so, who would have thought that cooking a turkey, and making grape jam, at the same time, would make such a mess of the kitchen?  or that accidentally spilling five cups of sugar on the floor would would spread all over the place, or that said sugar would get all sticky/icky from water getting on it. many, many, many pans and bowls are required when making jam, btw.

(fresh warm grape jam is very yummy my friends, i was forced to eat a third of a jar that wasn't full)

luckily, DM has gone on a road trip to pick-up another new kayak.

yikes! DM is in columbus already.

don't tell daddy!

so, a blast was had in toronto...

fun things:

• massage at the elmwood spa- best massage ever
• yonge street- have i mentioned how much i love yonge street?
  
• eaton centre mall- DM out-shopped me, can you believe it?
  
• yummy napoleons- strawberries, whipped cream, phyllo dough, heaven.
  
• queens court pagent in the hotel (as in drag queens, darlings)
• countdown to liquor day- whoop!
• we all love michael moore
• hotel whirlpool all to myself
• the best hotel shampoo ever- bath and bodyworks energize
• giving money to bums
• purchase of grapes to make jelly with
• award winning chilli- super yummy
• DM liked toronto
  

canadian thanksgiving was a bit of a let down, i am sad to say, everything was closed for the holiday...

... i am thawing out a turkey, right now, to make up for the missed holiday meal.

i returned with $260 canadian. i do not know how that happened. this means a return trip is being planned... maybe somewhere in canada that is not toronto, for a change.

(we passed 32 tim hortons on the way)

... DM wanted you kids to see his spiffy new yaks, but lacks the skill set to post them himself, (or he is just to damn lazy to do it) , (take your pick),

                                             

                                           introducing the new pescador- above
                                          and the new pungo- below
                                           (except the new pungo will be sand colored)


                 

                      yipee! who wants to yak?

so, somebody, (coughDMcough), bought two, count 'em, two, new kayaks this week.... a pungo and a sit-on... (and he has another new one coming to replace the heritage one that cracked)...

...this maybe some new kind of mid-life crisis coping thing going on, just saying...

so, started out the morning by cleaning up my bedroom and bathroom.... the floor got vacuumed, and the floor got mopped, and the bed was made...

DM and i made plans to cleaning for two, count 'em, two more hours and then take out the yaks, and then work with the horses...

so, next stop was the living room, picking up toys, vacuuming, it was a real mess ....

then i went upstairs to clean up, vacuum, and generally tidied the place up.... i also got DM to fix the screen, and hang a shelf...

the laundry was folded, there was a huge pile of that, DM mopped the bathroom...

i got DM to hang up some stuff in the living room...

then DM was tuckered out and needed a short nap while an excellent pot of collard greens were cooked...

and eaten...

then we needed a trip to k-mart for a canning pot so i could brandy those pears, but first we stopped at the garage to see if my canning pot was out there- it wasn't...

we purchased the $50 pot.... we took it home, then noticed the label said, "not for use on glass cooktops".... so, it had to go back, and the $80 one had to be purchased, fuck....

then it was time to sterilize the jars, peel the pears, pack the jars and all that jazz...

we ran out of brandy, the last five jars have rum instead, i also did two jars of peaches, the last batch just went in the canner...

the kitchen is still a mess and it is 9pm....

i am pretty sure that i hate labor day.

so, i made paula dean's recipe for pinto beans.( i used ham hocks and spices, i tried real hard....) actually, it was a very easy recipe, also, it was yummy. (also cheap, a pound of beans are only .69)

the fun part about it came this morning, following the conclusion of gastric motility, i uttered that line from the dead man movie, using the same inflection and accent ,of course: "these beans is shit."

i guarantee, if you try this, it will make you smile .

so, having been inspired by the movie julie and julia,  a trip out to the garden where a plethora of peppers and tomatoes were picked, and armed with alton brown's salsa recipe, i finally attempted making homemade salsa.... yummy.

while newman's does make excellent salsa, i have to say for the record that fresh real salsa hits it right out of the park.

so, why did it take so long for me to try making it?

i am making paula dean's pinto bean recipe right now.

there is a slight chance that i might be a "foodie".

so, i have been told by a somewhat reliable source  (DM), that collecting bobbers is compulsive and an addiction. i am out of control, and my life has become unmanageable.  fishing, however, is okay, and not compulsive or addicting.

i remain in denial.

                  

so, DM and i did some yakking this morning- the clear fork reservoir and we went up the clear fork river.... until i couldn't get any farther because of the silt.

i just want to state for the record that i have seen clearer lakes.... ohio power lakes, for instance, are a hell of a lot clearer than the falsely named clear fork.

i think rivers and lakes should be required to be named for what they really are.  the clear fork, if it was properly named would be called "the somewhat clear full of giant carp fork lake".  (they could leave the fork part because while i was hunting bobbers, i did find a silver plated fork)

so, the plans so far are:

• cincinatti zoo on that friday
• staying over night with babies friday night-( we'll get a hotel, so, no house straightening is required) (this is vacation time, remember?)
• saturday, trader's world and indian food
  
• saturday evening fireworks (where?  to be decided) (could end up down there another night?)
  
• sunday, lake kayaking and SUSHIFEST
• monday- head down a river with nuwanda as pick-up driver
• camping and yakking
  

that's the story so far kids, and nothing is written in ink, so, jump in with ideas, please.