May 18, 2010
I had a great weekend. On Friday, I went to dinner with Courtney, then the Waterloo and picked up Kat, then we went to Josie and Chris’ for about half an hour. Then we went back to Hamilton and hung out. It was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday, and we had Tim Horton’s breakfast on the beach, then went shoe shopping, then went to Albion Falls, then went out for lunch with another friend of Kat’s. After lunch, we went to Webster’s Falls and Tew’s Falls, then hiked out to Dundas Peak. It was so pretty and we had a lot of fun.
Sunday I relaxed and watched the rest of Being Human and other fun stuff like that. It was a great weekend, with the exception of not getting a damn thing done. Had to do laundry and groceries and all that last night, but it was totally worth it.
Pictures!
Shannon Patterson, filed under Uncategorized |
April 30, 2010
Alan had to be at work early yesterday morning, so I was at my first stop of the day by nine a.m., Timoleague Abbey, which was possibly built by one of my ancestors, one Edmond de Coursey. I will have our family historian look into this for me when I get home. Timoleague itself was a cute little village at the end of an inlet. It was a nice way to start my day along the south coast of West Cork.
My second stop of the day was at a tourist information place. She told me how to get to the beach and what things were worth seeing that I hadn’t already circled. It was off to Inchydoney beach where I confirmed that the north Atlantic is indeed cold. I did stick my toes in the water but it was certainly short-lived.
I sat on a hill at the beach and read for about half an hour because that’s how I roll, and then I went to Drombeg stone circle which was totally cool. I spent maybe an hour there, trying to take cool pictures but the possibly French people who were there too were constantly in my frame which was totally obnoxious, so no good pictures from there.
Around two, I had lunch in the town of Skibbereen in a little pub down a crazy alley, and then took the scenic route back to Ballincollig. The highway has a great view of the castle, but I still can’t figure out how to get there on foot.
After Alan got off work last night, it was pub night, and we went out drinking with two of his colleagues. Today I hope to find a laundromat in the downtown Cork area, and finish up our plans for the weekend. Apparently it’s a long weekend here, so we’re hoping that extends to Alan, and he will be able to go touring around on Monday as well as on the weekend.
I’m in a bit of a rush, so no descriptions for the pictures.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Uncategorized |
November 26, 2009
On Sunday, I left for a road trip to Kirkland Lake, which is where Lem and Brad and their new baby live. Brad just got a job up there in August, and Isaac was born in September, and I wanted to hang out with them. Seeing as my old job ended last Friday and my new one doesn’t start till next Monday, I knew I had to take this opportunity to make the trip. Kirkland Lake is an 8 hour drive from Hamilton, and I didn’t want to do it by myself, so I invited my newly retired Mom along for a road trip and we were off.
Northern Ontario has a lot of rocks, and trees, and water. The drive was good — the major highways are in really good shape all the way up, and Kirkland Lake itself reminded me a lot of the town I went to high school in. I’m not a baby person, but Isaac is totally adorable and cute, and Lem and Brad are doing a great job with him. We were there Sunday night, and for Monday and Tuesday. We left early on Wednesday and were home before dark. I would not want to make the trip at night; it would be a mighty lonely trip.
I had a great time. We didn’t do a whole lot; pretty much just hung out with Isaac and Lemmers, watching TV and playing dumb Facebook games, but it was a nice change of pace. We went to the Kirkland Lake mall, toured the town, and Mom made a couple of batches of delicious cookies. On Tuesday night, Lem and I went for dinner and Mom took care of Issac, which was fun.
On the way home, I threatened to stop at all the silly roadside attractions (giant cows, buffalo, Muskoka chairs, etc) and historical plaques, but after our first attempt to locate a historical plaque failed, we gave up. We did however hit more than three bookstores and find some great butter tarts in Huntsville.
Picture time!
I don’t have any pictures of me with Isaac, but Lem does. Will steal some from her Facebook page later and post them here as proof that I will (sometimes) interact with babies.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Uncategorized |
September 4, 2009
A few months ago, I posted pictures of my “completed” quilt. That was in February. My Mom and Dad took it home with them, and they were going to get a lady my Mom knows to machine quilt it for me. Time passed, and one night, I got a call from my parents. Some of my Dad’s relative were over, and my Mom showed Muriel (my Dad’s cousin) the quilt top. Muriel decided that she would hand quilt it for my for Alan and my wedding gift.
We went back home to my folk’s place two weekends ago, and it was sitting on the couch for us when we got there. It’s absolutely beautiful.
I think we're going to have to get nicer bedding to match the quilt
another angle
If you can't see it, the detail in the boxes are squares, circles, stars and octagons
I’m so impressed that I made this. The finished product looks so different than when I last had my hands on it that it’s hard to believe it’s the same thing. I’m looking forward to getting more into the next quilt project, which is a blanket for Lem and Brad’s incoming Galaxar, who is due to show up in a couple of weeks. The quilt isn’t nearing anything ready to give away, I have two block completed, and bout 40 more to go, but it’s going to be absolutely amazing if this finished product is any indication.
I love curling up underneath the quilt and reading. Alan took a few pictures of that, but I don’t know how they turned out.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Uncategorized |
July 1, 2009
Monday on Q, CBC Radio’s wonderful music/arts show, Jian interviewed an author about the robot revolution, a musician, and then a woman who had been tasked with hunting down the history of the butter tart, a truly Canadian desert. They talked about the supposed history of the tart, where to find the best one, and what the ingredients should be (butter, brown sugar, syrup, raisins). It wouldn’t be surprising to members of my family that butter tarts brought back memories of my Grandma.
Butter tarts remind me like no inanimate object of my Grandma. She was the master. Grandma didn’t make a few butter tarts at a time, she made a few dozen. They were stored in the freezer in white margarine tubs, and they were full of sugary deliciousness. I’m sure each butter tart was about a thousand calories, but no family gathering was complete until there was a plate of butter tarts. I remember a few times being allowed to help with the making of Grandma’s butter tarts. She made her own pastry, and did not have a recipe to follow, except the one in her head. She would look into the batter from yards away and tell me it needed more corn syrup, or it didn’t have quite enough butter. It was crazy magic, and it was wonderful (my Mom can do the same thing). Because she would make these tarts dozens at a time, the act of making the tarts would take a full afternoon. Time spent waiting for the tarts to finish was often spent playing Mexican Rummy, a game that doesn’t even closely resemble the game rules I found on the Internets.
My Grandma passed away during the summer of my first year of university. From then on, we have never had butter tarts at a family gathering. The first year, we had butter tart squares but it was the end of the butter tart era. I am glad that I have these simply delicious, buttery awesome items with which to remember my Grandma. I think it’s cool that there is one thing in the world that will always remind me of her. There are other items in the world that remind me of other people, but I don’t think the connection is as strong as with my Grandma and butter tarts. Also, store bought butter tarts suck.
Happy Canada Day everybody.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Uncategorized |
