2. Take a box of Ritz crackers. Crush those crackers while in their bag. Crush until you cannot see any large bits.
3. Put those Ritz into the large bowl.
4. Add a bag of Skor bits (the ones we got look like a bag of chocolate chip cookies but says Skor on them).
5. Add a can of condensed milk.
6. Mix.
7. Pour into a Pyrex dish to put in the oven.
8. Set oven at 350F for 20 minutes.
9. Let sit for 30 minutes then cut to whatever size you want. If you cut before 30 minutes, it’s too sticky. If you wait longer, then they get really stiff.
No particular order. Too bad I didn’t record it! I would have but we weren’t planning to play with full gear until last minute so I forgot to bring along the recording unit.
It was a pretty fantastic set considering we had only played together for the first time two days before. It’s fabulous to play with great musicians.
Small pack of sausages (5 or 6 in a pack I think? I removed the meat from the casings)
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 carton (32 ounces) chicken broth
1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can lentils, rinsed
1 cup dry red wine or additional broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions
Select saute or browning setting on a 6-qt. electric pressure cooker. Adjust for medium heat; add oil. When oil is hot, add sausage, onion, and carrot. Cook until sausage is no longer pink and vegetables are tender, 6-8 minutes, breaking meat into crumbles; drain. Press cancel. Return all to pressure cooker.
Add broth, tomatoes, lentils, garlic, salt and pepper. Lock lid; close pressure-release valve. Adjust to pressure-cook on high for 15 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes; quick-release any remaining pressure.
Original recipe asked for celery, beef broth and spinach. I did not have any on hand. Perhaps try next time? Recipe also called for a cup of red wine. I’m not convinced that the alcohol would burn off so I put an additional cup of broth in. I’m not sure if that was needed either. There was a already a lot of liquid.
Grandma took a photo of this Steller’s sea eagle. Supposedly bird watchers from as far as Toronto drove down to Gaspe to see this!
Working on his baseball skills
Sierra marvelling at how high Maman can get!
It’s not often that a copy of Giant Sized X-Men #1 comes close to being mine, but on my birthday I took part in an auction to get a copy. I went as high as $1,950 and finally had to bow out. I heard that it went for $2,400 at final bid. I did my research and decided the condition it was in was not worth more than $1,950. One day it will be mine!
We really enjoy the Rockland park because of its proximity to water and this great merry-go round! Here I am spinning these kids until they vomitted.
On my birthday we headed out to the Ottawa River and checked out these neat rock sculptures we had never seen before. We even got to stop by a cantina and had a couple of hot dogs!
Let’s not forget the great orange cake!
Sierra got to hang out with some friends at the park one hot morning.
Enjoying an apple
Cooling down on a hot day
Always nice when Andreane can come for a visit
Yeehaw!
A father’s day gift arrived late but it was much appreciated!
Teaching Sierra how to ride a bicycle. She wasn’t too bad at at it but I think next year might the year she nails it.
Pretty nice setup at night
Practicing to go to school and teaching Ezra how to do the thumbs up
For Ezra’s birthday we decided to go over to Prehistoric World. It’s not too far away and the kids (and adults!) enjoy it!
We also had water balloons on hand! Ezra REALLY enjoyed playing with those!
Ezra had a firefighter theme for his party and we made a truck cake for him
A photo before the cake was eaten
I hope this happens when the day comes for my visit to the Star Wars hotel!
Hitching a ride
I’ve been dropping off my empty beer cans in Chesterville and we toured around the park and found it was right next to the river!
About to head out and fight some crime
Got to see some fine friends from college on a very very hot day. That pool was calling my name!
If there are strawberries, there are my kids
I always laugh at how Ezra can’t wait to eat his corn so he just hucks it and eats it!
Vero bought an inflatable kayak which worked quite well from what I’m told. I think this photo was taken from her first voyage. I think her second one resulted in her thinking a mouse was trapped INSIDE the kayak trying to claw its way out so she had to hurry home! I’m not sure what she heard but we never found a mouse.
The kids love going down the hill in the wagon!
Mmm mmm good
Streaker!
