Maggie Turner: Page by Page

The weather yesterday, and again toady, is chilly, very windy, and very wet. The stiff wind begun to rob Mist Cottage of her comfort. The indoor temperature had been holding steady at 20C, despite single digit temperatures at night, until yesterday. The temperature dropped to 19C by yesterday morning, and was 18C when I arose this morning. Yesterday I spent the day with four layers of clothing to stay comfortable. Even though I had changed the bedding to flannelette sheets, the cold was uncomfortable during the night. So this morning, when I arose, I turned on the heating system for the first time this autumn. For me, this means autumn has officially begun. On Wednesday I did some steam canning. When I was done there were 10 jars of Green Tomato Salsa Verde cooling down on the table, all of them sealed. I had roasted green tomatoes on Monday, but we decided that although they were nice, we would not roast any more of them. They are salty, so no matter how delicious they are, I won’t be eating them. And Attila wasn’t super keen, certainly not keen enough to warrant all of the oven time involved in preparing them. … Continue reading →

This is the Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada. Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends! [Ha! Got distracted yesterday, and this did not get posted. So a belated Happy Thanksgiving!] Saturday was cloudy and cool, a perfect day for being indoors. And a lovely day indoors it was, as Luna brought the Biggles (our Grandbabies Imp, Elf, and Tink) to share a Thanksgiving feast at Terra’s house, where the Littles reside, (Sunny, Sky, and Willow). I call them the Biggles and Littles because both families consist of twins followed by a single child, one set aged 13 and 9, the other set aged 3 and 1. We last saw the Grandbabies last Christmas, and how they have grown and changed. Imp and Elf are teenagers now! Willow is one year old and walking! What fun we had playing with them, watching them play with each other. Who knew this much love could reside in one heart. They are like a rainbow of colours, each of them oh so special, in their very own, beautiful way! Terra and Lares cooked a wonderful Roast Chicken dinner, and we brought Strawberry Rhubarb Squares for dessert, with lots of ice cream. By the time … Continue reading →

It has been getting colder through the week, which one might expect in October. Last Tuesday though, the temperature reached 27C, and humidex was 34C. It was summer’s last gasp. So here we are, just a few days later with out first frost. This morning when I arose at 5:45 a.m., I am an early riser, the thermometer outside the kitchen window read -2C. The colours in the yard, and on the rooftops, were muted white, with a thick layer of frost. Attila covered up the garden last night with yards and yards of plastic sheeting, purchased specifically for this purpose. Since the weather reports indicate that the night time temperature will not drop below 5C again for the next two weeks, it is hoped that the garden would be protected from frost damage, and carry on for another few weeks. After waiting for the sun to rise and bring some warmth, Attila uncovered the plants. The cascade of tiny shards of ice from the plastic sheets, as they were removed, sparkled in the sun. The casualty list is short so far, the basil perished. The rest of the garden looks as if it survived, but we will know for … Continue reading →