Since my last post so many changes in the yard and garden have taken place. For the last two days I have been a gardening nut. I have about 15 mosquito bites/welts gifts for my enthusiasm. Weeding improves ones tenacity. Fruits and flowers of labor and love.
We had three dogs to take care of us last weekend. Neapolitan ice cream these guys. We got to experience all the flavors. I couldn’t resist photographing them all together, like the three amigos.
Otis, big black mixed fellow. Demeanor: calm, gentle, self assured, watchful, obedient, can be protective but very playful.
Carina, Siberian husky. Demeanor: sneaky, curious, adventurous, independent, quiet, affectionate.
Jack, red and white Nova Scotia Toller. Demeanor: ready to please, obedient, weary, clumsy, affectionate, loyal.
Ohhhh and Gluten free carrot cake with real cream cheese frosting. Made without sugar cane in place I used the maple syrup we made a month back. It was amazing!!!!!!! as you can see a piece was snuck out before the cake was assembled.
Here we are! For now at least. Andrew’s mom’s house sits nestled on a point in the St.Lawrence river just at the mouth of Lake Ontario. It is beautiful here. Spring is under way. The neighborhood beaver make his daily swim-bys. Osprey fish just a few hundred yards away. A pair of swans nested across the river. And I heard of a bald eagle siting just down the road.
We are gearing up to plant some veggies and finish burning last falls leaves.
Carina and Jack (he only had one eye) sitting by the fire.
The dock and the view.
Yesterday afternoon I was quietly sitting the livingroom when a bird flew into the window. Full speed from the sound of it. It was laying on the deck, dead it seemed. I quickly and quietly crept outside to take a better look. Gently I scooped up the bird and it was still breathing. Whew. Now what? I closed its wings and inspected it to see any visible injuries, nothing. It was breathing pretty hard, beak open, tongue out. Bird panting? So I sat on the deck stroking its neck, keeping one eye on the seemingly innocent cat that coyly circled my leg. After about 10 minutes the little bird sat up perched on my finger, adjusted herself for flight and then flew way.
Turns out my new feathered friend is a female Downy woodpecker.
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It’s Maple Syrup time!!!
Did you know the ratio of sap to syrup is 40:1. That little jug of maple syrup you dig out from the back of the fridge to drizzle or drench your pancakes n waffles with was made with 40 liters of sap! Now you know why that amber vile of goodness is so expensive. Whats more is the time and labour put into collecting, boiling, chopping wood, stoking, and bottling it.
Andrew’s father has been sugaring for a number of years now and this season we are around to help. I can’t wait to test the final product and perhaps try my hand at making maple candies. Here are a few pictures of the sugaring process and a blurry picture of my first real (non-vegan) cheesecake I made for Andrew’s 30th birthday. Chocolate Peanut Butter!
Since we were so close we had to stop in and see the national treasure, Mt. Rushmore. I always wondered why they didn’t change the name of this mountain to something that reflected its carved surface. When you see this place magical and beautiful aren’t really the words that come to mind. Surreal, bizarre and kinda amazing that a man carved a mountain.
Besides Mt. Rushmore we stayed in historic Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We paid hommage to Seth Bullock, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok who are barried on the hill side in Mount Moriah Cemetary.
After Mt. Rushmore we did our best to blitz through South Dakota because frankly after the Black Hills highway 80 is bleak. The next 600 miles looks the same from South Dakota to Illinois. Farm Land.
Montana Spanish for montaña (mountain).
Montana is the most beautiful state and we didn’t even make it to Glacier or Yellowstone National Park. You need two weeks to give this state a proper visit. It is huge. Even though it is sixty percent prairies Montana boasts of 77 mountain ranges, two national parks, one national monument and most diverse mammal population in the USA.
Never having been to Montana I always imagined I would love this place. Her beauty definitely exceeded what I had always imagined.
Come on down folks! Trade in those old milkers!
Wild beast captured on camera.
There’s a lot…a lot of snow in Crater Lake. In fact it is the snowiest inhabited place in the USA. The annual snow fall average is forty-four feet!! Well this year mother nature has taken a vacation because there has only been twelve feet so far. Perhaps she knew we dont have snow tires or chains.
The lake is a collapsed volcano, a volcanic Apocalypse. You can drink straight from the lake. Due to the obscene amounts of snow there is no way down to the water in the winter so we were unable to drink from the fountain of youth. We did however get to go snow shoeing with a chain gang. Weird I know, but true. Except the chain part that would have been really difficult. The wind was brutal enough. We lucked out and found ourselves once again on a Ranger guided tour. It was a good thing because we probably wouldn’t have even seen the Lake with out snow shoes due to the wall of snow you have to scale from the parking lot. We had quite an interesting assortment of people in our group of prisioners and abiding citizens. My favorite question of the day succeeded our pop quiz on winter animal habits. Abiding citizen, “What do bears eat when there’s this much snow?” I am pretty sure he was already told there were no bears in Crater Lake. But just in case there was. Get this guy some National Geographic reruns on Hibernation. We almost lost the pop quiz because of this fellow, geez. Woman Prisoner, “How ya’ll smoker’s doin?” Man Prisoner, “I am getting itchy.” We had a good and interesting time.
We installed the curtain on our way up to the Crater, it looks crazy fake in this picture. Well it’s real. The proof is in the boots. My boot is peeking our on the right hand side.
We arrived in Truckee only to find zero snow accumulation. It’s January. First time since 1901. We must have had Boreas on our side because snow came within days after our arrival. Andrew and Carina couldn’t have been happier.
First day in Truckee the Hamill’s took us up on probably the windiest hike ever to Donner Peak. We were definitely under prepared. I ate my sandwich in about two minutes then immediately began my descent down the mountain to seek shelter.
The view was beautiful over looking Donner Lake.
I’ve had a bit of time, help and access to tools to make a little plywood village. The picture is only 10 of 20 proposed houses. Stay tuned for the full installation. Andrew has been experimenting with night photography.
