Tuesday, April 26th - Lloyd has some pretty amazing friends

It's still unseasonably cool but the sun is shining from time to time so it's not all bad. Plus the cooler temperatures are perfect for getting outside work done.

Lloyd is heavily into the planning stages of the barn for his goats. He acquired some used telephone poles, from a good friend, that were to be cut down into square poles for the 'bones' of his little barn. With the help of another good friend who happens to have a portable sawmill, the poles were cut down to size, squared off, and delivered to our yard. None of which would have been possible without the help of some very kind and generous people. That was Monday and Wednesday of last week.

Meanwhile I spent the majority of my time planning and executing the food for a baby shower that was taking place on Saturday morning. From 45 to 50 people were expected so I had some work to do. Fortunately I didn't have to do any desserts, as other members of the mother-to-be's family were taking care of those. One of my favorite things was the bread that I baked earlier in the week and put into the freezer. I tinted some blue and some pink. The colours were maybe a  little more intense than I intended, but as I learned form a very wise woman, it was a design feature and I intended for them to be those colours. I also used some green wraps to round out the multi coloured array. Unfortunately I was so busy I didn't actually get any photos at the shower.


I requested a vacation day from trivia this week so I could work on party food. While I was doing that on Friday night, our neighbour Margie came over for tea. Shortly before she left, Lloyd and Bernie returned from their supper burger outing. Just after Margie left, Brenda arrived so I had lots of company as I finished up and it was much faster thanks to Brenda's help with the dishes (yet again!). The event went well and I think everyone was pleased.



While I was at the shower, Patti texted to let me know she was at a karate tournament with Tristen, who did very well for his first time at a large competition. He was a bit nervous but had a great time. James on the other hand, isn't having such a great time right now. He just got braces on his teeth, which is making it a little difficult to play the bagpipes. Hopefully once they settle down and don't hurt anymore he'll be back to playing. 

Because Saturday been a very busy day for everyone, I invited the Van Gaals over for a very casual supper, complete with paper plates so no one had any amount of washing up to do. Just the ticket for us all.

Sunday morning I called Brenda and suggested that she needed to come over for tea sometime in the morning.  After breakfast she arrived so we could make some plans for the upcoming pancake breakfast at the church. While she was here, I suggested she might be interested in joining me on a little road trip. It seems a certain elderly British singer is touring once again this summer. I was quite disappointed to learn that he would be in concert in Hamilton, Ontario on July 21st, the same day that Lloyd was leaving for the Azores. Oh well, I accepted the fact that it wasn't to be this year. Then lo and behold, on Sunday I saw a report that new dates had been added to the tour and he's doing a concert at Fenway Park in Boston on July 17th - can you say ROAD TRIP??? Tickets go on sale this Friday morning so I'm not getting too involved in planning anything until I know I have tickets, after all that is the point of the trip. I even told Brenda she didn't actually have to go to the concert this time but being the trooper that she is, she said it was all or nothing. So wish me luck on Friday morning.

Sunday we were  invited out for supper at our friends in Hope River. There were 6 of us transplanted Ontarions and we had a really lovely evening. Everyone brought something to contribute to the feast. I was to bring a gluten free dessert so I opted to make a pavlova with whipped cream, and instead of using fresh berries I diced some canned peaches and the result was perfect. Everyone raved over it (of course, they're all very polite people) but every morsel was eaten and we decided we would make this variation again.

The goats are now outside full time and they have some little buildings they can tuck inside of until they have a permanent structure. It was the funniest thing on Saturday afternoon. When I got home from the shower, Lloyd had taken the goat pen apart that was in the garage and cleaned the place all up. We let the goats out of their field and they headed right back into their old 'home' inside. They were very confused to find a big empty space and they wandered around and around inspecting every corner looking for their old house. It was a pretty funny sight to see. They've become used to their new yard but it will be much better when it finally gets a bit warmer.

Lloyd is heading to Toronto this weekend via Air Canada and returning next week courtesy of 'Denny Air'. He plans to fly his plane back to the island so please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well and mother nature cooperates and gives him some nice clear weather.

Tuesday, April 19th - we're pretending it's spring, even if the thermometer doesn't think so.

You can imagine my disappointment to notice that the temperature in Guelph yesterday was 20' while we sat at a high of 3' for the day.  No worries, I'm confident we're saving our warm weather for those beach days in July.

It was a fairly busy week. I know spring is on it's way because the Mazda dealership across the street from work  finally has a Miata on display out front. That's always a sure sign. More and more folks are asking me when mine's coming out of storage but at 3' I'm in no rush. No point in driving it if I can't have the top down, and 3' is just tooo cold for that.

Lloyd made a road trip to Nova Scotia on Thursday to pick up his bees, to give that another try. He's not had much luck with them in the past, so hopefully they'll do better this year.

Brenda came over one night last week to watch a movie and get caught up. We watched "The Lady in the Van". starring Maggie Smith. It was very interesting and based loosely on a true story and quite a story it was. Ms. Smith was at her best, as usual.

Saturday was busy with work and then a benefit at the rec centre for a cousin of Brenda's who is ill. A great turn out raised a considerable amount of money, so that was great to see. I baked two cakes for the cake auction and they did well, thanks to friends and family. We were very lucky that the purchasers of both cakes dropped us off a taste on Sunday, much to Lloyd's delight.

