Flowers of the First Day of Summer #WordlessWednesday

To my Canadian readers a few hours from me, Happy Canada Day.  On July 1, 1867, the Constitution Act of 1867 took effect, creating the Dominion of Canada.   

On July 4, my country celebrates its 250th birthday. 

 I can't believe it's already July!  It's hot, too. I want to go back to some cooler times.  How about the first day of summer June 21 (for us in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway).

What was blooming on the first day of summer?

 My earliest day lilies, that's what!

The names are long forgotten but day lily season has just begun. 

This is one of two fuchsia plants I purchased from Select Seeds.   It's a variety called Pink Galore and I am loving those pink blooms.

Honoring Canada Day.

 Honoring our Independence Day coming on Saturday.

Times are tough, but I hope the friendship between our two nations can endure.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday. 

Strawberry Topped Angel Food Cake #WordlessWednesday

Our local strawberry season is winding up where I live in New York State.  I wouldn't be surprised if our heat wave (97F today, 36C) hastens that.  I can't complain - that privilege is reserved for those in our Pacific Northwest. They've been struggling with temperatures upwards of 117F (47C) recently.

So today, I wanted to feature something cool and refreshing.

Because I'm a Weight Watchers lifetime member, I try to stay away from fattening desserts.  This one is so simple and you can modify it however you want.

This is all you need:  slices of angel food cake (I made mine using a cake mix, right before the heat hit), sliced strawberries, and some whipped cream  (I use aerosol light whipped cream.). So simple, and no cooking needed.  Of course, you can use shortcake if you want. 

Take the slice of angel food cake. Heap sliced strawberries on it. (I don't sweeten them in any way).  Top with aerosol (or homemade) whipped cream.

If you want an easy Canada Day (tomorrow) dessert, I could easily see a drizzle of maple syrup on this.  If you want something for the United States' Independence Day (July 4) one could add a simple blueberry sauce, which we use for breakfast on the weekend: frozen blueberries, a little liquid, cooked briefly with some real maple syrup.  It's so good, and you could drizzle it over the cake and strawberries before you add the whipped cream. 

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

A Day Late for Cake

Yesterday was Canada Day, the day Canadians celebrate the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act.

One thing I've never done is to be in Canada on Canada Day. One time, though, I was in Canada on the 4th of July, my country's Independence Day, because...well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  On that 4th of July visit, a bit homesick, I watched postponed Canada Day fireworks in Saint John, New Brunswick. It's really strange watching another country celebrate its birthday.  It's also a learning experience.

It's too bad I wasn't there on Canada Day itself, because I probably missed a slice of birthday cake. Oh, by the way, the Canadian border is still closed to Americans, although "essential" travel is permitted, including transport of food.  Go into my favorite New York State supermarket and you'll find a number of products made in Canada.  But me and my fellow citizens? Not welcome.

I can't blame Canada at all for that.

This year, things are different.  We are so focused, we Americans, on within (exceeding how focused on within we normally are) that I even forgot yesterday was Canada Day, until one of my Canadian Facebook friends (I have a couple) reminded us.

Can't Believe I forgot to wear these socks

 In the United States we usually do many things on our Independence Day.  This year will be different.  Here in New York, not sure there will be any parades, although car parades are permitted with certain limits.   We could listen to patriotic speeches but it might have to be online. .  We have picnics but, in New York, we must social distance and groups can't be over a certain number of people.  So these have not been cancelled.

Fireworks?  Illegal ones everywhere.  Not me.  There is going to be one commercial display ($15 admission, a movie, food, and lots of social distancing) but we aren't going to try it.
Beer?  Maybe.  At home.
Baseball?  Not yet.  In fact, yesterday, 2020 minor league baseball was cancelled.

Cancellation has become a way of life (not to be confused with cancel culture).

I am dreaming about Canadian birthday cake today, though.  Permit me this indulgence.

I learned that 4th of July I spent in Canada about Canada Day Cake.  A white cake with whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberries, is one way the Canadians celebrate their national birthday. The strawberries should be arranged in a maple leaf pattern on the cake.  This may be served at a large outdoor festival in normal times.  Coffee served might be Tim Horton's.  We can even get it in the United States now.

I could make cake for the 4th of July, but it isn't institutionalized in the same way.  It's more of a individual pursuit, something to serve to family and friends.   Ours, also, is topped with something white.  The cake can be decorated with blueberries for the field of stars and strawberries for the stripes.  However, I've never seen an actual Independence Day birthday cake served at a festival.

Ah, well.

Happy belated Canada Day to my Canadian neighbors.  One day, Canada and I will meet again.

Let's hope.

