I'm Far Away in England!!

I am at this  very  moment  sitting on a bed in a hotel in a town in the Cotswolds  called Chipping Norton, taking advantage  of the free wifi. We passed on the idea of sitting in a restaurant and eating some kind of creative nouveau artistic over priced food in favor of grabbing a pizza and two cokes from the local pizza/kabob place and eating it in our room instead. It was delicious and economical. Hubby's got an episode of Top Gear on the television and all is right with the world.

We arrived in England via the Gatwick  Airport on Friday  morning. We got our little rental car and Hubby did quite well navigating on the opposite side of the road. Nothing,  however could have prepared us for the "Fresh Hell" that was  the M 25 which is the highway that essentially goes around  London. We kept thinking the stop and go traffic was  due to construction or an accident, but it was neither.

We thought we would do better  once we got off that highway and onto the M 3 but alas that was not to be. The only ones who were  making any headway  were the motorcycle drivers  who whipped between the cars.

We had prebooked our first night back home but when we finally made it to the town and then found the hotel, we discovered  they didn't have anything under our name. It was a bit of a relief actually because the place was filthy dirty, tired, and seemed to be the gathering place for an assortment of interesting individuals, so off we went to find a different spot for the night. This took a long time but we ended up in Chippingham. We were utterly exhausted due to not having slept since two nights prior and driving so long. We were very happy  to be sleeping that night.

The next day ( Saturday) was wonderful starting off after a full English breakfast  and going to Castle Combe. There is just too much to write about, but I will include a picture and a promise of another  post soon.

This is the magnificent manor house at Castle Combe which was built in the 1300's, I think. No, it's  not where  we  stayed, but you can, for the right amount of money!

More later...

Ugly Shoes

It's been a long time since I've worn heels of any considerable height. When I was a teen / early twenty-year-old, I could traipse around in pumps, dance even. Now I don't get much over two inches of heel height, if that!

I am trying to decide which shoes I should bring to the Cotswolds. I know tons of people do the whole walking tour of the Cotswolds, but we are renting a car and can drive anywhere we want to go, so it's not like we need hiking boots. As well, I don't think we are going to be doing "fine dining", so I don't feel the need to bring dressy shoes and dress clothes (a relief, really!).

I was out looking for comfy shoes and had heard that Skechers are a good choice. The first pair of Skechers that I was considering looked like a two-tone light brown pair that were a bit like topsiders, but they just weren't quite right. Another pair was too tight in one size and too loose in the next size up. They did not have a half size. Then when I went into an athletic store with my daughter, I found a pair. They are called Skechers Go walk 3. They had them in the half size, and so they fit perfectly. I am not used to how these feel, like you are walking on a mattress. Normally I'm not great in squishy shoes, they make my knee ache after a while, but these are different. They aren't just squishy in the heel, they are squishy everywhere. I quite liked them. Then my sixteen year old son saw them, and with an exaggerated "Nice shoes, Mom", I started to question my shoe choice.

You tell me... are these ugly?

They feel like slippers. Do I in fact, look like I just walked off the ward without signing myself out?


And just when you thought you might be sporting ugly footwear, you check out these...

I always hated Birkenstocks. I thought they were just too earthy/hippy for me and the idea of wearing socks and sandals makes me ill. Instead of the Birkenstocks that are the two strap over the top of the foot kind, I tried these. Ta Daaaa!! Totally so much better. I can just hear my mother saying, "How can you stand those things between your toes???" I find these very comfortable and I've been living in them since I bought them for myself as a Mother's Day present. They are perfectly worn in and conform to my feet.

So, I guess what I'm saying is I will be bringing two butt ugly pairs of shoes to England with me. Fashion is not my main concern. I'm going for comfort.

Let's see what other ugly shoes are out there on the "Interweb":

Do you remember this little pieces of sweaty jellified plastic we used to wear when we were young?

Ahhh, yes, the Earth shoe. Who decided it was more comfortable to have your heel lower than your toes, in an attempt to stretch out your Achilles tendon, or your hamstring, or both??

Lord help me, I'm probably destined for these. My poor old grandmother had a few pairs like this, hers often padded in different sections with Elastoplast and moleskin.

