No Easter Bunny on Easter Island?

Into the final holiday push of gift creation, Christmas tasks such as putting up the tree - an Inuk friend said "must be so nice to have a real tree that smells so good" and she is correct, visiting / entertaining, end of year paperwork, duck hunting for the shore captain, appointments which will have to last until March and getting ready to pack for an extended vacation. So a fairly steady pace here which was only made more frantic by a friend's unfortunate loss of everything but the clothes being worn in an apartment fire. They returned home from an evening out to find smoke pouring out the eaves, kicked the door in and rescued the pets and now are trying to put their lives back together, not an easy task at any time but with the holidays and lobstering even more difficult. Our community is a very generous one and donations of clothing, money, groceries, a fundraiser ongoing and offers of a place to stay and more are being offered. I am carrying the Red Cross disaster phone and so was able to do provide assistance through that fund, something I hadn't thought I'd be doing for someone known to me. 

Mandela vest 

I've been working on some crochet projects and although the pattern for my granddaughter's circular vest stated one ball would be sufficient….it wasn't. I am off to source an additional ball, thankfully the local yarn store has it in stock to complete it. The way that baby is growing, there's no point in holding on to a size 2 creation. I have been resisting the temptation to visit the yarn store and have actually been working on reducing my 'stash' with a couple of projects - grey, white and red (lumberjack look) crocheted cap for a friend's grandson to be born this winter, some fish shaped dishcloths which I've been gifting, a hat and slippers which the granddaughter will 'grow into' and a couple of toques for the homeless shelter but…who am I kidding? Not really making a dent in it and all it will take is a moment of weakness at the yarn shop, feeling the fibres - it's like sitting in the car at the dealership and….

Today I made bread pudding, but not the kind my mother would've made - apple bread pudding created with some brioche I found in the discount bin (so sweet it burns if not closely supervised in the toaster) and caramel sauce. Yum, will make it again. 

Gramma's Apple Bread Pudding

• Prep15 m Cook 45 m  Ready In 1 h

Ingredients

• PUDDING
• 4 cups soft bread cubes
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups peeled and sliced apples
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 eggs, beaten
• VANILLA SAUCE
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 7x11 inch baking dish.
• In a large bowl, combine bread, raisins, and apples. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 3/4 cups milk, and 1/4 cup butter. Cook and stir until butter is melted. Pour over bread mixture in bowl.
• In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and eggs. Pour bread mixture into prepared dish, and pour egg mixture over bread.
• Bake in preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes, or until center is set and apples are tender.
• While pudding is baking, mix together sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Serve over bread pudding.

I also made cranberry pudding (for the extended family Christmas supper on Saturday) and a few dozen chocolate chip cookies for the boy captain as they'll be a welcome treat when lobstering. Tomorrow's plan is to make doughs (fried brown bread dough) for him as well. What do you get the young man who has everything? Mom's baking of course.

Have been making the rounds and getting together with various friends as it'll be March before we catch up again. Squeezing in visits before and after errands or other social events takes some planning but is possible. Still working on a meet up with northern buddies temporarily in this province, will be tricky with the weather forecast and travel schedule. I've arranged to store my vehicle with my nursing class buddy and reduce the insurance as I did when heading to work. Ticking all the details off my to do travel list. 

Had the grandson over a weekend ago and he was assisting with some of the holiday tasks - moving of the bear on the advent calendar "who does that when I'm not here - Grawmp?" Now that's funny! The guy who has traditionally done very little for Christmas… doesn't do cards, clean, decorate the house, bake, wrap gifts and when urged grudgingly brings home a tree for me to decorate and puts up minimal exterior lights while complaining how much he dislikes the holidays. This year is slightly better - it is very difficult to complain that one "doesn't have time for this" when retired, as you DO have is lots of time. But the moving of the bear awaits grandchildren at this point. 

