Almost Live

So if a tree falls at Amber Fox...





















does a faerie hear it?

Oh deer, another day another buck

All those posts about poor wet cold weather could be over, while it may be cold here, it is sunny and beautiful. The rain is slowly being forgotten.

This morning in the trek from the Tower to the Erection, this four footed hoofter was waiting to welcome both the morning sunrise and me!





Looking back at the Tower the Sun was on the way up and up, look way up! There, it's a friendly place...

Ice Cream on the Land? No way?

Wowser,

"I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!"

Yes bring it on, to the Land.

It's here folks , the new propane fridge, we have the latest photo's from Aka AMBER FOX tonight. Arriving just minutes ago is the new propane fridge. Chip and boy Ricky try it out prior to moving it to the erection.

As is the custom here at AMBER FOX, the fridge does require a new door and some minor repair work. I am sure it will be working by next year!!!

Note the propane tank hook up. We had to use some duct tape, it works!!







See the insulation, this is first class and as Faeries here, we know all about being first class!



Disclaimer: Ok, we are pulling your leg a bit here, Claude really does have a line on a new fridge for us, we look forward to its arrival soon!!!

Keep Chipping away

The Tractor shed is not what it use to be. No, it is changing, over the spring we have seen it become much more organized in non"petit" manner. Just wait more to come, this is the latest addition, a box to hold wood cuttings from the mill for the aqua heater in the erection.



Here is the finished piece!

A wood chuck or Faerie

How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

Okay, that may not look like a lot of wood, just try pulling that load on the wagon.

I used an old splitting wedge found in the tractor shed, where much work is occurring ...

Eastre eggs

Much to catch up with the last gatherette here at aka Amber Fox. Here you find a group effort, painting of eggs.

A variety of painting techniques were developed and utilised. And of course a little glitter and wax always comes in handy.

Thanks John for photo of paint.

For 40 hours and more ... it poured and poured some more

Not gettting you Amber Fox pick-me-ups lately, We must apologise but with good reason, we have been unable to get here to do this.


You see for 40 hours and then some, it has been raining.

Not your lil tiny rain drops that BJ Thomas, that famous musical Faerie sings about, no, more like the stuff that Noah faced...

We have rain and more rain here, luckily like Noah, we did have some warning of the soon to arrive showers from above.

Land beHolder Ken had sent us on a mission that proved prophetic in nature and reality. Rain barrels he said, not just one or two but five. You see we choose carefully those barrels to come to AKA Amber Fox, to catch our precious fluids...

The rain is welcome, things seem a little dry, not much snow this year, so chances of a dry year look good or bad, depending on your outlook.

Dry years can bring water shortages, fire and more eyecandy to look at.

Wet years bring showers, little worry about wild fires and yes, little eye candy outside, though I am sure the Summer Know Talent show will make up for all that.

So with new barrels in place we have been planting with confidence,onions, garlic, roses, weeping willows, apple trees,and asparagus, trusting we will have rain water to feed them all, should it be one of those hot eye candy years!

Fire celebrates...

The final evening of the gatherette this Eastre revoloved around the ceremony painstakingly put together by Shimmer after Mike( I know who is Mike?), John and Boy Ricky built the stage, along with Geneva, who so kindly supplied the corn chips ...

The ceremony went off well. Supposedly set in a Motel 6, (you have been there), provides a lesson on smoking in a Motel 6 and what happens if you do.


Oh yeah, we also had some kind words sent on our behalf by Shimmer to the deep space, the vacum that is life, unto Eastre, expressing our collective thanks for being able to convene here once again, on the land, to be together, to rejoice in the sap cum maple syrup, and mostly to have Shimmer's Cake again.





Notice some magick of some kind was happening. Geneva is in this pic with me, but look, not a bit of her caught on film, now that is weird right? Or is that just her?

Shimmer's Black Magick Cake

Well worth the wait. If you subcribe to aka amberfox yahoo discussion list you already have this recipe. Like lots of things on the list, it can make its way here to our blog but not everything does... See what you are missing, don't miss another morsel of goodness for the faerie soul, join the list here...

