Monday Moanings - May 18, 2015

Victoria Day Weekend 2015

A 3 day stretch of bbq's, gardens, and fireworks as the folks in these parts celebrate not so much the late great grand queen, as the first long weekend of the summer season. Also known as the May TWO-FOUR weekend, which more and more seems to refer to a case of beer rather than a day in May. This is the weekend that garden centres, hardware stores and gas companies get really excited about as winter weary Ontarians dig out the planting gear and drive to the garden centre to buy bedding plants; haul out the lawn mower and drive to the hardware store to get parts to make it work; and/or drive up to the cottage then drive to the hardware store and garden centre to get parts and plants. Oh, and beer. There's got to be beer. The Two-Four, remember? Wine is also permissible, red is preferable.

And Mother Nature has delivered up a cracker of weekend. Saturday and Sunday offered up a taste of summertime with blues skies and warm temperatures. Perfect for burgers and beer. Oh and yes, yard work! The electric lawnmower has been rolled out of the shed for the first time this season and its whirling blade did a nice number on both the front and side yards. Two of the 40V lithium ion batteries were not quite up to the task but I'm happy to report that the other two picked up the slack and no trip to hardware store was required. I did head out to the garden centre where I bought two hanging baskets of begonias and two containers of geraniums. These all can be sheltered should frost make another appearance as it did this past Thursday morning.

Original artistry rendered  by Jack Frost, May 14, 2015.

Today, morning clouds have given way to more sunshine, but a shawl of humidity hangs in the air. Still it is comfortably warm and breezy. I'm going to harvest the rhubarb, make a rhubarb crisp for dessert tonight and get a few pies into the freezer.

Queen Victoria painted by Andrew Melville in 1845
(public Domain)

And just what would the old Queen think of all this? Gary Toffoli of the Royal Royal Heritage Trust, says that,

"In Victoria's time there was, I think, more a sense of communal celebrations...the idea of coming together and having giant picnics with hundreds of thousands of people,"

Well we have the celebration part down pat, so I'd like to think she would be pleased. And May 24 is also the official celebration of Queen Elizabeth's birthday in Canada (It's celebrated in June in England, even though ER II was actually born in April. Go figure!). So banish the moaning, break out the cake and candles along with the gardening equipment, burgers and beer. Light up the sky with shooting stars and roman candles.

Three cheers for Victoria and Elizabeth. 

                Hip Hip Hooray!

                Hip Hip Hooray!

                Hip Hip Hooray!

©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - June 30, 2014

Where is everybody?

Is this really Monday, the top of a new week? That's what I'm wondering.

There's something quite odd about today. As I drove into town this morning I passed the GO train commuter parking lot. The twenty or so cars looked awfully lonely amidst such vast open space. Had  normal Monday moanings and groanings blossomed into a flu bug of epidemic proportions? Further along my route several signs blinked out warnings of delays due to roadwork. "Be prepared to STOP." was also prominent. I eased my foot back on the accelerator as the car crested a hill. Not a bulldozer or grader in sight, no flag gals or guys, not a single worker. All MIA!

Had my aging brain farted, blowing me into Monday when it really was still only Sunday? The traffic volume supported that theory and for a moment or three I wondered just how successful, or embarrassing, this trip into town was going to be. Undaunted I moved ahead (actually what really happened was that there was no convenient place to turn around, so I kept on going). I was rewarded for my perseverance - all the stores were open and not only was parking easy, shopping and checkout were a breeze. No bumping into other carts, no jockeying for position at the checkout and no waiting! I was into town and back home in record time, little more than an hour.

But, where is everybody? Wimbledon playing tennis with the best? Brazil for the World Cup? The cottage, having snagged a four day weekend from a generous employer? Or taking day to prepare for Canada Day celebrations tomorrow? Count me in for that one!

The trip into town behind me, I can say that I've got a couple of nice thick Alberta Beef steaks for the BBQ, Ontario corn on the cob and potatoes from Prince Edward Island. There's fresh pastry made with Saskatchewan wheat and butter from Quebec in the fridge. Tomorrow that pastry will encase rhubarb from my garden combined with local Ontario strawberries for a grand pie to be topped with whipped cream. There will be Creemore Pilsner and Ontario wine in Canada colours - 2 red: Kew Vineyards 2011 Pinot Noir & Vineland Estates 2010 Cabernet Franc, 1 white: Tawse Winery 2010 Riesling.



