Additions to the garden

Here are this year's additions to the garden (I'm sure there will be more as the season progresses).

Wanted a tin man for a long time. I know Dave could have made one but it was easier and faster to buy one.

Those of you that were visiting this blog last summer know that Dave bought a tiller and we worked a small square of land in our back lot in preparation for planting our potatoes, carrots, onions and pumpkins this year (no worries, I still have my 9 raised beds right outside my back door). Wanting to do everything possible to encourage growth in this new location I hung my prayer flags just for precaution and positive vibes.

Three of my favorite words; sand blasted in beach rocks.

Bird feeder.

Hope everyone will have a good week. I am a little disappointed in my body's ability to heal itself. I've been trying to get rid of a stabbing lower back pain all weekend but it's taking longer than usual...

Earth Day 2010

As we do each year on Earth Day, Dave and I headed across the road from our home with garbage bag in hand.
On a stretch of no more than 300 feet of ditch we picked up a bag full of ''human inflicted'' garbage.
I should point out that we celebrate the Earth every day in our family. Dave and I try and do our best to protect our dear Earth and picking up garbage isn't something we do on only one day on 365.

In honor of Earth Day and for a nice treat with tea afterwards, I made these unbaked (no oven used) Swedish chocolate balls that this wonderful blogger mentioned in her post today.

Thank you to everyone that found time today to honor our Earth. Yes, it's ''ours'' so we should take good care of it.

Chicken coop :: the girls will have names

The six baby chicks that are arriving next month will each have a name starting with A (representative of Grade A Chicken). No, we have no plans of eating these birds. Names that have been seriously considered and chosen with care. These names are traditional to our Acadian heritage (we take our chicken naming seriously; it took Dave and I two weeks to come up with six names).

Inside the coop - the beginnings of the nests.

You are probably thinking ''how in the world is she going to know who is who''. I have a plan ! but first I need to find myself six tiny little metal bracelets in different colors.

My walk at noon

On my walk today at noon around the university campus :



Hope your middle of the week tomorrow is a good one.

Green Monster

For the past year i've been lacking in the energy department. I'm pretty healthy in general but it felt like i needed just a tiny little bit of extra energy. I knew i would need to add something to my diet to increase my energy level - i've added oatmeal almost daily with nut butter and hemp milk; much more nuts than i'm used to; more legumes, etc. I'm not a meat eater so I have to incorporate these in my diet for protein. All these things helped but last week Dave and I joined a movement...
Yup, we are both part of the Green Monster Movement. After reading about it on so many health blogs and after seeing one of my favorite blogger rave about it and its benefits, we went for it. Of course Dave will support me in just about anything I do so he jumped in. There are so many combinations for this green smoothie, so far we've added - apples, pears, asian pears, kiwis, bananas, flax, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, mangos and lots of spinach or kale. The one below had an apple, a kiwi, a banana, frozen strawberries, flax, orange juice, water and about two cups of spinach. We don't put dairy in our monsters at all. If I have coconut water in the house i'll put this instead of the H2O.

We love the taste; Dave almost more than me lol. It has increased my energy level considerably and no more ''junk food'' cravings. My body has what it needs so it doesn't crave the junk stuff. We share a pitcher like this one every day.

Unrelated but very special - my daughter has been taking pottery classes in New Brunswick and she made this cute little vase for Dave and I as a souvenir. How thoughtful of her, she rocks my world.

Because I love my backyard...

... that is the main reason for my post tonight, to share nature's beauty with you and to thank all those that leave comments on this blog. I appreciate each and every one of them.

An hour ago while Dave was hammering away in the chicken coop.



To give you a perspective on the location of the chicken coop in the gardens... you see it way back there. I take my chickens seriously ! After two weeks of coming up with names for the soon to arrive girls, we have six names picked out and they are good ones.

Happy Friday tomorrow and I'll speak to you over the weekend where I will reveal the names of the girls.

P.S. I planted spinach tonight in one of those boxes.

Annual Maillet Easter Egg Hunt :: 2010 edition

This was the sixth year for our family's Annual Maillet Easter Egg Hunt. I say it every year, my brother and SIL are the best-est ever to host this family reunion on Easter Sunday. Weather was perfect, everyone stayed outside to watch or to participate. The ''rule master'' atop his big rock going through the rules of the game.

First part of the challenge was to find plastic eggs hidden in the little wooded area. Inside each plastic colored egg was a foil wrapped chocolate egg.


After this was completed we had to head back to find out what the rule master had to say in regards to part two. Ginette, me and my little brother Marc heading back.

Listening attentively to part two of the rules - Denise and Ginette.

Which was to play mini-putt to try and hit a plastic '' very wably'' plastic egg in the hole in the least amount of hits... I had to hit mine 19 times before I got it in. Did I say it was a very wably egg....

After the mini-putt challenge (and no I did'nt have the least hits, Dave did with a hole-in-one) the rule master announces that as we know there is always a twist to the egg hunt challenges. The winner of the trophy wasn't the one with the least hits but the one participant that had a green foil wrapped chocolate in his plastic egg from part one of the hunt. The winner was a friend of the family, Greg White. Dave won second prize for his hole-in-one.

Annual Canoe Trip

In our area there is a tradition on Easter Weekend that's been 30+ years running - the Annual Clare Canoe Trip. This year almost 200 canoes were registered. It takes two days to complete the run, going through lakes and rivers. I always cook a big breakfast for Luc and his friend Sylvain the first morning of the run. Here they are getting ready to leave...

Most of the canoe trip doesn't have easy access for spectators but there are a few good spots to catch the canoes going by. This year they had beautiful, warm weather.





Some were very original creations. Everyone seems to be having such a great time (participants and spectators), such a peaceful, relaxing day.

Chicken coop :: taking shape

Dave has been working on the chicken coop almost non-stop since Friday. We have a visitor...

It is progressing so well; starting to take shape and looking like a small building.

Easter weekend

We've been having amazingly beautiful weather since last Thursday (first day of my 5 day break from work). Sun, Sun, Sun that's all we've been seeing and enjoying. Flowers are starting to pop-up everywheres.

Our daughter arrived from New Brunswick on Friday, with Mr. Puss. We've been, cooking, eating, thrifting, nature walks, visiting family and friends and enjoying this time together.

Ginette's rubber boots - getting ready to leave this afternoon for our annual egg hunt.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and found time to relax with the ones you love.

Product Review :: Le Creuset

The first time I heard about CSN Stores was last month when they contacted me to see if I was interested in making a product review for them. I first told you about it here.

I got to take this little cutie for a test run in my oven this afternoon.

Le Creuset 12-ounce petite oval casserole in a shade of my favorite color - cobalt blue arrived via special courier a few weeks ago. I must say the entire process from the time I was contacted by them to the delivery of the product was 100% hassle free.

I was immediately smitten by the cute-ness of this tiny dish. I knew before hand that it was 12 oz. but it still surprised me when I opened the box. I've put my 2 cup measuring cup along side so you would have something to compare with.


It is a perfect size for baked dips or for baked shrimps in butter and garlic (pictured below).

I was already sold on Le Creuset products and this little buddy turned out just as I had imagined it would. It baked perfectly, non-stick, heated evenly throughout the base and lid. After baking with a Creuset product I'm putting a larger dish on my wish list for Christmas/Birthday gifts.