Shut yer pie hole!

Apologies for the long-ish radio silence - the spirit was willing, but the sinuses were weak. I am just getting over the worst sinus infection ever, and aside from a lot of sleeping, drooling, and staring at walls, I have been incredibly...well, stoned. Yay, decongestants! I am happily feeling almost back-to-normal after 2 1/2 weeks of extreme grumpiness. So, a wee update!

I did manage to get out for a bit on Canada Day, and had great fun watching the Arrogant Worms with yarnpiggy. 

(Then, of course, I came home and napped for the rest of the day!)


Meanwhile, the cats have been getting up to all sorts of mischief. Especially Singe:

We found out a few weeks ago that he has arthritis in his lower back, and have him on glucosamine supplements that have already made a huge difference. I didn't realize how much he wasn't himself, until about 2 weeks on the supplements. He's been making up for lost time with several...offerings...of mice, in the middle of the night. Usually he brings them in live, so it's easy enough to rescue them and put them outside. 


There was the night, though, when I was awoken by a very disturbing crunching noise, right outside the bedroom door. I left the carnage for Mr.Q to clean up, under a yogurt container, under a big hardcover book. Stephen King. I thought it was appropriate. Beastie was far too smug about it, too!


(Attention, cat-sitters who may be reading this! He's only done that once, and is being actively discouraged from bringing home "take-out" with a squirt bottle. It seems to be working!)


Also, I've been playing with the KitchenAid again. We went to a BBQ party last night, and I offered to bring a lemon meringue pie for dessert. I got to play with my "new" rolling pin, too - and for the first time, the pie weights that Little Sis gave me to go with it:

I can't believe I used to make meringues without a KitchenAid. 

So shiny! And stiff!


Having trouble with the oven temp, though - it came out a little darker than I would have preferred:

I can only hope it tasted good, as there was so much food there that we didn't actually eat the pie! 


(Mr.Q was quite sad about it, so I baked another one today...Noms!)


We had planned to go to Stanley Park today to meet beentsy & enjoy a free performance by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. It's Vancouver's 125th birthday, and the City had a whole weekend of free concerts lined up. 


Unfortunately, neither transit nor traffic cooperated to get us there. After numerous thwarted attempts, we finally got on a bus...only to be told we'd be stuck in traffic for at least another 20 minutes. At that point, we gave up and went in search of beer. 


Random chicken on the seawall:

And finally, beer! I had a fancy British raspberry beer,  which was very pretty:

I've tried a couple other raspberry ales, and been quite pleased with the light, tart, fresh flavour - perfect for summer! This one was pretty sweet, though, and came in a REALLY big bottle, so it was a little much. Live and learn, I suppose! And I managed to console myself with a piece of lemon meringue pie when I got home. So, all in all, a successful day!


A busy couple weeks coming up, and then...Sock Summit! So stoked! Will save the squeeing for another day, though - must go medicate The Mighty Hunter!