All over the island here blueberries grow like crazy, so we have been picking them and I have done some baking, and the rest we freeze for the winter, we also gave my son a lot too. Here is the recipe Epistling asked me for, it is a very simple one and sometimes the simplest ones are the best, very easy and fast to make.
See this above photo well it's now in my tummy lol, yummm Blueberry Cake 1 cup shortening 2 cups of sugar (I used Splenda) 3 eggs 3/4 cup milk 3 cups of flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 cups blueberries 1/4 cup flour 1. Cream the shortening, sugar, eggs and milk. 2. Add the flour and baking powder. 3. Add the 1/4 cup of flour with the blueberries in a separate bowl, then add to the mixture. 4. Put into a greased 13 x 9 baking pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean. 5. Cool completely and frost For the frost I went the easy way I bought Betty Crocker tin of cream cheese frosting and I added the zest of one lemon and the juice of one lemon, it was sooooo good , especially the next day it was even better. Tomorrow I will take some photo's of the blueberries if the weather permits to show you how many there are !! I took this photo just earlier as I was sitting here , it is through the screen that is why there is lines all through it, the sky was so beautiful, I just had to share !!!
Good morning a new start to a new week, and I must say I am sad summer is coming to an end or what little we had of summer this year. I can see a lot of the tourists are gone although some are enjoying this last sunny, warm weather and maybe they are the smart ones, waiting for the crowds and the rain to leave. Where I live each town has a Festival and after like 6 Festivals everyone is tired and maybe glad that things are getting back to normal lol I have been watching a lot of the Olympics, waiting for my equestrian part that I love , especially because of Ian Millar who is riding in his tenth Olympics at 61 years of age for Canada!! They call him "Captain Canada" What I love about the China Olympics is that in the Equesterian jumps all the obstacles are Chinese themed, so beautiful and ps. I just watched Ian and he aced it and Canada seems has a great chance at a medal !! Yayyyy I am so happy for Ian, you should have seen his face at 61 after ten Olympics to do this !! Sadly he lost his wife earlier this year. I've been picking blueberries, there seems to be an abundance of them this year, so freezing them for later baking. p.s. Team USA and Team Canada are even and are going to have a "Jump Off" how exciting!!! Keeping my fingers crossed !! Let you know later
Ten minutes from my house is my little niece Natiska who was getting a wheelbarrow ride. Welcome to Picture Perfects theme which is ~~Ten Minutes~~taken with CanonPowerShotA30 This week's theme is a little unusual... a challenge, if you will.
Your challenge is to walk, run, cycle, fly, jump, drive for 10 minutes and take a photo at that point. I'm sure we can all spare 10 minutes : ) Here is the link to go there and see all the contibutions for this week and add your own !!
The words below explain the video, the beautiful voice of the singer is Annie Blanchard. The relationship between the French and British colonists in Nova Scotia had long been one filled with animosity. Though the French initially colonised the area, various treaties traded possession of the region between the English/British, and French through the 1600s and beyond. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 saw the territory of Acadia definitively ceded to the British. The Acadians were forced to swear an oath in 1730 giving their allegiance to the British crown but with a caveat that they would not be required to bear arms against the French or First Nations. Richard Phillips, the British governor at the time, was said to have verbally approved of this arrangement.
Despite this agreement, British distrust of the Acadian settlers remained. Successive governors continued to pressure the Acadians to firmly state where their loyalties lay but it would not become a pressing concern for the British until 1755. That year, the British attacked the French Fort Beauséjour during the beginnings of a major military offensive to gain greater control of the continent. Within the walls of the fort, 300 Acadians were found[1]. Despite claims that they had been forced to take up arms against their will, the discovery completely eroded British trust of the Acadians.
Governor Lawrence gave the Acadians one last opportunity to swear allegiance to the British Crown. The Acadians again refused, believing that this demand was no different than ones made over the past few decades.
