Monday, April 21st - finally back on track

 After a cool but mostly sunny weekend, it's going to be a pleasant 9' today with a mix of sun and cloud - it figures as I go back to work today. But it will be a great day for bicycle riding for some people.

This past week has been a bit crazy and thrown things totally off the rails but I think we're back in the swing of things once again.

Last Wednesday was my first day back from my little trip away and it felt like a Monday. Then the next day, was Thursday before Good Friday and it felt like Friday, so it was a great short week.
I was hoping that James was going to be on the first flight in from Toronto but alas, that wasn't to be the case. A text from his mom around 10:30 indicated that he didn't get on that flight after all and that they would try the late one that night. I was a little disappointed to hear that but thought, oh well, we can make this work. I knew that Meghan(1)  was coming in on that late flight so it made sense that Brenda and I should plan to go into town a little early, have a drink and maybe a snack somewhere before ending our evening picking up the 'kids' at the airport around midnight.
You can imagine how surprised I was to look up from my desk just before lunch to see James standing there in his suit looking ever so pleased with himself at the surprise he'd successfully pulled off. I asked him how did he get there? His smartass reply was "by airplane". No, I meant from the airport, to which he responded "I took a cab".  Just like that.  A couple of people at work were astounded that he would do that but I'm not the least bit surprised. Before leaving town on Thursday after

work , Lloyd met up with us and we went to Lot 30 for a burger. James and I split one and we had an order of oysters to share to start with. James has tried one before but several years ago. He wasn't so crazy about it but he seemed to enjoy these. We all enjoyed the burger, even thought it was quite juicy and  a bit messy, but that seems to be the nature of the beast.
So even though his early arrival put a wrench into my late night plans, it all worked out. Instead Brenda came over to our place for tea before heading into town later in the evening.

Sorting dulce for cooking

Friday was a quiet day, with not a lot going on. He'd had a long day on Thursday so slept in. It was sunny and not too cold so I was eager to get outside and enjoy the day. It was the first time I've been able to get outside and really do anything and take stock of just what chaos the winter may have created. I spent a bit of time cleaning up the flower beds and pulling out the old stuff. I was surprised to find I actually have crocuses blooming along with a few brave tulips and daffodils poking up through the mud. Spring may not appear to be here just yet but there's hope that it will actually arrive this year. Lloyd spent the morning putting together some rabbit pies. I suppose that's possibly a new easter tradition - Easter Bunny Pie! Both James, and the neighbours who were given a sample, declared it delicious.

In the afternoon Lloyd got the bicycles out and in condition to ride so James spent a fair bit of time out riding one of the bikes while I puttered around outside. Weather wise it was the best day of the weekend.

He went for another bike ride on Saturday morning before we headed into town. I had to pick up a couple of things then we headed over to the farm centre for a seminar on seaplants. Besides using them as fertilizer we learned that many are quite edible. We had a demonstration on making biscuits with seaweed flakes, a vegetable stew that contained seaweed and an irish moss pudding. The biscuits were very good, the stew was more like a
soup, as it didn't have enough time to simmer slowly, but it was still quite flavourful, and the irish moss pudding was very tasty. I was surprised that he would enjoy such a day and the start was a bit slow, but once they got into the demo part he was right into it, volunteering for a couple of jobs. Being as he was the only kid there, they were more than eager to have his help. All in all, a great day.
Because we'd already eaten, we decided a simple supper would be best so we picked up some shrimp, some scallops and some mussels at the store and headed home to cook our seafood feast.

After supper, and the dishes were all cleaned up, it was time for one his favorite island activities - a lengthy game of Beatles Monopoly with his grandma. The game lasted until almost midnight when he left me with only $1.00 to my name. Pretty sharp, that boy.

Sunday morning, Easter Sunday, was a quiet day starting out as well. James woke up to a couple of things brought by the Easter Bunny - some books and peanut butter cups. Then it was outside for a lengthy  bicycle ride.

It was a cool day but a great day for working outside so that's precisely what we did when he returned. After a bit of a struggle, Lloyd was finally able to get the garden tractor running so we could use it to go round with the trailer and pick up all the old branches that had fallen over the winter. Like a lot of equipment, the spring start up is sometimes a bit of a challenge. The tractor was no exception, as was the chain saw. That was used to cut off some limbs that needed trimming as well as cut down one of the trees. A couple more will follow shortly. (Lloyd was especially pleased when Bernie showed up and took him off for a drive to look at some property) James was tasked with trimming off the little suckers that grow on the base of the bigger trees, then all those things were hauled to the fire pit. It was too windy yesterday for burning them but hopefully today will be a better one.

Probably the highlight of the day for James was driving the lawn tractor and hauling the trailer from spot to spot for pick up. It was certainly nice to have a bit of extra help with the lawn chores!

Supper was a group effort as well. James made mini burgers and Lloyd grilled them on the BBQ while I made sweet potato fries in the deep fryer.  After supper it was off for a cup of tea with the VanGaals before coming home and watching the end of season one of Murdoch Mysteries, which we had been working our way through the entire weekend.  It was a little earlier night for me as I have to work today, and tonight will be even earlier for both James and I as we are putting him on the early flight in the morning. I know we really enjoyed having him here and I hope he enjoyed his time with us. Sadly, the eggs that had been in the incubator did not hatch as expected. An eggtopsy performed last evening, proved that they never made it past the first few days so something went wrong. Now the challenge is to find out just what, and to give it another try. The challenges of farming!