Eagle Watching

Every year from December to March, hundreds of bald eagles migrate to the Annapolis Valley.  In January and February they have special "eagle weekends" with food and festivities.  They put out food for the eagles and you can stand around watching the hundreds of eagles feed.

Mom and I decided to go see the eagles but didn't go on the weekend as it would be too crowded.  We went on a Tuesday.  The weather was beautiful -- warm(ish) and sunny.  There were a few others there but not too many.  The eagles are fed between 9 am and 10 am.  We were late getting off and worried we would miss it. 

No worries necessary.  Apparently there is a pecking order in bird feeding.  First the seagulls, then the crows, then the eagles.  We were surprised to learn that the eagles waited for the other birds to eat first.  Also a surprise -- the eagles sound like canaries!  Not like great fearsome birds at all.  We waited around for an hour (it was warm, but not that warm) before leaving.  The seagulls hadn't started to eat yet but we were hungry!

We stopped at the local fair trade coffee shop.

Mom ordered our eats (hot chocolate for me, latte for her and some giant cookies), lovingly created for us by Doug, the barrista.

Just Us Coffee also makes fair trade chocolate.  I looked for job applications for tasters but only found free chocolate samples.  Yum!

They also sell items crafted by third world artisans, in addition to a little museum about how the average coffee grower lives. 

All in all, a good day.

Warming up the Windows

One thing I love about my house are all the windows and light.  I am a light addict.  However, it also means I need a lot of curtains.  I hate curtains.  The only reason why I have any is to save the neighbours' some embarrassment.  And to block the glare on the TV during the day.

Right now I have assorted sheets and curtains "artfully" draped over windows to protect our modesty.  I'm thinking of making some roman blinds though.  They seem nice and tidy. While I was poking around on the internet I found this neat tutorial from Instructables on creating an insulating roman blind.  In the pictures they have used a quilt.  How cool is that!  I think I'm going to be looking through some of my quilts with an eye to my windows.

Cinnamon Buns

I made a promise.  I promised Liam's best friend Aaron (yes, it's confusing) that if he took Liam to his place for the weekend that I would make him cinnamon buns.  He did his part (thank you thank you) so I did mine.

Here the dough is rising.

I love making bread or any kind of dough you have to knead.  This dough has egg in it, which seems to make it even nicer to knead.  I used this recipe to make the buns.  I would recommend for full Cinnabonness that more filling be used.  Also, instead of cream cheese icing we used dolce le leche, so darn delicious!  Plus, you get the added fun of wondering if the cans of sweetened condensed milk will explode.  Ours didn't.

Here is the only shot I got of the finished product. I was lucky to get this one.

total yumminess, if I do say so myself . . .

14

Who would ever believe that this:

would one day turn into this?

(you can't tell from this but he just dyed his hair black and purple)

Liam, the middle child, concieved after a loss, six years younger than one brother, five years older than the other.

At first he was a quiet child.  Too quiet.  We soon learned that with Liam, quiet is bad. (Noisy isn't that great either).

Too smart for his own good, no baby-proofing device could stop him.  He could turn on the oven and crawl in it in the time it took to answer the phone.  He could open the door and leave by the time he was two.  Thank god for the fenced in yard as he could get out of his crib (by somersaulting over the rail) when he was one.

When he was two he broke his bedroom window when put in there for a time out. He was obsessed with pots and pans and would only watch cooking shows on TV.

He came down with chicken pox on his 5th birthday.  He had to put up with a baby brother just when he was enjoying being the youngest.

During the "bad years" before his father and I broke up, Liam ended up being the responsible one to get him and his older brother off to school.  Too much responsiblity for an eight year old. (I did not learn this until after we split -- he and his brother hid much).

In grade 6, when the school decided he was too much of a handful to be in the classroom, all his teachers and principal told me that he wasn't bad -- he never hit, or bullied, or was mean to anyone, ever.  He just didn't do what he was told unless he felt like it. (I can identify with that).

Liam in the most like me and the one that drives me the craziest.  He is my best kid and my worst kid.  The one I want to spend the most time with and that I need the most breaks from.   He has the best sense of humour, is smart as a whip and an excellent listener (unless you are telling him to do something).

Where did 14 years go?

Happy Birthday, Wonderful Boy!

Giant Tube of Meat

Costos, how you entertain me.  While idly perusing the meat section I came across a GIANT TUBE OF MEAT.  I mean GIANT.  Hambuger of some sort.  I had to have it.  How could I go home and tell Aaron I had seen a GIANT TUBE OF MEAT and not bought it? 

How giant is this tube of meat you ask? 

This giant.

I was amazed.

Aaron was intimidated -- at first

But soon got over it.

Jack was unimpressed.

Aaron declared it to be family -- his first born.

His tasty, tasty first born.

We may have strayed a little off the "normal" path.

BTW, this is in our old place, the Morgue.

Cards I have Made

I've been on a card making kick lately.  Here are my latests efforts.

a thank you card for a good friend

a birthday card for another friend

birthday card for a co-worker

Making cards is so much fun!  Wait 'til you see the next bunch . . .

The Blues

I guess it gets like that sometimes -- the blues.  It's been a hard go lately.  The holidays weren't kind to us, what with it being the first one without Dad then me ending up in the hospital with some health problems.  I can't seem to get my equilibrium back.  I just want to sit and cry but a full-time working mom doesn't often get the opportunity to do that.  Some days breathing seems like more than I am able to handle.

I just want to be home.  In my home, doing home things.  I don't want to go to work, or visit, or shop, or anything other than be home. I want to make bread and sweep the floor and do laundry and do all those things that get rushed and neglected.  I want to burrow into my house and make it my home. Alas, I am what stands between us and living in a tent, in Canada, in the winter. So I guess I'll sing the blues.  Here's a little lesson in how to sing them.