John MacPherson at Cedarsfest

I'm Missing My Baby

The Sheffs Do Kingston Minus One

Connemara Pony, Connemara Region, Republic of Ireland

I Have Become My Mother

Not that I see this as a bad thing - it's been happening all my life. Slowly, imperceptively I have morphed from a young vibrant woman to a middle aged yet still vibrant matron.

"It's too bad the way your skin has come away from your jawline", Kate tells me with sorrow in her voice. "Too little moisturizer."

We immediately head out to the local pharmacy where I pay whatever it takes to re-glue my face. They see me coming and jack the price to $46.00.


So, while in Ireland, I pack my 'reading glasses on a string' in my purse with my map. And moisturize when I think of it, and decide to be the mother of children who are becoming lovely adults is much better than the alternative.


And, I have the joy of watching the process happen for those that follow me.

Home Grown Tomatoes

One of the best things about summer is: home grown tomatoes. All winter we put up with the tasteless orbs that are shipped from the south - sent because they travel well, not because they taste good.

And while I was looking for some heirloom tomato names, I came across this recipe from David Lebovitz - a wonderful blog full of photos and recipes from Paris.

This recipe is the upscale version of what I do at least twice a week. And I don't have any that last a few days. I do reuse the olive oil however - very good to dip french bread in for lunch...

Bon Appetite!

Confit of Tomatoes
Buy some tomatoes, just about any variety will do.
2 pounds (1 kilo) is a nice amount.
Wash and dry them, then slice them in half.
Pour enough decent-quality olive oil in a baking dish so that it just covers the bottom of the dish, somewhere between 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup should do.
Sprinkle in coarse salt and freshly-ground black pepper, add a few branches of fresh thyme and/or a few sprigs of rosemary.
Then line the bottom of the baking dish with the tomatoes, sliced-side down. Don't be bashful; it's okay to really pack them in.
Peel and slice 3 or 4 garlic cloves, slice them in half lengthwise and tuck them in the gaps between the tomatoes.
Sprinkle the tomatoes with a bit more salt and a small sprinkling of sugar (less than 1 teaspoon... you're not making dessert) and add a few bay leaves.
Bake the tomatoes in a 350 degree (180 centigrade) oven until they are soft and cooked throughout, which should take at least 45 minutes.
Once they're soft, remove them from the oven and let stand until room temperature. You can scrape the tomatoes and juices and herbs into a container and refrigerate them for up to 4 to 5 days or use them right away. They will actually improve as they sit.Use them to toss into pasta, slightly chopped, or warm them and spoon them whole onto hot garlic toasts, perhaps with a few filets of good anchovies, and shower them with lots of fresh herbs. They're also nice served alongside a summer salad with some goat cheese, all drizzled with a bit of the tasty olive oil and juices.

Our Friends Bob and Jenn

New Love.

True Love.

It doesn't get better than that.

Postcards From Your Mother

So, I'm pretty transparent. I'm not much of a liar - you can tell what I'm thinking by the look on my face.

"Don't start playing poker any time soon", my boy tells me.

He's right.

Others of my children are not so kind. Well, kind yes, but not as intersted in giving advice. They do things like sending me links to websites I would enjoy.

Like this one: http://postcardsfromyomomma.com/ It has given me a new reason to get out of bed in the morning - try to get an email posted on this site.

I conjure up some pretty extreme emails to my children anyway, but given this new motivation, I'm sending some deuces, but can't take credit for this one....

nasal irrigator

In other news, your father asked me this morning if he could borrow my
nasal irrigator. I got very excited, thinking he was being pro-active in
fighting the cold that’s got him sniffling non-stop already. Turns out he just
wanted to use the irrigator to inject jelly into the croissants he was baking. I
could write a fucking book.I’ve got to buckle down now and read this new
script.
XXOO
MA

Corn Dispute - Fat White Man Wins Again

Preacher Idol Ruth Update.

Ruth came third.
Exactly where she'd hoped to be.
Top three and no need to take a seminary course.
We had cake at church to celebrate.

Preacher Idol

Ruth Wilkinson - Preacher Idol Contestant
Ruth turns preaching on it's ear
by telling a story.
Watch, vote, and spread the word
for a fellow Resonate (Peterborough) attendee.

http://drewmarshall.ca/preacheridol/index.php

In real life, Ruth is the founder of the "Greenwood Tower Initiative", an advocacy group, making friends and pot luck suppers with the 100 or so folks who live in a residential hotel in Port Hope, ON.

From Dan's Blog

"The quest for meaning is one that preoccupies all Canadians — and indeed all human beings who have met their basic needs for food, shelter and security, and begin to move up the Maslowian hierarchy to seek post-material satisfactions.

As aging baby boomers watch their parents and even their friends die, and as they look beyond materialism, hedonism and work that gave shape to their middle years, they will begin to search broadly for sources of meaning to fit later in life in contemporary Canada.

They are unlikely to be satisfied by the traditional religions so many abandoned in their youth.
But as they scan their environment for examples of the good life, they might find inspiration in the children of immigrants who are materially successful but often still deeply engaged with a spiritual life that is social, syncretic, globally conscious, and threatened neither by the old nor by the new."