choices

Hello again. It may seem like I've turned over a new leaf with two posts within days of each other but this is the beginning of a new chapter for me. I've left my full time job after many, many years of commuting and working and have started on a new adventure as a work from home, part time consultant and full time advocate for my boy. Whether he will think this is a good idea remains to be seen. So far my first week has been all about our other boy, the furry one.

 He's been to the vet twice and to the groomer and looks a lot different than he did when the week started

all groomed and trimmed

after surgery he is so quiet the cat is quite worried about him

 and he may or may not be my friend after his vet visit yesterday. I have to remind myself it is the best thing for him as a male dog but my boy is still a bit groggy and finding his feet. I'm sure he'll be back to his terrier ways soon.

someone's been digging in the garden

Early spring still continues here and yesterday it was so warm and lovely after a soft rainfall the day before.

our two tone camelia

The cherry trees are out, the magnolia are blooming, the daffs are out and waving in the park and I can feel the green about to burst forth on the trees.

 It makes the scenes on the weather reports back east seem rather surreal. We've had a couple of stellar Saturdays which made the last day of winter soccer season an excellent day

 and then we had an even better day for the end of season celebration, which turned out to be a pick up soccer game, boys vs dads with snacks and water at the park.

 It was a fabulous day and we hope to do it again tomorrow if the rain holds off. And it makes for lovely days for spring break adventures at home which is where we are this year.

Strawberry almond crumble

It is so easy to take good fortune for granted. There are times in all of our lives, when we live through trying times. Most people never experience the kind of massive devastation we’ve been seeing on the news from Japan, or on a smaller scale recently, Christchurch, NZ.  I can only watch the suffering on the news and contribute to the Canadian Red Cross.  It goes to show that at any moment, our lives can be thrown off course. By nature, illness, acts of violence, accidents or a phone call or doctor’s visit that turns lives upside down. Our little family remains so blessed in good fortune while some close to us have been thrown off course. So it’s been a bit unbalancing.

This week marked the anniversary of the death of my beloved mum. I still miss her so. My lovely man left me a sunny bouquet to cheer me on the day.

(Say it – awwwww). It made the heartache ease for a moment and gave me a smile. And I’ve been hit with the cold/flu thing going around so haven’t been my normal self – I’ve been snarky, short tempered and weepy – none of which I find attractive in myself which adds irritation to the underlying heartache. So it hasn’t been a stellar time. But to gain my balance a bit, I retreated to the kitchen. I've been inspired by these posts but didn't manage to cook those recipes yet. This week I managed to make a batch of low acid tomato sauce, a large vegetarian moussaka, a loaf of bread and strawberry almond crumble.

The strawberry almond crumble recipe is from Nigella Lawson’s newest book – Kitchen. I love the way Nigella writes, as if I were sitting in her kitchen and she was chatting away to me. And I love this recipe. So far I’ve made it with last year’s strawberries from the freezer, raspberries from the freezer, blueberries, my own canned peaches and the huge, somewhat woody version of strawberries that are in the stores currently.

Each version has been delicious. A sweet mix of cooked fruit, sugar, almonds and vanilla that warms the soul.

I think my man would eat it every day if he could.

distracted

I had one of those moments tonight. I got distracted unloading the dishwasher while microwaving some popcorn and before I knew it, the kitchen (and the whole house) was full of smoke. So I spent a good deal of time running around opening windows and trying to wave the smoke out of the house before the smoke detector went off and woke up our boy. Why is it that bad smells spread so quickly, while lovely smells such as roasting cheese or baking bread take much longer to fill the house and don't linger nearly so long? I've filled small bowls of vinegar to dot around the house to soak up the odour and hoping it works.

Life has seemed a bit full on lately. Cold and snow last week which is unusual on the wet coast, a cold lingering in our boy, characterized by a chesty cough and the sniffles, just the daily stuff of life. But there are golden moments. Our boy will finally graduate from killer whales this time around, his third try and achieve his ambition to be a shark in swimming lessons. I got a great compliment from someone I admire today. So why am I so upset by a bit of burnt corn? I guess the moral is don't get distracted while microwaving popcorn or even better, don't even eat microwave popcorn.