Camping Theme Birthday Party

The "camping" party for my daughter's 10th birthday was loads of fun. My neighbour and friend, Helen, joined me and was a great help to me during the party.

Helen made a wonderful arrangement of the ingredients for the oven made 'smores (click on any of the images for a slightly larger view):

The recipe is simple. Place graham wafers on a cookie tray, sprinkle with chocolate chips, add a large marshmallow,...



...and bake at 350F for about 8 minutes. When you pull them out, the marshmallows will be big and puffy. Top with another graham wafer, squish down, and enjoy. Pretty fun, and a nice gooey sweet treat:

Helen brought over some battery-powered candles, and with some red tissue, we created a campfire...

...and played campfire games, with flashlights and glow bracelets. (Don't buy the dollar store ones if you can find better quality ones - the clasps on many of ours broke, and two of the kids ended up with glowing hands when their tube broke also! Helen commented that her glow bracelets from Michaels never had those problems.)

The cake looked fabulous when the candles were lit (even if I have to say so myself):

From the volume level at the party (wow, it was loud!) I think it's fair to assume that everyone had fun. I certainly did.

Campfire Cake

This year we decided on a "camping" theme for my daughter's 10th birthday. The reasoning was that, at least in previous years, the Christmas tree usually keeps relatively fresh into early February, so we have taken down the Christmas decorations, and put up birthday decorations, transforming it into a "birthday tree".

Two years ago, I decorated it with blue & pink balloons, and it served as a birthday tree for my daughter's birthday in January and my son's in early February. Last year, she had a fairy party, so we decorated it with butterflies and fairies and such.

So this year, since we cut that monster 15' tree, I was sure it would be a great backdrop for a wilderness/camping theme. I didn't know that by now it would look dry and miserable, and that the branches would touch the ground, so that this week I couldn't even climb under to water it one last time. Oh well, it is now decorated with butterflies and birds, for our indoor campground. We also dug out the kids' old play tent, to add to the campground feel.

My sister Rose was very inspired by the theme, and sent me a great recipe for a campfire cake, based on a brownie cake, with Twix bars stacked on it, with small white marshmallows and red and orange M&Ms for the coals, and red cellophane for flame, or something like that. So I have created my own variation on this idea.

In my Google searches for "campfire cake", I found someone who had melted down red & orange candies, to create thin sheets, which were then broken into jagged shards, to look like flames shooting out of the center of the cake. I looked for red & orange candies, and didn't find much, except the red cinnamon hearts which are coming out for Valentines. So I instead used some old candy canes, and picked the ones with significant red or yellow in them. I laid them together on a sheet of wax paper, on a cookie sheet, and melted them at approx 350F. They needed a bit of help, I used a bamboo skewer to mix them around a bit. The smell of the peppermint was wonderful.

After cooling them and refrigerating them, they were brittle enough to break into shards. A bit too brittle at the start, but became more manageable after being out of the fridge for a bit. So here is the initial result (I found that the big pieces ended up being too big, so later broke those into smaller shards):

The base of the cake was a devil's food cake mix (Betty Crocker, I think). My only round pans were a 9" and 10" springform, so that's what I used. The frosting was a prepared, whipped chocolate one (Duncan Hines, I believe). Here is the basic frosted 2 layer cake:

Then I added the shards of the peppermint:

...Then some chocolate wafers:

...Then the coals... In this case, some raspberry flavoured candies (same as jelly beans, but round shape instead of bean shaped):

Finally, I added 10 wavy candles (I was pleased to stumble across those at the dollar store today, and knew immediately that they would work, being taller than the usual birthday candles, and the wavy shape being suggestive of flames or smoke rising from the campfire):

I'm pretty pleased with the result. I haven't thought about how or whether I'll even try to incorporate her name into the cake. I think the 10 candles may be enough. We'll see. The party is tomorrow night.

Stick Bugs

I was very happy when my sister, Rose, bought me two stick bugs for my birthday in October, so these first few photos of them on my blog are long overdue.

