Another cold, wet weekend

Conditions at 5:30 am: rain and fog and 11'
Expected later: 14' and mainly cloudy

We had a great start to the weekend and then it just deteriorated. Friday night was beautiful as we made our way through the countryside to Indian River for the Festival of Small Halls.What a beautiful spot and a wonderful time.

It's Festival of Small Hall's first venture into historic churches, and what better way to start than with St. Mary's church in Indian River. Known as one of the top 10 natural acoustic halls in the world, it will be host to The Once, a Newfoundland group with vocal harmonies "thick enough to stand on", the 'Lord of the Strings', J.P. Cormier, and Le Vent du Nord, a leading force in Quebec's progressive folk movement. Clean, clear harmonies and winding guitars and fiddles will be the hallmark of this show - it is one not to be missed

What a great time. The musicians were all amazing but the first act, a group from Quebec were especially interesting. They played an unusual instrument that none of us knew anything about and they never told us what it was. James, if you read this, please ask your music teacher cause we want to know! You can see it in the picture. It's the strange looking thing the 2nd follow is holding. The Ones, from Newfoundland were also there. We'd seen them at the ECMA's and J.P. Cormier, whom I've not seen before. He's a brilliant guitarist and plays other stringed instruments equally well. All in all, a wonderful night. During the break we went outside and had coffee and rhubarb cobbler with whipped cream. YUM. It was almost midnight by the time I got home but it was well worth it.

Saturday morning I worked my first Saturday at Toyota. I haven't heard yet what the plan is yet for the rest of the summer but hopefully I will find out soon. On my way home I stopped in to visit with Jens and his wife Linda. I met Jens in the shuttle a couple of weeks ago and was supposed to stop in a week ago but got delayed having a drink with the Honda people. They have a beautiful spot just off Blooming Point Road, actually right across the road from a farm house that some friends rented a few years ago. Small world. We sat outside and chatted until it started to rain then we went inside and sat and chatted at the table. We had a lovely visit and I was there for about 3 hours. We made tentative plans for them to come over for supper one evening while Lloyd is here. When I got home I made something to eat and then just watched some TV for a while - a pretty uneventful Saturday night on the island.

Sunday was predicted to have rain for most of the day but it held off until later. I got some jobs done in the house and then Brenda picked me up and we joined the bikers at Kristi's for breakfast. They had been into town for coffee at Tim's but it was threatening rain so they came back. We had a lovely leisurely breakfast and chatted for quite a long time before heading back home. Brenda dropped me off and I finished up some laundry. By then it was thundering and lightening and raining quite heavily so I watched a movie  between loading the washer and dryer. Then suddenly the sun came out and it was very warm outside. So, I headed out and did some trimming then decided it would be a good time to start splitting some wood. I managed to wrestle the splitter out of the shed (that thing is VERY heavy) and did a little bit before the big black clouds moved in once again. I packed everything up and headed inside just in the nick of time. I spent the next little while lounging in a nice hot bath with a good book while the thunder and lightning rages outside. A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

So no biking, no kayaking but at least I got a couple of things done around the house so it wasn't a total waste!

Rescued ....... again!

Conditions at 5:15 am: 8' and overcast
Expected later: 21' and a mix of sun and cloud - I can't wait to see that sunshine!

