Tuesday, August 11th - can it really be Old Home Week in another week? Summer just got here!!!

It's been a busy week in some ways but a quiet one in others.

We were pleased to welcome a couple of visitors from Toronto last Thursday evening. Gilberto (aka Berto) and his girlfriend Lauren stopped in to share a meal with us. We'd not met Lauren before and she was just lovely, a really sweet girl. They were staying out in Cavendish but were heading out towards Souris the next day, to spend the weekend exploring the eastern end of the island, then they were heading to Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail.  It had been an absolutely gorgeous day but a sudden downpour during supper freshened everything up. Just as the rain stopped, I looked out the kitchen window to see a beautiful rainbow. Lauren had her back to the window so as she turned around, she took a photo through the glass. She sent me a copy of it the next morning, and what a fabulous picture! The light was just perfect to get this amazing photo.

Thank you Lauren for sharing with us. After supper, we took a drive down to the Spirit Spring and then over to Lakeside to the beach. By then it was dark and we said our goodbyes and parted company. A great evening with some wonderful people. Thanks to them.

The rest of the week was pretty quiet. I worked on Saturday and Lloyd met me in town at 2:00.  We went out past Summerside to attend the open house of the "Earthship" that was recently completed by a young man here on the island. I had no idea what an earthship was but it's a very eco-friendly style of building where you fill old tires with dirt, pack it all in really firmly and then stack them to form the outside walls. They are usually packed into a hill but in this case they piled dirt in behind them. It was quite fascinating and has gotten Lloyd's little brain whirling once again - at times a good thing (as Charles once said to him,"inside your head must be a pretty scary place).  But I have to admit, it's never boring.

The completed project

A glimpse of what's under all that dirt

Speaking of Charles, we stopped in to visit briefly with him and Laura on our way home. Their organic farm is doing wonderfully this year. Their gardens are pretty spectacular and they have their produce stand at the end of their lane this year, instead of down the road and it's working much better for them. 

Sunday we had planned to go to Roma for brunch but they had a festival going on so there was no brunch. We decided to wait for another time. Instead I spent the day doing some laundry, picked some strawberries and raspberries at Coffins down the road, then took a walk back through the fields and picked a few wild blueberries. When I got home I made a batch of Raspberry Blueberry Jam. James and I had made a batch a few years ago. We'd gone down the road and picked some raspberries to make jam. As I was looking through one of my preserving books we found this recipe that also needed blueberries. He was lamenting the fact we didn't have any to try this jam. I informed him that if he took a walk down the back lane he might find some blueberries. A little while later he came back with a bowl of berries and the biggest smile on his face. It's a great memory for me whenever I made this particular jam. 

Monday started out rainy but quickly cleared as the day progressed. We were waiting word from a young singer from Rockwood who was on his way to the island. The last time I saw Ian Reid, I think he was about 3 years old. He and Patti were in the same nursery school in Rockwood many, many years ago. Fast forward to the present and he's working his way across the country singing and playing his guitar at small venues along the way. It's not necessarily an easy life but he's loving doing something he's always wanted to do.

He called me when he got on the boat and I gave him directions in small pieces ie - when you get to the round about, stop and call me. etc. He arrived here about 15 minutes before I did so the timing was perfect. We enjoyed pulled pork on a bun, new potatoes sauteed in butter with fresh chives, and green beans, followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Lloyd headed off to bed and Brenda came over and joined Ian and I for a walk on the beach.

It was a beautiful night for the beach and by the time we arrived back home, it was getting dark.  Ian headed off to the bathtub and I cleaned up the kitchen while I waited for Lloyd to get up for work. He had coffee then left. Unfortunately for me, I had taken his car to the beach (as there were three of us) and I left my keys in his car. Of course I didn't discover this until after he was half way to town. So that's why this morning's post is a little later than usual. I didn't see much sense in getting up at the crack of dawn if I can't go anywhere until 8:30. A bit of time to sleep in and a gorgeous morning to enjoy - it's all good!


...and lastly, this witty bit of wisdome from friend Katy in Ontario...