Monday, May 26th - one more sleep and I'm off for the rest of the week

Currently: 3' and overcast
Expected later: 8' and lots of rain this afternoon.

It's a good thing I had lots to do in the house over the weekend because it sure wasn't very conducive to working outside. Lloyd was putting panels up on the ceiling in the garage and it was chilly enough in there even with the door closed. I had hoped to get the lawn cut but:

 a) I ran out of weekend and and
b) the grass was quite wet for most of the day and
c)  it was just too darn cold !

The house is pretty much ready for guests. We're giving them the two bedrooms and we're sleeping out in the bunky. We had quite a laugh about it at lunch on Saturday. Going out there reminds us so much of the good times we had when we used to visit the island, and because the only thing out there is a radiating heater  it's very, very quiet. It's also very dark so we decided it's kind of like going to the cottage except it's in the back yard. We used to laugh when we were in Ontario that we would tell people we were going to the cottage for the weekend and fly to PEI for a couple of days. We had taken going to the cottage to a new level. Now we've done it again! Only this time there's no waiting on airlines! We now have two double beds out there so there's lots of room for the two of us and the dog.

 Saturday was a busy day and we were rewarded with lobster yet again at the Van Gaals. It's always a treat! I made coleslaw and a tiramisu and Brenda made the potato salad and homemade bread to go with it.  YUMMM! She also sent some lobsters out to Alberta to Caitlyn who was having friends over for an island feast last night.

...and there it was - gone!

After a busy, hard working weekend, it was nice to relax over a nice supper that someone else cooked yet again. Brenda called around 4:30 on Sunday to advise they were going over to the local golf course for something to eat - were we interested? Of course! They picked us up and we enjoyed a leisurely supper. Then it was off to the Fort Augustus Rec Centre for the launch of a new book put together by the committee that looks after the Irish visitors every year. They've been coming to the island every year for 24 years. What started as a tourism initiative between PEI and Ireland many years ago has continued in this little community.  The committee has kept every piece of information they could find, as well as newspaper clippings from all those years and compiled them all into a lovely book titled "Just Another Ireland". It's a fascinating bit of history that I look forward to reading through.

Our final number of chicks remains at 3. Not a huge flock but so far a healthy and happy one. Lloyd has
some investigating to do to try to determine why some of the eggs were fully developed but didn't hatch.One little one struggled for a while and we thought he might make it but in the end he died. The three remaining ones are doing well.




One final note - a big  hello to Richard and Daralen who have visited the blog from time to time to catch up on what's going on back home. At least I assume it's them, as I don't know anyone else in the Turks and Caicos!  Hope you're having a great time and we'll see you soon.