My apologies to those of you who wear and enjoy these. I think they are really quite awful and they would be like wearing flippers on my narrow feet. Shrek feet, anyone?

Then there's these. I think my Skechers are better than these.

33, feels like 33

The weather that I check online tells you what the current temperature is, then it tells you what it feels like. It does that because when we have humidity, which we often do, trapped in our little Great Lakes basin, it feels warmer than it actually is.

In the winter, we get the temperature, and then the "feels like" due to wind chill, which often makes it feel colder than it really is. So it's generally all a big lie.

But right now, at 6:54 p.m. it is 33 degrees, and it feels like 33 degrees (Celsius, of course). It is very hot. I do not mind, but when I admit that it is hot, it really is hot, because I do not complain about the heat.

I've driven past the same corn fields four times today and corn does a weird thing in extreme heat, with little to no rainfall. It gets upright and pointy. It makes me think it looks more like sugar cane than corn. In fact, it is already turning brown. I don't know what effect it will have on the yield for the farmers, but it is very pointy corn. I should have pulled over and taken a picture.

Today I went to a new physiotherapist who does acupuncture. She was great, very thorough, asking all kinds of questions, having me do all kinds of movement tests, assessing this, and checking that. I had my first acupuncture treatment today. I've had acupuncture before and this session didn't even register on the uncomfortable meter. I am hopeful it will help with the pain in my lower back and hips, as I am also doing different stretching and strengthening exercises. If you ever consider having acupuncture, be reassured that it is NOT the same as getting a needle, or having blood drawn, or any such thing. Needles don't really bother me as long as I don't watch. My friend is a pharmacist and now in Ontario, pharmacists are trained to give needles. They administer flu shots. She has given me my flu shot for the past couple of years. I would much rather receive a flu shot than give one.

Tonight for supper, I made sausage on the barbecue, a tossed salad, and corn on the cob. This is the first corn on the cob we have had this summer. It was o.k. but lacked a really good taste. I bought it at Walmart for very cheap (I know... for shame... I should be buying locally grown, just picked this morning corn). Now that I have eaten Walmart corn, I will definitely be buying local. There are a lot of farms in my general area that sell vegetables at the road side, or at the very least on their property. Many of them are Mennonite, or Amish. There is one place that is quite a big production, with orchards and lots of vegetable gardens. They also sell butter tarts road side. Do you know how many times I have wanted to hit the breaks, squeal my way into a 180 and go back for those butter tarts??? But I haven't done it yet. (Remember, I'm the one that does not believe that desserts can be too sweet or too rich).

A week from now we go on our England trip. We are so low key about it right now. I don't know why we aren't crazy excited, or laying out clothes, or creating lists, or any of those things. I think it is because my husband it knee deep in creating this bathroom upstairs where there never was a bathroom and it is so detailed and time consuming. I did buy an umbrella that is small enough to tuck away, and a new carry-on piece of luggage because one of ours is suffering a bit from tropical trips and is ripping on one side. Unlike Mexico, I do not think we can get away with one carry-on each and nothing else. I think we will each have our carry-on plus one other piece of luggage. I am looking forward to a trip on which there won't be a language barrier. To get ready for this trip, my husband keeps joking (I hope) that he is going to practise driving on the other side of the road. Lookout!!

cake and sweet treats

I planted four zucchini plants in my garden. One died. Two shriveled up, but with lots of water, they are growing more leaves, although they still have a ways to go. The fourth zucchini plant thrived and is producing. So what's a girl to do? Make cake.

Four cups of shredded zucchini, along with some other ingredient are about to be mixed together.

I know a lot of people probably have online recipes and things saved in "favourites", but I'm still old fashioned. Even if I save a recipe from some place on the internet, if I like it, I will still write it up on a recipe card. I wish I could give credit to someone for this recipe, but I can't remember from where I got it.

I made it into two cakes this time, instead of one big 9 x 7 pan. I froze the little one to have on hand, just in case. This cake doesn't get iced. Cakes that you don't put icing on, and that you eat while still warm remind me of Duncan Hines Snack n Cakes. Do you remember those? My mother would keep one or two boxes on hand for a quick fix.

