Temptation

I'm drooling on the recipe... how does this strike you for breakfast?  

Hot, creamy, fresh berries... It's from a book called I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson.  I shall certainly be taste testing this one, probably on my sister Doris when she visits, and (if it's as easy as it sounds) serving it regularly at the Flying Leap!  

Earth Day action

For Earth Day, I decided not to add my printer to the landfill and try to fix it again.  I have an HP Deskjet 6540 and one wee piece of plastic that holds the spring that holds the black ink cartridge is broken.  The spring, therefore, doesn't stay in its slot and the printer doesn't register that the ink cartridge is there.  What do I get when I try to print?  Flashing lights, not even a helpful error message.  I fixed this once before when I first discovered the problem about a year ago but my fix (wire wrapped around in just the right spot) is now broken.  Bugger.
  But then my friend Tammi showed me this Bondic welding plastic.


Will this do the trick?  Quite possibly!  If I can recreate the missing plastic piece and further add braces so the spring can move but stay in its track it could be awesome!  

Happy Earth Day everyone!  Be creative and leave a smaller mess behind you!  We are ALL responsible for the future of our planet so use your brain and be you, only better!

Golden oldies

It's an exciting weekend!  We're busy with guests involved in the Elora Vintage and Antiques Show which has been running for 20+ years.  After satisfying our guests with Eggs Benedict, German streusal kuchen with apricot and lemon cake (a really super nice group of people along with the sweetest Westie-Poo!), Mom and I headed over (a very short 3 minute walk) to see it for ourselves.

 It was well-attended and the crowds seemed very keen.  There were some interesting conversations going on and some lovely pieces on display.  And while we're not very much into antiques, I did bring home a rat!  

 

It's not often that you see a rat in a postcard so I had to bring this one home, even though the rat is in trouble!  And the rabbit one is strange:  is it a real photo or was it staged?  It looks fake/staged, but did they do that sort of thing back then?  These cards were purchased from Attic Books of London, Ontario (along with a few to gift my friend Rose who always sends me such awesome Krampus postcards).

On a more practical note, the cornflower pattern in glass has always caught my eye and there was quite a lot of it at the Show.  This piece (from Victoria Street Antiques) however, is both useful and lovely:  it will be used to serve our guests sauces for pancakes, like lemon sauce or raspberry.  Perhaps it'll also be used for warmed maple syrup... maybe this pretty, delicate vessel will discourage guests from drowning beyond recognition my home-made, buttery pancakes in maple syrup!  (How many B&B hosts grumble about this?!)  Ah well, to each his/her own...  : }  

Bunnies everywhere! Happy Spring!

Here's a view of our dining room and parlour, it's so hard to photograph so I decided to try a mini video:
 

It gives a better sense of the space.  This area is for all our guests to use, to relax, to share wine with friends or play bridge on the big dining room table.  

Yes, those are bunnies and lambs on the table, and bunnies in the windows.  Here are some more images of our Springtime home... ignore the snow.

And here's what our guests enjoyed this morning:  Eggs in a Nest with avocado and alfalfa sprouts!  This was followed by apple-honey cake and a cherry German-pudding cake.

Desperation is the mother of inventiveness

So, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that with our move to Elora I gave up my studio space.  Our B&B is a huge house but it's mostly for the guests... I do, however, have a large bedroom which includes my big studio desk and had to think, think, think like Pooh Bear to try and find some way to have my art supplies and projects in-the-works on hand.  What to do?  

While at HomeSense and Michaels I was oogling the pretty boxes and the idea hit me:  why not put feet on boxes like this and slide them under the bed!?  Couldn't afford these fancy boxes though, so a trip to the Dollar-or-More store scored us these great boxes!  

I glued on little wooden feet so air can circulate under the boxes.

In the end there are 8 storage boxes, 4 each of the 2 different sizes (the feather pattern ones stack nicely on top of each other)....

...under my bed!  Each is labelled with its project and I can now find and get to whatever I want when I want... not that I have the time but the possibility now exists!!  

Thank you Elora BIA!

Wow!  We've been Facebooked!  Thank you to the Elora BIA and Terri Allan, proprietress of the incredibly elegant vintage clothing shop Sweet Trash.  Look what Terri did for us: 123 "likes"!    

I always admire the gorgeous window displays Terri creates, like this one from last October:

and it was a treat to meet her last Wednesday and talk about her business right here in downtown Elora.  If you're planning a grand social event and want something unique to wear (like for a wedding, she has quite a collection of gowns!), Terri would be delighted to match you up with just the right aged-to-perfect outfit and accessories! 

PS  And it sent our statistics through the roof!  Holy cow!!!  Thank you Terri!!

Weekly Stats Report: Mar 16 - Mar 22 2015
Project: The Flying Leap Bed Breakfast
URL: http://www.theflyingleap.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	11	13	162	183	44	22	6	441	63
Unique Visits	9	8	142	168	38	21	5	391	56
First Time Visits	7	6	138	166	34	20	3	374	53
Returning Visits	2	2	4	2	4	1	2	17	2

Dining room Danby

It is with sadness and nostalgia that we announce the passing of our bar fridge.  This sweet little mini fridge, seen on the far left of this photo of our dining room, froze everything in it solid when its thermostat died.  (Yogurt, when frozen and then thawed, is pretty yucky!)

The company, Woods, is no longer in existence and no replacement part could be found.  How old was it?  Well, it was bought when my grandmother moved into a nursing home, so about 1995.  It had a good, long life...

So we hunted for a new mini fridge for our guests and found Elmira Home Comfort and their huge collection of "scratch and dent" items!  We selected a Danby, which actually has more room for our guests' food and beverages, a nice advantage as the Woods was a bit small.

Long live the new fridge!