Corn Roast or Seven Deadly Sins Displayed

I'm still reeling at the behaviour of my family at the corn roast last Saturday night. Debauchery is the only word that comes to mind when I think back on the antics. I can only compare it to a shameful display of the

Seven Deadly Sins

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Pride

The original and most serious of the seven deadly sins.

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Gluttony

They ate like starving wolves, ripping and tearing at their food. They drank as if they had been in the desert for days!

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Lechery

Lechery was rampant. Young and old giving in to excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature. Embarrassing!

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Envy

Clearly demostrated here by Gryper's audience!

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Greed

Although not readily apparent in this photo, greed was represented. Gryper in an act of extreme greed, didn't want to bring his full bottle of gin to the party. Instead, he poured a small amount into an empty gin bottle and topped it up with tonic water. He inadvertently took the wrong bottle to the party and began drinking, realizing the mistake only after he was unable to stand up. When the party pigs found out, that he didn't want to share his full bottle of gin in the first place, they taught him a lesson about greed and sharing.

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Wrath

Described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger, wrath is shown here in an undignified display by two of the young ladies in attendance.

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Sloth

Although sloth, described as indifference, or perhaps an unwillingness to care is now considered the least serious, it was represented the most.

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All THAT IS GOOD AND PURE

Here, apart from the rest of the iniquity and depravity is a show of kindness and caring. In the spirit of Mother Theresa, Mrs Gryper tirelessly walked with her great granddaughter, in an effort to prevent her seeing the perversion taking place.

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This grandmother, also apart from the lascivious crowd, is reading to her innocent grandsons. She teaching them about St. Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals and the Environment, and how he cared for dogs and birds.

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Gourmet Supper Group

Some friends of ours, two couples, and we were having supper one night and decided to start a gourmet supper group, just the six of us. One couple hosts, and everyone participates in the meal preparation. The hosting couple plans the meal and shops, then gets ingredients ready for everyone to prepare.

Tomorrow is the first night. We're hosting and today I've been busy getting ready.

Here's the meal we've got planned.

Cheddar-Pecan Gougères

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Cider-Glazed Pork Loin with Fennel Coulis and Smashed Red-Skinned Potatoes

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Sautéed Swiss Chard

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Orange-Infused Roasted Green Beans and Red Peppers

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Frangipane-Ripple Chocolate Pound Cake

Today I made the cake which is supposed to be made a day in advance. I washed and cut all the vegetables and measured all the ingredients. For each dish, there is the required pot/pan, and several smaller containers with labels on them indicating the carefully measured contents and for what dish they are needed. There is a list on each pot with a sticky note indicating any other ingredient they require, already prepared, labelled and in the fridge.

When the others get here, they can each decide which of the dishes they're going to make. Everything is organized, they just follow the recipe and make it. Meawhile "The Hostess With the Mostest", me this time, will set the table and drink wine whilst I answer questions about the prepared ingredients and the location of spatulas, spoons, serving dishes and so on.

I'm already salivating ... every time I open the fridge I get a huge whiff of garlic. Yummy!!

Just for the record, gougères are choux pastries, little sort of "biscuit" like treats - not dessert-y. A coulis is a "blenderized" vegetable, sauce-ish base or garnish.

I figured everyone would be too busy for an appetizer, but I might do something for while we're all waiting for things to bake, boil or get ready. Maybe some cream cheese smothered in my "Peach and Peppers Relish" with crackers.

Delicioso

Délicieux

Delizioso

Köstlich

о́чень вку́сный

I'm So Pleased

It's not finished yet, but it's coming along nicely ....

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A Secret Blogger

There's a closet blogger in our midst. If you go to the bottom of my Friends and Family links, and click on "A Secret Blogger", it'll take you there. Or you can click here A Secret Blogger. Because its not on a "blog" type site, it won't show up at the top when there's a new one.

I suggested that he put a place for commments, but he hasn't figured out that one yet.

Hokey Dinah!

We all know about the perfect cribbage hand. Cribbage boards come in the shape of 29, for the 29 points, and the hand is displayed on the board. No, I didn't get the perfect hand, I'm still waiting.

