A scary experience --- at least for the wife!

Conditions at 7:00 am - 15* and sunny
Expected later - 22* and mix of sun and cloud

Yesterday afternoon, Linda and I went into town to listen to some music and have a beer. While I was there I emailed Lloyd from my blackberry to ask him if he would mind if I borrowed his guitar and tried to learn to plunk away on it over the winter. Talk about poor timing! He called me about five minutes later to tell me he was standing out in a field looking at his airplane which he had just performed an emergency landing with, in a wheat field! Not the sort of news a wife wishes to hear. It seems the engine quit in mid flight and he had no choice but to bring it down. He was able to make a safe landing in the field, which was a good choice to have. Apparently 45 minutes earlier he was flying over a lake, so I suppose this is one of those situations when timing is everything. The plane apparently sustained a little damage but he was unhurt. It's a scary experience but I can't let it bother me, especially when my entire family (both him and Patti) fly on a regular basis. I just have to be grateful he learned his lessons well during flying lessons! I talked to him later last night and I guess he called one of his flying buddies to come and pick him up but then a little while later the police contacted him, as someone saw the plane in the field. He hadn't thought about contacting them and essentially it's treated as a plane crash. Of course transport Canada will be involved as well to determine exactly what happened (well, we know WHAT happpened!) but now they'll want to know WHY it happened.

The rest of the weekend kind of pales in comparison to his news.

Friday at lunch, we picked up Lebanese food and ate it outside on a picnic table and Sjors and Sarah planned a little surprise for us as well. Sjors brought his guitar and they also had printed off some song lyrics and we all sat around the table after eating and sang along to the guitar. It was a really fun lunch hour, in spite of the odd looks we got from people passing by (they were just jealous!).
Friday night when I got home from work, Raymond's truck was in the yard as well as Bernie's motorcycle. As I got out of the car, Bernie came up out of the basement. I asked him when he became a plumbers helper, and he said he just came over because Brenda wanted to know if he's checked on me to make sure everything was alright. I told him that Lloyd had asked me the very same question about him! By the time we both assured each other that we were getting by okay in Brenda's absence, Raymond was finished, and they both left.

Saturday morning I spent time splitting wood as well as sorting out the shed and collecting all the recycling so it's ready, and then Mark came over to look at sweeping out my chimney. Our chimney has a weird design, that really isn't very functional. There is a permanent cap made of bricks over the topand you can't actually get into it to clean it and it really needs it. He suggests that we need to have the top of the chimney replaced and at some point we should really get a stainless liner put in. But for now we'll just get the chimney redone so he can at least get in and sweep it.

Linda came over for supper on Saturday night and then we came into town and went to a play at the Guild. It was very entertaining and when it was over we went over and sat at the bar at Fishbones and ordered some oysters. Linda has never eaten an oyster so we decided it was time to try one. It turned out to be a very positive experience. She was a little hesitant but it turned out to not be as unpleasant as she feared it might be. She actually liked it.

Sunday was threatening rain, as was forecast, so I had already planned an indoor project for the day. I had previously cut out the squares for Tristan's blanket and I got them all sewn together on Sunday morning. I love the little reindeer, they're so cute. I think he's really going to like it. I still have the binding to sew, and snip the seams, then it can be washed. I've read that because of the huge amount of fibres and lint that is collected it's best to wash it the first time in a laundromat washer and dryer. So I will do that on the weekend.

SHHHHHH - Meghan (2) don't let him see the pictures, it's a surprise for his birthday!

I was done sewing the blocks together before noon, which was a good thing as Linda and I went into town around 1:00 and to listen to some music and grab a bite to eat at the Old Triangle.

After we left the pub, we went round and picked up some jugs of beer at the Gahan for her to take home for her friends sons, and a Cows ice cream before she left. She was heading out at 4:00 this morning. Hopefully she'll have an uneventful trip, but she was a little concerned because just as we were travelling across the Hillsborough bridge yesterday the check engine light came on in her car. She was a little stressed over that as she had no way to get it checked before leaving on Monday morning. I told her (hopefully correctly) not to worry about it till she gets home. It's a brand new car so I can't imagine it's anything too serious.

Now it's Monday and it's back to work. Patti called last night to say she didn't get the flight to Paris so I won't be going anywhere this weekend. She does have a flight to Geneva on the 20th of August so I might go there instead.