GENEALOGY: Auctioned Family Bibles

It breaks my heart when I see a family bible for sale on EBay. In my family nothing like that was passed down and I would love nothing more than finding a treasure like that for sale. With that in mind in the past when I have time I try to track down family members connected to the bible.
Most of the sellers list some of the people entered in the bible so you can put together a line of people. Then the search is on.
It can be very time consuming. I just email the people I can find and let them know that I have nothing to do with the sale of the item. I am just giving them a heads up that it is out there and available. I don't know if they ever get the item.
Now don't even get me started on the old photographs in the antique stores...

WINE: Jean Bousquet

I think Malbec wines can ruin you for all others if you drink them too often. They have such body they make others seem limp. Malbec grapes are the best quality grape planted in the Mendoza region of Argentina. They make up more than 70% of the varieties that they have planted there. In Argentina the varietal wines are made from 100% of the named grape on the label. A Malbec is a Malbec all the way through.
Jean Bousquet is one of our favourite Malbecs. It is organic which is a plus. It is full of smokey cherry flavour and goes so well with steak dinner but is pleasant enough to drink on it's own.

RANDOM: Such A Simple Thing

I received a gift today from my coffee buddy KD. I had mentioned to her that I wanted one of these and she bought me one. How nice of her. Many thanks.
Have you ever seen one? It is a purse hanger. You use it in restaurants to keep your purse off the ground and but close to you. No more crawling on the floor to grab your purse when it is time to go. No more dirt on your lovely suede bag. It has a little rubber pad under the decorative top piece so it doesn't mar the table or slide off. It holds tightly due to the weight of the bag pulling down on it. Pure genius. You keep it in your purse in it's little black case. Now when KD and I are at the wine tasting on Thursday night we won't be anywhere near the floor. Right KD?

Three Or More Tuesday eh? Well this is new to me so I will give it a try. I was introduced to this by a fabulous blog called The Gypsy's Corner. Make sure you have a look at her site by clicking on the name. Let her know you stopped by.

I chose these 3 gilded fruit pieces, an apple, pear and pomegranite. They have sat in the same spot on a shelf in front of an antique window that had the glass replaced with a mirror for a very long time. When something is there all the time I think you cease to see it anymore. That can be said for everything in life can't it.
I don't know why I didn't take the picture of them there now that I think about it. It never occured to me. They needed a good dusting when I took them down though.

WINE: Domaine De Chaberton

On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning my BB and I found ourselves at a winery about 30 miles from our house. Domaine De Chaberton Winery, wine shop and bistro.

The red wine grapes are grown in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. This is about 220 miles away from here in the only official pocket desert in Canada. The white wine grapes are grown here on a south slope in a micro climate that is perfect for "cool climate" grapes.

The wine shop has the most beautiful gift baskets and wine accessories. We found a wedding gift here for someone but we can't say what it is for obvious reasons.

I suggested my BB should buy this for me but alas it is not in the budget. It had 8 bottles of wine and various other items in it.

The winery has won many medals throughout the years and had gold medals in Michigan in 2008 and California in 2007.

We tried several wines and bought the 2004 VQA Canoe Cove Shiraz and a 2007 VQA Pinot Gris to try at home.

The red was served with a steak dinner. It held up well to the grilled meat. It was a mix of spice and deep red fruits. Cherry, smokey, beautiful long legs. The white will be served on a sunny day with a light spread of cheeses, breads and maybe some olives. Buttery tastes. Many thanks to the lovely staff who declined to be photographed. The tasting was very enjoyable.

HOME & GARDEN: So Simple

I must say that this simple little item has made such a good impression on me.
It really works on a couple of levels.

You store your cut onions in it obviously. First off it keeps the cut onion fresh.
Secondly it keeps the smell inside the container and not your fridge.
Third it is obvious to everyone who looks in the fridge where the onion is.
It stopped the family from cutting open a new onion when one was already available.

I had to buy a few as you can see. I highly recommend these simple little items.

HOME & GARDEN:

I struggle with this piece. The opening is too small to hold a decent size flower pot so they dry out too quickly. At Christmas time it is tied with a big bow and the curly willow branches look fine. But what should I do for the rest of the year?

