I  picked up a CD  to both enjoy his music at home and have a reminder of a lovely day. (It's playing as I write this.) The best stall came last, as we stopped at Masion Cote (http://www.maisoncote.com/) where the fragrance of fresh herbs wafted to our noses. I hit the jackpot there, as the lovely owner was a passionate foodie and gave me great ideas for my deer sausage endeavour. I did not leave that stall empty handed!

One last stop at a little shop on our way back to the truck scored us both beautiful cashmere scarves for only $15!



Another exciting adventure came to a close.

But not to worry, there were more adventures on the way. . .

Coming Home

Well, I'm home again.

The blogging weekend is over.

My reporting on it however, is not.

Which means this is going to be a blogging week! (There may be a small interruption as mom and I can apple pie filling on Wednesday. Because, as you know, I don't have enough apple products preserved!)

Before I left today, the three of us met at a restaurant for breakfast. Lisa ordered organic Earl Grey tea.

It seems Tamara finds the scent of bergamont irresistible!

Oh Tam. . .

Lisa and I had taken our cameras along hoping to get a picture of the three of us.

Mine didn't have a timer, so Tam set Lisa's on the back of the seat, rushed over to the bench and the three of us smushed together, big smiles on our faces which faltered when nothing happened.

Tam jumped up to try it again, bumping her head against the blinds in the window as she attempted to peer into the viewfinder to see if we would all be in the shot.

As it looked good, she set it again, ran back to the bench where more smushing and smiling ensued.

Nothing happened.

"Where's the light? Did anyone see the red light?"

More head bumping, peering, smushing and smiling.

Still, nothing. . .

"Seriously, did anyone see a red light? There's supposed to be a red light!"

A very lovely man from another both came over smiling and asked if we would like him to take our picture.

"Yes Please!!"

He took the camera, stood back and pressed the button. . .

"The red light! The red light is blinking!"

He smiled again and said "That's alright, I'll just stand here and hold the camera until it goes off."

He was even gracious enough to take one with my camera as well.

All good things come to an end though and it was time to wing my way home.

Ahhhh. . .

A beautiful prairie quilt, lying under a blue prairie sky.

It's good to be home.

We Interrupt This Blogging Weekend. . .

As many of you know, I have two sisters.

One who blogs. . . http://thegreenhousediaries.blogspot.com/

And one who doesn't.

Many of you may also know that I am not photogenic.

My non blogging sister Lisa has been behind the camera for the last few days and this was the best she could come up with. . .

Ah, Lisa????

The next time Aunty Nancy pesters you to start blogging. . .

Please don't.

I don't think my self esteem could take having these kinds of pictures plastered across the web by two sisters!!!