Well, yesterday afternoon was one of those days. I've only had maybe 3 of them in the last 2+ years. It was cold and cloudy and when I drove into the yard, I just sat in the car for about 5 minutes looking around me. I was feeling a little overwhelmed. The grass was so long, the wood is still waiting to get split and the weather sucked! So I came inside and just tried to forget it was there (not that this was the solution). Then about 7:00 I noticed a trick and trailer backing into the driveway. I thought at first it was someone just turning around but then the driver got out and it was my great friend Brenda. In the back of her trailer was her huge lawnmower. She advised that Bernie was on his way over to look at mine but in the meantime she would start with hers. Let me tell you, her machine is quite the beast. It is very fast, much wider and can spin around in circles. I headed over to Mount Stewart to get some gas and on my way I passed Bernie on a bike. He was on the ground under my mower when I got back with the gas.  He thinks the problem is the belt has gotten stretched a bit and that may be why it keeps coming off. He got it back on and if I don't cut the grass too short it seems to be okay for now. Lloyd will have to investigate further when he gets here. By the time we got mine up and running, Brenda had finished the front, the side and the immediate back yard and had started on the back field with the trees. I started out there as well and we flew through it. She had arrived at 7:00 and by 8:30 we had finished all the lawn and had a glass of wine in the house. Amazing. Once again, I  don't know what I would do without those people to come to my rescue. I really and truly appreciate it.

Tonight we are going to Indian River for the Festival of Small Halls. Brenda did suggest that was partly in her mind when she decided to come over and help with the grass. It also helped that the mower was already in the trailer and the trailer was already hooked up to the truck. Like I always say, timing is everything.  Because it's supposed to be nice today, I had planned on continuing with the push mower after work.

Well it's Friday and I've almost made it through my first week.It's interesting when people come in and they know me from Honda. First the Purolator driver came in and asked if I was in the wrong place, and then yesterday the shuttle driver from Hyundai came in. We chatted a bit and he said it was too bad, he would miss waving to me on the road. It's kind of like the motorcycles that wave to each other as they pass on the road, so do the shuttle drivers.

Time to go and get ready for work. Have a great weekend.

A no news kind of day

 

Conditions at 5:30 am: 9' and overcast
Expected later: 13' with rain in the morning

It's been such a cool, damp spring that everyone is beginning to wonder if it's ever going to warm up. It has to soon. Yesterday when I got home from work the house was very cold and damp so I lit the wood stove and turned on the fireplace in the living room. After making something to eat, I sat down to read my book and before I knew it my eyes were slamming shut. When I checked the clock it was 9:20. Needless to say it was a totally relaxed/wasted evening. It started raining on my way home so working outside wasn't an option. It was the perfect night for curling up in front of the fire with a good book and I guess that's exactly what I did.

I went over to my previous employers at lunch to pick up my pay cheque and it's quite a different perspective after coming from my new place of work. I know the building I now work in is shiny and new but the other one is just so old and dingy. I chatted for a while with a few people and then left.

Before I went there, I had stopped in at Tip Top Car Wash on McAleer Drive. What an amazing place. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are ladies days so we get a discount off the already low price. It's regularly $20 but on ladies day it's $16 for us girls. They wash the outside of the car, by hand, vacuum the inside, clean the dash and the windows on the inside. And all of this takes about 15 minutes. I had called earlier to see if I needed an appointment and the lady told me you just come over and get in the line. She advised it's usually quite busy on sunny days but on cloudy days it's pretty quiet. There was no one there when I arrived so I  got in right away. I was totally impressed. And, if you go 8 times, you get a free one and they keep track of it for you. The people who own it are from Glenfinnan but I don't know their names. No doubt Brenda knows who they are.

Well, I brought Caitlin's resume in to the boss yesterday but he is undecided as to what to do about Saturdays. I suspect he will try it first and see if someone is needed on Saturday. I let him know that Caitlin was there waiting for me and he did come down and meet her and he told her he will let her know next week.  Unfortunately for her, the car wasn't ready yesterday so I gave her a lift home and I'll pick her up this morning. I was able to get the shuttle to pick her up yesterday afternoon but that might not always be the case. They don't have a driver in the afternoon, just one of the parts people goes out and picks up whom ever is out there. So they don't like her to be too long as she's away from the parts counter. The shuttling is not nearly as extensive as it was over at the other place. Over there it was on demand all day long and that's just not the norm.

Well, better go and get ready. I don't want to be late picking up my passenger!

Everything happens for a reason!