Enjoying an hour at the beach. While this section of Petrie Island has more rocks, there were less people.
Dropping by to show of their new wheels
Preparing the cucumbers for pickling
The theatre gang hung out in Rockland one morning while I decided to give the kids a ride on this blanket
Good to see these folks alive and well!
I was pretty impressed Sierra made it to the top!
Prepping the jars for pickling. I always laugh at how much dill we get at the farmers market but that’s how they sell it!
This year’s batch was smaller than last years because we still hadn’t gone through last year’s batch. I wish I wrote down how many pickles we bought.
The carrots were getting pretty big near the end of August!
With a little thought put into it, we decided to be godparents to this baby. She promised lifetime nachos so that sealed the deal.
Near the end of the summer I started panicking in thinking we never got around to doing all the things I wanted to do. Of course, part of this was due to the pandemic, but I decided to take the kids to a splash pad in Orleans one morning. It was a fun time!
Hanging out at the park. Ezra looks like he has some rosy cheeks from trying to keep up with the other two!
One last trip to Petrie Island before the end of summer
Where are they heading?
Sometimes we all just want to dance
Vero decided to go visit her grandmother at the end of the summer. They enjoyed an afternoon outside together.
Meanwhile back home, we lived off of freezies and chicken wings
Supposedly these are the best curds in the region so Vero always picks some up while visiting
Haha! Truth.
On August 30th, it marked the first of many lunches that we will make in our lifetimes.
Every year I scramble to find the dill pickle recipe from Mom and then I realize it’s out of date as she has taken away many of the items from the original recipe.
Here is the recipe for reference and some quantities to determine what to buy next year.
At the Navan Market we bought two small baskets ($6) of cucumbers. They were small which was great as we didn’t slice them. We also picked up three garlic…rods? What are they called? I guess we bought three garlic bulbs. Two would have been enough. Note: They are huge! We also picked up a bundle of dill and that’s MORE than enough. I am not sure if we can ask for half a bundle next time?
Two small baskets filled eight large jars.
Steps for my house. If you’re reading this from some random internet search…good luck!
1. Scrub the cucumbers and leave them in the bucket of cold water. I did this for the entire day before. 4 hours before actually putting them in jars, I add some ice to the bucket.
2. Sanitize the jars in the dishwasher. Mom talked about how she doesn’t do much more than wash her jars for dill pickles. It’s different when it comes to jams and you want to put those jars in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees. Update Summer 2024: Mom called me today to confirm I can’t put these jars in the oven beforehand because I can’t put my pecker in the hot jar! Haha. Clearly she got her words mixed up between peckers and pickles!
3. Put two cloves of garlic and 1 head of dill. We had a lot more so we added 3 cloves sometimes and a bunch of extra dill.
4. Add as many cucumbers as you can. You can also add some hot peppers if you want. Note: If you are the only person eating the spicy dill pickles, don’t make as many jars. This year I went with one spicy jar and seven non-spicy.
We also had some pickling spice left over from a previous year so we decided to put it in. The verdict is still out if it is really needed. I don’t notice a difference so I don’t think I’ll buy any in the future.
5. Bring a small pot to boil and put your lids in there. Turn the burner off. They just need to be warm to soften.
6. Bring two pots to boil so you can speed up the process. In these pots you want: 2 cups of white vinegar, 4 cups of water and 1/2 cup of coarse salt. This filled approximately 2 large jars. I had very little left after filling these jars. Adjust if need be…if you just need to fill one last jar like I did, boil 1 cup of vinegar, 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup of coarse salt.
7. After coming to a boil, pour it in (I didn’t need the funnel if I poured it fast enough) until there’s about a 1/2 inch from the top. I made sure the brine covered the cucumbers.
8. Take the lid out of the hot water and place onto the jar. Take a ring and tighten. I didn’t tighten a lot but enough that it kept the lid in place. As I type this I’m going to wait 24 hours to hear a pop. If I hear a pop, I’ll tighten the lid.
That’s that! I will be interesting to see if our family eats more than 8 jars in a year.
What to expect this summer? We had Sierra enrolled in virtual Spanish classes for the month of July. There was some government-subsidized program that cost us $10 for the entire month. She spent the morning with Madame Ana and others who wanted to learn Spanish.
Sierra seemed interested in the concept of learning a new language and it also gave her something to do in the mornings instead of hanging out with Ezra every day. I’m sure we will look into camps in the future for her.
In the end, I’m not sure she was entirely enthused to take Spanish lessons. I always laugh when one morning she kept telling me she didn’t want to go and when she eventually showed up to class Vero heard the teacher ask her “Como esta?” and Sierra replied “PAS muy bien!”. Hilarious.
I think she was expecting something similar to the school she was in the year before and…it wasn’t.
So we tried it out, and she stuck with it until the end but there was a little coercing near the end to keep it up.
As for Ezra, I can’t believe how a few months ago I saw him crawl down up and down the steps on the deck and now I see him walking up without holding onto anything! He is a brave boy. He understands everything we say to him and we are learning his language. He can’t say his S’s yet so Yes = Ye(ch)(ch) or Sierra is still “Ah ah”. Milk and more milk are pretty easy to understand. He’s pretty good at getting his own milk from the fridge now as well! Soon enough he can pour his own cereal and we can sleep in again!
Canada Day started out at the Petrie Island beach. We didn’t bring anything for swimming but it was nice to play along the shore. My soul needs the water!
We are mastering the family selfie photo. Mastering meaning at least the parents look at the camera.
Canada Day bicycle ride
I had a good laugh when Sierra asked why that guy had a really tall hat.
I will always think of this joke when I watch A Christmas Story
Comparing
Wow, I’m not sure what I said to deserve this face!
I can’t remember why I was out of Vars one evening, but I do remember the long stretch down Rockdale Road and seeing this incredible rainbow for the entire 15km stretch. It was inspiring.
Mmm…marshmallows.
Can’t be easy setting up a tent while there is a water pistol on you! We did find a leaky mattress which we couldn’t fix so we had to delay having fun in the tent this year.
Making some hot dogs
I believe we were watching the opening band for a Trews show at the Horseshoe Tavern. Sierra was loving it. I love her expression in this photo. Sheer fear?
We wanted to check out a trail near us that we had never been to. It was a very big mistake. The further we got in, the more mosquitoes attacked us. At one point we just had to call it and run back.
I wasn’t around for this, but I can only imagine Sierra told Maman that it was a drawing of her.
When the guitar comes out, they like to give it a few strums when I first start out but then they move along and find other things to do.
Muscles Palmer
Ah, a proud moment.
Not the action shots I was hoping for, but Sierra was excited about it.
I made the decision earlier this year that I would not be bringing my empties to the Beer Store anymore, but I would find some kind of good cause to donate to them. Ezra and I went out to Crysler, ON where they are collecting empties to improve their park equipment (I think? I can’t remember specifically.) While we were there we had fun in their park and it’s one of my favourites in the area because there aren’t a lot of people and there are a lot of fun things for Ezra.
This turned out to be a neat purchase. It’s a bunch of short stories involving characters you don’t really see in the film. Think: the guy who reviewed the probe droid footage from Hoth.
Getting out of the rain
Sierra teaching her brother how to jump. It’s funny to see Ezra try and jump. It’s always a one foot lands and the other one lands after. He hasn’t mastered the two feet at the same time (I’m talking about off the trampoline)
Sierra and I building the R2-D2 outside one afternoon. You can see the level of concentration it takes but I’m quite proud of how well she does.
Fun in the hot tub – Ezra the Rocket!
Saturday night is movie night and the kids run straight to the couch for it. Sometimes the movie on TVA is a dud so we just watch a Disney movie.
Check out what Mom made me! This is way better than the Kap100 stuff they are putting out, in my opinion. I just don’t like the Kap100 logo.
Awhile ago we walked on a trail in Crysler, ON and wondered where the rest of the trail went to. We found out later in the summer when we parked our car at the Home Hardware and biked to a fabulous trail which is lined with farmers fields and different plant life. Sidenote: Crysler is pretty awesome. I can see myself living there.
I can only assume Thunderstruck was playing. They never tire of that song!
Sierra was pretty excited to try out this new rock climbing wall at Max’s place while we kept an eye on their house while they were away.
I never knew how much fun it was to play ‘avoid the ball’ on a trampoline
Haha!
I don’t think I got to taste one mini tomato from our own garden this year! But that’s ok. Vero says that it’s fun to see them eat straight from the garden.
Uh, yes Google, I definitely am mistaken for Eddie Vedder from time to time!
Hanging out at the Castor River one morning
Check out that first carrot of the year!
Watermelon is something I don’t remember having as a kid but it’s great on a hot summer day
Truth!
I have to admit something. With Sierra in the house with Ezra, I’ve really leaned on her to be with him and teach him things. But the past year I’ve been on ‘Oh he’s a baby so we have to keep things away from him’ mode. It wasn’t until Vero started talking about him turning two years old in a month’s time that I realized that there were things that Sierra got to play with that I haven’t bothered with. Hence, the day the playdoh came out! He quite likes it.
Another bike trail that we tried out this summer. This one is part of the cross Eastern Ontario trail and I’m pretty sure if I kept going on in for another forty kilometers I would have ended up at Beau’s Brewery! Anyhow, this one was decent. It was a hot day and there was adequate shade. Nothing much to write home about…very straight. Give me a river to bike next to!
What better way to get Sierra to go faster than to have a race?!
Sierra and I went on Max’s trampoline again one afternoon. I have to tell you, my heels really hurt after! I think that on a trampoline I should be trying to land on the balls of my feet and not the heel?
Helping make a salad
Excitement one morning
Hanging with my girl
Ezra helping out on grocery pickup day
I had a good laugh when my beer order from Cowbell Brewery came and it was almost as tall as a two year old!
Marshmallow treat after supper
The Olympics started up and I had some activities to occupy Sierra’s time in the morning. Thank you Tokyo!
Grandmaman and Grandpapa paid us a visit and our first photo with them was the kids wanting to hop in their trunk!
Sierra hunting fireflies
Reading a story
Hanging out at Cassandra park
Always a fun way to ride
We decided to get a new BBQ when the ‘end of season’ deals started. We decided to build it on a very hot day! I will say right away that there are two strange design flaws with this. 1) The temperature gauge fogs up after a rainstorm if the cover isn’t on. I think I figured a way around that and it’s to put the cover back on a hot day and the condensation evaporates. But still! 2) Every time it rains the water collects at the bottom of the doors and I can already see some rust!
Either this a very intense staring contest or Sierra is explaining the rules to a game. That usually takes about ten minutes.
Having a snack at the Castor River
Could this be my first live show of the year? Perhaps! Note the water pistol in their hands in case I mess up!
After a lot of work by Vero to fortify the garden she came out to find our first tomato was already eaten by something!
I’m not sure the call for a timeout worked on these two jokers!
We decided to head to Petrie Island one morning. Who is that in the distance? Why that is Vero on her brand new kayak on its maiden voyage! While Sierra and I swam around a bit she got to test it out.
Ezra preferred playing on the shoreline with Grandmaman
Everyone loved the kayak!
Snack time
A few of us took out Sierra for a ride. She didn’t last too long with me and here she was in a race against me to get back
Beautiful day at the beach!
I always love seeing decks like this. It shows that folks are enjoying the summer.
Preparing some corn
Pretty sure Ezra ate the whole bowl of strawberries
Having fun with Grandmaman
The Limoges park was a hit other than the splash pad being closed when we showed up
We pull out the bouncy castle for special events and this was definitely a special event!
Ezra’s early birthday gift. Sierra and Ezra were quite good at it!
I remember before this game Sierra was putting up a fuss about wanting to play at the coffee table and we were trying to have her go on a regular table because it’s inconvenient to sit on the couch and play. I said “Listen, your grandparents are old so we need to move to the table.” “WHOA WHOA WHOA! WE ARE NOT OLD!” and that was the end of that. Reminder: don’t call people old!
We had never ventured into the park in the back of the school. It was pretty eat!
