Stone Soup

A friend of mine has posted some photos, with descriptions of a place that cares for and finds homes for rescue horses. The one she eventually brought home is Cool Conclusion. Isn't he lovely?

You can see the slide show here: Last Chance Coral

I have been out and about all summer, taking pictures everywhere then too tired to post them when I got home, then on to the next thing and the cycle went on for weeks. I did manage to get a few posts up and I will catch up soon. I am home this weekend, taking it easy.

At work on Friday, Lynda showed me a Canadian Tire ad; power washers were on sale. Half price! I went directly from work and got one for only $125. I had been wanting one for my deck, yes I know you can rent them but I never seem to get around to it. Don't you think it turned out well?



Owning one means I can power wash the deck every year when the mood strikes me and have it looking new instead of mildewy and mouldy. It turned out rather nice and I feel like being out on the patio again. I also used it on the patio doors, the aluminum sparkles now and it blew out all the grunge from the track corners. I started looking around for more ways to use this wonderful little machine.


While I was at Canadian Tire, I picked up a new patio umbrella on sale. The old one broke a couple of weeks ago--dirty deck, broken umbrella, you can imagine how I was avoiding that patio. New umbrella only $58 and it came with a nice little surprise. I didn't really check it over in the store, just opened the top of the box to make sure the colour was right.

When it was set up we noticed the crank sat on a bulbous thingy (that's technical talk) where there was also a switch. Craig felt around and opened the back; the bulbous thingy is a battery case. What does it do?


The crank is easy to use, even tells me which way to wind it. I am a little challenged that way, I can never remember which way is up...or down and usually try both...not good for the mechanism.

The button, we discovered, lights up the spokes, casting a nice soft light in the evening! So, I am very pleased with my $58 umbrella.


These Rudebeckias were shining out of a dark corner in my little yard yesterday morning when I went out to sit on my clean patio. I love these flowers, they are so bright and long lasting and undemanding...require very little care.


And my houseplants have recovered after a summer out on the patio. I put them out in the spring and they were almost decimated by a heavy hail storm in June. I thought they were finished but left there. (another ugly thing on the patio) Eventually new leaves began to come out, I fertilized and before you know it there were enough new leaves that I could remove the damaged ones. This Mexican Lime (Key Lime) tree is looking fine now and will return to its place in the hall in about two weeks. I grew it from seeds Craig's former girlfriend brought back from Mexico City. The Mandarina tree has recovered almost as well.


Have a great day everyone! I hope to be around more often in the days ahead.

Angles please me, I like the way they break up space. I have always liked the feel of the lobby in my workplace. Because of the angles and the light, clean, cool colours, I find it pleasant to walk through here. ..but I never take the stairs, bi-focals do things to my perception of the space below me so I have frozen once or twice on these stairs...I never take them anymore.

Here is, not my entry, but another view of angles from the hallway of our lobby.

Can you guess the kind of business that goes on in this building?

If you would like to join in the Picture Perfect challenge this week, post your own original photo of "angles" in your blog, then post the link to it here.

Here's my socks Mona, not very interesting because I don't pay a lot of attention to my socks. Mostly I wear stockings or knee-highs. I wear socks instead of slippers sometimes or I wear them in the house when my feet are cold...so most of these here are thick, fuzzy, soft, and very warm. The white ones are worn with running shoes...I like the short ones that don't show outside the shoe. There is a pair of black Tommy Hilfiger socks that have a grey and red line; I wear these with black pants and a red sweater.

My most memorable socks are these, borrowed one weekend while visiting a friend's cottage. The floors were cold and he lent them to me...I took them home to wash them and I haven't returned them yet. I've worn and washed them a few times, I really should return them...but they look SO darn good on me!

Friday Five challenge this week is to post about your stuff.

From 2008_08_22 Fr...

Stuff? Specifically a book from my bookshelf (I chose 3 but that will be covered by the bonus #6 guilty pleasure), something from my junk drawer, a movie I borrowed, downloaded or stole?, a clothing article, food from the fridge or pantry, and a bonus 6th item...a guilty pleasure.

Here's my stuff:

The book from my shelf is Table Talk by A.A. Gill, the British brilliant food journalist and best restaurant critic in the world. If you saw the movie Ratatouille, the food critic everyone feared was modeled after A.A.Gill. He is an unashamed perfectionist, his witty observations and scathing opinions make informative and entertaining reading. The book is a selection taken from his many columns and I can't wait to get into it.

