It's a Good Day today.

I am celebrating today. A knock at the front door announced the arrival of my hubby's passport. Woo Hoo!!! We had to apply for a Canadian passport from here in the U.S. to Gatineau, QC, where the passport office is located. The paperwork was much more extensive than applying for a U.S. passport. I downloaded the required paperwork off the Internet, filled it out, had it notarized, and made a copy for my records. Thank the Lord we have a notary public at work who's known him for over 2 years, as that is one of the requirements. It had to be someone in a very limited list of professions, and this person was the only one who fit the bill. The photos were done at MotoPhoto. Bless her heart, she had to put up with my anxiety over making sure they were perfect, as the Canadian passport photo requirements are very exacting and different from the U.S. requirements. I was so anxious about the photos after reading online about other people having theirs' rejected. Warnings were made about finding a good professional photo studio and not to use Wal-mart, JCPenney, etc, because they weren't really set up for the Canadian specifications and had a high rejection rate. MotoPhoto was recommended on one site and I was thrilled to find one locally.

  When I got ready to send them in, I realized there was no place to put the credit card information, as that was easier than getting a certified check. So I called their office in Quebec. Thank goodness I did! I had the wrong form filled out. The difference was subtle - I needed form 041 rather than 040. It was a bit confusing on their web page. So I downloaded the correct forms, filled them out, had them notarized again, copied again, and this time decided to include a photocopy of my husbands' Alien card, which he received when we moved here, as well as the copy of his driver's license. I am thinking that this was the kicker that helped get everything approved so quickly. I rechecked everything at least three times, and decided to send it overnight courier, as the mail to Canada is slow, about 8 days. The current processing time is 4 weeks after they receive it. Since we were leaving on the 5th to go up north, I put that date as the date we wanted to go to Canada. We figured there was no way to get the passport back in time for the trip, so we just planned on staying on this side of the border this time. Well! It arrived TODAY! Exactly 10 DAYS from the day I sent it out. Isn't that wonderful?! I just couldn't believe it when the FedEx guy showed up at the door. After my happy dance and a call to my hubby with the good news, I started reflecting on the process and it's expedient arrival. I remembered that I was so anxious on the way over to the courier, that I started telling myself that I had done everything I could to make sure it would be accepted. That at this point, all I could do was pray, and that it was up to them. So I did. I just prayed over that package, asking the Lord to please make it acceptable to them. I was willing for it not to be if I had made a mistake. That couldn't be helped. After that, I tried to relax and not obsess over something I couldn't change at that point. I am trying to be more conscience about my thought process, as I tend to obsess over stuff like this, and it just takes so much energy and time over something I really can't control. I need to just do my best, and trust Him more. This point was really driven home when I thought about the fact that I had first filled out the wrong paperwork. It had to be Him that prompted me to call and not just go to the bank for a certified check. It had to be Him who prompted me to include the copy of the Alien Card, which I just didn't think of the first time. I thought the driver's license would be enough. And maybe it would have been. But I am glad I included it anyway. I am thinking how much He must love us, if He uses such a small thing like this to drive home the point that I need to TRUST Him more, even in the little things. Sure would save a lot of anxiety on my part. And I would be thrilled to spend less time being anxious. :0) What some would call 'coincidence', I see God's hand in it. After all these years of being a Christian, I am still learning about trust. And today, I am so thankful that He is still teaching me...after all these years.

East Grand Lake - northwest end
I am so excited!!! We've rented a cottage on East Grand Lake. We are going up north Labor Day weekend for a week.
We've talked about this for years. We've hemmed and hawed, because we just didn't want to spend the money when we could always stay with family. But this year, we were late in applying for our passports, so we can't go across to Canada. And my hubby needs a vacation badly. So we said, let's do it! And I am so looking forward to this.
East Grand Lake is about 25 miles long, and is on the border of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada. The cottage has all the comforts of home. Plus a canoe, kayaks, and row boat. Hopefully I will be posting pictures when we get back. I am really looking forward to fishing, boating, campfires, and there is a screened gazebo by the water- great for reading or stitching!