Happy Canada Day Cake #blogboost

Today starts the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I welcome any new readers coming my way.  In your honor, in fact, I baked a cake.  But first, a little introduction.

I live in upstate New York, about an hour south of Syracuse, NY, near the New York/Pennsylvania border.  

On Mondays, I participate in a music meme called Music Moves Me.  On Fridays, I participate in a weekly posting of Skywatch Friday. On the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, I blog about trees for a meme called Thursday Tree Love.  On the other days, anything goes, especially if it involves photography.

Today is Canada Day, the day Canadians celebrate the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act.

I have visited Canada several times, and have always had a lovely time.  On one of those trips, we picked up these items.  My spouse wears the shirt, and I the socks, each year, to honor our friends to the north.

One thing I've never done, though, is to be in Canada on Canada Day.  I have been in Canada on the 4th of July, our Independence Day, because...well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And I'll blog about that more on Wednesday.

There is one things Canadians do well for their holiday, which we don't seem to do on our nation's birthday.

Celebrate with birthday cake.

Because, although we Americans do many things on July 4, one thing we don't seem to have are cities and towns that serve birthday cake to their citizens.  Why not?  Why not celebrate a national birthday with free cake?

Canada, I love you.

One Canada Cake idea  is white cake with whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberries,  The strawberries should be arranged in a maple leaf pattern on the cake.

I decided to make this cake instead.  It came up in a search for "Easy Canada Day Cake"  It is hot ("wicked hot" as we say around here) today and I didn't want to go through much trouble, so I used the mix.  Because I'm not a big frosting person (and was lazy), I decided not to attempt to make frosting.

 Here's the recipe:  (sorry, metric readers)

One Box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ white cake mix

1 1/4 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

3 whole eggs ( I used three duck eggs, because I had bought some in a local store - I used to keep ducks for eggs years ago and they are awesome for baking.)

2 tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa (I used black cocoa, because it's what I had on hand)
2 tbsp seedless strawberry jam (that was the theory, anyway).

Official Method

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed
for two minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

In small bowl, place 1 1/4 cups of the batter; stir in 2 tablespoons cocoa until blended.

 In another small bowl, place 1 1/4 cups of the batter; stir in 2 tablespoons strawberry jam and 1/4 teaspoon food color until blended. Pour remaining cake batter in bottom of pan. Drop tablespoons of each colored batter in random pattern over top; pull table knife through batter to make swirls.  Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or 325 degrees if you have a no-stick pan.

What Really Happened (or, why my spouse is the family cook)

Spouse said we had some freezer strawberry jam I had made last year (I hope it was last year, anyway) in a moment of insanity, so he dug a canning jar full of something that looked like red jam from our chest freezer.  Helpfully, the label said "tomatoes".


Spouse defrosted the red stuff while I started to preheat the oven and assemble the baking implements.  It turned out to be raspberry jam, full of seeds, so he quickly took some defrosted stuff and pushed the jam through a colander.  Well, raspberries, strawberries, whatever.

Meanwhile, I combined the cake mix, water and oil, asked Siri (the iPhone virtual assistant) to set a timer for two minutes and started to mix.  About a minute into the mixing, I realized I hadn't cracked in the eggs.  "Stop, Alexa, stop!" I yelled at my iPhone, wondering why the timer was still going.

Finally, by some miracle, I got the cake mixed.  Don't ever say that making a cake mix doesn't involve skill.

I also managed to mix the chocolate and the straw...I mean raspberry part. I forgot to take a picture of the raspberry mix.

Here's the baked cake.

I could have gotten a maple leaf from my front yard or my back yard (we have lots of maple trees around here) but I decided staying in the air conditioning was a lot nicer.

So thank you for sticking with me through this saga.  Too bad I can't squash a piece of this cake through the wi fi connection to your device.  We'll probably serve it with ice cream and some sliced strawberries.

We Americans might make flag cake for the 4th of July, but it isn't institutionalized in the same way.  It's more of a novelty, something to serve to family and friends.    The cake is normally decorated with blueberries for the field of stars and strawberries for the stripes.  However, I've never seen an actual Independence Day birthday cake served at a festival.

So, if you are Canadian, and even if you're not, please have a happy (and safe) Canada Day.

Day 1 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Oh Canada's 150th (And a Recipe)

Happy 150th birthday, Canada!  You aren't my native land, but you are only around 180 miles from where I live in upstate New York.

I haven't visited you, Oh Canada, since 2008.

My loss.

I wanted my Canadian readers to know how much I love their country.  I love your 150th logo, too, despite the fact that it had its share of controversy.

The best part of Canada Day, for me, is the custom of cities and towns serving Canada Day cake.  Although not traditional, I bet this easy dump cake would make a great birthday cake.  It's relatively low in calories, too.

