Back to the chilly maritimes.

What a busy few days! I've never been a delegate before and that means you are required to attend ALL meetings. At other conferences we could skip out on some of the more boring ones but that wasn't an option this time. Meetings started at 8:00 and didn't finish till 4:00 with just a little time left to get ready for the evenings events.
As planned, I helped (?) the Grand River Chapter with their bid for the 2012 conference. It was a lot of fun and we got lots of positive comments from the attendees at the meeting, in spite of our lack of talent and practice.
Saturday nights banquet was nice with a really funny entertainer at the end. By the time it was over, I was done in. So back to the hotel room to finish packing and get ready to catch the bus for the airport at 5:00 in the morning.
Fortunately I got onto the flight and arrived in Toronto at 11:30 and Lloyd picked me up. It was really warm and the sun felt SO good. We got back to Guelph and Lloyd suggested having a picnic with the Dennison family. The kids had swimming lessons in the afternoon so we planned to get together after that. Later Lloyd and I went to Zehrs and I was standing beside the van in the parking lot and a little voice came up behind me and said "Hi Grandma". I turned around and there was Meghan. So I sent Lloyd home with the groceries and went shopping with Patti and the kids. When we were done we ended up at Lloyd's where we decided to have the picnic outside in the back yard. I took the kids to the park down the street for a little while, and when we got back it was time to eat. Lloyd had made potato salad and macaroni salad to go with our BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs. By the time we finished eating, it was time for us to go to Jana's. I had called her on the way back from the airport and we planned to get together after supper but ended up eating again at her house. I was SO stuffed when I got home, but it was great to have a bit of time to get together.

Lloyd dropped me off at the airport Monday morning and I caught a flight to Halifax, then the little plane to Charlottetown. There was a grand total of 7 people on the plane over to the island. I took a cab to the University and back to work. It was an uneventful workday and I was glad to get home at the end of the day.

And it's still raining...

I see that the rest of you are enjoying somewhat nicer weather.

It hasn't stopped raining since I got here. Not that this is a big deal because when you come to these things, your day is packed with meetings and seminars. And, from what I've heard, there really isn't much to see here anyway.

Yesterday we had a speaker who presented all morning, then after lunch there were two professional workshops. I thought they might be a bit dry but they turned out okay. Quite a few people had signed up for the evenings excursion, a pitchfork fondue in a barn outside of the city somewhere, but a lot of the Grand River girls didn't and neither had Donna and I, so we all got together and went for supper. We contemplated going out somewhere but it was wet and cold so we decided to just stay in and have dinner in the hotel restaurant. It turned out to be a good choice. It wasn't busy at all so the service was great, and it was quiet and well lit so we could really spend all our time chatting and catching up. The Grand River group is putting in a bid to host the 2012 CDC and after some wine, of course, it was decided that I would participate in my alter ego of Ms. Vista. The bid consists of a
presentation of what the area has to offer and Grand River is well known for it's musical numbers. So after supper we congregated in one girls room so I could be versed on the music number we are going to be singing. We would typically take a familiar song and change the words a bit, to suit our chapter, and perform, and I use that term VERY loosely! This year is no exception. We are dancing and singing our way through "Waterloo" by ABBA. The girls have put together costumes to go with it and since I don't have one, I'm wearing a dress that Ms. Vista wore in a fashion show several years ago (I just happened to have it with me!). They did find a sequined head band for me to wear. We'll all look like fools but what the heck - it's what we do best! We did a bid a few years ago but were beat out by North Bay, of all places. Typically there is only one chapter bidding to host CDC but that year there was some politics in place and we got our asses kicked. But this time, Grand River are the only ones bidding, and now the chapter has 100 members, back then I think there were only 40. They will now have a lot more resources to draw from. Everything happens for a reason! (And besides that, now I can just go and enjoy, I won't be on the host committee).



It will be busy afternoon today . In the morning, we have our division meetings. Canada is divided into three regions, Eastern, Ontario and Western. This morning we will all split into our respective regions and have meetings to elect officials for the Division level for the next year. I was a committee chair last year but I really don't want to do that this year. It's too hard to do any kind of fundraising or whatever from the distance we are away. There are fairly large chapters in Moncton and Halifax so they should do it. I know we are going to be approached about hosting a CDC in the future and I would really love to bring it to the island, but I just don't see how we can do it with the 6 to 8 members we have who actually come out to meetings. It has been mentioned a couple of times at the chapter level and the response is an unequivocal "NO". So I'd better just sit back and keep my mouth shut! But there IS a large contingent of girls planning to come to Moncton for next year's event but they plan to come earlier and spend some time on the island, preferably with me, so we'll have to see what we can do. It will be during lobster season, so I'm seeing a big party at my house with the Grand River girls and the PEI girls getting together. I've already started planning it in my head! Once the meeting parts are over, then we do our presentation, and it's all downhill after that!

Once we are done we go back to our rooms to get ready for a large banquet tonight. That usually lasts till around 10:00 then it will be time for me to go back to my room and pack and get ready to head out tomorrow. My flight leaves at 6:30 so I've got to be up and out early. Then off to Toronto for a quick visit with the family and then back home. I'm looking forward to getting back to the island.

Welcome to rainy Regina

The theme of this years conference is 'Stars Shine Brighter Under Prairie Skies' but there were no stars last night - except of course at the Oscar themed party. Let's just say a good time was had by all. I picked up a dress at Froggies in Charlottetown just before I left for the airport and it was perfect. Of course I had my Ms. Vista glasses on so it was a hit with my old chapter.

It was really great to meet up with everyone and the first 10 minutes was spent hugging everyone.

My trip was very uneventful. I got on in Charlottetown with no problems to Montreal, and I already had been assigned a seat on the flight from Toronto to Regina. But Montreal to Toronto was a little tricky. I didn't get on the first flight so they transfered me to the next flight out. Fortunately that one was wide open. But when I landed I had 10 minutes before boarding time and it was at the following end of the terminal, so it was a mad dash to catch it but that's better than having to hang around for hours.
I arrived at the Regina airport at 5:15 and by the time I got my luggage and a cab, it was about 5:45 when I got to the hotel and the opening ceremonies were at 6:30 but I made it with just enough time to wash my face, put on some new makeup, comb my hair and head out.
The opening ceremonies ended around 8:30 then we had half an hour to get ready for the party at 9:00. The four of us met in our room and we had a drink before we headed out. Paulette and Mary don't drink very often and everyone was giggling and laughing and just plain silly before we headed down to the party. It was a lot of fun and we left there around 11:00 (which was 2:00 am on my watch, PEI time)
I must admit I slept quite soundly. I really didn't want to get up this morning. But I got up first, showered and dressed and headed out to breakfast so Donna could get ready. While in the lobby, I met a girl from Calgary who has never been east before and she and her family are coming to PEI for a week at the end of June. So we plan to get together while they are there. While we were chatting, we met another very interesting woman, who came to our conference from Uganda. She was supposed to be travelling with a couple of other women but they were not given Visa's at the last minute so Florence came by herself. We spent a lot of time chatting and I now have been invited to visit Uganda. What an experience that would be - knowing someone local who could show you around.

Well , I need to keep this short and sweet, we start meetings very shortly.

I just read the comments and from yesterday, and YES, YES, YES I so want to volunteer this year - I assume it's the village feast. Please keep the information for me so I can call when I get back!

Don't mess with Patti - she'll take you down!

And the Taylor Swift saga continues.

