A real post (not virtual)

Promising beginnings

Whatever does that mean? A real post (not a virtual one) – for a change! It means that I am constantly writing posts in my head and I even go so far as to take the photographs to go with them. But it seems to be a virtual impossibility (see what I just did there??) for me to get to the point where I put my thoughts onto the virtual paper on my screen to make the post. So here, at last, is one that made its way from my head (and phone photos) to the screen and finally to your browser (or email inbox). So it’s real at last!

Spring? What Spring?

Spring is so slow to get here this year, with very cold days, lots of high winds and more than enough rain to swell rivers and create ponds in the middle of fields. Everyone is feeling a little miserable with it and I am no exception. I did manage to get out for a few bike rides when Steven was away teaching during the few less wet days and that always feels good, especially as it gives Joni a good run.

Ready for planting though still so cold and rainy

To get a head start on my vegetable planting as you see in the first photo above, I have started some herbs, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini seedlings in these pots, indoors along with some flowers to be planted as companions. I have lights on them for 16.5 hours a day, hoping they will give me healthy plants ready to transplant as soon as the temperatures (day or night) don’t dip so close to or below the frost point as they are at present.

Joni can always think of games to play indoors
Joni always has ideas for indoor activities

Joni always knows what to do for fun on a rainy day!

Joni’s idea of a good game is to carefully balance her favourite blue ball (not shown) on my foot while I am washing dishes at the sink. She thinks that will encourage me to step on it and make it squeak for her while she jumps around it and I complete the dishes. When I fail to take a hint (or the blue ball has disappeared under the dishwasher door, she has to resort to desperate measures. She thinks that my favourite toy is the red spiky ring you see there. How could I resist playing with it (and her) when I reach down into the dishwasher and see it there? And see those eyes boring into me…

The Return

Steven Kennard arriving home from his spring 2019 teaching tour of Western Canada
Steven arriving back from teaching in Western Canada

And so after 3 weeks of being on our own, we got Steven back, complete with his fancy luggage cover (why does that always make me think of 60’s bathing suit psychedelia?). One of the coolest things he brought back with him was a gift for me from one of his hosts: A cookbook (rebar) that had been a favourite of this host (Vik – that’s you of course!). I love the fact that the book opens to her favourite recipes (some of which she fed to Steven while he was with her) and so, along with the occasional food splatter on the pages (come on, she’s a cook, we all splash our cookbooks – we also splash our clothes, the counters, the floor and even (I have seen this on more than one occasion) the ceiling!) I already have hints as to which recipes to try out first, judging by the splash intensity. Isn’t that a wonderful idea for a truly personal gift? I love it!

Things are gradually getting back to normal and we hope that Spring will finally arrive with some warmth and more than the odd hour of sun here and there.

Magnolia and forsythia in bloom, May, 2019 - Ellie Kennard 2019
The sun came out today at last! Some things are blooming, though the bulbs have suffered this year. Magnolia and forsythia in bloom, May, 2019 – Ellie Kennard 2019

I hope your Spring is well advanced (or your fall, for readers Down Under) and the vagaries in the weather if you are suffering from them are not getting you all down.

I’m off for a bike ride with Joni now while the sun is shining (see the photograph of the magnolia above, taken today – you can see that there really is some sun). (Breaking news! With the sun, I have actually sown some kale seeds in the beds you saw above. We might actually get them to germinate.)

The Cookbook

The gift
The first recipe I will try!

6 Responses

  1. Lovely Ellie, especially your tale about the cookery book. A truly personal gift from a cook to a cook.

    1. Isn’t it, Diana? I’ve uploaded photos of the book, I think it’s such a special gift from, as you say, one cook to another!

  2. Always so pleasant to read you, Ellie, inspite of the bad weather conditions you are mentioning.
    I like that your narrative ends so positively with the beautiful photograph of trees blossoming and you on your bike.

    1. Thank you so much for that lovely reply, Françoise. As always I appreciate your thoughts about my ramblings! I have even been out with my camera (not just the phone) and who knows? I might just post a couple of those photos soon. 😉
      Thanks again!

  3. I am a bit envious that you are still suffering through chilly days! We have had unseasonably warm temps and little rain currently but my garden is flourishing! The squash has buds and the tomatoes are about a foot high and the beans are about to start blooming. Usually here in Western North Carolina, we would see the middle 80’s at this time but we have been baking under high 80’s and low 90’s without the cooling of regular rain.
    Steven appears to have had a wonderful teaching tour judging from his posts. You both enrich the rest of us with all you do!

    1. I am so sorry to hear how you are suffering with temperatures that are unseasonably high, Paul, everything is topsy turvy weather wise, everywhere. And thank you for that lovely comment. I got a lovely gift from Steven’s travels which I have just now added a note about in the paragraph about his return on the post, in case you get notified of my response and want to take a look. The wood turning world is not only a creative one, but also a thoughtful and kind one! We all enrich each other’s lives by so much that we do, even if we are unaware. Thanks again, I hope you get some rain and a little more seasonal weather!

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