Easter Weekend Hike

Well, I have been bloggin' about bad weather so much lately

that I am soooo happy to blog about some fair weather hiking

So, let's go...

too much snow still in the woods so we have to be a bit creative!

We have beautiful hiking trails all around Lac Beauport but

they are still snow-bound ....

But in the summer, 

the "Sentier national" 

is quite an amazing circuit of trails that weaves its way across Canada. In english it is known as the Trans-Canada trail....

http://www.tctrail.ca/home.php?l=en

But, for now, 

today...

we are sticking to the road.

he is a bit dark but yes, the ducks have arrived...

and the woods are starting to rid themselves of snow...

 and the waterfalls are in full force....

and the river is now exposed...

 and we continue on for about an hour until we reach the lake...

et voila...

on the lake...standing...

and still I do know that within 2 months I may be swimming here

in Lac Beauport....

home!

À tantôt

The Doors

  Today was such a beautiful day that

we decided to head into the city for a walk. 

Every city has a certain architectural appeal but

I have to say,

Quebec city has very unique architecture due to the sheer age of the buildings.
more than 400 years old!

And of course good architecture often means....

beautiful doors!

So here is a tour of la belle ville

with an eye on the door....

Colour certainly adds to the attraction of a door.

Shorter doors are found throughout the oldest part of the walled city.

In the old part of the city many of the basement apartments have a small door such as the one below and the one behind the truck in between the two larger white doors.

And due to our often cold weather there is usually another door beyond this door.

Many of the older hotels sport beautiful wood doors or luxurious metal doors as below.

Another trick for the weather is to set the door in so that the cold air does not enter when opening the door.

Etched glass adds another quality to some of these doors.

Gorgeous wood doors!

And yet more etched glass!! Click on the image to make it even larger if you prefer.

À tantôt

linking this up to:
Debbiedoos newbie party

Snow bloggin'

Doin' a little snow bloggin' here!!!

April 22, 2011
Schools closed on April 20th...
snow storm.
This is the lovely view...

From the front door of my house....

I give in...

Gone Skiing!!!

À tantôt

Mother Nature, Pourquoi?

 Monday, April 18th

Good morning?

Let me just say this....

has anybody seen my shovel?

Perhaps my neighbour borrowed it?
Did it get stored in the garden shed already??? 
Hmmm...a garden trowel....might work!!! Then my neighbours will really talk!

 Ah look...
Even he is confused....

okay, yes, I love our beautiful lab named Chelby

but....he is easily confused

and btw...

I think Mother Nature may be too!

Enjoy your gardens everyone!

À tantôt

martha sewin' sunday

Oh boy, have I been distracted.

I bought some painter's dropcloth some time ago now...

and I have had two dinner parties where it has acted as a tablecloth but

never have I been able to get the sewing machine out and 

get creative!

Well, I am havin' a martha sunday...

started with muffins,

you can drool over those....here...

and then I finally got out the sewing machine.
 because you see.....

I picked up in Ikea...   As Is section    ..this large,  VERY cheap....ottoman.

Rather hard to keep clean, although the cover comes off to be thrown into the laundry..

but,
oh yes,
I have read, admired and considered many times
the various tutorials out there on making slipcovers....
so...here is how it went for me.

Of course there was some tea and muffins thrown into the martha sunday as well....

 

Sewin'...... and then more sewin'.......

Et.....voila!!!

 

Okay, it is not perfect....
Mrs. Cole, my grade 8 home economics teacher may find
faults if she was here with us today....
(we did lots of sewin' with Mrs. Cole, not sure I was her favourite.....burnt my chocolate pudding during our cooking class and stunk up the whole kitchen....sewed my tea towel embroidery to my skirt by accident.....it wasn't always pretty...you get the picture??)
 
but I am "ben contente!!!" with the results of this lovely lady!!!

It is a relaxed fit....that is what I am calling it...
given the odd uneven-ness here and there...
but..... I am lovin' it!
Okay, so ...where are the dining chairs??? 
are you really asking...
they are coming...believe me...trust me at least!
.....although this is just the perfect length for my table...
Al fresco dining????

I am linking this up:
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party
Under the Table and Dreaming
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating Flaunt it Fridays
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Good Life Wednesday

À Tantôt!

martha sunday in the kitchen

ahhh.....the talents of martha....

and the evils of Tom...tom is some local weather guy out of Vermont....very happy all the time....too happy......!!

So in lieu of that..yep, that is snow..
I made a decision...time for a martha sunday...

Started in the kitchen......

and fairly early I might add
with tea and orange/date muffins......

 and as you can probably imagine....
this recipe

is my favourite muffin recipe!
It was given to me by my university

supervisor a long time ago and I have been lovin' it ever since!

 (may be time to transfer this to a recipe file while it is still legible?? I hear ya!!)

This is the same recipe, more or less, just switchin' it up a bit....

...take the oranges and replace them with whole lemons and the orange juice and replace with lemon juice. Replace the dates with raspberries ...et voilà....lemon raspberry muffins.

These are so yummy and délicieuse!!! You will have a hard time having just 1.

Oh, and I did not stop there, I did some martha work elsewhere in the house....
wondering where????...
well,
over here during my
sewin' martha sunday
Oh yah...cookin' and sewin' all in a martha sunday!

Àtantôt

linking it up to:
Petite Hermine 
Young and Crafty 
Under the Table and Dreaming 
Dittle Dattle and Amaze me Monday 
Good Life Wednesday

Cole Porter Update

Well, if you know pianos then you will know that a C. Bechstein is one of the finest pianos in the world...

and this lovely grand entertained at least 50 people at 

an evening with Cole Porter on Saturday evening!

They laughed, sang, ate and shared stories from 4 - 9 p.m.

The setting was lovely!

I did not get a shot of the house from the front as it was pouring rain but the

house spreads out to the left with beautiful floor to ceiling windows.

The house sits on a nice size river, great spot for swimming in the summer and of course a beautiful deck for entertaining family and friends.

So, what was this all about?

Well, I have been looking at story-telling, 

stories in general and

have been quite fascinated with stories of people that I know

in an older generation that have lived

through some pretty amazing times.

Times that have brought about situations and circumstances that

I think my family and friends may never experience.

And we have been looking at ways of recording these stories....

it has been done before, 

I know...

but I don't think these ever get boring or over-told.

This particular story is about a story-teller that passed away last year

well-known to many.

He travelled the world as a doctor,

worked for years at the Grenfell Mission

and throughout his travels picked up stories of his own and of others

and developed a talent for telling these stories through the accents of the characters he portrayed.

So, we are starting to work on this project with a goal

to share his story and the story of the people around him.

You see the evening with Cole Porter was the first time that this large group

of friends,

spanning in age from 69 to 93

have gotten together since his death.

He was known to entertain,

with grand evenings,
catered events

where he opened his doors to his friends, 

old and new

and treated them to an evening of song and story

I understood they laughed and cried but that at the heart of every

party was him, Bill, the story teller.

I thought I would have better images to share but the weather was terrible,

the lighting was tricky and my little camera did the best it could do....

but I said I would update you 

so I am.

Hopefully, one day soon I will be able to share our mini-documentary with you

but in the mean time I am still reflecting on the memory of these lovely people

coming together to celebrate life!

A tantôt