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March 28, 2005
HAPPY EASTER 2005!
Margot brought us these lovely flowers for our Easter table--a breathe of Spring!
We had one of our wondrous family dinners with everyone bringing yummies!!
Guin cooked the turkey and made some home made rolls, Allen made an awesome cheesecake, Shelby made one of her famous chocolate cakes, Alan made Alfredo noodles, Cary and Cheryl made a pile of perogies, Margot made a tasty hamburger and mushroom casserole, Garra made her 7 layer salad. We also had the usual trimmings--non-stop food for our tummies!
It was really great to have everyone together for the last big supper before Guin and Allen move to Toronto. Josh, Megan and Steph played video games until midnight and then flopped! I made pancakes this morning as everyone gradually drifted into the kitchen!
We saw our first magpie this morning and also a whiskeyjack.
This afternoon we watched a rented movie, "Cellular". It was pretty good--lots of action and a tight plot. I recommend it!
The weather is warmer today, around 9 degrees and the snow is getting softer. I'm just waiting for some warm winds and rain!
Roy has been busy with his ham radio and has made quite a few contacts lately.
Alfred is giving me a ride to Winnipeg on Thursday to see the specialist. We're hoping to do the trip in one day as my appointment is at 1:30 p.m.
Well, time to get my feet up and have a little rest!
Please keep up the blogging!
love Mom, Gtandma, Carol, Cas, etc.!!! xoxoxoxox :)
Posted by Cas at 4:59 PM | Comments (5)
March 25, 2005
HERE AGAIN! TODAY IS BLOGGING DAY!
A road sign seen in Brighton when I was last over there:
HEAVY PLANT CROSSING I thought this was very funny!
Gas (petrol) was then selling at 79 p a litre! That is about $2 a litre!!!
Roundabouts are a way of life if you are driving in England and driving is not recommended for the faint-of-heart! The traffic is on the other side and all the car controls are to the opposite side.
Anyway, to survive roundabouts, watch signs--if you're going ahead, get in the right lane. Traffic to your right has the right of way, so zoom across once the way is clear! The roundabouts tend to slow down the traffic and helps it flow smoothly through a multi junction arterial road.
In the supermarkets in England there is much more choice available. Produce is ready prepared, chopped for stews or curries. Yogurts--a good wide choice especially Greek, and a real variety in flavours. Indian food is now more popular than Chinese for take-aways.
Fish and chips, once a really cheap meal, are now a luxury! 1 piece of haddock(medium size) was 2 pounds and 50 p. about $6.50. and an order of chips cost 99p--about $2.50 when I was there.
Still, everyone makes more money and there is an air of prosperity about that didn't exist in the 50's.
Some Gawain snippets!
i stayed with him and Becky while I was there and met their two children, Callum and Natasha--beautiful kids! They live in Dorset, in Southwest England, lots of rolling hills and near the ocean. Gawain trained at Poole for his underwater stuff among othe places. He told me while I was there that one of his friends, Phillip, was part of a 4 man crew and they hoped to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat. I don't know if they did accomplish this.
He also dives with pure oxygen--very toxic--a 6m.. depth limit or nasty results!Thery swim at 4 to 5m
NO BUBBLES show with the oxygen as they are rebreathing their own air. but the air gets very hot.
This is used to do undercover work.
He was going to Norway and has also been to Brunei, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Key West, Belize and Iraq when the war was on.
He is working on his home doing renovations and is building a guest cabin in his yard!
I will try and find the photo of him in the jungle.
Gawain was married before to his first wife Violet.and they had two boys--Dwain (19) and David (18) those ages were when I was there. Dwain had applied for the Marines in the Spring, so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him following in his Dad's footsteps!
Dominic married a woman called Jude and they had 2 boys, Lynley and Theo. I saw them very briefly while on my last evening there.
I met up with Moya and we had a meal out. At that time Lara was 15 and has her tongue pierced and a diamond tooth! She was in hairdressing school. Zoe was 12 when I last saw her and seemed to be her usual harum scarum self with the deep voice!
Moya hasn't kept in touch since Sallie died and I feel sad that she hasn't written--oh well, maybe one day.
I have to stop for a supper break! Hope you enjoyed my blog today!! Please comment--thanks!
love Mom xoxoxo
Posted by Cas at 4:11 PM | Comments (3)
Try These Out for a Yummyossity Quotient!
Carrot Casserole
4 lbs. cooked carrots, slice into carrot coins
30 Ritz biscuits, crushed--brown in 1/2 cup of butter
Melt 1/2 cup butter with 250g. Velveeta cheese
Mix carrots in sauce. Put in casserole. Top with crushed Ritz biscuits and butter/
Bake at 350 until bubbly..... Very yummy!