GENEALOGY: Family Pictures

When you find a cousin or other relative while working on your family tree that is a great joy and reward for all your work. When you see that they have some of the same photographs that you have seen in your own home growing up you really "get it". You know that there are others out there that share your genetic background and are a product of all that have gone before.
They are family.
My grandmother is the little girl in the front with her hands in her lap.
Marie Octavie Carriere

In my garden I have a hotel for the birds. None actually live in it. It is not a 5 star accommodation but when the flowers grow up around it I think it could get at least 4 stars.

HOME & GARDEN: Easter Eggs

I love these eggs. That's all. I just love them.

RECIPES: Vegetable Soup

A basic recipe for a tasty, healthy soup. As with almost all of my recipes you can add or subtract whatever you like. Want more spice, ramp it up. Don't like fennel, who cares, don't use it. Want it completely vegetarian. Use different stock. Cooking is simple. Really.
Here is what I used.

1 onion
1 leek
3 carrots
3 ribs celery
1/2 fennel bulb
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 carton of beef stock
1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning
2 tablespoons butter
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

I just love the way the fennel bulb smells and looks.

Cut off the green top of the leek and throw it away.

Cut the leek in half lengthwise and rinse it off. See the dirt inside this piece? Grit and sand. Yuck. Rinse it well between each layer. You may notice some of the outer layers are very tough. You can discard those as well.

Dice up all the vegetables and the garlic. Add butter to the pot with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. If you need more you can add it later.

Saute the vegetables until softened and translucent. A little bit of caramelizing in the pot is fine but you don't want this brown.

Add in the carton of stock, Old Bay, bay leaves, salt and pepper.

Simmer this for an hour or so. You will be glad you added butter in the beginning because it will really show up in the end flavour. Serve with corn muffins or a nice crusty bread. If you want a little protein you can add some leftover chicken or have a bit of cheddar with your corn muffin.

GARDEN: I Have An Actual Garden "BED"

When I talk about working on a garden bed it can be taken literally.
I have an antique bed turned into a huge planter. My BB measured it out so carefully to make the box. Squared and true, exact. Then we realized that the frame was upside down anyways and it was just going to sit on top of the frame and not have to fit into it. My bad.

Last year I planted the edges with trailing white bacopa and it looked like a lacy bed skirt all around. I put in geraniums and silver artemesia for the pillows. The rest was a patchwork quilt of different low growing flowers. It will be different this year. Any ideas?

UPDATE: Just so everyone knows this is the winter leftover picture not the growing season picture. Don't want you to think I have a brown thumb.

GENEALOGY: Don't Be Duped

There are unscrupulous people in every profession and genealogy is no exception. I have previously noted the phony coats of arms and crests. Even worse than this was a New York native named Gustave Anjou (1863-1942).
He was responsible for creating well over 100 false, phony, fake, forged, fabricated family trees. He charged thousands of dollars for these lies. Unfortunately these incorrect family histories have been copied and passed around by unsuspecting people and the information keeps on floating around in an unchecked cycle.
Any information you find from another tree must be used only as a guide to search for the actual documents to support the information. Don't spread the false facts. Check and double check for yourself. Think of a computer virus. You wouldn't knowingly spread one of those would you.
There is a list of known files he was connected to but even if your tree is not there you still have to find proper sources for your tree before you let it grow. Remember...your ancestors are counting on you.

COMPUTERS

For someone who teaches computers to the seniors I sure can be stuck when it comes to what is wrong with my own. For days now we have not been able to access web pages without trying several times. Pictures wouldn't load...try writing a blog when you can't see the images you are loading up. "Internet page is not available" was making me fume.
The kicker today was when we couldn't access any pages whatsoever. I could feel my blood pressure going up as I tried in vain to fix things. It just got worse. I phoned for help and had someone scheduled for the next day.
One last time I tried plugging in the modem and router. I couldn't load my home page but I just carried on and opened up a different web page and lo and behold there it was. All the pictures were there. It loaded quickly. Everything works. Hooray. I'm back baby.
I hate computers oops, no I didn't really say that.