Our family all lives within a couple of hours, so they can come visit and stay for the night. It will be so relaxing and fun.
Oh yes, there is a wood stove in the living room, which is great, because it will be quite cool at night up there in September. I love the autumn with the crisp temperatures and turning leaves.

Ok, you can see how excited I am about this, especially after the warm temps and humidity we've had recently. Although it's been cooler and drier the past couple of days, partly due to the fact it's been a full moon and the wind has swung around to the north. But that will change on Tuesday - they are calling for 90! Yikes!!

I was ready to go yesterday, sigh...

How to convert an oatmeal bread recipe to brown bread...

I recently wrote an article on eHow entitled: How to make Oatmeal Brown Bread with your bread machine. I didn't actually include a recipe, as you are going to use the Oatmeal Bread recipe that came with your machine. This way, if your machine only uses 1 to 1 1/2 lb. loaf recipes, my 2 lb. loaf recipe won't overflow your bread pan. The oatmeal bread recipe needs to contain honey. To find out more, just click on the above article link. Thanks for visiting!

Recipe needed for CHEWY Pumpkin Bars please!

(Max, my beloved and very spoiled cat)

This is a call for recipes for CHEWY Pumpkin Bars! I have searched the internet, but have yet to find a recipe for this. All of them seem to be the 'cakey' version. They are nice too, but lately I've been fantasizing about bars that resemble peanut butter bars in texture. You know, the nice chewy moist kind?
Is there a pumpkin bar like this out there? I'd love to hear about them if they are. Please share your recipe with me so I can satisfy this craving and move on to the next one! LoL!

It's the middle of summer...

...and we haven't had a major heat wave yet! Yay!!!! It's actually not been bad, really. Usually, we've had 90's by now, maybe even upper 90's.
I know there's still time left in July, and August could bring us some really hot days.
I'm hoping not. I don't like intense heat, and even more, I HATE to sweat! I really dislike the tacky feeling I get when the temperatures are soaring, and the humidity is climbing.
I guess it's too many years spent up north, must have thickened my blood too much. Perhaps?



I didn't really mind all the rain and cloudy weather in June, except for the fact it brought the slugs out in droves, and they ate my plants. Not happy about that. Nope. The plants survived, though, albeit some were nearly leafless.
My poor columbine's were attacked by some very green worms. They were the exact same color
as the leaves they were eating, so they were very hard to see.
I noticed the plant was nearly defoliated before spraying them, and when I sprayed, a bunch of little green worms showed up writhing in the soil below. I know, I was really mean to those poor worms.
But you should see my poor columbine!! It was TOTALLY defoliated at this point. It was skeletonized.
It has since tried to recover, sending up tiny little leaves about 3 inches tall. At least it survived, and should come back good as new next spring. They were gorgeous this year.

I bought another color/variety of columbine at the end of season sale, brought it home, admired it again, and proceed to pull the crown out of the plant while trying to loosen it from the pot, as it was quite rootbound.

I was heartbroken. That is the first time that's happened to me. I am usually so careful.








First, I had out of town company coming later that day for a 4 day visit, and my goal was to get that sucker planted, along with the other trunkload I had brought home.
Secondly, it was hot. And humid. And buggy. The mosquitoes were quite deliriously happy and hungry after our wet month of June.

Darn. It was so pretty too. It was an unusual color - reminded me of a flame. It was yellowish on the bottom, and orange on the points. I will try next spring to find another to replace it.

I had no idea they came in so many colors. Right now, I have 3 colors.
The white, blue, and dark eggplant
purple.

The eggplant color has been very happy in the front hill flower bed for 3 years, and this year, we have several offspring. They are also much earlier blooming than the others, as this photo was taken a month or two earlier.
Columbines are a fun flower, comes in many colors, and are quite hardy. They will also multiply, but not so much as to be invasive, just enough to share!