Friday 29 March 2013

Is Winter Over?

Today was beautiful, a good thing too as I had ample opportunity to appreciate it from 5.20am onwards thanks to Rose.  We went for a walk in the Pinery and because it was above 10 degrees Jacob and Rose refused to wear coats.  The sky was blue and the colours were gorgeous so here are a couple of photos just in case you haven't seen enough recently.




Thursday 28 March 2013

Maths Champ

Since September Jacob's school have been participating in an online maths website called Mathletics, on it they have individual math competitions with other participating kids in schools all over the world.  Before Christmas he played against Ben Langhorne from his class in Arnside School in the UK, I thought this was really cool but Jacob was very blasé about it.  How communications have changed in a generation.

Today he brought these stats sheets home.  I put in a photo but you may not be able to read it, he is ranked number 5 in Canada and number 96 in the World.  This is pretty good considering that over 10,000 schools are enrolled in the programme.  Well done Jacob!


Also this evening I found the Easter Bunny being cheeky in the kitchen.


Tuesday 26 March 2013

Easter Gifts

Today some more of Easter arrived at Pinetree Drive.  Rose is very keen on this outfit, specially the leggings.

And Jacob has another sweater that Tom would like in an adult size.  Thanks Mum.

I went shopping with a friend in London, I was far more productive than when I go with Tom and managed to buy 2 vest tops and a hoodie.  Rose will be disgusted when she sees the hoodie as it is grey.  I'm sure that there is a direct relationship between mine and Rose's wardrobes, the more outrageous hers gets the more shades of navy blue, grey and brown seem to creep into mine.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Still Winter on the Lake

This afternoon Jacob, Rose and I went for a walk to look at the beach.  Tom stayed at home to do Rock Star stuff on his own.  The Old Ausauble River is now thawing, no coyotes running up the middle of it today.

The beach still looks very wintry but the snow has melted off the lines of sand dunes in the middle of the pack ice.

Jacob and Rose enjoyed mucking about at the edge of it for a good while.

Jacob did a lot of testing the snow and ice with sticks because I said that it was not safe to walk out and he didn't believe me.

In the end I gave up arguing and we walked out to the second line of dunes, with much testing and leaving a trail of foot prints to mark the safe route home.  Actually, teetering at the top of the last dune was pretty cool, they are all sort of eroded away underneath into fantastical cave like structures.  Jacob got so cross that I wouldn't let him jump down the lake side that he dropped his testing stick over the edge.

Which was unfortunate because he forgot to follow the safe trail back to the beach and put both feet through a slushy bit of ice filling his snow boots with very, very cold water.  I had to call Tom to give us a lift home before he got frost bite.  Jacob was very annoyed about it and said that I made him go out to the dunes when he didn't even want to.  What fibs, he's not good with loss of dignity right now, especially in front of Rose.

Also today I finished the main part of my quilt top.  Now I just have to decide whether or not to put a border on it then spend the rest of my life hand quilting it.  Here it is.


Thursday 21 March 2013

Spring is Sprung?

Today is officially the first day of spring and this is what it looked like in Grand Bend.


I am still not completely fed up of the snow.  This sort is really powdery, its easy to shovel if you can be bothered and drive over if you can't.  Little puddles of melted snow in the house from the children's boots beat the little piles of mud and sand that appear all over the place when it thaws.

Today we had cards and gifts from the UK for Easter (thanks Tam).  Here are Jacob and Rose demonstrating them.  Jacob liked the teeny post-its and Rose was very excited about having sparkly make up on her new T shirt.



Wednesday 20 March 2013

Dress for the Weather

Tomorrow is the first day of spring and Rose is getting her wardrobe ready.  I really hope she doesn't want to go to school like this tomorrow as it is still below freezing outside and I fear Ms Tremain will ring Child Protection (especially with the current array of bruises).


