Perfect Pretzels?

I don't think so.

Baking bread has been a joy for me. I love the Artisan method developed by Jeff and Zoe, and I've enjoyed trying many of the recipes. However, yesterday's foray into homemade pretzels was not quite a success. In fact, it was downright disappointing. Much of it was my fault as I did not wait for the dough to cool for a proper length of time in the fridge, so it was difficult to handle. My second mistake was putting the formed pretzels on plastic wrap to rise. Guess what? They stuck - big time!
They looked pretty good while they were rising and I managed to get two of them out without ruining the shape.....

But the rest of them resembled something along the lines of a dog turd. My apologies to all the sweet puppies out there.
The flavor, however, was excellent, and when popped into the toaster oven to warm up, they were quite delicious if we just closed our eyes before biting into them. But, as we used to say down south, "The juice just ain't worth the squeeze", so I'll be sticking to regular bread recipes and forms.

Today, we had to go into town to pay the truck taxes and since it was a nice, sunny day, we decided to drive on into Schoodic to see if we could catch a little wave action at the Point. The Mark Island Light house was looking picturesque......

the gulls on the Point were relaxing on the rocks.......

the wave action was nothing to write home about, but the sheer beauty of the park, the fresh sea air and surrounding greenery were enough to lift the spirits.

Ah, yes. Life may have it's occasional little disappointments, but for the most part....

Life is Good!

Hugs, Giddy

Preparing for Summer

So much to do and so little time. The weather has been sublime for the past four days and we have taken full advantage of it.

H and I restained the deck preparatory to bringing the deck furniture out of the garage for the summer. Oh, the joy!

I was in charge of painting the outsides and cutting in and I didn't even complain about my knees and back hurting since the sun felt so nice and warm on my back.

H had the job of rolling on the stain. This year was so much easier as he had sanded the old opaque stain off last year (a huge, dirty job). It took him several days on his hands and knees to get the job done, so this year, it was a breeze just to mop on the Austrailian Tree Oil.


While waiting for the stain to dry, I cleaned all the perennial beds of the winter's detritus. This wheelbarrow full was one of dozens I took to the compost pile. Needless to say, the next day my shoulders were quite sore from all that raking.

Oh, but look what was lurking under all those leaves......

There's nothing quite so rewarding as those first, beautiful crocus blooms in the spring.

After all the hard work was finished, we took a few minutes to sit in the garden and enjoy the warm sunshine on our faces. Even Spike enjoyed his first spring outing. Sluggo, however, was not amused with the harness or being outside.

I think we've created a monster though. Now every time I walk towards the front door, Spike is right behind me in hopes that I'll take him out.

I did find a few minutes for a couple of baking projects. Hamburger buns for the freezer and a batch of cinnamon rolls for the ladies at the Clinic.

I was in a hurry to get out the door and neglected to take a shot of the finished rolls, but you may rest assured they were quite delicious! That, and the house smelled great for the rest of the day.

I also found time for my Wednesday morning meeting of the Downeast Knitiodts. What a grand time we all have, sharing our projects and stories while sitting amongst the colorful wool. This is a picture of our instructor, Barbara and classmate, Nancy, who was knitting the tiniest little ballerina slippers.
Judy and Linda were discussing yarn colors for the cute little "Pueblo Vases" that Judy knits.

All in all, a very satisfying week!

Life is Good,

Hugs, Giddy

Why H Can't Paint

H loves to paint. However, Sluggo loves H and insists on being with him any time H is sitting or standing near the kitchen island. Unfortunately, H likes to do his painting at the island and Sluggo will not let him concentrate.

Ooh, what's Daddy doing this morning?

That paint brush sure is tasty.


It's hard to be angry at Sluggo when he's just so darned cute!

On another note, here is the rock garden before I managed to get in there and clean out all the perennial mess. Every year I try to buy a few junipers or thread leaf cypress to fill in. When we had the house built, they had to blast the rocky ledge to put in the foundation, so we ended up with this rubble on the hill side. An automatic rock garden!

This is the herb and veggie garden before the annual clean up.

This is the after photo taken from the upper deck. Now all I have to do is bring in some nice composted cow manure and plant a few tomatoes.

Later on that day, our resident fox came trotting up the hill. Sorry for the blurry pic, but he was trotting quite fast.

Life is Good,

Hugs, Giddy

Garden Show

Yesterday, H and I attended the Bangor Garden Show. After the long, snowy winter, we were both desperate for some vibrant color, and we were not disappointed.



Oh, how I wish my garden looked like this! I can't wait to get dirt under my fingernails and start whipping the garden into shape. I'm sure It won't look this professional, but then, I'm partial to the wild cottage look.


This bronze statue of a deer with her fawn sitting in the green grass was a favorite snapshot for all the show attendees. I had to stand in line to get a shot of it.

Last fall, we took down some cherry saplings and I stored them away til I could get a good idea for them. I need a new trellis for my Firecracker Clematis, so here's another project.

Of course, I had to take a photo of this little guy, now didn't I?


All in all, we had a terrific day. The garden show was nice, but it would have been better if there had been more displays.

Later that day, Spike insisted on a back rub.....

It was the least I could do since he was miffed at being left alone all day long.

Life is Good

Hugs, Giddy

Guess What? No Snow!

There hasn't been much to blog about lately. Just snow, ice and more snow. Sooo, my Muse hied herself off to dream of warmer days, leaving me bereft of any thoughts whatsoever.