I talked to Patti yesterday afternoon, and as she still hasn't received the tickets she paid $200 for, she did a little investigating on line. She ultimately found herself on a chat board where she discovered that she's not the first person who has been ripped off by these same people. So on one hand it's good that we have at least 2 tickets for the show, on the other , it's a little frustrating to get so taken. I know it's buyer beware when you use a site such as Kijiji but sometimes you just feel you have to trust people.

The up side is they sent Patti their banking information so she could do a transfer of the money from her bank to theirs. So she called the police in Nova Scotia as the bank is in Dartmouth. They advised they can't do anything but that she must contact the police in Guelph, then they do the follow up with Nova Scotia. So she has filed a complaint with the Guelph force, providing them with all the emails and the banking information. Hopefully they can do something about these people. It likely won't help Patti get her money back but at least it might prevent someone else from being take advantage of. I feel badly that this happened but I guess it happens sometimes.

Well I'm all packed up and read to go west. Sure hope it's warmer than it is here! I hear the weekend is supposed to be better but for this morning, it's very cold! I even turned on the gas fireplace last night. My hats are all done and the next photos you see of them will be actually on real heads! I've packed them up inside of the set of luggage I'm taking to Regina as an item for the silent auction, then I've wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap. I hope they don't need to unwrap it at the airport. I didn't have a box big enough for them to fit in but I didn't want them to get damaged. So we'll hope for the best. Once I get there it's no longer my problem. Someone else can worry about getting them home. One of the upsides of traveling stand by is that I don't have to pay for the second checked bag.

Well, I need to run and get Cooper's bag packed, and then my next stop is Regina! (Well not actually, my next stop is Montreal, then Toronto, THEN Regina)
Have a great day everyone - next post will be from the prairies!

One more sleep to CDC!

I have to admit, for someone who was kind of iffy about attending, I'm now really looking forward to going to Regina. I'm excited to see all my old comrades from the Grand River Chapter again. They are a crazy fun bunch of girls and we've had some good times in the past seven years since I joined IAAP.

One of the things I was known for was dressing up in crazy get ups. So this year can't be any different. On Thursday night there's an Oscar themed party and guests are invited to dress as their favorite movie star. There are some girls who go all out and spend a fortune on their costumes so there is no competing with them. In some ways that's better because it takes the pressure off to try to compete so you can just have fun with it.

There are four of us going so I've made four "Anne" hats for us all to wear. I'm not sure if the others will wear their's Thursday night but we'll find sometime when we can all wear them. I have a flower print dress left over from my "Ms. Vista" days (a previous persona) and I'll wear that with my hat and my signature glasses. It won't be a prize winner but it will be a winner with my old group. The hats are all done except for the ribbon around the crown. I'll do that tonight when I get home. I finished up the hair on them last night after enjoying (yet again!) a tasty supper at the Van Gaals.

Yesterday was a busy day at work and today looks to be much the same, and then I'm away! I got permission from Tracey to come in late on Monday so I'm going to stay in Guelph Sunday night and come back the next morning. So it's kind of like a little mini holiday, getting to spend a wee bit of time with Lloyd and the Dennison family.

It's quite chilly this morning but I refuse to give in and put the sandals away. I know it's going to get warmer. I made my list of clothes to take with me on the weekend when it was really hot. Then I checked the weather for Regina and it's not going to be hugely warm so I may have to re-think some of my choices. The other thing is that I'll be inside most of the time and those conference rooms usually tend to be air conditioned and I find them chilly. On the up side, I saw a really cute cardigan at one of the shops at the airport last time I went through Toronto so I may need to pick that up on my way to take with me. Just to have as a back up, you know. Actually a cardigan isn't something I own, and now they are totally in fashion. How weird will that be - me being in style. High fashion isn't one of my forte's.

As I sit here writing this, I think if I ever got a job at the DVA, I'd know a number of the staff employed there. I'm sure at least 20 or more people who work there stop at Timothy's every morning. That's one of the things I like about this place - now a number of people say hello in the mornings as they walk by, simply by virtue of the fact that we see each other every morning. It's funny how you know people to see the, you see each other every day for sometimes years on end, yet you never know a thing about each other - not even your names. But then again, if Brenda were sitting here with me, she would likely know 75% of them, and who their families are. That still really amazes me. But I'm slowly starting to get to know people. Sometimes when I'm in Sobey's getting groceries, I'll run into someone I've met at the rec centre, or at the University and it makes you feel like a part of the community, just to be able to stop and chat with someone you've met before.

Im looking forward to sharing all of that with the Grand River girls.

A weekend house guest

It seems no summer long weekend on PEI is complete without a house guest. Mine was no exception. But this guest was here for a little longer, I'm not sure how long but I first became aware of his (or her) presence a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't totally aware of it.

I opened the cutlery drawer and there were several pieces of dog kibble in the drawer. In the back of my mind I seemed to remember having spilled some dog food on the counter sometime earlier. I just figured that the drawer must have been open when that happened and some fell in. Why I hadn't noticed earlier totally escaped me. So I picked it out and put it back in the dogs bowl.

Saturday morning I opened the cutlery drawer and one of the compartments was overflowing with dog food. I just recently changed Coopers food and the pieces are much bigger than before. This was all new food, except for one piece of dry pasta. Now I knew I had company. We had mice on Inkerman Street in Guelph and they would take food and hoard it in piles in the unlikeliest of places - under the TV, behind book shelves, etc.

I fully expected to have mice in the house over the winter but so far I had never seen any sign of any, except for the day I came back from Arizona and Brenda dropped me off at home. There was a dead mouse in the middle of the floor of the back porch. No idea how it died.

I cleaned out the drawer once more and considered what I should do. I don't have any traps or any poison so I would have to get some the next time I was in town. But that idea isn't my favorite either as I've kept pet mice as a kid, but I know I have to get rid of them.

Sunday morning I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing my blog and I hear a soft "blip" of sorts every so often. It was almost like the sound a slowly dripping tap might make. I checked the faucets and they were nice and tightly turned off, so I went back and sat down. The sound continued but seemed to stop when I went near the sink. I decided to look under the sink cupboard. I had taken out both garbage bags the night before and the plastic containers were empty, except for the tall one which had one little mouse in it, trying very hard to jump out but it was just too deep. I took the container out of the cupboard and he just sat there. He didn't seem scared or running about frantically. He just looked at me as if to say, can you give me a hand here? He was so quiet he looked like a pet mouse that's used to being handled. I didn't pick him up, but I did take the container outside and turned it on it's side. He just ambled out and walked around a bit, then scurried off into the field. I know, I know, he'll be back, but I just couldn't kill him intentionally. He was so cute and he was just trying to survive.

We had the same thing happen with one on Inkerman Street once when we were on vacation. We got home and there was a dead mouse in the bottom of the empty garbage container. I felt so badly for it having struggled to get out until it died. I was happy to have been able to save this one. Most people think I'm slightly mad but that's who I am. I'm a sucker for sad little eyes.

I talked to Lloyd on the weekend and speaking of sad little eyes, they had their lobster party on Saturday. 42 pounds of fresh PEI lobsters were cooked to the delight of about 20 people. He said it was lots of work but everyone enjoyed themselves. Our friend Stephan was also there visiting for the weekend. When I called yesterday afternoon, there was a whole bunch of them sitting around in the hanger at the airport drinking beer. He's going to miss that when he gets here! He had made a chowder and they were planning to have that for supper along with something on the BBQ. I, on the other hand, enjoyed a Dairy Queen blizzard for my supper last night. I was in town poking around at Winners looking for a top to go with the new dress pants I bought in Arizona and on my way home I stopped at DQ. Brenda had mentioned Dairy Queen when I talked to her on Sunday night and I had that craving all day Monday.