The British response was swift and unforgiving. Before 1755 was over, an estimated 6,000 Acadians - approximately three-quarters of their total population - were rounded up as prisoners and forced onto ships bound for the British American colonies, Europe, and British prisons. Nearly half would die en route. By 1763, over 10,000 Acadians had been deported from the Maritimes. Some were shipped as far as the Falkland Islands. The largest single group was returned to France where it was poorly treated and ostracized by French society[citation needed
Not all Acadians were deported by the British. A large number of Acadians fled overland, aided by their Mi'kmaq allies, and resettled in the colonies of New France, present-day Québec and New Brunswick. There was also a small guerilla resistance led by Joseph Broussard dit "Beausoleil". Others returned and settled in the region of Fort Sainte-Anne, now Fredericton, and were displaced again by the arrival of the Loyalists. In 1785 they created the first colony in the Upper Saint John River valley, near what is now Edmundston.
Over the next several decades, many Acadians moved down the North American east coast, landing temporarily in New England, the Carolinas and other ports, with a large number eventually settling in Louisiana, then controlled by Spain. Spanish authorities welcomed the Catholic Acadians as settlers, first in areas along the Mississippi River, then later in the Atchafalaya Basin and in the prairie lands to the west, a region later renamed Acadiana. During the 19th century, as Acadians reestablished their culture, "Acadian" was elided locally into "Cajun."
The homes and farms around the Bay of Fundy were burned or given to English-speaking Protestant colonists. For example, on 4 June1760New England planters arrived to claim land in Nova Scotia taken from the Acadians. However the significant repopulation in Nova Scotia came from the Highland Scots[citation needed] emigrating as a result of the Highland Clearances beginning in the late 18th century. In time some of the Acadian population returned, and today there remain islands of largely French-speaking towns such as Chéticamp intermingled with the Scots.
This is why today at 17:55 p.m. ( the date of the year of the deportation) people take to the streets and bang on anything they can get their hands on, to remember that date!! Also to never forget what they all went through and to show their pride!!
Caraquet, N.B. Bon Tintamarre! What was that? I couldn't hear what you said. I said, "Bon Tinta... Oh, never mind." You might as well give up. There's no use trying to talk during Tintamarre (pronounced tantamar). It's a "grand bruit discordant," says Le Petit Robert French dictionary. A big ugly noise would be a fair translation. Up here, it's an ear-splitting, joyful hullabaloo that erupts on the main street every August 15, the national day for Acadians.
Thousands flock to the north shore community of Caraquet from all over the Maritimes and from Quebec to add to the clangour. Cajuns come up from Louisiana, that's how big an occasion it is, and there are RV's from Ontario. For one deafening hour, everyone raucously ambles up and down the middle of the road--- up and down, up and down--- celebrating being Acadian. If you're not Acadian, it doesn't matter. It's August 15 et tout le monde est Acadien. Women ring bells, kids with painted face and puffed cheeks force noise from metre-long plastic horns, schoolteachers clap wooden spoons together, a fisherman lets rip with an electric siren, drummers who were strangers when the parade started drum an hypnotic rhythm together with teenagers rush home to fetch their skins and join in.
Many are costumed in the Acadian flag, a tricolour with a gold star--- Stella Maris--- imprinted on the blue bar. A blue goat and a red goat, dyed with KoolAid, have been brought along from Les Blancs d'Arcadie goat farm and flank a white goat in the parade. The local MLA, a former provincial cabinet minister and his family, are dressed as skunks. Les moufettes, in French, for that is the family nickname. They pull a string to lift their tails and squeeze a bulb to squirt water on the bystanders.
This weeks theme is "Precious" This is my entry, to me he is "Precious" he is my husband and he always makes me laugh (almost always ) This day he got a long awaited cheque in the mail, which as you can see made him very happy. To me he is "Precious"when he makes me chuckle like this !! Taken with a CanonPowershotA30
sIt's been really raining here , torrents of heavy rain for 24 hours . Quebec is getting it worse than us
Road collapse leaves Quebec mother, son dead
Updated Sun. Aug. 3 2008 11:24 AM ET
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL -- A mother and her son drowned Saturday night when a Quebec road collapsed and plunged their car into a lake.
