Pie update...with a cat rabbit trail.

Well, I can't resist the charm of baking pies, and I finally made a blackberry pie! I went blackberry picking on Tuesday with a friend, and we found a great spot in an industrial area parking lot. It's amazing to me how these berries are an invasive species here, and crawling over the entire city.

For the pie, I used this recipe from Allrecipes. It's an extremely simple and easy recipe. 

I decided I want to get better at making pie crusts, so I watched a few videos before trying my crust (I'm still using the same Crisco crust recipe). I really want to achieve that light and flaky crust.

Unfortunately, I didn't add enough water or something, because it was really hard to roll out again, and I had to kind of patch the bottom crust together...although TJ commented the crust did seem lighter.

I followed the reviewer's suggestions to add lemon juice and dot with butter.

I also followed the reviewer's suggestions to coat the bottom of the crust in egg, so that the berries don't make it soggy (which seemed to work!). And then, my first attempt at lattice crust. It probably wasn't the best time to try, considering my crust was falling apart, but I love the look of it. I got some great instructions from here.

Random story: I insisted on having coffee with the pie last night, and ended up not being able to fall asleep later. I finally got up and googled how to sleep after drinking coffee. I did some running on the spot while I heated a cup of warm milk in the microwave, ate a crust of bread, and did some progressive relaxation. Worked well...until we were woken up by a cat fight outside our window, that is. It would have been fine, except that this cat kept moaning and moaning. TJ and I were concerned it might be badly hurt, so we decided to get up and try and find it. What kept running through my head was that we needed to find a cardboard box, in case it was injured, so we could keep it in that.

Sure enough, there were two cats on the other side of the fence by our window. There was a black cat that belongs to our neighbor, but the one that was moaning was a big orange tabby. It didn't appear to be hurt, and when TJ shone the flashlight on it, it just moaned and looked at us. I think the two cats were still fighting. I remember laughing when we went back inside and TJ said that it was kind of anti-climactic. He was worried that we would find a hurt or mangled cat, but all we ended up finding was this big orange cat that just stared at us! Strange night!

 August has been a pie-month, actually. In addition to the berry pie, my sister and I tried out a lemon-meringue! My sis did the meringue, and I did the pudding part - I must say it turned out pretty tasty!

After the lemon meringue, I had a spare crust to deal with, so I made a chocolate mocha chiffon from the company's coming pie book that Lori gave me. It turned out okay, but I let one part of the pudding sit too long in the fridge, and it got stiff and hard to mix with the rest of the ingredients, so the smooth chiffon-esque appeal was kind of lost. Ah well. 

Bees & East Van

I've been thinking a lot about beekeeping again. I had contacted a local beekeeper and was invited to go and check some hives with him last night. The hives are in the Cottonwood community garden in east van. It was so awesome. The gardens themselves are unbelievably picturesque, plus it was so nice to be around some bees. I found the below picture on-line:

I didn't take any pictures of the hives last night, but I have taken a few of others here and there:

I have so many good things connected with beekeeping. For one, beekeeping is very connected with my dad, because we kept hives together for a few years. And I love the fact that my grampa (dad's dad) also kept bees. Last night I was reminded of the interesting generational mix that beekeeping is. I also connect beekeeping with a very peaceful vibe. You have to be fairly gentle around bees, and in reality a lot of what you are doing is watching the bees do what they do. I always come away with a good feeling and smelling all smokey. I hope I can find some way to keep a hive next year. Last night I learned how much longer the season is here.

Also yesterday I went to east van twice, once to pick up a veil from this new store, which is pretty amazing, and the only place you can buy beekeeping equipment in Vancouver. And secondly, later to the community gardens. Although my job was in the downtown east side, I never spent a lot of time there outside of work. I found myself approaching the area with a totally different perspective yesterday.

Sun Times

The last while has been a bit of a blur. After celebrating mine and TJ's anniversary, I flew out the next morning and got to see my family and friends and attend my nephew's first birthday in Camrose! And I'm looking forward to a relaxing August. But for now, I have left TJ in van-city and am in Alberta, with two weeks left of my summer institute.

My mom and I watched the fireworks on July1st, from the field by their house. And I ended up getting one of my papers in very early that morning. And now....I'm in Calgary, baby. I have been loving the big prairie skies here.

