Caffinara|Melanie Watts, Caffinara: Wake up to life

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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Weekend Project

Posted by Melanie at 22:15 0 comments

Insulation dust hurts when you spend twenty minutes inhaling the stuff. I was upside down stuffing pink batts into the ceiling. Funny how my lungs didn’t hurt at all when I was stuffing it into the walls. I went upstairs for a drink to clear my throat, noticed it was 5 PM and thought, time to break open the red wine.

We made a bedroom, a wine cellar and a cold room for all the garden produce. See more pictures and get more info here. I know it looks finished but the ceilings need more gyp rock. The space on the right needs framing walls and bifold doors, because I want a closet in which to tidy some of my stuff away. The whole area needs drywalling. The books in the new bedroom are still waiting for their bookshelf.

Sigh.

Labels: cold room

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Why Latin

Posted by Melanie at 18:30 0 comments

Yesterday I found this cool little program, for Macintosh OSX no less, which has definitions for 30,000 Latin words. So far I have found out that cordifolia means late, pulcherrimum means beautiful or handsome as well as a lot of other Latin definitions I needed to know to finish my homework.

I first encountered Latin as a nursing student although most of what I learned was in a shorthand taught to us so we could interpret doctors orders, and use it in our own nurses notes. Things like NPO, nothing by mouth, TID, three times a day in reference to TX, treatment. I may have been told at the beginning of my training what the Latin words for the shorthand were but the reality of working in a hospital soon purged the unnecessary information from my brain.

Down the road I exchanged my fast paced, bright city lights life, for a much more subdued one in the country, complete with kids, a large vegetable garden and sheep. Like I always do I bought a bunch of books to help me figure out this new life.

The gardening books had the Latin names of each plant at the beginning of its description. Some of the names stuck in my head and so did some of the descriptive Latin words at the end of the plant name, meant to give some clue about the plants habitat, its looks, or its growth tendency. Thus, Aster alpinus is a small purple Daisy growing in alpine areas. Polemonium pulcherrimum is a Jacobs Ladder with beautiful bell shaped flowers. Phlox subulata is a spring flower that creeps along the ground.

Last weekend I attended my first class in the Master Gardeners program at UNBC. The instructor told us we should all call plants by their Latin names, not worring about pronunciation, because then we will all know exactly which plant we are talking about. Assuming of course the Botanists haven’t decided that based on new information, the plant should be reclassified.

Labels: Gardening, Latin

Monday, September 22, 2008

My Reluctant Autumn

Posted by Melanie at 17:50 0 comments

It is not my favourite time of year. Yesterday the mercury barely crested the fifteen degree mark. I decided that even though we have had only a whiff of frost It was time to stop coddling the zuchinni under an orange tarp every evening and bring it inside.

This morning as I sat at the dinning room table, snuggled in flannel pajamas and hand knitted wool slippers, drinking a hot drink and writing on my MacBook I thought way not light a fire. What a revelation.

A friend gave me a large paper bag full of several varieties of daffodil bulbs. I’m waiting for the rest of the bulbs, I ordered from Botanus back in June, to arrive before I plant them. I‘ve already cut down the slowly dying Dahlias, shaken the soil off the tubers and put them in a bag filled with vermiculite to keep them dry.

Every other day I pick a couple of handfuls of peas. I can’t believe the vines are still putting out flowers. I was picking beet leaves to add to my salads all summer and I was a bit skeptical as to how big the beet roots were growing. Today I was surprised and gratified to see some of them have grown to be an acceptable size. Bring on the borscht.

I have a new set of compost bins made of logs, 2x4's and plywood. I'm throwing all my dead and gone to seed annual flowers, dead perennial flowers and stems and worn out left over vegetable garden stuff into it. Any perennial seed heads I chuck in the bush since I don't want then sprouting in my gardens next year when I feed the soil with compost.

the worse thing about this time of year is waking up at my usual time, 6 am, and thinking I need to go back to sleep because it is dark.

Labels: Gardening

Friday, September 19, 2008

Must Have Garden Plants

Posted by Melanie at 20:00 0 comments

I started to panic when I received a bag of garlic in last weeks mail. My vegetable garden is full of giant weeds, herbs and vegetables all of which are still growing, and I don’t want garlic growing among my flowers so I decided to extend my perennial garden bed. It sweeps along the driveway and around the back of the house. Extending it further would bring it back into the sun. Being on a little hill means it is well drained and thus the perfect place for growing garlic.

