Ottawa, Ontario

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving.  I wish we celebrated it in October instead of November in America, because really it is the end of the harvest, we get very little out of our garden next month.
I am giving thanks for having such a wonderful family (and getting to meet the newest addition to our family, Elizabeth, who is 2 months old today, my sister's baby) and our garden, of good foods to eat!  Here are pictures of our time in Ottawa:

 

We stopped by the farmer's market and bought apple cider, zucchini, broccoli, local cheese and some deer sausage.
Yes, we found snow.  I dreamed that it was snowing the night before...

 I've never seen black squirrels, but they exist here, SO many of them:

Work around this home

Happy October!  It is beginning to really feel like fall, the leaves on the neighbor's maple tree have started to change color.  Last year, we made these cookies using a butter cookie recipe and carrot juice and confectioner's sugar to make the frosting naturally orange.  We got that maple leaf cookie cutter 5 years ago while in Vermont.  We gathered some acorns, black walnuts, green and brown sweet gum spikey seed pods, leaves of various colours from around our neighborhood...

If I didn't have a runny nose and sore throat, I'd make a batch of cookies today.  Over the weekend, Hannah peeled and chopped 6 apples up to make an apple pie.  She is 11 and I'm so happy that she is such a good little baker.  Maybe she'll bake some cookies?  This morning, I sipped some Traditional Medicines throat coat tea with Ell Farm honey in it.  I'm feeling a bit better.  

 

Rob is trying to fix the washing machine right now.  Hannah and Olivia are working on their homeschooling lessons...and I will see if they need any help and work on the alphabet cross stitch. 

P.S. Check out my hand drawn cards for sale!

yarn along ♥ making a beard & baking

yep...making a beard, out of yarn!  Saturday we greeted the turn of the season, with a day at the apple orchard.  Happy fall, everyone!  I baked 2 apple pies.  I made the crusts, 1 with unbleached white wheat flour and 1 with gluten-free flour (made of rice, tapioca, potato starch, guar gum).  And last week I posted that I was looking for some gluten-free recipes.

The first batch (on the right) I made (just using almond meal instead of flour in the recipe) was yummy, but too gooey.  The second batch (on the left) turned out nicely, I used the all-purpose flour from gluten free pantry.  We topped them with whipped cream and raspberries!

 

These are the 2 recipes I used...made savory crepes with salami and swiss, yellow tomatoes from our backyard and chives atop.

 While waiting for friends to come at the apple orchard...tree climbing.

This is about 20 pounds of melrose apples at my feet.  The price has gone up this year to $1.00/pound, in the past we paid half that price.  Then, we picked some golden delicious.

We paid a total of $49 for all these apples. 49 pounds...I counted all of them 99.

Anyhow, if your face is cold, keep warm with a yarn beard (my husband has a handsome beard that God gave him)...I'm using these crochet instructions:  http://www.jjcrochet.com/blog/crochet-beard-hat-free-pattern/ 
I sewed 4 buttons onto the corners so that I could attach it to a hat and take it off.  I know I look like a spy...my daughter said I need to wear sunglasses, too.

silhouettes of my girls

Portraits of the 18th century in the 21st century.  I enjoy connecting with old traditions and techniques.  What a unique portrait!  Can you tell who is who?

We traced the silhouettes on 9 x 12 inch black paper and then cut them out.  If you want to do it yourself, you can take lamp (I removed my lamp shade to get better light, but if you have a spotlight that would work better) and positioned it about 4 feet from the wall...then taped the black paper to the wall and had my girls sit right next to it and traced, using pencil, then cut it out using scissors.

I put them on the wall above the little couch and then made a frame using the black and white polka dot washi tape. 

Yarn along & seeing the Nina and Pinta

I finished the wool peach shawl (Olivia is wearing it, but it is for my niece, who is younger)...next up more little lanterns made by crocheting the outside of glass jars!  Tomorrow is a friend's birthday and I'm looking for just the right recipe...needs to be something gluten-free! 

Over the weekend, we went to see the replicas of the Nina and Pinta that sailed up the Ohio River, from Louisville, KY.  Next stop is Pittsburgh, PA...
They were looking for more volunteers to travel with them, I would do it if it weren't for my family.  What an adventure!

We played "Go Fish" in the backyard yesterday, nice cooler weather...the chickens were very interested in what we were doing!

a Shutterfly card...

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Fragments...

This week I accidentally broke 2 clay bowls that my husband made before we were married...we could glue one back together, the other is not great, but okay.

Instead of having my soup in them, we will use them for something else, like holding tomatoes from our backyard?

A little piece of fabric I stitched on...  You know the rest of this phrase.  We hope to go pick apples soon!  Fresh crunchy, sweet juicy apples, everything is always best when it's in season.  I bought delicious ones at Trader Joe's yesterday (most of them were from Chile, these were from the USA, a farm in NY).