They have already grown to probably twice their original length, in these past couple of months, and their colours have become much darker. I noticed a while back, a skin molt in the bottom of the cage. But then the other night, I discovered this spooky looking skin molt hanging from the top of the cage. I was able to snap a few photos of it, before it fell.


My sister bought me a male and female. The males are not really necessary for reproduction, since the females can reproduce asexually if no males are around, but then I understand that then the offspring are pretty much genetic copies of the mother, so sexual reproduction provides greater genetic variety in the offspring.

The eggs will drop to the bottom of the cage, and if kept moist (neither too wet nor too dry), they will hatch into tiny stick bugs. My dear sister thoughtfully also brought me two eggs so I would be able to recognize them when they come. So I'm ready and waiting, and watching the bottom of the cage (I have them in a reptile terrarium, with glass doors which open at the front, and a mesh top for good air circulation).

When the stick bugs are at rest (which seems to be all the time!), they extend their two front legs directly in front of themselves, and are very twiglike, as in this photo:

They are very gentle, and although a bit tickly at first, very easy to handle. When you coax them onto your hand, they may walk a bit, or more often will just position themselves, motionless, until you coax them to move again. They eat only leaves from blackberries (or other brambles), which I fortunately have more than enough fresh supply encroaching on my yard from many sides. Even at that, I can hardly see the small amounts chewed at the edges of the leaves. So even if these were in the garden, they would have minimal impact.

Please feel free to click any of the photos for a closer view.

Snowed In

If I was already saying "Enough Snow Already!" on Boxing Day (Dec 26), then it's really ENOUGH snow already now, after a few more dumps of the white stuff. It was not so bad when we were on holiday, and besides my husband was around, willing to venture out in his 4WD Jeep.

But then on Monday, school started. The city snowplow finally came on Monday to plow the 3 blocks which are the only access to the school. Even then, everywhere, the street was down to a single lane, with huge piles of snow on each side, making it next to impossible for cars to pass each other. Only the daring or 4WD drivers would pull aside into snowy driveways. Roadside parking was next to eliminated, and there were a number of abandoned cars lining the road, unable to make it back to the safety of their own driveways. And since there is only one way in & out of the school, the traffic problems in the morning have been disastrous. Good thing it's only 2 blocks up the hill, so we can walk. But even the walking has been treacherous. The neighbourhood had not kept up with clearing sidewalks, so there is a buildup about 1 foot deep in most places. To either side of the sidewalk, it is knee deep or worse, so a misplaced step can easily result in a boot-full of snow.

Then two nights ago, it started raining. Yesterday, the street, still slippery with compacted snow, had two rivers flowing down the two tire tracks. No sign of any available storm drains to accept the water, other than the one my hard-working neighbour across the street, Carissa, managed to shovel clear in front of her house.

It seemed as if the City had just abandoned us down here. The snowplow / salt truck had not been down since about Christmas. We set our our garbage cans twice, once before Christmas and then again after Christmas, and no sign of any attempt to pick it up. So it was 3 weeks today since we had a pick up. That's a long time, when you are used to pick up every week.

It is still raining now, and it would be good if it continued long enough to actually clear the snow, at least in that single lane in the centre of the street. In the meantime, I cancelled all lessons and appointments for this week. I started to feel a bit trapped, since my husband was entertaining clients last night and tonight, so coming home too late to count on him. But I am for sure the lucky one, since I can work from home, can ask him to pick up groceries if necessary, and can still walk the kids to school.

We also haven't had any problems with the house. A few friends have already started having floods in the basement, and leaks in their ceiling. My dear friend Andrea is in a basement suite, and not only had leaking from her ceiling (apparently the water is making its way down from the roof, travelling down the wall and along one floor joist, then into her ceiling), but her side fence/gate was broken by the weight of snow sliding off the roof, and piled high with snow behind, so she is unable to get out, other than into the back yard. That would be scary.

