Dear Neighbor . . .

 

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ESTATE LANE, N.S.
8*C, mostly cloudy

Hello, my online neighbors, on what is a somewhat mild, but far from being warm, November morning. November has been true to form. Grey, dismal and somewhat wet. No snow as of yet. Oh, we did have some sleet one Sunday, but no snow.  I don't expect that we will and if we do it won't stay.

Cindy and I were just talking about this yesterday when we were driving along in the car. About how it doesn't seem to get as cold and as snowy in the Winters as it used to do.  I can remember mom sending me photos of the snow when I was living away and the banks were pretty high, and I do remember from my childhood, lots of snow.  It would be so cold in the Winter months as to allow for an outdoor skating rink. Father's all over the place would shovel and then mark out a spot in the back yard, flooding it with water which would then freeze and provide the children with a place to skate during the Winter months.  Some communities even did it for all of the children in the community. 

Our father never did it because he said it killed the grass, but there was always someone's father in the neighborhood who thumbed his nose at the idea of dead grass, threw caution to the wind and did it. That would keep all of the neighborhood kids occupied for quite a few weeks in those cold and snowy months.

Hockey, the national sport of Canada, was played on the streets and in the back yards of Canadian families.  It was not just children whose parents who could afford the expensive equipment that played, but every boy (girls generally did not play) had a chance to play. Price of admission, a puck in your Christmas stocking, a wooden stick under the tree and your older brothers handed down skates. 

All you needed was a rink, and there were plenty of those about.  

 

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Cindy and I had quite a fun day yesterday in the car driving up the Valley. We went all the way up to Wolfville to Hennigars Farm Market.  They have the loveliest baked goods. Cindy really likes their Sweet Potato Biscuits, and if you ask really nicely, they will give you some from the freezer which you can just take home and throw into your own freezer, knowing that they are as fresh as fresh can be.

She has tried to make them at home but has always been disappointed in the results. She has not been able to find a recipe yet that she enjoyed or that quite comes up to the ones from the farm market. I suggested perhaps they might be better if you grated the sweet potato raw into the biscuit rather than cooking the sweet potato, mashing it and adding it in that way.  Food for thought there.

We went to Michaels, and it was of course loaded with Christmas stuff, loads of it being marked down already. I did not buy any. I picked up a few things, but then put them back, having changed my mind. We also went to Dollarama and Giant Tiger. Everywhere was super busy.

What we were promised.

We decided to treat ourselves to a cheeky KFC Festive Chicken Sandwich for our lunch. This is a photo scooped from the KFC site. Ours did not look much like this and to be honest, it really wasn't that tasty. We both found it to be a bit claggy and bready.  The chicken itself was okay. It's pretty hard to ruin KFC chicken and it was a nice moist piece of breast meat that was not dried out in the least.  

 

What we got.

It was all just a bit heavy.  Bread stuffing.  Bread bun. Not a lot of cranberry sauce as shows in the photograph and the mayonnaise was a bit superfluous. It would have been much better had they added a nice layer of crisp lettuce into the mix and left out the stuffing, as it really was flavorless and added nothing.

I do not think Mary Brown's Big Mary is in trouble here because I would choose that over this dissatisfying offering any day of the week.

To be honest, I was very disappointed that I had wasted most of my daily calorie intake on it.  And I didn't even eat the whole thing, only half of it.  But you need to try these things to know better, or you will spend eternity wishing you had. Now that we have, we won't again.

Of course the best part of this kind of a day is getting to spend it together. At least for me anyways.

 

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Our brother David has his appointment with his Urologist today and then plans will be made on how to move forward.  I am praying that the cancer is contained and that it will be a very simple fix.  Many people live for a long time on only one kidney, and he is very healthy otherwise.  Goes for long walks every day, watches his diet very carefully, stays very active.  The last time he was here for a visit, he walked from my place all the way back to my sister's place after supper one night to help burn off the calories and I don't think we had even had anything that high in calories. I cannot remember really.  But it could have been the dessert.  We usually have dessert when we are all together like that.

