Thursday, March 9, 2017

Waiting on Spring

Well this post has been moldering away in the 'under construction' section for too many days, so since I made the effort to load the pictures, I might as well finish.  

We have had a winter to remember, although most of us would rather forget it.  Snow started at the beginning of December, we had a few clear weeks, or days that added up to a few weeks, in the last three months, but to summarize, we have just had TOO MUCH snow.

Last Saturday, it felt very springlike.  We has some sun and puffy clouds and a breeze, and it wasn't particularly warm, but it felt like Spring.  I cleaned out two chicken coops, Larry did some pruning, it was a nice day to be outside.  I was on my own with Jake and Luna as we took our late afternoon/early evening walk, and I heard my first frog croak from one of the ditches. 
Ah Spring!

And then the next morning, Sunday. there was snow on the ground.  Some places not far from us got snow on Saturday as well, but not us, we were enjoying Spring!
It wasn't a lot of snow, and it mostly melted as the day went on, but it was enough to make everything wet, and it wasn't very warm of course, so not pleasant to be doing many things outside.
And guess what, we have woken up four more mornings. to snow on the ground, including this morning.

It's getting to be such a drag.  The weather forecast is now just for rain in the next week. Not sure if that is an improvement though.  So much clean up etc to do outside.  Then all of a sudden we really will be in Spring, and the weeds will be going wild and there won't be enough energy in a day to keep up.
What would we do if we didn't have the weather to complain about!

When we were in Oliver a couple of weeks ago, I did make a visit to their thrift store.  I got myself a pair of Sorel snow boots for $3, and this little book for 50 cents.  It's kind of fun to look through, although I'll probably never make any of the recipes.  This is the second edition from 1945, so it's 72 years old.




There were a couple of clippings in it, this one was dated from 1962 on the back.  I make a ginger pear jam almost exactly the same as that clipping.



The writing on this clipping makes me think of Larry's mother  and some of the recipes she had written on a scrap of paper.  She had lovely hand writing, a bit similar to this, but nicer.  Larry has nice hand writing too,  the best I've seen from any man, and much nicer than mine.  I usually try to get him to write in any cards we send.



I got a kick out of this chapter, all one page of it!



And this one, on the preparation of your poultry



Since it's not been nice weather to work outside in, I have managed to get a bit done in the sewing room.  These are baby bibs, made out of flannelette.  They are double layered and two sided, and mothers have told me they like them because they pull over the head and the babies can't get them off.



As requested by a reader, here are some of the aprons I make.  A simple design, some with pockets, some without.  These two have pockets.  The pocket is a bit hard to see on the top one, as with the bottom one, I was able to match the fabric exactly.  Always fun when I am able to do that, but most of  the time it doesn't work out that way.



The children's aprons are a smaller version of the adults, with no pocket, and fun, kid appealing patterns I hope.



And speaking of kids, my grand puppy is growing up!  32 lbs and just over 5 months old now.  He's a smart cookie, and I've been having fun teaching him a few tricks.  One of these days I'll video some of them.

He's been on a few Land Rover adventures already. No, he doesn't ride in the back, he travels safely in the cab, where he can puke on the seat.  Yes, unfortunately he gets a bit carsick, but does seem to be getting better.


7 comments:

  1. Oh Karen, you must be tired of snow! We had warm weather the entire month of February and now snow is predicted for Sunday with freezing temperatures for the following week. There go all the pretty blooms and fruit trees! I love your aprons. Those are simple, made with pretty fabrics, and I bet they fit perfectly! You are good at so many things! The little bibs are cute too. That old cookbook reminds me of the old Watkins cookbook from the 1940's. I have the one mama used and almost did a post about it. Maybe I should do that. I enjoyed your post.

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    1. Thanks! I hope you don't have to go around trying to cover all your trees again.

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  2. The old cookbook caught my attention too. Esp. the page with the recipes for invalids. If I wasn't sick before I had something like Koumiss ( whoever has heard of Koumiss?) or Albumen water, well I'd be ill afterwards.
    I am also so very tired of winter weather.. I hope we're done with snow.
    The aprons and bibs are cute. Once you're back at the Farmer's market they'll sell like hotcakes.

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    1. I know, I laughed over those recipes too! Certainly not my choices if I was feeling sick. And I read that word at first as meaning 'not valid', instead 'not well', and wondered what on earth 'not valid' recipes were!

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  3. Fun old cookbook.

    Our warm weather has gone, and is being replaced with cold. A ways down south of here, they got snow.

    Yes, it is March!!!!

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  4. I love reading the old cookbooks! I can never pass them up at yard sales. I am tired of snow too...at least yours melts. Your bibs are really cute, they should sell well! I have seen that same pattern using a hand towel, one I saw used elastic and made a bit of a ruffle around the neck an idea for you incase you change a pattern some day :) Poor Tucker...car sick...he should go for short rides on an empty tummy that might help:)

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  5. The writing on that rhubarb recipe just has to be my mother's. She used to go down to the Okanagan quite a bit with my step-father, whose relatives lived in the area. Not sure whose book it was but if it's not mum's writing I'll eat my hat! So glad you bought this little book. My mum was a wonderful cook and baker. Yes - it has to be her writing!

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