Today feels like Monday, and tomorrow will feel like Friday as I'm off to Regina on Thursday. I've changed my flights home. I was getting into Toronto at 11:15 in the morning on Sunday so I may as well spend the afternoon and stay over and I can get a lift to the airport on Monday morning and catch the first flight out at 8:25. That will get me back on the island by 11:30. James has a ball tournament in London on the weekend so they won't be back until later in the day, depending on if they win or not. Patti expressed her opinion that it might not be a problem as they likely won't win anyway, so I told her to tell him that I'll be the consolation prize. If they lose they get back in time to have a little visit with me.

It's been a productive weekend.

It's Monday morning and I still have one day left of the long weekend. My 'to do' list is long but so is my list of things I've gotten done. Friday afternoon Brenda called me at 4:00 to see what we were doing for Friday Feast. Needless to say, neither of us planned ahead. She had been working hard all day and didn't feel like cooking. So, she suggested maybe a pizza or something we could quickly put together whenever Bernie came in and we were ready to eat. I told her not to worry, I had it covered. On my way home I stopped in to Sobey's and picked up some nice fresh rolls, a chilled BBQ chicken and some pasta salad, and a head of romaine lettuce. So Caesar Salad, Pasta Salad and chicken on a bun became our tasty version of fast food. While we were chatting after supper, I learned that Brenda has a relative who owns a lovely inn on Nantucket Island! That's long been on my list of places I've always wanted to visit. I convinced her that some time we should do a road trip.

By the time we got everything cleaned up it was 10:00 so I headed home to finish getting stuff together for the yard sale on Saturday morning. I was up early in the morning and it was windy and cool but the weather was meant to get warmer. By the time I got to the rec centre it was getting a little warmer but the wind was still chilly. Because the sun was shining it was decided to set up outside. We all got our tables and started setting up. I was beside Marlene and her sister Thelma so I had someone to chat with as the day wen ton. When folks were setting up I saw an old dresser beside one persons table. I like that it was old and appeared to be made from solid wood. In spite of a scratched top, it was in decent shape and I knew just where it would fit. I asked how much she wanted for it and she said $25.00 and I said "Sold". People stated arriving around 8:30 and one of the first ones to get there was Richard. He was eyeing a drop leaf table and 6 chairs that was for sale. Then he saw the dresser and I told him I'd already bought it. He looked it all over and offered me $30.00 for it but I said "No thanks". As only Richard can experience, he found a tennis racket with three initials on it - that just happened to be his. It was a sign he was meant to buy it. Now he can pursue that tennis career!
Later in the morning it was pretty quiet, but we were eagerly waiting for the BBQ hotdogs that one of the school groups was planning to do. By noon there was still no sign of hot dogs being cooked. So Marlene asked one of the girls who had organized this event and she told us they had backed out on Thursday. Needless to say we were disappointed, not to mention, hungry. It's too bad that we hadn't known as one of us could have organized something. I called Brenda on her cell phone as I knew she was taking the boys out for lunch at the rec centre.

I didn't do too badly. I still had stuff left but I made enough to pay for my table and my purchases, with a little left over, so I considered the day a success.
I loaded everything left back into the truck and headed home. My goal for the rest of the day was to cut the grass. It hasn't been cut yet this year and badly needed it. Brenda had suggested on Friday night that often the batteries need to be recharged on the lawn mowers after the winter. I hadn't tried it yet so she said if I needed help to just yell. So early Saturday morning I took the cover off it and lo and behold, it started first thing. I was very pleased I didn't have to call in a favour. (I like to save those for more important things). So once I got home I started in right away. I made the decision to try to cut the grass out back of the shed. It's quite a large piece of land with weeds overgrown for who knows how many years. It gets quite thick early in the season and this was no exception. I had walked around much of it and it seemed to be not too riddled with rocks, etc but with the length of grass, you really couldn't tell much. There are lots of trees planted back there but there seemed to be just enough space to pass between with the riding lawn mower. I had tried once to cut it last spring with the push mower but it was just too long and thick. So, out I headed. I just went very slowly and did come across the odd rock, but nothing too serious. It took approximately 4 hours to finish but by the time I was done, it looked great. Now it will be much quicker to keep it short. It looks so much better, and it should help a little bit to keep the bugs down. Maybe the trees will even have a better opportunity to grow. They are only about a foot tall and by the end of May you can't even see them as the weeds around them quickly take over. By the time I was finished I was very tired. So I took a nice long, hot bath then watched some TV and that was my day. Sunday morning I still had some grass in front to cut but I was up by 6:00 and it was way too early to start up the lawn mower. So I worked at cutting some of the brush away from the side of the house, then when it got to be 9:00 I figured the neighbours had slept enough so it was time to get the push mower out to trim close to the house and those other places that the big mower can't go. I was outside from 7:00 till I came in at 11:30. I had a message from Brenda but I called her and left her a message that I had to go to town and would be back around 2:00. But she didn't get the message as she was on her way over with kayak in tow. I felt really bad not being able to go but I really needed to get some stuff done in town. So we planned to get together when I got back. Unfortunately my trip in town took longer than I expected and she got a better offer!! She headed out on her bike with her friend Bob, who just bought his bike from Bernie this spring. I actually passed them on my way home. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride. I was going to do some work inside, but it was early afternoon so I took the dog over to Lakeside and we went for a stroll on the beach. There were actually some people in the water but it had to be cold! It was pretty quiet and very windy. By the time we left I had sand everywhere - even my hair was full of sand. So I came home and once again had an nice hot bath. While I was in town I stopped at the Superstore and picked up a couple of lobsters for my supper. So I cooked them and ate them and I discovered something I didn't realize till right now. I think I actually like them better cold than hot. I'd never had them cold till I moved here but now that I've had both I think I prefer the cold ones.

After my feast I settled down to watch the first Sex and the City movie. I rented it while I was in town. Now I'm ready to watch the new one next week. Turns out I won't miss the chance to see it with Kim and her friends. They can't go on opening day so are waiting till next week which is great for me.
I know Brenda was planning to watch the finale of Lost last night. I hope it lived up to the hype.

I did find out something else interesting - Meghan (1) is also a fan of Gray's Anatomy!(yet another thing we have in common - your mom says it's a good thing we don't live close to each other - there's no telling how much trouble we could get ourselves into!)
Brenda told me she was talking to her about the season finale and she couldn't watch it all. It was very emotional. But Meghan, most of it turns out okay so you should really go online and watch it all. There are a couple of things that took place that you might need to know for next season.

One last note: a big thank you to Richard and Daralen. They stopped by on Saturday on their way to Campbell Cove. I was out bouncing around the back field on the lawn mower and I happened to look over and Daralen was standing in the back door way. They brought over a thank you card and two dozen pink carnations. I was confused because I thought, it's not by birthday or anything. So Daralen just said they were to thank me. I still didn't get it. I said "But I didn't do anything". Apparently they were for the microwave oven. There was certainly no need for that. My gosh, they were so helpful to us whenever we were staying in the bunky. We often borrowed things from them and we got all of our water from them as well. It was nice to have the opportunity to give something back. I certainly didn't need to be thanked. So thank you again.

Well, it's now 7:00 am and I have lots to do inside today. I want to clean up, get my clothes ready for the conference, finish the Anne hats for the girls, and I have minutes to do from our last meeting.

Happy Long Weekend Friday!

A big congratulations to Ethan Van Gaal. Last night was his graduation from Holland College!

