What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

A crisp -23 C wind chill out there this morning. I'll bundle up for the morning walk, maybe even break out my balaclava. I'm now filling two bird feeders with black sunflower seeds. These little guys are getting snacks from the ground. 

 On the drive to our place there are lots of fields, farms and horse ranches. Many of the original zigzag cedar rail fences built by the pioneers have been maintained.  

Summer of 2024 has settled around us here at the wooden house. What is a garden without weeds. You can't have one without the other. I've pulled a bushel and if only they were worth something! A very tall thin plant infested the beds in the front but offered no resistance to the pulling out, roots and all. Horseweed took up residence in the backyard beds-unfortunately not so easy to pull. I've been favouring my right hand...the stitching hand, so the left has had a workout. Ah well, small price to pay for the enjoyment the ...

Thanks for the lovely comments about my veranda views. I miss Newfoundland very much but I certainly can't complain about where I'm living these days. It is beautiful and I enjoy all the critters so much too. Of course, those photos don't show the mosquitoes or the heat. However, no sun this morning; it is rather gloomy with promised thunder and lightening today.  So it goes.

Our busy week is over that included two medical appointments for Tony. And we did take Ned to the vet and now he is on two drugs and has a special ...

Happy May to all! Though it feels a little like one step forward and two steps back, spring is getting here. Fresh snow out west; here no snow but cold overnight and early mornings have a chilly wind. But it doesn't stop the two who venture out every morning for a good walk. Of course, one of us is wearing a fur coat so he's going to be toasty no matter what. 

As another Ned said...

"What is the good of your stars and the trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our ...

 Cooler temperatures, 5C on my walk this morning but warming to 15 the weather forecast has promised, and just like that I'm thinking of heartier fare. But first I need to catch up on the cakes...recently Beth made the birthday folk here a beautiful New York style Cheesecake with Strawberry Compote.  The cake had 5 ! packages of cream cheese in it and was the most sumptuous cake I've ever eaten. It was silky and so delicious. And Tony finished off the compote over a little ice cream. 

I loved the colours here below...the wild Goldenrod which ...

 It is a surprise each time I step out the front door and look at the flower beds. SO much growing and flowering without me having to lift a finger these days. Summer '23 will be one to note; I could say this summer has been good on flowers, which is phrasing used at home. 

I just have to show you all by itself the Madagascar Jasmine...what is it now, 5 years old maybe and I've never seen anything like this. If I coaxed a flower or two from it before, I rejoiced. But Mother Nature does it ...

 I guess the humidity and high temperatures are good for flowers. I've never had such huge blooms on the Hydrangeas...totally smothering flowers I've planted around them. I must make a note to move these in the fall. 

 He doesn't ...

 Picture me that cloudy end of February morning gathering sticks on land that most of the year is a foot under water. A cardinal was singing its song in the background. This is usually the only time of year I can walk through there and the pickings are good. I  could see where some animal had clawed bark off quite a few of the trees. Porcupine perhaps. Ned trotted from tree to tree with me then patiently sat and waited while I filled the bag. So full I had a hard slog getting him and it back to the house ...

 Recent -42C wind chill temperatures and here I am bundled up for my outdoor walks.  Don't you think I look chic? 

Will Hammell for Puck Magazine

We both got our bivalent vaccine booster shots on Monday and both had a sore arm but, thankfully, no other effects. At this point where there seems to be a smorgasborg of viruses circulating, I don't know if it will be a help or not. Lots of talk of a bad flu happening here though too. 

Leeanna's Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was to share our favourite pumpkin recipe. I shared this dump cake recipe in this post back in 2019 because it was just so good and the perfect cake for autumn. As you ...

 I can make myself feel nostalgic with very little prompting. For instance, listening to Mandy Patinkin singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" always makes me feel a little sentimental. What a beautiful pure tenor voice he has!

It was white with lemon curd and she decorated it to look like ...

I'm not feeling up to par this morning. Yesterday I turned my left ankle on a late afternoon walk (am I fit to leave the house anymore???) and it throbbed lightly in the night, enough to wake me around 2 and I didn't get back to sleep till 4 ish. Up at 6:30 per usual with Ned and relieved the ankle is a little sore but totally walkable. That's the good news.

And that aside, what bothered me is this... it didn't occur to me to get up and take a Tylenol. That link between ...

The view out my kitchen window now the rose bushes on either side of the walkway are in bloom.  They will rebloom till frost gets at them in late October.

Another cake from daughter...a lemon one that I really loved. She made the lemon curd and combined it with a mousse cream topping.  It was just the treat with a cup ...

 So happy to be writing a Thursday things we like post.  Here is something I adore...Ned is now about 20 in dog years, fully grown, but he still tries to get in my lap. He will balance himself in the strangest poses just to stay for a little bit and get a good rub. 

Love the flowers that are blooming just now here in my corner of the world. This is a lilac bouquet I had at the farm. Though in bloom, my lone lilac tree here does not produce such fine flowers as the three at the farm ...

The Eastern Phoebes are nest building on the back of the house. I'd cleared out last years nests and two pairs are using the exact spots again. Location, location, location, I guess. LOL

 My research of one site showed this was a Thanksgiving cactus. Because it bloomed at Easter, I thought it might be one programmed for spring, but no. I couldn't remember the colour of the original plant, but turns out this is pink. The Geranium there is also budding.

Of note this week...

A little bit of Irish- I spent a lot of time with William's wonderful words in younger days and also off and on throughout my life. A key 20th century poet and Nobel Prize winner and Irish as well.  I especially love his phrasing. 

Thank you all for the interest in items from the last post. Answers to the questions I received...

January's cake: Daughter Beth made Rock Recipe's Orange Velvet Cake With Buttercream Frosting and the recipe is at that link. She says she has made almost all of Barry's Velvet cakes and they all turned out well...we've eaten quite a few of them and can certainly agree!

 The word for the start of February is SNOW and lots of it. I've been shovelling and shuffling about the trails. So pretty. Thursday's walk was through a winter wonderland. I kept stopping to look up,  gaze around at how beautiful the forest looked. Despite it is a bold look, and stark too with the brilliant white against all the black looking branches, I felt it was very calming.  

And the view through the window on the back stairwell always makes me stop and admire...in all the four seasons.