To be honest none of us has a very healthy attitude towards food and eating. We strongly suspect that our mother was bulimic. We do know that she used laxatives. Every day.  She was very slim, and I don't remember ever seeing her sit down to eat when we were children, although I do remember seeing her pick the food left on the plates after dinner and eat it.  She did eat when we were older, I remember as an adult, but she always had to go to the bathroom as soon as she ate. We never thought anything about it. She had three different toothbrushes and several different toothpastes as well, and she in later life had lost most of her teeth, bar a few.  Classic signs from what I have read.

In any case we grew up in a home with someone who was overly concerned with people being overweight.  I can remember always hearing about how "so and so" had let themselves go and gotten fat.  Every cookie in the house was counted and we were only ever allotted a certain number of treats. She had been heavy as a girl and did not want her children to be overweight. 

I did get a bit chubby when I was around 13-14 but I did slim down after that.  I did it by starvation and denial. That's the only way I have ever been able to lose weight. I always managed to stay fairly slim until I quit smoking. I also had my tubes tied at the same time and then the weight piled on and has piled on ever since.

The three of us children are all obsessed with weight issues and eating, and do not have healthy relationships with food.  As much as we try to. There does not seem to be a happy medium with any of us.

In any case, I am really wishing good things for my brother today, and it they don't materialize, the strength and fortitude for him to get through whatever it is he needs to do to get well again.

 

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This Sunday is what's known as Stir-Up-Sunday in the U.K. the Sunday when traditionally most people make their Christmas Puddings for the Christmas holidays.  Generally speaking, it is the last Sunday before Advent.

I am not making a Christmas Pudding this year.  I am really the only one who likes it. I am making a Christmas Cake, however. I had planned to do it several days ago now but will be doing it today.  Life just got in the way.  My fruit for it has been macerating for two days now so should have well absorbed the brandy. lol Not the way it usually goes.

It will still turn out okay, I am sure.  It's a simple recipe and one that I have baked every year for a very long time now. That is one thing we do really enjoy in our family.  Fruitcake.  I know it is a love it or loath it kind of a thing.  We are from the love it camp. 

I am baking it up today and then will feed it with brandy every day until I go to decorate it before Christmas.  I am not sure how I will decorate it this year.  I may keep it very simple as nobody is really fond of all that icing either. The cake itself with all of that lovely fruit is more than sweet enough.

But tradition dictates that there at least be some sort of covering over it. Usually, a layer of Marzipan and then one of frosting.

We shall see how that goes.

 

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The two cats are back guarding the shower again.  I am sure there must be a spider living in there or something.  Why it hasn't dropped on me yet, I will never know.  Note to self: go in after and vacuum the shower curtain just to make sure.

One (the cats) is sitting in the shower and the other one is situated outside the shower facing towards the shower. They are such funny creatures. 

They are not at all cuddly, however much I wish that they were.  Nutmeg will cuddle into my side while we are watching television together. (He watches with his eyes closed.)  Cinnamon will lay on the back of the sofa behind my head, paws outstretched.  But neither one of them wants to be on my lap.  Unless I am laid out on the lazy boy chair trying to take a nap.  Then they both will try to jump up and co-exist on my lap.  One always ends up jumping off and I always end up giving up on the nap.

I guess they are just not cuddle cats.

 

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I looked everywhere for a star shaped cookie cutter yesterday, to no avail. They had every other kind under the sun, but no star shapes.  I have ended up having to order one on Amazon.  And of course, I had to buy more than one to get one.  I will be well set next year for star shaped cookie cutters. I had in mind to make these little star shaped Christmas ornaments out of paper clay. I made some years ago.  They were painted gold and had little rouged cheeks and a bit of sparkle on them. Tiny little smiling faces. They were cute. I did get a star shaped paper punch and some white card so that I can make star garlands.  We will see how far I get with that idea. Time is always a problem with me, and not having enough of it.

And speaking of that I must end this letter to you now as my day is swiftly passing and I have miles to go before I sleep.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

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

 *.˛.In a world where° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
everything can ° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
be bought and sold,° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
integrity is priceless.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ 

 

I did not have time yesterday to cook a new recipe so in the kitchen today I have done a tasty roundup of ten of my favorite gingerbread recipes.  They are all delicious. I promise you! Ten Delicious Gingerbread Cakes & Bakes for the Holidays.

I hope that you have a beautiful day today.  Fill it with joy.  Don't forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
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And I do too!