Getting your kids disconnected from their electronics. It can be a bit painful at first. It takes them a while to come to their senses and realize that life was worth living even before graphics cards were invented. Even with our ‘Modern Amish’ sensibilities, my kids are no strangers to Facebook and computer games. Being deprived of [...]
Archive for July, 2008
The Best Thing About a Cottage Is…
Posted in Modern Life, cottage, family, kids, tagged beach, family, kids, kids crafts on July 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hanging out with Bungalow Insanity
Posted in blogs and bloggers, choosing paint colours, cottage, garden, gardening, tagged blogging, gardening, paint colour consultation, renovation on July 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Last Sunday Stephanie from Bungalow Insanity and her family dropped in at Keats View for a how-de-do and a visit. My friend and I and our 4 kids had just arrived and were in a bit of disarray, but our guests, which included Steph’s (can I call you that?) two very cute kids, her husband and a local [...]
A Nifty Fence-Mounted Watering System
Posted in cottage, garden, gardening, landscaping, tagged cottage, garden, watering system on July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Good thing summer came late this year because it took us until last week to figure out how to get water to (almost) every corner of our compact garden. The solution came, as many have, from the Lee Valley catalogue. I love that place. While this is an unsolicited endorsement, I don’t want to discourage any [...]
My ‘E’ Picks – Finally
Posted in blogs and bloggers, community, renovation on July 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Last week the very kind soul who is B over at A Cotterpin House awarded my efforts with an ‘E’ for excellent. As a condition of acceptance, the honoured blogger is asked to award ten other blogs with an ‘E’. Mathematical laws suggest that we will all have an ‘E’ ere long, but this does not prevent [...]
Please Name These Flowers
Posted in cottage, garden, gardening, landscaping, tagged garden, gardening, perennial, plant identification, plants on July 10, 2008 | 8 Comments »
Do be kind and have a look.
Though I am beginning to feel intimately attached to my perennials, I have yet to be formally introduced to many of them. Now that they are coming into bloom, I beg leave to impose on you, gentle readers, to perform the introductions.
The tall stalks with blue flowers I had half-imagined might [...]
A Deer Comes to Visit . . . And Stay
Posted in cottage, garden, gardening, tagged cottage, cottage life, deer, garden, wildlife on July 7, 2008 | 4 Comments »
When I was at the cottage last weekend, one of the first things I noticed was that the geraniums were looking a bit flattened – “like something was laying there…” I mused.
A few hours later, I noticed a doe snacking on my neighbour’s apple tree. The next evening, some local friends told us they had dropped [...]
Cottage Recipe: Banana Apricot Muffins
Posted in food, muffins, recipes, tagged banana apricot muffins, cottage recipes, food, muffins on July 4, 2008 | 3 Comments »
This is my favourite muffin recipe. It makes 24 generous muffins, and they freeze well. I make them whenever I get an overpopulation of frozen black bananas in my freezer. I’m ashamed to say that I generally prefer to bake with all-purpose flour, but these hybrids, incorporating 2 cups of whole wheat flour, taste terrific. The apricots [...]
A new porch roof
Posted in Euro cup soccer, cottage, kids, paint, renovation, tagged cottage, cottage life, family and friends, porch, porch roof, renovation on July 2, 2008 | 2 Comments »
This door – officially the ‘front door’ – has long been exposed to the elements. When we bought the cottage six months ago the inspector noted the foundation was a bit damp on this corner. Later we found that the light bulbs in the motion-lights were full of water. A porch roof went on the ’sooner rather than later’ [...]
