Oak Opera

 With the heat and intense humidity, I only lasted an hour today.

But that was long enough to plant my Oak tree.  Four broken bags of soil and one broken bag of mulch and we're done.

The Smoke Bush behind it, which is just starting to bloom, will enjoy its company.

When I rescued that little devil from under a Pine tree this spring it only had three leaves.  If it can maintain its current rate of growth, David's kids won't have to wait 50 years to see it mature!

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Mardi and I are into culture this weekend.  Last night we headed to Dundas to enjoy a classical music concert.

This young lady.........

...will be heading to Europe for an operatic audition tour.  The proceeds from the night will go toward the expenses of her trip.  Awesome voice, but opera singing isn't one of my favourites.

Her husband plays the classical guitar.

We also enjoyed the harp...

......and this cutie on violin.

And a bit of Broadway musicals finished off the evening (apparently, she was singing some unhappy words when I took this picture!).

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Tonight, we're heading to Port Colborne and the Lighthouse Theatre production of Mary's Wedding.  Some lighter comedy to balance off last night's experience.

Stay well.

Nettled

 I've really enjoyed the Jays games the last two nights.  The new young recruits are showing off their talents and the team won both games.  I won't be watching tonight however - early rise for golf tomorrow.

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With the heat and humidity, I only lasted a couple of hours today, but I did accomplish some stuff.

Yesterday, this area...........

..........looked like this one.  I paid a price to the stinging nettles in the process.

And this area.......

..........now looks like this (that's the old Peach King Arena boards in the background).

And I defined a spot for one of my Oak trees.

Baby steps.  Still lots to do.

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Stay well.

A Good Day

 Today is the anniversary of Kayt and Yancy.  And also, Jim Lougheed's birthday.  All the best folks!

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Today was a golf day for our group, with meal included.

In our foursome, David had a birdie, so I got out the birdie juice and some small glasses to toast the event.  You've never seen so much hysteria from a group of guys, who claimed that Mardi's Sambuca had poisoned them.  I have to admit that it was a bit fiery 😳😣  - maybe that's why we avoided having another birdie after that one.  Playing it safe!

But it was a good day with good friends.

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Staying up late to watch the Blue Jays play in Los Angeles, so I'll post this in case they put me to sleep.

Stay well.

Birds and Hammers

 The Swallows were out in force on the weekend, so I did my Pied Piper routine.  They swooped around me as I cut the grass and stirred up insects for their meal.

Who has more fun than an old guy who loves nature?  Sorry, but no Swallows in the picture - they're too small, athletic and fast.

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Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg were given the honour of carrying the Canadian flag as the Olympics ended.  Well deserved!

But, it might have been more appropriate for these gender equity games if Camryn Rogers was with Ethan.  Both won gold in the Hammer Throw, something that never seemed to be in the cards for Canada.  How symbolic would that have been?

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Stay well.

She's Three!

 A big happy birthday wish goes out to great granddaughter Rowan as Yancy and Kayt help her celebrate her third birthday.

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Did some weeding and grass cutting today.  Noticed a flock of Turkey Vultures circling and landing in the back field so I went to have a look.  They were savouring a dead skunk.  Bon Appetit boys and girls!

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Break dancing at the Olympics!  It won't be in the next ones, but........quite a display!  And a Canadian win!

More of the same tomorrow...grass, weeds, Blue Jays (they lost 1-0 today) and Olympics.

Stay well.

Back From The Missing

Between my Covid hiatus and the hot, humid and wet weather we've experienced, life lately has been pretty boring.  So I've been a bit quiet (a situation some might relish) on the blogging front.  

But, yesterday was a good day, and, after a three month absence due to back and knee problems, Matt rejoined our golf group.

John has been filling in for Matt during his absence and we thought that we would really miss John today.  But, as it turned out, not so much!

Thank you for the cookies Maureen!

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Today, the first highlight was a haircut by my personal barber.  Followed by a Quiche that she made for lunch.  As I've stated before, I'm a lucky man!

Today's second highlight was booking a week of timeshare in Myrtle Beach for early October.  Ed (the matchmaker) and Rose will be joining us.  We will have lots of fun on the beach - and at the bar!

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Back to watching the Olympics and glad to see Andre de Grasse anchor the Canadian men to gold in the 400 medley.  A positive finish for him after a couple of disappointing events.

And who knew that Canada was a powerhouse in the Hammer Throw?  Men and women of the world, look out!

Stay well.

Olympics Ups and Downs

One of the "benefits" of Covid has been that I've been able to watch more of the Olympics.  The athletes are incredible, but two of them deserve special admiration in my mind.

Eleanor Harvey, the fencer, is one of them.  Her mother sold their house to help fund her training costs, they moved in with grandma and her grandmother slept on the couch so that Eleanor could have her own bed (it's not just the athletes that are incredible).

Felix Dolci, the gymnast is another.  The young man won Pan American gold and was on his way to a medal in Paris when a strap broke, sending him crashing to the floor during his spectacular horizontal high bar performance.  He got up and tried again, but another equipment failure occurred.  Nevertheless, he remounted and finished the routine.  Afterwards he talked about how he would do better next time.  Four more years!

I'm stubborn and determined at times, but their level of commitment is well beyond anything that I can comprehend.

You can admire the tennis players and golfers, but they are well paid athletes.  It's these kids who are really special!

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On the down side is Damian Warner's failed attempt to duplicate his gold medal performance at the last Olympics.  Unfortunately, age has caught up to him.  But, well done.

And the Women's Soccer team, after a valiant and successful effort to overcome their six point penalty for the spying scandal, lost out in the quarter finals.  Sad, but probably fair - I assume that the team knew about their coaches cheating.

Let's clean up the mess and do better next time. 

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Feeling much better today.  I'll test again tomorrow and see how we're doing.

Stay well.

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