Oven Puffed Pancakes
3 tbspn. butter
Divide butter between two 9" pie plates/ Place in preheated 400 oven until butter is melted.
Meanwhile, combine pancake ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
2 tbspn. sugar
1/2 tspn. salt
1/2 tspn. grated lemon rind
-------------
4 cups fresh fruit (optional) or serve with maple syrup
Combine all ingreds. in a large bowl and beat until smooth.
Pour half of batter into each prepared pie plate.
Return to oven and bake 20 to25 minutes until puffed and golden.
Remove from oven and fill centre with fresh fruir if used.
Cut into wedges and serve with maple syrup. OR
Citrus Sauce
Combine in a small saucepan,
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbspn. cornstarch
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tspn. grated lemon rind (optional)
2 tbspn. lemon juice
Cook and stir until mixture thickens
Add: 1 tbspn. butter
Serve hot.
Makes about 1 cup.
Posted by Cas at 3:50 PM | Comments (1)
Two winter bears play together!
Neo sure gave his teddy a mauling while was staying with us! As you can see most ot the stuffing has come out of the leg and some of the body! The pet has his own pet!
It's still snowy and cool around 3 degrees, but at least it's sunny!
Sunday is our family Easter supper and everyone is looking forward to it.
Guin and Allen packed more stuff yesterday and are now having a break playing video games! they have rented the U-Haul for next weekend and will leave on Saturday, boo!hoo!
Shelby phoned Alan and told him she now has a key to her new place so Alan and the boys will help her move the big stuff and boxes. It won't take too long if they can all pitch in!
There is a new musical now on in New York for all you Monty Python fans--"Spamalot"! It opens in England in 932 A.D. and King Arthur tries to assemble a motley crew of knights to seek the Holy Grail. There is a vacuous Sir Galahad, a bravely unstable Sir Lancelot and Sir robin who tends to soil his drawers at a mere hint of danger. The Black Knight, the Killer Rabbit, the Knights Who Say Ni and flying livestock are all portrayes in the musical. It sounds really funny!
For those of you who tried the latest LOGIC PUZZLE--here is the answer to 4B The Spelling Contest!
Considerations: From statements 6 and 7, Helen is not Knudson or Olsen and from statement 1, she is not North. Therefore, Helen is Salisbury. from statement 4, Eric placed second. Therefore from statement 6, he is not Knudson. From statement 4, Eric is not Olsen. Therefore, Eric is North. From statement 5, Gordie did not win, but placed higher than Jennings. Therefore, since Knudson placed fifth (statement 6), Gordie is Olsen and Lois is Knudson. Eleanor Jennings placed fourth , Gordie Olsen placed third , and Eric North placed second (statement 5) . Helen Salisbury was the winner.
From statements 1 and 2, Lois misspelled "physiognomy", Eleanor misspelled ""bivouac", Gordie misspelled "vicissitude", and Eric misspelled "isthmus".
Summary Solutions:
Eleanor Jennings bivouac 4th place
Eric North isthmus 2nd place
Gordie Olsen vicissitude 3rd place
Helen Salisbury 1st place (winner)
Lois Knudson physiognomy 5th place
Hope those of you who tried had fun! That's the main thing!! ")
Posted by Cas at 2:43 PM
March 21, 2005
SNOW BABY! March snow still here !
Snow greeted Steph on her arrival back home, and she had lots of fun playing with Guin,Josh and Jeremy snowboarding on home made jumps in our back yard! One jump included an old table in the middle of the jump which made for some added excitement!
Guin and Allen are busy packing for their proposed departure at the end of the month. It is going to be a new chapter in their lives and we all wish them well and lots of success! But, by gosh, how much we will all miss them! They have been part of our lives and I shall shed lots of tears when they leave! Anyway, they said they will get a 2 bedroom apartment so we can all go for a visit whenever we can!
Yesterday, we had a great family supper with Cary, Cheryl, Thomas and Cary over. We've been having all the kids over taking turns. Next week is Easter so we shall have an Easter Sunday's pot luck supper so think of what you are able to bring to the feast! Shelby has volunteered to make one of her famous chocolate cakes and we are going to cook the turkey!
We were invited to Brad and Margot's for supper the other night and had a yummy meal of chicken, salad and spaetzle! Yum! Brad then showed us all the photos he'd taken on his digital camera of the week they were in Florida.It must have been a gorgeous break for them. He said it only rained on the first day and after that it was 27 to 30. I loved the photo of Jeremy in a little wet suit confidently sailing his windsurfing board!! I hope Brad posts a lot on his blog for you all!
Tech stuff!
people moving category!
I'll have to check to see if that is how to put this on my blog!
Station break while I do this! ;)
Just checked this site but it is presently being upgraded!
