Been a while since I wrote something for my faithful readers. The sunmmer has at last come to an end. Susan went down to our storage locker and retreived some of our winter clothing. Fall is here with a vengeance and the days of t-shirt and shorts is over for another year.

The garden had another good year, lots of zucchini and tomatoes with beans, peppers, parsley and chives. For next season I will have a new plot all to myself so I will not have to worry about encroaching on the gardeners that I have had to share plots with. I will spend the winter months thinking and planning what I should plant and where in the plot everything will go.

This is my final harvest from the Community Garden; peppers, cherry tomatoes, parsley, beans and some sage taken  from the Herb Garden.

Once again I made chutney. This is Peach and Tomato Chutney.

When out for a walk I met someone who was exercising a ferret. I remember from my childhood that Johnny McDowell, a blacksmith who lived two doors away, kept ferrets. We were warned not to get too friendly with them and certainly not to stick a finger through the wire on their cages. They were used for hunting rabbits and were liable to bite. However this little guy was very friendly and very cute.

Last night we were out for a meal at a Japanese Sushi Restaurant. We went with our friends Ian and Barbara Lee who also live in our condo building. They have been to Japan but also know quite a bit about sushi as there are quite a few Japanese restaurants in Canada. The food was absolutely delicious. Yellowfin tuna is to die for!

Yellwfin tuna in the centre.

Back again.

Oops! It's been a while since I wrote anything on my blog. Just put it down to sheer laziness on my part. What I will try to do for this entry is post a lot of photos with captions and we will see how it goes from there.

A selection of zucchini (courgette) from my garden plot. The seperate light green object is a cucumber; not quite the normal type but really delicious. One of my fellow gardeners gave it to me in exchange for a zuccnini. I will probably plant some of this type of cucumber next year

More zucchini and some beans.

My Roma tomatoes are doing well.

Salad tomatoes starting to ripen.

Cherry tomatoes should be a good crop.

My one and only pepper

A small starter that Susan and I shared yesterday. The tomatoes, strawberries and basil came from the garden; the goats cheese from Loblaws.

We have our electric barbecue up and running again. The tomato (bottom right) is from the garden.

And for those with an appreciation for something gruesome here is the back of my head. I slipped on ice in February and ended up with 10 staples in my head. Not to be recommended!

More anon, Joe

I assume everyone has been watching the Olympics from London. It has been a real success story overall. I loved the opening ceremony, particularly the section featuring the NHS.

 For all its perceived shortcomings the NHS is something of which Britain can be truly proud . I come from a family of eight children, all born under the NHS. We have had excellent health care over the years despite the opposition of the usual vested interests that think that a profit should be turned out of providing health care. The best remark that I read about it was the person who tried to imagine the Americans celebrating their health care system under similar circumstances. I salute my former GPs; Drs Boyle, McGlade and Quiery.

Glad I got that off my leftie chest.

Usain Bolt?????...how does he make it look so easy?

The earliest memory that I have is being lifted up to see over the wall flanking the River Bann to see the beautiful swans swimming past. It was on the Bann that three local lads; Alan Campbell and brothers Richard and Peter Chambers first learned to row. All took bronze medals in London. Well done!

Garden Report.

My zucchinis (courgettes) are still doing well. I can't believe that so many zucchinis could come off one plant. I had joked to Susan that all you have to do is plant a zucchini seedling and then stand well back! I'm beginning to think that the joke is closer to the truth than I thought. 

The tomatoes are thriving. Two plants continue to provide us with more than enough tomatoes for our needs.

I planted strawberries but I think it will be next year before they will fruit in any sort of abundance.

Chives have been a bit of a disappointment. Very very slow... they look like undernourished grass.

I am waiting for my solitary pepper to change colour...any day now.

I think that my beans must be a autumn variety. Just coming into flower now. Still, there is plenty of time.

A last minute addition was an eggplant (aubergine) seedling. It looks healthy but no baby eggplants yet.


Caribana

This is the annual celebration of all things Caribbean. Unbeleivably large parade; floats, bands and lots of people in costume consisting mainly of feathers, glitter and anything that shines.
I enclose a few photos for your education.

 

Honestly, they insisted!

A couple of weekends ago we went up to Cottage Country to stay with our friends Mick and Bridget.

The cottage is on Georgian Bay; a really idyllic spot and just a two minute walk to a beautiful sandy beach. On Sunday we went for a drive and ended up at a wildlife center where we saw a display of hawks.

Susan on the beach at Georgian Bay

Susan with a Red-Tailed Hawk

Yours truly with the hawk

Mick with his Laois football shirt

(Quiz question..What makes Laois unique among all Irish counties?)

A European Barn Owl

Susan was on-air on Sunday 15 July hosting a programme called Cross Country Checkup. It was their summer book programme, devoted to children's reading. Two hours of interviews all across Canada. She was excellent as I knew she would be and got a lot of compliments from folks in CBC

Podcast

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Cross+Country+Checkup/ID/2256653255/

And there is more to come, I am sure.

Hi again. I can only apologise for not adding anything recently; just put it down to the good weather here and my laziness.

I am still enjoying life here. The aforementioned good weather makes me feel so sorry for all the dreadful weather back in NI. Yesterday was a National Holiday and we went out to the Toronto Islands. Had lunch, lazed around under a tree by the lake watching all the picnickers with their enormous spreads. When Canadians do picnics they really go to town!

On Sunday when Susan was working I went up to the Wheatsheaf pub to watch the Euro 2012 final.
We had earlier walked along College Street which is the heart of Little Italy. Everywhere was in real festive mood. Everyone seemed to be wearing Italy shirts and carrying flags. Thank goodness I wasn't anywhere around there at the final whistle; they must have been so disappointed. The match itself was superb. Spain turned it on when it mattered and there was never any doubt which was the better team.

OK SOME PHOTOS........

I have no idea why anyone would give such a name to a pub.

I watched this strip of ravioli being made in St Lawrence Market.

The pasta, coloured with spinach, was stuffed with ricotta.

Lovely meal.

My first harvest of zucchini (courgettes).

The biggest was about 4-5 inches long. I probably picked them too early but I was so pleased at how easy they are to grow I couldn't resist it.

This is what happens if you leave them for a few more days.

The lemon is to indicate a sense of scale.

The one on the left is just over 10 inches. And there are more on the way!

I have already used a few of them in a pasta dish which worked well. Tonight I made a salad which was superb.

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2005/10/grilled-zucchini-greek-salad.html

Try it. The only thing different that I did was to add a good squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Our daughter Cathy was with us for a week.

 On her last morning in Toronto we took her to see Woofstock, a festival for dogs and all things canine.

This is a selection of her photos.

Commentary for most of them is superfluous.

Little treats for the doggie in your life.

A SMALL PHOTO ALBUM

The Encampment at Fort York

200 tents, each remembering a person who was alive in 1812,

with an installation by an artist in each tent.

The tents at ground level; quite a sight!

Tomato plant, growing strongly.

First sign of rocket seedlings.

Called arugula in Canada.

I love being able to grow basil.

Flowers on the courgette.

My daughter Cathy.

The building growing out of her head is the condo where we live.