There it was Gone.

The Ice is Gone, Spring is finally here. Well Maybe!!! For today anyway.
The Croci are blooming and it is finally warm and sunny. 15 oC warm. My seedlings are growing in the greenhouse in the porch. It just feels like spring today. There are a lot of things changing in my life. I have a new job working as a Public Health Nurse. I look after new Mum's and Babe's. Seeing new families, new life makes you feel great. I am also A School Nurse so I get to go in and be the proverbial Nit Nurse, along with other things! My Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law are moving back home to the UK at the end of the week to start the next phase of their life. I will Miss them terribly. Although I do not see them as often as I could. (Life gets Busy sometimes!) It is nice to know that there is some family, some piece of home nearby. All these changes make me thing of Spring. Springtime is after all a time of growth, renewal, new life (both plant and animal) being born, and of the cycle of life once again starting. It is widely accepted as the start of better times. And that is what I wish for My Brother-in-Law and My Sister-in-Law.

The Ice is In

It has been very foggy and cold the last few days. We have had little sun. This morning we had a freezing rain warning and the car and trees were completely covered with frozen rain drops. This is a spectacular sight to be seen but nothing compares to the sight at the beach this evening. Before Tom left to go to Raglan we went to Middle Cove beach. There was a little bit of ice floating in the sea. It was large chunks of really magnificent blue ice. On the way home from taking Lewie to karate this evening I noticed how white the sea was in Torbay. We took a little side trip on the way home to Torbay Beach. The Ice in the Sea is really amazing to see. It is white all the way out to the horizon. The air is really chilly as it is coming off the sea. The Ice has the blue tint to it and is completely packed into the bay. I am no great photographer so these pictures do not do justice to the image but hopefully you can see all the Ice. A truly spectacular sight, especially as the Sun came out after being absent all week.

Puri

Ingredients:
2 cups of Wheat Flour.
1/2 cup of Cream of Wheat.
1/2 Tsp of Salt.
3/4 -1 cup of Warm Water.
2 Tbsp of Oil.
Oil for Deep Frying.

How to:
Mix Flour with Cream of Wheat, Salt and 2 Tbsp of Oil and rub into crumbs.
Make dough by adding warm water gradually until it is smooth but not sticky.
Knead well for a couple of minutes.
Leave dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave for ~15 minutes.
Divide the dough into 12 portions. Shape them into balls.
We usually squash the balls with a hot panni grill, but you can roll the balls flat on a lightly oiled or floured surface.
Heat the Oil and Deep fry when oil very hot.
Press down on the puri while in the oil and they will expand and puff up.
Turn over when lightly browned.
Remove from oil when golden brown and place on paper to absorb the excess oil.

Alternatively if you make too many puri's you can freeze them when they are flat between pieces of greased proof paper. Remove and Deep fry as before.

Final Project

This is the Final Project Completed. Lewie had the Heritage Fair on Friday at his School. They were open for the general public to come in and look at all of the projects from all of the kids from grade 4-6. They had a team of assessors who went to every kid and asked them some questions. They were assessed on their knowledge of the subject, public speaking and presentation. Lewie was a little disappointed that he didn't win this year. I think he did a Fantastic Job. It was a lot of work and he was really interested in the topic. He won last year when he did this Heritage Fair in grade 4. In total I think it has been a really great experience for him. All the kids put in so much effort and the projects were amazing. I think not winning has it's own lessons.

Wasted Week

Well I have been poorly the last week. I had Tonsillitis which by itself has been painful and difficult to swallow. But I had a really high temperature, chills and headaches to go with them, thankfully I am well on the road to recovery now. At the beginning of the week it felt like we slipped back into Winter. We had a fair amt of snow on Tuesday and I had to call out the Cavalry to come take Lewie to school. I am really grateful having such supports around when I need them, others are not so lucky. I have had one of those weeks where everything I usually do in a day off has taken all week, because I have had low energy. So imagine my surprise on Friday when I checked on the seeds I sowed. Quick side note. I planted a few seeds a couple of weeks back to try and give them a head start. They are the ones that always are so small and seem to take a long time to grow. Lobelia, Candy Tuft, Stocks, some dried flowers. The package always makes me chuckle as it says sow in early March when ground is warm. There is no way these seeds are talking about where we live. We still have snow, lots of it and the ground is frozen. The seeds are growing. I think they are doing better because I have ignored them rather then pay attention to them. Not sure exactly what that says about my gardening skills!!!

Early Signs of Spring

Well as everyone know we put our clocks forward 3 weeks earlier then normal. I am not sure if it has made much of a difference and saved us any money. The First day of spring was a few days ago. I don't know what it is like where you are but it really doesn't feel like Spring here. It has been cold and we've had several snow showers. Not at all my idea of Spring growing up in Southern England. So... I went outside into our garden and put up a new bird feeder. I know you are asking yourselves what is the connection. Well I thought to myself if it is now spring and the birds are returning from down South they should have something to return home for! There are a few juncos feeding at it most days now. Hopefully they will stick around and use the nesting box we have in the tree. The return of the birds makes me think that spring is really just around the corner. While out in the garden putting up this new feeder I discovered poking out of the ground(Well der well else would they be poking out of) some Crocuses and Tulip that we planted last Autumn. It amazes me that they can survive the Winter. It helps me think that shopping for and sowing seeds when there is so much snow around is not nuts after all and that warmer days are truly just around the corner.

Project Torture

It has been a while since I was last blogging. It got kind of busy there the last few weeks. Tom went away to Northern Quebec for work, so I am a single Parent for a bit. I really admire how single Mum's do it all the time. Lewie had his 2nd report card and various school projects. The School projects have been all consuming the last few weeks. Side note. He did really well in his report card A's in all subjects. Only negative ish comment was that he needs to become more organised in his work and desk. OK back on topic. Lewie has to do a Heritage project about something historical to do with Newfoundland and the theme this year was "Where they Once stood" . He decided to do a Project on Fort Townsend. Fortunately his Uncle Had A LOT of info on it. But....... As you know there is always a BUT. We were not sure how much of the info we were "officially" allowed to use. So we went to the CNS at MUN and got a lot of the same info from there. Lewie decided he wanted to do a model of the fort, a poster, and a topographic map of the area where the fort once was. Sounds good easy really. We started the project early but.... Like I said before there is always a BUT. Tom (the Creative, Handy one) went away and most of the project was left for Lewie to do with some help. An awful lot of work later the project is nearly finished. It is due on Wednesday so a few finishing touches and it should be ready. Thank Goodness, I really don't remember doing anything so elaborate when I was in Grade 5..........