Marvellous Marvin Monday

My sister chose a series of photos for this week's Marvellous Marvin Monday:

"Stay away from my open window, or I will bite your neck."

"Tasty, I told  you I'd bite your  neck."

"Biting necks makes me sleepy. I  think I'll nap on the King's spot. The warm, carpeted spot that let's me balance between cat castle and window. The lady of the house better let visitors know not to close the window if the cat is in it, because they'll be attacked by the devil cat. Approaching him anywhere else is fine,  but if you find him in the open window you may want to wait." 

If this isn't enough Marvin for you, you can follow him on Instagram.  He's @marvinmeowmeow.

Meal Plan - August 30 - September 5

I planned this week's meals around all the produce in the house. I still had veggies left from my August 6th visit to Sleeping Cougar Acres and I came home with more veggies on Thursday.  My fridge is bursting.  

For the most part, I'm using tried-and-true recipes that I've had for years.  They've been in my repertoire for so long I can't even find them on the internet.  I've included pictures below.  Click on the photos for larger images.

This week's recipes:

Zucchini soup: I think this is the only new recipe this week.  I selected it because I have everything in the house, though I will be subbing veggie broth for the chicken broth. I'll serve it with home-made sourdough bread and a tomato and basil salad. Hubby has started making bread!  We were gifted some sourdough starter two weeks ago.  He made his second loaf yesterday.  Mmmm.  

Couscous salad: The recipe is below.  I cut it from an Overwaitea flyer back in the days before grocery stores had websites.  I usually use about 1/2 the couscous the recipe calls for, and I omit the ham.  I'll serve the salad with steamed broccoli, mostly because I have broccoli that needs to be used up.  

Beef and Cucumber Stir-Fry:  I did actually get this Urban Peasant recipe from the internet, but I can no longer find it online.  Glad I thought to print it out.  It's very handy when I have an abundance of cucumber in the house.  Right now there are four cukes in my fridge.  It reminds me of the days when my aunt and uncle had a cucumber farm.  They'd send me home with free "ugly" cukes.  

Burgers with red cabbage:  I've been buying pasture-raised beef from a local farm.  They sell it frozen in one pound packages.  The burgers will use the rest of the beef from the package I thaw for the stir fry.  I made and froze the red cabbage a while ago. It's great on burgers.  (The recipe came from the aunt who had the cucumber farm.  Hi Auntie P!)  The salad will be made from whatever is in the fridge. 

(Note:  I don't get anything for the links above.  They're there for your information.  Hope you find them useful.)

Pomegranate

On Thursday I visited L at Sleeping Cougar Acres.  I suppose that's another reason Throwback Thursday didn't happen.  I was AFK for most of the day, and when I returned home I was overwhelmed with produce and consumed with jealousy.  Not only is L able to grow apples, melons, kale, zucchini, tomatoes, onions and crook-neck squash (all of which followed me home), she's managed to grow pomegranates.  Pomegranates!  Damn!  I can't even grow zucchini!

Hang In There!

 After two weeks off from blogging, I'm struggling to get back into my routine.  I missed Throwback Thursday completely yesterday.  It doesn't help that I generally don't know what day it is.  I have the feeling there may be a few more gaps like that.  Just have to tell myself to hang in there.  Like a moth on a screen door.  Or something like that.  

Poop Fairy

I need to get one of these for my yard - the sign, not the fairy, though I suppose the fairy could work too.  We'd have to negotiate a schedule.

In fact, I could use several of these signs.  Or even better, a couple in billboard size.  I could make a wall of them at the front of my yard.  That might keep the neighbourhood dogs from crapping in my yard, though it may offend the neighbours - just like their dogs crapping in my yard offends me. 

I Heart Yew

From the bottom of my noodly heart.

Thanks to S for pointing out that this is a yew.

Marvellous Marvin Monday

 My sister chose this photo for today's Marvellous Marvin Monday:

The story:

Marvin is lying in front of the screen door humming songs about lying on the floor with the sun on his back.  

"You, you light  up my life, you give me...no, no, no, that's not it, what song am I thinking of?  Hmm, oh, oh, I  got it I,  I got it."

Marvin looks up at Mom who is in the kitchen and hums, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy..."

