Getting my seeds organized and some yummy soup

Well my mum and I are planting our vegetable garden and have realized we both had a lot of duplicate packages of seeds and it was time to get them organized. So we combined collections and I got them organized in a photo box so we can easily see what we have and not keep buying the same seeds over and over.

All organized

Marked the box

Really 9 packs of radishes I like radishes as much as the next person but really.

Dante looking on clearly very enthusiastic about the whole process

      So besides that I made a very yummy vegetarian soup the other night with tofu in it. This is my second attempt at tofu, my mum and I gave it a go quite a few years ago and weren't impressed but I decided to give it another go and quite liked it this time. I'm trying to incorporate some vegetarian meals into the dinner rotation for various reasons.

Thai Coconut Soup not the prettiest soup in the world but it's very good. The one ingredient I couldn't get was lemon grass so I used the zest from one lemon and it seemed to do the trick.

 Also went for a walk with my mum the other day

Saskatoon berry lots of this guy around I'll have to see if I can find some good recipes to try.

Vanilla leaf apparently named for the leaves which have a vanilla scent and are often dried and used as a potpourri. Native Americans also used it as an insect repellant I may have to read more about that and give it a go there is a lot of it about.

Wild strawberry these get eaten up pretty fast I doubt I'll be quick enough to get any.

Robin eggs the chicks must be starting to hatch. Unfortunately it doesn't look good for our little eggs (bottom of the page) no sigh of mummy and daddy it seems they've been abandoned.

   Well bye for now hope everyone is starting to get some nice weather.

nail care set

A couple weeks ago I went to a fundraiser at our local drugstore that was raising money for breast cancer and ended up winning a really neat nail clipper set in a guess how many jelly beans draw.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at what a nice set it was everything works really well. It has a really nice set of tweezers in it which I'm sure you ladies know aren't always easy to come by.

So anyway I loved the case it's so funky but it needed to be more colorful so I used this Mr.Kate tutorial for painting a purse to try and spruce it up a bit and here it what I came up with.

It's no work of art but I like it it adds a nice bit of color

Here it is open a bit

For my wild rose design I looked up "wild rose coloring page" on google image and found this image here to use as a reference then free handed my design with black paint then filled it in with my colored paint 3 times and went over the black outline again again.

Here is my image ready to be filled in.

So there it is like I said no master piece or anything but I'm happy and I liked learning how to paint on vinyl.
 

A Shelf for my Beach stuff.

 The weather is really starting to warm up around here so I decided to paint a shelf to put my sea shells and what not on. I tried to do this a while back but the primer I used didn't adhere properly so I decided to wait until it warmed up to try again. It's a cheap piece with that plastic laminate stuff on it so I did some reading and found that the best primer to use is Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 which comes in a spray can or a brush on but the spray one seemed to be the recommended method. So anyway I sanded the old primer off and sprayed on the bulls eye. I chose a light blue spray paint for the top coat I actually wanted something even lighter but I got the lightest blue I could find and am actually quite happy with it. So anyway here it is.

Sorry I don't have a before picture I did take one but it was a while back now and I can't find it, it was all black before. The back was nailed on so I took it off when I painted the shelf and covered it with contact paper. I seen the technique in a magazine where they used wall paper and I think it looks really nice. 

This picture isn't the greatest the corner is quite dark, I'm actually quite happy it's so bright and cheery now the dark corner really needed to be brightened up. I'm happy to have somewhere to display all my sea shells and other oceany things.

Here is what I used, the bulls eye worked very well I'd say all together it was under $25.00.

I think it goes nicely with my pictures I made back in october from old magazines and thrifted frames.

Puddle Ducks

I went down to the local farmers market on Saturday. It is held at the harbor Quay and there where some interesting looking boats on the water, there was a small crowd gathered to watch so I decided to ask about them I was informed that they are called Puddle Ducks and they are small sailboats that can be built for under $300.00. They're going to have a race in August and they where out testing there handiwork. It is a project going on in town right now to get kids interested in building and sailing. I think it's a wonderful project I love to see kids getting involved in making things I think it can really build confidence. Anyway here are some photos..

This guy was the first one out

I noticed this small group and decided to go and ask what it was all about

The navy watching the proceedings, the man I talked to and I were wondering if they were there to scope out the next fleet of boats for the navy. I decided to go and ask what they where up to and found out that some of the local cadets are making these boats and they where there to support them, thank goodness I thought maybe the economy was in rougher shape than I thought.