However, I did get the best word I've ever had in Scrabble on the weekend. We were camping and my friend Carolyn and I were playing Scrabble. We were neck in neck all the way through the game, we both play a good game. Then it happened. It wasn't even a seven letter word. My word was "EQUINE".

Yeah, big whoopee, so I played the "Q", worth 10 points. Aha, but wait, there's still more. The "Q" was on a "triple letter score", then, as if that's not enough, the last "E" was on a "double word score". Total points, 70, for one word, not on a triple word score and not getting the 50 points for using all seven letters.

It was very exciting, even if it's not a perfect cribbage hand.

Vacation Pics

While we were touring Quebec City, we saw this sign for the washrooms ... I thought it was fun.

This is a huge mural in Quebec City, as you can see. It's unbelievable.

Again in Quebec City. this is a cannonball that the tree just grew around.

A view of Quebec City and the St Lawrence River, from the boardwalk in the old part of the city.

This is Gryper and the Missus at Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. This picture is taken as the tide is starting to come in. You can see the water line where the growth of the trees end and the rocks in the background have been eroded.

This is Gryper's Missus and my Mister at North Cape, the western tip of Prince Edward Island. It was incredibly windy that day as you can see by the waves and the jackets blowing.

Poor Muggins, she just about ready to get a haircut, so the wind was blowing her hair in her eyes. It looked pretty funny.

Here are Gryper and the Missus, Muggins and me on our bikes on the Confederation Trail (old railway beds) that run across the island from end to end. They're really well maintained and only for cycle and foot traffic, not motorized vehicles.

The north side of Prince Edward Island at Cavendish.

Gryper on his relentless search for mussels. We finally found some but a local person advised against cooking them.

Muggins resting up after a hard day in her favourite place - a lap.

Gryper and the Missus when on a trail ride. Likely not the most exhilarating ride they've ever done, but they did have fun.

Violin Update

Add on to the original post: Susan asked me in the comments on this post if I felt sick in the stomach doing the insides of the front and back. I did when I did this part. After getting all the contouring finished on the outsides of the front and back and getting the purfling inlaid, I used the drill press to make holes in the inside to make it easier/faster to cut away some of the wood. Here is a picture of the back with some of the holes gouged out in the lower bout. Followed by the front ready to work on. My stomach was in unbelievable knots when I started to lower the drill press down into it.

Original Post: I'm working on my vacation photos for a "favourites" collection for my blog. Meanwhile .... while we were in PEI ... I did some work on my fiddle. The inside front and back are both down to about 5 mm thick and now I have do carve it down to around 3mm (it varies in the different areas). Here's how it looks today.

Some Pix of Our Trip

Couldn't leave these behind

We have just returned from out trip to PEI with the Grypers. I took about 400 pictures, not all worth keeping, but I'll plough through them later. In the meantime, I thought I'd "shoe" you a few pictures of our trip.

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As we were leaving our area, the truck started giving ius trouble. At 6:30 in the morning the very first day we didn't think we'd make it up some of the hills to get to town. We got to the local garage, and they found that in the three weeks since we'd had the truck serviced and made ready for the vacation, mice had built a nest in the air filter. It was completely packed in with leaves, and our brand new air filter was completely deformed from trying to suck air.

Cleaned out and a new filter installed we were on our way. After a long drive, we arrived in the campgrounds outside Quebec City and put our feet up, had supper and relaxed for the evening.

The next morning we waited for the shuttle to Quebec City that was to take us from the campground right into the city.

We boarded the shuttle and met our guide Jean-Pierre, who was a terrific tour guide.

He took us to lots of interesting areas of Quebec City, explaining their historical significance.

We left and headed for the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. This is the bay at low tide.

From there we crossed the Confederation Bridge onto Price Edward Island. The bridge ends near the city of Summerside. This is the wharf.

Here is a picture of the beautiful scenery at the national park along the north side of the island.

The beaches are rally beautiful!

It was a bit rainy and windy a couple of days which made the sea really rough.

PEI is pretty, very clean, and a really lovely place to visit. We spent some time cycling on the old railway trails which are reserved for hiking and cycling (not motorized vehicles). That was a lot of fun. All in all an amazing trip.