Mother’s Day Russian Dolls

Ma Matrioshka in progress

Over the Mothers day weekend I took part in my first craft fair. This particular one, hosted by the Victoria chapter of Etsy Artisans and was part of a broader national series of craft fairs happening in May. So, during the month of April I worked through new card plans, doing a few more plant based images and updating my birthday cards.

I was getting stuck for ideas and doodling away when it hit me. I have a set of nesting dolls brought back from Russia by my uncle ages ago on a business trip. I had only just found them again in storage, not to mention my Russian husband though they were beautiful. So I took my inspiration and set it down trying to settle on how best to represent them without directly copying the ones I had. In my initial sketch I had tried to make each doll different, with a sense of personality to each of them. While I think it would have been interesting to do, I ultimately went more simple remember that they are printed to fit on a 4.25 x 5.5 card so most of those features would be lost. Maybe that’s something for a future larger project. So my dolls when through a few phases of design before finally coming to the one below. Although I didn’t sell too many of them at the craft fair they were certainly the one that garnered the most questions and had people stopping at my table to see.

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A season for cookies

 

While it is apparently still fall, it feels wintry and time to bring out some favourites for the season. For most of my living memory Mrs. McKenzie’s ginger snaps have been a constant treat, best kept for dunking in milk and now in my coffee. I’ll admit, mine never turn out a lovely looking as my mom’s or Mrs. McKenzie’s, but they are still delicious. I haven’t made these in years, but we were recently given a Kitchenaid mixer so it seemed like the perfect reason (that an it already snowed once in the last two weeks).

Mr. & Mrs. McKenzie were family friends of my moms and although I don’t know all the details they seemed like a second set of parents when she was far away from home. All of our best family treat recipes seem to originate from their kitchen and for that I am grateful.

Ginger Snaps

Cream together:

• ½ cups butter
• ½ cups brown sugar        
• 1 egg

Add & Mix:

• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 cups flour 
• 1 Tbsp ground ginger (* also add some candied ginger)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

Roll in balls ( don’t squish). Bake 8-10 mins at 350 degrees.

 

Spring weather

I’m on the ferry now, coming back from a long weekend with the family. Seems as good a time as any to write. We’ll see if anyone actually reads it. Anyway, the ride is beautiful today I’m actually too hot and worried I might have a sunburn on the tops of my feet (there’s something that’s been off the radar for months).

 It’s always wonderful at the farm, my sisters ‘ kids are such fun and I love the forest and quiet for a weekend. So it’s always a little sad when I have to got back to busy city life. Even the ferry seems a nice reprieve when the weather is nice enough to be outside. This weekend it dawned on me that I really should start planning our wedding, my family like to know what’s going on and my vagueness seemed to bug them. I’m a generalist so I have an overarching n idea but no details ( who can blame me though the wedding isn’t for more than another year). Society says I should already have it halfway planned, it just seems so far away right now I don’t have that sense of urgency yet that gets things moving. It will come, and then my efficiency will show. Not til next year though. I’m really not willing to spend crazy amount of money or stress on a wedding when so many other things that come after that day will be just as exciting as getting married. Travel, new house, babies, career changes. This is one piece of the puzzle, a big one, but not one we want to be paying for for years.

So back to the farm. My sister and her husband live in a beautiful piece of land in the Comox valley, they are a couple years away from opening their Blueberry farm. For now you can get just eggs and veg from them until the blueberries are bigger and have more fruit. I think they have a really wonderful future there, with three kids who will grow up with a love of the land and an appreciation of the energy that goes into making it. I can only hope to have the ability to empart that with my own children one day. Hopefully they will live going to the farm as much as I did as a kid. The mud pies and forts and cousins running around. I’m a bit slow on the uptake of the kids aspect but that’s ok.