Spring on the West Coast

Spring has sprung on Vancouver Island!  The weekend was a gorgeous 20+ degrees celsius and that means the flowers were blooming and we were weeding and planting and watering!  So far we've planted kale, carrots, potatoes, spinach, and peas.  Then of course we've got our strawberries which our neighbour thins out every year for us and then takes them to the farmers market to sell.  They always come back with a vengeance after being thinned.  We also have rhubarb which has made us a couple of pies so far.  Well actually my mother in law made the pies! Yummy!

The boys have become produce snobs.  Nothing compares to straight from the garden fresh food and they are both beginning to comment on the produce in our grocery store compared to the ones in our garden.  I love it that they know that fruit and veggies are just not worth buying unless they are very local and in season.  Otherwise they taste like cardboard compared to what we get fresh out of the garden.

So here are some photos of our blooming gardens!

Our first iris in bloom!

Begonias.

Can you see the bumble bee on this apple blossom?

Strawberries in bloom!

Look closely! Spinach in the foreground, peas in the background!

Gorgeous tulips and various herbs.

Butterfly Bush in bloom.

There is a bumper crop of gooseberries this year.

Soon to be blueberries.

This is the fourth year for our blueberries and I think it's going to be a good one.  We were buying so many blueberries from our local blueberry farm that we decided to plant our own.  We now have 12 blueberry bushes.  If you've got some great recipes for blueberries, gooseberries, black berries and the rest of the goodies in our garden please share and I'll do the same.  Now if only we could grow mango!

Happy Spring and Happy Gardening!

Susie

Apps for French Immersion Families

I have had a hard time finding apps that would support my children who are being educated in the French Immersion system. Where are all those French versions of some awesome English educational apps? I scoured the World Wide Web for what looked like some great apps for my kids. Here are 5 that I would recommend. I even have a little something for teachers of Early French Immersion.

Recovering from Surgery - Or just prisoner of your bed!

My girlfriend has been held prisoner in her bed after some major surgery.  She is not the type of person to want to lie in bed for a week or two, lapping up the luxury of doing nothing.  So I thought I'd write a list of all the things she can get done while recovering.  Here we go....

Life Before Little People

I sometimes have to indulge in a little nostalgia of the days when there were no little people in my life.  The days when I would see babies and toddlers and not give them much thought whatsoever.  I know that seems a little harsh but I was not one of those people dying to have a baby.  Yes, maybe, someday but I was in a self absorbed world.  A world that consisted of falling in love, sailing and living a life that was, to date, my version of the high life.

We lived in a gorgeous little character filled condo.  A far cry from my ground floor bachelor pad which needed bars on the windows for security.  Our view was a spectacular view of the quaint little cove I called home.  In the distance we could see the public dock jutting out into the ocean and a little further in the distance, a marina where our sailboat was mored.  Life was good.  I was working my way up the corporate ladder and the worst part of my day was the commute and the amount of rain in our part of the world.

The major decisions in my life... where we should take our next sailing trip, where to go for dinner, where to set our crab traps, what type of tv we should get....you get the picture. Life was gooooood!

The top ten things I miss most about this past life and in no particular order...

The Dreaded New Year Resolutions

The new year is upon us and resolutions are a plenty. Not in our house. I only started thinking resolutions while reading meaningful facebook posts, getting calls from long lost friends and colleagues and reading new year messages from my favourite posters. 

I realized everyone seemed to be on the resolution bandwagon and I had better jump aboard or risk wasting the year away. I tend to make quiet changes rather than making bold statements to the world. I guess that way if I fail I will also fail quietly. It also makes me less accountable but that's not a good thing.

So although resolutions are not my forte, I have been following a few New Year plans. Not my plans of course, someone else's. I've begun with a plan to get my house in tip top shape with The January Cure from Apartment Therapy.  If you haven't checked out this site yet, you should.  I love it.

Here's another plan I learned about on Facebook.  This one is to help you save money.  It's the 52 week challenge.  Basically, you save the amount of money for the week it is.  So, on week 1 you save $1 and on week 2 you save $2 and so on until week 52 when you will have saved a total of $1,378.00.  I'd love to double that number but considering this blog doesn't pay me anything, that could be a challenge.

For those of you with picky eaters and wanting to get healthy.  Here's another great idea for a healthy year from Jennifer Tyler Lee at the Huffington Post.

I hope these give you some ideas for the new year.  But no pressure, there's always next year. 

Cheers,

Susie

photo credit: Audringje via photopin cc

The New iTunes 11

Apple introduced the much anticipated new overhaul of iTunes, iTunes 11, on Friday.  I just upgraded my iTunes this weekend to check it out.  Considering the number of changes made in the world of technology it's surprising, or not, how little things have changed in the software apple provides.  iTunes 11 is exciting just because it's new and sexy!  It's much more visual.  Having only used it for a short time I'd say the things I like most about it are:

1. The new mini player.  You can listen to your music while working on other things and the new improved mini player gives you much more control over your music.

2. It has a more powerful and easy to use search engine.

3. The new "up next" feature allows you to see what songs are being played next and allows you to add or skip songs from the list.

I'm liking it and it was about time for a change.  Thanks again Apple!