Friday Art - White-tailed Deer

 Showing my White-tailed Deer Portrait ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").  It is done in watercolour pencil with a cream alcohol ink background.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art for Fun Friday.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Extinct Creatures and Whole Wheat Cucumber Sandwiches

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date! For the Extinct Creatures theme I am showing this baby dinosaur piece I did back in 2019.

 

with cucumber 

with ham and cucumber

For the Dinner date,  I found these healthy whole wheat  cucumber sandwiches and wanted to share with  you.

I put a thin slice of deli ham in one of them for husband M,  I didn't know if he would like just cucumber in his sandwich.

This is the recipe I used for one sandwich:

4 tbs cream cheese

1 tbs Greek yogurt

1/2 tsp dried chives

1/2  tsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp pepper

2 slices whole wheat bread

1/3 c thinly sliced cucumber

Stir together cream cheese, yogurt, chives, parsley, pepper

Spread onto a bread slice

Top with cucumber.  Top with the other bread slice and cut in half.

It has a  very refreshing taste!

I had some Japanese pickled onions and put them on top of one of the sandwiches, sooo good!

Wednesday Memes

 

Fantastic Moon

 Daughter L sent me these fantastic moon shots from her husband's family cottage a few nights ago.  That is Venus below the moon and apparently a tiny Mars in between.

Lavender flower cuttings

 I am enjoying my fresh lavender flower cuttings in a tiny vase.  They will dry just like that and can be enjoyed for a long time.  I have them in water at the moment.

The cutest design!

 Daughter L went to a lovely bridal shower last weekend.  I thought this engagement ring cookie was the cutest design I have ever seen!  There were a bunch of other designs including a wedding dress one which another one of my favourites.  Which is your favourite?

They were soft and delicious, with just the right amount of sweetness.

Doesn't this bring a smile to your face?  Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Hot summer relief

 Daughter L gave me this cute usb chargeable neck fan last week as one of my birthday gifts.  It will be really handy on a hot summer's day.  The fans are adjustable around your neck and have 3 speeds.  They can even light up in different colours!

Friday Art - Leafscape and Clematis

Welcome to Friday Art!  I have a small leafscape in watercolour markers and pencils for you today.  Linking this to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.

For Nicole's Friday Face Off I did a clematis 'face' for you.  It is done in watercolour pencil and acrylic markers.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Water Creatures theme and Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

This is my Water Creature for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. It is a whale I did back in 2015.

 For the Dinner date, I found a wonderful recipe for Cauliflower Mac and Cheese.  I added nutmeg and thought the baking time could be as much as 45 minutes.

Preheat oven 375F

6-8 c cauliflower chopped into 1 inch pieces.  (I used 1 1/2 heads of cauliflower), enough to fill a 9 x 13" baking dish

2 tbs butter

3 tbs flour

2 c whole milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 c shredded cheddar cheese (8 oz)

Fill a microwave safe bowl with 1 inch of water.  Add cauliflower to bowl and microwave 8 mins on high.  Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan melt butter

stir in flour for about 3 mins

Gradually whisk until mixture thickens

 Remove from heat, add salt pepper nutmeg garlic powder.  Stir in shredded cheese until melted and completely incorporated

Stir in cauliflower, transfer to 9x 13" baking dish lined with parchment paper

Bake 25-45 mins until cheese is bubbly and begins to brown.

Wednesday Memes

 

Got the Calvin one above from Grannie Annie.

It's my 64th birthday today!  I means that next year I won't qualify for my credit card travel insurance benefits. It seems I can purchase senior travel insurance at reasonable rates so I will have to call them at that time.  You can purchase single trip insurance or annual trip insurance.  It is a good idea to shop around.

Celebrations

 We celebrated Father's Day on the weekend.  Because my birthday is tomorrow, we decided to celebrate my birthday on the same day.  We went out to lunch.  Daughter L brought me this pretty flower arrangement she made herself!   She gave her dad a nice sweater in a style he likes.

