Quite a Day

 You'll remember the Bay Leaf plants I shot a picture of four days ago.  Well, I brought home some leaves for Mardi.

And, she made some tea.  Best tea I've ever tasted!

It has lots of medicinal qualities, one of which is to relax you.  It apparently works, I promptly fell asleep in front of the TV.

I'll definitely be bringing more leaves home.

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Made the mistake of complaining too many times that I need something to do.

Apparently the condo doors need painting.  I'll have to get around to that some time.  At least I have a reward to look forward to - the last three butter tarts.

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Quite a day.  Slept in, napped in the afternoon, watched golf.  Wears you out!

Stay well.

Lockdown

 At midnight tomorrow night, Hamilton will be going into lockdown as detailed in the following:

https://globalnews.ca/news/7531898/coronavirus-hamilton-grey-lockdown-restrictions-covid-19/

Glad we didn't wait until next week to have our Innsville get-together with Kathryn and Anna.  Takeout only after tomorrow.

While there we had signed up for Christmas dinner takeout on the 24th.  Good plan as it turns out!  There's probably going to be big demand.

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I hope my Ottawa daughters were able to tune into Rep. Deb Haaland's acceptance of Joe Biden's nomination of her as Secretary of the Interior.  She's the first Indigenous woman nominated to a cabinet position in the U.S.  Her acceptance speech was exceptional.

And, following her, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm accepted the nomination as Energy Secretary.  Her family's story of humble beginnings in rural Canada was also very moving.

My God, what a marked difference the "Building Better" team displays from the "Make America Great Again" idiots who are on their way out.

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This evening we went to the greenhouse to celebrate Malcolm's birthday.  Niagara is now in the "red zone" and limited to ten people in a restaurant.  Fortunately, there were only nine of us, sharing 54,000 square feet of greenhouse space.

Malcolm only had one beer all evening.  Esther is amused.

He opened his cards by the fancy bar.

Jake got a gift as well.

A fine evening, and the food was phenomenal.  Good work Sue and David.

Happy birthday Malcolm!

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Stay well.  Obey the rules.

A Boring Day

 Two coats of varnish on the chair back sums up my accomplishments of the day.  Had lunch and putzed around doing odd jobs between coats.  The chair will be ready to be used tomorrow.

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Tomorrow, grandson Malcolm will celebrate his 24th birthday.  All the best Malkie!

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Stay well.

First Christmas Dinner

 Spent about ten minutes at the greenhouse, putting a second coat of stain on the back of the chair.  Tomorrow it will take about the same time to apply the first coat of varnish.

Looks like my gardening efforts may be finished for this year.  By the time the snow leaves, the ground will be frozen.

I'll have to come up with another plan to keep busy.

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Mardi and I get together with our bubble mates, Kathryn and Anna, once a month.  Tonight we met at The Innsville for a Christmas dinner.

Anna's computer game business is thriving - about to be incorporated.  And Kathryn is just finishing her stint in landscaping for the season.  Next up is her apprenticeship in stone masonry and then back to landscaping in the spring.

At the back of the table you can see a couple of packages of ginger snaps which were part of their Christmas gift.

Dessert was delicious!

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Stay well. 

Greenhouse Crops

 My first stop of the day was at LifeLabs for my monthly blood check to make sure that the rat poison is doing its job.  It is.

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Then, to the greenhouse to put the first coat of stain on the dining room chair.

While there, thought I should take a couple of pictures of David's current crops.  You've seen the Easter Lilies.  His other main crop is Boston Fern baskets.  

Besides the ones on the floor, the overhead lines are also full throughout the greenhouse.

He also has a couple of smaller crops on the go.  Bay Leaves (in the foreground) and Passion Flower.

The Passion Flower is grown for a high end bridal company in Toronto.

Needless to say, they haven't been doing much business this year!

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The following article, on Fox News no less, tells the tale of the deposed king and what America can expect from his replacement.  Well written.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-biden-electoral-college-richard-fowler

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Stay well.

Ginger Snaps

 Managed to spend a couple of hours outside at the greenhouse working on gardens, until a few snow flurries discouraged me.

Also spent some "Dad" time fixing a dining room chair.

Some sanding and a coat of stain and it should be ready for use again.

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The following is intended for Al Knapp:  this is how big your balls should be Al 😂.

The baker's wine glass is included for comparison.  Good luck!

And this is the finished result (another dozen in the oven).

Once again, the baker's (slightly depleted) glass of wine is included for size comparison.

The bad news, for me, is that these are all destined for Mardi's church.  Fortunately, as a licensed taster, I was able to consume the reject in the right foreground 😋.

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See y'all tomorrow.  Stay well.

Hallelujah!

 Today, democracy won in the United States - something that has been in question for the past four years.  The Electoral College (an anachronism if ever there was one) voted honestly - something that was also in question for the past month.

So, what can they look forward to?

1 - Joe Biden will be their next President, assuming he stays alive until January 20, 2021.

2 - Trump will never officially concede his fate as a "deposed King".  He will continue to do everything in his power to place roadblocks in Biden's path - except for the time he spends in court fighting the many lawsuits that will proceed against him.  That will continue until he dies, or is incapacitated with dementia, or is perhaps spending time in prison.

3 - The prospect of violence is very real.  Civil War, The Sequel, is likely to proceed, and be encouraged by the treasonous Retrumplicans.

4 - The 2022 election will have Republican candidates who are even more extreme, as Trump makes sure that anyone who speaks the truth will be challenged in their primaries.  It will be at least 2024 before the Republican party can even begin to clean the tarnish off their brand.

5 - Biden may quash the Keystone pipeline from Canada.  At this moment that seems like a reasonable price to pay for having a sane person in the White House.

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Stay well.  See you tomorrow.