Maori Queen passes away

Dame Te Ata, one of the most influential and respected figures in Maoridom, died yesterday aged 75.

The longest-serving head of the Kingitanga movement, she died at Ngaruawahia's Turangawaewae Marae, where she was undergoing dialysis treatment.

Read the rest of the story here.

Best Friends

I have just spent the most wonderful day with my dearest friend Hostagirl and her husband JW. It had been two years since we have seen each other so we had a lot to catch up on.

Hostagirl and JW arrived at Castle Completely early this morning, their first visit to our home. After Mr.C and I gave them the grand tour, we drove over to The Clover Patch for lunch then on into Langley to look for a home Hostagirl had spent some happy times at as a child.
We found the home Hostagirl remembered, and the owner was kind enough to let her go inside and look around, so of course we all tagged along. Hostagirl was so delighted to see that there were still some of the original features in the home just as she remembered and took several pictures.

After we left the house we all went to the spa in Langley, where I work, which is situated in a lovely setting down by the water and checked out where I look at the view all day, umm! make that, work all day.

Langley is a very small, touristy kind of one main street town, with the usual kind of tourist shopping. We wandered the main street, poked into a couple of the stores, then piled back into the car and drove to the marina where we strolled the dock looking at all the lovely boats and pointing out the one we will buy when we win the lotto.

By now it was almost time for my friend and her husband to meet with some more friends before heading back to Cashmere in eastern Washinton, so after a quick soda at Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club, JW drove us back to Castle Completely we said our goodbyes.

I almost forgot, Hostagirl and JW are moving to Darby Montana, in the near future so Hostagirl brought me a bunch of wonderful hostas from her garden to plant in my new fern/hosta garden. Thank you dear friend I will take very good care of them and send pictures as the grow.

Hosatgirl (left) and Keewee on the occasion of Hostagirl and JW's wedding, August 16th 2003

Happy anniversary

Carnival of the Recipes is up

Carnival of the Recipes: Default BBQ Edition is hosted by Riannan at In the Headlights

There is everything from Churros to campfire cooking.

Get on over there and check it out.

Monday chuckle

A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.

He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up. In fact, that error would be continued in all the subsequent copies.

The head monk says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years.

Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing, "We missed the "R", we missed the "R". His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.
The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?"

With a choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word was CELEBRATE"

graghic from:
www.geocities.com

Thank you Joyce

Nature at it's best

I just love these sights from our front deck. Early this morning just as the sun was peeping over the trees, the fog was drifting over the marshlands below the house and you could see the Cascades in the far distance behind the bluff. It was very quiet with just the occassional caw from a crow in search of breakfast.

Click on picture for better view.

Who's That?

Rocket loves to play, but you better have good reflexes, or he will snag your fingers with his sharp claws.

Pot Luck Picnic

Today the Fishin' Club held it's end of year summer pot luck picnic. We could not have asked for a better day. The sun was shining although there was a little cool breeze off the water but you just gotta' be tough!

John and Mr.C setting up before the gang arrives. John asked me what I would like to drink, but champagne with peaches was not an option. Oh! well, I will settle for a soda.

The picnic was held at Maxwelton park and had a wonderful view across Useless Bay towards the Strait of Juan De fuca.

Keewee smiling for the birdie

Yoo Hoo! over here, look this way.

There now, that's better. Hmmmm! some of you weren't quite ready for the picture!

Munch, munch, munch. Hey guys would you mind if I take your picture?

Lovely, just lovely. Thank you, you can go back to eating.

Full tummys.

More full tummys
As usual we ate way too much of the scrumptious food everyone brought to the picnic.

Food and fun

We are off to the Fishin' Club's potluck/ B-B-Q
pictures later today

Fresh blackberry pie

The blackberries are huge this year, just perfect for fresh blackberry pie.

