Monday, August 26th - finally have my bike up and running

What a great weekend it was. Weather was coolish on Saturday but sunny so a pretty perfect day and Sunday was even better. This morning it's a cool 15' and we may see some clouds this afternoon bringing us 21' that could feel more like 25' so the humidity is still sticking around for a bit.

Lloyd and Bernie were up really early on Saturday morning to catch the first boat over to Nova Scotia. They had plans to attend a Challenger Fly-In event over there somewhere. It was quite late when they got home but a great time was had by all apparently. I had worked in the morning and met Brenda downtown afterwards. Maureen and Helena were meant to join us but it didn't work out, so it was just the two of us. It was pretty chilly in the shade so we had the restaurant move us to a table in the sun on the patio, which was also conveniently located beside one of those outdoor heaters. Perfect. There were several bands playing and it was a great afternoon. I left around 4:00 as I had a project on the go at home. Brenda came over later and brought a bag of mussels. We steamed those and enjoyed them with some wine - of course!

We watched a video later while waiting for the boys to get back but it seems they missed the boat they were racing for - an ages old island tradition - and had to wait for the next one. Needless to say we gave up waiting and Brenda went home. 

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny, just as promised, so we took advantage of the fact that my bike was now up and running. I've only been out once this year and that was just for about half an hour as my lights weren't working but thanks to Lloyd that problem has been fixed. We headed out to Cardigan, then

back country roads out to St. Peters and a stop for ice cream in Morrell, before heading home.

Gas stop in Cardigan

 The bike rental shop in Morrell, where we got our ice cream, has some really funky tables and chairs made from old bicycle parts - perfect for the shop and made by a local welder with a lot of imagination. They were all different and pretty awesome.

 What a great day we had. The VanGaals were  busy later so our friends Richard and Daralen came over for supper. Fortunately they arrived in their convertible, which is apparently for sale. After supper we headed into town for some ice cream so I could take it for a test drive - just in case I win a lottery over the next several weeks!  Unfortunately I had to give it back when we returned  :-( 
 It was dark when we got home and we spent a fair bit of time just sitting in the car looking at the stars. It was a lovely clear night and nice to gaze at the sky like a bunch of teenagers - and yes Brenda, that was us who passed you like a crazy bunch of kids!!!-    but you probably already knew that.

Patti and the kids were busy this weekend. Meg is attending a ballet camp in Toronto so she and Patti took the opportunity to go and see Cats on Saturday night. Meg loved it and it was especially appropriate as they're doing the same play at school this year. I'm sure her performance in the school version will now be very inspired.  Patti took the boys back with her yesterday and they are planning to go to the CNE today while Meg is at camp. It looks like they took a bit of time yesterday after picking Meg up, to visit the CN tower and it looks like a great time was had.

Hamming it up at the CN tower

One last note: I was talking to James on Skype on Friday night and asked if he'd seen the pictures of the chickens and how big they were. He pointed out that it's hard to gauge the size without some reference in the photo so here's a picture of  one on July 1st weekend...

... and here's papa with one of them now...soon to be relocated to their new home - in the freezer.