Green Tomatoes!

What to do with green tomatoes?

Since I just moved into my new home, I can not find any of my canning jars, etc. and fried green tomatoes can only use up so many...  While searching on the internet to find something different to do with the toms, I came across a recipe on Epicurious for a Green Tomato soup.

Well I made the recipe using the bacon variation of the recipe (and without the bay leaf, 'cus I don't have any) and it was delish!  Definitely something I would make again.

In fact, I still have some more green tomatoes left over so maybe I'll make soup and freeze it for later this winter when I'm craving a little green... :)

Sights of Home

The weather has not been very cooperative as of late so I've been feeling a little uninspired. However, it's been sunny and calm today so I thought I'd get out with my camera to do a little shooting of the local flora and fauna...

A local resident:  Mr. Toad

One of the three deer that wandered through the yard

Bluejay taking flight

And there are some plants in my new garden that I am unfamiliar with so feel free to comment on what they are and whether they are annual or perennial; in other words, do I pull them out when they die off in the fall, or do I leave them alone / cut them back for next year.

Grass # 1

Grass # 2

Grass # 3

Pretty sure this is bamboo but is it an annual or perennial?

A garlic family member?

This is growing by the tomatoes, but there's some in the grass garden too...  Weed?

Pretty, but what is it?

This was planted in it's own container:  Butterfly bush?

Our realtor came by and brought us some lovely fall chrysanthemums so some pics of those:

 And a sign of an Ontario fall:

Homeward Bound

Yes, we finally made it!  About 4:30 pm ON time on September 3rd, we arrived at our new home.  We made it on schedule!  The dogs were thrilled to get out of the truck and run!

For those that haven't seen the photo album, view it in my FB photos.

We took 2 days to unload everything from the truck and trailer which was great as DH had to go back to work right away after the long weekend.  And of course, we are still unpacking and figuring out where the heck to put stuff.

I've been asked to show some pictures of the barn as these never seem to get included in the realtor listings but are of utmost import to us horsey types, "so without further ado whatsoever"...  The barn is a full two stories.  There is a balcony off the right side (obscured a bit by the tree branch in the foreground).  It is obviously unfinished so we're going to wrap it this winter and finish siding it next spring.  We're also going to put some windows for ventilation and light on the ground floor.  As well as redo the doors (one visible, and one underneath the balcony).  The windows in the gables will go in next spring as well as the huge triangular custom window for the north wall of the upper floor; opposite the balcony.

The barn, west face

The main floor of the barn has a very high ceiling making it perfect for those tall ponies...

The barn with the previous owner's things

Stairs to the upper level

Eastward Bound, Are We There Yet?

I may have mentioned that Lake Superior is huge!  It took an entire day to run along the shore of the lake from Thunder Bay to Sault Saint Marie  (ahem, it's pronounced soo not sew).  After a while, you really start wondering "Are we there yet?".  I'm so glad that the dogs can't talk, although I know they were getting restless as there was a whole lot of pacing going on.

I think a bit part of the restlessness was all the road construction going on across ON.  Wow, about every 100 km or so we'd have to stop for road construction (or destruction depending on the conditions!).  I realize that summer = holiday season = road construction season but geez, Louise you'd think that there would be a better way to coordinate! And to top it off, we were heading right into the final long weekend of the summer.  That's right, Labour Day weekend!

Before getting to SOO, we passed through White River which for anyone who is a Winnie the Pooh fan will know is of special significance.

And for the Twihard fans (can't remember if this was around Lake Superior or Lake Huron)...

After a night in SOO, we were back on the road (Sept 3rd) for our final leg of the journey; Homeward Bound!

Eastward Bound, continues

Our first day on the road leaving Manitoba did see us putting in about 9 hours on the road.  We made it as far as English River, ON. We stayed at a lovely little Inn that was right on the river and very nice hotel owners, who turned out to be very pet friendly!  Gotta love people like that!

I did manage to get some pictures while I was driving.  Yes, I was taking photos while driving so no comments about the quality!  LOL!

We're in Ontario now, OneX

And yes, OneX was paying attention...

Yes mom, I'm paying attention!

I have to say, the dogs and cats traveled extremely well.  Once we picked up the moving truck in MB, hubby took one of the dogs for company leaving me with the other 5 and the 2 cats.  It worked very well actually.  Although, I think the animals that got to ride with me had a better ride in my truck than those in the moving truck.  I think the moving truck had square wheels and no shocks; it was apparently a very rough ride!

After leaving English River, ON we headed on our way.  Around Thunder Bay, we got our first glimpse of Lake Superior.  It is truly hard to fathom how immensely huge that lake is!  Without knowing the location, you could almost think that you were looking at the Pacific Ocean...

First glimpse of Lake Superior

Our little convoy really confused people:  my truck with the MB plates, the U-Haul truck from Florida with the U-Haul trailer from Arizona!  Believe me, OPP tailed us and ran the plates A LOT!

My constant view:  DH's hind end!

Dashboard buddies!

Eastward Bound

I had intended to post to the blog along the way but internet and travel being the way it is made periodic posting just about impossible! So this is going to be one big post instead of multiple little ones...

The dogs getting ready for the big trip!

We started out from Vancouver Island about 12 hours behind our original schedule. Instead of leaving on Saturday afternoon (Aug 28th) we left on Sunday morning. We took the 5:15 am ferry from Duke Point, Nanaimo to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal in Vancouver. Our first day of driving was a very long one which eventually ended when we crossed into Manitoba at 11:40 am MB time. Yup, that's right - BC, AB, SK, and MB in one fell swoop! We did end up sleeping at a truck pullout location just out side of Moose Jaw for about 2.5 hours but that was it! We did make about 7 stops along the way for about 20 - 30 minutes at a time to refuel the truck and our coffee, and drain the spent coffee and the dogs!

Crossing the Georgia Strait.  Bye bye V.I.!

Even though it was still August, we did see new snow on the mountains through Roger's Pass. And in AB - serious brrrr! The prairies certainly looked like they've had a cool, poor summer. I hardly recognized Calgary as we circled around it on the new "ring" road (Stoney Trail). It's hard to believe how much that city has grown and changed! I honestly don't think I could live there again. We drove past Belle Plaine, SK where DH had also received a job offer... I'm glad he turned that one down as there is very little there (potash mine, fertilizer plant, and a salt plant, oh my).

Manitoba was cool and overcast, but fortunately the rain held off during the day (Aug 31st) as we were loading up all our worldly possessions from the storage facility they had been in for the last year. It took us about 8 hours to get everything loaded into the 26' truck. Fortunately we had a bit of help from my mother- and father-in-law who drove out from southern Saskatchewan to give us a hand.

We hit the road again at 6 am on September 1st and at least, the next few days were shorter in duration than the previous one...