Birthday Weekend

This weekend past was my birthday and it was fun in all kinds of ways. Take a peek:

 

I got to celebrate with my Grandma (and Grandpa) whose birthday is one day away from mine. She's 86 and one classy dame!

You know it's a good birthday when you get to go to an eating station and vereneke (sp?) and farmer sausage are on the menu. oh, and pie...

 

 

But my actual birthday day started like this:

 

I was serenaded with the ukelele stylings of Ms. H. What a treat!

...amongst other things we stopped to watch a soap box derby...

 

How can you not love a team wearing parkas and beards in hot weather with the names of explorers tattooed to their chests with get up like this. They called themselves "Arctic Threat," and threw snow and seals (not real) from their sled during their race. Invention and wit. All in the name of fun.

...poor bloodied seal being cleaned of the track...

spontaneous marching band...

 

outdoor painting

intelligent toddler fun

Apple Day

Once a year when the apples on the trees ripen, we gather out at my parents place for Apple Day. Friends come too, with their apples, and we spend the day together processing apples into sauces, pies, and cider. My dad has dehydrators filled with apple bits and this year we also made apple butter! It was my third year attending this year and there are certain things about this day that have already become tradition.

Apple day starts at lunch time, with a specific Creole dish (i am told--although i do not know the name of it). Baked tomatoes with peppers and onions are placed onto a slice of bread/toast and then a cream sauce is poured over top. (This is usually prepared by friends of my parents so i don’t know the exact ingredients).

After lunch and iced tea or coffee has been had, the apple processing can commence!

By mid afternoon, everyone is ready for a snack. The outdoor clay oven has been stoked and fresh from the oven bread is made and served with butter and fresh fruit jams. And coffee for those in need.

After our mid-afternoon snack, we return to our apple-processing duties. There are several stations: the apple peeling and coring station, the sauce making station, and the cider making station. Tools like this make apple day move along so much quicker:

At the end of the day everyone sits down to a lovely outdoor oven baked meal: roasted chicken, veggies, and of course, apple pie.

Such a fun way to spend a September afternoon!

{this moment} - a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment i want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule.

 

sewing gifts

I've been on a bit of a sewing craze lately. Avoiding painting at all costs. Turning to the cloth to put my creative energies into. There have been birthdays, and more are yet to come! Toddler birthdays galore. Luckily the internet is full of free sewing ideas and patterns for beginner sewers! Here are two projects i've tackled successfully:

A pencil roll is a pretty fun gift for a toddler, no? There are plenty of instructionals on how to create one online. I ended up just figuring it out myself, using what scraps of fabric i had on hand. It rolls up all tidy like into a little roll that you can tie up with string (aka bias tape) into a bow:

Hooray for bias tape!!

Project numero dos is a project i started with the intention to give to my daughter as a birthday or Christmas present. It was a simple project, but a lot of work. I got a little obsessive about it though and finished it in no time flat.

 

It's a memory game i found on The Purl Bee. Instructions are pretty simple, but time consuming. I used a lot less interfacing than what was asked in the instructions but it all worked out fine.

 So satisfying. Little patterned felt crackers. I made 15 matching pairs--30 in total. I hope she will have fun playing with them!

forest

We went to one of my favourite places this week--The Canadian Shield. There's something magical about those giant mossy boulders that are interspersed with forest and lakes. So many smells and textures here. Trying to soak up the last bit of summer before the big chill hits.