School has been busy and it's been awesome to interact with my classmates in real life. It's funny how on-line interaction is so different than real life. It's so one-dimensional. I'm glad to see that all my other classmates are human beings, just like me. That may sound strange, but I'm not going to rephrase it! (Frankly, I've been doing enough of that lately...)

Also, I got my first pair of sunglasses in a few years, bit the bullet, so to speak. And I am proud of them, thus the cheesy self-portrait. There, how's that for a random blog post?

And to leave you with more randomness, here's the words to the song I am listening to right now:

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time?
You're only dancing on this earth for a short while
And though you're dreams may toss and turn you now
They will vanish away like your daddy's best jeans
Denim blue, fading up to the sky
And though you want 'em to last forever, you know you never will
You know you never will
And the patches make the goodbye harder still


Oh very young, what will you leave us this time?
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see better days
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride the great white bird into heaven?


And though you want to last forever, you know you never will

Colour

The flowers here never cease to amaze moi. It appears to be rose season, well, that and weird and wonderful season. Some flowers here make me want to sing "undah-tha-sea..." I remember, as a kid, being amazed at the big leaves and pine cones my cousin from BC collected and gave to me, along with seashells you could "hear the ocean in". Apparently flowers are huge here, too.

To be honest, I haven't been outside too much lately. Today I did get dressed, but quickly changed back into more comfortable sweats and literally sat on the couch for hours doing homework. Then, I got a bit of energy, did some rebounding, and started my paper-mapping --> this weird new way that I write papers. I make the planning process kind of like an art project, and use mr. sketch smelly markers, etc.

Also, I've gotten the chance to do some art work, because of the self-study art therapy modules I'm working on right now. I love it to pieces, and am especially reminded of how I need and want to increase my art-making skills. Even though being an art therapist is not about helping people make a perfect product, it is still necessary for me to have some artistic skills. The willingness and adventure: I already possess. The discipline and skills: I need to work on. Okay, time to get back to school, I suppose.

Food and Weather

What a good day. I did not get near enough done, but enjoyed myself anyways. It was one of those days where it was really hard to pull myself back inside when I took Ares out. And TJ and I sat on the beach for a while later, too. I'm gonna try and get more organized when it comes to eating well. TJ and I have decided to try each making one meal per week - and making that meal a healthy and cheap one, doubled or tripled to allow for leftovers. It was a kind of sultry day. The air was thick and salty, heavy with ocean and atmosphere, so tonight I made Baltimorean Beans and Rice. It was a recipe I found at this website, where the author has listed five variations on the basic rice and beans dish. So good! And we had a Natty Boh style beer, to boot!

Also, muffins are one of my favorite breakfast foods. It is my guilty pleasure to grab a muffin and a coffee from McDonald's in the mornings. So, tonight I made some breakfast muffins. Oatmeal banana. Pretty good recipe. I threw in some coconut, too.

Wha, wha, what

What if the antagonists in our lives are written in - by ourselves or our Higher Power - and part of the plot? What if we can never move on to the next chapter or series of stories until we first conquer these arch enemies that we continue to meet, who appear like clock-work in certain familiar forms?

What if life's meaning can be found in the ways we face our most feared and/or little monsters? What if the voids and lags we experience are merely results of walking under our own clouds, cloaked in sweet ignorance and blame and needless mashing and confusing of thoughts?

What if everything is simpler than we admit?

Space

Lately my life has become very busy and I have started to feel overwhelmed almost all the time. I've been doing a lot of mental sorting these past few days. What I've found is that some things have been getting dusty (my creative life, my social life, my self care) and other areas have been getting over used (work, school, brain). All in all, it's icky and the end result is me in a pile of jumbled nerves every night.

I was just doing some navel gazing, and reading my other blog choose to engage. At the risk of sounding totally and completely narcissistic, I liked what I wrote on that blog. And I got a sort of peaceful feeling reading it. I love creative writing, and I love the sense of space I had.

Although I have only been using this blog (Lemon Life) as a happy, cheery, "fluff" bog, it's not that my life is always fluff. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing a "fluff" blog, but it's starting to feel not as genuine as it could be, either. So anyways, what am I saying?

Maybe I want to do some more creative writing in blog form again.
Also, I think I will be making some changes in my life again. I don't want another two years of feeling overwhelmed. It' unhealthy.
Also, I still like pies and sunshine and flowers and beach walks and home made soup.

If you are reading, hope you have a week with a little loveliness in it.