I was watching a CBC program today and it was saying that video games are now bigger than Hollywood. In San Francisco there are $ 10 billion in sales now. In Quebec, the government realizes the potential of this industry and has donated money to a company Ubisoft. This company is scouting around in the States trying to drum up business for Quebec and Ubisoft's employees.
Did you know that 43% of our fuel is used while we sit in traffic jams.
A solar tower has been designed by a guy called Mau as he believes in environmentally friendly fuels. This type of tower will be especially useful in the tropics where the sun is a constant.
Daimler Chrysler has designed a car called "Pim" which utilized the design of a Canadian car designer--Canada rules!!
Another tech gadget! If you spill your coffee or wine, rhere is a syetem called the Tide Buzz system. It works with a Tide cleaning solution to create gentle ultrasonic waves. The starter kit costs $69.99 and includes the appliance,10 oz, of cleaning fluid and 5 Stain Catcher pads. It sounds pretty good for those of us who are slobs with spaghetti!
Had another station break while my nurse came and changed my dressings! Next week I have to go up and see the venous specialist about my legs so I hope he has some concrete suggestion. He's the same doctor that Shelby saw. I may be able to get a ride up with Alfred this time.
Today is another sunny day--temperature around 8 or 10..nice!!
Posted by Cas at 2:29 PM | Comments (1)
March 14, 2005
Older photo and other stuff!
I thought you would like to see this old photo of Algie Woodworth, the grandfather of some of you kids on your Woody side! He was 21 yrs. old when this picture was taken and was guiding some tourists down Biscotasing Lake on the way to Thessalon near Sudbury, Ontario. You can see the family resemblance in the Woody chin! We were married for 12 yrs. before he died of pneumonia and I had my four little Woodies to take care of. Life was hard during that period.
I was lucky to find a new husband later on and now Roy and I have been married for 34yrs. and he just accepted all the extra little family that came with me! We had two extra girls--just to even out the score, as Sally says--3 boys to 3 girls!!
Now I am going to type a Logic puzzle as I haven't done one for a long time.
I will also be making a photo album like Brad has as I spent a long tims scanning old pics. on Sunday.
Allen is cooking supper tonight--some Thai noodles! Yum :)
NEW LOGIC PUZZLE--No. 4 B SPELLING CONTEST
There were five finalists in the city schools spelling contest this year. They competed until four of the five misspelled a word, and the fifth one was declared the winner. From the following statements , one of which is false, what is the first name and surname (Jennings, Knudson, North, Olsen or Salisbury) of each finalist; who missed what word; what was the order in which they finished the competition
1. North, who was not the one who misspelled "physiognomy", had not participated in a spelling contest before, He said he had not expected to do well.
2. "Vicissitude" was misspelled immediately after "bivouac" and immediately before "isthmus".
3. Eleanor was happy that her good friend Jennings was one of the two finalists in the contest.
4. Before Eric missspelled his word there were only two contestants left; he and Olsen had studied together in preparation for the contest.
5. Gordie, who lasted longer in the competition than Jennings was not the winner.
6. Knudson, who is not Helen, was the first to misspell a word.
7. Helen, Jennings and Olsen are neighbours.
8. Jennings told Lois that she could not sleep the night before the contest.
I hope you all have fun trying to solve this puzzle!
Got to sign off now! love from mom and grandma etc. :)
Posted by Cas at 4:47 PM | Comments (4)
March 13, 2005
MADISON'S 7th BIRTHDAY!
Today was a special day for our dear little granddaughter, Madison--7yrs. old!! Hard to believe! We all had the ritual cake and met up with the family who was here.
This week we are dog-sitting! Brad and Margot and family have gone to Florida for a week in the sun--lucky dogs! They got some real good deals!
Here is a photo of the hound of the Baskervilles!!
Posted by Cas at 5:20 PM | Comments (2)
March 1, 2005
FOUR GENERATIONS !
This is one of those real family pictures as it shows the four generations! My Mom, Sally --or Sarah as her name was on her birth certificate! Then I come next--Carol Anne otherwise known as Mom, Grandma and Cas! Next in line is our oldest daughter, Sally and last of all, her son, David. This photo was taken when we lived at Philip St. My Mom had flown over for her very first visit as I had got my B.A. degree and she was able to come for the graduation. She had no choice as we sent her a ticket! She was not too keen on flying at all! Sally happened to arrive for a flying visit so it was wonderful for us all to meet ap especially as it was the first time we saw David! He is now slightly bigger than the photo shows!!
As I have to leave for Winnipeg in the morning this is only a very short blog but I will be digging out some more photos to post for everyone to share!
Love and hugs to all my family!
P.S. Check out Guin's blog for some great pics of the kiting trip!
Ma xoxoxo
Posted by Cas at 8:15 PM | Comments (5)