We're On Our Way

 I've been AWOL for a few days and have a bit of catching up to do.  First off, happy birthday greetings to Rowan, who turns an ancient 5 today.  Awesome!

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On Wednesday, Mother Nature finally let me cut the grass.  Still wet in spots but no damage done.

I cut grass for three hours and spent another two completing three small projects.  Now I can leave with a clear conscience.

Thursday morning was golf time.  My driver is starting to cooperate - I hit 10 of 13 fairways and just missed one of the others by a couple of inches.  Now, if I could only remember how to hit my irons.

Thursday afternoon we had a visit from Mardi's gentle giant grandson Ethan.

He's just a few months away from completing his university courses and has just about completed 11 weeks of basic training.  Well on his way to being one of Canada's protectors.

And then, on Friday Mardi and I headed to Port Colborne for our second theatre experience of the week (the first one was in Port Dover with Bonnie and Steve).  "Secret Service" was a marvelous play, brilliantly written by the playwright, and hilariously performed by the four actors, whose facial expressions were incredible.  Most enjoyable play I've seen in years!

So, that brings us to Saturday.  We left Stoney Creek at about 9:15, and took a side trip along the 1,000 Island Parkway.  These are two of the 1,000 islands.

Arrived in Ottawa just after 3 p.m. and headed to the girls' apartment for card games and dinner.  Kathryn was visiting as well so I got to see all three.  But it was disappointing - I came last in the card game.  Fathers are supposed to be treated better than that!  Especially really old ones.

Yesterday morning, Yancy dropped by our hotel with the  birthday girl for a nice visit.  Rowan brought her new friend Abigail with her.  But Rowan's very shy around me and it was difficult to get a picture.

Then we headed to Edmonston, N.B.  A very scenic trip through farmland and hilly, wooded areas.  

Had an interesting experience in the afternoon.  We wended our way through the mountains and when the road turned left we encountered torrential rains.  When it turned back to the right we saw part of a rainbow.  And this repeated itself several times as we progressed.

Arrived in Edmonston and looked for #54 East 31st  and the next part was a second best to our Nap And Nibble story with Ed and Rose.

There was a #52 and a #56, but no #54.  Had we been scammed?  Mardi checked with the neighbour who informed her that the owner had created 4 - 1 bedroom suites and 54 and 54B were at the back of the house.

Then, we couldn't make the door code work.  Finally, had to contact the owner who drove over to help us.  Even he had trouble but eventually figured it out.  Enter the code, turn the knob LEFT at the first beep (subsequent beeps don't work) and push hard.

We thanked him and asked where a good place to eat would be.  He suggested Da Lulia and then told us that he owned it and we should tell the waitress that Dan wants her to give us a 10% discount.

So that's where we went.

We told the waitress about the discount but apparently she didn't believe us.  Full charge.  When we complained she went away and the next thing we know Dan has arrived.  He reversed the bill and gave us a 20% discount on its replacement to make up for the problem. 

And finally, we got back to our rooms and neither TV worked.  An experience we will remember!

Today we're heading for Hopewell Cape, N.B.

Stay well.

We Need An Ark

The most important news for today is the birth of Beckett, another grandchild for Lori and Frank.  A special event indeed!

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My intentions yesterday were to cut grass, but the third recent storm flood foiled those plans.  The flooding was the worst yet - even David's pond overflowed its banks.  These storms have dropped a total of 300 mm of rain (that's 11.8 inches in old guy talk - almost a bloody foot!).  So I gardened in the wet instead.  Sorry about the muddy clothes Mardi.

Now I hope that the wet, mushy conditions will improve so that the grass can be cut tomorrow.  I have other plans for Thursday (golf) and Friday (theatre) so it's getting a bit tense because we leave on our East Coast adventure on Saturday and I don't want to leave David and the boys in a mess.  

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Mardi's son Greg was in another band event recently.  He subbed on the Kingston Police Pupes and Drums as Bass player.  And he won Best Bass in his division of the North American Piping Championship.  

Congratulations Greg!

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Today we headed to Port Dover to meet Bonnie and Steve for lunch and theatre.  We ate at Callahan's on their deck....

.......and enjoyed "Liars At A Funeral" at the Lighthouse Theatre.  A nice day!

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The Blue Jays came out of the trade deadline with more starting pitchers than going in.  Didn't last long.  Yesavage came out of the game after just two innings with a knee issue.  They're losing as I write this and I think I'll skip the ending tonight.

Stay well.

Old Dirt

 A couple of years ago, a contractor installed a new drain line along the edge of the hill down front.  Unfortunately, after the drain line and a bunch of gravel went in, there was only room for the soil that came out of the trench last. 