Today's sun and the surprise blooming of my "Christmas Cactus" has brightened my spirits enough to get me off the couch to pen a few short lines.


The day is quite blustery today with gusts up to 50 miles per hour, kicking up some great white caps on the cove and bay.

But, look! The yard is almost free of snow and ice! And with today's winds, the melting should be fast. (About time, grumble, grumble)

Nothing seems to bother Spike and Sluggo. They just entertain themselves.

Or, just a nice nap on H's pile of clothes......

while Spike prefers to nap in the sunshine on the rug.


I took a quick lap around the yard before heading off to knitting class and was delighted to find several crocus leaves popping up along with a few daffodils and hyacinths. I think that from here on out, there will be something new in the garden every day.

Life is Good!

Hugs, Giddy

Kitchen Fun

In my effort to try every single recipe in the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" cookbook, last week I made the roasted red pepper Fougasse. I did add a few ingredients that weren't in the recipe, but the addition of chopped kalamata olives, chopped, fresh rosemary and Romano and Parmesan cheeses added another layer of flavors that were quite complimentary. The final product was deeeelicious! The bread was crunchy on the outside and chewy and flavorful on the inside. This one is definitely going on the "favorites" list.

Cabin fever and ennui set in last week, so H and I drove out to Schoodic Point just to get some sun and enjoy the beauty of the park. It was a bit too breezy and cold to walk, but just seeing the blue in the ocean and green of the spruces and pines lifted our spirits.

The Hoggemoggin Reach Yacht Club is our fun name for our neighborhood kayaking group. Our friend, JB was elected the "Commodore", since his little cabin on the shore houses all our equipment and he graciously built a rack to hold all our kayaks.

Soooo, since a paddle was most definitely out of the question this time of year, a pizza party was in order. I made a huge batch of dough, and since I didn't have room in the fridge for it, I stuck it out on the front porch to cool it enough to handle it without sticking to H's hands when he rolled it out for the pizzas.

We had veggies with salsa and a smoked salmon spread with Triscuits for appetizers and 7 pizzas with various toppings. H was the master chef, baking all the pies to perfection.


Spike and Sluggo were both on their best behavior as I think all the commotion overwhelmed them a bit. Normally, Sluggo is quite the little thug, curious and wanting to be in the middle of everything, so we were surprised at his shyness.

Poor H can't even do his daily cross word puzzle without Sluggo trying to chew on the end of his pencil.

On my daily dash up the drive, looking for signs of spring, I was thrilled to see the pussy willow in bloom! What a joy to see something coming out of it's long winter nap. It's been a dreadfully long winter and in looking back, the Farmer's Almanac's predictions for the northeast was dead on. They said we'd be having lots of storms and snow and oh, how right they were!

Life is Good -

Hugs, Giddy

Signs of Spring

Spring is definitely around the corner. How do I know this? Because H and I have been doing those little chores that signal spring's imminent arrival:

• the plow came off the truck

• I cut back the ornamental grasses

• raked the leaves off the perennial beds

• cleaned the ceiling fan in the living room

• washed the half moon window

• cleaned the patio downstairs.

Ah yes, the sun was shining brightly, warming my shoulders as I raked. What a great feeling it was to be out in the yard again. Of course, I could only rake half the yard as the other half was still under a bit of snow and ice. However, I did spy a few crocus and hyacinths peeking out through the soil.


You have to look really close, but there is green peeking out!

Last winter, I rooted these two junipers and kept them over the winter in the garage. It brought them out to enjoy the sunshine, as well. This year I'll plant them in the yard.


I expected to be quite sore today after those hours spent in the yard cleaning the beds, but this morning I was surprised to only feel a few twinges in my shoulders. I think our daily yoga exercises have a lot to do with keeping us limber.

As usual, Sluggo slept in the sunshine while I worked.

Spike's menacing look belies his very gentle and sweet nature. He's very much a flirty lover boy!

And, lest we fool ourselves into thinking Mother Nature is quite finished with her punishing amusement this winter, here is a photo of the famous Sorrento ice sculpture. I think it will be June before this ice block is history:

Life is Good!

Hugs, Giddy

Where's Giddy?

She's reinstalling all her software and reconfiguring her computer because a Vista Upgrade crashed her @#$$%& hard drive! Thank you very much, Bill Gates!

I lost lots of photos, but thanks to Blogger, I have the most important ones on my blog. Most importantly, however, I have learned a very big lesson - BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP! From now on, I will be backing up my PC on a regular basis. While my information is not on the same level as national security, it represents hours and hours of my time and I hated to lose any of it.

I also lost all of the contact and email information in my Windows Mail, so if any of you out there need me to contact you, please send me an email so I can reload your address into my Contacts List.

Ah well, on to more pleasant issues.

I have completed three pairs of mittens and took a class in Fair Isle knitting. Our project was a small bag. It was quite interesting and I may attempt it again one day, but not before my fingers untangle themselves!
The mittens are incredibly easy and I love the pattern.


This week we are finally beginning to see a spring thaw. Last night, we had almost 2 inches of rain and much of the snow is gratefully, showing significant melting. Now, if we could just have an early spring so this past winter can begin slowly fading in my memory.

The bay was looking particularly wild yesterday morning. It was low tide and the clouds were zipping by with a sporty wind. Obviously not a good day for kayaking!
However, it doesn't hurt to be reminded of wonderful paddles to come!

Hugs, Giddy