Sooooooooo….I picked up my roll of film today and got a big goose egg. Blacks Photography gave me a new roll of film, though. I guess it’s the pity policy, but the woman at the cash register assured me it’s the policy of the film company. So, even though the only 2 photos I have of Malcolm’s birthday are on my blog here, I don’t feel discouraged by my lack of film skills at all. I’ve got a free roll of film to figure things out with.

After that errand, I went to London Drugs to pick up some food for the kitties and then decided to head over to the cathedral to see what I could take photos of over there. I hadn’t been in some time, so I thought I’d check it out. I got there just in time to see the bride!

I stumbled on a wedding at about 1:30 on a Monday. Odd, but seizing the moment, I took a few photos. There were two professional photographers hovering around – with huge lenses and lots of gear. I tried to blend in to get a photo, just because it was happening right in front of me. But then it seemed a little weird that that a wedding photographer would have 2 grocery bags full of cat food with her, so I thought I’d better move along before anyone asked.

And that’s my story.

Also, my story today? I got a PILE of plants for the garden today from Cathy Mechanic. She’s moving into a new place and gave me all types of potted plants! We moved them tonight at around 10 pm. I’m all sweaty and hot. Mike was really happy to help move gigantic plants about. But in the end, this weekend I’ll be planting all weekend long. With sedges! And lilies! I have to admit, over the last few months, I’ve totally lost interest in the garden – whacking down weeds is not much fun. But now I can fill some pieces in with plants! Huzzah! I feel I’m in the mood to take care of the outdoors again.

I had the great idea to start shooting in film last night at Malcolm’s super late birthday dinner. Due to a busy schedule, the reservation was set for 9:30 pm. Hey! We were eating like the French do! Super late. Unless you’re the French Soccer Team – then you can eat whenever you want, because you’re not playing football against the Norwegian team, is all I’m saying.

But enough about the French team’s situation. I had a situation myself to deal with. I wasn’t a total bonehead. I brought my digital camera with me. I fact, I loaded up my Nikon with a card I pulled out of my camera case without looking at it. I had my film camera and my backup digital camera (at one point, both around my neck simultaneously) at the restaurant – feeling very proud of myself and all my photographic bravery.

I snapped photos of the birthday boy and all the dinner festivities with the silly blue camera and the old fashioned flash, not really sure if I was really winding the thing right or not. But I decided to take out my Nikon once the cake arrived – which was funny because Malcolm had no idea that was going to happen and thought the waitress was being rude and rushing us out by “resetting the table”. He thought the plates and forks they were putting on the table were for the next guests. Heeeheee! In the whole time I’ve known Malcolm, I’ve never seen him get snippy, but here he was, on his birthday, getting a little testy. This was the perfect time for me to take photos of him! I clicked 1 photo and then my camera stopped working. I checked the message on the LCD screen to see this:

CARD FULL

What? I took 1 photo. How did that happen? I pulled the memory card out and looked at it. Apparently a 16 M card can only handle 1 photo when shooting in high resolution. I just learned that at that moment. So, I changed the settings on my camera and was able to take 2 photos. I would take a photo and if I didn’t like it, delete it. Here are the only two digital photos I kept from the evening.

Actually, this first one is a keeper. At the time I took the picture, the whole restaurant joined in with us singing Happy Birthday to Malcolm. It was totally spontaneous on the other guests’ part. So. Fun.

For my other photo, I was determined to get the Jello in somehow. And I did.

This is Tyler and his girlfriend, Ashley, looking lovingly at the little Jello squares. Heh. I certainly Forrest Gumped those 2 photos.

However, this may be where my luck ended. Once I got home, I figured I didn’t want to ask Mike how to wind the film out of the camera, did it myself, and opened up the back of the camera to find the film hadn’t been wound at all. I then closed the back of the camera, handed it over to Mike and went to bed, feeling terribly sorry for myself.

I took the roll of film to be developed today, explaining my film faux pas. The person at the counter said it’s possible that some of the photos I took may be okay despite being exposed to the light – just not the section that was saw the light of my craft room. I’ll find out on Monday when my photos/photo/strip of nothing will be available for me to pick up.

Things I learned from this scenario:

1) I need to read the manual for the film camera. I also need to watch more youtube videos on how to work the Diana+. I also need to ask for help instead of just assuming I can figure it out on the fly. I’m not sure at all how forgiving film can be. I’m assuming it’s not.

2) Check the memory card before I put it in the camera next time.

And I’m throwing away that 16M card immediately.