It's cool this morning but I had bright blue sunny skies all the way to town and as I got closer I could see a thick blanket of gray clouds hanging over the city. When I got to Timothy's, Michelle commented that it was going to get nicer. I told her it's on it's way - it's just over the bridge.

I popped over to the Anderson's last night to measure the microwave in the bunky for her trailer. Turns out the cupboard she planned to put it into was almost custom made for the microwave. It fit absolutely perfectly. She was very happy. I also picked up most of the stuff that was in the bunky and took it home to clean it up. There doesn't seem much point in keeping any of this stuff. I will keep some things but most of it can go in the sale. I'm going to have a very full table! But then a lot of my stuff is larger items, so it looks like more than it actually is. I do hope I sell some of it.
Daralen called me before I got there and invited me to join them for supper. She started out by saying "It won't be as fancy as what you make". I assured her that anytime anyone wants to cook for me, I'm there! It's always nice to have someone else cook for you but even nicer to have someone to have conversation with while you share your meal.

Richard has decided he's going to use the store for building his chairs. That's a great idea. I think he had planned to do that somewhere in the future but now that he has it, he's going to give it a shot. I think he should do well, he does beautiful work. I understand his plan is to just be there on the weekends, maybe sometimes in the evening, so I suspect a few folks will be dropping in for coffee and a chat. It won't be the same as before but it will be something. They're moving the camper today up to Campbell Cove and plan to spend the weekend . It's supposed to be a great one, weather wise.

Yesterday I had a chat with my boss, Tracey. There's a job posting over in Student Services with a one year contract. It's only a level 3 and my current job is a level 5, but at some point the person I'm replacing will come back. I'm afraid if I don't find something now while they're staffing for next year, by the fall there won't be anything available. I found out also that there are not a lot of level 5 jobs, most are 3 or 4 so I really lucked out getting this one which makes it all that much harder to leave it. I'm really in a bit of a quandary. Should I stay or should I try for something else? She is totally supportive of what ever I choose to do. She says I have to do what is best for me, not the department, and that she will give me a great reference. She said she's already mentioned to some people that I'm someone that should be kept around.


The Taylor Swift saga continues. I talked to Patti yesterday. She transferred the money for the tickets ($200) to the other person's bank account, and now they aren't returning her emails. She has emailed several times to get details of how they were being sent, when, etc but she has gotten no reply after the money was received. I'm hoping that they are in the mail and will arrive any day but now she's not so sure. Our dilemma is how long do we wait for these, before we buy one more. We decided that we will buy one more adult ticket now that more are available. Worse case scenario we wind up with 4 tickets instead of 3. We'll just have to find someone else to use that ticket for us. I'm hopeful that's how it turns out and I'm pretty sure it will. I do tend to believe most people are honest and this time will be one of those times. They could arrive today but Patti left last night for London, England. I'm a little jealous as I love London. I want to go over for a week and visit with Petra at some point but I don't see it being this summer. Patti always asks me if I need anything brought back from England. She's going to pick me up some more Maldon Sea Salt, I'm getting low. It's my favorite salt and comes from the coast of England. You can sometimes get it here but it's very expensive so I always get her to pick me some up when she goes there. Most people ask for more interesting things to be brought back from other peoples travels - not me.

As I sit here this morning, I'm reminded of one of the less pleasant aspects of the warm weather - BUGS! I was outside on Wednesday night getting stuff out of the shed to put in the truck for the sale and there were swarms of black flies. I have at least 5 or 6 good bites on my arms and a couple on my ankles and are they itchy this morning. I'm trying my best not to scratch them but it's hard not to. I might be needing my bug jacket to cut the grass. Mosquitoes can't be far behind.

Have a very happy long weekend everybody!

It's almost the long weekend!

It's drizzly and overcast this morning, and a wee bit cooler, but that's not going to take away from the anticipation of a sunny long weekend. I have lots I need to do. I keep saying that, but it just doesn't seem to get done. The last couple of nights I was really tired when I was driving home, no idea why. Last night I laid down on the couch when I got home and set the timer on the stove so I wouldn't fall asleep for too long. I just needed a little power nap. I did hear the timer but kept on dozing, even though it beeps every 2 or 3 minutes after it's gone off. Fortunatly Darelen called me and forced me to get up. It seems she's looking for a small microwave oven for her camper and Richard read in my blog that I was selling one in the garage sale. I told her that the one I have at home is too big but we can check the one in the bunky. I think it will also be too big but it's worth checking out. So I'm going to swing by there tonight. I may as well pick up the stuff from the bunky while I'm there. So apparently this little blog serves another purpose!

Yesterday I took my car into Toyota for my first service. I had taken it in back in February for the recall, and after that the radio has been very staticey (is that even a word??) whenever I turn on the radio. People who know me well know that this is a huge deal for me. I have to have the music playing in my car. I had no idea what they could possibly have to do with each other or the recall repair. So I mentioned it to the girl at the service counter and they said they would check it out. Last night when I got there to pick it up they said they've ordered me a new back window. He said that the wires in the window for the defroster are interfering with the antenna. I asked how this could happen and is it common? He said he's only ever seen it once before. So I'll have to take it back in to get the window replaced. I didn't think it was that big a deal but he says they need to do it. I suspect they are bending over backwards with service these days to keep their customers happy.

I've been trying to get hold of Patti but she must be working. I need to confirm if she got the tickets for Taylor Swift, because if she didn't, they are now for sale again on the Cavendish Beach website. I only found that out yesterday when someone emailed me as a result of the kijiji ad to tell me they were on sale again. Hopefully I'll hear from her today. I've just gone in and looked at the website and there's a band playing on Sunday that I like. I don't know anything about them and I don't know their music except for one song I've heard a lot on the radio recently called "I need you now". I'd heard it several times and really liked it and finally I checked out who they were - Lady Antebellum. I had no idea they were playing here. Maybe I need to get a longer pass after all. I'll check out the prices and see what's up. Meghan and I may end up camping out for the weekend.

I've been reading this book I picked up at the airport written by Candace Bushnell, the author of Sex and the City. It's called One Fifth. It's about a fancy apartment building in Manhatten and the lives of the residents who live there. Two of the characters in it write blogs, commercially. Obviously they have more interesting things to say than I do. Because of what they do, they are the object of a lot of derogatory comments. Then last night I was watching Criminal Minds and the victims where targeted through their face book accounts. That was a little scary, but while the FBI agents were in the airplane, on the way to the crime scene, one of the older agents, was wondering why on earth anyone would want to read the boring day to day details of another persons life. I agree with that, but the bottom line is, you don't have to read it. I find that too often people object to things that are a choice - be it a movie, TV show, book, whatever. It's something you have to make a conscious decision to view. So if you don't like it, don't read/watch whatever it is. I can never understand people who speak out about something like a movie, that they feel is terrible. Then don't watch it! And let those who do want to, go ahead.
Gosh, listen to me - it's time to get down off my soapbox and get off to work.

Finally some great weather!

Another beautiful day is coming our way today. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, and boy did we enjoy it. When I got home I walked the dog, then went over to Mount Stewart to fill my gas can so I can cut the grass, and put some gas in the truck as well as it was pretty empty. The last time I took it out I was skeptical about my ability to get home without running out, but I made it. I had about a litre of gas in the gas can and that was enough to get me to Mount Stewart. Tonight I really need to cut some grass, at least around the house. The front yard and the side yard are not so bad but it's getting quite long around the house. I'd hate for the neighbours to have something else to complain about!!