1 box angel food cake mix
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple in juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 175 degrees C if you are in Canada).  Mix the two ingredients.  Pour into a 9 x 13 cake pan, greased.  Bake until golden brown.  Cool before serving.

If I was making this into an American Independence Day cake, I would serve with strawberries and blueberries.  But, it sounds so good, I may just bake it today (despite the heat and humidity).

Speaking of independence, I wanted to share my only Canada Day experience with you.

For many, many years I took Independence Day for granted.  I shouldn't have - I grew up in a neighborhood where a lot of Holocaust survivors had settled, and I met other immigrants - from Cuba, from Romania, from China.

But I had never spent an Independence Day away from the United States until 2008, when my spouse and I found myself leaving the United States for Canada, on our way to Saint John, New Brunswick.

We had always wanted to see the Bay of Fundy, and that was the week my spouse was able to get off - the week following July 4.

At the U.S./Canada border, a Canadian border agent questioned our motives for visiting Canada and looked at us funny - like we were about to commit some kind of crime.  Why, after all, would two Americans want to leave their country on July 4, this most important day in our history?

We were finally allowed in, and quickly realized we were in a place where July 4 was simply the day between July 3 and July 5.  No big deal.  And, we realized, there would be no fireworks.  No parades.  No nothing.  Crickets.

Well, we had asked for it, leaving our native land.  It did feel a bit lonely, I admit.

I love fireworks.  I love 4th of July fireworks even better.  What had I been thinking? But, so be it.

After a long drive, we arrived at our lodgings in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick. We wandered down to the waterfront, hungry.  After deciding on a restaurant, we sat at an outdoor table and put our order in.   And then we overheard the people at the next table, excited about the fireworks Saint John was going to have, a short walk away, that night.

July 4 fireworks in Canada?

It turned out that we had arrived on the first decent day in July.  The Canada Day fireworks had been delayed by rain on July 1.  And on July 2.  And on July 3.

July 4?  The weather finally cleared up.

So, that evening, my spouse and I stood in a patriotic crowd of Canadians who celebrated their birthday, three days late, with fireworks.  Somehow, I felt right at home.

I'm so glad they held their fireworks up just so we could join them on July 4.  Who says Canadians aren't some of the friendliest people in the world?

So, once again, Canada, happy 150th birthday wishes from this American.

Day 1 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Canada Day from the American Side

Today is Canada Day in Canada.  It is a national holiday commemorating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the Constitution Act, which united Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and what is now Quebec and Ontario into a single country.

Although I only live about 200 miles (322 km) from the Canadian border, I haven't been to Canada since 2008.   At one time, I had a dream of celebrating Canada Day in Canada and then going back over the border and celebrating the Independence Day of the United States back in my country.  I would have had the perfect opportunity to do that this year, with July 1 on Friday and July 4 (a Federal holiday) on Monday.

But, instead, I found myself taking pictures of a pair of socks.  They just wouldn't come out right so I had to do it over and over.  I'm still not satisfied, and I hope I am not offending my Canadian readers.

Leave it to me, who enjoys owning unusual (for Americans, anyway) socks, to own a pair of socks with maple leafs on them.

Instead,  I should be making a Canada Day dessert.

Back in 2008, I entered Canada on the 4th of July.  Do you (if you grew up in the United States of the 1950's) remember the old joke "is there a 4th of July in Canada?"  Well, there is.  And once we got to our destination, we found that the Canada Day fireworks had been postponed three times due to rain.  So, we watched them on a warm July 4 evening, in Saint John, New Brunswick.

On that trip, I found out about another custom of Canadians in celebrating Canada Day - municipal birthday cakes.

I honestly think that is one of the coolest thing I've ever heard of.  In the United States, we celebrate in many ways, but I don't think my town has ever served birthday cake.  We should serve cake on July 4.  Isn't July 4 the birthdate of our country?

I do plan, later today, if the weather permits (storms are forecast) to pick raspberries and the last of the strawberries at a local U-Pick.   Ah, the red fruits of early summer.

Perhaps, I'll make this delicious sounding parfait tonight.

Or, I'll just have some vanilla frozen yogurt with strawberries, and raise a toast (I have strawberry flavored vodka in the house) to our wonderful neighbors to the north.

Long may they, and us, be friends.

Happy Canada Day!

Welcome Ultimate Blog Challengers- Let's Celebrate with Some Cake! 

Today starts the July Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I welcome any new readers coming my way. This is a rework of a post I made a year ago.  My regular Sunday post will follow shortly.

