Wednesday This and That . . .

 

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 Rhubarb and I go a long way back.  I love rhubarb. It is quite simply one of my favorite flavors.  It is quite a humble plant really.  Although it is basically treated as a fruit, its actually a vegetable. The stalks are extremely tart and the leaves poisonous, but there is something about rhubarb that endears it to most people, even in its most simplest form.

When I was  child my mother would give us sticks of rhubarb to eat along with a small bowl of sugar. We would stick the end of the rhubarb into the sugar and bite into it. Oh boy but didn't that make the cheeks ache with the tartness. It would keep us occupied for hours. The dipping and the biting. It was not something you could rush really. 

I remember being delighted when the first spring in my house in Calgary, when I was a very young bride, a rhubarb plant showed up by the back door in the spring.  We had moved into the house in December and I had no idea such a treasure lurked beneath the winter snow.

Summers on Prince Edward Island the children and I would pick wild rhubarb around the shores of Malpeque Bay. It was spindly, but had a beautiful flavor.

I love it at its very simplest . . .  stewed with sugar, just as is or spooned over vanilla ice cream.  In the UK, they serve it with custard. In face a favorite boiled sweet flavor is rhubarb and custard.  I love it in pies and I love it in cakes.  My sister messaged me that Goucher's has rhubarb at the moment, and so I am thinking that I see some rhubarb creations  in my very near future. 

  

There was a risk of frost last night so I very carefully clothes-pinned garbage bags over my window boxes last evening.  I didn't want to risk losing my herbal investment for lack of a bit of care. I noticed that several other places on the street covered their plants with blankets or towels as well.  Its that time of year when the weather can easily swing either way . . .  to the horribly hot and humid or to the cold and frosty.  

There is an old saying . . .  "Don't cast a clout til May is out."   I think it is very true. I noticed the neighbor to the right of me has not put any bedding plants out at all yet. They had a very beautiful garden last year.

In the meantime I have been enjoying the various blooms on my Instagram friends pages and Monique's blog.  Her photographs are so beautiful.   She does everything she turns her hand to great justice and I know you are very humble Monique, but you are so talented.  I want to share your talents with the world!

On a side note, I find it impossible to comment on blogs using my iPad?  Does anyone else have this problem??  I can on the PC, just not on anything else.  If I am slow to comment, that is why.

 

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Cindy and Dan came over yesterday to help put my night tables together. What would I do without them??? I dread to think.  I am so very appreciative of all that they do for me. I wish I could do more for them in return!  I made mini pizzas for lunch.  You can buy these little mini naan bread rounds and they make the best mini pizzas and are so quick to make. Just spoon on some sauce, add some cheese and any toppings you enjoy and then bake.

I need to go to Home Hardware and buy some drawer pulls.  One of the ones that came with the night stands was completely smashed. Only cheap plastic anyways. The nightstands are also very cheaply manufactured. Nothing is meant to last anymore.  Where is the pride in workmanship these days? 

Never mind, you get what you pay for.  At least I know their assembly is impeccable, thanks to my sister and Dan.

Cindy has already finished making her Luna doll. She is so darned cute!!! I meant to take a photograph of her. I am so behind. I need to catch up.  She will be working on clothes for her now. 

We enjoy discussing the things we are going to make for her to wear.  Cindy found a pattern for a little crochet hat, as well as some sweater patterns. Maybe I will get some more hand stitching done today. 

 

 

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They started a program in my church via the Relief Society whereby all the single elderly sisters get a phone call from someone each day just to check in on them to make sure they are okay.  I think it is a very good thing.  We all live on our own, us elderly singletons.  One sister had expressed her concern that something could happen to her and she would not be found for days.  This is supposed to make sure that doesn't happen.  

In any case I do enjoy contacting my lady every day and checking up on her. We don't have long elaborate phone calls, just a few text messages checking in with each other.  She is a dear sweet lady whom I have loved for a very long time.  We served in Relief Society together before I moved over to the UK.  She crocheted me a beautiful afghan when I went over to get married. I carried it in my suitcase. Sadly it is one of the things that got left behind.

Every day I think of something else which got left behind. I feel a slight pang of regret but then push it away. Its only stuff . . . and there are so many more worse things going on in the world. 

 

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Last Saturday after I finished cleaning the chapel I took myself up to Sobey's to pick up a few bits.  Why do a few bits always turn into so much more?  I had wanted to get some fruit for something I was working on and I noticed that the Bonne Maman jams were on special and so I picked up several jars.  I cannot resist them even though I am not really supposed to be eating things like jam. I got a blackberry jelly, a wild blueberry jam, some cherry jam and some caramel spread.  Mostly because I like the different colors of the lids on the jars.  I also like the shapes of the jars, above all others . . . 

And well, gingham lids . . .  in red, blues and browns  . . .  so sweet. Literally. 

