Thursday, December 24, 2009

A Snowman...in Skivvies??

I've done my baking blitz. I made shortbread, 2 types of brittle, cranberry gumdrops, nanaimo bars, cereal squares, chocolate mint fudge, and gingerbreads. And it just about killed me. Cause I did that all in one day.

Why do I leave things to the last minute????

But my daughters pitched in and helped me decorate the gingerbread. Even so, as we neared the end of the cookie pile we were all getting a little tired. Plus, I was feeling pressure from the ever drying out royal icing. So I tried to get creative with my icing application. It didn't work out so well.


If you look closely, one of the snowmen on the left looks like he's in his skivvies!

At least we all had a good laugh. That's pretty much what it should be about, no?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Great Muskoka Digout of December 09

Beginning with a storm from December 10 to the wee hours of the 12th, which looked something like this:


The weather resulted in scenes such as the front of my car looking like this:


That, of course, resulted in a massive dig out operation all over Muskoka. My little piece of the operation can be seen as this:


But the 80cm or so of snow that fell in 2 days left us with a postcard perfect view like this:


Just don't walk in the bush without snowshoes.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Of Peppermints and a Parade


Is this the cutest candy cane ever or what?

This was the highlight of the day in which we went to our local village parade. The girls were invited this morning to be on a float, but it never showed up. All the people to populate the float were there...but no float. Sigh. We walked behind the snowmobile club and its groomer for one round of town (it's so small the parade goes around twice!). But we had no banner, no sign, no apparent reason to be walking in the parade. We looked weird. So we ditched to watch the second go round and collect a few candies.

Most floats throw candies to the spectators. In other years, leftover on-sale Halloween candy seemed to be the giveaway of choice, but this year peppermint was popular: round peppermints, regular candy canes, and mini candy canes. Very appropriate.

So it was home for hot chocolate with plenty of peppermints for dunking.

Update: The no-show float organizers sent my girls a lovely little gift certificate. It's all good!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Who Hid the Honda?


 Yes, my car is hidden under a wallop of snow. But even if I could find it, I can't get out the driveway until our neighbour can get out of his with his tractor and blower. And even if I could get out the driveway, the OPP (cops) are telling everyone around here to just stay home already. Highways closed. Trains stuck. Tow trucks stuck. Lovely.

This is the THIRD snow day in a row. The kids are thrilled! We've managed to drink lots of hot chocolate. Electricity is a wonderful thing!!

But I'm hoping we can get out tomorrow. Because I lack the benefits of a pioneer root cellar, the pickings in the fridge are getting a bit slim.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Welcome to Winter


 Pines stand
limbs pinned
awaiting wind
to brush the weight
of winter white
from their boughs
to be bowed
no longer


Yes, winter has descended on my world with a whomp. Nothing...and then suddenly in 2 days about a foot of snow with more in the forecast. At least it waited till December this year. Nothing to do but use it as inspiration for a bit of spontaneous word play. Enjoy.


(photo and verse c Lizann Flatt)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Can You Say "Big Shoes?"

I'm very grateful that the teacher whose class I just visited waited until AFTER my presentation to tell me that the "other" author they've had visit their class was....Robert Munsch!!!!!

That's some intimidation factor!