Fudge Marble with orange and chocolate filling

French vanilla with island strawberry filling and topping 

Sunday was yet another busy day. I worked at doing some yard clean up while Lloyd finished up the fencing and got it all operational. It always amazes me how many branches can fall off the trees every winter and still have trees. The crocus' are blooming and the tulips and daffodils are up and the rhubarb is peeking through the ground.

 It was just warm enough for the goats to spend the afternoon outside. It's still very new for them but they seemed to enjoy exploring their new environment.

Brenda and Bernie came over later in the afternoon and Bernie assisted with the installing
of the bees into the hives. Brenda and I chose to watch from inside the house.

We had our first function of the season on Sunday night at the Rec Centre so the boys headed to Morell for a burger while Brenda and I helped out at the banquet. It's looking like it's going to be a busy season at the Rec Centre.

When I got home on Monday night, there was a surprise in the back yard.

Good thing the fence is all done, now he can start cutting up wood, in between building his barn...ah life in the country - always something to do!

Tuesday, April 12th - Spring, where are you???

After an up and down week, weather wise last week, we enjoyed some lovely warmer temperatures on Saturday. So much so that I took the goats outside for a while and they enjoyed munching on some of the little fir trees as well as tiny patches of grass. Lloyd has been working on installing the fencing for the past while and it's not there yet, but it's getting closer. He's doing the entire field out back as well as all around the trees to the north side of the house. It's a big job but a little at a time is slowly getting it done.  When he called it a day, after showering, we settled in and enjoyed the first pina colada of the year, followed by some steaks on the BBQ. Some fresh mushrooms and baked potatoes made for a pretty great supper.

Needless to say, we were not impressed when we woke up Sunday morning to a blizzard. What a difference a few short hours can make. The radio tells me that Charlottetown received 20 cms of snow by the time it was finished. I believe it. It was quite the sight to wake up to, but it stopped snowing by early afternoon and by supper time the sun was out and it was starting to melt.  Rain later this week should take care of most of it, and hopefully that will be it for this year.

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful. Work is busy right now so by the time I get home, have supper and clean up the dishes, I'm pretty much done for the day. We still have our Capture the Queen of Hearts events on Friday night that I do the trivia for. I'm really hoping someone wins it soon, as I'd like my Friday evenings back! Lloyd has switched days slightly at work so now he goes in on Sunday night and is done for the weekend when he gets home on Friday morning. Now we have Friday nights as well as Saturday night if we want to do anything in town. Not that we do very often, but it's nice to have that option.

Meghan and her merry troupe of dancing pals had their last competition this past weekend in Vaughan. I don't understand how it's scored but I can report that they received 3 diamonds and a platinum score - I'm going out on a limb here and guess that it's a really good score. Congratulations girls, you've had another very successful year of competition.

Remember that rogue tomato we showed you a few weeks ago, whose seeds just couldn't wait for spring? Well, we put a couple of the tiny sprouts
in a pot of dirt .

and look at it now!

And last, but certainly not least, I received a very excited call from Tristen last night. He's been working very hard at karate towards his black belt. I don't know all the details but he had a test and received a very high score and was very proud, as well he should be. He's been training and working really hard to achieve his goal and I'm looking forward to attending a special ceremony they're having when I visit in June.   Well done, T!

Wednesday, April 6th - back up to speed!

Well, after some very nice weather in February, March and April haven't really been cooperating. It's been very cold the past few days, with lows of -10' and wind chills of -20' - that's just not right for April! But it is supposed to get milder as the week goes  on so spring is in sight. Before we know it, it will be time to get the little car out of storage, for the summer - I can't wait, I'm counting the days!

Too bad they're so shy with people!

Well we're now using some of our goat's milk. We that is, Lloyd, milks her in the morning and then the kids have her for the rest of the day. They are separated at night and at first it caused quite a ruckus, but now everyone seems to have settled into the new routine quite nicely. We don't yet take enough to make cheese, but that will come. The kids are eating grain and hay quite well now so things are progressing. They are both over 25 pounds each and seem to be healthy and happy. Lloyd took the two little ones into the university on Tuesday for their shots. No one was happy while they were away.

Lloyd has started on the fencing in the back field so as soon as the weather gets nice, they should be able to go outside. That will be a welcome change from being confined in the small space they have in the garage.

I've finally finished my T-shirt quilt. It may not be perfect but I'm happy with the results. It's also very warm so I think I'll just keep it by the couch for snuggling up in when it's chilly.  I'm glad to finally have it finished and I can move on to something else. It was a big job and triggered a lot of memories as I worked on it - people I'd met, long training walks and even longer event walks, long hours fund raising, blisters, but I wouldn't have changed a thing. It was an amazing seven years and I'm so grateful I got to share the whole experience with Patti.

With the arrival of April, comes the 2016 version of Burger Love. My gosh, this event has grown. This year there are 73 restaurants participating so there's virtually no way to get round to sample them all. We have managed to have one so far. We met up with friends Richard, Bernie, Brenda, Helena and Jackie on Sunday afternoon at Phinley's in Stratford. By all accounts, it was an excellent burger but we have nothing else to compare it to yet this year. More to come...

Meg and her dance friends attended their second last dance competition this past weekend in Niagara Falls and the final one is this coming weekend. Good luck to all the dancers!

And finally, a big congratulations to our friends, Fran and Walt, as their granddaughter Emma has been awarded a scholarship to play hockey in Pennsylvania. Congrats to Emma and her proud parents and grandparents. Well done!

Tuesday, April 5th

Having some technical difficulties today, so please  check back on Wednesday for this weeks update...