One graham cracker crust
8oz cream cheese
8oz. cool whip
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
3-4 tbsp. water
About 8 cups berries

Mix cream cheese and 1/4 cup of the sugar until smooth
fold in coolwhip and pour into crust
Spread about half of the berries over cream cheese, refrigerate
Place rest of berries in saucepan with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 3tbsp. water
Simmer until fruit is soft
Put fruit through a sieve into another saucepan and slowly bring sieved fruit to a boil
Thicken with about 1 tbsp cornstarch in water, let mixture cool
Pour cooled sieved berries over the fruit in the crust, spread
Refrigerate pie until set.

Blue/purple Yellow garden

I have been working on my Blue/purple Yellow garden. Check out what I have done.

Crown of Thistle

As I opened the front door this morning to take my usual stroll around the yard, I noticed blonde bunny about the same time she saw me. She made one little hop towards me in the hope that I had a treat for her, alas I was empty handed, so I retreated to the kitchen to find something she would like. I had some cherries which were past their best. I knew this bunny would not be fussy about a few cherries being over-ripe.

As I sat on the front steps feeding cherries to a happy bunny, I noticed the thistle between her ears, I slowly reached out to remove it but bunny backed away as though to tell me " it is Ok where it is, I like it that way"

This is the only bunny left now which will come and take food from our hands, all the other bunnys have disappeared. Quite often when we go outdoors, she will pop out from under one of the vehicles and hop up to us with that "what do you have for me today?" expression on her face.

Goodnight Prayer

WOMAN'S POEM

Before I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for a man, who's not a creep,
One who's handsome, smart and strong,
One who loves to listen long.
One who thinks before he speaks,
One who'll call, not wait for weeks.
I pray he's gainfully employed,
And when I spend his cash, won't be annoyed.
Loves my family and my mother,
no wandering eyes for another.
Pulls out my chair and opens my door,
Massages my back and begs to do more.
Oh! Send me a man who'll make love to my mind, And knows what to answer to "how big is my behind?"
I pray that this man will love me to no end, And always be my very best friend.


MAN'S POEM

I pray for a hot-deaf-mute nymphomaniac with huge boobs, Who owns a liquor store, a big screen TV and a golf course.
This doesn't rhyme and I don't give a s**t!

Thanks to Roxie

WHOO HOO!

My 20,000th visitor came to Keewee's Corner from Gainsville Florida.

When I started out on this blogging adventure, it was to be for family and friends from far away, to check in on me, and to my delight, I have made friends all over USA and the world.

Thank you to all my readers and new found friends.Please tell your friends about Keewee's Corner perhaps they may like it too.

keewee's day off work

Last night after work, as I was leaving the spa , I thought this sight was worth a picture. There was a very high tide, and the wind blown, choppy water was hitting the bulkhead throwing spray up into the air and down onto the boardwalk.

This morning I am going back to the spa, but as a guest this time. I am having some serious pain issues with my left shoulder and one of the therapists is going to try and loosen the tight muscles with some deep massage, ouch! ouch! ouch!

PERKS OF BEING OVER 50

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

3. No one expects you to run--anywhere.

4. People call at 9 PM and ask, " Did I wake you ???? "

5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

7. Things you buy now won't wear out.

8. You can eat dinner at 4 PM.

9. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

13. You sing along with elevator music.

14. Your eyes won't get much worse.

15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the
national weather service.

17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.

19. You can't remember who sent you this list

And you notice these are all in Big Print for your convenience.

Thanks to Lou G

Awww ! poor kitty

"It's really hard to get any rest around here with you guys and that #@?*# flash camera"

Peanut butter fudge brownies

It wasn't until I had already baked these brownies, that I double checked if I had this weeks theme for The Carnival Of recipes correct. What Chaos & Serendipity asks for is* Back to School. Send us your easy breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas...anything to make back-to-school time easier.*
Oh! well, I have a recipe for something to pack in the kid's lunch box or for an after school snack with a glass of milk.