We travelled to the city on the weekend and kept our youngest grandchild while her parents enjoyed supper, a hockey game and a night away. She's a busy 15 month old, but no where near as frantic as her mother was. She was very cheerful, ate everything she was offered and repeatedly said "mo" smiled and pointed at the fridge, stove or counter for the additional food. We discovered that she treats Pete their yellow lab as if he is a sibling, chattering to him, sitting on him, reading him books etc. and he is very gentle with her. After a bath, pyjamas and a bottle she was off to bed and settled herself at 7pm and slept the night. Shortly after we turned in, Pete launched himself onto the mattress with us and all 80 lb of him in the middle of the bed was like sleeping with a boulder! In the morning our granddaughter was chirpy calling out "dog, dog, dog" then "kitty, kitty" upon hearing her pets awake and was up for breakfast and the day. Sure wished we lived closer to be able to do that more often. 

The details are mostly in place for the travels with flights booked, some accommodation, bus tickets, plans to meet our Argentine friends for a couple of weeks, some open ended time in Chile to explore the coast and a four day trip to Easter Island in Feb.  When I was explaining that we were going to Easter Island, our grandson asked "is that where the Easter Bunny is?" so I described the statues and showed him some online photos and he said "still pretty cool" which I agreed with, then "Nanak, I just can't believe that you aren't taking me!" and when I explained that he was in school in Jan/Feb he said "that sure doesn't make it any better!" ahhh hard to disagree with that. He has been the guy with the quotes for sure lately as this is the quote of the day to his younger brother from one of the places he stays …..you gotta put your undies on first THEN your pants. They go under your pants that’s why they’re called undies, if they went over your pants they’d be called ovaries….maybe he's going to be a Dr. 

When I was relating the story of my great nephew being on a Timbits team which was chosen for the intermission display (also televised) at a Mooseheads game, our grandson (who enjoys playing nerd guns, legos, board games etc with this hockey player) gave me a piercing 'annoyed' look and said "Nanak, you never told me that Grant was famous!" I'm sure  the upcoming visit will yield some more yarns as he is pretty pumped for the holidays. We will have him for an early and late Christmas, looking forward to that as we'll miss him for the next few months.

When you say "home eight weeks" it seems like a long time but…after catching up from a previous extended trip, making sure to not miss anything on the home front and then prepping for the upcoming extended trip….the time slips away. A week from tomorrow we will be starting out on our journey…

It has been a year on Saturday since I finished the chemo treatments and I continue to feel well (obviously by the pace I keep) with good checkups and it's amazing how quickly you can put that part of life behind you. So much better to be getting my own haircut this morning than wearing a wig and hats. I was reading an online article about a 35 year old with children 5,3 and a few months old who was diagnosed with colon cancer with metastases and undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. He wrote about the need to live each day to the fullest but also described the disconnect of planning for the future while getting things in order in case you weren't there. It's a weird dichotomy. He sure nailed it! I had a lovely email from a nursing classmate today who wrote "I am so glad to hear you're doing so well. Only you could bounce back like that" which made me smile.

Have been purposely putting off thinking about work, there is clearly no shortage of northern nursing and I will sort out how to work for about five weeks in May/June when I return from southern travels. I had hoped to return to the NWT community I've been working in for a couple of years but this may not be possible as an RCMP posted in has a nurse partner so there might not be room for a casual CHN in May. I'm considering a return to a community in Nunavut which I enjoyed and haven't been to for three years, it's a busy spot and I'd have to get back up to speed but May tends to be a quiet time in the arctic with the majority of folks 'out on the land' and it would be a good chance to visit everyone. Another option is a TB nurse contract which is an office (read day job no on call) and involves managing the TB program in a Nunavut community meaning I'd get to explore another part of Canada's north. Since the majority of communities withTB outbreaks are in the Baffin region this would require travelling in through Ottawa where the oldest daughter is now located so….benefits to each of the choices. The title of this blog may be retirement planning but one thing is certain…I am not ready to give up work completely just yet. 

You're home? For the Moment

A month since the last post which means either that I'm too busy/procrastinating or there's nothing to write about. Lots going on so….clearly I am being negligent in my blogging duties as I freely admit to being a first class procrastinator, and being home hasn't increased my interest in doing housework or tackling a few of the projects I've been putting off. I did manage to get the decorations up inside the house and it does look festive. The shore captain actually took my suggestion of putting the exterior Christmas lights unearthed in his excavation of his workshop to good use - managed to get three strings working - they've been installed on the eaves and corner of his barn where they likely cause some surprise as they're visible when rounding the corner. Can't let him get ahead of me...My to-do list has gotten shorter though. One of the items was purchasing a box of Peace by Chocolate (the Syrian chocolatiers who came to Antigonish last year and have been promoted by our primeminster) but as I worked my way through the online checkout I grumbled about giving $9.50 to Canada Post for shipping. I noticed on their FaceBook page (when searching for a promo code) that Sobeys now carries the chocolates and a quick call to my local store verified 'yep we have lots' which warmed my frugal soul. Gotta give those new Canadians making their way some support. 

