Nuts and Bolts

One of the recipes I have used for years has been my recipe for Nuts and Bolts from "Best of Bridge".. one of my favorite cookbooks. Its a well used recipe page .... and you know when you come across a particularly dirty page in your book.. you know its a favorite.

The blurry picture to the right is only to show you the filth of my cook book page. At the end of this blog is the recipe.

The interesting thing about this year is the strange lack of "Bugles" in the stores. I started gathering ingredients for my annual bake way before I got sick, and at first I couldn't find Bugles in either of our grocery stores.

After a couple of unsuccessful visits (weeks apart) to our grocery stores, I sent Terry on a search in New Minas (since he was working there anyway), and he wasn't successful either. Then we hit the unlikely spots, Shoppers,

Zellers (two of them), Price Choppers in Berwick, two different Save Easy's, Walmart and even Bulk Barn. The ladies at Bulk Barn gave me the idea to substitute something for the Bugles and we came up with plain corn chips. So, I "bulked up" on corn chips and my list was complete.

When I first started to make it, our family and visiting friends ate bowls of this in front of the TV or during puzzle and game time... now, I use it mostly for gifts to friends and neighbours, with a bit left over for us.

Today... the first snowy day of the season, I sit, sorting out gifts and smelling the unbelieveably good smell of Nuts and Bolts baking...

Nuts and Bolts

1 lb of butter

2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce

1 tablespoon of Garlic Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Onion powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Celery Salt

4 cups "Cherrios"

4 cups "Life" Brand Cereal

4 cups "Chex" cereal or Shreddies

4 cups Pretzels ( I use the sticks)

2 cups salted peanuts (I use about 3 cups)

1 Box of bugles ( I used 4 cups of Corn Chips)

1 box of Cheese Nips or Cheese Bites

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Place butter in very large roaster and put in oven to melt butter while oven is preheating. Add all ingredients and gently stir well to coat evenly with butter. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes...

Recap of my life

It's December. Today is our first snow fall and we have been waiting for snow since mid November. Here in the valley, we always have at least one major snowstorm in November, but not this year. Facebook is full of people wanting snow, or not wanting snow. Snow is what we all talk about, whether its here or not. Well, its here, but I don't think it will stay with us for very long. A day. Its been so warm in the valley this year. Well, warm for winter.... We have had a very long fall.

My goal to blog every day in November was cruelly cut short by the arrival of H1N1 in my life. I went back to work on Monday after being sick for 9 days with it, and after being at work for 1 day, I was drained and tired, with a stupid cough that freaked out most people. I had it verified by some medical professionals that I was no long contagious even though the cough sounded bad. But work was a bit much. I stayed home another day and a half this week, and by the time Friday afternoon came along, I was so exhausted, I barely ate. I tried to go shopping for Xmas stuff on Friday night, and ended up home, in bed, sound asleep by 9pm, and slept solid until 7:30 on Saturday morning.

Saturday arrived, raining and cold. Terry and I were planning on getting the vaccine for H1N1 today. Yes, even though I had just been through the actually illness, medical opinion is, unless you have been swabbed and confirmed, you can't be 100 percent sure you had it... and therefore, not protected. With being so exhausted and an increase in my coughing, I decided not to get the needle, just in case I wasn't fully recovered. I did go with Terry when he had his, and met up with Patsy and she convinced me to get it.... and so I did. So here we sit, Sunday morning, totally protected from H1N1 and both with sore arms. Actually, not too bad. Terry felt terrible last night, but we shopped for like 10 hours yesterday, and I felt sort of terrible too.

My advise, if you haven't gotten your vaccine yet, do it. The clinics are not busy now, they are a breeze, and the vaccine will save you so much time and energy!

My sugar free November was a "piece of cake" (pardon the pun), since from Nov 20th on, i was appetite free!!!. I am trying to keep things going for December, although I do have a chocolate every now and then at work. Of course, that's how it all starts... but I am watching myself.

Blogging for December will be fun, since there seems to be a lot going on. I am going to end my blog, as of Dec 31 2009. I am not sure why I blog, but its become an albatross some days, hanging over my head, trying to think of things to blog. I have used my blog to keep family history alive, and to share about my gardens, my pets, my family. Life is changing for me, and there isn't much I can blog about, that hasn't been written already. I am going to use this month to finish up some blogs that I want to post.

Thank you for following me. I will leave my blog online, because I have lots of great blog links that I like to go to. I may want to get back into it, once I stop blogging, we will see!

Company Houses

I am pretty sure if you asked any person from Cape Breton about a company house, they would tell you who they know who lives in one, or used to live in one. Its not the real name for the style of house, its what they have been called for the past 60-70 years. So, what are they... what's so special about them.