"What, Mom, don't pet me, you're blocking my sunshine!, Ah, did you think I was humming to you, and you were my 'sunshine'? Sorry."  

Marvin puts his head back down but Mom can hear him humming "you are my sunshine..." as she goes through the screen door.

Marvin thinks "She sat down in the sun with a drink and a book. She's got more sun than I do.  She will be out there forever!" 

"Mom! Hey Mom! Can I come sit in the sun with you? I was joking. You really are my sunshine!"

Hubby took this picture, so it is very possible that I was out on the deck and Marvin was less than pleased about it.

If this isn't enough Marvin for you, you can follow him on Instagram.  He's @marvinmeowmeow.

Back Soon

Thought I'd let you all know that I'm extending my blog break.  I missed sharing here, and was feeling ready to return, but the talent* was injured in an unfortunate incident involving a malfunctioning wheelchair.

She's recuperating, but would like a bit longer for her texting wrist to heal. 

I don't mind waiting for my sister to recover.  We finally have some summer weather here.  I'll take the extra time away from my keyboard to enjoy it.

See you all soon!

*In spite of her wrist injury, my sister still managed participate in the writing of this post.

Blog Break

Just a quick note to let you know I'll be away from the blog for a few days.  See you next week.

Farm Life

Spent the morning out at Sleeping Cougar Acres.  Hope to see you here tomorrow for a slightly delayed Throwback Thursday.

Writers Writing about Writing

There never seems to be enough time in my day for writing, so when I do manage to carve out a few minutes, I'd rather write than read about writing.

Lately, though, thanks to Firefly Creative Writing, I'm writing regularly. Their Morning Coffee Sessions mean I'm up with a pen in my hand three days a week.  I've enjoyed my scribbling so much that I decided to take the plunge and sign up for one of Firefly's beginner workshops.  Now that I'm more confident in my commitment to write, I feel like there might be room to read about writing.

Natalie Goldberg and Anne Lamott are names that come up again and again.  Both have books about writing, so I splurged and placed an order with my local bookshop.  The books arrived last week.  Neither book has opened yet, but I'm already enjoying them.  There should be a word that sums up the delightful anticipation of opening a brand-new book.

White Heart

Delicate flowers growing up through a thorny barberry bush to create a heart for passersby.  I'm sure that must be a metaphor for something.

Marvellous Marvin Monday

My sister chose this photo for today's Marvellous Marvin Monday:

She thinks Marvin is saying:

"Hey! Hey, you there! Hey you, up here on MY deck! Who do you think you are? Just who do you think you are sitting there, looking at me, looking at you, looking at me!!! SHOO!!!"

That sums up Marvin's attitude toward visitors in his yard quite accurately.

If this isn't enough Marvin for you, you can follow him on Instagram.  He's @marvinmeowmeow.

Meal Plan - August 2 - 8

It's BC Day Long Weekend.  I don't actually know what we are celebrating, but an extra day off is always appreciated.  

Simple meals again this week.  Lots of salads.  A few mystery meals.  L at Sleeping Cougar Acres has invited me out to "shop" in her garden.  I don't know what I'll be bringing home, so a few meals are up-in-the-air until after my visit.

This week's recipes:

Tuna Melt: This will be the first recipe I try from The Tinned Fish Cookbook.  I pre-ordered it from our local bookstore months ago.  It arrived just in time to go back to work, so I haven't spent a lot of time with it.  Tuna melt seems like a good place to start, though I won't be making the home-made ketchup to go with it.  

Cauliflower Salad: I'm using this recipe, though I will likely substitute green onion for the pickled red onion.  And no, it's not because of the recent salmonella outbreak.  It's because I have green onions that need to be used up.

Pasta with Butternut Squash Pesto: There are still a couple of jars of squash pesto left in my freezer from last fall.  Time to use it up before this year's squash are ready.

Chili Dogs:  I was able to freeze two small jars of chili after last Sunday's meal.  Just enough for chili dogs!  Veggies will depend on what follows me home from Sleeping Cougar Acres.

??:  This meal will also depend on the what's in season out at Sleeping Cougar Acres.  

(Note:  I don't get anything for the links above.  They're there for your information.  Hope you find them useful.)