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.

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.

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!

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 

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.

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.

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.