Winter…on the Approach to Orillia

My Turf!

My Turf!

I am so not looking forward this. The summer days fled before they even had a chance to take hold. Where was summer this year? What happened to it…it was too little, too late, too short, too cold. A lot of “too’s” for one season. Somewhere along the way, I missed it…except for a few days here and there summer resembled spring, and brings up no summer memories from the depth of my mind.

When I was a kid summer was looooong, and hot. Heat waves, burning sun, the smell of water and sand at the beach, the call of seagulls and the drone of small

Muskoka Chairs on Couchiching

Muskoka Chairs on Couchiching

planes overhead. I don’t remember any of that from this year.

Autumn over Orillia

Autumn over Orillia

Autumn flew in on spectacularly colourful wings almost overnight, and blew out in an autumn storm just as quickly. The colours were wonderful, intense…but too short. Now, the trees are bare, and although the grass is still green, everything else is brown.

Winter is coming…too soon. Like a mantra the thought weaves through my mind…winter is coming, winter is coming. I dread winter. The dreary days with no

Winter Ice at the Opera House

Winter Ice at the Opera House

sunlight, the snow, mounds of it, blocking you off from your neighbours – winter is greedy. It demands attention. Snowfall requires shoveling…daily, twice daily…sometimes more. The days are short, so outdoor work gets packed into a smaller space of time; the worker is harder, and colder and more tiring. It requires work just to get outside, between boots and snowsuits and gloves, hats, scarves…protection. Lord, I hate winter.

It doesn’t like me much either…it sits on my shoulders like a vulture, waiting for me to roll over and give in to the depression of gray, dark days and cold nights. Winter is brutal.

The only good thing I can about winter is that it’s the season that holds Christmas (which I love…HIS time), but Christmas comes where it’s still warm and sunny, so who needs the kind of winter we see here? Not me. I could live without snow, without cold, without dark cloudy days…forever.

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For AnneMarie

Mom’s Bow Ties

4 eggs
4 tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. margarine (melted)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. anise (oil) (or to taste)
2 tsp. water
2 3/4 cups flour

confectioners (icing) sugar

Beat eggs until thick a lemon-coloured.
Gradually add sugar and salt while beating. Continue beating until sugar is dissolved.
Stir in melted margarine, vanilla and anise oil.

Add about half the flour and stir in to make a stiff dough. The dough should not be sticky, but it should be soft enough to work. If it’s too stiff, add a little water.

Cut the dough into 3 pieces and roll into long tubes. Wrap in waxed paper and chill for 15 to 20 minutes.

Take out one roll at a time. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface until the dough is nearly transparent. With a pastry wheel, cut dough into trips about 1″ wide and 6″ long.

In each 6″ piece, cut a slice in the center and ull one end of the dough strip through the slice to make a bow. (Mom usually just tied them in a knot instead of using this step).

Heat fat in deep fryer and drop tied dough pieces into the fryer. Bow ties are ready when they float to the surface and all sides are a nice golden brown. Drain and drop into plastic bag filled with icing sugar. Shake bake, remove ties with tongs and put into container for storage. Use sheets of wax paper between each layer of bow ties in the container.

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Rant of the Day

Do these idiots posting spam comments with 500 links in each comment really think I’m going to post them?

Nah, they really can’t.

Not only that, they use the wall box – probably in the hopes that I’m not going to moderate comments. Listen up peeps. I have no problems posting other’s comments and opinions, even if they differ from my own opinions. Life is made up of different opinions, otherwise it would get pretty boring. You don’t have to agree with me to get a comment posted, but don’t spam me with stuff like extenze, viagra, et all.

In case you didn’t notice, I’m a woman (least the last time I looked) and I don’t really carry the equipment this stuff is supposed to help.

I hate spam.

I love Askimet.

For those who don’t know what Askimet is, it’s this very cool little plugin for wordpress that traps any comment that might even resemble spam. Yeah. Yay for Askimet.

Actually, a lot of the dopes posting spam program “bots” to leave their spammy comments. And the bots can’t tell who or what you are. One of these days somebody will develop a “kill bot” for posters who spam…something that will follow their spammy links back to their own website, and replicate their spam hundreds of times over. Now, that’s a wordpress plug-in I could use :)

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Red and White Skies

Back in June we had a visit from the Snowbirds in the skies over the Port of Orillia. An amazing show. These guys are well worth watching. There's something about those red and whites against a blue sky. The noise makes your nerve endings thrum, but you just can't walk away from it. If you get a chance to see them, grab it.
From Snowbirds
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