Wine tasting

My friend and I enjoyed our cruise out of Miami to Bahamas and Key West. We put together a four day + three day back to back cruise to make it a week. Not sure I'd bother to do back to back cruises again (especially for such short time periods) as we wasted a few hrs in Miami getting reregistered for the second cruise and….

My Fair Lady Dining Room

Nassau Public Library former jail

Public Health message at its best

the entertainment was completely repeated, plus we had to arrange to have the same table (and thus staff) in the dining room as since the two cruises were completely separate there were two registrations, accounts etc. We thoroughly enjoyed the Enchantment of the Seas although we managed to miss Super Mario as he had just left the ship after about six months on board. Apparently he was sailing on another ship. His loss.

Capt. Ron 

We did a Bites of Nassau walking and food tour with a small group where we had a great time with our guide Capt. Ron sampling conch fritters with calypso sauce, Bahama mamas, chocolates, gelato, conch chowder and rum cake. We learned a lot about Bahamian food culture, history and generally had a wonderful afternoon:

trubahamianfoodtours.com

Conch fritters with calypso sauce

Critters on a pirate ship

On the return visit to Nassau during the second cruise, we visited the Pirate Museum and it was a fun morning. Well, maybe not the stuffed rats in the very realistic dioramas but it was a well done facility. Those female pirates were tough women for sure. Learned lots about piracy, the Bahamas and separated fact from fiction of books and movies. Capt Ron had agreed the museum was worth a visit and we concurred. Although Nassau is touted as a shopping mecca, we didn't find any particularly notable buys and the exchange rate is really painful so we window shopped.  The private island of Coco Cay was (as expected) lovely and we spent two wonderful beach days there. We walked the nature trail (did not spring for the $30 US per person guided tour) and saw chickens, geckos and birds as we explored the various beaches, craft vendors and stuffed ourselves at the BBQ (one of the best I've had at any of the cruise lines) swam, sunned and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Harry S Truman

One of the 54 many toed cats here

Ernest Hemingway's writing studio

The Village People…sort of

Miami sailaway

Key West found us opting for a hop on and off trolley tour which didn't disappoint as we got to see the island, learned lots about the history/culture of the area and were dropped off at Hemingway House to visit with the cats. Although I'd visited before, it was worth the repeat trip and the cats appreciated the attention. We took full advantage of the entertainment on the ship and enjoyed the night shows - comedians, juggling, and musicals as well as the crew shows. On our final night (as it was my travel buddy's birthday the following day) we suppered at Choppes Grille which is the a la carte restaurant. A very classy meal with impeccable service resulted in a nice finale. Important to keep those positive thoughts in mind as we flew United home and RUDE is the word which comes to mind to describe their service. Nuff said. Not to mention that we encountered snow upon our return to reality. Sigh

The shore captain was out on the water for the first day of the lobster season helping get the traps overboard for a Captain who had leased a lobster license this fall but hadn't been lobstering for 15 years. No interest in going the next day for the first haul (although I suspect a crappy marine forecast influenced that decision) or since. Says that he's gotten that bug out of his system and even had to be encouraged to go pick up some lobsters at the plant so I could make sandwiches for a road trip (more on that later) as promised. He did however steam and crack them for me - a wonderful gesture.

Had a physio appointment so rewarded myself with a lunch of almond coffee cake at a new cafe:
sweetindulgence.ca
Apparently you can have salads, wraps, paninis etc. there for lunch but why would you want to when the baked goods look like that? Stopped at Frenchy's on the way home and found some goodies for the grand baby including a cute pink folding camping chair which is low to the ground and sturdy (she doesn't quite fit in the taller frog chair the grandson uses) a real deal at $2.50. I set it up in the living room when I got home and put one of the cats in it for a photo op and….she has rarely vacated it since, apparently considering it as 'her' chair and enjoying being close to the action. The grandson said "Nanak I think you have to get the baby another chair, that one is Squeaker's" but as I explained….Frenchy's finds are just that - finds not orders.

