The Cardinal Calls Back to Us- Video!!

I'm back at the cottage this week. Some years ago I had given Marc a bird book. It is SO neat because you can key in different birds by their number and hear the sound of the bird. We have become so in tune to the lovely sounds of the birds this summer because of the book....except for the grand orchestra at 5:00 a.m.!!!

Last night we sat in the livingroom with the windows open. We could hear the cardinal outside someplace. Marc wanted to hear exactly how close the sound in the book was to the cardinal outside so he took the bird and the book repeat the cardinal call 3 times.

We were in shock when the cardinal outdoors replied and LOUDLY much more loudly and with aggression to its normal call.

If you listen to the video the book repeats a call 3 times and thats what you hear first. Then you can hear the cardinal replying and his song goes on and on, then we pressed the book for 3 and then the reply and on. The very last bird calls are some other bird from the book.


He flew into the tree beside us which is really close but the video makes it look far and it would not let me zoom in. Fun. You can hear our silly talking too. Very neat! We wondered whether this was a confrontation of 2 males...or females or whether it was love talk. :o)

You can go to enature.com and Field Guides to listen to different birds in the same way.

Have a wonderful day....enjoy the lovely birds in your backyard... Judi xoxo

Herb Gardens...Hemp Seed Oil Soaps...Vacation..

Into Week 2 of vacation and the weather has been lovely and I've been catching up on things at home where I am for a few days this week.

I've completed more One-Cup Teapot Herb Gardens and they are in my Pinkdaisies Etsy Shop. See, you can't see the bolt once the plant is planted. I was thinking they would be nice with some faux flowers as well.... I wish I could own a "Tea Room" shop and I could display my pretty teapots....

I made Hemp Seed with Goat's Milk Soap and they are in my Pinkdaisies Etsy Shop also. Hemp seed oil is very good for your skin as is goat's milk .

There are three lathering soaps Lavender,Rosemary, Mint, and Rose Vanilla, and Lemongrass...and a "Rose Heart" soap. I've embedded lavender, or rosebuds, or lemongrass and calendula in them. They have lovely properties for the skin as well as exfoliate and look pretty.

It started out raining this morning and it felt like a good cleaning morning...does it really ever feel like that kind of morning? cleaning?



Yes I think it really does with no help from Abby who has fur that doesn't fly with her when she flies around this place. I had better get to it because now I think the sun is trying to steal the show...

Besides perhaps snoozing what do rainy days make you feel like doing?... or not doing?...

Hope the weather is just what you would like it to be...enjoy it... Judi xoxo

Childhood Friendships and Ledge Coons Yum!

Long time childhood friendships are special. I don't have many of those because as a child we tended to move frequently.

Marc lived all his school years on Erie Street in a small town in New York state (close to the cottage) with about 40+ other kids. They were known as the Erie Street gang though they weren't a gang just a mix of girls and boys who played together (nicely on the most part I'm told).

Although many went temporarily off to college/university most of the "kids" still live in the same town. One is Marc's lawyer, another his dentist, another a plumber, another in construction, 3 brothers (who we travel with) took over their family grocery store (Jubilee) etc. Some of them are in the Elks Club and others still in their Investment Club keeping friendships and continuing weekly or monthly meetings as well.

Through the over dozen years that Marc and I have been together I have enjoyed their friendship as well. This Sunday was the Investment Club yearly picnic. The guys bring their ladies with them. We had a lovely dinner that included steak, salt potatoes, baked beans, salad, garlic bread etc. Everyone brought either an appetizer or dessert. We sat outdoors where the weather was beautiful and the lake brought in a refreshing breeze.

Marc and I made appetizers and because we had such a hard time following the directions to fold them, perhaps because of the hot day or the fact we bought store brand crescent rolls we decided its best to call them "Ledge Coons" (cottage is on Rockledge and they looked like caccoons). In any case they were delicious. The picture below is 1/2 the portion so far.....

