Good Eatin' Theme: Pic #3

Picnics by a campfire are summertime pleasures. This one involved roast-your-own wiener kebabs (chunks of wiener, sausage, ham, onion, green pepper), potato chips and strawberry-spinach salad. I know that chips aren't the healthiest menu item ever, but I placed them right next to the greens on my plate, which surely would have helped to balance things out - don't you think?

Good Eatin' Theme: Pic #2

Guess what? Fruit pizza tastes just as marvelous when it's made in a rectangular pan as in a traditional circular pizza pan. This one doubled as cake for a summer birthday party, as well. Must be a very versatile food!

Week #31 Theme: Good Eatin'

Waterloo County Apple Crunch was a perfect ending to an outdoor meal we shared with guests one evening this summer. I baked the dessert in a cast iron dutch oven, with coals on top of the lid and underneath the pot for surround heat. We ate it while it was still somewhat warm, along with vanilla ice cream. Good eatin', alright!

Buildings Theme: Pic #7

This little building is a work of Art. He's a down-to-earth, friendly man who has built many a thing in his lifetime so far, (which is a good number of decades) not the least of which is a godly character. Every piece he makes, including this bird station in his yard, gives a glimpse of his creativity and resourcefulness.

Buildings Theme: Pic #6

Old Order Mennonites in this area use buildings such as this one for their church services on Sunday mornings. The buildings are called meeting houses rather than churches. They are simple and unadorned, much like the appearance and community living of the people who enter them. If this picture would have been taken on a Sunday morning during meeting hours, you would see many horses and buggies lined up at those rails. 

Buildings Theme: Pic #5

The Canadian Flag flies from the top of the Peace Tower which is the dominant feature of Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Canada's capital, Ottawa. Incidentally, the flag is changed every week day excepting statutory holidays and bad-weather days. To find out other interesting facts about the tower features such as the clock and the bells, come tour the Canadian Parliament Buildings. (and let us know if you're swinging close by our place on your way there!)

Buildings Theme: Pic #4

It's not the right time of year to be posting this pic, I suppose, but since I am focussing on buildings right now, here it is: The Sap Shanty. And no, it is not on fire. That steam cloud is billowing out from the little shack because of the maple sap evaporating process going on inside. Mighty fine maple syrup will be the sweet result. One sees this sort of scene dotting the countryside around here in the Spring, at the edges of "the bush" on Waterloo County farms and beyond.

Buildings Theme: Pic #3

If yesterday's building was a Pink House, today's is a Pinker House! It is one of many colorful dwellings we saw in the mountainous region of northern Trinidad when we visited some friends there last winter. 

Buildings Theme: Pic #2

The Pink House (not the White House) was tall and skinny and deep, and it housed our family of 8 quite nicely for a weekend in Niagara last winter. Actually, we didn't call it the Pink House; we got a little more specific than that, and named it the Calamine House. (If you've ever had the chicken pox, and have had all those spots dabbed with anti-itching lotion, you'll likely know why.)

Week #30 Theme: Buildings

Here is a photo to link the themes of last week and this week, since it was while we were in one of the Vienna orchards that I saw the building. I think old barns have a distinctive beauty, and this one confirms my notion. Such character and intrigue it houses (or is it barns?) - that top window placed on the diagonal there just under the gable end, for instance.

Day Trip to Vienna Theme: Pic #7

One of my favorite parts of the Vienna Day was buzzing around in the orchards on the four-wheeler with Ken. Perfect weather, beautiful scenery, great company = a pretty awesome day!!                                             (Photo credit: Ken Martin)

Day Trip to Vienna Theme: Pic #6

When Ken and I went in to the little town of Port Burwell for lunch on our Vienna Day, we saw this oldie goldie parked out front. (No, we did not eat at the LCBO!) I don't know the year of this Chevy, but I think it's only a little older than the 1961 Impala my dad owned when I was a toddler. I have dim memories of riding in that car of his - am I really that old?

Day Trip to Vienna Theme: Pic #5

Although I had heard about the frost fans numerous times before, I had never seen them up close until going with Ken to the Vienna orchards for a day. Of course the fans weren't in operation that day, but I could see that they had faithfully done their job back in the Spring, during frost-possible nights when the life of the fragile apple blossoms was in jeopardy. The fans work on the principles that frost won't occur as quickly with air in motion and that warm air rises/cooler air sinks. When the fans are operating, the blades "stir" the air and push the warm air lower to help keep the temperature around the trees above freezing.

Day Trip to Vienna Theme: Pic #4

For the beauty of the Vienna orchards...for the joy which harvest brings...O God, to You I want to raise grateful praise. Today the way I'll sing my hymn is to post this apple pic on my blog.                 

Day Trip to Vienna Theme: Pic #3

The apple-pickers weren't the only busy creatures I saw on the Vienna Trip day. In the one patch of grass and wildflowers we came upon, the air was fairly throbbing with the buzzin' of the bees.