Nobody I talk with (some older than me, so would remember more winters) can remember so much snow in Vancouver and persisting for so long. There were a few highlights to this otherwise dreary season, though. One was hearing the sound of the garbage truck, finally making his way down our street today. When I saw him, I ran onto the porch to scream out "Thank you" and wave. What a welcome sight, after 3 weeks! (And even then, the recycling truck only ventured as far as our house, and didn't venture down to the 2 houses down the street from us, or into the still-icy cul-de-sac across from us. So I was glad he at least made it this far.)

The other was a magical moment, on the Saturday night before the kids had to head back to school. The neighbours below us had actually shovelled clear the road, but then there was about 6" to 12" of new snow deposited on top since then, so my husband was out shovelling our walkway (that was a great sight in itself!), while the kids slid in their toboggans down the street (which is quite steep, and has only two more houses, then ends in a dead-end against a greenbelt). I had been on a work-related phone call for more than an hour, and had come to realize that the house had gone very quiet. By the time I was done, it was past 9:30PM, and I looked out the living room window, to see the kids sliding happily, the snow falling, and my husband playing with them and shovelling the walk. I picked up the karaoke microphone, and selected a few Christmas favourites, "O Holy Night" (in the "style of Celine Dion", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (in the "style of Tony Bennett"), and sang out joyfully, while watching my little family playing in the fresh white snow under the light of the streetlight. That was a pretty special moment.

But for now, I wish for the snow to wash away, and give us a "normal" winter, just the usual rain and more rain. I have a feeling, though, that there are a few more months of winter left, and we may not get off that easy.

Snow Fun

On Friday evening it changed from snow to rain. I wished it had cleared for a while and I had caught a photo of the house in snow. This was the most we've ever had piled on the house. So on Saturday my husband went out to capture a few photos before too much of the snow was lost. I think it looks pretty neat, what do you think?:

This one looks almost like a postcard of our house (except I'd need to Photoshop in a blue sky instead of the greyish one):

Here is a shot of the back yard and shed in a blanket of snow:

In the afternoon, my husband shovelled a path across the back deck, and insisted that we all go play in the snow while he cleared the remainder of the deck:

So we all set to work building snow creations. My son & I built what I will call the Throne of David:

No, not that throne, the throne of my little David:

My daughter took her turn at sitting on the throne:

The kids also built a fort (which joined into the back of the snow throne), with help from my husband (who supplied them with snow by the shovelful):

Enough Snow Already!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, and are finding some time to relax and enjoy visiting with family (or playing with new toys - like our Wii system)!

This is more snow than I can ever remember in Vancouver (BC), and certainly in December! We must have had about 3 feet of it already, and it still keeps coming! Even the garbage trucks didn't venture down our street earlier this week, so it will be 2 1/2 weeks between pick ups this time, instead of the usual 1 week!

This summer I built a fairy house for my daughter, and have made a good start on a fairy garden around it:



When I was preparing the garden for winter (which I never quite finished, but got pretty close), I decided to leave the fairy house out, and get a photo of it with snow on the roof. Well, it didn't take long this winter to get my wish:


But then it kept snowing:

Today when I looked out, the fairy house is completely buried, only a white bump in the white landscape. I had a thought to run out there and rescue it, but then again, the snow is a few feet deep, so I'll instead wait and see if it will bear the load. Let's hope when it turns to rain, it starts gently, not a downpour.

But as the song says, since there's no place to go... Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot More Like Christmas

I don't suppose I ever feel really ready for Christmas, but we are sure getting closer as the countdown continues. My husband helped me put the lights on the tree on the weekend (I've always done it by myself before, but this year even the ladder didn't allow me to reach the top). So then my 9 year old daughter and I put on most of the ornaments (the top ones and the star were placed from the loft). We still have more we can add, and we need to add the tree skirt at the bottom, but it's beginning to look pretty good (click any of the photos for a slightly larger view):

We tried out our new "cookie tree" kit which we bought from Regal Gifts this year It turned out pretty good, except we discovered that if you stacked only one cookie of each size (which is implied by the kit), the tree turned out too short (tree on right). When I discovered this, and started stacking approx 2 of each size (tree on left), then it looks much more proportioned like a real tree.

