This year goose island

How High’s the Water?

The Water level is rising at our Ontario cottage. We keep asking each other “How High’s the Water?”, which reminds us of a Johnny Cash song.

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close up photography of yellow flowers

Signs of Spring

This past week in Southern Ontario we have had a lovely quick blast of summer temperatures! We are heading back to colder temperatures again next week, but we’ve had a wonderful time of it while it lasted!

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The Story of My Experiment with Truth Book Review and reading glasses

The Story of My Experiments with Truth

Our house is littered with unread and partially read books. This autobiography of Mohandas K. Ghandi has made it to my favourite bookshelf. I very much enjoy reading non-fiction – and in particular stories of history. This book kept me riveted!

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purple lupin flower field under blue sky

Growing Lupins

Starting lupins from seed to add to our Northern Ontario island garden. All about the island, starting lupin seeds, and growing lupins.

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close up photography of wine glasses

We Made Our Own Wine

We had fun making a batch of “home made” wine at our local make your own wine store!

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TD Ballpark Dunedin Blue Jays spring training warmup

Blue Jays Spring Training Tour

We took a last minute trip to Florida to watch some Toronto Blue Jays spring training games and had a wonderful time with very little advance planning!

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Bowl of lamb stew

Lamb Stew

A delicious recipe for Lamb Stew – perfect for a spring or Easter dinner.

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Free wheat bread toasted with peanut

As Canadian as Peanut Butter

The history of peanut butter – A delicious and healthy Canadian food!

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Cheesecake Tiramisu

Tiramisu Cheesecake

We prepared this easy Tiramisu Cheesecake for a birthday celebration. It’s a seemingly fancy dessert but we made it no-bake and without eggs or mascarpone cheese.

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woman gardening

Spring Head Start – Seed Starting

Get a jump on spring gardening with simple seed starting tips. Learn how to choose the right seeds, create the perfect environment, and care for your seedlings for a bountiful harvest.

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Ice harvest

Ontario’s Ice Harvest History

Our mysterious island barn is a legacy of Ontario’s historic Ice Harvest industry.

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photo of groundhog on grass

Groundhog Day

Lots of facts about Groundhogs and Groundhog Day! Happy Groundhog Day 2023!

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vegan roasted butternut squash soup

Vegan Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

A very easy recipe for a delicious roasted butternut squash soup that just happens to be vegan!

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the lineup to pickup passengers at Kitchener Airport

Canadian Flights

A story about our flights from Ontario to Calgary and back on Flair Airlines, and some thoughts about Westjet and customer service. (and an update!)

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Hot Dogs, Pogos and a Twist

A little bit of history and trivia about hot dogs, pogos and corn dogs and a recipe for corn dogs.

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Easter Weekend – Easter Eggs & The World’s Biggest Easter Egg

Do you know where the World’s Largest Easter Egg is? This post is a silly look at some giant roadside attraction style eggs, a few Easter egg facts, and some egg quotes. It is frivolous and light hearted, and a shameless outreach to my children who are far away and at home.

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Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

What’s in a Sauce? A Bolognese Recipe

Our family favourite recipe for Bolognese Sauce. Printable recipe card included.

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Vegan Buttermilk Cinnamon Holiday Cake

Vegan Cinnamon Buttermilk Holiday Cake

An easy recipe for a holiday style cake with cinnamon and raisins, made with vegan buttermilk. It’s perfect as a coffee cake, as a snack or as a dessert. Did I mention it’s a vegan recipe?

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Kananaskis Country

Calgary to Kananaskis Road Trip

We took a drive from Calgary to Kananaskis and back, during our visit to Calgary. It’s an easy drive in the summer if you want to see beautiful scenery and wildlife. This post is about the drive, the distance and what we saw along the way.

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Chicken Thighs with Spinach

One Pan Chicken Thighs and Spinach

Jacques Pepin’s recipe for chicken thighs and spinach is easy to prepare, requires very few ingredients, only one pan – and is sensational.

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One pan lemon chicken and potatoes

One Pan Lemon Chicken and Potatoes from our test kitchen

We make Lemon Chicken and Potatoes in one pan – and place it in the centre of the table so that everyone can ladle their own food.

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