Sunday 17 March 2013

End of Curling Party

Today was Jacob's final curling session of the season.  Here he is at the after party with the kids who played on his lane.

He got 85 points this season.  The highest scorer had 110 so naturally I thought, "Wow, Jacob is an amazing curler" but apparently he got 25 points for being able to sign himself in at the beginning of each session so now I'm not at all sure what it means.  Whatever, he threw some good rocks today and enjoyed himself for the last few months and I felt like a real Canadian on the occasions when Rose and I showed up.

As you probably spotted, there was a St Patrick's Day theme for the party and all curlers sporting something green got green sprinkled cake pops and shamrock shaped ice cream sandwiches.  Rose's best curling friend Brenda told Rose she could have treats too if she wore green (a tricky one for Rose, hurray for thrift stores), here they are.

And finally Jacob Cake Pop Face.


Friday 15 March 2013

Failure

Failure on 2 counts this week, marshmallows and interesting activities.

I shall start with making your own marshmallows in bullet point format...
  1. Don't attempt it if you only own a medium sized bowl and a hand mixer.
  2. Use a reliable Delia Smith or similar recipe.
  3. Wear an apron and line most of your kitchen with cling film/glad wrap.
  4. When it comes to the final whisking session continue until it is completely cool (not just for 5 minutes) if you don't you will end up with a soggy bottom.  This may also be the result if you have to eat an entire tray full of marshmallows so maybe it's for the best that they had to be binned.
  5. Buy them in a bag, the effort is really not worth it.
  6. If you have spare egg whites make a healthy if tasteless omelette.
And so to my planned itinerary of exciting and cultural March Break activities which included the paint Ontario exhibition, tundra swans and a trip to see how maple syrup is made.  We haven't done any.  Jacob has been to 2 of his friends houses, had 1 friend here and he was ill for a day, and that was that.

Rose and I went for a swim, sauna and a ladies brunch this morning while Jacob was collecting sticks with his friend Jacob in the freezing cold, that was the only planned activity that I have been able to squeeze in and it didn't present too many photo opportunities.  I am a bit worried that I won't look tired enough tomorrow and Gary will retract his lunch offer, if he doesn't I may feel too much of a fraud to accept the baby sitting - not a chance, sorry Gary but there's no getting out of it now.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Not Got Too Interesting Yet

Well so much for my line up of interesting activities over March Break.  Yesterday we got all the groceries for the week and Skyped and although today was marginally more exciting it didn't really set the world on fire.

Jacob was invited to his friends house for the afternoon so Rose and I went on a girl's day out to Exeter.  The idea was to see if Rose needed new indoor shoes and pick up a self sealing, cutting mat for me.  Rose's feet have indeed grown and she now has brand new, disgustingly expensive, fitted trainers for school.  If she needs any more I will be off to Payless Shoe Store where I can get 3 pairs for the same price.  We also picked up my mat, had coffee and cake, visited the thrift store and went to the Independent (kind of Tesco) where we managed to spend $34 on a 500g bag of icing sugar.  Whoever came up with the idea of clothes in grocery stores was an evil genius.

Here is Rose after her trip to the sale rail.


And here is the state of Jacob after 3 hours with his friend.


Tomorrow I am going to use leftover egg whites to make marshmallows - watch this space!

Sunday 10 March 2013

Eyes and Pies

Three relatively good nights sleep and my eye is only occasionally twitching.  I was beginning to think it was permanent, I'm glad it's not as I would be left with the choice of an eye patch like a pirate or Gabrielle, or being arrested for excessive flirting.

I believe (from MSN news) this past week was national pie week in the UK.  To join in we had chicken pie on Wednesday and this evening we had Chocolate Cream Pie, I made it to a Martha Stewart recipe and I strongly urge you to try it.  The chocolate custard filling was one of the most satisfying textures of anything I have ever made or eaten, I could have bathed in it or used it as skin cream, Rose pretty much did.  Here is Jacob with what remained after dinner.