Around 9:30 p.m., the car was travelling along a road bordering Lac Long in the Temiscouata region of Quebec when part of the road collapsed and the vehicle slid into the water.
The driver was able to escape but his partner and nine-year-old son were trapped in the vehicle.
Heavy rain in the region is believed to have caused the road to collapse.
Police were unable to recover the bodies on Saturday and are continuing their search.
Here it's not as bad but still....
SAINT FRANCOIS, N.B. - Officials in northwest New Brunswick are hoping for relief from heavy rains that have washed out roads and a bridge in an area west of the village of Saint-Francois.
A helicopter is in the air assessing the situation as floodwaters have cut off about 200 homes in an area along Highway 205.
Doris Blanchard, regional coordinator for the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization, says people are not "necessarily in danger as far as flooding", but are "just cut off from civilization."
Blanchard says there is the possibility some people may be airlifted out of the area if it's determined there's a medical need.
Saint-Francois Mayor Raoul Cyr says while the situation remains under control, officials are ready to implement an emergency plan if needed.
A spokesman for Environment Canada says areas near the Quebec border could be hit with an additional 35 to 75 millimetres of rain by Monday evening.
Tourist season is not looking as good this week as it had been, firework displays have been cancelled, as have outdoor concerts, picnics, fairs, but the important thing is everyone is safe. Just glad I am not in a tent right now. Can hear the wind outside which is pretty strong, hoping it won't get stronger because of my flowers.
Country-rock veterans the Eagles will headline the 2008 Magnetic Hill Music Festival in Moncton, organizers announced on Monday.
The Eagles, seen here performing at the 2007 Country Music Association Awards, released their first full studio album in nearly three decades last year. (Jeff Adkins/Associated Press)
The Eagles agreed to the Aug. 2 concert at Moncton's Magnetic Hill Concert Centre because of Moncton's central location in the Maritimes, said show co-producer Donald K. Tarlton.
Halifax and Moncton have long been competing to bring the American group to the Maritimes.
John Fogerty, KT Tunstall and the Sam Roberts Band will also play at the summer festival.
The $109.50 tickets go on sale on April 11.
Outgoing Moncton Mayor Lorne Mitton said he is thrilled to have rolled in with the Stones in 2005 and will now fly out with the Eagles.
Last year's album Long Road out of Eden was the group's first full studio effort in 28 years and contained the Grammy-winning track How Long.
e IIwas in Moncton today and that city was so crowded because it was the day of the concert, I have never seen so many people there. It was fun everyone was in such a great mood, I took a few photo's then my batteries conked out , I forgot to bring extra's ! I wanted to take a few photo's of the endless camping ground that was there , thousands of tents and campers !!! There were shuttle buses but they couldn't keep up and a lot of people were walking from the city out to where the concert was held , that was quite a walk !! I saw kids getting out of taxi's half way there because traffic was so slow and I guess the meter kept on ticking lol . This is so good for Moncton all the restaurants were packed and the motels and hotels full. It was pouring rain on our way there and back but it seemed to be holding off in Moncton unless they got a downpour tonight, but I don't think they would have cared, everyone was in such a happy mood !! Here they are ~~~
Visualization. In this technique you form mental images to take a visual journey to a peaceful, calming place or situation. Try to use as many senses as you can, including smells, sights, sounds and textures. If you imagine relaxing at the ocean, for instance, think about the warmth of the sun, the sound of crashing waves, the feel of the grains of sand and the smell of salt water. You may want to close your eyes, sit in a quiet spot and loosen any tight clothing. Usually every evening we go out with friends for coffee but tonight Leo went out on the boat to fish a few mackerel for tomorrows dinner and I thought I would be bored at home, but surprisingly I wasn't, I puttered around and did some chores in the house and being alone was nice, when I was done I went and sat out in the screened in patio and rocked in the rocking chair and watched fat busy bees on some of my flowers , I could hear the fountain , tinkling water and I watched people walking by , kids on bikes and I relaxed, sometimes we forget about just being alone and doing nothing, breathing in summer evening air and just shutting down your mind, it felt so good !! Another thing that completely relaxes me is the hot sand, if I lie down on a blanket on the hot sand , it cushions my body and the heat relaxes every joint and the sun warms my back , and I listen to the waves hitting the shore , that can put me to sleep instantly, something which I can never usually do during the daytime.