My 7 year old son made a cute "gingerbread" house at school, except it is made from graham wafers, "glued" together with icing:

Now all that's left is to wait to find out whether our family will all be able to join us, due to the heavy snowfall lately. My in-laws recently moved out into the valley (to Agassiz), where they've had fierce winds and even the TransCanada highway was closed one day. Here in Burnaby, it has been very cold but with little or no wind. We've had more snow (more than a foot here) than usual, and certainly unusual for this early in the winter.

I understand that the Inuit have 7 different words for what we call "snow". The kind we've had is the dry-and-no-good-for-snowmen-type-snow. So instead, the kids did their best to enjoy it in their toboggans today.

Here's a few pics of the kids, trying a snowboard approach to the sledding:


They were happy to have their cousin join them today as well:

I like this photo of him, caught in mid-air as the "snowboard" is slipping away from under his boots... (Good thing the snow provided a relatively soft landing.)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

After a beautiful clear morning, the clouds rolled in, and by this evening we had a light layer of snow covering the roads, sidewalks, and garden.

We took advantage of the good weather, to go to a Christmas Tree farm, and cut down a beautiful Douglas Fir. This year we tried out the Aldor Acres farm in Langley. After cutting the tree, we enjoyed visiting the animals, all of which are friendly and can be petted. There were some very small bunnies to hold. The goats had a few small kids. The horse had a foal, as did one of the donkeys. There were also pigs, and a lama. Nice crackling fire and hot chocolate, too.

We have a beautiful 18' high ceiling in our living room, and no furniture yet (except a baby grand piano), which allows us to get a pretty good sized tree. Last year, it was the biggest and fullest yet, at about 12'. This year, I guess we got a bit more carried away, at a whopping 15' high. I don't know how I'm going to get up there to put the lights on, and a topper. Oh well, it looks pretty amazing, anyhow, even without decorations (see photo right).

People always stare at us (like we're a bit crazy, which I guess is a fair assumption) when we haul in our tree and tie it to the roof of our car. This year, they commented that we must have a pretty big house. Yes, a high ceiling, for sure. And fortunately we measured the diameter of the inside of the base (5") before we went out, since this one just barely fit. A few others we had considered, would not have. So even with this one, there is maybe only an inch of space around the trunk for water, so I'll need to watch the water levels very regularly! And of course, the tree seems to weigh a few hundred pounds! I got a sore neck just holding it straight while my husband tightened the screws in the base. I don't know how he even managed to lift it up to push it into the base.

The good news is that the last few years, we've been able to enjoy the tree all the way through the birthday season also (which goes from January to early February in our house). I'm already talking about a "camping" theme with my daughter, for her next birthday party. If we get really ambitious, we can set up a tent in the living room, and the kids can pretend to be out camping. Could be fun.

New Aquarium Blog and First Snow in Vancouver

I've been feeling a bit schizophrenic lately, bouncing back and forth between my new interest in fish and aquariums, and my usual favourites of gardens, plants, arts & crafts, 3D art, and recipes (Hmmm, come to think of it, I may have been schizophrenic for some time now...).

Anyhow, I've decided to launch a separate blog to continue my postings about my newbie aquarium experiences and observations, which is called Hooked on Fish. That way, people who find my fish stories interesting won't be bored with my flower photos or 3D art, and likewise I won't bother my regular readers (ha ha, who am I kidding?) with too many boring photos of my aquariums.

So my posting rate may go down accordingly (or at least that will be my excuse). It may have something to do with my work hours lately, too, and the activities surrounding the holidays and preparation for it.