Ledge Coons

1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1/2 lb ground beef
4 tbsp cabbage (fine, short pieces)
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts (cut into smaller sizes)
1/2 can bean sprouts
1/2 tsp minced garlic (to taste)
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
you choose your dashes of cayenne pepper

2 pkgs crescent rolls

orange/ginger dipping sauce

Fry the beef, cabbage until the meet is no longer pink. Add the rest of the ingredients except the rolls. Fry gently and flavour until you like it! We add in about 1/3 cup of the dipping sauce.


Cut each crescent roll into 1/2 and place about 1 tbsp of mixture in middle and roll into a crescent roll. We slipped the ends up and across the roll. I believe you could leave them as a crescent and they would hold the mixture well.

Bake 350F for 15 minutes - lightly brown on ungreased cookie sheets.

Ready to take to the picnic.

Serve with a dipping sauce. We used orange/ginger dipping sauce by Iron Chef. The ginger gave it a nice bit of heat. Yum!

Enjoy and share with your friends too.... Judi xoxo

Teapot Herb Garden on PINK Saturday

Happy PINK Saturday hosted by PINK hostess Beverly at HowSweetTheSound. Be sure to click to her site to view all the wonderful PINKness for this day.

If you have followed my blog for a while you know that I love teapots and cups but in particular the one-cup teapot sets. You may have seen the Teaparty Garden Birdfeeders I make and sell.

...and the lamps.... (PINK in this one)

(more PINK)...


Well I am at the cottage again this weekend and am going to be busy finishing up something new with these One-cup Teapot Sets...another PINK one.

Aren't these Teapot Herb Gardens cute? I've completed and planted one herb to show you. It is large enough to plant more on the other side, whether the same herb or another favourite.
Instead of herbs one could plant pretty little flowers in it also...and if you had the right spot outdoors how cute would that be? See teapots are not only for tea parties....

I hope to show you more after the weekend.... Judi xoxo

Madeline's 6th Birthday...Darn Cake Again...

Madeline's 6th birthday was July 10th but last night was the first time we could all get together to celebrate at my place. Austin was at a camp trip so unfortunately he was unable to be with us. Here is the birthday Princess and me...


Here were are having a "picnic" indoors with sloppy joes, corn, salad and double baked potatoes.

Madeline is blowing out the candles on her cake.

Remember the story of Marc's birthday cake on June 30th? and how we "waffed and waffed"?

Well I baked Madeline's cake and greased the pans with "I can't believe its not butter"...now...I DID not know it would make the cake stick to my teflon pan and that I would have to use a cake lifter to "pry" it out..and try to put pieces and crumbs together and slather it with icing. I did NOT "waff" this time. It looked not too bad...but slicing "pieces" gave away my secret...*lol*.

Here is Madeline with her daddy (my eldest son Geoff).

Geoff, Madeline and Kiley.

My youngest son Richard. He is sitting here alone. I had a picture of him tossing Madeline around as usual but too much action it was blurry...


My mom was having a great time...(she'll be 81 in October)



I remember Madeline and I when she was just a little one...could it really have been 6 years?

Enjoy this day for they pass so quickly.... Judi xoxo

Lemon Poppyseed Loaf - and No Sleep

It started with Starbucks coffee with which I enjoyed a slice of lemon poppyseed loaf. I treat myself to this sometimes when I'm galavanting around town. I KNOW I cannot drink coffee after about 5:00 p.m. if I plan to sleep.

Unfortunately I was having such a great evening out I didn't realize it was almost 7 p.m. as I arrived home having just finished off the coffee. Needless to say I was up until after 1:30 a.m. and maybe slept 4 hours before getting up for work. The point of this story is I have been thinking about that lemon poppyseed loaf. So I baked one on Thursday night to take with me to the cottage.

This is the RECIPE if you like lemon poppyseed cake. I LOVE the taste of lemon. This recipe puts lemon rind in the batter and mixes lemon juice, sugar and more lemon rind which is poured into those poked holes you put into the loaf. Instead of one large one I made 3 small ones. I decided to sift some powdered sugar over them which although it settles on and then you can't see it...it gives a nice taste.

