Does it get any more perfect that this?

Conditions at 7:00 am - 15* and sunny
Expected later - sunny and 25*

What a wonderful weekend it was! The weather was absolutely perfect, the bugs were down in numbers, and we just had so much fun!
Actually we got the weekend off to a great start on Friday night. Brenda came over and we watched a movie and enjoyed an adult beverage while doing it. I made a cake for our dessert but unfortunately it didn't turn out as sponge like as it was meant to. Let's just say we gave pound cake a new meaning - I'm sure each small piece weighed at least a pound! It tasted okay, but it was horribly heavy. However, we still ate it. I do have to make that one again, but figure out what went wrong first. (oh well, I guess they can't all be brilliant)

Saturday morning I got up early and got right into splitting and stacking wood. I worked from 8:30 to 12:30. By then it was very hot and I was exhausted. So I went inside, had a snack and then headed back outside to cut the grass in the back yard. I'd done the front and side earlier in the week and just had the patch in the back with the trees (the most time consuming one to do).

By the time I'd finished that, I had time to go and soak in a nice hot bath, and get ready to help out at the rec centre. There was a wedding on Saturday and the bridal party had previously called Brenda to ask permission to take the pictures beside her sun flowers. It would be lovely to see how they turn out.

It was a small wedding, only 102 people, and we were all done and enjoying our final drink a little after 9:00. Brenda stayed to visit with people as it was a local wedding, and she knew a lot of people there, but I went home. I was totally beat. It occurred to me that I hadn't split any wood in two weeks and I was pitifully out of shape. But a good nights sleep works wonders!

Sunday morning dawned a little overcast with a light breeze. We had decided on Saturday night that if Sunday was the same weather as Saturday, we would probably do a beach day, just to say we've done that for this year. But it didn't seem that way early on in the morning. So we decided to load up the kayaks and also take our bathing suits, and then decide later what we wanted to do.

ut first, we went to Tracadie where the Lions Club hosts a Sunday morning breakfast every Sunday from 11:00 to 12:30. What a great meal! For $6.00 each, we had pancakes, sausages, (and LLOYD - two types of beans!), plus fruit, veggies and dip, biscuits and jam, pita breads and dip, as well as several loaf cakes. Add coffee or tea, and juice and it was a wonderful brunch. We sat at a table with some folks from Halifax and chatted with them before heading out.


By now it was sunny and getting warmer so we went up to Morrell and put in at the bridge, and headed out to St. Peter's Bay. It's quite a lengthy paddle from the bridge to the mouth of the bay but we made it. We pulled the boats up onto the shore and found a lovely sunny, dry spot on this HUGE beach, to park ourselves. I brought along our picnic backpack, much to Brenda's delight! Inside is dishes, wine glasses,etc and a bottle of VEX hard pink lemonade that I'd put in the freezer the night before. By the time we got to it, it was just slushy so it was lovely and cold and refreshing. We enjoyed that with some nacho chips and dip that I'd brought. After eating, we actually went into the water. It was chilly at first but once you got in, it was great. I'll have to show Patti how to get there as the kids would really enjoy that particular beach.

On our way back to where we had beached the boats, we walked out a long way on a sand bar that was just below the surface of the water. When we were walking back, we went a different direction and all of a sudden I was in weeds. I have a real phobia about walking in weeds in the water so I started swimming over them instead. That was almost as creepy but at least I was able to do it. What we didn't know is that it suddenly dropped off in one spot. I went to stand up when I got to the shore and I had to really pull myself out of the water on this steep part of the beach. At the same time, Brenda was walking and suddenly found herself in deep water as well. Good thing she was wearing her life jacket and she was able to swim with one hand as she was holding her camera up out of the water to keep it from getting wet . What a sight we would have made had anyone been watching! I clawed my way out of the water and then grabbed the camera from Brenda so she could get out, as you really needed two hands to pull yourself out. What an experience and we laughed about it all the way back to the boats.

Then it was time to paddle back. By the time we got to Morell, the bridge was a very welcome sight. We were both pretty tired. We packed up our stuff, loaded the boats and then headed home. We stopped at a farm gate to pick up some potatoes and yellow beans and headed home. Brenda dropped me off and went home to shower and put her boat away, then came back and we had a simple supper of BBQ turkey thighs, (that had been slightly smoked with apple wood chips I'd picked up at Sobey's) It was an experiment but it worked pretty well. There was a slight smokey taste but not overpowering. I used a melon baller to cut small balls out of the new potatoes and boiled them till just done, then tossed them in some butter and fresh herbs - chives and basil from my yard. The yellow beans were so lovely and fresh - you could tell they had just been picked that day. They were so good. I really need to have a garden next year.

But that depends on how busy I am next year. I'm still absolutely of stuck on this whole church idea. Brenda said to me at breakfast, "when you get an idea in your head, you stick with it" I told her it's more like it festers in my mind. It gets stuck in there and I can't seem to shake it. The idea has grown in many ways and I'm really going to have to start writing down all the thoughts that are rolling around in my mind. I suggested to Brenda that her job is to try to talk me out of it. She replied that she's learned through the years to just let the person ramble on and eventually the idea will just die a natural death. No idea where she would get that experience! We'll see how far this one goes.

Just a quick note to welcome Mike and Carol. They are old friends from Fergus, who owned the best pub in the world (or at least OUR world). It was a wonderful place where we always felt so welcome. We didn't get there as often after we moved to Guelph but when we did go we were always welcomed with hugs from both the bartender and the server! We both have such fond memories of our times there and the many great people we met over the years. Now Mike and Carol are retired and have taken on some new projects. I got a lovely email from Carol this morning and found out she's doing the very same thing I'm doing, so family can keep track of what they are up to. I can't wait to log onto her blog, with a glass of wine, and catch up with them, much as she will do with mine. I have this image of the two of us, in two different parts of the country, sipping a glass of wine and reading about each others everyday lives, and catching up (only difference is, hers will be white, mine will be red!). It's not as good a doing it in person, but it will do for now. They hope to visit the island next year and I'm really looking forward to sharing our new life with them and hearing all about theirs.