This Saturday there's a yard sale at the Rec Centre. All I have to do is show up on Saturday morning and pay $10.00 and that will give me a table, so last night after I got home I loaded up the truck with 'stuff'. When I was clearing out the sun porch I found some stuff I really don't need and I've also got a spare microwave, convection oven, water cooler, all things that work great but I have no need of. Then I was thinking about the stuff in the bunkey. There's kitchen stuff there such as an electric kettle, a toaster, etc, that we won't be needing either so I think I should stop by there one night this week as well and see what else I can add to the pile. I may as well while I have the opportunity.

Yesterday I talked to Lloyd about our 'problem' with the dog, and I think we are going to look at invisible fencing. That way he won't have to be tied and Scoobie can still come over and play. We'll have to price it out and see what it's going to cost. I remember it was several hundred dollars when we bought it last time, but that's cheaper than fencing the whole place.

Brenda is going to Korea. I talked to her last night and she's gotten information on ticket prices and has until Friday to make up her mind. I have to admit I'm a little envious. I think anytime one has the chance to travel to some far off place, they should take it. It will be a great opportunity for her to see the place Caitlyn is working in and being able to share that will be wonderful. For the rest of their lives they will have that experience to share. It's one thing to look at the pictures of a place but it's not the same as actually visiting. I know that Jana reads my blog from time to time and now that she's been here, and has met my friends, it's real. When I write about a place or a person, she knows what I'm talking about as she's been here and seen it for herself.

Short post this morning. I had to drop my car off at Toyota for my first service so didn't get to Timothy's. Instead I'm writing this from my desk, and now I must prepare for a meeting, so I'm off to make sure everything is working in the boardroom and all ready to go!

It's going to be a lovely day!

At least I hope so. Last night was not so much. I have mixed feelings this morning and I'm not sure what to think.

I have a new neighbour, and last night we met for the first time. I was watching a program on my computer in the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. I looked outside and saw an unfamiliar vehicle and an unknown woman at the back door. I opened it and was greeted by a lady who informed me she was my new neighbour. My first thought was that it was very nice of her to come over and introduce herself. Turns out I was wrong. The purpose of the visit was to inform me that in a couple of weeks there would be cattle pastured across the road, and accompanying them would be a donkey. She went on to inform me that the donkey will kill the dog if he comes anywhere near the cattle. I expressed my appreciation at letting me know in advance of this potential threat to Cooper's safety. And if she had left it at that, it would have been fine. But at least five times during the course of the conversation, she specifically made a point of saying, and I quote, "He took a dump on my front yard". If she had told me this once I could understand the frustration that must have come from it, but after the fifth time, I realized that's what was really bothering her.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand how she must feel. The dogs next door come over and poop in my yard all the time, but I'm fairly certain that Cooper occasionally does the same thing next door so it balances out. I don't complain about it to them, and Laurie and Frank don't complain about it to me. I guess she just wanted to make sure I totally understood why she was really there. I felt after the fourth time of saying it, that maybe she wanted me to come over and pick it up. If I wasn't afraid of sounding like a smart ass, I would have asked her if that's what she would like me to do.
She kept saying how much she loves dogs and that she was only concerned for his safety. I told her I would make sure he doesn't go over to her yard anymore, by tying him up when he's outside. She then said, gee, I hate to see them tied up. Well gosh lady, what would you like me to do? So he was not a very happy camper this morning when I got his chain out of the shed and put him out on that. But I suppose he'll adjust. But let's just say that when he started his howling to get in, I didn't quite go to let him in as quickly as I might normally have done.
I guess I'm sounding a bit bitter, and I don't really mean to. I suppose if I had a nice new fancy house, I'd not like to have the neighbours dogs pooping everywhere.
She also went to my next door neighbours, and apparently that neighbours response to the donkey threat was "Oh well, if he gets killed, he gets killed" Needless to say I heard all about that too.
It could be an interesting summer so I think I will just keep Cooper either tied or on a leash, and let the other two battle it out.
The new neighbour did invite me over for coffee sometime. That's not likely to happen because I don't really want to get into the middle of the two of them, it could get nasty!

But on the bright side, it's going to be 20 degrees today and the sun is shining so it's all good.

Is it going to warm up anytime soon!

Gosh, we had such beautiful weather at Easter and since then it's been little else but cold. But I hear the good weather is coming tomorrow. It's supposed to be 20 degrees, and we are so looking forward to that.
Some interesting comments on Friday's blog! I didn't know that Meghan (1) was a big fan as well. I too planned to watch the first Sex and the City movie on the weekend but I never made it to the video store. I will do that for sure this coming weekend. It will be nice to compare notes after we've both seen it. I talked to Kim on Friday and it looks like her and her friends might not be able to go as a group until the week after it opens, so I may be able to go with them after all.

It was not too bad a weekend, pretty relaxing at times. Friday night's Friday Payday Drinks ended up getting cancelled as everyone had other places to go. It was a busy night in town. I suspect now that the nice weather is soon going to be here, people will have more and more things to do on a Friday night, but I'll still keep sending out the invitations anyway.

I was very pleased to have been invited out for supper with Brenda, Bernie, Raymond and Marlene to the Lucy Maud Dining Room at the Culinary Institute. I really enjoyed myself and the food was very good. It was my first time there but I will definitely go back when Lloyd is here. I was very delighted to see they had Beef Carpaccio on the menu - one of my FAVORITE appetizers. I followed that up with a Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin. It was amazingly tender and delicious. I need to check into that a little further, as I recently found out you can purchase a small Sous Vide cooker for home use. I'm familiar with the process but had never actually had the chance to taste something cooked with that technique.

Sous vide (pronounced soo–veed) is a culinary technique in which vacuum sealed food is immersed in a water bath and cooked at a very consistent temperature. The cooking time is longer than other methods for the same food, but the cooking temperature is much lower. This low–and–slow method yields remarkable and unique results.

The term sous vide is French for “under vacuum.” This method of cooking was developed in the mid–1970s by chef Georges Pralus for the internationally renowned, Michelin three–star Restaurant Troisgros, in Roanne, France.

We started our dinner with an amuse-bouche of a little' sandwich' comprised of a date filling sandwiched between two tiny pieces of crisp double smoked bacon. It was very tasty, but I felt the bacon was a little overcooked.

But the rest of the meal was delicious. It was an extremely pleasant evening and I didn't feel like a third wheel at all.

Early Sunday morning I got up and went into town for a haircut and just to run a few erands I'd been needing to complete. I stopped at the Farmer's Market and picked up some veggies, including some nice fresh fiddle heads, then filled up my propane tank on the way home. I can now bar-b-que again!

Saturday afternoon was quite lazy - a nap first then parked in front of the computer to catch up on missed episodes of Glee, that I got turned onto during my flights to Arizona. The story line is a bit hokey, but the music is great.

Sunday morning I was up at 6:00 and spent the first 2 1/2 hours drinking coffee and reading a book. Brenda called around 8:30 suggesting we go kayaking as the sun was shining so beautifully. That was our plan, after attending a pancake breakfast at the rec centre. They were having a cake auction, too bad Lloyd wasn't there. He loves those things. Unfortunately the morning was marred a bit by the unfortunate collapse of an elderly gentleman from the community. It took quite some time for the ambulance to arrive but in the meantime someone was doing CPR on him. I've not heard yet how me is. Without the store to keep everyone in touch and up on what's going on in the area, news isn't traveling quite as fast as it used to.

