victoria day long weekend pt. 2

I'm so glad I remembered to mark this entry as an entire year of keeping this blog. At first I thought I'd never stick to it, but I get a lot out of keeping a journal, so I'm happy that I started again.

So the rest of this chilly long weekend was spent baking and gardening. I love baking but dislike gardening. But I have to say, a finished garden is about twice as rewarding as a finished baked good (and that includes eating that baked good). I live in a neighbourhood of people who keep beautiful gardens and have very well kept homes. I really feel like we have to do our best to maintain things in the garden just because we have such a visible home.
My mom and I went to the Niagara College Greenhouse to pick out our plants on Sunday. I decided to stick to hostas this year, see if I like them, and maybe in the future switch to shrubs.

My mom had a few pounds of rhubarb she passed along to me. So here's my first attempt at making a rhubarb dessert (and I didn't do the predictable strawberry rhubab pie - although I love them).
Raspberry Rhubarb Biscuit Cobbler. It was alright, I probably won't make it again.

"twoooooo"

Yesterday was my nephew Ronan's 2nd Birthday. As you can well imagine it was the cutest! He never walks - just runs everywhere. As he plays and runs his tongue gets right in on the action - it's quite hilarious.
Ronan and I share something in common, we both love the movie Cars. So is it any surprise that we gave him the ultimate Cars gift? It went over so well, it managed to be not only the biggest hit with Ronan, but with the adults alike.
Ronan's Cars cake had the most intense red icing which he licked off the cake and smudged all over his face. He looked a little like the Joker.
:::
Today I spent a few hours in the backyard pruning back the mangy rose bushes. They look so good now! Only problem is my hand is so sore I can barely type. So this entry is really brief for the sake of my stiff left hand and that I'm quite exhausted.

stiff and sunburnt

I'm still aching from a Saturday full of gardening fun. At the time it was not painful at all, digging around in the bright sun. With loads of trees in our backyard I felt shaded, however by evening a t-shirt sunburn emerged.

The plan on Saturday was to get one of the gardens in order by transplanting the lilies of the valley in a circle enclosing the rose bush, hosta and mint plants. That meant picking out all the dead plants, pulling all the stray grass and weeds and finishing with a pile of mulch.

The most amazing part of the day was the Rankin Cancer Run passing by the backyard where thousands of runners and walkers passed as we gardened away.
:: oh man, the runners are in this photo but I'm sure they are too small to see. oh well, at least you can see hot tot, who was having a blast cheering on the run. just click on the photo for a full view ::

Sunday was spent at Marcie's shower put on by my sister-in-law, Maggie. I swear she must have been the school over-achiever with all the games, swag and 40 item buffet - all while dealing with a one year old son! I wonder who was crazy enough to start the tradition of having showers on Sunday? Us ladies who work on Mondays need at least a day to recoup from the hosting and clean-up.