A Little Black Rain Cloud

I'm just a little black rain cloud
Hovering under the honey tree
I'm just a little black rain cloud
Pay no attention to little me
Everyone knows that a rain cloud
Never eats honey, no, not a nip
I'm just floating around over the ground
Wondering where I will drip

Winnie The   Pooh

PS- my mood is more like Eeyore- bring back the sunshine!

My Favourite Cake on A Friday

          Do you know what goes really well with this disgusting weather we have been having lately? Cake- knitting- hibernating. Which is exactly what I have been doing- Miss Lo and I baked this super yummy spicy applesauce cake yesterday and it was gone by 9 a.m. this morning- yeah it's just that good! When combined with a good cuppa tea and some yummy yarn on the sticks this cake brings a much needed level of comfort to my life.

The Goods

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup chilled applesauce
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup Golden raisins

*optional add in a handful of chopped walnuts

The Deal

- pre heat oven to 350 degrees
- grease an 8 x8 pan and set aside
- cream together butter and sugar
- add in applesauce, mix well
- stir in flour and baking soda along with spices
- add raisins (and nuts at this time)
- pour batter into greased pan and bake about 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
- enjoy on it's own as we did here or top with fresh whipped Maple cream- yummo!

        Friends it is Friday again- this week has felt a little bit unreal- we are all trying to settle back into our routines- admittedly a bit at odd angles with our regular life after travelling. I think some tender feelings combined with this rainy weather we will be snuggling up inside for the majority of our weekend. I'm going to use this indoor time to keep organizing and preparing for fairer days when we are rarely home- I wonder is this the reverse of making hay while the sun shines! At any rate now is the time to get our home better sorted, make some yummy soups and maybe watch another marathon of The Long Way Round! Friends I hope your feet stay dry and your hearts stay warm- much love and Happy Friday!

Craft Camp: Solstice Lanterns

        We love a good celebration around these parts and so of course it is only natural that we celebrate the longest day of the year- Summer Solstice- AKA Midsummer's Eve- which happened some time last night around 10 pm. One celebrating the longest day of the year would also hope that it would be the nicest day of the year- but as we left Spring behind the weather was dark and dreary here in Vancouver- we thought we would celebrate all things bright with lanterns- hoping to encourage back the sunshine!

        These lanterns are ever so pretty and ever so easy- the perfect qualities for a rainy day craft in my humble opinion! The supplies are fairly minimal and most people if they look hard enough will have these on hand.

Supplies needed:

Birthday balloons
various cut up pieces of tissue
modge podge or acrylic medium
brushes (not the good ones)
string
dowelling
borax
 candle

         Blow up Birthday balloon and set inside a cup or tupperware container- this is just to act as as stand and give you two free hands to work with. Gently brush balloon with modge podge and randomly start attaching bits of paper- the idea is to build up a few layers for strength as well as colour!

         Cover the balloon about half way up- Miss Lo went a little overboard and did the entire balloon- but really you are making a basket so only need to cover half the balloon. Keep building up layers by adding tissue and smoothing it down under layers of mod podge- remember the more layer the longer it will take to dry- this is key!

        Once the tissue is fully dried- like after several hours- take a pin and pop the balloon inside- do not be alarmed if the entire project collapses in- all you have to do once the balloon is removed is gently push the tissue lantern back into shape. Trim the lip of the lantern and punch holes for the string to go through.

       At this point I would like to offer up some safety guidelines- if you were to use a candle in the lantern as it is at this stage it would possibly catch on fire- not good. What you will want to do is mix a solution of borax and water together and paint two or three coats on the inside of the lantern bowl- thus making the lantern fire resistant- however this should never be left to burn un- attended. Children obviously should be with an adult at all times when around candles.

       Tie the strings at desired lengths through the holes of the lanterns and then pin the ends of the strings onto the dowelling with a tack or small nail- the longer the handle (dowelling) the taller the lantern will stand. We planted ours in our flower pots to be lit when it finally gets dark this evening- these would look great in place of Tiki torches in a back yard!

Recipe for Homemade Mod Podge

1/2 cup white glue
1/2 cup water

-thin out with more water if you wish
- add glitter like we did here for sparkle!
- whisk in flour and use for papier mache


     Friends it is Friday again- shocking how that just sneaks up on me every single week! Saturday I am looking forward to just chilling out and partaking in some much needed R & R- followed by my screen printing class on Sunday- which is gong to be crazy fun! I hope your weekend has some sunny breaks, laughter and fine boxed wine- weather you share with friends or not is up to you!
   

