Friday, March 9, 2012

Honk if You Are Canadian

There's lots of honking down by the creek! I looked out of the window this morning to see some dark things along the shore - I wondered if they were bits of ice left over from the flood so got out my binoculars. Sure enough - Canada Geese. They've only been gone since mid December, so what is that? 2 1/2 months? Ontario is quickly becoming a snowbird location. It's not as warm as yesterday (it was 10C), but is just barely above 0C. The snow is still melting.

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I'm really noticing how much longer the days are - we are eating our supper later and later each night since I don't seem to get going on making it until dark. This weekend the time changes over, so suppers are going to be even later. Perhaps I'll have to set an alarm!

Merikay asked me how I made my lentils. The timing doesn't always work out but here's my microwave instructions:
   1 cup lentils (picked over & rinsed)
   2 cups hot water or broth
   1/2 teaspoon of salt and whatever other seasonings you want

   Microwave on high for 4 minutes, then 35 minutes on medium high. The cooking time will vary based on the wattage of your microwave, as well as the type of lentils that you have. I've been using Eston lentils which seem to take a bit longer to cook.  Sometimes I'll add a cup of brown rice and double the water so that I have leftovers for another night. I think I've read somewhere that lentils + brown rice are a complete protein.

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I got another cupboard organized today - this one was easier than the pantry - much smaller, and just glassware. I got rid of enough stuff that I could rearrange my glass serving platters, etc so that they are now easier to get to. Several jars got tossed cause I couldn't find lids - including a cute bear jar (boo hoo). A whole pile of Medalia d'oro coffee cans got stuck in the basement. They are an attractive red and green so I don't want to throw them out - "Hoarders" anyone? It is a good thing that before I started all this upstairs reorg that I did some in the basement... cause... there are now piles of stuff at the bottom of the stairs... again... I have a hard time just throwing out... (fyi - Carm is worse). I think one of the lures of going full-time in the camper was that we'd just have to get rid of pretty near everything and then we'd be free of all this stuff. Oh, BUT, I don't think I want to be rid of it!

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Today we started copying some of my horsey videos over onto dvd. I think it's a big gyp that some of them are copy protected so we can't transfer them. It's not like I'm making copies to give away, but I'll be damned if I'll pay to buy them again. So I guess I'm the loser here. I have scads of Disney videos, and while I haven't tried them yet, its a pretty good bet that they are copy protected too. This is the problem with technology and what I worry about with my photos. Someday the technology will have changed enough that I can no longer use them. That's one of the reasons I'm putting together some digital scrapbooks that I'll print. I'm still old enough to want HARD-COPY.

(while I was writing some of this Bella was lying beside me snoring to beat the band!)

My pleasures today:

1. seeing the Canada Geese in the creek - already!
2. organizing another cupboard - seeing all the glass jars neatly arranged- so orderly
3. listening to Bella softly snore beside me
4. walking around the field and seeing more and more bare grass
5. waking up in the morning and seeing blue sky through the window

There is always music amongst the trees and in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. unknown

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