Well, company houses are these duplex type houses built in the 1940's by the Coal Mines and the Steel Company. I am assuming they were to rent out to the workers of the mines and steel plant. In Sydney, there is a whole row of them on Victoria Road, and also some on Park street. In Glace Bay, Mechanic Street had a bunch as well. My Aunt Jeanette lived there. The ones on Victoria Rd are the ones I remember driving by since I was a young teen. My kids grew up driving by them.. but at this point, they had stopped being rentals. When the Steel plant shut down in the early 80's ( I think), the houses were sold to local families and these families started to fix them up to look a little more modern.

The phenomenon that happened after this was that the houses began to take on a look of their own.... sadly, the families who lived on each side of the duplex, didn't often agree on "upgrading choices".

When this first happened, it was a kaleidoscope of colors, most houses being painted different on each side. It became a bright point in a dreary drive home, and my kids loved trying to find as many "differences" as possible as we drove by each one. You know, Sesame Streets' "One of these things is NOT like the other"

..... When I wanted to write this blog (there is a point to it, by the way, its coming), I asked my friend Lori (who still has family in Sydney) if she could find a friend or relative to snap a few pics of the Company Houses, in all their oddity. She didn't waste a second, and by the next day, she had made contact with a brother, who has a son in law or a nephew who works in the Pier, and he snapped pics and emailed. We had quite a giggle when they arrived in my machine, but I was surprised and a little disappointed in the fact that most of them are the same color now a days.

So, the point of this blog.....

On Terry's way back home from Ontario, he stopped in to see my sister and pick up her fantastic sewing machine to lend me for a little while. She also sent along a gift for me. My sister is a master quilter and makes a diverse collection of sewing projects, using new techniques she learns from others. She has a group of "Friday Girls" she has "coffee" with every friday. They share ideas, set challenges and little projects for themselves, raising the bar of quilting. One of their projects was a house trade. Gail described her project in this blog. Imagine my surprise when I opened my gift and it was this table runner. She named it "Company Houses".... can you see why?

I love my table runner. I love the smoke coming out of the chimneys, I love the window trimmings, the swirls along the border...The colors are rich, the size is perfect but most of all, it brings back fun little memories of our daily drive down Victoria Road.!

Home Sick

Tonks looks like I feel. I stayed home today and I will again tomorrow. I have sworn off of drugs cause they make me feel like crap. I am battling this illness with rest, lots of water and television.

I watched "Love Actually" this morning. There seemed to be a lot of talk about it on Facebook last night so I found it ONDEMAND and for 3.99 on my cable bill, I got to watch a movie I saw only once, and didn't remember it much. It was definitely funny and I loved it.

Daytime TV is funny too. I watched most of Ellen (nodded off a couple of times) no reflection on Ellen, its this darn illness. I saw that Wayne Grady is now hosting "lets Make a Deal". Its a remake of the 1960's Lets Make a Deal with Monty Hall. Not really that good, but it could also be this illness. And Price is Right is still on.... and Drew Carey is BLONDE!!! What's with that.

SNOOZE SNOOZE SNOOZE and then Dr. Oz has his own show... didn't see much.... Oprah was about Sex Addicts... didn't watch it... snoozed to the back ground sounds of Family Feud.

That was my day. I think I feel better, but I am sore all over, still... fever is gone.... as of like 4:00am this morning. Now I have a wicked cough. I missed blogging yesterday, couldn't keep sitting up for very long and really had nothing in my head to blog about... Is it cheating if I blog about stupid stuff like being sick!! I promise, this is the last one of those... tomorrow a real blog.

Now I have to go lay down! ugh.

Christ the King

The last week of the church year is the week before Advent starts. The readings are always "Christ the King". For Kay and I, its a no brainer as far as a craft since its "king"... crowns are a must. We change up the decorations a bit on the crowns each year... but we always do a crown.

Last week, while Scott and Michelle were here, I set Scott on the task of tracing the crowns onto yellow Bristol board.. and with Terry's help.. they cut them all out.. yipee.

Its a good thing, because I got hit last evening with some stupid flu illness. I was freezing cold, pounding headache and stuffed up. I almost broke in two when I tried to get my flannel pj's on, I was colder than when we were camping in +2 nights. I shivered so much, I could barely stand up. Once I finally got them on, I crawled under the feather duvet and shivered until I fell asleep.

Terry came in at 9:30 from curling (fun night) and woke me up. He said I was sooo on fire, it can't be good to have all those blankets on. Well, he was right, I was a bag of sweat, and could hardly breath... geeesh.

I am glad my craft is all made for tomorrow's children's liturgy.... I know I will feel better by tomorrow.

The Torch came to Kingston!