I missed a great photo opp this morning, we just received our first snow in Burnaby, BC this morning. Nice blanket, within a couple of hours, completely covered the roads, sidewalks, lawn, garden, making it all a beautiful white. But then it turned back to our usual rain, and in less than an hour, looked wet and slushy again. So next time, I'll be ready with the camera, to take a quick photo. In the meantime, I have my photos of snow scenes from previous winters to amuse me.
The clipart today is courtesy of Microsoft.

Aquarium Joys : Shrimp Rediscovered and Snail Romance

The two aquariums have provided much joy, and little glimpses into a mysterious world. I cleaned the sponge filter in my secondary fish tank yesterday, and as soon as I pulled off the bottom of the filter, the little shrimp fell out with the water. This time, I didn't put him back right away, I found a clear shallow container, and placed him in for observation.

I took some photos but they are all a dismal failure. I need to read the manual on my digital camera, to change the focussing mode, currently it is trying to get all spots in focus. I need to make it a single-spot focus, but couldn't figure out how to do it. So as a result, the camera kept focussing on the container, and refusing to notice the shrimp moving around inside.

Here are my attempts, anyhow:



He's very small, only a couple of millimeters long. So hard to make out much detail, but his colour is greyish, almost clear. When he swims, he usually ends up swimming on his back. When he lands on the bottom of the container, he curls up his tail, and runs along on his legs. No noticeable claws or any interesting colouration. I tried to search for any clue of what this could be, and likely it is some sort of "feeder shrimp". That is, shrimp which is commonly fed to fish. That would explain his appearance in my tank, and he likely caught a ride with one of the plants I purchased.

The snails also continue to provide lots of amusement. The two ramshorn snails have been getting friendly quite a few times lately. The two clutches of about a dozen tiny eggs each on the back of the filter, seem to have disappeared, so I suspect they have hatched. Two more sets of eggs arrived on the inside of the glass. I spotted the first one, and my son spotted the second one tonight. We also have noticed a number of small snails, of the pointy-shelled type.

In the main aquarium, the bumblebee (Clithon corona) snails have also been quite amorous lately, so that would be really sweet if we ended up with more of them. From my reading, it sounds unlikely that the larvae will survive in the freshwater (they may require more brackish or salty conditions), and if they did, they would surely be eaten by the fish. I don't want to move them to the secondary tank at this point, since I enjoy the challenge of searching for them in the main tank.

In the main aquarium, the pleco has taken to hiding under one of the plants, and rarely comes out, at least during the day. I miss seeing him, and wish I hadn't scared him that time, when he was hanging on the filter. The goldfish seem to be bigger every day. And hungry. I've started feeding them peas (frozen baby peas, thawed, them squeezed out of the skin). This seems to help the two fantail goldfish, who often become "floaty" after eating the goldfish flakes. I have been pushing the flakes under water instead of on the surface, so they will moisten more, and avoid having them gulping air on the surface. But still seem to have problems with their swim bladder many days, after the morning feeding. I feel sorry for them, trying to swim down, and floating back up.

Lots of fun. I'm so thankful for this element in my life, to add cheer and excitement. My 7 year old son enjoys the snails, too, and is an enthusiastic volunteer in helping me sweep the tank with the net (we have a fine-mesh shrimp net) to pull out bits of plant matter and goldfish excrement. Always something to do, or to see!

Aquarium Surprises : Snails and Crustacean Curly-Tails

I have two Bumblebee snails (Clithon corona, more commonly called "Horned nerite" snails; ours were named "Stripe" and "Buzz" by my son) in my aquarium, which are a delight to look for. They are pretty exclusively algae eaters, so very welcome also.

Over the last while, I've managed to acquire 3 more snails, which must have come with the aquatic plants I purchased. One of them is a very small dark pointy spiral shelled one, I think it will be difficult to identify him.

The other two are much more distinctive, and seem to be Planorbis (Ramshorn) snails. Both are a purplish brown, with dark-spotted brown shells. Mine are too small to make a decent photo, so I instead show this one (see right), which is borrowed from a Spanish-language aquarium forum. (Si usted entiende español, usted puede querer visitar este Web site.)

