Before and After

Springtime means many hours of gardening and I love it. After so many month in the desert it is just too good to be out in the green and dig in moist soil.

Here I speak for myself, of course.

Front last year

With scaffolds, tools and heavy boots trampling around all day not many flowers would have survived the onslaught of a renovation going on last spring..

before I started digging the turf up

Therefore many had to go into exile. The only one I did not move was a peony. They hate to be moved at all. 

I know, there is a deck skirting missing, but if I had patiently waited until hubby decides to fix this my plants would have to sit in exile several years. So.

Any landscape artist would have criticized my rigid style. A curving flower bed would have done way better. Well, next year is another chance. Enough of bone breaking turf digging for this year. My dream is something like this:

my dream border...

While I was battling with more raspberry roots J.P. was doing art work. He painted a mock window with curtains on the front of the work shed. NEAT!

J.P. created his own mural! 

When supper time came we both were pretty hungry. At five I retired my garden tools and threw a chicken breast into the baking oven. Filled with Cheddar cheese.
While the chicken was baking and the rice was boiling I came up with a weird recipe for a spinach salad.
Tipsy Spinach Salad with Oranges. If you want to know how to make one, see here.
Nothing was left after the meal. That says it all.
Now it is time for the couch!

Bin zu müde zum übersetzen, sorry!

BBB - Bugs, Beans and Bread

Springtime brings beetles and other bugs out from their winter hideaways.
While I was working in the soil of another flower bed I dug up all kind of grubs. They were placed close to the bird feeder hoping that my feathered friends will find and eat them.
Suddenly this one, the size of a ladybug, scurried out into the sunlight.
Now there are good beetles and bad ones. The Mexican beetle f.e. is unwanted in the garden, eats all the young sprouts. Curiosity made me take a photo of it, and searching around on the net I found out that it must be a dogwood leaf beetle  - Calligrapha philadelphica. Usually you capture the animal in it's natural habitat, but it didn't want to sit on a grass straw, had to take it on my hand. Therefore the odd background.

Dinner: fresh string beans, (I made them before), potatoes and  hamburgers for J.P.
Wile I am writing a heavenly aroma emanates from the kitchen: Hubby baked a bread. Yummy! (And a "mouse" already nibbled at the crust)

Der Frühling bringt auch die Käfer und Maden zum Vorschein. Als ich heute in einem neuen Blumenbeet die Erde bearbeitete fand ich diesen interessanten Käfer in der Größe eines Marienkäfers.

Easy does it

Another day away from home. We had to get up at 5 AM to get to an appointment in St. Stephen, NB. Needless to say, nothing major happened at home.

Shepherd's pie in the making..

Our dinner was a simple affair also. Hubby got a shepherd's pie, yoghurt with apple jelly, and I made myself a black bean dish that I tried already last summer. But this time the vegetarian version.

Heute sind wir schon um 5 Uhr aufgestanden, da wir einen Termin in St. Stephen warnehmen mußten.

Everything in the normal Range

Today felt like an anticlimax. Some phone calls. Some e-mails. Everything is normal. Nothing much happened, but isn't that good? I think so.
Traditionally, Monday is the laundry day in many households. Since I don't have a dryer I also have to watch the weather. But with 52% humidity in the air, and a fresh wind out of the NW there was ideal outside drying condition.
Otherwise didn't happen much today. I walked around and contemplated what plants I have to rearrange. The shrubs I moved a week ago seem to do fine. All leaves are toned and new ones are budding.
The air was icy and being outside was not a pleasant affair, so I retreated indoors.

Peter's dinner: Pork Chop, Carrots and Peas, Potatoes

Bea's Mock Black Forest Cake

OK. The cake I baked yesterday was now ready to decorate. Before I fell asleep last night I got an idea what to do.
Here we go: A mock "black forest cake".
Ingredients:
1 can of cherry pie filling
1 quart heavy whipping cream
baking chocolate
2 tbsp. sugar
Kirschwasser (cherry schnapps, optional)
The cake, of course

Directions:
Divide the cake in layers. (I showed how to that in an earlier input. See here if you need to know.

Whip the cream with 2 tblsp. sugar until stiffened.
Cover the bottom layer with cherry pie filling mixed with 1 tsp cherry schnapps. Keep some cherries for the decoration. (If you got a second layer out of your cake, put that on top of the filling and cover with a layer of cream and chocolate shavings.)

Put the final layer on top. Cover the cake with cream. Cut a small hole into a plastic bag, insert a nozzle, and fill the bag with the remaining cream.
Decorate the surface with cream, cherries and shaved chocolate after your own fashion. Chill for at least an hour.

Now you just have to invite some friends and enjoy!

Ingredienser: se nedenfor (read more)