What a day. I was excited all day.... talking about the torch, about my run, and the new run. I wore my jacket but felt a bit stupid wearing it... but its a monumental moment in time... what better day to wear it again.

Most of the staff from the school walked to Maple street about 1:50 and waited almost 30 minutes for the flame to fly by us. How cool that right where we were standing, the waiting torch bearer was planted... with his flameless torch. He is a young man named Trevor from Truro, somewhere. It was nerve wrecking for him with everyone taking his picture and he was standing there for like 20 minutes. At first, I stayed back, understanding his stress, but then I thought, what... am I crazy... here is a picture. The old meets the new... I made sure and cozied up to him and had a photo moment.

One of the camera clickers told me to touch the torch but I didn't feel right... it was his moment.. not mine. I asked if I could put my hand on his hand...and he agreed, joyfully. When I placed my hand on his... he was absolutely shaking so badly, I felt the motherly need to put my arm around him and I whispered... I know how your feeling. Try and enjoy every moment... it will stay with you forever!!!

He nodded, and said thank you... and I left him to the camera clickers. Who knows if he even heard me!

Then the wait. It seemed to take forever, but I bet Trevor felt like it was an hour! When the caravan of vans came down the road, the thin but plentiful crowd at this end of town started to cheer and wave flags. Both schools (staff only) were lining the streets, as there was no school for the children today. It was so nice to be a part of it all. When the first guy came closer to our little Trevor he greeted him with a big grin, a knowing hug and a loud energized cheer! Trevor was more subdued since he was so nervous, he couldn't really take it all in (my opinion only!!). Guy number 1, then tipped his torch towards the awaiting torch and passed along the flame. This was very cool.

I believe each hand off is celebrated with the "lighting of the torch".

Then our Trevor was off....

Kingston School was cheering loud and waving our little flags. I hope he could hear us!

My favorite moment? The experience was very different than what I had

experienced in 1987. It would be like comparing apples and oranges. I felt a connection to the runners, I understood what all the caravans were for, and I understood what they were feeling. I had three favorite moments.

1. Trevor's trembling hands. His trembling brought back all the

emotion I was feeling, and I know if he was a girl, he would have been crying!

2. The passing of the "flame". This was unique, and symbolic.

The torch was beautiful. At first, when looked at out of context, the torch

looked kind of odd, not torch like. But, being there, seeing the flame spread down the top half of the torch, its wide flame dancing backwards... it was majestic!

3. This guys face. I don't even know him. He was guy #1. We waited with Trevor for this guy, all excited... anticipating.. When he arrived, he was exhilarated, pumped, and he was eager to pass along the flame.

But after Trevor left with the torch, there he stood... guy # 1, done. It was over. Its in his face. He said quietly to the crowd, that was amazing. I then got a lump, as I watched him walk onto the waiting van.. watched him sit down... quietly and alone on the bus. He was the first runner of this team.

It was wonderful to be a part of.. and I hope I get to see another Olympics come through our country.

My cousin Dave carried the torch tonight in Lunenburg area, and I know when we see each other again, we will have a lot to talk about. Caroline Winters carried the torch in Greenwood, and I can't wait to see how things went...

And that is it... I end this week of Torching... but its still November, and even though I have the start of a cold.. I must blog... every day... until Nov 30.... oh... and no sugar this month either.. ugh.. this is all getting to be a big much!

My day with the Flame-Dec 18 -Day 32

You can't imagine the nervousness, excitement and disbelief I was in on the day of my run. I was working at Alliance Communications in those days and worked only evenings. I was on the schedule to work an ungodly 13 shifts in a row.. from 3pm to 11pm and the last shift was the day of my run. The company broke down and gave me the night off so I could do the run (but not without some foot-stomping on my part)

We had received information at some point in the mail as to how to dress for the day.. depending on the weather conditions. I had long johns and a turtle neck and who knows what else. They were giving us our running outfit once we got to the Pre Run location. It was an amazingly well coordinated event when I arrived. Terry and the girls, my mother in law, Joan,and my sister in law, Kelly were with me and dropped me off 2 hours before my run. They went off and found a spot along the crowded country road to watch for me.

We had rented a video camera, which was pretty high tech for the time. It was as big as a small car, and you could fit a VCR tape right into the machine. Kelly was the camera man for the run.

The 2 hours before the run was almost as amazing as the run itself. There were 10 of us on my team. We would each run a full kilometer. We would be the team that goes through Gananoque and halfway to Kingston. The ten of us stayed together for that day... really, and to share such excitement with these people from all walks of life, and all different stories was amazing. We truly were like family by the end of it. After we got our outfits on, we sat around in an organized group, adrenaline surging..