I will try to do some vaguely interesting blogging this week as it is March Break so the children are not in school and I have a whole bunch of exciting activities lined up for them.  Gary has very thoughtfully offered to babysit on Saturday while Tom and I have a meal, specifically because he says I'll be knackered after a week of full-on children, how right he is.  I wonder if I could negotiate (with the rest of the pie) for him to look after Tom as well and I'll go for a hot stone massage and a manicure.

Recently Rose has got into dressing up in my clothes, here she is showing me how to style last fall's crepe heel knee boots for a fresh spring look.
notice the pout and the wings, not sure I can pull off either 

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Woman vs Raccoon

The first attempt with the Rolos failed so yesterday I was off tracking the raccoon again.  I found another set of tracks and a different entry/exit point back around the front of the house but up a different drain pipe. Tom suggested I call the professional and get him to move the trap but things were getting personal, me vs pesky wildlife, so I collected up all the uneaten Rolo bits and relaid a new trail.  And guess what, expert tracker pioneer woman triumphed and the little pest was taken away today to be repatriated and bother someone else.

Hurray, perhaps I will get a proper nights sleep.  I am so tired that I have a constant eye twitch, the sort that feels like it is invisible when actually it looks like you're winking at everyone.  Fingers crossed that there was only one raccoon up there and we are sorted.  Now I just have to do something about the monkey that's moved in under the kitchen table.


Monday 4 March 2013

Pesky Raccoon

We are still being plagued by the raccoon, it is steadfastly ignoring the nice trap that was set up around the front of the house on Friday but still playing in the loft.  Last night we had another inch of snow so this morning I went tracking again to try to determine whether it is really smart and avoiding the sardines or has changed it's route to the roof.

I discovered that at some time after 7pm it moseyed onto the property at the back of the house, popped up to have a quick look in the loft (I think) checked out the bird feeders then strolled off next door without going around the front at all.  Here is some of the evidence.


So this afternoon after school Jacob, Rose and I laid a Hansel and Gretel style trail of Rolos (I have it from a reliable source that these are very good for raccoon trapping) to lure it back round the front.  I strongly suspect that they will be eaten by squirrels or birds long before nightfall and I will have to do it again under cover of darkness.  Here are my little helpers.


appropriately hatted I think
Maybe I was a little rash in thinking that I'd make a great pioneer, there's no point in tracking a raccoon if you can't catch the little blighter and Tom would be a laughing stock without a fur hat.  Also I think I'd be no good to anyone in corsets and hoop skirts, although I think most people only owned one outfit so thanks to my feckless shopping I've got that one covered.

Saturday 2 March 2013

My Thoughts on My Career

So Jacob got me thinking about what on earth I'm going to do next.  As of September Rose will be in full time education and unless we buy a house that needs a lot of sorting out I don't have many excuses for mucking about at home all day everyday, I'm not even sure I'll enjoy it.  The question is what do you do in Canada with 2 degrees in European Archaeology and years of field work experience on British prehistoric to medieval sites?  Perhaps Jacob is right and being a janitor is a realistic aspiration.

Looking at my current skill set I am inclined to think that I emigrated about 150 years too late.  I can grow my own vegetables, bake a pretty good loaf of bread, make my own clothes, knit socks, clean houses (thanks for highlighting that J), quilt, canoe, light a fire, track a raccoon and tell the difference between a dog and coyote print.  I should probably have been a pioneer but there aren't too many situations vacant for those these days.

Speaking of raccoons, we have one living in the loft at the moment.  Oh my word they make a racket, this one plays with the electrical wires I think, it sounds like he's having some sort of rodeo up there.  A man came and set up a humane trap outside yesterday but the 'varmint' seems to be adeptly ignoring it, either that or it doesn't like sardines.  We'd better get rid of it soon as the soffits under the dormers have taken a real beating and I haven't slept properly in nearly a week.