Truth and Reconciliation Day

 Yesterday, we played what may be our last day at Cambridge Golf Club for the year.  Our small group's championship day.

That's David peeking over Gary's shoulder.  I'm wearing the "Every Child Matters" hat (couldn't wear the tee shirt - they require a collar on the golf course).

Didn't win the championship, but I did get a Dogmeat (closest tee shot on the green on a par 3 that was parred).  I marked the spot so the guys who followed would know who to blame.

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Went for my pre-op visit to the OCC clinic in Mississauga this morning.  A last minute eye check and then I signed my life away, agreeing that a 70% success rate (improvement, but not necessarily perfect) would be just fine thanks.  About 30% show no improvement, and 5% have other nasty things happen.

Thank goodness I'm an Optimist!  Besides, the Blue Jays succeeded with much worse odds.  Bring it on!

It's been six months since my retina and I tried to part company.  Vision in the left eye since then has been like looking through thick plastic.  They say that improvement may be slow and take another six months.  But, hopefully, on the first anniversary of that previous operation things will be back to normal.

Mardi's eye continues to improve, so she should be able to drive me to my appointment on the 20th.  Things are looking (a little) up.

And I did wear the tee shirt and hat to the appointment!

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Meanwhile, we're still making progress at the greenhouse.  Now that the gardens across the hill, and those down front, are in shape it's time to turn our attention to the plantings up the driveway.  But I had a couple of hours of weeding to do out back first.

What pray tell is under these weeds?

Voila!

There are three of these access spots across the back field.

And also this........

Pumps, motors and grinders.  The whole back field that you can see is dedicated to this septic system!  What is connected to the field is the equivalent of a two bathroom home - two toilets, two showers, a laundry room, a kitchen sink, and oh yes, a urinal.  The Niagara Escarpment Commission and the Town of Grimsby must have assumed that every single garden centre customer would need to pee on each visit when they specified this arrangement.  Talk about overkill!

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That's all the fun for today.

Stay well.

Luck and Pluck

 At the Winona Peach Festival, Kathryn won two tickets to a Forge FC game and invited me to join her.  Since it's close to Truth and Reconciliation Day I decided to wear my "Every Child  Matters" gear.

Blindly lucky Bud - guess what colour the Forge players wear?

Happens to be orange!

The Hamilton team beat Pacific FC (from Vancouver Island) 4 - 1, clearly outplaying them.   Fun to watch.  Thanks Kathryn!

And while I was watching that game I was listening to the Blue Jays beat Tampa Bay 5 - l.  A really nice result!  If they win tomorrow they get a bye into the playoffs.

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But, that isn't the big story of the day.

First a bit of the back story.  Steve and Bonnie's daughter Rebecca (Bx to her family) met her husband James in Australia.  They started their married life in Canada, but James got an important position in the U.S. so they relocated their family to Albany, N.Y.

As you will read below, Rebecca is an Engineer and also found a job in the area.  She now has U.S./Canadian citizenship and is without question an achiever.

Now the story, with permission to pass it on by a proud mother.  Be sure to read the tribute in the article - it will bring tears to your eyes:

"Rebecca was the Project Manager and Senior engineer for her consulting firm, Barton and Loguidice (who work with clients to develop sustainable and green designs for community infrastructure), working on this project for Restore Forward, a group who purchased 300 acres in upper state NY to build a place for advancing wellbeing of young people - black girls in particular, I think.  Here is the link to their website:   

About Us - Restore Forward restoreny.org

They had a lot of push back from the surrounding community and apparently, Rebecca helped guide them through a lot of their struggles - so much so that they named one of their buildings after her and had an event to honour her - and others.  

Here are some pics, including the write up in the event program."  

  

And now a word from the lady herself:

"I am happy for a mention in the blog! Here is one more photo of me with my clients, who have all dedicated their lives to advancing racial equity and creating a space where all are welcome,  and particularly where Black women and girls can connect to the land, and to grow and heal together. It was an honor to be part of it. The racist threats and attempted blockade of the project from the rural community was disgusting... but they persevered, with help from engineers and lawyers, forcing the Town to approve the project in the end! I have never been surrounded by so much gratitude. 

Love to all. Bx."

Pretty awesome and special Rebecca!  Well done!

(I have copied Rebecca on this copy of the blog so that she will be able to enjoy any responses from the group).

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Stay well.

Slo-Pitch

 Today, we send our condolences to Liz Knapp, who is celebrating 37 years of coping with Al.  What an achievement!  I hope that Al showed his appreciation for your sacrifice Liz!

Seriously, all the best to two good friends. 

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Kathryn and I have weeded and mulched the plantings along the crest of the hill, and all the gardens down front.

Next up we'll be working our way up the other side of the driveway.

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Watched a disappointing Blue Jays game last night.  Didn't have to watch them lose again tonight - we attended an Optimist meeting.  I hope that they can pull it together before their season ends.