Day Trip to Vienna Theme: Pic #2

I shadowed Ken in his workplace - his large open air workplace of several orchards' worth. We saw many awesome apple scenes throughout the day. It was enough to make me feel "burdened" by the time we left for home. (Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits." Psalm 68:19)

Week #29 Theme: Day Trip to Vienna

Today I spent time with my man on the job, and it was wonderful! Since Ken drives to Vienna, Ontario every workday to supervise the apple harvest, spending time with him meant going on a little day trip. This week on my blog I intend to post photos that I took on today's excursion. This pic shows one of the first orchard scenes we encountered. The apple-pickers were in their early morning garb which included bright orange rain suits. The apples and tree foliage can be quite wet with dew, and the morning air quite cool - at least to the workers who come from tropical countries. I'm intrigued with their resourcefulness that shows up in different areas - notice the garbage bag turned into rain apron for the fellow on the right. 

Yellow-Orange Theme: Pic #7

Evening yellow and orange highlighted in this multi-layered sky reminds me of a few lines from Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God..." except I might say "every common cloud afire" for this instance. 

Yellow-Orange Theme: Pic #6

A leafy scene...as seen from a hay bale seat during a wagon ride...last October. Presently the trees are not yet at their yellow-orange peak, which is good, because we get to enjoy the greenness of summer for a good while yet. But this gives a reminder of what is to come, and I do look forward to that unique beauty. 

Yellow-Orange Theme: Pic #5

The zinnias I planted in my garden this year are from seed that I collected from last year's patch. They just went crazy! Must have thrived on coolish and wettish weather, or something. The two rows stand tall and lush, with brilliant color-bursts of bloom and vivid green of foliage even during the weeks that the garden usually has a definite endofsummer haggard look. I shall continue to feast my eyes every day until the frosts come.

Yellow-Orange Theme: Pic #4

There was a time in my life when I would have turned up my nose and closed my mouth to the likes of a dish such as this. Anything squash was not on my list of likes. Well, it turns out I married a man that loves squash of all shapes and colors and tastes. So I've been inching my way from tolerating toward appreciating the stuff. By this point in my life, I don't mind at all when I see this item at a potluck or a Martin Family gathering feast, the latter of which I believe was the occasion where this tasty butternut squash and maple syrup dish showed up.

On another note, it seems very trivial to be writing about a food dish when there are people dealing with life-and-death safety issues like those in the middle of Hurricane Irma. I pray God will show His power and love in a real way to those affected.

Yellow-Orange Theme: Pic #3

At the hotel where we stayed in Tobago last winter, a welcoming feature were these seats in the front porch area. The "lacy" woodwork seemed so delicate that I sat on them rather gingerly, in the hope they'd hold me up. The furniture may have been carved out of teak wood and I like to imagine it was fashioned by some native craftsman, which I think would add to its charm... In any case, I'd like to have me an afternoon to sit there again, in the warm and green spell of that beautiful country.

Yellow-Orange Theme: Pic #2

The centerpiece flower in this grouping is a gazania, a striped beauty that is native to Southern Africa. We found it in Canada, though, with others of its kind planted among daintier yellow flowers (lantana?) in stunning flowerbed displays at the Butchart Gardens. (Victoria, B.C.)

Week #28 Theme: Yellow-Orange

This kitchen sight is right peachy! Yes, it's hard (or should I say, tedious?) work, and sticky, but there are also rewards to keep in mind - the satisfying ping of the jar lids sealing, the abundant clustering of harvest jewels on the cellar shelf, the wonderful mound of home-canned goodness to top your morning bowl of cereal in the months to come...not to mention the privilege of slipping an orangey slice of summer freshness into your mouth just about any time you want, on the day of.

Signs Theme: Pic #7

I know this is offering complimentary service to jewelry-wearers, but I thought to myself, when I passed this sign in a shop window and read the words in bold, "Yeah, some days I sure could use one of those!"

Signs Theme: Pic #6

Sign of the times, all right! Picking season has begun in earnest, and the crop is outstanding. Praises be to the Giver of harvest!

Signs Theme: Pic #5

A sign we saw in Thailand indicated a translation to English from the native language. The slight tweak on the root word in moving from the noun to the verb brought interesting scenarios to mind. Return to waddling speed? Go the speed you wish, to compensate for double low-hanging bridges ahead?

Signs Theme: Pic #4

Look closely at the hot air balloons and country scenery on this wall and you will see that some people have been very creative in using retired road signs. Beyond this section, there are colorful metal farm animals, flowers, a college, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster and much more. This unique quarter-mile stretch of highway can be found in Meadville, PA, on the property of the PennDOT building. (That figures - at the Department of Transportation.) Just don't try to follow all those directions at once!

Signs Theme: Pic #3

Ken & I saw this "eleventh commandment" sign in a restaurant parking lot near Bird in Hand, PA when we spent a week in Lancaster last spring.  

Signs Theme: Pic #2

I know this is nothing like the current Hurricane Harvey Floods in Texas, but it was quite something for our neck of the woods this summer. The Grand River definitely became grand; its waters did not obey the street sign (River's Edge) by staying in its confines after heavy rainfall on June 23. This pic shows an area near the covered bridge in the little village of West Montrose.