The cake ends up being pretty moist and dense. Without the chocolate chips, it would be rather boring and not too sweet at all, so I always add the chocolate chips. I remember my in-laws always saying about dessert, "Well, you wouldn't want it too sweet." And I would be thinking in my head, "Actually, that's exactly how you would want it. Isn't dessert supposed to be sweet??" Honestly, I don't think I've met a dessert that wasn't "too sweet"!!

I have a serious sweet tooth. My drug of choice is almost always chocolate, my favourite being chocolate covered almonds, or peanuts. The other night, we were in town because the husband and I had to look at some things at Home Depot for the bathroom that is now/still under construction (remember that??), and then he went to Princess Auto where he likes to be alone, so the kids and I went to a dollar store type place and got some treats. My son chose Nibs. If you don't know what Nibs are, they are little bite sized red pieces of licorice. But they taste like all of the most horrible cherry flavoured cough syrup moments you have ever had. He kept trying to tempt me to eat one. I can't even stand the smell of them. I told him I would only eat one if I was in a life and death situation, where I would most certainly die if I didn't eat one. Only then, would I eat a Nib.

It's funny how people have different tastes and preferences when it comes to treats and desserts. My daughter was remembering how when we were at my parents' home (Grandma and Grandpa) my father would offer them candy and she always wanted the blue one (and at this point, my son chimed in with the same sentiment) and she would always try it, and it would always be the same disappointment. She was talking about Licorice Allsorts, my father's favourite candy. The 'blue ones' were the little bead covered candies that were jellified licorice (i.e. black licorice flavour) on the inside. Both kids ended up laughing over that shared memory of childhood letdown. Oh, how they suffered...

Around the Yard

Some people are griping about the heat, but honestly I would like to be able to soak it up and store it for January. I've been kind of a lazy blogger lately, not a great deal going on, so I thought I would just walk around the yard and see what's what. (How's that for excitement??)

First stop is the back porch where I have this planter filled with creeping jenny, fuschia, some sort of whispy white filler, and impatients. It is very soft and feminine. If you look past the porch, you can see the yellow crispy grass / weeds that is our lawn. We got rain a couple of nights ago which filled up the buckets under the downspouts, but wasn't enough to bring the lawn out of dormancy.

My little vegetable garden is coming along pretty well. I have used  soaker hoses, but had to narrow it down to just one because the other one blew a substantial hole in it. When a soaker hose has a big hole, the rest of the hose, farther down the line doesn't drip much water at all. I tried fixing the hole with $10 "super tape" (or whatever it was called) and the super tape was not so super. So far the only harvest I have had is one zucchini and one cucumber.

This cucumber plant is growing up my rabbit fence. The picture may not show it perfectly, but this cucumber is growing around the wire, with a dent in it.

Oh dear. That one seems to have been hiding on me. I don't usually like to wait until the zucchini are that big! Stuffed? Grate it for zucchini bread? I don't have one of those neat "spiralizer" gadgets that people now use because real spaghetti is the devil.  (Oh ya, on that note, no I am not gluten free anymore. The pain of inflammation is most definitely still there, gluten or no gluten.I think I just must have a broken tailbone that every medical professional seems to have missed, or maybe I am growing a tail...)

While I was out at my garden I heard a pitiful meow. That is Scooter in the bathroom window. I guess he was all done drinking from the toilet. (No, I don't condone this.)

One last vegetable garden shot. I have had the worst luck with tomatoes for the last two years, so it is wonderful that this year's crop seems to be doing fine and there is promise of lovely, warm, right off the vine tomatoes. (Husband and I could eat toasted tomato sandwiches 'til we scrape the skin right off the roofs of our mouths).

Next stop, the shed. These planters are doing very well. Creeping jenny is just so nice, isn't it? The window boxes were inspired by a trip to Prince Edward Island years ago. I saw so many pretty window boxes as well as shrub/ perennial borders. The cast iron urns (there is a matching one) are from ages ago and have had different locations on our property over the years.

Oh how I love crocosmia!! They look so exotic and tropical. They grow in a perennial bed that I call "the hot bed" because the colours are "hot" (oranges, reds, fuschias...) and it is showy at the hottest time of the summer (now).

