April Showers, May Flowers

Blossoming trees and flowers in my town: peach, iris and lupine

 

 

Spring has Sprung

It is spring time- thank goodness!

I cut some pussy willows that I found on a walk the other day.

 

 

 

 

 Canadian flag blowing in the breeze

 

 The weather is warming up and I am so happy about that. I can't wait to spend some time at the beach this summer and go swimming.

 

View of Okanagan Lake

Christmas cookie time!

This year I made my holiday cookies early. I made chocolate chip, gingerbread and shortbread. Similar to my blog posts last year,   "Snow and Cookies" and "My First Blog Post - Christmas Décor", here are pics of my baking, décor and winter fun.

 

 

My David's Tea wintery cup collection

 

 

 

                                                       My living room decorations

 

 

 

This horse posed for a portrait

 

They were so pretty that I had to include them!

 

My favorite cup and my nails (painted in Rimmel Stiletto Red)

 

 

 

and of course Lulu says Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!!!

 

 I hope everyone has a groovy Halloween! I was a hippie this year. Below are some autumn pics. Peace!
 

 

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me

Today I decided to pick some peaches from our tree and freeze them for the winter for smoothies, etc. It was a lot of fun and they smelled so good! Here is a visual journey of that process:
 

 

 

Small haul

Boiling

 

Blanching

 

Peeled - the skins came off easily

Sliced ones

 

 Finished product

 

 I tried a few ways of freezing them. I did some in water, and some in syrup. I froze some separately on a tray first and then put them in the Ziploc bags. I also did some with a bit of sugar on them, so I will see which way works out best. I am excited to try them out!

Update:
I found the ones with sugar on them were the easiest to use
(making smoothies) because they break apart so you can control
how many you use, and it's easier to blend.
 The ones in syrup and sugar turned brown and mushy when they thawed... :(

 

Lilacs Abloom

Lilacs are my favorite flower. When I was growing up we had a tree on our property and I remember the smell vividly. Here are some pictures from the spring that I wanted to share.

 

 

A lilac tree bordering our yard

 

 

 And my dresser top with a vase of lilacs and a painting I did about a year ago. I also had a Bath and Body Works 'Lilac Blossom' candle and it smelled amazing!

Fly By Butterfly

I went to the beach and found two butterflies willing to pose for me. It was almost as if they wanted to be photographed because they kept flying around me, and didn't move when I took close-ups.