I live in upstate New York, about a 3 1/2 hour drive south of the Canadian border, about an hour south of Syracuse, NY, near the NY/Pennsylvania border. I've been blogging every day for some 14 months straight, and hope this Challenge will allow me to extend that streak.

This is a "miscellaneous" blog, by way of a short introduction.  On Wednesdays I blog about flowers or something else related to the reason.  On Sundays I blog about the American Civil War. Saturday is my "sustainable" feature - farmers' markets or something related to sustainable living.  On any other day, I blog about anything that strikes my fancy.   For instance today I am going to blog about....cake.  And not just any cake.

Today is Canada Day, the day Canadians celebrate the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act.
I have visited Canada several times, and have always had a lovely time.

One thing I've never done, though, is to be in Canada on Canada Day. One time, though, I was in Canada on the 4th of July, my country's Independence Day, because...well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  On that 4th of July visit, a bit homesick, I watched postponed Canada Day fireworks in Saint John, New Brunswick. It's really strange watching another country celebrate its birthday.  It's also a learning experience.

It's too bad I wasn't there on Canada Day itself, because I probably missed a slice of birthday cake.

Birthday cake? Yes.  In the United States we do many things on our Independence Day.  We have parades.  We listen to patriotic speeches.  We have picnics.  We have municipal celebrations.  We enjoy fireworks.  We drink beer.  We go to baseball games. But we don't have municipal birthday cake.  Not in any place I've lived in anyway, and I've lived in New York, Florida, Kansas, Arkansas and Iowa.

Canadians know that a birthday celebration should include cake. And that includes your country's birthday.

 I learned that 4th of July about Canada Day Cake.  A white cake with whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberries, is one way the Canadians celebrate their national birthday. The strawberries should be arranged in a maple leaf pattern on the cake.  This may be served at a large outdoor festival.  Coffee served might be Tim Horton's.

We Americans make flag cake for the 4th of July, but it isn't institutionalized in the same way.  It's more of a novelty, something to serve to family and friends.   Ours, also, is topped with something white.  The cake is normally decorated with blueberries for the field of stars and strawberries for the stripes.  However, I've never seen an actual Independence Day birthday cake served at a festival.

How does the country you live in celebrate its Independence Day, if it has one?

Welcome Ultimate Blog Challengers- Let's Celebrate with Some Cake!

Today starts the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I welcome any new readers coming my way.  I look forward to visiting some new blogs, although it will have to wait for this weekend.

I live in upstate New York, about a 3 1/2 hour drive south of the Canadian border, about an hour south of Syracuse, NY, near the NY/Pennsylvania border.

This is a "miscellaneous" blog, by way of a short introduction.  On Wednesdays I blog about wildflowers, and on Sundays I blog about the American Civil War.  (Sunday, I'll talk about the Civil War and the 4th of July).  On any other day, I blog about anything that strikes my fancy.  Lately, I've done a lot of gardening-type blogging, with occasional postings of pictures.  I don't consider myself a true gardening blogger although I may evolve into one.  For instance today I am going to blog about....cake.  And not just any cake.

Today is Canada Day, the day Canadians celebrate the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act.
I have visited Canada several times, and have always had a lovely time.

One thing I've never done, though, is to be in Canada on Canada Day.  I have been in Canada on the 4th of July, our Independence Day, because...well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  On that 4th of July visit, a bit homesick, I watched postponed Canada Day fireworks in Saint John, New Brunswick. It's really strange watching another country celebrate its birthday.  It's also a learning experience.  I found out some of the things that weren't held due to the weather, which I missed.

It's too bad I wasn't there on Canada Day itself, because I probably missed a slice of birthday cake.

Birthday cake? Yes.  In the United States we do many things on our Independence Day.  We have parades.  We listen to patriotic speeches.  We have picnics.  We have municipal celebrations.  We enjoy fireworks.  We drink beer.  We go to baseball games. But we don't have municipal birthday cake.  Not in any place I've lived in anyway, and I've lived in New York, Florida, Kansas, Arkansas and Iowa.

Canadians know that a birthday celebration should include cake. And that includes your country's birthday.

 I learned that 4th of July about Canada Day Cake.  A white cake with whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberries, is one way the Canadians celebrate their national birthday. The strawberries should be arranged in a maple leaf pattern on the cake.  This may be served at a large outdoor festival.  Coffee served might be Tim Horton's.


We Americans make flag cake for the 4th of July, but it isn't institutionalized in the same way.  It's more of a novelty, something to serve to family and friends.   Ours, also, is topped with something white.  The cake is normally decorated with blueberries for the field of stars and strawberries for the stripes.  However, I've never seen an actual Independence Day birthday cake served at a festival.


Are you a Canadian who would like to share your Canada cake recipe?  Let us eat cake!