Home Sweet Home

Have I told you we went home to Canada?

I may have forgotten. We did.  When we got back to this side of the border, my brain turned to mush. I didn't write. I didn't clean my house. I didn't wash my hair. I'm not positive I showered regularly. All I wanted to do was sit on Kelli's bed and hang out. Watch her. Watch my baby who was going to leave me for college. However,  she was never home. She was at work or with friends so I had to do something.

I watched a lot of TV and made mango smoothies.

Anyway, I have no idea why I'm telling you all this.

What I really want to do is show you some pictures of Canada, my home and native land.

I love Canada. I love home. I love my family. I struggle with loving my life here and missing the place I come from and being closer to my family. I honestly don't know how to think through it or what to do about it. Life is here right now, the kids are plugged in here, Farmer Boy's job is here. What else is there to say?

How about some pictures?

It's a thing of beauty isn't it? It's delicious. It's my mom's apple pie.

No one can quite make it like she does.

Here is the recipe in her exact words.

"Oh and the recipe is something like this:

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour mix and put in bottom of 

 pie shell then arange apples. 

 then take half cup heavy cream and and add brown sugar to fill cup

 and pour over apples making sure that all apples have a bit of cream .

 Sprinkel with cinamon and bake . I like using the early harvest apples or mac's 

are good . Hope it works."

I know there are people out there who understand a recipe like this. My sisters get this. I don't get it. I need more exact details. 

Bake for how long?

Mix the brown sugar and the flour ? Is that what goes on the bottom of the crust?

Huh?

I'm going to have to call Mom for clarification.

My mom has this recipe down to an art. Having a good apple is another secret to a good apple pie.

These are pictures of my sister Brenda's back yard.

I love it there. The grass is lush and feels like carpet. She has flowers everywhere. She grows roses.

She has a garden. She also has a couple of apple trees and when we were home she picked some apples, gave them to my mom and mom made her delicious pie.

It's wonderful how things all come together.

Life is a cosmic mystery that revolves around apple pie.

Maybe not, but my mom's pie is really good.

Okay, hold on, I have a bunch of pictures left. Brenda took them. She is so much better at taking pictures than I am.

This is Lake Huron, Sauble Beach to be exact. 

Someday, when I have a million dollars I will buy a house along the shores of Lake Huron. The house will be on a cliff. There will be a path that is easy to navigate that will take me down to the water. I will sit by the water and be mesmerized by it's vastness and it's beauty. After my bottom is sore from sitting too long, I will journey back up my easy to navigate trail and walk into my beautiful lake home. I will brew a cup of tea, sit down at my writing table that is by a huge window overlooking the lake, and there I will write. 

I thought you might want to know.

These are shots from Chesley Lake. My mom and dad have a cottage here and they graciously let us stay every summer for a couple of weeks. We stay for free and eat all their food that mom cooks for us.

It's actually a pretty good deal for our family.

This year dad thought it was time for us to earn our keep and he had us put some new gravel down on their cottage driveway. My sweet dad hated to ask and disrupt our very important beach and golfing appointments, but he needed the help. We were happy to do it. My brother-in-law Ron also helped out.

My parents with two of their great grandchildren.

Home sweet home.

It truly is.