Fresh Beets

On the weekend my friend S dropped off about ten pounds of fresh beets at my doorstep. I guess she had a lot. That would be 30 plus beets. I asked a few friends if they would like some but they were not interested. Now, I've never made pickled beets and was not about to start.  They came clean and trimmed.  I decided to just boil them up in batches of 10 with celery salt, cloves, allspice, vinegar, nutmeg and dried tarragon.  They tasted really fresh and good. I peeled and sliced them, packaged them in ziplocs and froze them. I guess I can use them whenever I need frozen vegetables (borscht perhaps?) It was an unexpected, perhaps domesticated way to spend an afternoon!

Here they are all sliced up:

Light reading

I just borrowed these books from the library. I enjoyed the first one in the series and rather than buying, I decided to check the library.  One of them is in Large Print, I don't have a problem with that, in fact it is a great idea.   I noticed you can now borrow e-books from the library somehow. I don't even have an e-reader, maybe if/when I get an Ipad!

It's a long weekend here in the province of Ontario, the Civic holiday. L and K are up north at friends' cottages so M and I have had the weekend to ourselves. We had a lovely dinner at a nice restaurant downtown with another couple on Saturday night.

Spy

For MMm's Creative Tuesdays the theme this week is 'Spy'.  I've done this piece in acrylic on
cardstock (4.5" x 6.5").  I hope he looks furtive enough!

Also linking to Alexandra's Sunday Sketches.

Please visit the other participants in these wonderful art co-ops!

To a good owner

This is what I saw for free on a recent summer walk. It looks attractive doesn't it? It seemed to be a media cabinet. It's a good idea to put free stuff out a couple of days before garbage day, and it can go to a good owner instead of to the garbage. No, I didn't take it!

I was finally able to see the movie 'The best exotic marigold hotel' this week. It had been highly recommended and it did not disappoint. I even took a message away from it 'you cannot reclaim your past you can move on and build new lives' or something to that effect.

Pink Sunrise

For Paint Party Friday I did a 'Pink Sunrise' on 8.5 x 5.5 inch cardstock.  It was inspired by a Jim Steele photo.

Thursday Brain Flex

I got this in an email and enjoyed it, hope you will too:

KEEPING THE GRAY MATTER ACTIVE

1. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child's name? 2. There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is six feet ten inches tall and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh? 3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world? 4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet? 5. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly? 6. Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible? 7. In California , you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not? 8. What was the President's name in 1975? 9. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now? 10. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or "The yolk of the egg is white"? 11. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in another field?

Here are the Answers

1. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child's name?
Answer: Johnny of course
2. There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is six feet ten inches tall, and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat.
3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
Answer: Mt. Everest ; it just wasn't discovered yet. [You're not very good at this are you?]
4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
Answer: There is no dirt in a hole.
5. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?
Answer: Incorrectly
6. Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible?
Answer: Billy lives in the Southern Hemisphere

7. In California , you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?
Answer: You can't take pictures with a wooden leg. You need a camera to take pictures.
8. What was the President's name in 1975?
Answer: Barack Obama. Same as is it now - 

[Oh, come on who read you the questions? ....]
9. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?
Answer: You would be in 2nd. Well, you passed the person in second place, not first.
10. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or "The yolk of the egg is white"?
Answer: Neither, the yolk of the egg is yellow
11. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in another field?
Answer: One. If he combines all of his haystacks, they all become one big stack.

Granola Thins

Welcome to August!

Some friends are in town and we went to a sushi restaurant a couple of nights ago with a gathering of 13 people.  It is always great to see how much the teenagers, young adults have grown and changed.

I went for a haircut yesterday.  My hairdresser was telling me he enjoys the Olympic volleyball, ping pong and swimming sports.  L will join her university health and dental group plan this year.  When she turns 21 next April, she will no longer be covered under M's work plan.  (Thanks to comments from Gigi and Laurie, I checked and she is actually covered until age 25 as long as she is a student.  So we will get the paperwork in place. )  We also have to get our passports renewed at some point this year.  I'm not one to wait for the last minute.

M and I saw the new Spiderman movie.  K told us what time the movie was playing, but maybe didn't notice it was the 3D version.  Anyway I didn't get a headache and it worked well for this movie I thought.  Spiderman is very cute as is his girlfriend.  Oh, I remember reading they are seeing each other in real life.  We enjoyed the movie although it does have a lot of destruction, what else would you expect right?

I had a coupon to redeem these Granola Thins for free. They turned out to be amazingly delicious and only 90 calories per thin: