Author Archives: admin

Spooky Halloween Cookies

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I’m continuing to have cookie decorating adventures! It’s nearing Halloween, and I adore making Halloween cookies. I thought I’d try some with texture, which turned out pretty well – especially the large spiders. The most challenging aspect is to get the icing right – this time, it took me nearly 2 hours to figure it out, and I wasn’t using that many colours. Fortunately, I didn’t get it so wrong that I had to start again (I’ve done *that* before), so I guess I’m making progress.

The black icing has a cocoa base, which greatly simplified making it a dark black. (Also makes it taste great!)

These spiders are my favourites, although they’re so creepy, I don’t know if I want to eat them…. 🙂

IMG_8667On a spidery note, I thought I’d do some webs with some cute spiders perched:

IMG_8674And a few more spiders (I guess there’s a theme here), and also a few cats:

IMG_8683I’m newly intrigued by eyes. They’re kind of hard to do – some of the points are sticking up too much, so I guess I’ll have to work on that next time.

These eyes are floating in the green goo, with some floating random eyeballs, just for fun…

IMG_8678And finally, some crazy-looking ghosts

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Happy Halloween everyone!

 

 

Pumpkin Cookie Decorations

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It’s the fall, so what better time to try some sugar cookies that look like pumpkins? These were fun to make (and to eat!) although most of them went to a bake sale for charity.

I’m finding it a struggle to get the right consistency of the icing and to ensure real smoothness. My guess is practice makes perfect… hmmm… I think I sense some Thanksgiving cookies coming up.

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Petrie Island, By Canoe

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Today we canoed along the Ottawa River, around Petrie Island. We were hoping to reach Duck Island, which has an river inlet in the middle that is host to a variety of turtles, but it was *way* too far! We were out for 3.5 hours, and we think Duck Island might be an 8-hour round trip.

We did see some amazing wildlife, though, such as this heron:

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And this Eastern painted turtle, sunning himself on a rock:

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And this wee little turtle:

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My first ever triathlon

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Yesterday, I completed the National Capital Triathlon. At the beginning, I was feeling pretty confident:

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Then, the horn went off and mass chaos ensued, leaving me feeling a little panicked:IMG_8374

After some deep breathing, I managed to get through the swim (I hope this gets easier with practice), and I actually had a lot of fun on the bike ride. I also biked faster than I ever have!IMG_8393

The run was pretty fun, too, although my tummy wasn’t feeling too good by that point. I don’t know if it appreciates Gatorade and chewy bars very much – but, I figure you have to keep smiling!IMG_8397In the end I finished in 3:31 minutes, which was pretty close to my target time. But I bet I could do a better swim… next year…. 🙂

Rooster Comb Peak

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We had hot, dry weather for our hike with friends in Lake Placid. The forest was not too damp – lucky, considering that it snowed just last weekend. The views inside the forest were lovely:

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and once we reached the top, we were treated to a panoramic view of the Adirondacks:

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The wind blew strongly at the top, but it was a warm wind, and cooled us off nicely. The temperature here is around 28 degrees.

You can see our climb through GPS – we ascended over 500 metres. Unfortunately, my watch battery died, so only part of the trek downwards was captured in the data:

Only in Georgia

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We’ve had a lovely trip in Georgia, but we have noticed a few, um, cultural differences:

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Yup, this is a real sign. 2 houses down from our friend’s place in Warner Robins. I guess you shouldn’t let your kids play in the yard in some neighbourhoods….

We’re off to Washington tomorrow, but will probably not be able to post any pictures until we get to Lake Placid. It looks like it may pour on Saturday in Lake Placid, but we’re hoping those pesky weathermen just got it a bit wrong.

The Falls that Started It All

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Today, we drove up to Dupont State Forest to visit the falls that started it all – Triple Falls. These falls, and the gorgeous countryside surrounding them, were featured in the film the Hunger Games. We thought the scenery beautiful in the movie, and realizing that we had never visited this part of the country, we decided to make a vacation out of it.

The day was gorgeous, windy, but with beautiful sun. We did a short, non-strenuous hike to see High Falls:

IMG_7852then we hiked to Triple Falls:

IMG_7882We were lucky to get the falls in pristine conditions. Not 5 minutes after we stopped taking pictures, the area was swarming with people. They were climbing all over the rocks, in violation of the signs that clearly warn that people die every year here, slipping accidentally in the falls. Apparently when Jennifer Lawrence ran over these very same falls, she did it with a full harness to protect her.

We next headed over to the North Carolina Arboretum – an absolutely stunning location, with elaborate gardens and structures:

IMG_7892Finally, we fit in some Bluegrass / Hillbilly / Country music at Jack of the Wood Pub, where we heard the Westbound Rangers live. The band was excellent. Since we’re on a Civil War kick, we especially enjoyed their Stonewall Jackson song, which you can sample here:

I think I’ve finally figured out the comment system, so feel free to leave a comment and we’ll respond.

Chimney Rock and the Looking Glass

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We had a fabulous day of hiking. We went up a ton of stairs, like these…

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in order to see the fabulous Chimney Rock, like this:

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Since we finally had terrific weather (last time we tried we got caught in a torrential downpour), we drove back to the Devil’s Courthouse. On the way, we saw the Looking Glass, which is a natural rock formation that glistens with water, so at the right time of year, it shines like a mirror.

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