My junk drawer contains no real junk; I find it all useful, most useful is my Starfrit can opener. I have struggled for years with all kinds of can openers, electric and manual, but this is the very best. It is easy to use for my arthritic hands, takes way less space than an electric opener, and it works well. I recommend it.

One thing in my junk drawer that could go, and it will, is a few wine bottle corks. I need one, only one, to hold my push pins (mostly used to pierce the end of an egg before you drop it in boiling water so it doesn't crack...it works...try it!) The cork is plastic and will never wear out...I don't need a few. Making a mental note to throw them out.

Clothing article is a new top I bought in the Beaches a few weeks ago. It is "different, as in haven't seen it in any other store," and best of all it was on sale. I have worn it often and get lots of nice comments every time I wear it. It is one piece,, but the laced cami looks separate. Looks great with denim skirt, jeans or black pants.

My food item is Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce. It is the best flavoured chili sauce I have ever tasted, you can smell the fresh peppers. I don't find it packs a lot of heat but some people tell me it does. On a scale of 1 to 10 I think this might be a 5. I like it for the flavour, not the intense heat. Beware, there are imposters of this sauce out there...you have to buy the one with the chicken on the label.

The movie on my shelf is The Good Shepherd, with Matt Daemon, Robert DeNiro, and Angela Jolie. I saw this at the theatre and enjoyed it but never really understood what was going on until the end and wanted to watch it again with understanding! The copy I have has a bit of scandal attached to it...I bought it at Pacific (Pirate) Mall.

Finally, the bonus, my guilty pleasure...

I am currently reading China Road by Rob Gifford. My guilty pleasure is reading...I read when I should be doing other things and I am sometimes late for appointments because I have been reading...I read in bed too. If I wake up in the night, I turn on the light and read instead of going back to sleep, not caring that I will be tired in the morning. I wake early and read in bed. That was my guilty pleasure this morning, I woke and read for 3 hours. Oh it was so pleasant. I like to go to bed early and read if I have a good book. This one, China Road, fits well with my television viewing habits these past two weeks with the Olympics being my favourite thing to watch. The book details Gifford's final and fascinating journey across the 3000 mile Route 312 from Shanghai to Khazakstan before leaving China, a country much misunderstood by Westerners, where he had lived many years. It is a crash history course, gives good insight on the country and its people. A documentary that reads like a novel. Very enjoyable.

HFPS - The Humanitarian

Humanity, Foreground, Big Picture, and Shape

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

This week Mona dares us to show our boxes. Here are a few of mine.
I will even tell you a little about them!



This one is for stationery, thank you notes, pretty paper, postage stamps and a couple of pens. The box was a Christmas gift from someone at the office.


I can't remember where I got this one but it stores business cards of trades people I use, pizza takeout flyers and receipts of recent purchases. Every once it a while the box gets full and I clear out the receipts.


This box stores cheese plates that my son gave me...I love the box as much as I love the plates..


Below is one left over from a fragrance set I had years and years ago. I keep old things in it that have sentimental value...an old watch, a few photos, a sweater pin, a bracelet, a tiny bible (1 inch by 1 inch) 8mm film of my wedding, a seashell, a tiny sewing kit, a cameo pendant, a small lock and two shells.

And the box below sits on the counter in my kitchen near the telephone. It holds an address book that came with the box, a small accordian file, recipe cards, note paper, sissors and a pen or two.

I was glad to have my sister Karen and her daughter Melanie visiting me from Montreal this week. They are driving home today. I will be happy to get my little condo back, things get a bit topsy turvy with all the extra things about, but I will miss their company. We had good fun talking, shopping for things they can't get in Montreal and we got in a few daytrips too.

Karen liked my shortbread mould and found another just like it when I brought her out to the Beaches. I haven't used mine yet and I am not sure how to...maybe someone can tell me. Do you bake the dough in the mould or do you pat it in and flip it out on a tray to bake?


Melanie brought her auntie (me!) gifts from her trip to Europe. She toured a number of countries in 17 days--she had a great time. France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Holland and Switzerland where she says she would love to live. She brought me cheese from Amsterdam and wine from Austria.