Not much wind in the harbor they had to get there paddles out

 I thought this was for kids, ha ha.  I asked what they where made of and found it they are plywood with a tarp for the sail.

   Pretty cool stuff I'm exited to see the race in August. The farmers market was pretty good there was live music this time and a fair amount of tables, not as many as they get in the summer but I had fun wandering around.

Such a lovely warm day

Live Music

These where in the window at a local shop I thought they where really funny. They where called red neck wine glasses and I think they could be totally DIYed for next to nothing and would be the perfect vessels for my homemade dandelion wine, which seems to be doing well the boyfriend has kind of taken over which is okay with me because I learned pretty quick I was in way over my head

I wanted to check out the maritime museum but it wasn't open and there  was no sigh with hours or anything so I'll have to try and look it up.

Search and rescue boat I think he was keeping an eye on the puddle ducks.

They had a big tsunami and earthquake safety thing going on and where demonstrating search and rescue equipment on the clock tower (there is a big clock at the top of this tower).

 After I was done having a wander at the market and all the other happenings I started making my way home and got some pictures on the way.

Found some mustard

 Purple dead nettle it doesn't look like much when you just pass by but on closer inspection it has these lovely little flowers

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I was having so much fun watching these little birds there where a whole bunch of them flitting around, I think they must have there nests up in the roof

They would disappear into these little cavities in the roof and pop there heads in and out it was like whack a mole you never knew which hole they would pop back out of

Speaking of birds nesting there is a little nest with four eggs in it in my parents carport. We're a little concerned that the mum and dad have abandoned the nest there hasn't been any sign of them in a few days now. I climbed up the step ladder to take a quick peek the other day and snapped a quick picture.

I hope we're wrong about them being abandoned but things don't look good and it really doesn't sound like there's a lot that can be done if they are. I was very exited about baby birds this summer but I guess these things happen.

What I've Been up to

I guess it''s been a while since I posted anything I seem to keep getting side tracked lately. I'm working on a couple projects but haven't been doing a lot, I got kinda sick for a while there and  had to go for some tests and such, they still don't know what was wrong they gave me anti-biotics but it turned out not to be an infection at all so who knows if I'll ever know. I'm feeling better now and have gotten caught up on housework and errands, it's amazing how fast these things pile up when your out of commission for a few days, so anyway here are some pictures I took on my way way to appointments and a couple walks
April 27th...
Found this cool spot tucked away behind the co-op gas station not far from my doctors office.

you got a nice view of this creek

My favorite flower the calypso orchid or fairy slipper. This is an amazing little plant it has a mycorrhizal dependence on certain fungus in the soil so it is only found in undisturbed areas and is not transplantable. It relies on "pollination by deception" as it needs bees for pollination but doesn't actually have any nectar for them so it has to look as though it does to entice them to landing.

I felt like I was being watched and sure enough I looked up from taking photos of flowers to see this lovely animal peeking at me through the trees.

This is a blond moral apparently good eating but I'm not at all confident in my mushroom identification skills so I don't forage for them.

I think this is yellow tipped coral mushroom

Witch's Butter

There were so many fawn lillys

Oregon grape

Salmon Berry blossom

Skunk cabbage, apparently some insects are attracted by the strong smell and come to pollinate it. Black bears also like the smell and it is an important food source in the spring when they first emerge from hibernation. They apparently dig up and eat the starchy roots.

trillium

Yellow Stream Violet

Unfortunately some people don't seem to have much respect for such a lovely little spot there was so much trash strewn around everywhere. Makes me sad that people don't seem to realize how fortunate they are to have such a lovely place to explore right in there back yard.

These are from May 1st I can't remember where I was going when I took these I think I was just running a few errands.

I love bumble bees they where all over this bush it was hard to get a good photo though they won't hold still for long enough

What is up with this daisy it's a mutant

These lovely violets were growing on someones lawn

Dogwood

Seen the water bomber zipping around the last couple days must be getting ready for fire season

These are from May 2 on my way to an appointment

Pacific Bleeding Heart

I liked this mushroom I don't know what it is

Hooker's Fairybells

Black Twinberry

I'm not sure what this guy is, it looks a bit like ocean spray but I don't think that's right

Anyway that's about it here, I was in Victoria with the boyfriend for my sister in laws baby's first birthday on Saturday. We stayed the night at my mother in laws and went for a stroll on the beach in the morning yesterday. I forgot my camera at home though so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. Hopefully I'll get some projects done in the next couple days.
  Well hopefully I'll be posting again soon bye for now.