All 3 have been transferred to the secondary aquarium in the kitchen, which is holding my two remaining neon tetras, until I am sure about their plant-eating capabilities. So far, they have spent all their time, from what I can see, on the glass, or the gravel, and have shown no interest in eating the plants. So they seem to be happy eating algae. Which is good, since tonight I found the two Planorbis together at the edge of the tank, doing some interesting maneuvers. Hmmm, I may have more snails on the way at some point...

Early this evening, when I was cleaning the main aquarium, and rinsing/squeezing out the sponge in my filter, I noticed some movement in the bottom of the wastewater bucket. It looked like a small fly, not much larger than a mosquito, running along the bottom. Seemed strange, but I continued with the cleaning. A few minutes later, I could still see this creature running around the bucket, so I knew it couldn't be a fly! I netted it, and put it into a smaller container to take a look. I was surprised to see what looked like a small shrimp or some sort of crustacean. Greyish, almost colourless. The tail was tucked under, and it was zipping around quite quickly. I added this also to our secondary aquarium. If it's something I'll want to keep, it will have much more chance surviving with the neon tetras than with those hungry goldfish!

Tonight, I took out a flashlight, and tried to look for this little creature. Sadly, I could find no sign of him. So either he's crawled up into the filter, or I was just unlucky in my searching. Now I wish I had kept him aside longer, to get a better look, and if possible, identify him a bit better. But it is a pretty neat thought, that I managed to acquire something this interesting, and quite unintentionally. I hope it survives for a while, at least until I can get a better look.

Blackberry Battle

Today was the first morning of real frost on the ground, after a few gorgeous days of clear skies. So I'm glad I took a "mental health" break yesterday afternoon, and went out to fight some blackberries.

The blackberries encroach from two sides of our property. From the very back, where the neighbour used to have their fence (which has since fallen down completely) set back 10 feet, clear of a right-of-way which straddles 10' on their property and 10' on ours. So there is a solid 10' section of blackberry bushes along their side of the fence which are constantly sending long prickly vines over and through the latticework of our cedar fence.

On the lower side, a good portion of our back yard is along the edge of a steep ravine which is full of blackberry bushes. So again, they are constantly sending long vines across. I could swear that in summer, they can grow up to one foot per day. If the end touches the ground, it quickly roots, and forms another blackberry plant from which to send up more vines. I try to make sure they don't get that far, but it is a never-ending battle.

Yesterday, it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon, so I took a "quick" break, to tackle the blackberries *behind* the fence, on my neighbour's side. I had asked their permission a while ago, and was just waiting for good weather and opportunity. At first I thought I was just going to clear the vines which were covering the bridal wreath spirea bush which we had planted just outside our property line (long before that neighbour bought their property), in order to stabilize and retain that edge of the ravine, which drops off like a cliff beyond it.

I ended up clearing not only the bush & around the bush, but also a 5' strip along our fence, about 25' long. Some spots there is barely enough room to stand, and hold the fence as I made my way across, cutting 2' sections of the vines, which were crossed layer upon layer, some so thick that I needed to use both hands on my clippers (which are pretty sharp, having bought a new pair this summer) to cut through. I lost track of time, but I think I was out there for an hour or maybe even an hour and a half.

I wish I had stopped to take a few "before" photos, but I did take an "after" photo (see right). I don't think it really captures the amount of destruction I was able to accomplish, me in my bare arms (it really is safer that way, since the most damage can be inflicted when they get anchored in your clothes), and knitted rubberized-palm gloves. But as an indication, those 3 small plants in the foreground (bottom edge of the photo) were completely covered in vines, as was that spirea bush, and they extended over the fence, into my yard.

I like to muse that I may have cuts all over my arms and back of my hands from my battle with the blackberries, but in the end, I "won". I will be able to enjoy my victory all winter, being able to look out over the spirea bush and clear fence. But come Spring, I am sure they will launch another assault. When they do, I'll be ready again.