Looking for spring

It's so very cold here, -23C (-9F) and while grocery shopping, I found a little bunch on pink Gerbera daisies, brought them home, hoping to bring spring along with them.

Not quite spring here yet, but they are very cheerful

  A layer of Kim's new texture, kk_epic was added to all of the photos to give the background a little texture.  Sharing with:

Friday Finds - A spoonful of sugar

After watching Kim with her spoon I began to think that I should have a little silver spoon somewhere.  Digging deep into a drawer, I found my little spoon.  I've had it for so long, I have no idea where it came from.  Looking like it was probably a sugar spoon, I opened a package of cane sugar from Maui and this is what I came up with.

I didn't remember that the details in the handle were so ornate.

And of course the bowl of the spoon.

And a macro of the sweet fibers that give us the delicious cane sugar.

Hope your week was good and your weekend will be even better.

Sharing with:

Such a busy week

You know how I told you last week we don't go to the city often, well last week was a little different.  It started on Friday when I helped my daughter set up and work her booth at the Royal Bison Craft and Art Fair.  My grandson also came to help so this was the easiest way to keep working and keep him safe.

And here's my daughter's table when we were finished.

It wasn't a large show but the people were in the mood to buy so she did very well.  The show was on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,so all three days were trips into the city.

Monday we took a trip back to the city to pick up a few things we needed and Tuesday I drove back in for a haircut (sorry no picture) and a shopping trip to Costco.  That's where I found this snow mountain made from snow collected from the roads.

Thursday was back into the city to pick up papers for work and to finish my Christmas shopping.

My favorite part of my days at home was doing Christmas baking.  I've alway said that if I wasn't so busy working I would finally do some Christmas baking.

Started with Acorn Squash Bread.  Not for Christmas, but I had half a squash that needed to be used. The recipe I used was from Eva Bakes. Definitely a keeper, moist and tasty.

First up for Christmas baking was sugar cookies.  I've never done these decorated ones before and not sure if I will again.  Next time may be sprinkles.

After reading a post of Kim Klassen's about food photography, I decided to try the Butter Tarts with a dark background instead of a light background.  I must say, I like it alot and will definately be trying this again.

It's Friday again and we're off to the city tonight to meet up with good friends for dinner.  Hope you all had a great week and thanks for visiting.

Sharing with

A busy week

It's been a busy week here.  We don't often go to the big city, but this week we went twice to pick up insulation for the garage and a little Christmas shopping. It's very cold here, but the highway was clear after last week's storm.

Still on the highway, but in the city there are massive power lines.  As ugly as they are, but cool in a certain way, we'd be a little lost without power.

Shooting out the window of the truck I happened to get a little burst of light while trying to get a shot of the snow mountain in the parking lot.

Back at home and back in the warm kitchen, we decided on roasted winter vegetables for dinner.  A little salt and pepper then topped with chopped garlic and scallions and baked in the oven.  Oh my, they were delicious.

My son and daughter-in-law gave me a new cookbook, The Complete Book of Bread & Bread Machines so I tried a new recipe, French Dimpled Rolls.  I lost the dimple during the proofing and baking, but they were so good.  The recipe can be found all over the internet if you google French Dimpled Rolls.

I hope you all had a good week and thank you for such a warm welcome back.

Sharing with

Another day, another hospital

My daughter, now 32 1/2 weeks pregnant has been so sick.  We're not talking the normal pregancy problems of morning sickness, swelling and tiredness that we've all endured, but really sick.  She has had 5 months of kidney stones, constant throwing up, aching bones and muscles and ichiness to the point of burning.  The poor girl has had repeated visits to emergency and doctors.  A few weeks ago, when her OB called a specialist for advice, the specialist mentioned it might be a long shot, but she could possibly have Hyperparathyroidism.  Simple blood tests for Calcium levels and a meeting with a team of specialists at the Royal Alexander hospital has now confirmed the diagnosis.  Being only the second case of Hyperparathyroidism the hospital has seen in a pregnant woman she had become "medically interesting".

The most important thing is now that she has been properly diagnosed, new specialists will be coming in and treatment hopefully can proceed.  She is now in very good, expert hands.

After being with her this afternoon and hearing a new specialist had agreed to see her, I left the hospital feeling more positive than I have in months. There's a courtyard I had to walk through to get back to the main building and looking around I noticed all the new buildings totally encased in glass, reflecting an older parts of the hospital. Random Fact # 1: The history of glassmaking can be traced back to 3500 BCE

Looing up you can see how all the buildings have been connected with skywalks. Random Fact #2 Early skywalks date back to the 16th century.

After finally arriving at the parking lot, (Random Fact #3 I've been trying to lose some weight and the past couple of weeks have not gone so well.  With walks like this, I'll have to get serious again) I took a moment and looked back at the skywalk from the parking lot to the main hospital.

Random Fact #4: After four years of doing a daily photo, earlier this week, I made a decision to take a break from my dailies and I’m already missing it and still carrying a camera with me each day. Today I was glad I had a camera.

Random Fact #5 I've never seen a racoon in real life.

Linking up with: