Tuesday, September 26th - Looking forward to Farm Day in the City

Well, another successful catering job is in the books. We provided food for our friends Honey Mead company's grand opening on Friday and by all accounts, it was a success. There weren't quite as many people as they had expected but you can just never tell with these things. It was an absolutely gorgeous day so that may have played a part. The good news is there was lots of food so we needn't have worried about running out of anything.

All the food was bite sized pieces that could be picked up with your fingers. While small, those types of things are a lot more labour intensive than a full meal. But it all went well and we received a lot of comments about the food, all positive. We even had a spy out in the crowd. Brenda and Bernie came out and we immediately put Brenda to work. Bernie, meanwhile was free to mingle with the crowd outside and listen to peoples comments. (I didn't get any pictures but we hope someone did!)

The interesting thing about that evening is an email that was waiting for me when I got home. We've been asked by a woman in Toronto to give a quote for an upcoming hockey event being held in Charlottetown towards the end of October. We're now working on putting that info together. We'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile this coming Sunday is Farm Day in the City. We have our tent (in case of rain) and tables as well as our new banner all ready to go. Tristen is coming out on Friday to spend the weekend and help out. I'm looking forward to seeing him and spending some quality time with him. I'm sure he's looking forward to his first solo flight now that he's 12 and can fly by himself!

The past week was pretty busy. Along with getting ready for the event, I worked on some special projects with Carlton Cards so two days were busy with that.

Needless to say, by the time the weekend got here I was ready for a little break. On Saturday afternoon we went into town and picked up some wood needed to build a storage area in the garage for some of our catering 'stuff'. We hadn't been to town together in a while so we just poked around and made several stops, including one for ice cream as it was unseasonably warm.

Good thing the weather was so good as the VanGaals were going out to the Inn at Bay Fortune for the

Feast. They went with another couple and then ran into several other people that they knew there. All in all in sounds like it was a pretty amazing experience. Not a bad way to head into Bernie's birthday on Sunday. Because our nice weather was still continuing, Sunday morning was a great time for a bike ride. I went on the back on Lloyd's new bike, not the most comfortable place to sit, but it got me there. The four of us headed up to New Glasgow to the Island Preserve Company for breakfast. What a very busy spot! We were fortunate we didn't have to wait very long for a table, which is apparently the norm. A delicious breakfast and beautiful scenery. A lovely way to spend the morning.

Looks like James isn't the only talented one in the family!

Then it was back home to get some work done before heading over the Brenda and Bernie's for supper with the family to celebrate the birthday.

Then we were into Monday. Brenda's cousin, Jean Ellen and her husband, Gerry,  were visiting from Nantucket. I had visited them when I was there a couple of years ago so I was looking forward to seeing her again. She's really quite the character. They were coming for lunch on Monday so I offered to cook the meal while Brenda was out driving her bus. I brought the food over just in time for them to get home and eat before she had to go to drive bus again.  Then we all reconvened at the Delta around 5:00. After a glass of wine, we headed out for something to eat. We wound up at the Merchantman across the street from the hotel. A lovely meal with lots of stories and laughter was enjoyed by all.  Thanks guys for a really enjoyable day.

Okay, off to bake cookies to give out as free samples on Sunday in town. Wish us luck!

Tuesday, September 19th - an unexpectedly busy week ahead

We recently had the pleasure of being asked to provide finger foods for a local company's grand opening. Trouble is we just found out last week and it's this Friday late afternoon/evening. So our weekend was pretty much prep, prep, prep, what we could ahead. The next couple of days will be a little chaotic but only in a good way. We weren't sure how many of the 200 people  invited to this event would actually be coming but at least now we know it's somewhere between 85 and 120.  We can work with that.

Throw my card job into the mix and it gets even more interesting. Besides my regular calls to three stores in town, we are also setting up in a couple of new stores as well as replacing another card company in a few existing stores as well. Today I will be traveling to Summerside to help out there and then on Wednesday at another location in town. My own calls will have to wait till Saturday, after Friday's event. 

Our starting point. Each pocket is numbered and ...

... corresponds to a pack of cards. It's a match game to put them all in the right place.

The weekend was busy with prep for this Friday's event but we did take some time out for a bit of  entertainment as well. We enjoyed an evening of fun and frivolity at the International Shellfish Festival with Brenda and Bernie, to help celebrate Brenda's birthday.  A good time was had by all.

Lots of music and dancing...

...lots of beer...

...and lots of yummy oysters! 

 Our Sunday was slightly quieter, and moved slightly slower, being as we still had work to do and we didn't get home till midnight the night before! Our friends Jens and Linda came over for coffee in the afternoon and ended up joining us for homemade pizza. It had been a while since we'd seen them so it was nice to get together and catch up.

Better go, I have to get to Summerside this morning. Wish us luck this week!

Tuesday, September 12th - ooops, I did it again!

Once again I have to apologize in the month of September as I missed my son-in-law's birthday - again. I seem to miss it every year. With everything that goes on with the beginning of September I seem to always be late with my best wishes. Well, at least I'm consistent! So, a very  Happy Belated  Birthday. I once got a card from someone that said, I didn't forget your birthday, I just wanted my greetings to be special. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Hope it was a happy one.We're just ever so glad that you're here to celebrate it after the scare you gave us earlier in the year.

Well, the boys made it home. Bernie had a very in depth tour of Newfoundland and had way more food to eat than he would ever want or need. Welcome to Newfoundland, Bernie! They were pretty fortunate to have warm sunny weather for pretty much the whole week, quite uncharacteristic for that part of the Atlantic provinces at this time of year. They met with several of Lloyd's relations and visited some old family spots so it was a great trip for Lloyd as well.

They made it home safe and sound on the boat on Sunday evening. Brenda, Meghan, Will and Amanda rode their bikes across the bridge, toured the sunrise trail and met up with them at the boat. On the way home Lloyd and I stopped and got supper at the local golf course before coming home so he could go to bed as he was working later that night.
On the way to the boat, I saw a sight that put the sunshine into perspective - fall is definitely coming...

I managed to have a relatively productive week while he was away. I had purchased an old washstand last summer and it's been sitting out in the garage since then. I had plans to paint my bathroom and give it a bit of a makeover but it just hadn't happened. So I took the opportunity to tear it all apart while he was gone. Then I could do it in stages over several days and leave the painting mess in place till I was finished. It was a dark beige before and I never liked the colour so I chose a light blue paint for the walls and ceilings. There's a lot of white in that tiny room and it goes quite nicely with the blue. Some new shelves, metal containers to house all the "stuff" and it's now a done deal and I'm pretty happy with it.

In between that and some other re-organizing, I still managed to find time for some fun stuff.

Saturday evening Meghan, Brenda and I went to the Trailside to enjoy a nice meal and some great music. Always a good time there. The rest of the weekend wasn't really great weather so it was a good time for me to work on my painting project.

Then the three of us met in town on Tuesday evening at Fishbones for a beer and a bite to eat. We've been up on their rooftop patio before but it's always been in the evening and it's always been packed. This time it was earlier in the day and later in the year so finding a seat was no problem. It was a lovely evening and we had a table overlooking Victoria Row. A lovely time was had by all.

Thursday was the first day of school here on the island so I invited Brenda over for some snacks and a beverage on Wednesday evening to mark the end of her summer vacation. It was quite a warm day so Pina Colada's  were the order of the day upstairs in the garage.

This week we had the pleasure of attending the open house held by the College of Piping. They have teamed up with Holland College and are now offering courses in Charlottetown at the Prince of Wales Campus. We were treated to a performance by the grade 4 band who came first at the World Competition in Glasgow last month. We wanted to go as Brenda's nephew is an instructor at the college and our friend Jordan was a member of the winning band. Unfortunately neither of them were in attendance.

James and I just missed it - these signs were all over the city

The hardware

 Chris was teaching a class and Jordan was performing somewhere in Ontario.  So we didn't get to chat with either of them. Still, a nice evening, especially as we ended it with a meal at a local restaurant.  All in all a great week.

Tuesday, September 5th - Happy Back to School for those affected!

Hard to believe another summer has come to a close. The kids here on the island don't return to school till Thursday but I know other places go back as early as tomorrow.
Brenda's summer vacation is also about to end.

Good luck to Tristen on his first day at Junior High. He'll be able to walk back and forth to school, a real treat for him (and his mom!). Big day for him as well as for his big brother who is entering his final year at Bishop Mac. Meg is back at Centennial for another term. Have a great year everyone.

It was another week of cookies. We had delivered 36 packages of cookies to Cavendish last Monday and on Wednesday they called and asked us to bring another 36. So Wednesday afternoon and evening were spent baking so I could deliver them on Thursday morning. They're gearing up for the last of the season. They expect to be shut down by the 21st of September so that will be it till next year.  I think there were high hopes for the long weekend but in the end the weather turned out to be pretty miserable. Not likely as many people out and about as they had hoped.

Saturday was raining off and on and Monday was pretty much wet all day. Sunday was the only day that was nice. Brenda and Meghan were going for a bike ride but I declined to join them. I was busy painting the kitchen window I took apart a couple of months ago. While I was at it I figured I may as well paint the door frames around the kitchen. They were starting to look pretty worn. Of course now the kitchen needs painting but that was too big a job for me to undertake all by myself. I suppose I might have tried it if Lloyd was going to be away for a couple of weeks, but it's only 10 days.


He and Bernie left bright and early on Friday morning under cool, overcast skies. They were headed to Sidney, N.S. to catch the ferry to Newfoundland. I've talked to Lloyd a couple of times and they made it safe and sound. The first day was a  brutal, long drive in the cold and rain.  With any luck at all, the rest of their week will be better temperatures.

I had the pleasure of accompanying Brenda and Meghan to the Trailside on Saturday night. Good food, good music and god company. Can't go wrong with that, so thanks girls!

We are hoping for some very warm days later in the week. Brenda and I plan on enjoying an outdoor patio in town on one of those days - something we haven't done yet this year.

And lastly, a couple of photos from Fort Augustus - the one in Scotland!

What an absolutely lovely little village.