When I got out of bed this morning, I looked out the window to see a layer of frost on the roof of the shed. When I let the dog out I checked the windshield of the car and if I were going out now, I would almost need to scrape the windows. The Weather Network says it's now 3' (at 5:00 am) so I'm not sure how low it got last night. I just know I'm glad I covered up my plants over on Five Houses Road last night. I used rocks and old bricks to hold the plastic sheets down and I'm hoping they held in place. I'll check on my way to work this morning when I go to uncover them. Worst case scenario, the plants need to be replaced. There's not that many of them if they do. I did forget about my petunias in the planter beside the house but they appear to be fine this morning. I'm thinking they were close enough to the house that they weren't affected. But we'll see later today. It's only going up to 12' later so it will be a cooler one.
On Sunday evening, Brenda and I went over to the Rec Centre for an evening of music and socializing in honour of the Irish visitors. It seems back in 1990, as part of a tourism initiative, between PEI and Ireland, Irish people were invited to visit in hopes that they would go back and encourage other Irish people to visit in the future. And likewise, our residents would visit Ireland and encourage islanders to visit there. Now, some 22 years later, long after the initiative has finished, Fort Augustus continues to honour this tradition. An association was formed years ago and their job is to organize the visit each year. The numbers who arrive each year can change and this year there were only three. Places are found for these visitors to stay and tours and events are organized for them during the week or so that they are here. Often they are local politicians from County Monaghan area, who are able to return and share their experiences with their constituents. With so much Irish heritage in the area, it's nice to see they are keeping those connections for future generations.
I'm told that if you travel to Ireland and have some names of some of these folks to contact, you are treated like royalty when you arrive. Caitlin had that experience a few years ago when she and some friends connected with some of the previous Irish visitors over there and spent a particularly enjoyable evening at a pub with the locals. What a great vacation experience. Then to have the opportunity meet the same fellow again when he came back to PEI the next time, was tremendous. They are having some kind of homecoming festival next year and are hoping as many people as possible will travel to Ireland. Perhaps that's when Brenda and I should make that trip we've been talking about for a while now.
This week I'm at home all week, but there are several things on the go I should have been attending over the next week or so:
1) the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in London - to see Sir Paul in concert ( I was there for the Golden Jubilee so I suppose it will be the same sort of event)
2) The IAAP Canadian Conference in Waterloo, hosted by my old chapter for the first time
3) A conference in town for Chef Educators (which I'm told I'm qualified to attend by virtue of community school)
But for one reason and another I'm not attending any of those things. A couple of months ago I was trying to juggle things so I could attend as many as possible but now none are on the radar. My vacation scheduling is still up in the air, waiting on outside influences to dictate what I may need my holidays for, and I also want to make sure I have some days off left when those little kids visit, whenever that turns out to be. So I'm content to stay here in this lovely, green place and watch the humming birds. What can I say, it really doesn't take that much to make me happy!
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