I have been away from the blog for too long. A friend asked me what happened ? Answer…. it is way too easy here at times. I can go anywhere and have a great dinner or lunch of any cuisine. I know, a bad excuse. I have missed the cooking, perhaps I just needed the break, while settling back into our life in the states. I don’t know? I hope to be a bit more active on the blog though in the future. Recently finding out our daughter has type 2 diabetes may be the inspiration to get going on this blog again. I want her to be able to enjoy the food she eats, as well, as make sure that it is healthy for her.
Let me tell you what we have been up to most recently. Hubby has been on sabbattical for several weeks this summer. We have been doing a lot of work around the house and in the garden. Hubbies latest project was to build a new pool shed, that houses the heater, pumps and various other pool equipment. Thanks to the help of my Dad and his skills the two of them have it complete. The electrician was here wiring and fitting new boxes and a light inside the shed. Everything is as it should be now all up to code. My next big project is to paint it. The roofers will be here later this week, putting a new roof on the house and they will roof the shed too.
We have been working, hard but we also have taken some time out to have a little vacation. We went to Victoria BC in Canada for a week. The last time hubby and I were there was for our honey moon 26 years ago. It was cool to see it again after so many years. While we were there we took a whale watching excursion on a Zodiac a tiny boat that seats 13 people including the captain. This was very cool! We saw several whales and one even swam under our boat and popped up on the other side! The whales are beautiful creatures. If you have the chance to visit that area definitely do the whale watching, you won’t be disappointed. We used Orca Spirit for our whale watching excursion. We also visited The Butchart Gardens and had a lovely, Afternoon tea for lunch. This was very girly, but the boys enjoyed it too. Another must see if you are in Victoria BC.
We have been enjoying the abundance of fresh berries that our local farms grow. We have made several batches of jams this Summer. Strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, black and blue berry some sugar free and some with sugar. We have also been freezing the berries so we can enjoy them over the winter months ahead.
Here are a few photos of jam making and our trip to Victoria BC.
My helper
Hard at work mixing the berries and sugar.
Strawberry freezer jam
There be whales here!
lots of whales!
Butchart Gardens
The legislative assembly building
another part of Butchart Gardens