I went back to the rock pile down the road, filled up my truck, came home and built a retaining wall around the hill. I loosened the hard clay soil, piled nice fluffy compost on top and planted each clove of garlic.

The bed is far bigger than it needs to be and even though there isn’t enough compost to fill the whole extension, I decided to move my other perennial herbs over, leaving more space for annuals in the vegetable garden.

I have sorrel, a lovely bitter herb, nice in spring salads. I was forced to cut the plant in two to get rid off the enormous dandelion growing in the middle of the crown. I was planning to start more seeds of it next spring anyway.

I moved over the perennial oregano, I’m still deciding if I like this plant. I have yet to use it in my cooking because I’m used to the less hardier, easily killed oregano which I used to grow in pots. Chucking it is still an option.

I also moved over part of the pineapple sage which to my surprise survived the winter. I left part of it behind because it was growing in the wettest part of the vegetable garden and that may be the reason it came back.

Parsley was next, it’s a biennial so next year it will go to seed but I can plant fresh seed around it and soon it will be self supporting.

Chives was the last plant I moved. I wish it would self seed because I want more plants. I also want to plant lemon balm in the new bed. Its shrubby green leaves are redolent of lemons, bushing up against the plant is enough to release its scent.

Now I’m waiting for the garlic to sprout so I know it has put down roots and next spring it will lose no time dividing and making big fat bulbs.

Labels: Gardening

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Our Digital Lives

Posted by Melanie at 06:57 2 comments

I’m constantly surprised when my luddite friends and family exhibit techie knowledge or show up with techie gadgets.

The other evenning, while at a get together supper in a restaurant, one of them pulled out, albeit last years ipod touch, bought on sale now that the new ipod has been announced. She said she was looking for free Wi-Fi. I didn’t even know she knew what Wi-Fi was. My luddite husband didn’t know what Wi-Fi was until this summer, when we went looking for it while holiday, in the car with my macbook open on my lap.

My friend said she bought the ipod touch for use next spring when they go to Chile. Not just for playing music but for quick access to the web for email, directions to hotels, restaurants, shopping, places of interest and for other touristy advice.

Last week my 83 year old father in law came to visit. he used his new GPS unit to find the shortest route from his home in Victoria BC to our home in the boonies north of Prince George. Upon arrival he wouldn’t get out of his car until he had showed me his new gadget. Except he was a bit upset because his GPS could not find our house. I tried to explain that it took google maps at least a year and a half before it noticed our new house so the GPS software may take even longer. I don’t think he wanted to believe me.

I hope the GPS software never finds our house.

He set the GPS it on his dash board and the voice told him which way to turn. It reminded me of something Nora Young surmised about on her podcast, The sniffer. She wondered if google was making us dumb.

At first I didn’t understand what she meant but soon I began to realize I was using google to find definitions of words as well as their spelling, historical facts, cultural reverences, every damn thing. I realized I wasn’t learning any of it because I know all I had to do is regoogle it.

It seems a little scary.

I’m now forcing myself to reuse my well worn, well loved copy of the Canadian Oxford dictionary. But, what if I can’t find the word I don’t know how to spell in the dictionary. Is it ok to see if the spell checker can figure it out….

Labels: tech

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Salted Water For Boiling

Posted by Melanie at 06:43 0 comments

It's not so much the recipe but the comments which are hilarious.

Recipe

When salting water for cooking, use 1 tablespoon of salt for every 4 quarts of water. From epicurious via the kitchn

Labels: cooking

Monday, September 15, 2008

No Alpine Rock( this time) for me

Posted by Melanie at 08:19 2 comments

My body was not up to par yesterday. I found the bushwack up the trail to Edge Mountain, to be more of a slog than usual. Granted the forest floor was crowded with fallen trees we had to haul ourselves over, almost every step, slippery moss, dead hellebores and vicious devils club. Or, maybe it was because I felt compelled to keep up with Ric.

It was a relief to finally break out into the alpine and glorious sunshine.

On the way back down I decided to bring back a rock for my garden wall, which I'm extending. Ric told me my chosen rock was too big but I managed to stuff it into my pack and do up all the clasps, barely. Lyle was selecting yet another rock for his garden path, which gets longer every hiking season. When he noticed my pack full of rock, he decided to take two rocks making his rock load almost 30lbs.