Because the weather wasn't so good, Brenda stayed home and did some bookwork after I stopped in to have coffee after breakfast. Once I got home I decided to make a cobbler with the rhubarb I'd bought at the market, and then I thought, what the heck, I should invite the Van Gaals for supper. I'd also bought a tiny pork loan so split that open and put some ham and apple slices inside, before sealing it back up. I attempted to cook it on the Bar-b-que but it was so windy, there didn't seem to be enough heat, so I eventually brought it inside and finished it in the oven. It was a pretty simple supper, just the pork, some oven roasted fingerling potatoes, carrots and fiddle heads, and the rhubarb dessert. It was so nice to be able to cook a nice meal, as I don't usually do that just for myself. The bonus is that I have enough for supper tonight. I truly enjoyed my evening with Brenda and Bernie. It's always interesting conversation and generally a good time was had by all, I think.

Lloyd had been trying to arrange for some fresh lobsters to be shipped up to him for a dinner with the guys at the airport, but in the long run he can buy it up there for about $1.00 more per pound than he can buy it here, from a fish place in Kitchener, so that's what he plans to do. I'd not mind going up for the weekend but I have high hopes of getting some yard work done. First on the agenda for the weekend is a yard sale at the rec centre. I can rent a table for $10 and I've got quite a few things I can get try to get rid of.

With any luck we'll get some kayaking, or at least a walk or two, in during the three days.

I received a really nice email from Jana. Please say hi to "les mamas" for me This should be a pretty relaxing week for everyone, just what they all need right now. Jana, if you read this (and I know you might!) can you pick me up a bottle of vanilla? My last one is almost done and I can get Lloyd to pick it up from you. I'll pick it up on my next trip to Ontario.

Now it's Monday, and back to the working world!

Time to do some spring yard work

Yesterday I was looking for the other pictures of my window renovation, but I couldn't find them. I really need to go into my photos and organize them better. They show up in the oddest places. This is a picture of Will, struggling through the window job. You never know what you're going to find when you get into these old houses, and it was certainly a challenge for Will, but he did a great job - with my help of course! (NOT)
He now knows he's much rather work on building a new house than renovating an old one. But it's good experience for him and a bonus for me - it will be so nice to be able to open those windows in the summer.

Back on the Easter weekend, we had such beautiful weather, and everyone was inspired to get outside and work in their yards. That seems to have come to a grinding halt, at least at my house. I did spend part of one evening raking and gathering the branches off the trees, finally, but there is still much to do. I hope the weather isn't too cool. I have a huge pile of branches in my front yard that need to be moved, so this is going to be my weekend to do that. I also need to cut my grass, and the list goes on.
I've had a bothersome knee for a large part of the last week, but today it seems to be much better, so I can't use that as an excuse. I want to put a flower bed along the side of the house and now that the window is done, I can go ahead and do that. I want to put some in the front as well, but I have high hopes that one day there will be a front porch added that will go all across the front of the house.
Last night was my main TV night (after a delicious supper at the VanGaals) - CSI, Gray's Anatomy and the season finale of Private Practice. I had to stay up till midnight but I managed to stay awake, but getting up this morning was a challenge. But the sun is shining and should stay that way for the day, not like yesterday, where it looked so promising early in the morning and then quickly deteriorated.

The new Sex and the City movie opens on May 27th. Yesterday morning I sent out an email to all the girls at work to see if anyone was interested in going for dinner then the movie. I got negative response from everyone except Kim, who it seems is a huge fan, along with 5 of her girlfriends. In fact when the last one came out, they all chipped in and rented a limo to take them to the opening. How much fun would that be! Only a true fan of the show would understand that. So Kim invited me to join them to go and see it, so I was very happy. Then last night it suddenly dawned on me that I'm going to Regina that day. I'm so disappointed to miss a night out with a bunch of girls. It would have been so much fun! But I will have one free night in Regina, when there are special events planned that I'm not attending. The conference usually has some entertaining event to attend on the Friday night but it's a little over $100 this year and I decided I really wasn't that interested in going. But there are usually a group of us who don't go, so maybe I can get a group together that night.

I'm sitting at Timothy's this morning having my coffee and a girl just came in to get her coffee, and as she was leaving I realized it was Kathy O'Rourke of curling fame. But today it's just another work day for her. That's what I love about this place - it doesn't matter who you might be, you can just come and go no matter what you might have accomplished. I know that when Paul McCartney was here a few years ago, he and his then wife, Heather, went shopping at the Roots store downtown. He would never have been able to do that in Toronto.

Did I mention that I love it here?

Before and After

When I was in Guelph, before we left for holidays, Lloyd was lamenting somewhat about the things he needs to get done here on the island. One of those was installing the windows in the sunroom. I just had to tell him that I got it done. I don't think he believed me at first. He was genuinely pleased that the work was done and he didn't have to do it. I really wanted to surprise him when he came down next time but I just couldn't wait to tell him. So now he knows. I saw Will when I got back and he was a little disappointed that I told Lloyd. He thought I should have told him I did it myself. I'm sure the thought of that would have caused all kinds of concern for him until he saw it. Will did such a good job, he would have known immediately that I didn't do it, and besides Will really deserves the credit. I had some pictures I took of the inside on my computer but I didn't have any outside ones so I took a couple when I got home. Now I just need to paint the inside to freshen it up. Now that I have a futon in there, it will provide sleeping space for two more people.

Patti mentioned that John and Sarah want to come down as well, so it may be a pretty full house but it would be fun. I'm sure some of the kids could sleep on the floor if needed.

She called me last night and told me she checked my ad on kijiji and emailed someone who has two tickets for sale for $100 each. She was going to see if we can just buy one, but we may just buy the two and Patti will go with us. She'll fly out with Meghan on Friday and go back on Sunday, and leave Meghan here. Then they will all come on Tuesday, and Meghan can go to one of the summer camps at UPEI. They have several choices available and now she'll have to decide which one she wants to go to. That will be perfect as I can just drop her off on my way to work and pick her up when I'm done. They have a CSI camp that I know James would love to go to. We should check the dates and see if it's possible for him to attend.

This morning I was a little late leaving for work and as I passed the VanGaal's my attention was drawn to the flashing lights on a large yellow bus in the lane. I assume Brenda was doing her circle check before heading out on her route this morning.

This week Shoppers Drug Mart has a sale on photo printing, so it's perfect timing for me. I put 150 pictures out of the who knows how many I took, onto a memory stick and I'm dropping them off this afternoon, as it's the last day of the sale. It will only cost me $15.00 for all 150 photos and I sure couldn't print them at home that cheaply. I've been a little lax in getting back into my scrapbooking so this is the boost I needed to get me jump started again. The last book I worked on was our last trip, which was also Arizona, but that was over two years ago.

It's still very cool in the mornings but now that I've got my summer clothes out, I'm not going back, so while I may be a little chilly in the mornings, I look like the eternal optimist going to work in sandals and bare legs everyday. But the nice weather's coming, I know it is!

It's Wednesday already!

It's amazing how much yesterday felt like a Monday for me and now it's Wednesday already! It's good to be back but my gosh, it's busy. I have a big backlog of stuff that needs to be input into the data base. Fortunately Rosie was away yesterday so it gave me a bit of time to catch up, although I'm not nearly there.
When I got to work yesterday there was a mountain of boxes in my office, literally.

