Gardening and Happiness

 I didn't post yesterday, so I missed mentioning that Liz Knapp celebrated a birthday.  Hope that Al treated you in style Liz.

----------------------------------------

I finished the next stage of the garden that I've been working on.  The lights are in place.

The next step is to put some plants in the middle and finish mulching.

-------------------------------------------

Folks sometimes seem bemused about why I spend time in the gardens at the greenhouse. 

An article in the Spec about Thistle House Care Farm perhaps will shed some light on the subject.  Particularly the following quote:

"The idea behind care farms is that spending time in nature and doing agricultural activities reduces stress, anxiety and depression while giving a sense of purpose and accomplishment. It provides social interaction and boosts self-esteem."

Aside from helping David in keeping the place looking good, that reason seems just fine with me.  Thanks to the Trillium Hill Care Farm!

--------------------------------------------

And thanks to Ed and Rose for tonight's invitation to a swim and dinner at their place.  We've been good friends for many years, and Mardi and I will be forever thankful for their involvement in getting the two of us together.  Very special friends.

Stay well.

Sod Busting

 Today's project was widening the garden around the sign.  Tomorrow, I'll move the sod and use it to repair other sites.

The lights for the sign were previously placed in the grass on either side of the sign.  When it came time to cut the grass, I either had to move the lights or risk cutting the wires.  Both have occurred 😟.

So the plan now is to locate the lights in the garden and eliminate the problem.  Should be done within the next few days.

--------------------------------------

On Fridays, David treats the staff.

Today the menu was cheeseburgs, chips and watermelon.  While I moved sod, Mardi deadheaded geraniums and Kathryn weeded the gardens, so we got to join the banquet.

Great job on the BBQ Ewen!

--------------------------------------------

Recently, a young university student approached the Optimist Club for information on the grandfather he never knew who had been a club president before his death.

I responded and provided some information and he took that and, with added information from the library and the historical society, put together a nice book for his dad for Father's Day.

Tonight we met and he showed me his achievement.  Quite a nice job.

I'm sure that this young man will be a success in life.  He won five awards at his high school graduation and is presently enrolled in Space Engineering at Carleton University.  A nice young man, and an achiever, and meeting him was a positive experience for Mardi and me.

-----------------------------------------

Blue Jays blew away the Red Sox tonight 9 - 0.  Fun to watch.

Stay well.

Golf Again

 Mardi and I hit the links at Southbrook today.  Mixed results 😖but we enjoyed the fresh air.  We want to play together more - last year our league commitments made that a big challenge.  Dunnville has a nine and dine on Friday nights so we'll give that a try.

Back to today - Mardi was struggling with her driver, so partway through the round I let her use mine.  She wouldn't give it back, so I now have hers.

Note to Calvin: Mardi now owes you for the driver.  How about a lifetime supply of ginger cookies?

--------------------------------------

Thursday is the regular day for the Dofasco Men's Golf League.  We have five guys signed up which leaves one guy as a spare.  With my two month absence I decided that it wouldn't be fair to ask one of the guys to sit while I played, so I decided that I would be the spare for the rest of the season.  Only if someone can't make it will I fill in.  That's why I golfed with Mardi today (besides, I love her 😍).

--------------------------------------

I have to say that I am impressed with what Trump has accomplished in the last few days.  Iran cowed, Netanyahu too, and NATO as well.  Let's just hope that he and Carney can come to a trade agreement that Canada can live with.

--------------------------------------

Stay well. 

Another Hot Day

 First off, Happy Birthday greetings to my sister Judy, and my niece Rosie.  

I remember the day that Judy was born, four months after our Dad died.  I was fourteen and I had labour pains!  That's the day that I became a man - no choice.  

The doctor showed up in riding clothes - he had been heading to a ranch.  Distant memories - you are getting on sis!  All the best!

----------------------------------------

Visited the eye doctor in Mississauga this morning.  This time if was the glaucoma doc.  The eye pressure in both eyes, which had been well above normal, is now in the desired range.  The eye drops are working.

----------------------------------------

Decided to take on the heat this afternoon.  Moved some sod, cut some grass, and enjoyed the cactus.  The ones in the garden are starting to bloom.

And, if you are interested, you can have this beauty for just $39.99.

Read your mind Al. That beauty is the plant.  And I'm worth more anyway.  But thanks for the thought.

Still lots of blooms yet to open.  And I have more plants coming along behind it.

------------------------------------------

Stay well.

Happy Birthday daughter

 Two events today.  First, Mardi and I headed to Grimsby to ask Ewen to help us register for our U.K. visit, scheduled for August.

You have to have U.K. approval before you head over.  And it seems to require an iPhone because you have to take a couple of pictures and then access the chip in your passport (which I didn't know existed), pay a fee (in U.S. funds no less!), access a code, and wait a minute - you are clear to go.  Thanks Ewen!  We owe you one, or two.