Canada - 147 years young tomorrow. My Canada is my home with four wonderful seasons, each one offering its share of glorious days along with a few clunkers;

with awesome landscapes of mountains, lakes, forests and prairies;

with architecture in cityscapes that incorporate the old and the new along with green space too;

with so many diverse cultures to enrich and inspire each one of us to be who we were born to be.

But don't just take my word for it, have a look at how other Canadians describe this land: Canada Day 2014: My Canada is...

Happy Birthday Canada!

fotolia.com

©2014 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - May 15, 2014

There's no place like home.

The refrain began soon after the plane began its final approach to Toronto's Pearson International Airport last Thursday afternoon. A month before we had left behind piles of snow and frozen ponds to cruise the wonders of Asia. This adventure turned out to be a little more demanding than our usual world exploits, not only in terms of distance and itinerary, but also health. My lungs wheezed, sputtered and coughed in response to the poor air quality of a China in the midst of an industrial revolution fuelled almost entirely by coal. Not only was I ready to come home, I needed to come home. So there I sat on the plane, nose pressed against the window, searching for familiar landmarks, heart hungry for home. Eyes prickling, I rejoiced as a green, very green landscape emerged. A few familiar highways looped their way across the ground and beyond them, a clear, crisp horizon. There's no place like home!

A note from a friend encouraged me to re-enter my world gently, adjusting to time and space as body and soul permitted. I took this to heart and tried to keep my days back home low and slow. But through the fog of a twelve hour jet lag, lay Mother's Day. For the first time in several years I would actually be home for this celebration. Kids wanted to know what I wanted to do. DO? I didn't want to do anything. Supper out was suggested. My body groaned. I'd been eating out for a month.
"We'll be dining in," I said.
"We'll order in Chinese," they offered.
My innards contorted. I'd just spent the last two weeks eating Chinese. "No," I said. "I'll cook." I said.
"We'll help," they said.
And so it was. My kitchen and I soon remembered what good partners we are and Mother's Day was celebrated with the first BBQ of the season. Thick steak, lobster tails and potatoes - scortched but not charred - topped with sour cream and chives, a salad bowl brimming with crisp lettuces, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber and mushrooms all glistening with olive oil and splashed with basalmic. There's no place like home!

The rest of the week has unfolded, or not, as the spirit moved me, or not. I ambled through the forest once, breathing in the earthy air, daring to fully inflate my lungs. God, it felt good! My spirit rose to a profusion of trilliums, white trefoils waving in Spring delight. There were even a few purple ones - a very special gift. I strolled my own yard to take in the periwinkle in bloom, lily of the valley upstanding in their field and the promise of pies from the rhubarb patch. Even the happy gang - bright yellow dandelions - were a treat.

I've watched and listened to the birds this week. For the very first time, Baltimore Orioles have come to the feeders. The rose-breasted grosbeaks are back, along with the hummingbirds, and the gold finches have put on their summer yellows.

Best of all, last night as I put together a supper of grilled salmon and 'first of the season' asparagus (with butter & lemon), the sounds of a Spring sonata came through the open window. The splatter of rain drops and the trill of robins' song, together proclaiming,

There's no place like home!

Wild strawberries in my yard

p.s. For those wondering if there will be anymore stories and photos from our Asian Adventure on my travel blog, the answer is yes. Look for something early next week.

©2014 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - July 1, 2013

NO Moaning allowed today!

It's Canada Day

and

I am Canadian!

Today is for fun, food and family. 

On the menu today:

crostini with garlic scape pesto

Canadian Cheddar & Oka cheeses

balsamic glazed steak with rosemary, grilled to perfection on the bbq

potatoes with oregano butter

grilled zucchini, asparagus, peppers and mushrooms

Ontario Strawberries served over vanilla ice cream on grilled pound cake (homemade of course!) and topped with whipped cream.

And the wines: Peninsula Ridge 2011 Beal Vineyards Cabernet Rose & Thirty Bench 2009 Small Lot Pinot Noir

Today is for leisure, laughter and love.

All will be surrounded with pride and gratitude.

Thank you Canada!

Happy 146th Birthday!

© photowings - Fotolia.com