My "Song Title" is "Gone Fishin" I tI took this photo a few years ago from a bridge over a river and saw this fisherman and his little family , on a beautiful, clear autumn day. I have always loved this photo and every time I look at it , it makes me feel good !! This is the site to go to see the rules and regulations and to view everybody's photos !! http://fotofriday.multiply.com/Have fun !! Canon PowerShotA30
Remember last winter when I had all my snow photo's up and the huge amount we had !! Well who would think that in Canada that it would get this hot Two days last week these were the temperatures , I am not complaining ~ I love it !! Flowers, heat, sun, boats, beaches, tourists........bring it on !!!
QUNU, South Africa (AP) — Some came in exquisitely beaded traditional skins, others wore T-shirts emblazoned with his name, and Nelson Mandela welcomed all to the festive tent outside his home Saturday for the formal celebration of the anti-apartheid icon's 90th birthday.
Hundreds of guests stood and cheered and a Xhosa choir sang "Here is our hope!" at the entrance of Mandela — walking in with his successor as South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, and African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma. Mandela, wearing an intricately patterned shirt in shades of brown, stopped to personally greet a few of the 500 honored guests as he made his way to the head table.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner icon had celebrated privately with his family in his home village in the country's rural southeast on Friday, the day he turned 90. Saturday was a grand occasion at his homestead in Qunu, 600 miles south of Johannesburg where as a boy he herded cattle in the hills.
The party tent was decorated with the blue and orange colors of Mandela's Xhosa tribe and with his clan's crest — a bee flanked by tree branches, symbolizing industry, community and strength.
George Bizos was among the fellow veterans of the struggle to transform South Africa from a white supremacist pariah nation into a multiracial democracy who came to the party Saturday. He identified Mandela's optimism as his most "sterling quality.
"He always believed that there would be freedom around the corner," said Bizos, a lawyer who defended Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders during the era of white rule.
Tributes from Mbeki and others and performances by choirs and dancers were planned under the tent. As the party started, herd boys beat drums outside, while an orchestra played inside.
"Clearly, today is a very special day for all of us in South Africa and around the world," said Mac Maharaj, who served time with Mandela on Robben Island, and then served in Mandela's Cabinet.
Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule, then was elected president in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.
He completed his term in 1999 and did not run again, but has continued to take a leading role in the fight against poverty, illiteracy and AIDS in Africa. Age has slowed him in recent years, but many still remain in awe of his stamina. Just last month he was the honored guest for a huge charity concert in London's Hyde Park.
"For a man of 90, he's in very good shape," one of his doctors, Peter Friedland, said at the party Saturday.
He looked and sounded vigorous Friday when he gave a brief interview to a small group of reporters from The Associated Press and other media, his first such exchange in several years. He was expected to address the party guests later Saturday.
During Friday's interview, he expressed deep concern at the poverty that still grips wide swaths of South Africa. The economy has grown steadily in recent years, but the benefits have yet to trickle to the poorest. Most blacks were stripped of resources and given inferior education under apartheid, leaving them unprepared to enjoy development now.
Mandela's message was simple — the wealthy must do more.
"There are many people in South Africa who are rich and who can share those riches with those not so fortunate, who have not been able to conquer poverty," Mandela said Friday.
Friday was also the 10th anniversary of his marriage to his third wife, Graca Machel.
Flowers were arranged in vases of tin, a traditional material for 10th anniversary gifts, at the head table Saturday. His children and grandchildren had put together an album of family photographs and testimonials as a gift, bound in aluminum, another 10th anniversary material.
