Tuesday, May 16

 Golfed yesterday and had visions of scoring my age.  Had 43 on the front nine, just needed to duplicate it on the back, but ended with a 91.  Still felt good!  And we enjoyed the two doses of birdie juice.

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Last night Kathryn and Anna came for dinner and dice.  Of course I put Anna to work on my computer.  She downloaded my pictures and documents to an external hard drive.

We've decided that I need a new computer.

It is great having brilliant grand children!

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Met Jim Maguire at the greenhouse this morning.  Sean and I sleeved the eight Boston Ferns that Monica had ordered.

I think that I look pretty good with that apron on!

Picture courtesy Tom Cruise, per our admiring young saleswoman.

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And, after cutting the grass I headed for EZEE Clean car wash.  The touchless line is working, but the manual wash area is under construction after having been rammed by a truck in a robbery.

You'll notice that the sign says "Please Pray for the Witness".  She was intentionally run down by the culprits as they left.

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Stay positive and stay well.

Happy Mothers" Day

 Sean and I picked out 14 large ferns for the folks who responded to yesterday's email.

Turns out that David has more large ferns, but he set aside the 200 best for his retail customers.

He also has the spaced baskets from the second planting.

And the basket to basket third planting.

Won't take long for these to mature.

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While we're talking about plants, have a look at these beauties.

Mardi's Anthurium and Peace Lily started life as accent pieces in a planter she received for her  birthday two years ago.  She transplanted them and voila!  We do need to share some of the glory with Sean, who nurtured them at the greenhouse the past two winters when we were away.  Thanks Sean!

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I'm picking up David and Matt for golf in the morning.  I'll make sure that Matt doesn't bring the pink golf bag.

Stay well.

Boston Ferns

 Mardi and I spent a couple of hours at the greenhouse today, but that's not the reason for this email.

More importantly, David has advised that he has just 200 of the large Boston Ferns left.  And, with Mother's Day tomorrow, they won't last very long.  Time to make your move!

He grows a total of 15,000 each season.  The first planting is 6,000 and that is the one that is almost finished.

The second planting of 4,000 is still on the floor, spaced to give them room to grow.  And a third round of 5,000 is still pot to pot, so it will be a while before they're ready for shipping.

If you can't make it tomorrow, let me know and I'll try to hide a few for you.

R.I.P. Leafs

 First up is a little story from our golf game yesterday.

I was picked up by Matt just after 6:30 a.m. and we headed for Chippewa Golf.  Got there in lots of time, paid our fees, got a cart and headed back to the car to load up.

Surprise, surprise!  Matt and Maureen had been switching cars and, hilariously, for the other three of us, Matt had Maureen's clubs.  Nice pink trim!

But, the joke was on us.  Despite no golf shoes, no glove, no range finder, and no idea how far he could hit those clubs, he still beat the other three of us (with a pink ball yet) on score.

A fun day indeed!

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Spent three and a half hours riding the fork lift today.  Got all of the soil skids moved out of the parking lot and sorted out.  Just in time too, since spring has apparently sprung.  Tomorrow should be very busy, but the holiday Sunday will likely be slow (except for the last minute guys who forgot to get a Mother's Day gift for their favourite lady).

Just one small area to be filled up with soil skids, but I have to wait until Mother Kildeer hatches her brood.  She's that brown patch in the middle behind the protective sign posts.  Her eggs blend in perfectly with the gravel.  Couldn't kick her out on Mother's Day weekend!

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Tonight we entertained Maureen and Matt, and Jill and Gary.  Dinner and dice.  A fun time with good friends.

Missed the Blue Jays beating the Braves.  But we turned on the TV in time to see the Leafs lose in overtime. R.I.P.

Stay well.

Catching Up

 

Happy birthday to Joyce Saulnier today.  All the best Joyce.

And, welcome back to Gary and Jill from celebrating their 57th anniversary in Bermuda.  

I'm really looking forward to celebrating our 57th with Mardi.  I'll be 123 years old!  Of course, she's much younger.

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I attended Mardi's church choir music night on Sunday.  They combined with a choir from Niagara district.

That's my sweetie in the middle, under the TV screen.

There were other performers in the program as well.  My favourite was the two brothers who play Cello.  Incredible talent!  And, as you can see from the picture below, the one on the right is plucking the strings the way that banjo players do.  

A brilliant performance!  We've seen them many times - always a smash hit.

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Golfed yesterday at Cambridge.  Cart path only, due to the wet.  Fortunately, they don't have a lot of cart paths, so this old codger survived the walks to the ball.  Knocked two strokes off last week's score and finished with a birdie.  Felt good.

Profitable too!  Won $5 for a Dog Meat and also won $28 in a 50/50 draw.  There are days when this game is OK.

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But, today's really big event was Mardi and I acing the senior's Group Education Session at the MTO in order to be able to "refresh and renew" for our driver's licenses.  Good for another two years.

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And then it was off to the greenhouse.  I spent three hours cutting the grass while Mardi did some planting inside.  Felt good to get out in the fresh air again.

Stay well.

Red Dress Day

 On Monday, I put in a plug for the church dinner at Mardi's church on May 27.  And I included the following:

If you are interested in helping out by enjoying a good dinner, let us know.  With any luck, you'll be sitting beside a wonderful, engaging couple (I'm hoping that Al and Liz come out)!  Mardi has tickets.

Well, they are in fact coming.  But Al corrected me - they are not an "engaging" couple, they are married.  My bad!

Mardi gave me tickets to pass along (I will be golfing with Al on Monday) but I don't think they are valid😟.  Says "adult ticket".

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What I forgot to mention is that her church choir is having a concert this Sunday at 7 p.m.  Stoney Creek United at the corner of Lake Avenue and King Street.  Two choirs and other performers.  No fee - donations welcomed after the performance.

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I hope that you folks paused for a minute today to honour Red Dress Day, the homage to murdered and missing Indigenous women.

Sixty-three per cent of Indigenous women have experienced violence, Statistics Canada said in a report last year.

Winnipeg has been called ground zero.

At least 28 Indigenous women in Manitoba have died due to violence since May 2020

May this tragedy come to an end. 

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I spent some time at the greenhouse the last two days doing some gardening (still have fork lift work to do but it's out for repair).  And Mardi tagged along and worked with the ladies to get plants ready for shipping.  Nice way to spend a sunny day.

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Stay well.

The Aging Process

 Before I get into the aging thing, first, an ad for Mardi's church.

During Covid, the government gave churches some upfront money to help them get through the period when gatherings were forbidden.  Most of it has to be paid back, thus the fundraiser.

If you are interested in helping out by enjoying a good dinner, let us know.  With any luck, you'll be sitting beside a wonderful, engaging couple (I'm hoping that Al and Liz come out)!  Mardi has tickets.

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Congratulations to David (Doc) Jewett and Nadine on the occasion of their anniversary.

And one other anniversary today, which segues into my aging thing.  Congratulations to my childhood buddy Wayne Hilts and Judy as they celebrate their 62nd anniversary.  Obviously, I know a lot of old people!

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Headed to the greenhouse today.  Built a ramp to help them when wheeling carts, etc. into the greenhouse area.  And then headed out on the forklift to work on the soil skids.  

Tried to start the forklift and it was out of propane.  That's when the aging process really got ugly.  Had to ask Ewen to replace it for me and utter these terrible words, "I'm getting too old for this."

A rye and coke when I got home helped me to recover from this nasty episode.  Hopefully, memory failure will make that recovery last.  And I'll be able to slow the old man down so he can't get in.

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Stay well.