This mysterious person on the scooter is not my Grandma. I’m not sure who this is, but this photo was found in one of Grandma’s photo albums. Currently my mom and sister are on a photo finding mission and the best ones will be an addition to the Wilson family cookbook – our current project. My mom has been very busy typing up 29 recipes WITH an index. Mom’s a medical transcriptionist and types very fast and very accurately. My favourite part of the index (yes! the index!) is that mom put it in this order:

• Desserts
• Pies and Pastries
• Entrees

Makes perfect sense.

So over the next month or so, I’ll be making all the recipes in the index and taking photos of them all. Good thing I get the newsletter from the food photo blog – they have all kinds of great tips for taking photos of food. And, I thought I’d post the recipes and photos here while I’m at it. Maybe you’d like to try Grandma’s pastry recipe, too. My Grandma is a pastry champ, and I’m thinking that if I can pull it off, the cover of the cookbook will be a pie recipe. Although, where the heck can I find Saskatoon berries locally? I’ll have search the farmers’ markets.

I think I’ll start this project this weekend, and I’m looking forward to trying the pineapple squares. Anything with coconut makes me think of oldie-times and The Little Rascals.

Pineapple Squares
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 egg beaten
1 cup crushed pineapple

Method:
Mix flour, baking powder and butter together. Mix with well beaten egg. Press into large pan (9×13).

Spread 1 cup crushed well drained pineapple on top of first mixture.

Mix:
2 eggs well beaten
2 cups coconut (or a little less)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter (melted)

Put on top of pineapple.
Bake at 300° for 30 minutes. Store in fridge (can substitute jam for pineapple).

It looks like I may have to roast a turkey in the near future. For the photoshoot, of course.

Mike’s going to hate that part for sure.

I ran out of stuff to do with Mom & C@thy yesterday, so we ended up in Stanley Park and walked about 5 kilometers along the beach. The temperature was perfect with a nice breeze. I’ll have to remember that the next time it feels too hot at home – the seawall is where it’s at.

We took them to the airport early this afternoon after watching the British Open for a few hours this morning. For some reason, I’m unable to stop watching any competitive sports. Now I’m watching golf – I know the difference between a birdie and a bogey and I know that a South African is pretty much cleaning up after today. I can’t wait to see guys in funny pants whack a ball into the wind – and where many of the competitors have nearly the same score. That’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow morning. Thanks Mom!

Meanwhile, Donner’s been keeping cool on top of one of the cabinets in the dining room. It seems to be his favourite new spot. He can lay flat and still see everything going on around him at the same time.

Now wait just a darn minute. No washing a) unpaid berries and b) feet? What kind of place is this?

I guess running a berry farm is a tough gig. How many people did they have to stop from washing their feet in this very tall sink? And who thinks washing their feet in the sink is a good idea in the first place? I think I’ll get a sign like this for the kitchen. Better safe than sorry.

Today we washed the 3 buckets of berries we picked yesterday…

and made 6 batches of jam – which made 27 assorted sizes of jam. We froze the rest of the raspberries after about 3 hours of slaving over the hot stove. Phew. If I need to make more jam, I can make it from the frozen ones.

We opted for a simple recipe – just berries, lots of sugar and some Certo. We gave the jars a hot water bath of 13 minutes each. Tomorrow we’ll try it on some toast.

And just because I liked this sign when I saw it at the farm:

I share it with you.

Are you ready for the big reveal of the triangle tube birthday gift? No, it was not a 50 pound Toblerone bar, but this is what Mike’s mom and dad sent me:

It’s a kitty kat karpet! As I was taking photos of the carpet, the kitties made an entrance. The whole family enjoys the new rug! I placed it in front of the sliding glass doors that open to the balcony. Also purchased today with some birthday money? A screen door for the balcony so we don’t have to worry about the kitties falling off the balcony unsupervised – the railings are too fragile for my liking. This is a great solution until the the balcony is repaired. Huzzah!

In other news, my unpleasant allergic reaction resulting in hives is slowly making its way out of my system. At this time the ones on my torso and legs are looking like they’re retreating. However, they have now shown up on the palms of my hands and under my finger nails. So crazy. I’m sure it was all the nice comments and birthday messages in my inbox today. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We did go out for some delicious birthday dinner tonight. I enjoyed some steak and lobster with Mike and my mom and my sister. Here’s a very heavily edited photo (in an effort to hide my splotchy face).


**Photo by my mom**

So that’s it! I’m now a 40 year-old.

Weird.

Tomorrow we will be doing our annual berry picking extravaganza. This year it’s going to be raspberries – we’re shaking it up from the usual strawberry picking. And then it will be jam time. Mom brought 9 packages of Certo, so you know she means business.

My mom and sister arrived this morning and so far we’ve eaten a bunch of frozen fruit and made roasted ginger ale chicken on the barbecue for dinner.

