Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The View From Here

After 25 years of being 'Cubicle Farmers' (office workers) Mr Bear and I can now enjoy the fruits of our labours and work in our Outside Office /Crafting Area when the weather is as glorious as this.
Looking up towards our hill,  I can see the himalayan blackberries are ripening (must pick soon), the waving purple heads of my heirloom Stones lavender (must harvest soon) and the maples slowing turning gold in the forest next door. The fountain is chuckling away to itself, the emerald hummingbird has been buzzing me and the birds are flitting back and forth between fir tree and feeder.
Every once in a while a large shadow flies overhead: it is one of the many bald eagles who nest nearby, they like to give me  a loud 'scree' to tell me they are hunting.
I think the most joy of all of this, is knowing that when lunchtime is over, I do not have to return to a canned air building shared with 5000 people and 21 floors of angst. Mr Bear feel similarly blessed, he gleefully tells his long distance co workers that his 'commute' is from breakast table to home office: a distance of 5 seconds.
Yes we feel very lucky to have this: but we worked butts off to get to this place, mhake no mistake.
We knew moving to the southern end of Vancouver Island meant bringing our business clients with us and we did.
There is an old saying that you 'make your own luck' in this world,  Yes indeedy Quail Hill is proof of that.
Blessngs of an Outside Office / Crafting Area be yours, now or in your future!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A Fountain of Flowers

My Fountain is currently overflowing with Flowers of Friendship.
Ms P had brought these for me; an entire basketload of Stargazer lilies, hidden under wet napkins to keep them fresh on the drive over.
She works as a gardener for a lady whose garden is blessed with an abundance of these fragrant ladies.
And I, lucky friend, get to have a share of the bounty!

This 'well dressing' is in honour of the two Fountains in France which inspired us to have one put in here at Quail Hill: the first was at a bar, appropriately called Bar De La Fontaine, where we had the most delicious Fresh Omelettes ever made, slightly runny inside with a side order of a caesar salad and served with warm slices of baguette.
(I do not know if I was taking pictures of the food at that time, I just know that in future I will do so!).

Tthe other was in the town square of Uzes, called Place Aux Herbes, where only on Market days, (being mindful of water conservation) does the water flow.
.
Blessings of joyful water splashing in fountains be yours.





Monday, July 29, 2013

Shh Dont tell anyone but I actually..


BAKED SOMETHING this morning!
It's not my fault, by the way; the Domestic Goddess Gene (DGG) surfaced bright and early and WOKE me even before my eyes were open!
It all started when Mr Bear brought home a large bag containing dark luscious fully ripe shiny cherries and plonked them down on the kitchen counter.

Over the last few days we had been feasting on them and their numbers were dwindling..
So The DGG woke me at the crack of birdchirp with the words, 'cherry clafoutis'.
Cherry whaa?  I mumbled?
CHERRY CLAFOUTIS - look it up,
Can I have coffee first? I pleaded.
Make it snappy, she said, tappng her foot - Time and Cherries Wait For No Woman.

So I struggled out of bed, made coffee on autopilot, threw some dishes in the dishwasher, raced out to catch the recycler truck, (got a hug for my efforts from my sanitation engneer) unplugged the fountain so it would trickle with joy once more, filled the birdfeeder, looked up the recipe on youtube, whonked together the ingredients, shoved it into the oven and forty minutes later:
TA DA!
I had created a wonderful what to do with those cherries that would have disappeared if you hadn't grabbed them, kind of breakfast brunch dessert like thing.
It's bound to become a family favourite.
Blessings of Ripe Cherries be yours (before the racoons or deer get them)