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Mmmm . . . Kentucky Butter Cake. I love this cake. A rich pound cake, its so so so delicious.  I remember when I first moved to the UK, they had a cake contest at our church one weekend. The men were supposed to bake the cakes. I found a recipe for this Kentucky Butter Cake and talked Todd through it.  He won first prize.  I guess I was a good talker.  Of course afterwards we all got to enjoy all of the cakes.

We used to do a lot of activities like that at the church way back when.  I wonder how much Covid will have changed all of that.  Will we all have gotten lazy because of it. How much has been lost . . . 

We used to have Senior's turkey dinners, and talent nights, etc. Of course we were all 22 years younger then.  When I think back to those early days when I was in the UK, I can think of so many people who are no longer with us.  I remember them taking a photograph of everyone at the wedding and if you look at it now, the whole front row is gone.  A lot can happen in 22 years I guess. Life has many interesting twists and turns. 

 

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Have you been following the travels of Susan Branch and many of her readers?  They took a cruise together across the Atlantic on the QE2 to the UK. That would be a trip of a lifetime for many.  I like to think that I would be able to do these things if I wanted to.  And I probably could, but in reality I don't want to.  I am at my very core a terrifically shy person and meeting all those strangers would be too much for me.  I am not at all that confident in my appearance, etc.  I wish that I had more confidence in that way but I agonize over even the smallest details.  My hair, my skin, my body . . . my clothes.  You name it. I could never enjoy a trip like that. All of my pedantic nonsense about myself would get in the way of that.

My sister and I were talking the other day about some relatives of ours that we were quite close to when we were growing up.  They had no running water in their house until they were well out of high school.  We commiserated on how hard it must have been, in those relatively modern times, to have grown up without indoor plumbing. Not to be able to take a shower or a bath.  To have to wait until your mom and dad took the laundry to the laundromat for clean clothes.

In the meantime we were back in Lala-Land washing our hair every day, taking showers, etc. We took all these things for granted.  Oh how blessed we really were really. Out of both sides of the family we were the best off. My mom and dad worked very hard and were able to make much better lives for themselves than their siblings did and we were the beneficiaries of all their hard work.   We did not know we were blessed with abundance.  We do know and acknowledge it now.

But the beautiful thing is they had beautiful childhoods as well, albeit in a different way.  Maybe even better in some ways. When I speak of this particular family they are all wonderfully kind and generous people, with beautiful senses of humor and hearts of gold.

I think the greatest poverty of all is to be poor in spirit. None of us were, and none of us are. 

 

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Perhaps I have spoken of this in the past, perhaps not. My oldest daughter belongs to an organization called People's First.  They are the national voice of people who have been labelled with intellectual or developmental disabilities.  They are about rights, human rights, citizenship rights, accommodations rights and language rights. The right to freedom, choice and equality for all. I would not argue with that, or with anyone's individual rights to have such things.  

I do have a bone to pick about the way they go about it however. My daughter, for instance, will not listen to any advice now from anyone. Not even good advice.  As soon as you offer an opinion on anything, she blocks you, and refuses to listen.  I find this very frustrating.  She will argue up is down until she is blue in the face, simply because it is you who is explaining it and not an idea she came up with herself.   I think that is so wrong.  Sure, it is important that people with any kind of disabilities feel empowered and valued. But I think they also need to be taught that EVERYONE needs help at one time or another and that there is no shame in that.

For instance, my daughter is going to the Special Olympics in July.  She is signed up for Track and Field and as a part of that she needs to do a 100 meter race.  She is morbidly obese, has high blood pressure and gets no exercise whatsoever these days, mostly due to Covid, but also a bit from laziness.   And I know for a fact, from personal experience, that the larger you get in size, the harder it is to get motivated.  I suggested to her yesterday that if she was going to race a 100 meter race in July, perhaps she should be training for it.  NOW.  I am worried that at her age (44), with her health and in the shape she is, that she is at risk for having a heart attack or something.  I was expressing my concern and she shut me down.  "I am over 18. I can make my own decisions."

I think it is so wrong that this organization has vulnerable people like my daughter thinking that they know everything and have no need  to listen to or take advice or counsel from anyone else.

Perhaps I am wrong in thinking this way, but it upsets me.

I want my daughter to be safe, and a part of that (in my opinion), is knowing when to take valuable advice into consideration and making decisions based on that advice.  I was not telling her not to run, I was just suggesting that she should be prepared/armed with the best tools to be able to do so safely, all things considered, but because of the claptrap this organization feeds her she is unable and unwilling to do so.  It actually makes me feel a bit angry.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for today (before my own blood pressure rises, lol). . .

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.˛.Surround yourself with people

that inspire you and you will

not only grow -- you will soar.

~Mimi Ikonn  •。★★ 。* 。

 

 

I was playing with Protein Powder in the kitchen  . . .  I created a Protein Cookie Butter Smoothie Bowl.  Dessert for breakfast and a pretty healthy one too!  I also did a PB & J one and some cookie balls.

I hope that you have a wonderful Wednesday. Whatever you get up to, don't forget! 

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And I do too!