This is part of the hot bed with daylilies and Echinacea. I love how the middle of the Echinacea (purple cone flower) matches the orange of the daylilies.

These are daylilies growing by a pale peachy coloured potentilla. I've thought many times of ripping that potentilla out because it is rather boring, but then it blooms and I just don't have the heart.

Here is a sad picture. This is one of our maple trees that we had planted several years ago. It is quite a big tree now, although it is hard to tell in the picture. It is dying. Barely any leaves came out in the spring and the ones that are there are drying up and dropping off the tree. We had this happen to another maple a few years ago. I don't know what's wrong, but it always makes me sad to lose a tree. The only thing I have noticed are a lot of chipmunk holes in the ground. Surely chipmunks cannot be responsible for killing a tree?!?

On a happier note, my pretty cherub planter is doing well beside the lichen covered bench. It is very close to the little arbour that is covered now with trumpet vine.

These are orange trumpet vine flowers (along with red begonia in the hanging pot and the last of the fluffy smoke bush). It took YEARS for this trumpet vine to actually bloom. My neighbour planted one and it is blooming profusely! Hers is more out in the open, so maybe sunlight is an issue.

We went into town to get a power adaptor/converter for when we go to England in August and changed some money over into pounds. Tonight my son's soccer team plays in a town about 40 minutes away, so we will have an early supper and head over there. Soccer goes from May until August. Those first few evening games in May are often a bit chilly and parents will wrap themselves in blankets, sitting on their lawn chairs to watch. Now when we watch home games, we are all wearing sunglasses, blinded by looking to the west as the sun beats down on the players, making sure everyone gets their water breaks. It's very enjoyable watching these games as they are age 16 and under players. There is a lot of skill and action to the games now. When our kids first started playing soccer at about four or five years of age, the players would run as a pack, or a swarm. My daughter picked clover and held hands with other little girl players as they ran down the field. It's a whole different game now, as many of the players are old enough to shave!!

I hope everyone is having a great July, and for us Canadians, don't complain about the heat. It will be winter soon enough!

Just Hangin' A Round

This is what my daughter saw when she went to wash her hands in the bathroom yesterday.

Just in case you want to see it again...

Perfect fit.  (Purr-fect fit?)

A Week Without Gluten, How It's Going

Today marks a full week without gluten (knowingly, anyway). Quite frankly, I feel kinda gross. My stomach is protesting, I feel a bit nauseous, and yesterday I was sort of spinny and weird. (How's that for a specific description?) I have NO idea if this is what they call gluten detoxing or not. It could just be some virus, or it could be my body feeling the ramifications of no gluten.

Rice cakes and I are good friends. I did have oatmeal with berries and yogurt, but it did not specifically say it was processed in a wheat free facility. That would probably cost me an extra $5.00! Because I am not dealing with celiac disease, I can live with the legal disclaimer of "may contain wheat". I have not had a single piece of bread, bun, muffin, pasta, or bowl of regular cereal. My gluten free birthday cake was lovely. We've been eating our way through it for the last couple of days. When I am at home, it is not difficult to be gluten free.

It was a little different, however, when a friend of mine took me out for lunch. There were so many wonderful meal choices that involved a bun, a slice of bread, pasta, or even a bit of gravy (I was contemplating the pulled pork, but it was served with gravy and cheese curds and I figured the gravy was thickened with wheat flour). Instead I had white fish and risotto. My friend had macaroni and cheese with bacon served in a little cast iron skillet.

I do not feel any more energetic, I have no change with joint pain, and I haven't lost any weight (but the extra birthday wine and cake certainly wouldn't allow for that). I am going to go for one more full week without gluten and then decide if it is worth it for me. The turmeric which I have incorporated into my supplements hasn't helped with the joint pain, either, but I am willing to keep that up until the bottle is empty.

I have never felt that gluten caused me any digestive distress, so I wasn't expecting any changes with that (even though now my stomach hurts when I eat!), but I was hoping to feel a bit more energetic and just overall "well". I also believe it is too soon to fully assess, so I will continue. Anybody out there try to go gluten free and have similar (or different) experiences?