BC Observations

Happy BC Day to my fellow British Columbians! Hope you're enjoying your long weekend.

A few weeks ago I headed out on a road trip, with with my mom, 2 of my sisters and a nephew. We were taking my mom on a "sentimental journey" to Kitimat BC, about 1400km from Vancouver, and we only had a week to do it. She had lived there for a few years, as a teenager, when the town was brand new, and for one year "reigned" over the town as Miss Kitimat. Pretty cute. The town of Kitimat was created to support the aluminum smelting industry in the mid-50's. Before that, it was a tiny fishing village. Here are some pics of our road trip to northern BC....

An abandoned old church near Lytton BC. 

The Fraser River.

Barkerville is a national historic site of Canada located along Williams Creek. It's an old "gold rush" town built in the 1860's. Many of the original town's buildings still stand today. Incredible history. 

The old Canadian National train station. 

Kitimaat Village, just outside of Kitimat. 

What I really noticed is that since the town was born in 1954, the architecture is very much of the era. Loved it. Even the abandoned buildings still looked great. I'd love this one to be turned into some kind of accommodation. 

A-frame architecture for the First United Church.

This is Miss Kitimat (aka my mom) taking a look at what was the town centre, where she was "crowned". 

Baked...for Canada Day

Ah, long weekends. Love them, even if I'm working for most of it. I'm in Victoria BC, for a few shoots, but back for July 1st - Canada Day. What are your plans?

Lately, I've been playing around with different flours in my never ending attempt at being healthier. Interesting, because as I write this, I have a wee bit of a hangover. ;) These were made with quinoa flour and almond meal, and they're pretty delicious. Similar to a friand, really.

Let's call them Canada Day cupcakes - makes about 10 medium cupcakes. 
3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup quinoa flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
125g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup berry/caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

For topping:
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or to taste)
fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350f/180c.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, quinoa flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat the butter, vanilla, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Stir in the dry ingredients, a little at a time, until combined. Fold through the milk.

Spoon, evenly, into cups and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden and springy to touch.
Cool on a wire rack.
For topping, beat whipping cream and maple syrup together until it's, well, whipped cream! Top cooled cupcakes with whipped cream and a raspberry. Enjoy!

Have a good weekend everyone and, to my fellow Canadians, have a fun and safe Canada Day long weekend!

Canada

I hope you're all having a fantastic day! If you're in Vancouver, quick, head outside, I see a ray of sun ;)

Have a great weekend everyone! Back soon.
janis

Conquer Clutter

I was asked to answer a few questions, for a contributers page, about small spaces and "conquering clutter". As I plunked down my thoughts, I scanned my office. Ugh. I have definitely not conquered clutter. After answering the questions, I started to go through the cupboards and shelves in my work space. Let's just say, a garage sale will be happening in the next month, and my office will go through a few changes. I will share the results of my purging and mini reno. If any of you lovely bloggers have some decluttering advice, please fill me in!

To celebrate Canada Day (we're 143 years old!), I thought I'd leave you with this image. I do not know why I have this (probably scanning ebay whilst drinking wine, and thought "oh, a mountie"), but I can promise you, it will be part of the garage sale. You may have to get here early if you want this little guy ;)

Happy Canada Day! Hope the sun is shining where you are!

Rainy Weekends

Really, I think we can turn the switch on to "summer" now, can't we? Oh well, we're used to rain here on the west coast of Canada, so you can always float some paper boats in puddles.....

and drink lots of this......

or this (especially great if you can have someone draw a face on top)....

This coffee was made at Lakhoum in Richmond, Victoria Australia. Not sure if it's still the same owners. The coffee was perfect, not just cute!

I plan to catch up on some of my favourite blogs, work on a few craft projects, and go for walks in the rain. I'm kind of happy it's raining. What will you do this weekend?

Have a lovely weekend everyone. To all of you that live in the U.S., have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. See you Monday for Baked on Monday 7!

Thankful

We're heading into a long weekend here in Canada. It's Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. Nothing but heaps of stuffing, cranberries, stuffing, sweet potatoes (soaked in maple syrup), and stuffing.  A true carb delight. 

My post purchase doubts have kicked in a bit this week (thanks to blasted Ebay!), so I have felt like a greedy guts. I'd like to remedy it a bit, by declaring my thankfulness for a few things in my life. I'll try not to be deeply mushy, or too wordy!

I'm very thankful for....

My husband, friends and family here in Vancouver and Australia.  

Having 13 years with our fabulous dog Plugger.  He passed away this summer. We really miss him.

Plugger

The lovely people that have purchased some of my prints over the last week. Pictured below is the Chinatown series and a couple of Fallen Ladies.

Having a roof over my head is pretty good too.

Speaking of having a roof over my head...

 

If you live in Vancouver, check out gratitudeweek.org and please donate. Their slogan is "Give a dollar. Give a damn". If you live here, you know we have an unacceptable homeless problem. For a rich city like Vancouver, this should not be happening. It's bunk. With the Olympics coming, it can only get worse.

Another fabulous organization, you all might like to check out, is kiva.org. 

As a wedding gift, for my brother and his wife, my family lent money to a lovely woman, in Honduras, so she could open up a beauty salon.  The money was repaid in just a few months. It's a fascinating site to go through. Please take a look. I'm about to donate to a man that simply needs a couple of goats. 

Have a great weekend! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!