We also stayed up last night to see Jimmy Kimmel's return to late night TV.  Quite a moving monologue, and it's obvious that he intends to continue to be Jimmy, despite Trump's threats.  It should get very interesting!

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We held our Optimist meeting tonight and it was "interesting".  First off, it was hard to recognize the building!  You'll remember that it's been rented to a movie company that is filming a ladies' slo-pitch series.

They told us they were going to paint the building.  No kidding!

Can't wait to see it  on TV.

Stay well.

Celebrations, Chrysanthemums and Corneas

 Today we celebrate the birthdays of two special women.

Sue's mother Sarah is 93 today!  A special family day!

And, Jill Parker has been taken on a birthday adventure trip by Gary.

Enjoy your trip my friend!  Well done Sven!

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Daughter Jo-Ann is celebrating today too.  The Homes For Heroes Foundation has just announced the construction of homes in London, Ontario for our veterans.   

For years she has been supporting Homes For Heroes.  She had an uncle in submarines in WWII, and a cousin in the even more dangerous river boats in the Vietnam War.

Well done Jo-Ann.  Love you lots!

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The Geraniums in the front gardens at the greenhouse are done.  So I was looking for some yellow Mums to redo one of the gardens.  Found three that had a gap on one side and an undersized one that were unsaleable.  But they look just fine from the driveway side.

Mardi doesn't deal with rejects and, despite her volunteer hours, she always insists on paying for what she takes, which I love her for (I also love the family discount - thanks Sean).

She bought these lovely specimens for our balcony.  She has a good eye for beauty...............

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..........which is why she chose me 😍.

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Now for an eye update.  Mardi's second cataract operation was a success.  Perfect vision, and the expensive lenses that she chose corrected her astigmatism.

However, her left eye, after one day of clear vision, clouded over due to cells attaching to the back of the lense.  And a few days later she suffered a mystery contusion on her cornea.  So she has been in pain and can't stand glare - wears sun glasses when the lights are on.

So, eye drops four times a day, two different eye ointments every second day, and a pill every four hours.  Hopefully, Mardi will eventually get to clear, comfortable vision.

In my case, nothing has changed.  The right eye is clear, except for the spider webs and small blobs of grey that float around the eye.  Fine print is a challenge.

The left eye is still like looking through a sheet of greenhouse plastic.  An operation is scheduled for October 20 to remove the silicone oil.   Fingers crossed that my six month ordeal will be over!

Fortunately, we are both cleared to drive, although that probably doesn't elicit a lot of confidence in any potential passengers!

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Stay well.  We're trying to.

Golf, Gardens and Good Night

 Birthday greetings to our good friend Calvin Wong today.  Despite his advancing age 😁, Calvin's awesome length off the tee helped us to an even par score in the Scramble at Chippewa Creek yesterday.  Incredible to watch!

Even more incredible, and you will have a hard time accepting this Barry, was Al's performance yesterday!

Each player in the foursome must have four drives counted.  This leaves two more that can go to the best player.  So, Al's drives on the first three holes were better than the rest of us. And we ended up using six of Al's drives, leaving Calvin, Matt and I scrambling to get our four drives in.  Scary times!

I needed a drink after that (actually two) and celebrated with a Mardi.

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Today, Kathryn and I did some weeding, etc. at the greenhouse.

You will notice the row of tall cedars in the background.  They were dictated by the authorities to protect the neighbours from having to look at the greenhouse.

When they were planted, David continued the planting down the side and across the back of the neighbour's property.  Unfortunately, the neighbours decided to drain their pool onto David's side of the fence.  Consequently, over the years all died except the ones protected by the garage.

So, being the optimist, David planted some more to replace the dead ones.  As you can see in the picture, they have died too.  Time to give up?

That's why I have been planting the Oaks, Chestnut, etc. along the top of the hill.  To add some beauty and block the view.

It took eight bags of red mulch to finish off this spot.  But, not to worry, they're basically not saleable.  The plastic is so brittle that almost all of the bags are split, or will split the minute you touch them.

Fortunately for me, unfortunately for David, there are a couple of skids of this stuff available for my use.

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The Jays are losing to the Kansas City Royals 10 - 1.  Can't stand it - going to bed!

Stay well.

Eyes Left

 On Saturday, I missed the birthdays of Jim Maguire and Randy Hobson.  Sorry guys!  I hope that you had a great day.

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Today I limited my greenhouse activity to just watering the gardens down front.  My main duty for the day was looking after Mardi while she had her second cataract operation.  Could I say "a sight for sore eyes"?  That beauty mark that they painted over the target eye completes the picture!

Almost a pirate!  Just have to paint that plastic shield black.

For now, she has fuzzy vision in both eyes, while I just have fuzzy vision in one and floaters in the other.  We're quite a team!  

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Blue Jays did it again!  Came back to win in extra innings.  

Quite a show by their rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage, who rose through four minor league levels to make his major league debut tonight.  Set a Blue Jays debut record, striking out nine Tampa Bay players.

What a year!

Stay well.