Cabin Fever

       It was a dark and stormy night..... Ok well actually a more accurate read would be a dark and stormy week! I always find January a difficult month- it would in fact be the only month where my primary objective is to just get through- however as mentioned the other day this year my goal is to not only survive January but to thrive through January. This week is panning out to be particularly trying- granted we don't have the foot and a half of snow that the Okanagan seems to be getting- what we do have is that delightful combination of constant rain and wind- which creates what I have scientifically termed as "side ways rain".

      There is no way a person can go out and enjoy side ways rain- no way to stay dry and or warm- our daily wanders through the city have become much more of a quick walk around the block for as long as the most sensitive person can stand it. We are spending a lot of time indoors this week- cabin fever is starting to set in!

     What is a momma to do? The easy solution would be to plop these turkeys in front of the old boob tube for some quality TV viewing- however there is only so much background noise of Momma Yamma that this momma can handle. Only so many times I can hear the intro to Lunar Jim before I want to hurl myself into the side ways rain.

     Into my bag of momma tricks I go- searching for a project that is fresh and new- something that involves paint because that is what the Littles are requesting. I am given some inspiration from the pile of large size craft paper that has been saved from Christmas wrapping- I knew it would come in handy! Each piece is the perfect kid size- so once again momma wields the marker and traces out each Little- each are given a paint brush and pallet filled with a very limited assortment of colours- 4 colours of their choice. 

  

     After about an hour of uninterrupted creativity- and uninterrupted coffee time for me- each Little reveals their master piece- what they think they look like. I am always amazed at their choices and how they view themselves spatially in this world- I say to Miss Lo " awesome hair!" she says " I'm awesome!". 

                                                 Yes you are and don't ever forget it!

Knit Two, Purl Two

     Sunday morning found us waking like everyone else in the Western Hemisphere- and hour behind our regular time. Once upon a time this would have meant an extra hour to laze around in bed all snuggled up against the dark rain beating against our windows. However - like many of my friends with children can attest- I do not sleep any more, and so Sunday morning found me rattling around our apartment at loose ends at 5 a.m.- the new time- which is really only 6 a.m. the old time.

    I was feeling restless- unable to focus on my reading and not feeling quite like making my latte yet- I wandered around aimlessly moving piles of clutter from here to there. Then I remembered I had a few fresh hanks of wool- procured on a rainy day outing to  Birkeland Brother's Wool in Abbotsford on Saturday- to wind up into balls. With a task at hand I pulled out my knitting basket- only to find the hat  I had started last week waiting patiently to be finished- and so before starting another project I finished up this cozy red hat- perfect for protecting ponytails on a walk through the neighbourhood later that day!

     I am not really a knitter or more specifically I am a new knitter who gets frustrated easily- but I am inspired by all this lovely fiber and have visions of what it can be turned into. I got a little artistic direction along with some warm company at about 7 a.m.- apparently Bunbun also needs a matching hat as our apartment is super cold- according to Bunbun that is!

    I am really pleased with how it turned out- I didn't really use a pattern- and I know I am going to completely butcher the knitting terms- but here goes! I started with about two inches of ribbing around the bottom to keep the hat from rolling up ( knit 2 purl 2) from there I just knit stocking stitch in the round for about eight inches- I bound off the whole way around and then seamed the hat across the top- finishing the whole thing off with some fantastic pompoms. I know some of my friends - Sarah F- I'm looking at you- are wayyyy more skilled in the ways of the needles! But I have to say for a project that is not a scarf I am pretty happy and so is Miss Lo!

Cozy

     On Friday when I posted about the calm before the storm I had no idea how apt that would be as it was indeed the calm before a whole lot of rain! Here on the West Coast we may not have to worry about Hurricane Sandy but we have our own special brand of incessant fall weather settling in. In spite of the rain as any good Vancouverite will do we suited up and hit the field on Saturday- this is what junior soccer in Vancouver looks like- we are moving indoors next month but for now the Littles joyously squished through inches of mud running drills.

       Of course nothing warms a person up faster than hot chocolate and pancakes at our old neighbourhood diner- The Grove Inn- we haven't been there since before kids and so it was fun to take them for breakfast and then show them our old apartment. We settled into the cozy old diner and reminisced about the old days over cups of bad coffee while the Littles coloured and sipped their hot chocolate.

     Sunday we played it simple and stayed very close to have- what few plans we had fell by the wayside in favour of completing Halloween costumes, knitting and cooking chicken masala. The sun peaked out for a few minutes in the afternoon affording us a brief respite from the rain- Miss Lo and I headed outside to soak in a few rays- a bit of water table action happened, a latte, a few rounds of knitting and a chapter of my new book- Homegrown & Handmade. I am planning for our future while sitting on the deck in the middle of the city- dreaming and knitting- in a sliver of sunshine.