So now, Trillium Hill has its own version of the  Cheltenham Badlands  - 450 million year old clay.  Even weeds can't survive in that environment.

As the trees along the driveway grow and I need to expand the footprint of the gardens, I use the sod that I remove to repair the wasteland.  Last year I fixed about 40 feet of the project.  Still have about 100 feet to go, but we'll get there eventually.

The clay is so hard that I had to use an adze to dig out enough to make room for the grass.  Worked up a sweat and the contacts for my heart monitor wouldn't stay on so I had to call it a day after a couple of hours.

 Pretty disappointing!😂😌

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The Blue Jays have now won three games in a row.  Just two days to the trade deadline and they could be buyers (if they have a lot of faith in the team) or sellers (to gain something from the players whose contracts end this season, if they don't have that faith).

Should be interesting.

Stay well.

Bird Of Play

 I headed to the greenhouse this morning, intending to cut grass.  But Mother Nature had other ideas.

And this gives new meaning to the words "loading dock".

Launch the boat David!

I did manage to cut the hill section of the grass, did some gardening, and moved some sod.  But the humidity was hard to deal with, so I decided to finish up by doing some work on the "cottage".

My new friend will let me know which way the wind is blowing.

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Blue Jays lost 8 - 6 to the Washington Nationals (formerly the Expos) but the result was set in the first inning when starter Shane Beiber was pulled after just two outs.  He had walked six batters and allowed 4 runs.  Not much fun to watch.

Stay well.

 

I Thought That 50 Was A Beer

 Mardi and I attended a special celebration today, marking 50 years that Rose has put up with Ed.

The theme was Caribbean, so most folks dressed up, as did Maureen and Matt.....

................and Mardi and me.

The three Strecker daughters did a marvelous job of toasting their parents.  It was a wonderful day.

Many of you may have heard this story, but I'm repeating it anyway.  Ed's daughter Christine used to run dinner/dances in support of Autism and my wife and I usually attended.

One day I took some laundry into Britannia Cleaners and Ed asked me if we would be able to attend the next dance.  I told him that I would love to, but Jean and I had separated, so I needed a date.......and if she could golf that would be even better.

He paused for a moment and then asked "Do you know Mardi Bullivant?"  I knew who she was but we had never had a conversation.  In any event I called Mardi, we golfed and attended the dinner/dance and she hasn't been able to get rid of me since.

Thank you Ed!  You and Rose are special friends. Congratulations on your amazing 50 years.

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Mardi's Drum Major son Greg participated in the Fort Henry Tattoo.  Good looking guy!

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Jays lost.

Stay well.

This And That

 Belated birthday wishes to Barry whose birthday was yesterday, the 24th.  And today it's Andrea's turn (Mardi's business partner).  All the best to both.

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I don't know how many of you tuned in to CNN's White House Correspondents Dinner, but it was worth the watch.

They honoured 8 media folk and I think it was 7 of them who got their award due to a Donald Trump expose.  The details were read by Wolf Blitzer who never cracked a smile while eviserating the President.

Fun to watch.

The Donald then took over and went on for an hour and four minutes.  The audience was dead silent for most of his tirade, bored and waiting for it to finish.  Very little applause.  And he threw out a "joke" that got no reaction and he couldn't believe it.  Totally out to lunch!

Nevertheless, I do believe that he will ignore the midterm results and begin his dictatorship at the end of this year.  A King will be born.

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Had my annual heart doctor visit yesterday.  Echocardiogram, EKG, and blood test.

Results good so far, but now I have to wear a heart monitor for 14 days just to make sure.

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Kathryn and Anna joined us tonight for dinner and cards.  Uno is easy, but can be nasty.  Especially when it's family 😉😇.

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Dylan Cease pitched another one hitter tonight, completing a nine inning shutout with 120 pitches.  And a few Jays scored runs!

Stay well.

 Birthday greetings today to Gary's daughter Jacquie.  All the best!

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Today was my weekly golf day at Chippewa Creek Golf Course. and the weather, cool at first, turned into a beautiful day.  Which we ruined of course by trying to golf.

Matt couldn't make it so we invited John Buckley.  He came with special muffins for us that Rada had baked (that's really the only reason that we invite him 😁😁).  Thanks Rada!

Besides the delicious muffins, I do have two special moments to savour.

On the par four first hole of the Red Falcon nine I scored my first birdie of the year.

And on the par three sixth hole - only 132 yards - I flubbed my tee shot and it went about 90 yards.  But, incredibly, my shot went further than the other three guys!  And I parred it!

They all beat my total score, but you have to take your victories when you can.

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One other odd thing happened today.  The Blue Jays won a game.  Amazing!

Stay well.