Tidbits

1. Lots of things going on today and this week as my husband's sister and her husband are here from Connecticut. Yesterday the guys golfed while the girls did errands, shopped and ate lunch out. Pretty tough since all four of us ate dinner out, too. My only problem is when I wake up early in the morning I can't get back to sleep as I start thinking about what needs doing or what our plans for the day are. Never mind, we're having fun.

2. Our street has been gutted since Monday as they do the underground work preparations for the new subdivision going in to the west of us. Pretty nasty dust all around, even though they water frequently. Of course that means all our driveways are covered in mud as we drive in and out. Here is what the street looked like the day they started:




And this is the street allowance across from us which for 31 years has been a grassy area leading to a corn field. On Monday last the workers moved in.




Here is our street today looking south. The right side has been dug out and filled with new sewer and water pipes, while the left side is still paved although you really can't see it, the dust is so thick.

Remember the picture above of the street allowance? Here is what is looks like today. And beyond the piles of dirt are--you guessed it--more piles where the new streets will be laid out. Looks like this would be a good summer to be on the road to Timbuktu for two months!

This view to the north shows the last bit of road the workers are digging out and I thought I would show my readers exactly how far down they are going.

When I approached with my camera several fellows looked a little worried. They thought I was coming to take pictures for my complaints about what they're doing. No, I reassured them, I'm just writing my blog and needed some pictures. They did tell me the road will be a mess all summer. Bummer. Hey, that rhymes! See what lengths I'll go to for something happy?

Ups and Downs

Today I write out of sadness and I am a little surprised at that. Usually I am pretty upbeat. Imagine a young family of two loving parents and two young children. Dad has an appointment in town and leaves in his truck. Mom has just gone back to nursing now that her children are older--in school at least. For some reason Dad's truck veers off the highway hitting a UPS truck. The result is this husband and father of two is dead and the other driver seriously injured. A week ago my husband and I were at the funeral home to pay our respects along with hundreds of others. We go because it is the right thing to do and we have a need to try to help although there is really nothing we can do. We hug our friends and hold their widowed daughter, drained and broken. My tears start. There is really nothing I can do to help.

I spent a sleepless night after that experience, replaying it all in my mind over and over until I finally dropped off for a couple of hours out of sheer exhaustion. For the next few days, I thought often of this young widow, hoping she was coping, and feeling some portion of her grief. How could she survive? What would she do? How long would it take to recover? I worried about their finances, and hoped she would be okay. Eventually, as so often happens in these situations, I got on with other things and thought less and less of them until today.

In Paris there is a fine little jewelry store which I have claimed as "my" jewelry store. Ed, the jeweller, and his wife, Esther, have walked me through getting my wedding rings updated after 40 years plus, getting others of my rings resized, buying a watch for my husband's Christmas present, and a host of watch battery replacements for my collection. Just last week I had them replace the one in my pink Swarovski crystal watch that I made. Esther especially has chatted me up every time I've been there, telling me of their new dream house and the boxes which still aren't unpacked after their recent move and of their children. Why am I telling all this? She died on the weekend in a tragic fluke of a motorcycle accident. I found out this morning and my heart lurched.

Both so young, with kids and loving partners, everything to live for, yet suddenly snatched away. Why? I have no answer.

This time I won't go to the funeral home as I am barely an acquaintance but, nevertheless, my eyes close as I shake my head and feel so sad at the horrible loss for this man, his children, and the community around. And I realize that my worries about my torn-up street mean nothing. My husband said it in his message to me this morning. Carpe diem!

An Hour in the Garden

Look what was waiting for me this morning in our back yard--beautiful day lilies, dappling in the semi-shade of the maples along the side of our yard.

I love this burnt orange one which gives definition to the space.

And we have a lighter orange keeping it company.

Through the magic of photography I've made this one look pink but it isn't really.

And we couldn't talk about the yard without showing the newly painted deck chairs. Way to go, Ron!

I spent an hour weeding and planting 3 or 4 things and I wondered why I don't go out there more often. Oh, I remember! It's usually too hot for much except swimming. Today is a comfortable 20 deg. C. Gotta love it! Hopefully I'll get into the pool for my lengths, a program I enjoy every summer.

Two Beautiful Things

When I was visiting Beth last month we stayed in a beautiful hotel where we found a wonderfully soft blanket on each of our beds. Imagine my excitement when Beth called to say she had found them at Costco!