We have Shimmer's amazing cake recipe, simply put, its a cake Martha Stewart would die for, Shy Anne would delay her latest tour, John would embark on a treacherous ride in the back of a TJ for such an opportunity to savour this delight, Tommy would chatter away at HowieSue and Boy Ricky would remove his thumb. Of course Claude seems to get to savour it when he likes... David and Mike (who is Mike and the David guy is...?), they liked it alot, right? Geneva of course was eating and could not provide any verbal feedback.

Here it is as promised, allbeit a little late, just know you will enjoy it that much more.


Black Magick Cake

Ingredients

2 c sugar
1 ¾ c cake or all-purpose flour
3/4 c cocoa (or use baking chocolate)
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 c sour cream
1 c strong black coffee
½ c butter (one stick)
1 t vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease & flour one 13 x 9 x 2 in. baking pan.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, sour cream, coffee, butter and vanilla. Beat till batter is thin and smooth. Pour batter evenly
into pan.

3. Bake 35 to 40 min. or until wooden thingie inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 min. Remove from Pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost (see below).

Frosting

1 stick butter
2/3 c cocoa (or equivalent baking choco)
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c milk
1 t vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar (it's much smoother if you sift the sugar in with a sifter) and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. about 2 c frosting. (Faeries will eat any left over)

This just In

More colour to the Land ...

some pics

Some pics of the weekend. No reason other than I can ...

Watch for Eastre 3 to be posted soon.

Eastre bunny

Eastre bunny,

He found us at Amber Fox, All that worry for naught. EB found me and Amber Foxian faeries this weekend. Okay I should have asked EB about the outfit he had choosen for occasion.

The lil bunny outfit did come with a tail and due to the “G” rating of this blog so far, we won’t show you that.

EB left chocolate goodies, loonies and toonies for distribution. Included was a rather risque card for free movies for one needy faerie.

The needy Faerie was determined by the one who could guess the number of times Geneva's “I am more than a woman tour” was on again, off again. You can see her here changing her mind.

7 was the lucky number and young John took home a password for 30 minutes of movies involving bunnies doing the full monty!

Our final gatherette meal was a shimmering success, a lasgana that demanded seconds, sloopy or not, be had. It was that good. Of course our Chef (ess?) started the day with all the elan of a horny rabbit, fresh from the bunk house, there could be no denying she had been had.

Some more fresh bunnies can be found here.

Eastre Weekend -- Part II

Much work was done on the land throughout the day on Saturday. Here are a few snapshots from our day!

How many faeries
does it take to change
the propane tank at the Erection?
As many as can fit in the picture!

Look at boy Ricky! He knows that candles at night give dinner a magical glow. He knows how to put them into the holders and how to light them once it gets dark. He's a smart boy-faerie who knows just what he's doing.

But what about Pinkie?

You want me to put this candle where?!

Faeries are good at lots of things!

Look at Shimmer cook! He's good at cooking!
Cook, Shimmer, Cook!

Look at Howie-Sue! He loves roasted garlic! And he makes great garlic bread with melted brie! Cook, Howie-Sue, Cook!

Look at these butter tarts! Pinkie made them! He used 3/4 a pound of butter. Cook, Pinkie, Cook! (Fortunately he used the Slenderella recipe, so these tarts are slimming!)

All these faeries are good at cooking, so we're eating well.

But what about Geneva? What's he good at doing?

Eat, Geneva, Eat!

See, all the faries are good at something!

But where's Chip? What could he have done with his day? Stay tuned...The gatherette will be blogged!

Eastre Weekend -- Part I

Faeries continued to arrive on the land for Eastre weekend on Friday, and the denizens of Amber Fox rushed out to meet the new arrivals with garlands of flowers. Young fawns magically appeared to sprinkle rose petals on the paths, and much hugging and kissing ensued!

The land was toured, the progress of ongoing projects inspected and admired. And then all the faeries got to the important stuff: Eating!

and eating....

and eating....

until the plate was licked clean!



Old friends and new burned logs at the Erection and enjoyed the fellowship in the bright warm sun.




Who could know what adventures would ensue. Stay tuned. The gatherette will be blogged!

(P.S. That is if blogger will cooperate. Doing a blog on a noisy telephone line modem isn't very reliable, or fast, or easy, or timely. That's why this blog is "almost live" two days late!)

This just in...

From the SkyCam

Photo Taken 7:45 pm