Grandmother Gets Home

What a trip I've had! I had planned to blog some photos along the way but loading them onto the iPad and blogging from the iPad was just more taking more time than I wanted to spend. It was more important that I pay attention to the sights I was seeing.

But I do want to share part of our trip. Spending a couple of weeks with daughter Jessica was a treat. Hope we get to do it again one day.

Peggy's Cove

Lunenburg

Halifax

I'll share some more later. When I can remember where the photos were made!

School Starts

While I'm on vacation, Mommy is the blogger today:

Mimi asked me to write a guest post today. While she and Jessica are visiting with the Canuks, Big Sister, Baby Sister, and I have been busy.

Big Sister had her sixth first day of school this week – her last first day of elementary school.  Mommy missed her second first day of school in 20+ years. (She missed her first last year due to Baby Sister’s arrival.)

For the first time ever, this family of four got to take Big Sister to school. (While teaching, Mommy arrived at school extra early for the first day, so Daddy got to do the honor by himself.)  Big Sister was nervous and excited. Mommy was nostalgic and bittersweet. Daddy and Baby Sister were sleepy from not usually getting up so early.

At 6:15 a.m. lunch was packed, school supplies were organized, notebooks were labeled, treats for Big Sister’s teachers were wrapped, and we were ready to go. Here’s to the best school year yet!

We had a lovely day in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Harbor sail, maritime museum visit, brewery tour, and a wonderful dinner. Ummm, crab bisque.

I guess the purpose of travel is to learn more about the world than the spot where you live. I had no clue of how Halifax was tied to the Titanic disaster. And I didn't remember that the Swissair 111 crash in 1998 happened just off the coast of Peggy's Cove. The people here have such a tradition of helping others. We've learned much about the rich history here as we've enjoyed the beautiful views.

Tomorrow we move on to Prince Edward Island.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Here In Halifax

Canada, Eh?

I wanted at least one great adventure before I get too old to have one. So this morning I'm posting from Nova Scotia. Jessica and I are here for a couple of days before heading to Prince Edward Island. Canada just might be the perfect place for my first passport use--a foreign country that isn't too foreign. I get to drive on the right side of the road and don't have to worry about another language. But the scenery is beautiful. The photos above were made at Peggy's Cove yesterday. And that is Jessica with her red scarf standing to the left of the lighthouse. I was so busy enjoying the view that I forgot to make a close-up photo.

Who knows, maybe I'll get the hang of this travel thing and we'll go again sometime. Time to go make a plan for today.


-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Party Time

It was a polka dot explosion! The birthday girl, who turned one a few days ago, had her big day today, surrounded by grandparents, aunts, an uncle, cousins, friends and her great-grandmother with whom she shares a name. Baby Sister was happy and in good humor all day--a remarkable accomplishment. By the very end, though, she was glad to let me take her upstairs. About 30 seconds in the rocking chair and she was sound asleep. And to be honest, I was kind of glad to sit down, too.

Happy birthday, Baby Sister! What a wonderful year I've spent with you. Love, Mimi

Having A Ball

When I went to baby sit yesterday afternoon, I found Baby Sister giving her new "ball pit" a test drive before it gets used at her party. I do believe it's a hit. It doesn't beep or sing or require batteries. And she loves it!

What's For Dinner?

My daughters have heard me say over and over, "The cooking is not as hard as the deciding WHAT to cook." So the nights you have that planned, everything goes better. But what if you've had one of those weeks when all your plans flew out the window. Or you didn't even have a plan.

Granddaddy will always say, "We can just go get something for supper." But we live in the country. Nearest town is tiny, so our choices are limited. If we don't want to eat at the same place again, I'd better see what I can fix quickly.

This is really written for the newer cook, 'cause I'm guessing we grandmothers who have cooked for years just do this without thinking. But you are "recipe dependent", it's time to venture out. Be brave. This all hinges on the fact that you keep a few things on hand to make a quick fix dinner possible. Let's just walk through my thinking a couple of nights ago.

No supper. It's nearly 7:00. We don't want the Greek/Italian menu again. Walk into the kitchen and survey what's in the refrigerator. I have turkey smoked sausage (good to keep on hand because it will keep in the  refrigerator for a good while), green pepper and a container of light Alfredo sauce. That's half way to dinner. The pantry has several boxes of pasta--all shapes and onions. And that's enough.

Here's what I did... Start boiling water for the pasta first because this takes longer than anything. Slice the peppers and onion and the smoked sausage. In a skillet brown the peppers and onion in a tablespoon or so of oil. After a couple of minutes add the sausage. Add the pasta to water as soon as it boils. Stir things around in the skillet until peppers and onions are tender and sausage is a little browned. Drain the cooked pasta and add pasta to skillet. Stir in Alfredo sauce. (I added some fresh basil because we had some in the garden.) That's it. Dinner is ready. That took about 15 minutes. That's quicker than we could have gone out. And the photo above is actually the leftovers we had again the next night.

Okay, you recipe followers---you could have used leftover cooked chicken instead of sausage. Or cooked a few cut up chicken tenderloins.  Shrimp, maybe? Or just use a mix of vegetables--broccoli, zucchini etc. You could have used mushrooms instead of peppers or in addition to peppers. It's basically pasta and Alfredo sauce with whatever you have on hand. The jarred Alfredo sauce is good, too and it can sit on the shelf beside the pasta for a long time--until you have one of those desperate nights.

Biggest tip? You need to start the water boiling for the pasta before you've even decided exactly what you are going to do. It just takes forever for a big pot of water to boil. My other tip is to keep some good rolls or bread in the freezer. My family would always think I had cooked a good dinner if there were good rolls on the plate. They smell so good baking that it makes everyone think you cooked!

Oh, one of my nicest surprises this week was to check in with a blog I enjoy and read that she was making my peach cobbler. Grammy, I hope it turned out yummy!