Thursday 12 July 2012

Guest Post

"Hi!  My name is Boots.  I am guest blogging today."

"I and my human live in an apartment
on the third floor of a building.  That's our
balcony ... the interesting one."

"Sometimes our balcony feels a bit like
a prison.  La sigh!"

"My human grows some stuff for me
on our balcony ... like these tasty
sunflower plants."

"Most of the time, I enjoy our balcony.
I can manage any wildlife or humans
that trespass in our back yard from
the comfort of home!
But sometimes, I feel like expanding my horizons."

"My human grows some stuff up high
on our balcony railing ... and it might be tasty."

"I don't know why my human frowns when
I jump up to check it out ... do you?"

Monday 9 July 2012

Now departing for Sevilla, Spain ...

Yes, really.  Well, really IN MY MIND!  Remember, I did say it was going to be an INNOVATIVE vacation!  If you want to travel along with me, check out http://www.knittingmywayaroundtheworld.blogspot.ca/
If you're not into knitting socks with a truly global flavour, I won't bore you with my imaginative travels here.  However, if you ARE into knitting socks ... or travelling ... I heartily invite you to join me!  Bring your knitting needles ... we'll knit our way around the world together in our minds!

And in other news ...

When was the last time you ate this???

Celery sticks with Cheez Whiz used to be fancy food in our house ... the kind of "gourmet" appies reserved for company and special occasions.  I had me an urge for that kind of food over the weekend ... do you ever get urges for something from your childhood like that?  If so, what?  If I had gone all out, I would have had me some radish roses and green onion curls in a bowl of ice water too!

It's a wee bit warm here at the moment ...

That's 28 degrees Celsius here in Canada.
I'm a child of the 1950s ... I still think in Fahrenheit.
 Perhaps that's what got me thinking about company and special occasion meals ... I think most of the visitors my family entertained when I was growing up arrived in the hottest part of summer.  Dinner ... we called it supper ... generally included a big plate of sliced "cukes and tommy-toes" (cucumbers and tomatoes) from our garden.  My family always had an enormous garden.  I kind of miss that ... although I do currently have lettuce and green onions growing on my balcony (if Mizz Bootz would leave them alone!) 
Those childhood company and special occasion meals also included individual glasses of icy cold orange Tang. Did you drink that stuff?  Was it even remotely good for us?  Why on earth did the adults in my family think that stuff belonged in the fancy foods and bevvies department?

Naturally, plenty of mashed potatoes, fried chicken (also grown in our back yard), gravy, and biscuits filled out those supper menus.  Who eats biscuits with their meals these days?  I miss biscuits too!  We ate them WITH our meal, then ate them AFTER supper as dessert ... warm, with real Quebec Maple Syrup on very special occasions (my Dad was born and raised in Quebec's Eastern townships, and his family provided at least one container of "down home" Maple Syrup every year).  Or with home-made jam on less special occasions.  If there were any left, we ate them cold as a snack, or the next morning for breakfast, but leftover biscuits didn't happen very often.

Dang!  Now I want some biscuits to go with my celery!

"Me?  Move?  Nuh uh!  It's too hot to move!
I'm going to lay right here until sundown!"
 I'm with The Bootz on that idea!  And I certainly hope there's no company coming ... cuz it's much too hot to fry chicken, boil potatoes, and bake biscuits!  Stay cool, y'all!

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Getting excited!

July 3 today ... 3 more sleeps (until launching off on my innovative European vacation)!  Hope you're going to follow my adventures!

So how was YOUR long weekend?

Cloudy / rainy here.
 The Boots and I enjoyed balcony time together and caught up on our reading.
"Hey!  Get your thumb outta the way ...
I'm still on that page!"
Sometimes I really need a couple of quiet days to just hang out on the balcony with La Feline.  It recharges my batteries!

I did manage to get myself dressed and out once over the weekend ... took myself on a Saturday night movie date. What a waste of money and time! "That's My Boy" ... an Adam Sandler thing. I find Adam Sandler's brand of humor thoroughly obnoxious. Had I realized he was in it, I would NOT have bothered ... I bought my ticket based on a brief synopsis about "a teenaged father reuniting with his grown son" ... thought it sounded like an interesting story line. NOT!  I have to admit, however, inflicting this movie on myself was my own fault.  Usually I take the time to check out movie trailers on line and read multiple reviews before heading out to the theatre.  That will teach me not to be spontaneous (in the movie-going department)!



Then, just to add insult to injury on Saturday, I missed the last bus of the evening and ended up WALKING HOME. I don't mind an hour long walk, but after NOT enjoying a movie date with myself, wasn't such a happy camper. Of course, once I got home, I was AWAKE and energized ... not a good state to be in after 11 pm!



I guess The Boots was too busy reading (and snuggling) to cause further gardening havoc.

What's left of our lettuce is growing well ...
I'll re-seed the middle of this pot AGAIN this week
(shhh!  Don't tell Bootsie!)

I have no idea what this happy little plant is
in the planters on my balcony railing ...
but it is sure PURTY!!!
I just heard there's a weekly Scrabble thing happening at our local book store ... YES!  I've been feeling Scrabble deficient lately.

Cheers!