Tulip in my garden.

Griffin's Menus

Dinners with Griffin are fun.  But before dining with him, it is important to understand a few things.  Don't ask him to dine on ordinary foods, like Bacon, Roast Beef or potatoes.  Not for an awesome boy like Griffin.  Here's a legend so far:

Bacon = Snake Tongues

Roast Pork = Dragon Meat

Baked Ham = Roasted Monkey Butt

Chicken Cordon Swiss = Camel Humps

Chicken Thighs = Frogs

Ham and Pea Soup = Turtle Soup

Turkey Soup = Dragon Soup

Cabbage = Green boogerberry

Raw Cauliflower = White boogerberry
Roasted Cauliflower = Boy Brains
Mashed potatoes = Mashed Boy Brains
Brussel sprouts = Frog eggs

I never know what I am serving until he lets me know.

Now here he is with a steaming plate of Coyote Pie.  It is chock full of coyote meat, and topped with a golden "coyote skin" crust.  Bet you wish you could have some too!

I filled the casserole with chopped vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, potatoes, onions, mushrooms), heated up the leftover gravy and added milk (if I had cream I would have used it).  I cut leftover meat into small pieces.  Made up pastry, rolled it out and put it on top.  I bake it in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes (until crust is golden).  Coyote pie!

Hanna celebrating the day.

Ladybug doing good work on my roses.

When kitties attack...

Too dark, and not in focus, but I love the pose.  Cap'n Crunch is innocently playing with a piece of straw when  Bullet lept out from under the table.

View from the Glenora Ferry.  Took the long way home from football so that Griffin could ride on the ferry.

Daffodils

Azaleas

Stairway family gallery.

Campbell turns 12!

Easter decor

Easter decor

Easter Sunday Dinner

Menu
Broccoli Salad
Spinach Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries
Scalloped Potatoes 
Ham
Steamed Asparagus
Roasted Leg of Lamb
Angel Food Cake with Fresh Berries
Lemon Meringue Pie

Griffin and Bullet

Good Friday dinner

I forgot to take a photo of the roasted cauliflower before it was gone.

While making laundry soap, I suddenly realized what was so familiar about my new kitchen paint colour.

Captain Crunch and Bullet.  

Hanna and snuggly Captain Crunch.

Griffin and Bullet.  Bullet doesn't look thrilled, but he does seem to like his rides.

Captain Crunch loves to snuggle with Puck.  Puck doesn't care either way.

See, even 3 year olds feeding kittens have the "open mouth response".  Can you spoonfeed a baby without opening your mouth?  

Hello Bullet.

Opening of a beaver lodge right next to Matt's shop.

Hanna

Beautiful, on an old tree stump.

Brothers on the trail.

Big boy playing

A lovely view of the graveyard (an actual graveyard, that our neighbour has scattered his junk all over).  Smoke rises above the woods.

Silly boy.  

Reminds me of another boy I know.

Lunch

Doesn't that look good?  Today I didn't have much in the fridge for lunch for Griffin and I.  Among all of the empty jam jars and single pickles in otherwise empty jars, I did have was 2lb of bacon, 6 bunches of green onions, milk, and 18 eggs.  So I made a frittata.  It would have been even better with some cheese, but I used what I had.  And I would have prefered to cook in my huge cast iron skillet, but I was cooking for two.  Griffin and I listened to the birds singing outside our sunny dining room while we ate this.  Life is good!  Here's what I did:

Bacon and Green Onion Frittata

1/2 lb bacon
8 green onions
6 eggs
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 400F
Grease a 9" glass pie plate with butter.
Chop about green onions, scatter on bottom of greased pie plate.
Chop cooked bacon and toss in with onions.
Put pie plate into oven and whisk eggs with milk.  Stir salt in.
Remove pie plate from oven, pour egg mixture over top of bacon and onions.
Put into oven for approximately 15 minutes, until egg is set.

Messy house

Hanna had a rough morning and missed the school bus.  Eventually she put her smile on and Griffin and I took her to school.  Since we were in town we decided to go to the garden centre and pick up some strawberry seedlings, a flat of pansies and a huge bag of dirt.  It was a beautiful day and the drive back to our house was beautiful.  I could see daffodils starting to bloom in some ditches and the green shoots of daylilies were starting underneath everybody's mailboxes.  My chatterbox kept going in the back seat.

Griffin:  Mommy, are all the kids at school now?
Me: Yes.
Griffin: You mean Hanna, and Patrick, and Damon and Campbell and Bubba?
Me: Yes, all of them.
Griffin: My house going to be empty? I don't like my house to be empty.  I like a messy house.
Me: Messy?  You like a messy house?
Griffin:  No, no, not MESSY.  Messy with PEOPLE.

I couldn't do anything but grin the rest of the way home.

Top guns

My own personal airshow, jets, planes and helicopters all training over my house!  This jet is VERY far away, I am totally impressed that with my zoom lens and careful focusing, I can make out the pilot's head.

First day of Spring!

Daffodils

An awesome big sister.  She was so proud that she had taught Hanna to ride without training wheels!

The boys needed something to aim for, so Matt fixed the basketball hoop.

Cleo, Ameraucana hen

Hello Outdoor Soccer!

Campbell trains.

Some dinosaur.

Griffin, watching a movie.

Kira

I wonder who peed in her cornflakes?

Cousin Molly.

Little bird in the apple trees.

Military planes practicing over my house.

Damon and his team win the finals!

Wanting to come inside after a roll in the mud.

Hanna getting ready for Crazy Hair Day.

Hanna's sandwich (she begged me to take a photo of it)

Hanna put together this ensemble (I have purple sparkles all over my house) and Charlie, who usually avoids the camera, was bedazzled by the pants.