This And That

 Belated birthday wishes to Barry whose birthday was yesterday, the 24th.  And today it's Andrea's turn (Mardi's business partner).  All the best to both.

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I don't know how many of you tuned in to CNN's White House Correspondents Dinner, but it was worth the watch.

They honoured 8 media folk and I think it was 7 of them who got their award due to a Donald Trump expose.  The details were read by Wolf Blitzer who never cracked a smile while eviserating the President.

Fun to watch.

The Donald then took over and went on for an hour and four minutes.  The audience was dead silent for most of his tirade, bored and waiting for it to finish.  Very little applause.  And he threw out a "joke" that got no reaction and he couldn't believe it.  Totally out to lunch!

Nevertheless, I do believe that he will ignore the midterm results and begin his dictatorship at the end of this year.  A King will be born.

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Had my annual heart doctor visit yesterday.  Echocardiogram, EKG, and blood test.

Results good so far, but now I have to wear a heart monitor for 14 days just to make sure.

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Kathryn and Anna joined us tonight for dinner and cards.  Uno is easy, but can be nasty.  Especially when it's family 😉😇.

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Dylan Cease pitched another one hitter tonight, completing a nine inning shutout with 120 pitches.  And a few Jays scored runs!

Stay well.

 Birthday greetings today to Gary's daughter Jacquie.  All the best!

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Today was my weekly golf day at Chippewa Creek Golf Course. and the weather, cool at first, turned into a beautiful day.  Which we ruined of course by trying to golf.

Matt couldn't make it so we invited John Buckley.  He came with special muffins for us that Rada had baked (that's really the only reason that we invite him 😁😁).  Thanks Rada!

Besides the delicious muffins, I do have two special moments to savour.

On the par four first hole of the Red Falcon nine I scored my first birdie of the year.

And on the par three sixth hole - only 132 yards - I flubbed my tee shot and it went about 90 yards.  But, incredibly, my shot went further than the other three guys!  And I parred it!

They all beat my total score, but you have to take your victories when you can.

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One other odd thing happened today.  The Blue Jays won a game.  Amazing!

Stay well.

I'm Back

 Sorry folks, but your blog holiday is over.  I have my computer back.

Apparently, some malware was able to bypass the virus protection, but it's now fixed (and paid for).

But you didn't miss a lot.  Just digging in the dirt, cutting grass, watching the Blue Jays lose.  Exciting stuff!

But the Blue Jays did one really nice thing by recognizing the players from the 1992 and 1993 World Series champion teams.  A parade of those players who could attend preceded one of their games.  And "Touch 'Em All Joe" Carter had a monument unveiled......

..........and received his own home run jacket.

Nicely done!

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We did have some visitors along the way.  Kathryn made a visit on Saturday, and Mardi's son Greg took A.J., Michelle, Reggie, Mardi and me to dinner at the Powerhouse yesterday.

You know, I'm really beginning to like the kid a lot!

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Spent a couple of hours this morning at O.C.C., the eye clinic in Mississauga.  My eye pressure is where the glaucoma doctor wants it to be, and my reattched retina is holding nicely.  

Good to carry on.  Next visit in December.  Thank you OHIP!

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Closed out my day watching another Blue Jays disaster.  They'll be dismantling the team in the next couple of weeks before the trade deadline.  Hope they keep the good young ones.

Stay well.

Wind And Smoke

 When I walked out the door this morning, the escarpment had disappeared.  All that I could see was a grey wall of smoke.  

At Trillium Hill we were much closer to the escarpment and it looked like this.  Gray, not green.

The mask only lasted about an hour.  By then sweat was rolling down my cheeks inside the mask and it was hard to get air.  So, off it came.

The smoke is aggravating some braindead Ohio and Michigan Republican senators.  They want Canada sanctioned because we can't control our wildfires.  Meanwhile, the U.S. has had 39,764 fires that have burned more than 3.87 million acres.

And over the years we have put up with air pollution from Ohio and Michigan industries.  And they could have certainly controlled that!

How about they stop their tornados at the Canadian border and we stop our fires at the U.S. border. Fair exchange!