I tried making these frozen banana bites and they are terrific.I just made the basic style (frozen bananas dipped in chocolate – no fancy additions) and I also froze some cherries – some with with the chocolate and some au natural. They make an excellent dessert – like frozen bonbons – even without the chocolate. I’m going to make them again and again. I think they are probably best frozen between 2-3 hours – they are not too frozen to chomp right into, but are still icy cold all the way through.

Man, can you tell it’s hot right now? I’ve written an entire essay on frozen fruit. Also, we have watermelon chilling in the fridge right now. HELP ME! I can’t stop! Along this same vein, we have a family cookbook project we’re going to embark on. It actually sounds a bit like more of documentation of some family meals from when my mom and her family were growing up. COOL.

Meanwhile, C@thy is resting her knee due to a little strain on the soccer field…

And the kitties are laying as flat as they possibly can on the floor because I guess it’s cooler down there?

I should try that.

This mysterious triangle shaped package arrived for me the day before yesterday, with a return address in Nova Scotia. What is the gift? I am under strict orders NOT to open it up until July the 12th. Because on that day I will be:

a) an old nanny goat
b) 40 years young
c) eating birthday cake with Mike, my sister and my mom
d) all of the above

I know! Lordy Lordy and all that.

But what’s in the package? What IS IT??? Mike tells me he has no idea what it is, so I will just have to wait.

That’s okay, I’ve got lots of stuff to keep my mind off the package for the next few days. My mom and sister arrive tomorrow morning at 11:00 am and tonight I cleaned off the balcony. Interesting note: I found the start of a wasp’s nest in the patio umbrella. It was about the size of an acorn with a big wasp sitting on top. Sadly, I had to swat it off the umbrella and watched it tumble to the driveway below.

Sorry wasps, you just can’t live here with us.

I must tell you, today was probably my second favourite lunch break of all time. ALL TIME! The only lunch break that I enjoyed more was that time I ran into Martin Brodeur, Scott Hamilton and Michelle Kwan during the Olympics. My buddy, Catherine, was with me both times. She seems to be my lucky lunch break pal.

I read on the twitter today that the CBC was hosting a big screen TV presentation of the Netherlands vs. Uruguay on Granville and Robson Street. Catherine and I headed up there and were pleasantly surprised. There were plenty of fans there – mostly wearing orange clothes – we did spot one guy wearing the Uruguay flag like cape. Spoiler alert: that was one sad Uruguayan fan after this game.

There were spots to sit on the ground on some astro-turf, so people picnicked and watched the game…

But we didn’t bring our lunch, so we opted for some savoury crepes on the patio, in the shade, with an excellent view of the humongous TV instead. Not a bad option at all. In fact, it was a glorious choice.

We even drank Orange drinks in support of the Dutchmen:

I am now cheering for the Netherlands – since all the teams I was cheering for up to now are no longer in the tournament. I know. That pretty much makes me a bandwagon jumper. I’m not too concerned about this, as I only watch soccer every 4 years. I decided to cheer for them after I saw Wesley Sneijder, The Man of the Match, slap his head repeatedly after turning his header into a goal in the game before this one. He’s terrific.

We all basked in the warm, summery weather while watching the big game. The CBC sponsored this event and I’m so glad for it.

See? I told you it was a great lunch break! I think the TV will be up tomorrow for the Spain VS. Germany game. However, tomorrow I’ll be down visiting an employer on Commercial Drive around lunch time – another hotbed of World Cup Fever in Vancouver. While I didn’t mean to make this meeting correspond with the big game, I could not have planned it better. If all goes well, I should have some rowdy Commercial Drive World Cup photos for you tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

Here are a few more photos of the crowd watching the game today if you like the colour orange.

The house next door is being built at a glacial rate. I’m not complaining. Well, I’m not complaining much. At least I try not to complain on the internets too often. I have to say the current construction is way better than the junk yard, the dirty old clotheslines rigged up on the sheds with bricks, and the hose that ran constantly – apparently it was rigged up to their washing machine and the water had be left on all the time.

The new house is under construction at random, odd times – including the drywall disposal truck hauling off the garbage last Thursday at 11:00 at night. Wha? Weird.

Anyway, I had to snap this photo of some vandal’s work on the fresh stucco. Hopefully the stucco guys can re-do this wall on the garage. That is a nuisance.

This graffiti artist is no Banksy, that’s for sure. I’ve certainly photographed some very impressive graffiti over the last couple of years. But I so enjoy a good image with a sword. It reminds me of armor and chainmail. This is a good start to a knight of some sort. But the sprigs of hair? Not so good. It reminds me of Gollum from Lord of the Rings.