I bought a pink twin size to use in our 'green room' where my husband likes to snooze in the wee smalls. He tried it out last night and gave it the thumbs up.

I wish you could feel just how soft and cuddly it is!

I liked these blankies so much I bought a kingsized one for our bedroom, too. This one is cream and it came with a cranberry grosgrain ribbon on it.


Here it is all packaged neatly with the ribbon. Sometimes presentation is everything but in this case, while the presentation is lovely, it simply heralds the actual cheek-cuddling luxurious softness of the blanket. I can hardly wait till the nights are cool enough to actually use this blankie.

I know these are little things compared to life's big bolds but they are still two beautiful things. Interesting that the name of the company is Life's Comfort.

The Father of My Kids

Happy Father's Day!

Here it is, once again--Father's Day--and I muse about the man who is the father of my kids. Here are some things about him:

1. The day we brought our first child home from the hospital he watched me change the first diaper--he had never done one--and said he wanted to do the next one. And he did! From that day on he was a 'hands-on' father.

2. He gladly took in the ball games, the figure skating practices, the music lessons, the concerts, the plays, the parents' nights that were such a part of raising two great kids. He was there.

3. A quiet man, he has been known to throw an obnoxious man off our front porch when he tried to cheat our children in their first business. (Well, not physically throw!)

4. He loves to watch his children today as they build their lives, never criticizing, always praising, finding the good things. Talk about positive reinforcement!

5. He puts himself and his wants last in the family, always looking after the rest of us.

6. The thing I really love about him is his great sense of humour. When he pops into my office, his dark eyes shining, and his grin a mile wide, I know he is excited about something and it will be something that we will share.

Happy Father's Day, Ron!

Three Awesome Things!

1. I broke down yesterday and used the Blogger Help Group format to ask a question and today I got my answer. My IS Provider had changed my email so all my comment moderation emails were going to the old address which will disappear shortly. A wonderful person showed me another place to go to change my email address to the new one. Hopefully the problem is solved and when you comment on this email, I will get notification in the right place. Aren't computers wonderful? And thanks to the smart blogger!

2. I had my hair youthenized this morning--ha, ha--and very near the end my husband walked in the door to pick me up. He looked handsome and I was so glad to see him. He saved me a walk home in the heat wearing my sandals.

3. Yesterday I spent eight hours with four friends from university in a lovely reunion of all five of us for the first time since graduation in 1968. I drove home thinking what great people I had met all those years ago. One of the girls I hadn't seen since graduation and another I had only seen a couple of times at funerals. This was a great thing to do and we had lots of girl-time before we each headed back to our own lives.

Gardening for Non-Gardeners

Yesterday we spent a lot of time working/playing in our back yard and I thought I'd show you the fruits of our labours. Usually we start fresh, full of ideas, and peter out in the heat but yesterday was a lovely 20-22 Celsius. (That's about 70 deg. F.) We loved it!

Walking into our back yard along the south side of our house you will see our potting table and our natural garden in the distance.

I call it a natural garden because it always gets weeded last. If you look closely, and I hope you don't, you'll notice some of the plants are nature's spontaneity! I love the weigela out at this time, and my rose coloured poppies I've been nursing for four years have several blooms! In the distance is one lonely peony in a deep wine colour, newly planted last year. Won't it be great when it has a zillion blooms?

Here are my pink peonies, a little bedraggled after the downpour Friday night, but still beautiful against the blue spruce shrub.

Around the far end of the pool is a rock garden my son helped me build many years ago. It is a little sad right now as I need to put in a few pops of colour. Probably I'll find some pretty petunias on Monday and plant them here.

A few years ago we ripped up the flowers around the pool and planted rocks with a few small evergreens. Have they grown! These stately cedars are wonderful. I keep them trimmed to a height where I can still reach the top of them. The potentillas in the middle will be a mass of yellow and pink flowers very soon and they'll last till frost. (Does the water look inviting?)

Looking at our house from the end of the yard you can see the addition we put on over twenty years ago. We still love it. And can you see the chairs? My husband is busy refreshing the paint on all four or them.

I am still hoping to get some blooms from the magnolia on the left below, although so far it has been struggling just to stay alive. Hopefully this will be the year it gains confidence and prepares to step out in style next spring.

The roses are budding, and the flowers on the chives are mauve and pretty. Isn't it great when food and flowers go together? Clematis on the far trellis is almost ready to pop while the sweet pea is thinking about climbing the trellis in the left foreground.

