We're On Our Way

 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 today.  We left Stoney Creek at about 9:15 this morning, 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.

Tomorrow's destination is Fredericton, N.B.  We'll see how that goes.

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!

---------------------------------- 

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.  

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!😂😌

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

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.