ZEST is the theme for this weeks Picture Perfect here is my photo it is about the "Zest" of a sleighride on a cold winters day, when Jack Frost nips at your nose but you don't mind because you are covered by a big thick blanket and you are laughing at the "Zest" of life !! Canon Power Shot A30 , nothing was retouched at all !!!
My brother Barney and my niece Karen came to visit us from the UK recently and here are some photos from their visit, they have gone back home and the house seems empty without them, Karen is so much fun, she had us laughing the whole time she was here. Others in the pictures are my son, Robert and his girlfriend Carole, the bald guy is my husband Leo They had the best weather, the whole week was beautiful, the week before it had rained and the week after they left it rained. The day we went to Papineau Falls it was sooo hot, that is the same day that they left.
If You Don't Want to Be Ill~ Speak Your Feelings!! Emotions and feelings that are hidden, repressed, end in illness as gastritis, ulcers, lumbar & spinal pain. With time, the repression of feelings degenerates into cancer. When, we go to a confidante to share our itimacy our "secrets" our errors! The dialogue, the speech, the word, is a powerful remedy and an excellent therapy!!
If You Don't Want to Be Ill~Make Decisions The undecided person remains in doubt, in anxiety, in anguish. Indecision accumalates, problems, worries & aggressions. Human history is made of decisions. To decide is precisely to know to renounce, to know to lose advantages and values to win others. The undecided people are victims of gastric ailments, nervous pains and problems of the skin.
If You Don't Want to Be Ill ~ Find Solutions Negative people do not find solutions and they enlarge problems. They prefer lamentation, gossip, pessimism. It is better to light a match than to regret the darkness. A bee is small but produces on of the sweetest things that exist. We are what we think. The negative thought generates negative energy that is transformed into illness.
If You Don't Want to Be Ill ~ Don't Live by Appearance. That hides reality, pretends, poses, and gives the impression of being well. He who wants to be seen as perfect, easy going etc., is accumalating tons of weight like a bronze statue with feet of clay. There is nothing worse for health than to live on appearances and facades. These are people with lots of varnish and little root. Their destiny is the pharmacy, the hospital and pain.
If You Dont Want to Be Ill ~ Accept The refusal of acceptance and the absence of self esteem make us alienate ourselves. Being at one with ourselves is the core of a healthy life. They who do not accept this, become envious, jealous, imitators, ultra competitive, destructive. Be accepted, accept that you are accepted, accept the criticisms. It is widom, good sense and therapy.
If You Don't Want to Be Ill ~ Trust Who does not trust, does not communicate is not open is not related, does not create deep and stable relations, does not know how to do true friendships. Without confidence, there is not relationship. Distrust is a lack of faith in you and faith itself.
If You Don't Want to Be Ill ~ Do Not Live Life Sad. Good humor, laughter, rest, happiness. These replenish health and bring long life. The happy person has the gift to improve the environment wherever they live. "Good humor saves us from the hands of the doctor" Happiness is health and therapy.
This week's theme is Twisted These green machines are called frogs they clean the sand out of the gully where the fishermen need to pass to get in and out to sea. The machines dig and they have "Twisted" out the sand with the shovels and they have little frog legs that reach out and grip the bottom .It makes the fishermens life much easier!!~~Taken with my old Minolta
Industry Is the theme for this weeks Picture Perfect and this photo is how we earn our living from the Lobster Fishing Industry taken with a little Minolta that I won in a drawing, I don't even remember what kind it was.
You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time, informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".
A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. Then you can go on to the next lesson.
Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
"There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that, again, looks better than "here."
Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need; what you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
The answers lie inside you. The answers to life's questions lie inside you - all you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
) This day he got a long awaited cheque in the mail, which as you can see made him very happy. To me he is "Precious"when he makes me chuckle like this !! Taken with a CanonPowershotA30
The Eagles, seen here performing at the 2007 Country Music Association Awards, released their first full studio album in nearly three decades last year. 
Nelson
They had the best weather, the whole week was beautiful, the week before it had rained and the week after they left it rained. The day we went to Papineau Falls it was sooo hot, that is the same day that they left. 