Have enjoyed a couple of road trips recently with a former coworker, always good to catch up on the news and travel with an easy going buddy. Our first outing was to the sale - Ten Thousand Villages:
tenthousandvillages.ca
which we enjoyed last year for the first time (although it's been held for many years apparently in the same venue) and again purchased lots of unique goodies. So fun to travel to Nepal, Vietnam, India, Peru, Bangladesh etc (without risking tropical diseases) and find interesting,reasonably priced fair trade items and know that this is helping community projects. We oohed and ahhed, tried on, sniffed, picked up and put down, and even resisted (a bit) but in the end, the credit cards got a workout. We also met a former coworker at the sale who had recently returned from a trip to China which had long been on her bucket list - apparently it exceeded her expectations - lots of discussion with my buddy as she'd travelled to China in 1985 with a nursing group when it was first opening up to tourism. So a global kind of morning. We made our way to lunch at Bread and Olives (well once we discovered it had relocated from where I'd last visited it a couple of years ago) to Main St:
breadandolives.ca
It's a wonderful bakery / deli with ? British owners (or at least British accents) where I had a turkey, brie, cranberry pie and my friend enjoyed a cornish pastie while we chatted, people watched and shared a pot of tea. Capped the day off with a stop at Frenchy's where I managed to enlarge my granddaughter's wardrobe and pick up some travel clothes for myself. A wonderful way to spend the day.

Yesterday my road trip buddy and myself headed out early as we stopped at Frenchy's and both scored very well for ourselves and family - my friend even found a dinosaur costume for her grandson's pug - I ask you, where else can you so reasonably complete such a unique purchase? We were headed to visit a former coworker of mine as I was sure they'd have lots in common and was correct. He has begun rug hooking and she is an experienced hooker/teacher so they discovered they knew hookers in common, examined each others work, commented on techniques and generally enjoyed an artistic exchange. I caught up on the news and crocheted - good to see my buddy so content and looking so well - while we enjoyed lobster sandwiches and gingerbread cookies for lunch. It was a beautiful day for a drive up through woods to his little hippie house. Ahh. We left in mid afternoon to ensure I was home in time for the supper I'd been promised (baked coots - which were delicious by the way) and made it just as the rain began. Good timing all around.

The shore captain has been duck hunting in front of the house in the mornings in his sneak boat (similar to an Inuit kayak) and has been quite successful. In fact he shot two eiders (sea ducks) and two coots (American scooters) with one shot each as well as two hooded mergansers (shell ducks). One of the eiders had a band from Laurel, Maryland in 2006. Hadn't shot a banded duck in his 50 yr hunting history so got on the phone to the Audubon Society who promptly sent him a certificate. Exciting times.

Had the grandson over for a visit on the weekend and he got into the holiday spirit by 'moving the bear' on the advent calendar then helped me stamp brown paper to make wrapping paper and wrap some gifts - such craftiness a new experience for him. We baked gingerbread cookies and he decorated them, taking some to school for his teacher and buddies - likely ate them on the bus I'm thinking. He created a wonderful chapter book called Puppy Christmas which was inspired by the 2011 Christmas Seals stickers I gave him. When I suggested a word to use he said "Nanak, give me a break, I'm only in grade 2 and besides it's my book, I decide" gotta love those artistic types. I have placed his masterpiece on the coffee table with my other important books. We video chatted with his auntie and discussed our plans for March Break when we visit and he sang the one line of the song for the school Christmas concert which he can remember to her. A very full weekend.

Today I've 'taken the day off' and have really accomplished very little unless online shopping, a walk to the mailbox, finishing up the socks I've stuffed for the mission and a load of laundry counts as a full day. Actually I spent quite a bit of time responding to "come see this" as the shore captain reviewed his videos from the spring snow goose hunt after I figured out how to transfer them from his GoPro and also assisted him in the storing of lumber for woodworking projects overhead in his barn, this being a two person operation. Apparently the kind of day that two somewhat retired people have according to a neighbour who we dropped in to visit last week as she assured me they'd be home if they didn't kill each other getting the outdoor Christmas decorations up. I hear ya sister!