No Resolutions, Just Thanks

I'm not a New Years resolution kind of gal.  I'm more of a take action person.  My practical nature demands that if I want something to change, I change it.  Right here, right now.  Forget this resolving to do something at some specified date in the future.  So there won't be any resolutions posted here this year.

Instead I'm feeling rather content and happy these days.  Thankful that I made it through yet another year, relatively unscathed.  I successfully passed two law courses.  We got the house mostly painted.  We are both employed.  We like where we live.

This Christmas season brought all sorts of good things.  Good food, a long rest, a new winter coat to keep me warm.

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There is snow piled several feet deep right outside the doorstep, and icicles hanging from the roof but the electricity and heat has held.  Many people in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick were without electricity and warmth this holiday.  Some spending a week or more without.  I am very grateful that here on the island we were fortunate enough to keep the lights on and get a glimpse of this.

 

The Christmas lights in Rustico are said to be some of the best on the island.  This was my first year taking it in.  I was quite impressed.

So goodbye 2013 and welcome 2014.  I have my fingers crossed this year will be just as good as the last.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We've had snow.   

  

and rain.

and ice.

I've quit counting how much.

I'm just glad we have electricity.

So we can enjoy the pretty Christmas lights and eat hot turkey.
 

Merry Christmas to everyone wherever you are.  We wish you peace, joy, a cozy blanket and a warm fire.  Best wishes, Marguerite

Missing in Action

Hello folks, it has been a long dry spell in blogland but I swear I haven't forgotten about you.  This post is for all of you who have emailed, called and generally wondered what the heck is up with me.  I am still in school and that is continuing to eat up my extra time.  I finished my second course about a week ago and will start a third course beginning in January.  So far so good.

Unfortunately the minute I was finished with school this happened.

The flower garden under the first snow of the season

Our first storm of the season brought 110km an hour winds and a load of snow.  Now a week later we are sitting through yet another storm.  This has the looks of a bad winter ahead.

Snow days mean we must find new ways to entertain ourselves indoors.  I've decided to start training Gino for the circus.  I've managed to get him to stand up on his back legs.

Now I just need him to learn to twirl.  Funnyface is not as cooperative.

He would much rather take a nap in my bed.  Clearly I have my work cut out for me. 

Other fun activities have included attending PEI's first Seedy Saturday.  Seeds of Community is a new group on PEI that is creating a grassroots network that promotes seed sovereignty.  They held their first Seedy Saturday on December 7 and I was delighted to attend.  First some sorting needed to be done though.

All this came out of my fridge

My fridge is overflowing with various packets of seeds so I took some time to do some sorting.  I put aside extras and seeds I was no longer interested in for trading, and sussed out what I would like to add to my collection.  Then off I went.  The event was a big success and I met some wonderful people and took home some fascinating new seeds.  Many more tomatoes are now in my collection, as well as a couple new beans among other things.

Which reminds me, about those tomatoes.  I know I promised you a tomato post and I do intend to write one.  However, we've come up against a roadblock.  As I was sitting down to write this particular post my old macbook ground to a halt.  I tried to reboot but alas, it seems it has bit the proverbial biscuit.  The problem is that all my garden photos from this year are on that computer, including all my tomato pictures. We should be able to retrieve the photos off the hard drive but at this point we have no new computer to move them to.  A new mac was definitely not in the budget so it may take some time before we get this worked out.  So hang in there please.  I have plenty to say about our heirloom tomatoes but seeing a  photo of them - well, a picture is worth a thousand words right?

What I do have pictures of is pumpkins.

Look what I found!!

While out on a weekend walk we discovered a treasure trove of abandoned pumpkins in the woods.  Wee baby ones like the one I'm carrying in the photo, and monster big ones, as well as a variety of colours.  After Halloween they were dumped like a basket full of kittens into the woods, left to fend for themselves.  Don't you people know you can eat those things?

You might recall I grew pumpkins this year.  Very pretty but they taste good too.

Remember these beauties?

This was my first year growing Long Island Cheese Pumpkins so I wasn't sure how they would measure up in the kitchen.  My first experiment was to carve them for Halloween.  I wouldn't try that again.  As pretty as they are, the walls are quite thick and ripply making them an absolute nuisance to carve.  So we chopped them up and cooked them down.  That worked wonderfully.  Slowly cooked down on a stovetop the pumpkin turned into a very thick paste which worked well in breads and cookies.  Then a co-worker suggested we try stuffing them.  What?!?

Did I mention it slices beautifully too?

I have never heard of stuffed pumpkin before but I am glad I know about it now.  The stuffing is a combination of ground beef, onions, mashed potatoes, cinnamon and all spice.  Very easy to make, very filling and very tasty.  I still have a couple pumpkins on standby so my next venture will be a curried pumpkin soup. 

Hoping this post finds you all happy and healthy, and looking forward to a wonderful holiday.  I'll be coming round and visiting your blogs over the next couple weeks and with any luck we'll get a new computer up and running so I can share more garden photos with you soon.