Before I left I ordered two new desktop computers, 1 laptop, and three monitors. Somehow, it got screwed up and I have 3 desktop computers, 8 monitors and no laptop. So until they get it sorted out, they are all still just a pile of huge boxes, piled up in front of my desk. I guess the upside is no one knows I'm there unless they come right in and go around the pile, so it's like I'm in a little fort. The kids would love it!
Speaking of kids, apparently the Taylor Swift show is sold out! Patti told me that when I got to Toronto last week. She tried to get tickets online and they are all gone. Actually they aren't - you can still buy a weekend pass but no individual tickets are left for her show. What to do! So I called the Confed Centre and I can buy a weekend pass for Meghan for about $10.00 more than the one day pass. So I went ahead and got that one for her. Now I just have to find one more ticket. I put an ad on Kijiji looking for one ticket and I got a response this morning - but she wants $175.00 for one ticket. Come on guys, this isn't Paul McCartney you know! Anyway I'll see what comes up over the next little while. I'm sure I'll find something or maybe I can find someone she can go with.
It does have to me Grandma who takes her to her first concert, and she so much wants to go. Worse case scenario I buy a weekend pass and we just go for the weekend. Speaking of music, (and Paul McCartney) I know he owns a ranch in the Phoenix/Tucson area and he and Linda used to spend a lot of time there. Well, on the way to Tucson, there's a road very clearly marked called McCartney Road. What are the chances, in a place where everything has a Mexican or southwest type of name, that something would be called McCartney? One of those things that certainly makes me go hmmmmmmmmmmm!

Last night we had our monthly IAAP meeting to pat ourselves on the back for a great Administrative Assistants day event. Already there are suggestions of how we can improve next year. We didn't make as much money as we had originally hoped but we made enough to help out those of us who are going to Regina. Donna and I are sharing a room and the chapter has given us enough to pay for it. So that is a big help to both of us.

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. We have our Friday payday drinks after work and last night Brenda called to tell me we are invited to join Marlene and Raymond for dinner at the Culinary Institute. I've not been upstairs before and neither has Brenda so we're quite looking forward to it. There's also a lobster supper at the rec centre on Friday night as well, so we had to choose which one to attend. Life can certainly be complicated here on the island! I'm quite pleased to have been invited to join the two couples for supper. I know a girl who works with me who is single, and she would never accept such an invitation as she feels she would be the "fifth wheel" and would never consider going. But I don't feel that way at all. I'm lucky to have made such good friends and I figure if they didn't want my company they wouldn't have invited me so I'm just very grateful that they did. When Lloyd comes up next time we'll just have to invite Marlene and Raymond over for dinner along with the Van Gaals. I know, any excuse for a party.

I'm still pondering Richard's suggestion of doing something with the store but the problem I have is that I need to do some investigating into what's out there for assistance but I'm just too busy at work to take the time to do it. The practical side of me says don't even consider it - too much work, too much insecurity, etc, etc but then the creative side of me says why not give it a try? It may never have this opportunity again to be my own boss, to have the chance to do something all on my own and see if it will work. I'm just not sure I have enough confidence to pull it off. Richard seems to think I'd be the ideal person to do this but then he has his own bottom line to take care of. I should really call Dave and go over and have a good chat with him about it sometime soon. He can probably shed some insight on things.

It's good to be home.

This morning, Tuesday, things are pretty much back to normal. We had an uneventful trip back from Phoenix. We were fortunate to be put into first class so it made for a much more comfortable ride back. Then the greeting we got at the airport was amazing. Patti and the three kids were there to pick us up and what a greeting it was! As soon as they saw us all three came running up to give us hugs, Meghan had flowers, it was really a nice way to come back. Then in the van, of course, everyone was anxious to tell us everything so it was none stop chatter all the way to Guelph. We stopped at Patti's and had cake and ice cream before we left. It was a wonderful way to end the day, the trip and to spend part of Mother's Day.
James is quite excited to have his own email address. It will be fun to keep in touch with him on a personal basis, although his messages are pretty short as he uses the hunt and peck system of typing. He was especially excited about the sucker with the scorpion in it. He couldn't wait to show it to his friend Ben.
Lloyd drove me to the airport early Monday morning and I was able to catch the early direct flight to Charlottetown so I didn't have any time to wait at all. Brenda picked me up at the airport and we stopped at Sobey's on the way to her house, to have lunch - lobster sandwiches. What a treat! It was cool here but everything is SO green - a very sharp contrast to the never ending browns and beiges of Arizona. Needless to say it was no where near the temperatures either. But it was nice to light the fire in the kitchen and enjoy that enveloping warmth. Even the dog was happy to lie beside it. I'm sure he missed that. When Brenda dropped me off, Scoobie, the dog next door, came over and just looked at me with this very sad face - "Where's my buddy?" When I picked Cooper up he could barely contain himself, he was so anxious to get out of the car. He spent the entire afternoon outside with Scoobie. The fact that the field next door is being worked in helped I'm sure. There were lots of machines out there and a few guys working so they were in their glory checking out the neighbourhood!
I went over to Brenda's to drop off their Harley shirts, which they both really liked. Brenda loved the colour of hers, so cheers to Lloyd, he's the one who chose the colours.
An interesting phone call came in while I was away. Richard called to say he had news he wanted to share. So after supper I called him back to see what was up. It seems that he bought Dave's store. He has no interest in running it but is looking to rent it to someone who might be interested in doing that. So I met him there to have a look. The rent he is asking is ridiculously cheap, so I have all these thoughts going through my head about what could be done with it. I think I'll make some calls and see what's out there for funding to start up a small business. It would not be the same as Dave's store but I have a ton of ideas of what it could be. In reality I should just sit down until this feeling passes, that would be the smart thing to do. But, maybe it's worth investigating?
A note for Meghan (1) - I'm sorry to report that I didn't buy the Cricket cake machine. I was very tempted but I just thought I really can't do that right now. But then Lloyd suggested that it could be a birthday or Christmas present at some point, so let's just leave it at that!
I'm excited for Brenda - she has plans to go to Korea in July - how much fun will that be! I'm a little envious. We're going to get together one night soon to look at options for how to get her there.

I'm hoping the weather will be a little nicer this weekend so I can get a handle on some of the work outside. The grass is in need of cutting and I want to try to cut the grass out back where the small trees are, and keep it trimmed to cut down on mosquitoes. It can't hurt. But I have to get at it now before it gets too long. It's already growing quite a bit so this will be the weekend where I conquer it, if I can. Because of the trees, I'll have to use a push mower, the riding one is too wide to go through a lot of it. but we'll see what can be done.

Save me some lobster - I'm on my way!

As I write this I am sitting in the Phoenix airport. Our flight is delayed by 1 1/2 hours but we have no idea why. I've called Patti and left her a message and I hope she checks with the airport before she drives to Toronto.
Yesterday was Saturday and we had a very lazy day in the morning, not heading out till just before lunch. We had a great lunch at a little Mexican restaurant. The food was very good and there was a woman making flour tortillas by hand along one wall. She was flattening them by slapping them back and forth between her hands, then cooking them briefly on each side on a round, flat grill. I asked if I could take her picture and she kindly obliged. After leaving there, we went downtown to see what, if anything, was going on. We found 4th Avenue, an eclectic mix of shops and restaurants. We parked the car and walked around for a bit then went back over to the area we explored on Monday. We sat outside at the little cafe we had coffee at on Monday and had a cold beer. We needed it, the temperature was 97 degrees. On the way back to the car, I said the absolutely unthinkable to Lloyd - I've had enough of the heat - I'm ready to go home. He just looked at me as those were words he ever expected to hear from me. I'm always cold and really like the hot weather but this was too much. I enjoyed it but by the end of the day, you ,are absolutely wiped out and I think it's the heat. It just takes so much out of you. It was nice to get away but now it's time to go home. I even checked my work email yesterday, something I haven't done since I left UPEI on Thursday night. Now I'm primed for some lobster! And I can't wait to see my silly little dog. I even found a sign in a gift shop that I just had to buy. It says "WARNING - overly affectionate Cocker Spaniel" - needless to say it was too appropriate!
We had a quite afternoon yesterday when we got back, and I had a nap while Lloyd read his book, then while he napped, I did some laundry and sorted out my stuff to pack for today. By the end of the night we had everything washed, packed and only the clothes we needed for this morning set out. We had the alarm set for 6:00 but we were both up by 5:15. We left the resort at 7:00 for the 2 hour drive to Phoenix. It was much quicker than the one down, and we had no accidents or sandstorms to contend with.