-----------------------------------

The second event was our birthday celebration with Kathryn at Lang's in Grimsby.  I think that she enjoyed getting together with her Dad and her "Wicked" Step Mother.

A nice day off from the heat.  But tomorrow, Kathryn and I will be at the greenhouse early to try to get some weeding done before the heat becomes unbearable.

Stay cool folks.

Eyem OK

 Brother Roger checked in this morning, expressing some concern that I had not written anything for a few days (I'm guessing that the rest of you were breathing a sigh of relief at the same time).  

I explained that when your day is a couple of hours digging in the dirt at the greenhouse, and four sessions of eye drops - 5 different ones at 7 a.m., each five minutes apart; 4 at 3 p.m.; 2 at 7 p.m.; and 4 again at 11 p.m. - there isn't much worth writing about.

The good news is that the eye doc says I'm right on track, and just eliminated two of the eye drops.  It will only be a few months more before I have correct vision again - still like looking through grey plastic.  Have to "look" on the bright side though.  I might have been blind in that eye.

-----------------------------------------------

Today the one eyed carpenter ignored the greenhouse and headed to daughter Kathryn's apartment (no air conditioning) to build a shelf in her closet.

In this picture I'm trying to fit the Robertson screwdriver into the head of a Robertson screw.  With just one good eye you have no depth perception.  A bit of a challenge and I had to ask for Kathryn's help quite a bit!

She not only helped me with the work, but also provided the cold wet towel that you can see around my neck.  

The shelf will be a bit of a birthday present.  She celebrates her big day tomorrow.

----------------------------------------------

I guess that we just have to hold our breath now that Trump has thumped Iran's nuclear (nucular, the way that they pronounce it) capacity.

Mardi thinks we should move away from Niagara Falls, a prime target for terrorists.  Almost makes Florida a possible alternative 😕.

Let's hope that he can put the genie back in the bottle this time.

---------------------------------------------

Stay well.  I'll try to find interesting things to write about in the days ahead.

Sweep!

 Mardi's bruises have subsided, so yesterday we headed out to Southern Pines , a weird, short golf course, for my reentry into the golf world.   Weird, short also fits my game it appears.  Between my unfocussed left eye and Mardi's cataract issues, we were lucky to only lose three of my golf balls.  I definitely need a seeing eye person to watch where I hit the ball.

I'm planning to join my golfing buddies on the 23rd at Cambridge.  We'll see/see? how that goes.

After recovering from that adventure, we headed to Port Colborne for dinner at the Canalside Restaurant, and then on to the Lighthouse Theatre to see The New Canadian Curling Club.  Lots of laughs, but a serious message too.  Four new Canadians (Chinese, Indian, Syrian and Gambian) deal with racism as they learn the game.

One special benefit of going to the theatre - it spared me having to watch the Phillies beat the Blue Jays 8 - 0.  Small mercies!

------------------------------------------

Today it was back to the greenhouse and my gardening challenges.  I should have the gardens down front under control this next week.  Just in time to enjoy the blooming of the Prickly Pear Cactus.  Lots of florets ready to bloom.

As Monica can attest, you have to pay a price to enjoy this treat.  These tiny clusters of brown hairs can reach you through leather gloves!

And they hurt!

------------------------------------------------------------

No theatre tonight, so I had to watch the Tiger-Cats and the Oilers lose.

Stay well.

What the Hell?

 Today I'm going to use my podium for some international tantrums.

First off, Greta Thunberg and her friends have been intercepted by the Israelis as they were preparing to make a pretend aid delivery to Gaza for publicity purposes.

Israel is fighting for its very existence for Pete's sake!  This could all have been avoided if Hamas hadn't made their cowardly attack and capture of hostages.  It could have been stopped long ago if all of the hostages had been released.

Why is it that Israel has to release hundreds of Hamas prisoners in exchange for a handful of hostages?  Why are there still 55 hostages in captivity.  Where is Greta's condemnation of Hamas?

I think that Israel should hang on to Greta and her friends until every last hostage, dead or alive, has been returned to Israel.  That seems like a fair trade to me.

-----------------------------------------------------

European countries have been criticizing Canada for not living up to the 2% military commitment (which Carney now says we will meet in March of next year).  The arrogant, selfish bastards!

As I have previously pointed out, in the last one hundred and eleven years, Canada has contributed billions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of troops in defense of Europe.  My uncle for one, came back with what today would be called PTSD.  Aside from Dutch tulips, the Europeans have done nothing for us in return.  And if we were invaded by the U.S. they still would do nothing, but talk, to help us. 

Yes, we should step up our defense spending, but maybe we should stop sending money and troops to Europe.  We may need them back here to defend ourselves.

-------------------------------------------------

And now, Danielle Smith has OK'd stocking U.S. alcohol products as a "show of good faith".  That should get her another invitation to Mar-a-Lago, but how about some good faith for Canada?

I can understand why the Albertans are angry - they have been stiffed by Trudeau's Liberals for years.  But this is not the time to cuddle up with Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick as they abandon their constitution and threaten the world order.