Or simpler still, those senators could stand outside and mouth off facing north.  I'm sure that those windbags could easily force that smoke back north of the border.

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Enough of that. let's get back to reality.  I weeded this garden about two weeks ago and look at it now.

Time for chemicals!

I weeded another area today and when I was taking the dirt and weeds back to the compost I saw a deer.  And I managed to get my phone out in time.  Look at the length of that tail!.

Life is good!

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This afternoon Mardi and I headed to the Lighthouse Theatre in Port Colborne to see "Crees In The Caribbean".  Most of the Lighthouse shows are comedies.  This one had lots of humour but it was a moving story about love and loss.  Bit of a tearjerker.

We can't get the Jays on TV tonight.  Some Fridays you have to pay to get it and we won't.  Just as well.  In the early innings they are down 5 - 0.

Stay well.

Two Glasses Of Wine

 First off, we send birthday greetings to Gary/Sven/Andy/Fudd and to Irene.  Best wishes.

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Yesterday, we ventured out to Stratford to see Guys and Dolls.  But first we headed to Lori and Frank's pool.

Remember the size of that glass that Lori is holding.

And most of you were on the mailing list last winter when she dared/cajoled me into going down the giant water slide.  Well, this time it was the kid's slide at their pool that was her target.  And, after two glasses of wine (the tumbler size above) I agreed to do it.

Fortunately, the video she took is too long to transmit 😬.

After I recovered we got dressed for dinner in theintimate wine room of her favourite restaurant.

Very special!

Following dinner, it was off to the Stratford Theatre for a showing of Guys and Dolls.

An intriguing set that changed amazingly, music that was memorable, and dancing that was incredible.  A wonderful show!

Mardi and I stayed over at their place and returned home this morning.  Many, many thanks to our hosts!

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We're on a culture tear.  Tomorrow it's the Lighthouse Theatre in Port Colborne for "Crees In The Caribbean".

Stay well.

Hot Stuff

 I didn't post yesterday so I missed Maureen's birthday.  Belated best wishes Moe.  We'll see you in Stratford tomorrow when we all visit Lori and Frank.

We had lunch yesterday with Jill and Ron, who were on their way to Welland.  We plan to head up their way later in the summer for a game of golf.

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This morning I cut grass at the greenhouse.  The first hour was great - comfortable temperature and a nice cooling breeze.  The second hour was hot but the breeze helped.  But the third hour was nasty hot and the breeze didn't help.  When I finished at 11:30 it was 33C.  Glad that I started early!

So the grass is all cut and I don't have to feel guilty about taking the next two days off.  We're heading to Stratford for a swim at Lori's and a play, followed by an overnight stay.  Looking forward to it!

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The Blue Jays players acquitted themselves well in the All Star Game.  Cease and Varland pitched scoreless innings and Clement made a couple of defensive plays, one of which was pretty spectacular.

I won't be reporting tomorrow night.  I'll fill you in on Thursday.

Stay well.

Mother Nature Was Busy

 Today was mostly a gardening day.  Cleaned up the Trillium crest garden and planted some annuals around the hydrangea tree.

When I was taking the weeds, etc. to the compost I stopped to admire the Black-Eyed Susans that Mother Nature had planted in the back field.

Very pretty!  And on the way back I stopped to admire a Snapping Turtle that had just vacated David's pond.  Not sure if she's looking for a place to lay her eggs but let's hope so.

Unfortunately, I missed the hatching of the Kildeer chicks.  The basket nest is empty and no sight of the family.  I'll probably see the babies when I'm cutting the lawn - they scurry out of the way and hide in the tall grass.

After I finished for the day I took a few minutes to cut a corner out of this pantry shelf for our new upstairs neighbours (many stairs - they're on the 12th floor).

Their fuse box is in the pantry and the shelf prevented it from opening, thus the surgery.

The board isn't solid wood, it's basically glued sawdust with a veneer so I warned them that the edge would not look the same after the cut, but I was told to go ahead.  Mardi dabbed white shoe polish on the cut to make it look better.

They took the board and we subsequently got this.

Welcome to the Shoreliner!

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Jays have lost the last two games in the last inning.  Hopefully, the All-Star break will help them to get straightened out.

Stay well.