It is a really good recipe. Enjoy....and don't pucker... Judi xoxo

Vacation and Cottage Lunch with View

I'm on a 3 week vacation! It started on Friday at noon. I headed down to the cottage and the weather was in the 80s with a gorgeous breeze when I arrived 3 hours later.

I changed the daisies from the garden and did snip off some of the dead heads. My vase is too narrow....note to myself to remember to take a wider mouthed vase from home on the weekend.

I made myself a sandwich...some pickles...a few chips...iced tea, grab a few great magazines and sat outside to enjoy with myself while Marc was still at work ...


ahhhhh what could have been better at that very moment....

Hope you've enjoyed some quiet moments with yourself too.... Judi xoxo

BLUE Monday - Kind of Fishy eh?

I'm joining Sally from SmilingSally on Blue Monday. Be sure to visit all the BLUE participants and have a beautifully BLUE skied Monday.

I was asked to make some fish earrings for a store by the cottage that holds fishing derbys and sells all kinds of fishing supplies. Apparently the fishermen are wanting to purchase fish earring souvenirs for their wives/girlfriends.

This is the stand I made. I painted it so its now a rustic white. I decorated with BLUE sailboats.

My fish earrings are antique bronze and you can see the display where some of the packages are on BLUE backgrounds.

I also added a few of my necklaces with bird pendants and hearts.
Kind of a BLUE Monday fishy post eh?.... Judi xoxo

PINK Saturday

What a lovely PINK Saturday it is! Be sure to visit Beverly at HowSweetTheSound. I know you will enjoy all the wonderful PINK participants. Happy PINK Day!

I'm sharing some pictures from the cottage. These are actually our neighbours' Georgia and Bob's flowers.

Flowering close to the ground...

PINKyred and spikey..

Every year their flower gardens grow. The perennials get larger and more full of beauty and new plants are introduced in pots and in the gardens. Lovely to watch from where we sit.

On another day...thats not limited to PINK I'll share more of their lovely flower gardens.

Hope you are having a great PINK Saturday... Judi xoxo

Strawberry Lemonade Time

Perhaps you love Strawberry Lemonade but didn't remember to make any yet this summer? Thats what happened to me. I remembered this past weekend so I'm reminding you...just in case. I made it the first time last summer.

I sliced 4 lemons very thin and sliced a quart of strawberries. I put the fruit into a pitcher along with 1-1/2 cups of sugar. Using a wooden spoon I smooshed up the fruit with the sugar and then filled the pitcher with cold water. Allow it to sit in the fridge to get nice and cold and enjoy. Remove the lemons a few hours later.

Do you like the Hawaiian glasses I got from Christopher and Nalani direct from Hawaii?

The next day I added more water and removed the strawberries. I saved them to dessert on.

Do you make Strawberry Lemonade? Judi xoxo

Homemade Linguine Pasta (Seafood Marinara)

Marc and I were in the mood for our seafood marinara medley this weekend. I've shown you this recipe before and you can find it here. http://cranberryblossom.blogspot.com/2009/04/marinara-seafood-sauce.html

We had been given a pasta machine a couple of years ago and decided to make our own linguine pasta. Have you even made? I have to say it was so simple and so yummy. Virtually I don't think you could fail.

This is our pasta machine.

Pasta Ingredients

3 3-1/2 cups flour

4 eggs

Mound the flour like a nest on your counter and break the eggs into it. Using a fork start to whisk...and whisk...and whisk until it is thick like this. Then start to slowly incorporate the flour into the egg mixture.

Keep doing this until all the flour is mixed in the egg.

Knead until its all mixed (maybe 10 minutes) and no longer sticky. Add a bit more flour if it is too sticky to handle.

Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to sit on the counter for 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough, cut into about 4 pieces and run it 5 times through the large setting of the pasta machine. Ours was "7". Set dial to #6 and run dough through once and then set it to #5 and run it through once. Set pasta machine to linguine size and run the dough through to get these amazing linguine noodles.


We left it out to dry a bit while we finished our dinner. Boil water in pan and cook until al dente. It will not take as long to cook as the boxed kind.

Strain and add on your seafood! VERY VERY yummy...mmmmmm...

If you love pasta you may want to make your own also.... Judi xoxo