Hummingbird and garden stuff

Waiting for the bird to come...

While having my first cup of coffee by the kitchen window I saw a ruby throated hummingbird at the feeder.

Bea on bird watct

When he came back I was ready with my Nikon and a 200 mm lens.
I used the tripod and was patiently sitting on a step ladder until he returned next time. This is the result.

The rest is just "gardening stuff".
Today was the day when the grocery store had vegetable plants for sale. I had to go over there anyway because I needed black soil for the top layer of my second veggie bed. No doubt, I also bought cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce, marigold and some other decorative plants.

The later afternoon was used to get the "baby's" into the ground and protect them for the next few days against hungry birds. Maybe I overdid it, but better save than sorry. Tonight there are some bean and pea seeds soaking. They will be planted tomorrow. I like how it starts to look like a garden.

Peter did the cooking. Potatoes with gravy, frozen mixed vegetables and some beef roast for him. That's it for the day.

Bunny alarm and pancake for dinner

Bunnies are cute, but I don't like them near my vegetable garden. This morning when I came out there was one unaffected of my presence right in the middle of the lawn. Without fear it hopped away into the brush.
I walked straight over to check on my growing spinach, lettuce and carrots. They were still there! But, J.P had to put the fence up! And he did.

got a fence around my veggie garden

With door and everything while I was filling my second garden bed with soil.
When our Co-op-Store starts selling garden plants, in about a week or so, we willl be prepared. Later I was trailing the internet for garden plans. How to plant what -where and when - companion to whom - enemies to another- and so on.

highjacked 1

highjacked 2

For dinner we were out of everything and had to compromise.
J.P. came up with a German dish of pancake with bacon, and I made a salad.
We both grew up with this simple dish. Usually eaten at noon or for supper.
My mom used to make this, or macaroni dishes, at the end of the month when the food budget was running low.
Hubby is the one who makes the thinnest pancakes. Mine are always to thick for his taste. So he did the job.

Working on the skillet...

...building up a delicious layer of thin pancakes

Ingredients:
4 eggs
flour
milk
sugar
bacon bits
apple slices (optional)
vegetable oil
Instructions:
Make a pancake mix out of eggs, flour and milk. Heat oil in a skillet, sizzle some bacon bits for 2 minutes, and pour one ladle at a time into the skillet. Move the pan up and down so that the pancake mixture runs around and fills the whole space. Cook until one side is lightly browned. then flip the pancake over and brown the other side. Slide the ready cooked pancake off onto a warm plate and repeat the whole process until all of the pancake mix is used up.

Served in layers. Sprinkled with sugar or eaten with apple sauce.
Side dish: a carrot salad or any other lettuce salad.
At my mom's we even had these pancakes as side dish with a hearty vegetable soup.

Replying to Ms Sparrow's comment: yes, it is amazing how many spices I have, now that you mentioned it. Some I use only once in a while, others constantly.
My father was a chef, so I grew up with all kind of "strange" spices and never thought much about it. When I started my own household I naturally stocked it with the ones I knew from home, and added on whenever I tried a recipe that used something else. Usually it works fine with salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar, fresh or dried parsley. But for the special "kick" I go for the special spices. This winter I started for the first time ever to use coriander (cilantro) and cumin. Had it in my spice department for quite a while, but never used it.

Salmon casserole and other stuff

After 48 hours of being wired, it was good to get rid of the stuff.
Luckily I didn't have to go to St Stephen for the return, I just dropped it off at the local medical centre. They will take care of the rest.
Since we had another dim and rainy day I got J.P. to look at the one room upstairs where we have all our clutter. Boxes over boxes of stuff we are lugging around from one place to the other. Nicknack, christmas decorations, tapes, CDs, just stuff and tons of books in German, Norwegian and English. The best thing would be to get rid of it all, but we have a "gatherer" in the family. ;))
So, I cannot just go and throw it all out. That would mean WAR.
He started to sort through a few of the boxes and "discovered" some old, fascinating books. The whole episode lasted about 30 minutes.
Now he sits in the den and will pour over them for the next weeks or so. I say, that way we never get the job done. :((
Maybe that's the stress we are talking about?
Well, tonight we had another experimental dinner dish.
Turned out really good.
Salmon casserole with potatoes
Ingredients: for 2
1 can salmon, drained (took fresh salmon, cut in slices)
1/2 cup onion, chopped ( took leek instead)
1/2 cup celery, chopped
3 medium potatoes, boiled, then thinly sliced
salt, pepper, sugar
garlic salt, chili sauce
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
ready mustard, curry
dill
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 ºF (190 ºC)
Boil whole potatoes for about until done. Cool and cut into thin slices. I left the skin on, it gives some colour to the picture.

