Tuesday, June 23rd - it's been a very quiet week

It's been an especially quiet week after a very busy trip to Ontario.

The weather this past week has been really hit or miss. A couple of nice warm sunny days and several cooler and wet days. No worries - it can rain all it wants this week as long as it's nice on Canada Day. We're hosting our first annual Canada Day BBQ on July 1st this year. We have some friends in Ontario who used to do that and it took place for a lot of years. It just seemed fitting that we should carry on the tradition. I also have my own personal reasons for wanting to make this a festive time.

We've made our guest list and sent out the invitations. Now we're just waiting on confirmation from a few people. We're going to clear out the downstairs of the garage and use that space, hopefully out of the sun and mosquitoes. With any luck the weather will cooperate. If not, we'll sit inside and enjoy something to eat and drink.


While I was in Guelph, my friend Nancy attended a noon hour concert in the Square, something that takes place each summer on Friday afternoons, featuring various entertainers. The local entertainer that day was a young man by the name of Ian Reid. Nancy gave me his CD at supper that night. I gave it a listen when I got home and I quite liked his voice and playing, a very folksy kind of sound, which I really like.

Ian Reid

"Since returning from years of overseas teaching in 2008, Ian has played over 300 shows, earning much respect from his musical peers and fans alike. He has won songwriting awards in South Korea, Guelph and Kitchener. “Patsy’s Place” is one of the most popular songs played on CBC Radio.
Ian has shared billing with James Gordon, Wendell Ferguson, Ashley MacIssac, Danny Michel, Blair Packham (the Jitters), Astrid Young, Ray Materick, and has opened for John Mann (Spirit of the West), Bob Wiseman, Tom Wilson (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings), Bob Egan (Wilco, Blue Rodeo),  Andy White and Lynn Miles."

I went onto his website to find out when he was coming to the east coast as Nancy had told me he would be performing in Charlottetown sometime in August. So, I contacted him through his website and, to make a long story short, he's performing on the island on August 11th and will be staying with us at least one night while he's here.  Who is this young man, you might ask, and why is he going to stay with us?  Well, actually I know Ian from when I lived in Rockwood. Oh, did I mention that the last time I saw Ian he was 3 years old???? He and Patti went to Rockwood Nursery School together many, many years ago. Nancy has followed his career since then, as his mom, who was also an old friend when I lived there, still lives in the village.  It will be interesting to get together and find out what he's been up to all these years.


Saturday was the Rec Centre's members dinner. I had asked if there was anything I could do to be of any help and I was asked if Brenda and I would look after the trivia. I tentatively agreed, before I found out that Brenda wasn't going to the dinner. She helped me come up with the questions and then I was on my own.

I tried out the questions on Lloyd and he thought they were pretty difficult. We made it all Canadian trivia so that at least if they didn't win, they'd at least learn something. Turns out they were a bit harder than I had imagined but everyone seemed to have a good time in spite of the low scores at the end of the night.
I guess if they were too hard, they'll ask someone else to do it next year.

Caitlin and her boyfriend Mike arrived on the island Friday night. I haven't talked to them yet but apparently they had a good trip here, driving someone else's car that needed to be delivered to the island. They plan to fly back out west at the end of their vacation so it worked out well for everyone.  I'll be seeing them on Wednesday when we're off to a Festival of Small Halls event.

Granddaughter Meghan called last night to advise that she's decided which Fall Flavours event she would like to attend. I also suggested to her that she might enjoy volunteering at the Village Feast but she's going to look at that one and decide.

Other than that, not a lot going on. We managed to get the lawn cut and the trimming done on Sunday in between showers but I'm sure it will need it again before the BBQ, especially if we get a couple of sunny days in between the showers.

Lots to do, but sometimes we need a deadline to really keep us motivated to get things done.

And lastly, we found ourselves with left over lobster on Monday. What to do. We could have had lobster rolls, a very traditional island thing to do with left over lobster (truth be told, you buy extra to ensure there's left overs for just this purpose). Instead I checked out a cookbook by one of our favorite TV chefs, Lynn Crawford, and in there was a recipe for lobster mashed potatoes. Mash the potatoes, heat the lobster chunks in some milk, mix into the potatoes with some butter and chives and you've got yourself some mighty tasty  mashed potatoes!  MMMM MMMMM - delish!