1/2 cup or 1 stick butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate syrup

Heat oven to 350F grease 13x9x2 inch pan I like to line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper as it makes it easier to remove the brownies.
Beat butter and peanut butter
Add both sugars and beat well
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each
Blend in vanilla
Stir together, flour, baking powder and salt
Add to butter mixture blending well
Spread half of batter in pan
Spoon over syrup
Carefully spread remaining batter over syrup
Swirl with metal knife or spatula
Bake 35-40 minutes or until top is browned
Cool completely
cut into squares

Three hours later

It has taken three frustrating hours trying to, download, upload, sidewaysload, load anyway you want, three pictures. Blogger is having a tizzyfit this morning.

Tonight is the monthly meeting of the Fishin' Club and I usually make cookies for the half hour social time before the meeting starts. As the carnival of recipes theme this week is *back to school* I decided to whip up a batch of Chocolate Peanutbutter Brownies, enter the recipe into the carnival and send the brownies along to the meeting with Mr.C. Nothing like *killing two birds with one stone*, so to speak. The recipe for the brownies will be on keewee's Corner tomorrow.

Instead of attending the club meeting, I am going to an all girls party for one of the lovely young women I work with. She is leaving the spa, to move east of the Cascades to live.



This morning I went outside, this time with camera in hand, to check on the ripeness of the black berries, and to take pictures so you can see just how many blackberry bushes there are. I did not take pictures of all the bushes as I did not want that many pictures on my blog, take my word for it, there are many more blackberry bushes. Considering how long it took to finally get the pictures on keewee's Corner I am glad there are just three..

We have huge mounds of blackberries on our 10 acre property. Once in a while Mr.C borrows our landscaper friend W's bulldozer to flatten the bushes back into smaller mounds or they would overtake the whole property.




This year there are so many berries, they are going to be large and juicy. I am drooling just thinking of all the wonderful blackberry pies, cobblers, etc. I will be able to bake, and of course freeze some, to bring out during the cold dreary days of winter and enjoy a taste of summer.

I am somewhat rested

I did enjoy my day yesterday. I pottered around my garden, pulling weeds, trimming a few dead flower heads off so there will be more blooms, and taking pictures to record the progress of the plants.

One of my beautiful hostas will have to be moved as it has been burnt by the hot sun.

This beautiful flower pot, I found at the senior thrift store, I am always on the lookout for unusual and beautiful plant containers.

I noticed a couple of starlings with blackberries in their beaks and thought, hmmmm! the berries must be starting to ripen. Sure enough they are, as I wandered around inspecting and tasting the fruit, I drooled at the thought of blackberry pie, blackberry cobbler, blackberries on cream cheese clouds, blackberry iced tea, blackberry this, blackberry that, there are so many delicious recipes which use blackberries.

Today is a work day for me, so I had better get moving, drink one more cup of coffee so I will be sufficiently wired for my day, and finish reading all my favorite blogs.

Hooray! a day to myself

Finally, a day that I can do absolutely nothing if I want to.

Ever since we arrived back from our visit to Alaska, I have been either working at my job, or getting things ready to go on a shooting trip out of town, or going to the range for a match, or a quick run to seattle to bring back to the island, our mini-van we had shipped back from Juneau, and also trying to keep on top of the housework. Dang! I am exhausted. Mind You, I am not complaining, it is better to be busy than sitting around bored to tears.

Today I think I would like to play in my garden. In fact it has been a while since I posted any pictures or udated keewee's garden, as you have probably noticed.

Buying a lotto ticket when I am at the grocery store, is also on the agenda. Wouldn't it be sweet to win the lotto? I could retire and just have fun every day. OK, I can hear you say *good luck* in a, *your chances are slim to none voice,* but you have to be in to win, and dreams are free, about the only thing that is!

Here it is 9:30am and I am not showered and dressed for the day, not at all my usual routine. Heck, after all, it is my day to relax and actually enjoy a couple of cups of coffee before starting my day. It may take me half the day to get rolling.

You all have a wonderful day.