The Story Of The Cottage

 THE STORY OF THE "COTTAGE"

In the summer of 2025, Sue and David took their                                family to Scotland and invited my wife, Mardi,                               and me to join them.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to a                        beautiful civic garden in Edinburgh where I saw                                a lovely cottage at the corner of the property.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I asked David if he would build me one of 

those at Trillium Hill.  He declined, but said 

that I could have the shed down front.  That 

shed had been our original sales counter 

when he first opened the garden centre.  

It is now used to store the letters for our 

signs down front and a bit sad looking 

when I took it over.

In any event, I decided to take him up on                                          his offer and this is the result.

I still have the challenge of figuring

out how to include a living room,

dining room, kitchen, bedroom and

bathroom in that space.

Time will tell.

Bud Craig,

Head Gardener (the only gardener).

            

Home Sweet Home

 I finished dressing up my "cottage" today.

Alex tells me that I should be sitting in that chair with a beer.  Smart lady!

Figuring out how to include a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom will take a while.

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This evening we joined Liz and Al at Teddys in Grimsby for wings and things.

Nice to get together with friends that we hadn't seen since last year.

I'm not talking about the Blue Jays tonight.  Only one hit!

Stay well.

A Special Day

 Today was definitely a Tromper day.  Our group has been having adventures for over 40 years and today we had a party for one of our members who will be moving.

Mark Richardson and wife Julie will be moving to Castlegar, B.C., to be near family - too far away to conveniently interact with us in future.

We met in Paris, Ontario and did a token hike of a couple of kilometres along the Nith River.

Along the way we were serenaded by "Doc" Jewett.

Lunch at the Paris Beer Company, where Mark was presented with a book of Tromper memories by our leader Gary.

Lots of great memories were shared.  Happy times!

The cast of characters............

.............did I mention we've been at this for a long time?  David, just a few days short of his 66th birthday, is the kid in the group.

A special bunch of guys!  We all wish Mark and Julie happiness as they embark on their latest adventure.

'Till we meet again, au revoir my friend.

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Even a Blue Jays loss couldn't dampen the joy of today.

Stay well.

Sports Heroes

 Today, our Cambridge golf group headed to Burlington Bowl for our annual 5 pin challenge.

We should have had a couple of practice sessions.  Our first game was a shambles.

Ron King had high score.  A pretty sad showing for all of us.

I even tried the old folks equipment for one frame.

It didn't work - my excuse was that the alley sloped to the left, so I reverted to the normal routine.

That helped in the second game.

I ended up highest on our team and David with his strikes in the 7th and 8th frames took high honours (well, relatively high 😏).

Next year Matt and I will invite Maureen and Mardi to join us for a practice round before the big tournament.  We do need help.

Afterwards we headed to the Piper Arms Pub for lunch.  Not the one that sent over 80 people home with salmonella, but it still took some courage.  We are a brave group!

Gary, me, Matt, David and Randy.  Al, Calvin, Sandro and Calvin were at the next table (but they're not as photogenic as we are).

Tomorrow, Gary, David and I will join some fellow Trompers for a short hike and a tall drink in Paris.  Hopefully, our bodies will have recovered from today's heroics. 

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Happy birthday greeting to my buddy Wayne, out in Victoria.  We've been friends for about 83 years.  Spent our early days nearly inseparable, either playing ball or adventuring on his uncle's farm on the escarpment plateau enjoying the warplanes on their training runs while watching out for German enemies.  Great memories!  All the best Wayne.

Stay well folks.  I'm trying to do that!  So far so good.

Birthdays And Bases Loaded

 The big news today was birthdays.

My Mardi, Sean's Alex, and Brooke's brother.  Best wishes to all.

And flowers to my love.

I did some more painting and grass cutting today, but that's not news.

And I stayed up late again to watch the Blue Jays win their third game in a row.  But it almost didn't happen.  Because, with the Jays ahead 4 -1, they brought in Jeff Hoffman to pitch the ninth.  Two hits and two hit batters later he was pulled with one out and the bases loaded.

Fortunately, the Jays have Louis Varland.  One pitch, double play, game over, his first save in the books.  He should, and probably will be, the closer in future.

Stay well.

A Fine Day

 I spent a couple of hours today cutting grass.  A bit overdue I guess.

I'll let the cuttings dry out, cut it again in three or four days and then deal with the raking.

I wore a parka with the hood up for the whole time.  But it felt really good.  The playtime with the "cottage" is fun, but it's great to be useful once again.  I needed that.  

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And while I was having a good day, so was Mardi.  She had a luncheon with her friends in honour of Kathy Gruhl, who was returning from P.E.I. for a visit.  

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And to finish off a great day, the Blue Jays have won two games in a row!  And Jeff Hoffman got the save.  Love these miracles.

Stay well.

Catching Up

 Since we got home from Florida, Mardi and I have been going through our stuff and identifying things we no longer need.  Yesterday, we delivered a van load of clothes and furnishings to the GBF (Grimsby Benevolent Fund).  And, of course, we then had to go inside and shop 😏.

I found this little treasure.

Nothing wrong with a little self promotion is there?  Maybe I should hang it on my new home 😀.

Speaking of the "cottage", the sign is ready to go up.

Just need a couple of outdoor painting days to get a spot ready.

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The grass needs cutting, but there are a lot of really wet areas where the mower could get stuck or leave some ruts, so we're in a holding pattern on that issue.

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Hard to be a Blue Jays fan these days.  They are finding new ways to lose games.  Sad to watch.

Stay well.

New Home And Surroundings

 Birthday greetings go out today to Sue and Reggie.  Have a great day ladies!

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Did an inspection tour of my new home this morning.  It does need some TLC.

I'll have to wait for some consistently warm weather to do some painting.

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While I was down there I took a look around.

When David started developing the property he was required to plant a row of cedars along the side and back of the neighbour's property.

Looks OK right?

But here is what happens when the neighbour empties his pool onto Trillium Hill property.

Those big trees originally went to the left about 50 more feet and then the width of the property, another couple of hundred feet.  Those trees all died and the replacements - the little guys to the left - also died.   Apparently they don't like chlorine.  Money down the drain!

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The Blue Jays keep losing troops to such things as fractured thumbs and toes, and the flu.  Can't wait for things (and players) to get better.

Stay well.

April Birthdays

 Today, Sue organized an April birthdays celebration.  Unfortunately, due to a staff shortage at the greenhouse she had to relocate there - otherwise Sean and Alex would have missed the event.  

They manned the garden centre, taking turns at the dinner table.

So Bud - April 6, Sean - April 9, Sue - April 11, and Mardi and Alex - April 21, were recognized for their longevity (some of us more longevity than others!).  

A really nice day.  Thank you Sue!

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I'm still not talking about the Blue Jays.  Sorry.

Stay well.

Head Gardener

 I'm not going to talk about the Blue Jays today.  😡

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Last summer David and Sue took their family to Scotland and invited Mardi and me to join in.  We had a great time, but a special moment came when we were touring a beautiful civic garden and saw this lovely brick cottage.

I assumed that it belonged to the head gardener, and asked David if he would build me one at Trillium Hill.  He declined, but told me that I could have the shed down front.

So, I'm taking him at his word and I'm preparing to officially take it over.  First step is to paint these letters before I attach them to my new home.

More on this later.

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Stay well.