Now That's Saucy....

When I went over to Amy's house today to feed and spend time with Bernie, I noticed that she had a large patch of rhubarb in the garden that looked like it hadn't been picked in awhile.  Probably not ever, since Amy doesn't like the stuff.  I, on the other hand, love rhubarb and haven't had any yet this summer, in spite of Amy telling me several times to come and help myself.  So today I picked a bunch of it and brought it home.

I remember when my sister and I were small and we'd visit our grandmother and cousins in Nova Scotia. Nanny always had rhubarb in her back yard and she'd send us out with a bowl of sugar and tell us to each pick one to eat.  We'd then sit on the back step, three little blonde girls, dipping our rhubarb stocks in sugar and biting the sweetened end off.  Makes my mouth pucker just thinking about it.

Anyway, fast forward about 40 years to a time Mum came to BC to visit my family when we lived there.  We had rhubarb in our yard at that time so she picked some and made the most delicious rhubarb syrup that, when mixed with Sprite or 7-Up, became the most delicious, refreshing drink of the summer - better than lemonade.  I haven't had it since, because I forgot how to make it.  Then, a month ago a bloggy friend from Nova Scotia,  Sandy at Aging Disgracefully, posted a recipe for it, and that's what I used.  It's very easy.  

I just made a small batch, using only 4 cups of chopped rhubarb.

Rhubarb Syrup

In a heavy saucepan place four cups of chopped rhubarb add 

two cups sugar and 

one cup water.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 - 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and strain through a fine strainer. 

(I used a cheesecloth inside a strainer).

Pour the juice (syrup) into a clean container and cool. (Keep in fridge)

Put the cooked rhubarb (mushy) into a refrigerator dish and cool.

It makes a delicious spread for toast or a topping for vanilla ice cream.

I found myself just eating it with a spoon.

To make a delicious, refreshing drink, mix one part syrup with 3 parts 7-Up, Sprite or club soda.

Yummy!

From this....

to this...

Quick, easy and delicious.  Remember, you mix it 3:1 so you get quite a few good-size glasses of the best tasting summer drink there is.

Bernie and Eadie

It's too hot to sleep tonight so here I am at 12:33 am.    Up here we only need AC for one or two weeks a year, but during those weeks, I sure wish we had it.  We're more furnace people than AC.

Anyway,  weather aside, I'm doing extended Grammie duty these days.  Two of my daughters and their families have gone out of town for a brief vacation and left me in charge of their pets.

Here's Amy's dog, Bernie.  A St. Bernard, obviously.  He's a lovely, gentle dog well suited to the family's four kids.  He's big, and likes to lean against adults, which makes me lose my balance.  I go over to his house twice  day to feed him and pet him and tell him what a good boy he is.  And come away covered in hair and smelling like a dog.  He appreciates the attention though. He's such a sweet thing.

Doesn't he look like he's missing his kids.  Poor boy.  They'll be home in a couple of days.

Jenn, her husband Anders, and their five boys drove into town to leave Eadie with me until next weekend.  We ended up having a pizza party.

And this is Eadie, a Lineolated Parakeet.  She's a beautiful little creature and is quite the spoiled girl in their family.  She only goes in her cage to eat and has a special towel on top of the cage at night that she crawls under to sleep.  She spends her days on top of the cage or hanging out with the boys, riding around on one of the many shoulders available to her.  The boys made sure I knew everything there was to know about her and warned me many times not to leave any doors or windows open.

I love birds and have had a number of budgies over the years, but never a lineolated parakeet.  To tell the truth, I don't see any difference between budgies and parakeets, but I'm sure there must be.

I'm looking forward to having Eadie hang out with me this week.  I might even take another picture or two of her.

They Disappeared

I opened my blog tonight to check the comments and immediately noticed that all of my followers - 29 of them/you - have disappeared.  Has that happened to anyone else?  Is there an easy way to restore them/you? Or are they/you lost forever?

I hope you'll sign up as followers again.  Please.  I'm going to bed now.  Maybe the follower fairy will put them/you back in while I sleep.

Pat

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Remember the Staples TV commercials showing a father gleefully dancing through the aisles of a store with a cart load of school supplies  with dour-faced children following him...and the background music proclaiming this to be 'the most wonderful time of the year'?  That's how I feel about back-to-school shopping time.  I love it!

And although I no longer have seven kids to buy school supplies for (thank goodness!) I can't stay away from the stores at this time of year.

I spent a good portion of this morning at WalMart mingling (and grinning) with mothers and kids, lists in hand, with shopping baskets piled high with all the new, fresh smelling, unblemished goodies needed for school, which starts in a couple of weeks.

I was shopping with my camera, mostly, and had to wait for people to clear out of the aisles so I could take pictures - very quickly and unobtrusively - of the fun stuff on display.

There were notebooks (we used to call them scribblers when we were kids) in all types and colors, 

...and binders...

...and crayons and markers - more colors than the standard 8 or 16 per box that we used to get.  I remember how exciting it was to get a box with 24 or the unimaginable 64 crayons in it.

...and more notebooks - fancy ones, colorful ones, in more different sizes - my personal favorite school supply.