We each were asked questions about our particular quest for the torch, and this really opened the conversations up. Their stories were amazing. One lady put in 1000 ballots; she asked for 6 different days. They explained that the choosing of names was done by physically drawing names out of boxes in the order of which time slot you had. Not locations so much. Each one was giving a time... I was 1:53pm by the way, 68th runner of the day. Anyway, the lady who had 1000 ballots... her ballot was drawn... to run right past her Bed and Breakfast home & business right in the middle of her home town. Another girl was running because her brother put in 39 ballots for himself and put ONE in for her... she got picked. The guy running after me, Mark Owen, was an 18 year old boy from Brockville who was in his first year of university in Maine (I think). He put in one ballot. The date of his run was the same day as his last exam for that term. He wrote a letter to ask permission to have the day to go to the run, and he was denied. He came anyway!

We laughed with each other, we signed each other's certificates, we posed for pictures and we chatted, chanted and danced the whole time we were together..

We were constantly cheering, and as they walked us out to our awaiting Caravan, we sang, held hands and shivered with excitement. We got in this big motor home type vehicle and were driven out of town to wait for the last runner of the team before us. We all piled out of the motor home and did some warming up (as if any of us needed that!!)... Our team had two torches with us.. both unlit. They were full of fuel.. ready to be lit, as the last runner of the team ahead of us had very little fuel left in his torch. Apparently they radioed ahead to tell our coordinator. Each torch burns for 45 minutes, so we needed to have two ready, since each of us would run approximately 8 minutes. We got to hold the unlit torch and it was humbling, I must say. We waited by the side of the road, as the runner appeared ahead. We screamed and cheered (not another soul was around us, just 10 crazy torchers). The last runner, lit the torch of our first runner... and I burst into tears... a few of us hugged and then we were rushed into the motor home to start our trek. That was the last time I got to see the torch until it was placed in my hand. We were always ahead of it, and we missed the excitement of the crowds, but we hugged and cried as each person was dropped off at their spot on the highway! The radio in the motor home was filled with communication between the vans and trucks and people that made up the entourage.

I was number 8 of the ten... and as we dropped off each person, we became a little more quiet, a little more nervous... when it was my turn, I got my final hug and I was dropped on the side of a deserted highway... all alone. I waited.... only 5 minutes... I started to cry immediately when the torch was put into my hands, and I apologied to my "guard". She laughed and said everyone cried!

In the video you will see, it starts with a full minute of my hubby, my two little daughters, Michelle in Terry's arms, and Stephanie with my mother in law. Kelly was carrying the 50 lb camera, and was getting a lesson on how to work it, and she scanned the horizon to show the massive crowd of people that were there to cheer me on!

We were told in our Pre Run, we were NOT to stop at all in the crowds. We were NOT allowed to let anyone touch the torch..... hee hee... but no one was going to stop me from letting my kids touch the torch! There is only a few seconds of me.... but I am so happy to have this memory on film.

You will notice the the Torch Guard changes sides when we come close to the scary guy on the side of the road, in case he mobs me. That was Terry. She was there to protect me!! I was the token "mom" on our team and had the youngest kids, so the man who talks to my kids is one of the coordinators. I told him that my kids were GOING to touch the torch... and he cheered

me on!

The moment I got to share the flame with my family, I felt so victorious, and energized, I really forgot that I was carrying the torch. My next 5 minutes flew by and I almost forgot to wave at a small cluster of farm folk who drove to the end of their driveway to see the Torch go by. And then it was over.

My student friend, Mark, stood waiting for me, and I slowed to a crawl when I got closer to him. I didn't want to give him the torch. He snapped this picture of me, and it says it all. I was happy and sad....~... exhilarated and exhausted. Months later when he mailed the picture to me (how sweet he was to take the time to send it, eh) I said to Terry, this is it. This is the picture that says it all. Its over :(

After I passed him the torch, we hugged yet again, and I was left to stand, alone again. A few cars back, there was a van, that scooped me up. And there I sat, with 7 of my teammates. Some stared straight ahead, some cried, but no one spoke. It was a long quiet drive back to the center, where all our belongings were..and where we were to meet our families. Once there, we mingled and chatted, we hugged one more time and then .... it was really over.

Months later, on Feb 13, I watched TV as my torch was carried up several steps and set to ignite the Olympic Torch in Calgary. I cried hysterically again, knowing I had been a part of this amazing event.

I invite you to click here and see the end.. the lighting of the TORCH in Calgary!

Thank you for allowing me to "Share the Flame" with you over the last few days. It was very important for me to write this week of blogs, to explain the whole story. I will never forget the experience, but it is so nice to have it in a venue that I can save and share.

Tomorrow, the 2010 Olympic Torch will be coming through my little village and I will be there to cheer and wave. I will know in my heart what those torch bearers are feeling, and I will cry.