Thursday, April 13, 2017

Marg






Easter is fast approaching.
In our family we will be celebrating Christ's death and Resurrection with one less person in our family.

Dave's mother passed away Sunday.

She had been struggling with dementia for years and living at Tideview Terrace. She was born in Jerseyville , Ontario.  Yes there's actually a place called Jerseyville.

Dave's family moved here, to Nova Scotia in 1983. 
They moved here so Len could retire around his family.
It was a difficult time for Marg since she couldn't speak or understand French.
So she was uncomfortable when people would speak it in front of her.

So she decided to get a job in an old folks home.
She loved her job. She took such good care of the residents.

I don't remember the first time I ever met her. But I know that she didn't like me too much the first year or so. I was taking away her only son. The funny thing is that I'm actually the same way
with Jamie's girlfriend (yes, he's got a girlfriend) I try not to be, but like Marg, I find that I don't want my little boy taken away from me. I now understand Marg.

But as the years passed by I grew on her and she once told me that I was like a daughter to her.

She made the best cabbage rolls and Italian spaghetti sauce.
 Or as she'd call it, Eye-talian sauce.

Unfortunately, when I asked her one day for the recipe, she told me she had never made cabbage rolls or Eye-talian spaghetti sauce. Dementia was setting in.

She loved Holstein cows and knick-knacks.  The house was full of them! She was an easy person to buy for. an Avon knick knack and she was happy. 
She was also a neat freak.  She loved to iron, as a young lady she worked in a 
laundry in Brantford, Ontario and she told me once she loved that job.
I believed her, cause she used to iron everything...EVERYTHING!!!!
Even underwear! 
She was the only person I know, that would wear out an iron.

She was a good lady. For awhile they owned a cabin in the woods. It wasn't her favourite place to go
but she made it homey with her Holstein cow flower pots and her dozens of 
hummingbird feeders!!
She would buy sugar in bulk because she would feed the dozens and dozens of hummingbirds
that would come to the cabin.

We're not sure what she died of. The flu was going around in the home, but it hit so fast, that the 
doctors told us it looked like a stroke.  She had decided a long time
ago that she would be DNR. So she was just kept comfortable till the end.
We want to thank everyone that was there for us in body and spirit.
The prayers, cards, phone calls etc...
The day before she passed our Pastor, Shawn Craven, stayed with us for the longest
time to comfort us. For that we will always be grateful.

We met the doctor going in to sign the death certificate. 
He told us that Dementia is the worst disease.
You lose your loved one twice.
First when they no longer know who you are and then
when they die physically.
So please, if you can, 

The service was held at Tideview Terrace where Len could attend (he lives there also) and all her friends and the staff that loved and helped care for her.

Have a Blessed Day
and Happy Easter

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Hoppy Easter!


Easter is fast approaching so I figured I'd divulge our family favourite Easter recipe.
Glazed Ham.

I know there's probably about a million and one recipes out there right now.
But this one is easy peasy!
And no cloves. My family hates the taste of cloves.

So here goes.
I make sure to de-salt the ham several times before I even begin.

Score the ham in a diamond pattern.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Put about a 1/4" of water in the bottom of your roasting pan.
 But keep an eye on it.
Make sure it doesn't go dry.
  
Bake for an hour with cover on.

Increase the heat in the oven to 450 degrees.
Combine 
3 cups lighly packed brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp maple syrup (you can use corn syrup but we like maple syrup better)
3 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Mix together till it's all blended.

Pour a third on the ham and bake with cover off.
Keep putting some on until all gone.
You should bake the ham for 30 minutes
and the sugar concoction will make a nice crust on the ham.

Take out, carve and serve.
Hubby likes to take the syrup from the bottom of the pan and put it on his potatoes.
Hey, to each his own.




Not the best photo, but you get the drift.

Have a Blessed day!
Lisa