A Primer for Phase 2

White - nice clean, fresh white. That's what the livingroom and kitchen are now, primed and ready for phase 2. The transition colour between the pink that is and the green to come. Sort of like me - I'm in transition from the working life to the free life - I've mentally left the job, just waiting for the physical leaving! The change to our house has become a reflection of the new beginning in my own life. From pink to white. And then to green.

storm before the calm!

I've been thinking about starting the sewing. I'm not sure how I will match up the fabrics for the cushions yet but they do need to be mixed. Rectangles with 3 stripes of fabric, maybe some with 2 triangles.  Mom, Tammy, and Carole helped me pick out the first bunch of fabric. Then I remembered another one I had purchased few years ago - it was a perfect match and really blends them all. Then I found out I didn't have enough fabric to do the kitchen windows - back to the fabric store and found another perfect fabric. Its blue checks with a green/gold thread running through - I love it and it looks great with it all. I bought enough to do some chair cushions and use it in bits and pieces. Then I dragged out an old slipcover that I hoped to use on the loveseat. Wouldn't you know it, another perfect match! It seems the universe wants us to be green ;-)

Its been good having the house decoration as a distraction from the sadness of RV season over (oh how I miss heading out for a few days) as well as the excitement of upcoming retirement. There's only 27 working days left! I can hardly bear to think about it - it seems so long (as in how will I drag myself through another stupid day) but is so SOON! Its really best not to think about it.

We've already put our names in for a spot at the Titanium Rally at the end of May and are thinking about the one in Sault St. Marie in August, September I'd like to camp at Rouge River campground in Toronto so we can take in the zoo. Sometime in there we have to fit a few weeks at Presquille (aka heaven) and of course there's Jennifer's wedding. Carms got plans for us to rebuild the back deck, and there's some landscaping to do. Its already shaping up to be a "busy" (ha!) summer.  Next year I'd really like to plan a trip in the RV out to BC with a couple of weeks spent camping in southern Alberta or Saskatchewan.

What I'm cooking:

I plan on going through my recipe books this winter and compiling a bunch of recipes to use camping. I'll try them out and see if they are good and if so, enter them into my BigOven software (purchased from the internet). Then I'll have a good "recipe book" to take along on camping trips. I also plan to cook at least one other new recipe every week or better still more often. I'll aim for mostly low fat, vegetable rich recipes that will help us to shed our extra pounds.

I saw a recipe on the food channel that sounded interesting "Anna Olson's Flatbread with fresh coriander". It was okay (Carm liked it) but somewhat heavy, turns out my baking powder was no good so I'll have to try the recipe again - it should be better. And I'll try it with Anise seed for a different flavour. I think garlic and calamata olives would be good too. This is a recipe that I can do while camping as the bread can be cooked over the grill.

What I'm reading:

 "The Perfection of the Morning" by Sharon Butala.

I read it in 1995 and really enjoyed it then. I'm enjoying it this time as well but there are parts that don't sit as comfortably - that seem strange and somewhat alien. She talks a lot about being a woman which is something I've never really thought about. Is my essense so much different from a man's? I don't have a lot of close woman friends so perhaps I'd experience this more if I were around woman more?  I'll have to give this some thought. I do love how she talks about the prairie and live in Nature. I too feel a connection to Nature when I'm in the prairie. I live in Eastern Ontario and rarely get out to southern Alberta or Saskatchewan. I miss it sometimes like I'm missing a piece of myself. When I leave from there its like a part of me is being ripped out. I feel such a connection to the land there. I get glimmers of it here but never the same gut wrenching, soul encompassing connection.

Beautiful sunset and rainbow - a perfect Idle Pleasure!