All in all, it's been a great week, but I'm ready to go home. I miss the green. Everything here, and I mean EVERYTHING, is some shade of beige or brown. The housing subdivisions are all the same colour and the ground is dry and brown everywhere you go. Throughout the week, we've passed numerous rivers, some that are even marked on the map, and there isn't a speck of water in any of them. In fact they all have vegetation growing in the bottoms. I much prefer the lush green we have at home this time of year. I know the leaves may not all be out yet but I know they will be soon and we'll have that to look forward to.

I've heard that people who love the mountains, don't much care for the ocean, and ocean people don't much care for the mountains. Having been born in the middle with neither ocean or mountains to influence my way of thinking, I now know I much prefer the ocean - and I can't wait to get back!

Old Tucson Studios

We got up none too early – I think it was around 7:30. Again it’s sunny and warm. We both spent a bit of time reading and just lounging around. I was sitting out on the balcony and I saw a road runner walking just below the balcony on the rocks. I quickly went inside to get the camera but when I got back it was gone. So I went back to reading my book. A few minutes later, I was aware of some kind of movement on the balcony behind me. I was startled and more than a little bit nervous to look and see what was there. Suddenly the road runner came walking along beside my chair, just as brave as can be. It quickly moved to the other end of the balcony and stood there looking at me. I quietly called to Lloyd to bring me a piece of bread. We had some multi grain bread with lots of seeds in it. He brought a piece and slowly handed it to me through the door. I pulled off a small piece and tossed it to the bird, who quickly ate it. Then I continued putting small pieces on the floor but closer and closer to my chair. At one point it came right up to about 2 inches away from my chair to get the bread. Then when it had enough, it just stood looking out the railing for a bit, then flew off to the ground. I left the last piece of bread and the seeds from the bottom of the bread bag on the floor, and surprisingly enough, they were still there on Saturday morning.

After my bath, I went up to the clubhouse to post my blog and wait for Lloyd to come and pick me up. We had thought about the go cart track but when I looked it up on line, it had all kinds of rules – you needed to wear long sleeves and long pants and closed shoes. It was going to be very hot again so we didn’t really feel like spending time in long clothes in the heat. So we headed off, instead, to find the Harley dealership. We’d passed it on the interstate on our way in so we knew where to find it. There’s no helmet law here so it’s odd to see riders on the highway without a helmet on. I know I’ve ridden is states before with no laws, and there is something very exhilarating about riding down the road without a helmet but my gosh, I can’t think what would happen if you fell. Not a risk I’d be willing to take anymore.

On Tuesday when we were going to the park, we passed a place called Old Tucson Studios. We went into the parking lot but there were only about 3 cars there, so we figured it wasn’t much. Turns out it was closed that day. A little more research and we found out that it’s a real movie studio and has been used for over 70 years to film Hollywood movies. Almost every western you can think of was filmed there , as well as numerous TV shows including Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie.
It was originally build in the 1930’s to film one movie. It is a perfect replica of an old west town. Apparently it sat deserted for a good many years before someone decided to take it over and revive it. Since then it has been used for countless movies. It is still a fully functional movie set and when something is being filmed they just close it off to the public until they’re done, but when it’s not being used for filming then it becomes a tourist attraction. It was much more interesting than we had originally thought it might be. We spent the better part of the day
there, taking in little shows that they put on in various venues on site. It closed at 4:00 and we were ushered out at the end. ( There’s a temperature gauge in the car that tells you the outside temperature. When we got into the car the outside temperature was 100 degrees. It had cooled off by the time we got to town – down to 96!)

From there, we headed back into town, about 10 miles through winding mountain roads. I am still amazed at the size of these cacti. The mountain sides are covered with
Fridaythem. I didn’t realize that they have a wooden skeleton of sorts inside. We saw a couple on display somewhere and they have a series of ribs made of wood that run vertically all around the outside shape, but under the covering of the cactus. So in essence, I suppose, they really are a tree of sorts.

Back in town, we stopped at the grocery store again and picked up some milk and bread and some strawberries for nibbling on. We didn’t have a proper meal, just some cheese, grapes, ham cubes, veggies and dip and just sat and picked away as we watched TV. (Well, that was after I had a 3 ½ hour nap). I had a bit of a headache and was very tired when we got back but I suspect it was maybe a little too much sun. So of course I didn’t wind up going to bed till midnight. So I watched some TV, read a book and cleaned up dishes till I felt I could go to sleep again.
All in all, just another relaxing day. But only one more before we head back to Toronto.

Shopping and Airplanes

Thursday:
Once again, the sun is shining and it’s going to be 94 degrees but it must be because it’s such a dry heat, it really doesn’t feel that hot. If we were home we’d be dying! But then again we are on vacation, so we are not working in it.
There’s a Flight and Space Museum here with all kinds of displays around airplanes and the history of aviation. Lloyd was very keen to go and see it, and gee, I would have loved to go along, but I just felt my time might be better spent. So after breakfast, and a stop at the clubhouse to post yesterdays blog, we drove out there, then I left with the car. It was approximately 10:30 when I dropped him off and I was to come back and pick him up at 5:00 when they closed. I don’t think I could have walked around looking at airplanes for that long.
So this was to be my shopping day. I got the map and found all the places I love to shop at when I’m in the states. Before I left, I got out my summer clothes and realized I really didn’t have much to wear to work this summer. The past two summers I’ve worked in kitchens and didn’t need any clothes for that other than chef whites. So I went to Ross, our favorite store when Patti and I travel together. It’s sort of like a Winners type of store but the clothing prices are much better (you know how I love a bargain!) and I always find things I like. I also always find things that are a little different than what you find at home. So for the princely sum of $101.46 Canadian, I found a new bra, a pair of dress pants, 2 skirts and 5 blouses. I was a happy camper!

From there I went on to the Tucson Mall which is your basic upscale mall, and I wandered around there for a while but the only thing I bought was lunch.
I found Target but I usually don’t find much there either although Patti likes them for kids clothes.
And........I also found a Michael’s Craft Store. This was dangerous as they have the Cricket Cake machine. It’s now available at Michaels in Canada for $499.00 and it’s $399.00 here but because it’s Mother’s Day this weekend, it’s on sale for $297.00 until Saturday. I was VERY tempted. But I didn’t know how much, dollar wise, I’m allowed to bring back. Then Lloyd told me after I picked him up, that he thinks it’s something like $500 or $600 if you’ve been away for a week. I just might have to go back. Not that I really need it, but …………….
I went a bit early to pick Lloyd up, around 4:30 and he was in the gift shop and was finished looking around. Needless to day he had a great day – and so did I.
On our way back, we found a little place to stop and have supper, then back to the resort. It was actually quite early, we got back around 6:00 so it was a relaxing time. We sat and read our books for a while, till time for my favorite Thursday night shows come on – Gray’s Anatomy and Private Practice. But since we are out here, they come on much earlier. They started at 8:00 and were finished by 10:00. At home it’s midnight when they’re over.
There’s a go cart track just outside of town, so I think we may do that tomorrow.