Fall weather

It's been a week of typically fall weather here in Edmonton, some gorgeous sunny days mixed with days of wind, frost and even some snow.

I finally got around to harvesting my carrots on Wednesday. I had planted them in two rows in this rectangular container in spring.

This is what they looked like in July.

 

By mid-October, the greens were starting to change colour like the rest of the fall foliage but I kept putting off doing the harvesting. Finally, when I heard that there was snow in the forecast for Sunday, I figured it was now or never.

 

Yummm! Nothing like carrots fresh from the garden.

Why buy mini carrots in the store when you can grow your own? I think I should have thinned them out when they first started growing. Oh well, I'll know for next time.

 

 

These were some of the bigger ones.

As promised, we had a light dusting of snow on Sunday. Aren't the colours great on these strawberry plants? I'm always amazed at the various shades of colour that appear in the garden as the autumn days and nights grow cooler.

Sally has really been showing her age this last year, but she did venture outside to soak up some sunshine on one of the nicer days. You gotta enjoy that nice weather while you can.

 

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Pigeon Lake spa retreat

On Friday afternoon, my two friends, Liz and Martha, and I treated ourselves to an overnight spa retreat at The Village at Pigeon Lake. And what a great time it was!

Pigeon Lake is just a short one hour drive from Edmonton. The little village is so attractively designed and developed, and includes an inn hotel with a spa, several restaurants, boutique shops, grocery store, condo complex and beautifully landscaped streams and ponds.

The Village Creek Country Inn has several spa retreat packages and we chose the Pajama Party which included an overnight stay, pizza, a movie rental and a spa treatment.

 

We checked in around 3:30 Friday afternoon and then went for a walk in the woods. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and with the beautifully coloured leaves, it was a perfect fall day. We intended to walk to the lake but with numerous trails crisscrossing through the woods and very few clear markers, we never did find it. So we just enjoyed the walk and the chance for a visit.

 

We had booked a suite with a small kitchen, two double beds, a pull-out couch, and a fireplace. In the evening we made a fire in the fireplace (which was greatly appreciated as for some reason the heat wasn't working in our room), and enjoyed pizza and a movie, and then called it a night.

In the morning we had breakfast of muffins, yogurt, cheese and strawberries that we had brought with us, and then headed over to the spa next door to enjoy our spa treatments. Martha had a massage, Liz had a facial and I had a manicure, all of which were wonderfully relaxing.

By the time our spa treatments were over it was lunch time, so we headed over to the ECO Cafe for a delicious lunch, then wandered through the shops. We finally left for home late in the afternoon and all agreed that we definitely had to do this again.

 

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Provincial emblems

The other day I was reading our department newsletter and was stunned to read the following headline:

“Provincial shield available for use by all Albertans.”  

What?!  I had no idea Albertans were engaged in a battle requiring this sort of protection. Is there some kind of medieval battle going on out there that I don't know about?

Luckily, the newsletter article contained a picture of the provincial shield in question and put my over-active imagination at rest.  The article explained that "the provincial shield was available for use by all Albertans to showcase their provincial pride without restriction or permission."   Wow, how great is that!  I am going to take up this exciting offer right now and proudly display the provincial shield right here on this Alberta-based blog.

According to the newsletter, the provincial shield was recently designated as Alberta’s 13^th official emblem.  Wait a minute!  Alberta has 13 official emblems?  I know the wild rose is the official floral emblem, but what are the other 12?  Anyone else out there have any idea?

Well, lucky for us, there is an Emblems of Alberta website that lists all 13 emblems, complete with history and pictures.  The first three are pretty standard: the Alberta Coat of Arms, the above mentioned Provincial Shield, and the Flag of Alberta.

But the next ones are kind of fun, like the Alberta Tartan, the Bird of Alberta, the Stone of Alberta, and the Grass Emblem.  Hey, we have an official grass!  Who knew!   

Here, for your edification, are some of the more interesting emblems of Alberta.

• Floral Emblem:  Wild Rose

• Grass Emblem:  Rough Fescue

• Bird of Alberta:  Great Horned Owl

• Stone of Alberta:  Petrified Wood

• Tree of Alberta:  Lodgepole Pine

• Mammal of Alberta:  Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

• Fish of Alberta:  Bull Trout

• Provincial Colours:  blue and gold

There’s also an Alberta song called, appropriately enough, “Alberta”.   

You can see images of each of the emblems here, including pictures of the Alberta Tartan and the Alberta Dress Tartan.  It’s interesting to read what each of the colours of the tartan represent, as well as the reasons for each of the other emblem choices.

So get out there, my fellow Albertans, and wear your Alberta tartan with pride.  Or at least make some good use of the Alberta shield!

Fall colours

I had the day off today and when I finally rolled out of bed this was the sight outside my window. A beautiful day of fall colours and sunshine.

 

I went for a drive this afternoon and captured some of it on camera. Most of the photos were taken at Rundle Park.

 

 

I also whipped up a batch of Pumpkin Hermit Cookies as promised. These cookies have quite a variety of ingredients (raisins, dates, nuts, spices), and some of them require chopping, so it does take a while to get everything together. I'll often make cookies in stages, measuring out the dry ingredients when I don't have a lot of time (or motivation), and doing the rest, like chopping nuts and combining wet ingredients when I have a day off or lots of motivation!

 

This was my mother's mix master from when I was a kid, so it's at least 35 (or 40) years old. It's still going strong and I love thinking of my mom whenever I use it.

 

Pumpkin Hermit Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1-1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)
• 1/2 cup dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup nuts, chopped
• 1 cup chocolate chips

In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Stir into creamed mixture. Stir in raisins, dates, nuts, and chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 60.

I have found that freezing pumpkin purée works just fine, so if you open a large can of pumpkin and don't use it all, just measure it into a freezer container and pop it in the freezer.

 

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Fall

Much as I hate to see summer come to an end, I gotta admit, there's nothing quite like the beauty of fall. The sun shining through yellow, orange and burgundy leaves, the crunch of walking on fallen leaves, the warm smell of it -- it's just indescribable. I actually haven't had a chance yet to get some good pictures of the fall colours. I hope to do that before all the leaves get blown off the trees.

I have been working in the yard trying to get things cleaned up for winter, pulling all the annuals from the pots, cutting down some of the more messy perennials and feeding it all to the compost bin.

I still need to haul the patio furniture and my bike down into the basement. Phew, makes me tired just thinking about it. Anyone want to lend a hand?

 

Fall weather calls for some pumpkin recipes and one of my favourites is Pumpkin Zucchini Loaf. I got this recipe from my friend Lois who passed away very suddenly a number of years ago and it always makes me think of her. I looked online and found the same recipe on several different websites including this one. The only thing I do differently is use pecans in place of walnuts.

 

 

I always like making a few mini loaves. They're just so cute and just the perfect size for one. I still have pumpkin left over so I'll be making some Pumpkin Hermit Cookies next. Stay tuned!

 

If you like what you see here, please leave a comment. Or if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them too.

 

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