Going down is harder than hiking up. I kept slipping on the moss covered logs, despite my hiking pole I was depending more than usual on tree branches to keep me from falling. I decided to ditch my cumbersome 20lbs of rock.

Later, when were leaving the trail head, Lyle asked my if I had my rock safe and sound in the back of his vehicle. I shook my head. Ric said next time I wouldn't have so far to carry it. Lyle couldn't believe I hadn't bought it down. I think he was shocked.

For more pictures look at the flickr photoset

Labels: hiking

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Commemorative Things

Posted by Melanie at 19:14 1 comments

A couple years ago, while in Vancouver and staying in a downtown hotel we went to Caffè Artigiano every morning for breakfast. I don't drink a lot of coffee so I ordered tea. It came in this amazing steel teapot with a mesh basket built right into it for the tea leaves. I was intrigued and enthralled by that teapot and have been keeping my eyes open for one ever since.

Last spring when I was in Steveston we went into a Japanese shop which sold all kinds of interesting but expensive things. They had the steel teapots for a whopping $85. I decided I could never justify buying one so I gave up on them until this summer, when I was in Pentiction and I stumbled across Teas Weaves.

It's the sort of shop that calls out to you, before you can think sensibly you've opened the door and walked in. They sell hand woven carpets from the orient as well as everything you need for tea . To my surprise the coveted steel teapots were relatively cheap. I got this one for $35. It is small and only makes one cup of tea.

Teas weaves sells tea as well. I chose a Rooibos tea called African dream, a mixture of Rooibos (a red bush from South Africa) with almond and vanilla pieces. It smells and tastes just like it sounds. The teapot ended up being my birthday present.

September the ninth was our 25 wedding anniversary. We celebrated the day with a picnic lunch on Connaught Hill then a shopping trip downtown to buy this metal sun decoration for the outside of the house. Robert had to go away for business so a celebratory dinner was out.

Labels: anniversary, birthday, life, tea

Monday, September 8, 2008

Spelunking on Fang Mountain

Posted by Melanie at 14:06 2 comments

I've always resisted the idea of going into a cave. In my mind caving means crawling around on your stomach, through a wet dirty tunnel in the dark. Ugh. So, yesterday, when everyone was putting on their headlamps in preparation for going underground I was having a temporary fit, thinking I didn't really want to go and besides I had forgotten my headlamp. surely that was a sign I shouldn't go.

First we hiked the steep slippery (it had rained overnight) Fang mountain trail, past the cave entrance up into the wet squishy alpine, lovely views in all directions of course and lots of little lakes. We ate lunch up there then continued on up through the col and onto a ridge for more some more exciting scenery.

Evanoff Provincial Park contains several caves. The Fang cave we went into is the ninth largest cave in Canada. By the time we had descended from the alpine we were all, except me, anxious to try spelunking. The fact I had forgotten my headlamp was still nagging at my reluctant brain about the whole adventure, still I climbed down to the entrance with the others. Once there I decided the cave looked big enough to stand up in so I went.

It was fun. I didn't miss my headlamp because I kept close to the others.

The picture was taken near the cave entrance. Behind us the ceiling got lower as we had to craw along a ledge to the point where it dropped off into a deeper blackness. There were the beginnings of tiny stalagtites on the ceiling. We did not go any further because there were too many of us and apparently things got much more technical beyond this point.

I would definitely like to go back there to do some more exploring.

For more photos check my Fang mountain hiking trip photo set on flickr.

Labels: caving, hiking

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Felting

Posted by Melanie at 08:42 0 comments

Felting wool is easily done because the hairs have scales which are kinky and directional so when they are rubbed together they stick to each other. If you add water and soap the process becomes even easier. A thick warm cloth is produced, Think of your winter coat. At home felting can be done in the washing machine. You may have accidently washed a wool sweater in the machine and been upset when it shrunk. Taking advantage of the natural ability of wool to felt adds another dimension to knitting.

I made the slippers above, except my washing machine is a front loader, it doesn't agitate as hard as a top loader so it does not do a good job of felting. I ended up going to a laundromat and paying two dollars for the use of one of their top loading washing machines. All I want right now is another washing machine, a top loader which I will use specifically for felting.

Labels: felting, knitting

Friday, September 5, 2008

I Moved a ton of Gravel Today

Posted by Melanie at 11:05 0 comments

Finally, a minute at home to breath. It's not raining for once, maybe I can get back outside to finish redistributing the gravel.