Emoji Dictionary

 I am sharing this emoji dictionary with you today, hope it helps!

Sunday Smiles

 My neighbour saw me weeding on her side of the lawn the other day.  She doesn't speak English but was trying to get me to stop so as not to be a bother.  Then she handed me this bag of Chinese greens as a thank you.  Google lens told me it is spinach, but I remembered it is more of a choy sum after I cooked it.  They plant a lot of vegetables in their garden.

Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Peanut butter with olives

 Well thanks to Andrea, I decided to try peanut butter with olives on a cracker.  While I am not a fan of olives, this combination was ok on a cracker!  Husband M likes olives but didn't want to try them with peanut butter!

Friday Art - Costa Baja and a Crab

 Welcome to my Friday Art.  I have a small piece in watercolour pencil for you today.  It is based on a photo I saw in a golf magazine.  It was captioned 'Costa Baja'.  The Baja California Peninsula is great for golfing apparently.  Linking this to Gillena's Art for Fun Friday.

Here is my face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.  I was inspired by the Little Mermaid movie we saw, we really enjoyed it.

Rain' Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Land Creatures theme and Pickled Onions

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date! For the Land Creatures theme I am showing this blue-eyed foal I did back in 2019.

 For the Dinner date, I made a version of Kay's Auntie Jean's pickled onions recently.  

Apparently Kay's Auntie Jean is now 96 years old.  This is a heritage recipe indeed!

One medium/large onion sliced

1 red pepper sliced

2/3 c white vinegar

1/2 c water

6 tbs granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp salt

Boil vinegar, water, sugar, salt in a medium saucepan until dissolved.  Cool.  Add to a jar of sliced onions and peppers.  Refrigerate 2-4 days or longer.

I actually misread and boiled all the ingredients including the onions and peppers together for 10 minutes then cooled and jarred it.  It tasted good even before I refrigerated it.

Thanks for sharing Kay!

Wednesday Memes

 

I got the one above from Valerie.

Time for a Change

 So last month husband M tried to use our Visa credit card and was surprised that it was denied.  It seems the cards were expired since last October and never renewed.  We have had these Visa credit cards for more than 20 years.  Usually we are mailed renewal cards.  I know we have not used them since the start of Covid, so maybe it is our fault.  But I feel this major bank could have notified us that they were not going to renew our cards.

Customer service offered to make an appointment with the bank to get new cards, but after some deliberation, we decided to go with another major bank.  My friend told me it is easy to get new cards, very little information is required beyond a good credit history.  In fact applying online is so easy.  She was right!  We were approved within minutes and received new cards in the mail in a week!  It was also easy to sign up to pay our bills online.  It is refreshing to be with this new bank, maybe it was time for a change anyway.  We will be sure to use it regularly too.  

A nice walk and lunch with friends

 We met up with good friends a few weeks ago on a lovely day with summery weather.  We had a nice walk to our Main Street and had a delicious lunch.  The restaurant has a nice outdoor patio with an awning cover.  I tried Beck's non alcoholic beer.  

Birds like Fruit

 Apparently Oriole birds like fruit, so daughter L's mother-in-law cut these orange slices up and this is how the birds ate them up!

Sharing this with Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Most Tart to Most Sweet Apples

 I thought this was an interesting chart depicting most tart to most sweet apples.  Granny Smith, McIntosh are tart, sweetest are Fuji and Gala apples.

Friday Art - The Peppers

 Welcome to Friday Art!  Linking 'The Peppers' to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Fridays! 

Toronto air quality is the worst in the world at the moment due to wildfires to the north of our province.  It is in the world news.  There is a haze over the city and there is a smell of smoke when you step outside.  Hopefully things will improve in the coming days.  The wildfires are still going.   

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Crawling Creatures theme and Olives and Cream Cheese

This is my crawling Monarch caterpillar for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. It was done in 2020.

 

For the Dinner date, I made this whole wheat olive and cream cheese sandwich for husband M as he loves olives.  Simply spread cream cheese and top with sliced olives, cover with the other slice of bread.