An Almost Perfect Day

 Quite a day!  For starters, Mardi and I played a game of Skip-Bo.  For those of you who know the game, this is my first move of the game.  Blocked her on all four positions with the help of three wild cards 😃😎😍😍.

Then we headed to McDonalds for a coffee klatsch with sister Judy.  We hadn't seen each other for a while - no good yard sales and then the eye issues and vacations.  We had a nice visit.

Next up was our annual condo BBQ.  Carol Kemp sent this picture which includes me in the middle, walking back from...........

.....taking a picture of the a cappella singers who entertained us.

Then it was back to the unit to watch the Blue Jays 45th come from behind victory.  Pretty exciting!

So, you would think that I'd be happy after all of that.  But......look what I missed!

Those pickerel look pretty tasty.  Well done Steve.

Maybe next time.

Stay well.

Women's Slo Pitch

 Yesterday's blog result was frustrating.  I use Blogspot to create the blog so that the pictures show up in the appropriate place.  I check what I've created and if I'm happy with it I copy and paste to create an email draft.  Check that out and once again, if I'm happy hit "send".

The problem is that I can't count on the process.  The original might look OK, but when I cut and paste things happen.  Print size might change on part of the script, stuff moves around.

If the print size changes it can't be fixed in the draft.  None of the email print size options match the original, so I have to scrap and start over.

And maddeningly, sometimes the draft looks good and I hit send and things still change.  Like last night when the picture disappeared and was replace with a second copy of another picture.  And I'm sure that you've seen weird print size situations in previous editions.  Damn!

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The big news today?  It was announced at the Optimist Club meeting that we have entered into a contract with a movie company.  They will produce "Slo Pitch", a fun series about women ball players.

They will rent our building and ball diamond for about a month.  Paint the building, make some upgrades and we'll end up with a $50,000 cheque!

We and our regular renters will have to make some accommodations, which have been arranged.  Let's hope that it is a success and continues for a few seasons!

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Stay well.

Royal Reality

 Is anyone, other than Matt and me, concerned about the Crown Royal situation?

Full disclosure: My favourite drink is Crown Royal, especially their Northern Harvest brand.

Doug Ford is stamping his feet, but it seems to me that he's overreacting.

The owners of the brand, Diageo, are British (if the American owners of Canadian Club moved their operations south I would react differently).  They are faced with financial concerns due mostly to a reduction in alcohol demand (I'm doing my best to help out though).  And they face tariffs on their product entering the U.S.  So they have to do something.

They still produce their mash in Canada.  And bottle Crown Royal in Quebec, and Northern Harvest in Manitoba, to serve the Canadian market.  They have just moved their bottling operation for U.S. bound product to capacity that exists in the U.S.  A smart move financially, if not politically.

I can understand Ford being upset, but I think that he will face repercussions from his Manitoba and Quebec counterparts if he takes Crown Royal off Ontario shelves.  We're supposed to be encouraging interprovincial trade - how can he oppose that?

Sometimes reality hurts.

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Another reality hit me today.  Golf and greenhouse were ruled out by the weather this morning, so I was stuck at home.  And Mardi persuaded me to help make cookies.  

At age 88 I'm finally being domesticated - desperation is about to set in!

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I'm signing off with a saying that brother Roger used in his blog and that he and I live by (and I didn't know that making cookies fit into it):

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  

 Mark Twain.

Friendships

 Today was golf day at Chippewa Creek, and a life lesson day as it turned out.  

I told Mardi that, with my back and leg issues and my vision difficulties, I would just as soon give up the game for now.  I have no idea where the ball is going and can't see it half the time anyway.  Except that I do want to spend time with my friends, so I will continue.

Matt and Gary couldn't make it today, so I called John Buckley to see if he could join us.  The answer was yes.

John and I rode in the same cart, and both had a crummy first nine.  So crummy in fact that we decided to stop keeping score.  And you know what happened next - our games improved.  But that's not the life lesson.

John said that he enjoys playing with us because we have fun (with Al in the group "fun" might be an inadequate word).  The guys he normally plays with apparently don't have fun - they spend their time grumbling about their games.

And that is when I realized once again just how lucky I am to have the friends that I do.  And why I continue to keep playing despite my lack of aptitude.  Thanks guys!

And John, we'll get you in one of our groups yet.  We have a spare for our Chippewa foursome, so two guys have to be absent before I can invite you to fill in.  But, if you can get up before 5 a.m. there might be more opportunities at Cambridge. where we have only one spare for our two foursomes in the Bell retiree league.  And nothing would stop us from breaking into three groups.

There we do have to keep score, but we make it fun.  A four dollar investment from each golfer will pay off in either Honest Johns (you have to guess what your score will be, and each week that number goes down by one stroke - closest to his number wins, farthest away gets to reset), or Dogmeats (tee shot landing on the green, closest to the hole, and resulting in a par, on a par three).

Having you and Al in the same group is a bit terrifying, but the treats that Rada sends with you make it bearable!

Stay well folks.  And have fun!