...and of course pencils and pens, sharpeners and erasers, rulers and scissors - stuff dreams are made of!

...and backpacks to carry all the stuff in, causing permanent shoulder stoop.

...Ummmm - Post-it notes - don't get me started on Post-its.  I love them - all the different sizes and colors and shapes.  I use the narrow ones now to mark pages in my scrapbook magazines.

...and more pens.  Did I mention that I have hundreds of pens stashed in tin boxes around my house, and in decorative pails on my work table, and in pretty mugs, and holders.

...and markers - great for journaling on scrapbook layouts!

Kids these days are so lucky - they have such a wide variety of school supplies to choose from.  My favorite of all these supplies is notebooks.  I love notebooks.  I have a stash in my night table.  I buy them because they're pretty, or a convenient size, or just because.  I keep one in my purse, one on my scrapbook table, several by the phones, but they're mostly just kept in my drawer.  You never know when you'll need to write something down.

See that cute little one in the front.   Holly  gave it to me in June when I met her for the first time. It has a cute little owl on the front and a circle with the name of my blog on it.

And all that is why I think this is 'the most wonderful time of the year'.

Pat

SAND AND  STONE 

A good friend, Mickey,  sent this to me today so I thought I'd pass it along in case you haven't seen it yet.

Mickey and me in Sedona, AZ

 

 TWO  FRIENDS WERE WALKING 
THROUGH  THE DESERT . 
DURING  SOME POINT OF THE
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT; AND  ONE FRIEND
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE
IN THE  FACE

THE  ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED
WAS  HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,
WROTE IN THE  SAND , 

TODAY  MY BEST FRIEND 
SLAPPED  ME IN THE FACE . 

THEY  KEPT ON WALKING,
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY  DECIDED
TO TAKE A BATH 

THE  ONE WHO HAD BEEN
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE AND  STARTED DROWNING,
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED  HIM. 
AFTER  HE RECOVERED FROM
THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE ON A  STONE: 

'TODAY  MY BEST FRIEND
SAVED MY LIFE' 

THE  FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED  HIM, 'AFTER I HURT YOU,
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND  NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?'

THE FRIEND  REPLIED
'WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE IT  DOWN
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT  AWAY.

BUT,  WHEN SOMEONE DOES  SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE  IT IN STONE
WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE  IT'

LEARN TO WRITE
YOUR HURTS IN
THE SAND  AND TO
CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.

Be  kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

 

 Thanks, Mickey

Pat

Low Key Day

It seems we've been so busy lately that I welcomed a fairly low key day today.  By 10am  I was headed to Amy's to take care of the two little grandsons while she took the two girls to the dentist.  She brought lunch home for us and then I took her three oldest kids over to Sara's to play with their cousins.  It's nice having these families of 4 grandkids each living so close...within 4 or 5 blocks of each other and me.  Nicer still that each of Amy's kids corresponds in age to each of Sara's - all ranging from 1 yr to 8 yrs.

Amy's kids

Sara and her kids

Each year Quincey (Sara's husband) plants new flowers, trees, shrubbery, etc. in their garden so I had to take pictures of some of this year's additions. 

 ...a pretty creamy yellow rose

...a romantic pink rose

A very interesting shrub/tree?

...a lovely hydrangea

...a mosaic stepping stone with Quinn's picture

...and a water bubbling rock, which Charlie decided tasted yucky.

I finally got some pictures of Quinn, who just turned one year old a couple of weeks ago, walking.  Her short chubby little legs can move very fast. 

I also got a picture of their cat Mickey.  She's such a good cat.  Not five minutes before I arrived there she caught a mouse, killed it, and gave it to baby Quinn.  Quinn in turned clutched the little critter in her fist and took it in to show her Mom.  Sara freaked out and the babysitter took it away from Quinn and disposed of it.  Mickey lives to hunt and she's so very good at it.  But she has to learn that she's not to bring her treasures into the house and especially not to drop them in front of Quinn.

Mickey and mouse - 2010

Mickey - today - looking for another one

And finally, before I made my way home again, I stopped in at the local Auxiliary Hospital to visit with an old friend who is confined there now with Parkinson's.  Ann was one of my roommates back when we were single and working at the University.  I stayed with her for over an hour and we had a lovely time sitting on her cool balcony catching up on family and friends - gossiping, in other words. It's nice to see her in such good spirits. 

And that's a day in my life.

Pat

Not to Belabor the Point, but....

It was a success!

Yes, it was raining, but thanks to our enclosed patio Lloyd was able to cook on his new self-built (with navigational help from his patient wife) barbeque last night.

No explosions.

No fires.

No self-inflicted burns.

Just delicious grilled salmon served with baked potatoes, fresh green beans and a salad.  With fresh-picked raspberry shortcake for dessert.  (the raspberries were fresh-picked, not the shortcake!).  Yum!

And yes, Mike, we did think of waiting a couple weeks until you came to visit with your uncanny assembly skills, but there comes a time when parents need to become independent of their children and learn to do things for themselves. 

And we succeeded wonderfully.