In a oven proved form layer potato slices, onion, celery and salmon. Season each layer generously with a comination of sugar, garlic salt, pepper, dill and a dashes of chili sauce. The weight is on seasoning right, otherwise the whole dish will taste bland.
In a bowl beat eggs and milk with 1 tblsp mustard and a dash of curry powder.

Pour the mixture over the layers, cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 50 minutes.

Wired, A Birthday, and Food of course

I warmly welcome Ms Sparrow to my blog and hope you will enjoy my rambling on. Janice is. among others, participating in writers groups, and her blog contains a lot of wonderful photos.
I admit, I am no eloquent writer, but I have fun nonetheless with blogging. And, there is always a hope for improvement. ;))

At the hospital in St. Stephen I became "wired" for the next two days. I doesn't bother much except during the night while trying to sleep comfortable around this box.
I took some shots while sitting in the passengers seat.  St. Stephen is not very 'pretty' a place. But there is one particular dwelling along the way which I always like to look at.

A special group of "scare cows"

The owner has a whole crowd of scare-crows around on his property. Supporting boats and petting wooden horses. All are dressed out in fancy clothes, some have hats on. I always wanted to stop while driving by and get a closer look, but we never did.
Sometimes I ask myself: why are we in such a hurry?

Antique shoppe in Lubec, Me

While waiting for J.P. to return from a hardware store I took a quick shot of this window. Odds and ends and antiques. The door frames painted with jelly fish and sea grass. Would be nice to go in there and check it out.
Our neighbour lady from Boston, MA turned 88 today and we went over for a visit! She is still going strong. Earned her College degree 5 years ago, she told us!
What else did I do:

I baked another "The caretaker's banana bread". It will be a staple in our house for sure. I just added some dried cherries to it, as my personal touch, I guess.:))
Did long walks to get enough data on the monitor box. Uphill and downhill, stairs and beach I walked. Now I am really curious what they will come up with. Of course, it is as it always is: no significant shortness of breath, no palpitations while I am on the wire. Maybe it all in my head after all.
Tonight I concocted a new dish of stuffed bell peppers. Usually I cook stuffed peppers with rice and hamburger meat. If you are interested in that see here.

However, this time I made a different filling. Wiener sausage, cheese and veggies.
Turned out really well. I thought it would be enough for two days, but - dream on.

Filled bell peppers

We ate it all.
If you like to look at the recipe, go here.
Now it is tea time again!

Gestern sind wir nach St. Stephen gefahren. Dort hat man mir  einen Langzeit EKG Monitor angepaßt. Damit bin ich nun zwei Tage unterwegs. Spazierengehen und Treppensteigen. Mal sehen was dabei raus kommt.

Spring cleaning continues

Another day spent on cleaning the motor home. Last time I did it was while J.P. went to Germany in February. But It was pretty grimy again and this time I took even a toothbrush to get into the darkest corners.
I have no photo proving that I actually was working. Too, busy to think about taking pictures.
Now it is so clean that we could sell it!:))

our winter home

My reward: hubby did the cooking today. Salmon on the grill, same thing as a week ago or so. Same good stuff. Look here if you missed it.
Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment coming up. St. Stephen again. Well, at least we get all checking done in the spring. By June 5th I will get the results.

blooming wild cherries

Now I am shot.

Noch ein Tag mit Hausputz im Wohnmobil. Erstaunlich wie schnell alles wieder schmuddelig wird. Hatte doch gerade im Februar Großreinemachen gehabt.