DOGS: I Am The Greatest

My dog thinks I am the greatest hunter in the world. I am so amazing that I can bring in 4 different meats in one morning. I barely break a sweat doing it either. No running, no chasing, no taking out the weakest member of the herd.

I just leave the house as usual and when I come back I have beef, chicken, pork, fish. Her nose goes crazy following me from the garage to the kitchen. She must dream about the chase. Her feet are running in her sleep. Little yelps come from her. I bet she is helping bring down our prey. No wonder I am the leader of this pack. I am the Great One.

RECIPES: Roasted Chicken & Vegies

Dinner should be as easy as it is delicious. This is good enough for company. If you choose to you can make a gravy but you should use butter instead of olive oil or your gravy will be oily and hard to blend.
1 roasting chicken
olive oil (or butter if you want to make gravy)
herbs of your choice such as rosemary, parsley, basil
garlic powder
salt & pepper
potatoes
beets Rinse and pat dry your chicken. Drizzle with olive oil and rub on some of your mixture of herbs, salt and pepper. It doesn't matter which herbs and spices you use. Really it doesn't. Chicken loves them all.

Do the same with the potatoes and beets. You can use other vegetables but they don't need to cook quite as long as the beets and potatoes do so add them a little later. Make sure it is a roasting chicken and not just a fryer.

Roast in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until done.

RANDOM: This Goose Egg Was Not Golden

I received a long distance phone call this morning from one of my sisters. She told me to turn on the local news and have a look at my "weapon of choice".
What did I see there. An old Electrolux vacuum cleaner of course.
She sure has a long memory. Many, many, many years ago when I was about 4 or 5 years old, in self defense I am sure, I took the metal pipe from my Mom's vacuum and whacked her across the head with it.
I was just a tiny little girl but apparently I had enough muscle to swing that sucker pretty good.
She ran to our Mom's room and woke her from a nap. Mom wasn't happy about the wake up but when she saw the size of the goose egg on my sister's forehead she let out an "OMG".
Now in my defense I must say she must have done something to deserve this because I have never hit anyone since. I also don't remember this so I have to take her word for it.
Mom did what they did in those days...she taped a huge coin tightly to it to try to
keep the swelling down. No doctors, no Children's Aid, no clinic.
By the way this same sister used to double me on the back of her bike and she would go so fast I would scream and scream. That I do remember. See I told you she probably deserved it.

GENEALOGY: Kindnesses

I have always said that genealogy researchers are the most generous group out there. They will send you all kinds of information, pictures, documents just because you asked. They love to share their family trees with anyone who may be connected directly or indirectly.

There is even a group of volunteers who will go to their local libraries, cemeteries, societies etc. and look up information in the books there or even go to the grave sites and photograph the headstones for people. This is referred to as an act of Genealogical Kindness.

Anyone can volunteer to do this. I have gone to several cemeteries and it is really an interesting outing. You wouldn't think a cemetery would be a nice place to be but they are and the various stones are filled with information about a person's life.

RANDOM: Oldie But A Goodie

My son (22) and I are about to watch the classic movie (1964) Cat Ballou with Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin. I think this movie is great but we will see what he thinks. When Kid Shallene gets dressed up in his gear I love it.

UPDATE: I still love it. Young guy...not so much. Thought it was dumb. Kids nowadays.

HOME & GARDEN

Well sunshine or not there isn't much out there to photograph today. Lots of stuff is coming up but it is all green, green and more green. If I was a photographer I could capture the different shades and make them look beautiful but I just point and shoot.
I don't remove the dried stuff from last year because the birds love to pick through it and it helps protect the ground from erosion. It doesn't look great but it works.
The wagon wheel came from one of my coffee groups road trips. There is an antique, pottery coffee roasting place we know about and we go there a couple times a year. They also grow the best garlic and I can drop $40.00 on it no problem.

You have to love the hellebore though. Sturdy, reliable and gorgeous. The t.v. gardener on the news this morning showed one that is black like slate. I love black flowers and foliage and try to bring in as much as I can.