Sunday Babble

This has always been one of my favourite weekends of the year. Perhaps not so much since I moved over here to the UK, but most certainly when I lived in Canada. This is the weekend that Canada and America share the anniversaries of the births of their respective countries with Canada Day being on the first of July and Independance Day being on the fourth! It is a time of celebration for both countries! Along a lot of the border towns, you will find combined celebrations which take in several days of festivities and I have always thought it wonderful that we are able to share our loves of our countries with each other in that way!

Back home there will have been fireworks displays of course, and I know there are big ones planned for the fourth in America.



When I worked at the Manor there was always a huge fourth of July Celebration, because my employers were American of course! I used to really enjoy preparing all the food for it. Generally it was picnic food, and quite casual . . . things like barbequed chicken and boned out leg of lamb cooked on the grill outside. The Mr usually did the barbequing. Then I would have made an assortment of delicious salads and relishes. There would be appetizers. They were oftly fond of my layered Bean dip and I would always make a special dessert. One year it was a flag cake which I had decorated with blueberries and strawberries to look like an American Flag, which they really enjoyed. I remember them all standing around it in the kitchen and singing their National Anthem, which really touched my heart. I kind of missed that last year and then again this year . . . Note I said kind of . . . lol. They were always ALOT of work and usually in hot muggy weather!!



Happy Holidays to all my North American friends! Be safe and be happy!

We had been planning on getting ourselves some bunk beds this year to replace the single bed we have in the spare bedroom. If my son comes over next summer like he says he is we will need the extra beds because there will be two grandsons of course! (That thought thrills me to no end!) Anyways, earlier this week an elderly friend of ours was wanting to buy a single bed and so we told her we were going to sell ours eventually as we wanted the bunk beds instead, but that it was a brand new bed, hardly used. She came over and had a look at it, and decided she wanted to buy it. We didn't want much for it, but she insisted on giving us a certain sum and would take nothing less, and so we ended up with exactly how much we needed to buy the bunk beds! I love it when things work out like that! On Friday Todd and a few friends took the single bed etc. over to hers and set it all up and then drove to Ikea in Warrington to pick up our bunkbeds and one mattress (which is all we can afford at the moment. The second one will come later!).



Todd spend most of yesterday sorting it all out and putting it together. You have heard of painting yourself into a corner I am sure . . . well, Todd ended up bunkbedding himself into a corner!! There was no way he could see that he could move the bed around into the space he wanted it and it was stuck in the middle of the room. Two of the missionaries came over and quite generously helped him out and it is now where we want it to be and the room is quite opened up, which is nice. We both surely appreciated their help. My craft room is a tip because the wardrobe from the small bedroom had to be moved into there, but you just have to do what you have to do! I will have some time later this week to sort that out, which is a priority for me . . . as of now I cannot even get into the room! I can't work in a room I can't get into, so we must sort that out asap!



I had a lovely chat with my sister on MSN yesterday afternoon while the lads and Todd were sorting things out. I really miss my sister. We rarely get to chat anymore. We used to talk every morning for about 2 hours on the telephone. I would get up and call her before 8 am and we would talk for an hour and then we would hang up and she would call me back before 8 am and we would talk for another hour! This happened most days. We talked about everything under the sun and then some! She has always been my best friend and I hers. I hate that we live so far apart now and that we only ever very rarely are able to catch each other to speak. She works full time and with the time difference, we just are not able to manage it a lot of the time. She was a great support to me through my divorce, when nobody else in my family would speak to me . . . she never let me down. That first Christmas that I spent on my own, she made sure I had a Christmas present and everything. She has always stood up for me through the years, and I love her dearly. Getting to talk to her yesterday was wonderful. If you could pray for her I would appreciate it very much. She has a lot of pain issues that are job related. She works a very physical job in a lumber mill and she has tennis elbow and all sorts of issues with her shoulders and upper body. Sometimes she wakes up at night because her arms are both knumb etc., so she doesn't sleep well either. She is 53 years old later this week, too old to be doing such physical labour. Her name is Cindy and I know she would appreciate your happy thoughts.

Ipswich Waterfront View

I am off on my great adventure today with my friend Julie. We leave for Ipswich this afternoon. We will be taking the train down to London and then changing trains there and going on to Ipswich. In Ipswich we will be staying in a lovely hotel tonight and then having a paid for cooked breakfast in the morning! Tommorrow we will spend at Jimmy's Farm, touring, learning about butchering, eating in his restaurant, etc. It will be a grand day! Then we will have the journey to do in reverse. I am so grateful to Julie for coming with me as I know I couldn't do it on my own! In fact yesterday afternoon I thought I might have to cancel altogether because all of a sudden I could not walk at all without pain. I had to come down the stairs on my bottom because no pressure at all could be put on either of my legs. It went off by evening though. Please keep me in your thoughts and pray me through this adventure! I would have thought that the cortizone shots would have helped more than they have, but at the moment the problem seems worse than ever. Thanks so much my sweet friends! I know your prayers and thoughts will help to keep me mobile!

I have to teach the Relief Society Lesson today in church as well. It will be my first time teaching the sisters in my Ward. I am a bit nervous about it, but am hoping it will go well. I am going to see if I can sit through it, instead of standing. It's on Be Thou an Example and I really felt inspired when I was preparing it.



In the course of researching for this lesson I came across this lovely video of a very inspiring young lady. I hope you will watch it as it really touched my heart and helped me with the direction that I needed to prepare my lesson for today.

Well, I have babbled on long enough! I have a case to pack and some sandwiches to make for Julie and I for the journey, so that I will be ready to go once we get back from church this afternoon! I won't be around posting on here for a couple of days but will be back posting on Wednesday or late Tuesday afternoon where I will tell you all about my adventure! Wish me luck!

Here's a delicious potato salad for your holiday celebrations and barbeques/picnics this holiday weekend! I hope you enjoy!




*Creamy Potato Salad*
Serves 12
Printable Recipe

A deliciously creamy potato salad that will have them coming back for seconds!

1 1/2 pounds of smal red potatoes
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup of half and half or fat free half and half
2 TBS prepared mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 large free range eggs, hard boiled, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped radishes
1/4 cup of sliced spring onions

Place the potatoes in a pot of lightly salted water to cover. Bring to the boil, then simmer until fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well, and set aside.

Whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, half and half, mustard and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Set aside.

Once you can comfortably handle the potatoes, gently cut the warm potatoes into cubes, along with the skins. (no need to peel. The skins add extra texture and flavour.) Gently fold the warm potatoes into the mayonnaise mixture along with the egg, celery, radishes and spring onions. Stir gently to coat all the vegetables. Cover and chill for several hours before serving. Serve chilled.



Over in The English Kitchen this moring there is a delicious Lemon, Limoncello and Raspberry Syllabub! The perfect summer dessert!