----------------------------------------------------

OK.  One positive moment today.  I stopped at RONA to buy a couple of 2 x 4's and the lady who checked me out saw my Trillium Hill shirt and asked if I was "the dad".  Her daughter Melody was one of David's first staff when the garden centre was centred around the shed down front.  

Her daughter is now in here forties, lives in Australia, and has two children. 

She couldn't say enough about how much she admired David for how he treated his staff.  Made me proud!

----------------------------------------------------

Stay well.

Abuse? and Gardens

 That will teach her not to beat me at Wordle and Sip-Bo!

She claims that she did a face plant in Costco's parking lot.  But when she was yard saling she got some knowing nods.  So, I guess she can't be seen with the bad guy for a while!

Today when Mardi accompanied me to the greenhouse, she wore a face mask "because of the smoke".

-----------------------------------------------

Made more fitness progress Friday.  Rode the mower for three and a half hours.  Got all of the grass cut, including the dog walking path back to and from the escarpment.  And it only took me about five minutes after getting off the mower before I could walk properly again😏.

Saturday I spent a couple of hours on my hands and knees, cleaning up a couple of gardens, and today I finished taking the trillium garden from this............

......................to this.

And I cleaned up the day lily garden too.

Just a par five length of gardens to go!

------------------------------------------

Stay well.

Westover Restover

 While I was enjoying myself yesterday in St. Marys, Carol Kemp was enjoying a birthday.  Sorry that I missed your big day Carol.

Today it's my daughter Jo-Ann's and niece Robin's turn.  Best wishes!

-------------------------------------------

As previously reported, David and I headed to St. Marys yesterday for a Tromper reunion.  We all met at Joe's Diner for brunch.

Then to the Westover Inn for our "Westover Restover", from which we headed out for a mini tromp.  Walked along the Thames for a while and were impressed with this feature.

This rig allows handicapped folks to get safely from a wheel chair into a kayak (and out again I hope!) and the kayak can be had free by contacting the library.  What a nice program!

That's my kid brother in the weird outfit.  He really doesn't look that bad normally.............. 

(unless he's being impolite)...........

.............which occurs fairly frequently.

We climbed up a steep hill to the rail trail bridge....

and then continued along the trail. Altogether, I lasted about three kilometres - more than I expected.

The guys in the following picture completed a couple more kilometres than David and I (he turned back to look after the old man - he could have gone a lot further).

Tromper Dave Bagshaw took a pass on the hike, having had a lot of rods, screws, chain link fence and miscellaneous hardware inserted in his back recently so he could walk again.  Nevertheless, even his showing up was appreciated, especially since he brought cold beer!  Thanks David  (he's the one in the grey shirt in the following picture, with his cane up against the tree)!

Then it was back to the Westover where Gary gave us a quiz on each of our annual events, from the Tobermory Tromp in 1984 to the Georgian Gambol in 2019.  What a lot of laughs, and it brought back treasured memories! 

In fact, we were having so much fun that we stayed out during a rain shower.

Thunderstorms overnight so we packed up and headed back to Joe's Diner for breakfast.............

..........and said our au revoirs.  Mark had to return home last night so he missed this picture. 

We're all getting too long in the tooth to participate in long hikes, or bike rides, or kayak/canoe trips, but I do hope that we make this an annual event.  We need to hang onto the dear friends that have added so much to our lives.  Thanks guys!

-----------------------------------------

In the meantime, the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Blue Jays are continuing their winning ways.  Sweet!

Stay well.

On The Mend

 Not much to report these days.  I'm trying to extend my work hours, but it has been a challenge.  Thursday, I managed two hours, came home, sat in the recliner, and woke up a couple of hours later, having missed the Celebration of Life for Sandro's wife, Jackie.  Sorry Sandro!

Friday I put in three hours, had to finally ask Sean for assistance on my ramp project and came home with hardly enough strength to pour myself a drink.  

Saturday I only managed one and a half hours.

But, today I got in three hours and had enough energy left over to take my lover to the Innsville for dinner.

The vision slightly improves each day, but it is a bit frustrating.  Nevertheless, the fight will continue.  There is no point in giving up - not my style!

Tomorrow I will cut all of the grass at the greenhouse.  That will be it at the greenhouse until Friday when I will repeat that activity.

Tuesday I will get a shot in the eye(s) to combat glaucoma.  

Wednesday, David and I will join the Trompers in St. Mary's for a reunion hike.  I've been enjoying the company of those guys since 1984.  It'll be great to renew our friendship and celebrate our accomplishments.  It was my time with the Trompers that gave me the courage to do the 70 mile hike through the high Andes to Machu Picchu with Sean, and the Grand Canyon hike with Malcolm and the Canyon crossing with Ewen.  Looking forward to it!

Next blog will probably be Wednesday after we return from St. Mary's.  In the meantime, stay well.