The cheese tastes like Gouda. Under the cellophane it is encased in green wax; it has a nice buttery taste and there are herbs in it. You can see the package got a little squashed in Melanies suitcase but that didn't affect the taste. I can almost read the label, Dutch seems to have words that sound similar to English. This cheese is made with raw milk. I am not sure what knoflook or ui is, but there is parsley, curry and pepper in this cheese. Quite enjoyable! I am hoping Gerda will come along and tell me what else is in it.


This white wine was crisp and refreshing, it went nicely with the herby cheese. The bottle came with a glass stopper instead of a cork. I don't know if they use glass stoppers in all the wine in Austria or even Europe. Here we have changed from cork to a kind of plastic. I am going to keep the glass stopper for other bottles. It fits very snugly.

We took a drive out to Spinning Wheel Alpaca Farm this afternoon. I have a pattern for a cable knit scarf that calls for baby alpaca wool. What I really want is an alpaca coat but the scarf will do for now.

Border collies greeted us as we got out of the car, they investigate all visitors...more dogs were in the alpaca pen...their job is to protect the alpacas. Alpacas are very tame and trusting...and I dare say expensive.

They came running when the owner called them to the fence but after a moment weren't too impressed with us so it was hard to get a full face shot, they kept turning away.

A couple of pot-belly pigs shared the yard with the alpacas and they were the most affectionate little fellows. I understand they make good house pets. This little guy rubbed his face against the wire fence asking us to pet him and he enjoyed a good scratch on his bristly head.

Here is Lavitra, one of the alpacas who had given up her fleece for the skeins of wool I bought. My wool was a mix from two alpacas, the other one, Lillie, was in another yard. Two skeins of Lavitra and Lillie came to $36. The skeins are labeled for the animals they come from.

The owner of the farm does all the work herself, shearing, cleaning, blending and spinning. She sends much of her wool out to be knit into socks, mittens, sweaters, scarves etc or woven and cut into coats and jackets and blankets. Beautiful, ultra soft and warm. The rest of the wool she sells in skeins.

I know I will enjoy knitting with this incredibly soft wool. I am not sure if I will keep the scarf or give it as a gift.

We stopped at a farm market on the way home to pick up fresh Ontario field tomatoes and corn on the cob for supper; they were just bringing a load of corn in from the field as we got there. It was in the pot and on the table within the hour...such delicious tender corn we have never tasted!

I snapped this photo in downtown Toronto at Front and Jarvis Streets while waiting for my niece and sister to come to the car Yesterday. Melanie is looking for a place to live while she does her graduate work at UofT in the Fall.

I noticed the landmark building between two office towers behind me in the rear view mirror. I saw a familiar view in a fresh way, the mirror gave me a new perspective. How like life this is...sometimes we gain a new perspective when we look backwards and sometimes we gain new perspective on our circumstances by seeing things through the mirror of someone else's eyes.

I thought to myself, "I like this view, I should take more pictures this way." Looking backward can become a habit , a dangerous habit causing me to loose the present view. As I look at this photo, I can't see ahead; the rear view is blocking it. Life lesson learned, time to drive home . . . looking straigh ahead.

We ate at Imperial Buffet in Ajax last Thursday evening. It was, my youngest son Glenn's 29th birthday. I took him, Grace and Craig for dinner...too tired to cook. Imperial Buffet is one of those super Chinese buffets (no msg in anything) with sushi bar, roast beef and roast lamb station a bbq grill, cold jumbo shrimp and crab station, soup station with pretty good soups even lobster bisque sometimes, the other ususal stuff and a dessert bar beyond compare. Glenn and Grace enjoyed their meals, Craig is a vegetarian and found little he could eat (the noodles were greasey), I am on Atkins diet and managed to stay on it . . . until the creme brulee at the dessert bar. It was so excellent I had two servings.

Glenn and Craig were uncooperative about having their pictures taken, as ususal; Grace was at least polite. *s*

The nice waiter embarrassed Glenn by singing Happy Birthday to him loudly and we applauded joyfully! Waiter singing loudly goes with the free meal when it is your birthday, you have to show proof of birthday.

Fortune cookies came in cellophane wrappers. They say you are supposed to read your fortune before you eat the cookie or the fortune won't be true. Like a good mother, I was warning everyone...read, then eat, when Glenn laughed out loud and passed his fortune around the table. We had a good chuckle over this one.

No point trying to make sense of it. The French one below was better, not a translation of the English, just another fortune. Loosely translated, "difficulty is contagious, so is enthusiasm."