On Wednesday four tons of gravel was delivered. Three tons was spread on the driveway. The other ton was left mostly in a pile so I could move it around to the back of the house, using a shovel and a wheelbarrow . If the dump truck were smaller I would have sent it behind the house to dump the last ton.

Yesterday I picked two buckets of apples from a tree in a freecyclers back yard. For dinner I made a pie wth a plum custard filling. I still have over half a box of plums as well has three squashes from the bounty we bought back from the Okanagan not to mention all the veggies in the garden.

I'm beginning to panic because the only place I have to store these veggies is in a cool corner of basement next to the deep freezer, the wine, camping gear and our boxes of books. The only good thing about this scenerio is that building bookshelves ie the next item on the todo list after the firewood has been organised, and the bigger and better containers for the compost heap have been built.

Time for bed

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Buns of Iron

Posted by Melanie at 17:00 0 comments

Unbeknownst to us we arrived in Pentiction the day of the Ironman triathlon. It wasn't until we checked into our hotel that I saw the ironman poster and realized what the pylons on the road were for. At the brewpub, where we went for dinner, all the TV's were tuned to the local station. They had their TV cameras trained on the finish line. So much for finding out the latest Olympic news.

I always thought bike shorts looked bulky and unflattering and wondered why anyone would want to wear something that made their butt look bigger?

When we were in Calgary, shopping at MEC, to buy a headlamp for Robert so he could read his book in the campsite at night without trying to steal the light from my headlamp, he suggested I try some on. He already has a pair.

I've noticed in the last few years that my bike seat is getting more and more uncomfortable. I wonder if it has anything to do with age? anyway I decided to have a look at them. The first thing I noticed is how less bulky the shorts where than I remembered; the other thing, was there was only one pair left in my size. By this time I thought maybe there was a possibility I might buy them so I tried them on. They are amazingly comfortable. All the padding is in the right place and even though the weather was hot in the Okanagan the nylon, polyester, spandex fabric successfully wicked the moisture away from my body so I didn't feel sticky at all.

The other upside to wearing these shorts was the attention I got in all the wine tasting shops, grocery stores and book stores we went into. Every shop owner asked me if I had participated in the ironman.

I told them I wasn’t that stupid.

Labels: Holiday

Monday, September 1, 2008

What I Like about Wine

Posted by Melanie at 22:24 0 comments

After five days of walking, biking and driving the Okanagan wine route, tasting as much wine as we could before our taste buds gave out we knew we had had enough. In fact now we are home and have unpacked and gloated over all the fabulous wine we just had to buy a bottle, or two or three of, I do not feel like drinking any of them. I'm thinking maybe a beer would be a nice change. I'm sure the feeling will pass.

I'm amazed at the extent my knowledge of wine and how much my taste buds and sense of smell has developed since I first did a wine tour in the Okanagan three years ago. We didn't even feel guilty if after tasting all the wines on offer our discerning brains told us it was all crap and we didn't need to buy any of it. It helps if you trust your first instinct, ignore the tasting notes and try to tune out what the sommelier is telling you. After tasting five different Chardonnays from five different wineries I determined I like a Chardonnay to be lightly oaked with a taste of fruit. Too much oak and the flavour of the grape is lost, this is true of red wines as well.

The age of the vine also affects the flavour of the wine. Wine made from older vines has a greater depth of flavour, this was evident in some of the newer wineries we visited. I like my wine to have lots of layers and a variety of different tastes so that from the initial sip to the last swallow my taste buds have enjoyed the whole experience. Even light wines like Gamay Noir, Pinot Blanc or Riesling should have a full flight of flavour. White wines should be crisp even the sweeter ones. After visiting one winery which had three different Gewürztraminer to taste, running the gamut from sweet sweeter and sweetest. I came away feeling like I had ode'd on sugar and I really had no idea about any of them.

The Naramata bench or the area around Oliver is a great place to start your wine tour because there are a lot of wineries packed into a few square kilometers. Have no pretensions about what you want. Taste everything on offer and perhaps even go back to the winery to purchase a bottle if you couldn't make up your mind the first time round. Many of the wineries have patios with deck chairs and tables where you can enjoy a glass of wine and perhaps eat your packed lunch. If you have forgotten to pack lunch they may have cheese and crackers you can buy or some wineries have bistros or restaurants where you can order a full meal as well as enjoy some wine.

If you like wine I highly recommend doing a wine tour.

Labels: wine

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