This clematis--purple--has already burst forth.The bed below is going to get a geranium I think since I pulled out the sad miniature rose bush. If they don't want to grow with my lack of coddling, out they go! (I didn't treat my kids that way!)

Leaving our back yard you would follow the newly raised sidewalk here to the left. We are, then, back to where we started. Did you enjoy the tour? I hope you can come and stay longer. Bring your bathing suit even.

Bedtime Stories

Last night my husband and I went to the theatre in Port Dover, a last-minute decision which paid off in laughter--sudden great, huge roars from the crowd. At one point I even found myself on the verge of snorting, the lines were so funny. Norm Foster's new play,






is a rollicking, roaring delight, sure to have you dabbing at happy tears. (Although the lady beside my husband didn't seem to laugh at all!)


The show is playing at the Lighthouse Theatre in Dover, which is found right on the main street as you drive into the village. My husband and I were remarking on how the facility and the playbill have improved over the thirty years we have been going there. Both are great.

We are fortunate to live in an area where there are many theatres, small and large, within an hour's drive, sometimes a little more. Here is a list of some of them:


1. Port Stanley Festival Theatre
2. Port Dover Lighthouse Festival Theatre
3. Petrolia's Victoria Playhouse
4. Blyth Festival of Canadian Theatre
5. Huron Country Playhouse
6. Drayton Festival Theatre
7. Stratford Shakespearean Festival Theatre et al
8. St. Jacobs Country Playhouse
9. Schoolhouse Theatre, St. Jacobs
10. Playhouse II, Grand Bend


If you go further afield you'll find several more. I am so happy to have all of these delightful places to frequent. Obviously others must be, too, as they are usually full or very close to it, no matter when you go.


Last night's, Bedtime Stories, was a wonderful start to this summer's theatre season. I hope we can find it playing somewhere else so we can take our guests in July. I know they will love this one. If you want to go, Google the theatres above to get a taste of the manna on the menu this year.

Inukshuks, Trees and Botanical Beach

Freefalling wondered about Inukshuks so I put in two comparison pictures.

The first is zoomed in so you can see the ship in the channel. The second is closer to the actual size. I also used Wikipedia to find some more info. Click the link above and see more pics and words. These things are usually quite small, maybe a foot tall or less, but the size varies with the rocks available and the ambition of the builder. I have seen them all across this country (Canada) and other places as well.

On Beth's and my walk through Cathedral Grove we saw many forest creations, as though a giant artist had been building strange shapes with the raw material at hand.

In this one Beth was mugging for the camera.

Back at Botanical Bay Beth took this shot of me under the overhang of the giant cliffs.

You can see what kind of a rainy day it was but we still had a wonderful time. This is the last of my posts about my Victoria trip. Time to find new fodder for my hungry blog!

Beacon Hill Park

A few years ago I visited Beth in Victoria in February and toured a Beacon Hill Park dusted with snow. The view was quite spectacular then with spring's buds wearing caps of white but there was no disappointment on this trip back one warm sunny day. This picture is in the 'wild' section where grass isn't tamed and wild flowers rampage.




In the petting zoo enclosure many delights were waiting for us, surprisingly enough. I say surprisingly because I grew up on a farm and know about all these animals but on this spring day I saw lots to impress. Here is one of many peacocks strutting his stuff.




The cow was protecting her calf.

Peanut Butter's nose was out of joint because (s)he had been moved to a different pen from Taffy, the donkey, and her foal, Jack. Peanut Butter may be a miniature horse but (s)he had an oversize mope going on!

In the tiny aviary beautiful birds stayed high and safe probably frightened by the squeals of the children who were in there with us. I snapped my pics and left so as not to increase the noise.

Over and over I tried to get a good picture of this white peacock--something I didn't even know existed--but every time I clicked, he moved. I have quite a collection of headless shots!

Taffy and Jack--real, live donkeys--captivated us with their antics. The little one was only a day or two old but was cavorting around the pen with great glee.

Isn't he just the cutest?

If you look closely you can see that this goat is actually checking out what's inside the boy's back pack. He was shocked and a little scared, but also really delighted with the goat's antics. The teacher had to save his lunch for him.

Here is a kid (little girl) trying to brush a kid. Very cute. I hope the parents didn't mind my snapping pictures!

Where is this park, you ask? It is very close to downtown Victoria and, on the south, just across the road from the Strait. Just ask for Beacon Hill Park.