Halloween Preparation

I'm happy to say that we managed to complete the Halloween display for our porch yesterday afternoon. Although it did not go so well for the garden gnomes.

The lovely Manon likes to go traditional and used a knife, but I found that my oscillating mult-crafter tool made cutting a pumpkin extremely easy! 

Late October Stick Library News

Closing for the season...

With the end of October on its way, the Stick Librarian has decided that today is the last day of 2025 for the Stick Library.

It was a terrific year for the library.

Stick Library 2025 

Borrowed: >232 sticks + 4 tennis balls

Returned (or donated): too many for us to count!

The stick library is closing until Spring 2026

Thank you for your patronage!

XOXOX 💗! 

{with a QR code that links to the Google Maps page} 

 

A successful plant re-homing

On October 1, the Stick Librarian decided it was a good time to have a plant give-away to find new homes for some excess house plants. In only a few hours, new homes were found for:

• 5 peace lilies,
• 2 Thanksgiving cacti,
• a Rosemary,
• a lucky heart hoya,
• a kalenchoe,
• an aloe vera,
• a lace aloe,  and
• a chenille. 

Is this Siberian elm tree really okay?

Back in July, a City of Ottawa Forestry inspector came at my request and checked out the Siberian elms next to our house. I was particularly concerned about this one because it had a big brown streak on the trunk and the leaves did not seem to be doing well. 

The inspector assured me that both elms looked great to him and were doing fine.

But yesterday, we got an indication that this Siberian elm is not happy. It is definitely more threatening if you ask me.

My new marble shelf

I have a new marble shelf in the window of my studio.

I've been wanting to make a lot of things in the past while and when I opened a box that had lots of old jam jars with marbles in them, I decided it was time to act on this project.

So I cut some old wood scraps to the right size, got out more jars and marbles from my jar and marble hordes, painted things, drilled holes, and stuck everything together.

Now we just have to figure out what will go on top of the new shelf.

 

Microwaved egg with grape leafs and chili crisp

I believe that I have invented a new food treat: microwaved egg with grape leafs and chili crisp. 

I tried Google, DuckDuckGo and Bing and did not find anything that described this treat. (Of course, someone else might have already invented it and posted it to the internet, but search engines have become so bad that it is not findable. Anyway...) 

Ingredients:

• 2 steamed grape leafs
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of chili crisp

Instructions:

1. Put one of the steamed grape leafs on the bottom of a small bowl. (In advance, you will have picked a bunch of young, intact grape leafs from the grapevine outside your porch, removed the stems, rinsed the leafs, steamed them for a few minutes and then put them in a container in your fridge.)
2. Dollop a teaspoon of chili crisp on the grape leaf. You can smear it around a bit, but you don't have to.  (Laoganma Spicy Chili Crisp will be fine if you don't have a jar you made yourself or one of the really exquisite brands.)
3. Crack an egg and drop everything except the shell on top of the grape leaf and chili crisp.
4. Either leave the yolk intact, or break it with a piece of egg shell. Your choice. 
5. Cover the egg with a second grape leaf.
6. Cover the small bowl with a small plate. (Coverage is important, the egg will splatter even with the top grape leaf.)
7. Put the covered bowl in your microwave oven, set the timer and turn it on. (45 seconds is just right for me, but you might want to experiment to get the result that is perfect for you.)

Outcome - A delicious treat

I love having one of these with my breakfast savoury oatmeal mélange. I am confident that this treat would also be a great addition to toast, fried rice, hash browns and many other foods suitable for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a mid-meal snack.

Please let me know if you try this and what you ate it with! 

It's time to hang out the laundry...

With the unrelenting heat, it seemed like a good idea to put my wet laundry outside instead of running the drier.

It occurred to me that this is the first time since June 1986 when I left Ghana that my laundry has been hung outside to dry.

1984 - My housemate Ampofu's laundry hanging in the courtyard of our staff bungalow at Okuapemman Secondary School in Ghana, West Africa.

2025 - My laundry hung on the patio of my home in Ottawa, Ontario.

You might notice that in neither set of outside laundry are there any socks. 

The Stick Library is now on Google Maps

Did you know that it is really easy to put your organization on Google Maps?

I am eager to see any feedback the library patrons or their companions have for us.

Feel free to follow this Google Maps Link if you need directions to the library. (I really enjoy choosing "avoid highways" on road trips). 

The link also lets you check the opening hours or ask a question and confirms that the Stick Library is a safe space.