 

Conditions at 5:15 am: 10' and overcast
Expected later: 14' and showers - again

Is it ever going to warm up?  We get odd nice days just to tease us and then we're right back into the cool, wet weather again. Oh well, we will really appreciate it when it does get here.
Well, I chatted with Kurt on Monday afternoon and it's difficult to find someone to work only Saturdays. Then yesterday I drove Caitlin to and from work and during the course of our trip, I mentioned that it was hard to find someone to work just Saturdays and she said she would like to do it as it would give her some extra money and she would have her afternoon and evening free for going out with friends or to the beach. So, I'm taking her resume in to work with me this morning and hoping for the best. I don't think there should be a problem. Like I said, everything happens for a reason. If we weren't spending that time in the car chatting, it might never have come up.

A scene from Sunday afternoon's drive

Last night when I got home I started on the front yard with the push mower. I can't believe I cut all  the grass for the first two months with that one. It takes forever. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) both the lawn mower and I ran out of gas at about the same time and I didn't have anymore. I guess I could have gone to the Irving and gotten some but I started when I got home and hadn't had supper yet so it seemed like a good time to stop for the night. Hopefully  the weather will cooperate and I can continue tonight.

I had another great day at work yesterday.  It's funny when someone calls or comes in who knows me. The Purolator driver came in Monday afternoon and looked at me and smiled and said "Aren't you in the wrong place?".  Then I got a call from the body shop and after I hung up I realized that Dave had said "Thanks Sandy" when he hung up but I hadn't said my name when I answered the phone.

It is such a different atmosphere that I can't believe it. I'm sure there are issues - every company has them but at least here it's more spread out and I actually don't see anyone from my desk. The service people are around one corner to my left and the sales peoples offices are around the corner to my right so I'm there all by myself and it's great. There's always someone coming by or looking for things but stuff doesn't get dumped on my desk like it did before. It's by far a much healthier environment mentally.

It was very nice yesterday at lunch. I took the car and went over to the mall. In my hour lunch I had time to go in and try on some pants as I needed some for work. I picked up a black pair as most of the ones I have are getting a little shabby as I've been wearing them for a number of years so it was time for a new pair. I think one of these evenings I need to take all my clothes out of the closet and re-evaluate what I have, get rid of the ones I don't/won't wear and make a list of what I do need and then go from there.

Quite a difference

 

Conditions at 5:30 am: 10' and partly cloudy
Expected later: 15' and the same clouds

I must say, there is a very big difference between the car dealership I'm working in this week than the one I worked in last week. Oh my gosh! This one has email, and voice mail, and all those things that most companies have been using for a number of years. But I shouldn't speak badly - it was an experience and I did come away with a bit of knowledge about car dealerships and that certainly made it easier to start at a new one. I'm already doing way more than I was doing before and I've only been there one day. But in all fairness, it does make a difference not driving the shuttle. I will miss that part of the job but there are so many other things that will make up for it. There's lots to learn but that's a good thing.

It rained pretty much all day yesterday so I stayed in at lunch. I'm planning to try to get out and do some walking at lunch time. I'm going to take a pair of running shoes and leave them at work so that I can just go whenever it's decent weather.

On Sunday when Brenda and I were out on our bikes, we met up at one of the lights on the by pass, with a group of Blue Knights from the island. The vests are not the same colour anymore. I was talking with one of the guys last year when Ralph was here for a rally, and they've moved to a deeper blue rather than the Robins Egg Blue. They are very nice but not quite as distinctive as the old ones were. You could see those ones coming a mile away. Perhaps that's why they changed.

When I was on my way home from Brenda's on Sunday, I noticed that the farm gate trailer has been moved from Goods and some machinery is up for sale. When I asked Brenda, she informed me that they are not farming this year. I was disappointed to hear that. I loved the fact that I could stop and pick up veggies on my way home for supper. I guess I'll just have to find somewhere else to get them. There seems to be a spot on the Bunbury Road that has some. They've had the field covered with white fabric type stuff for a while and now it's been removed to reveal a field full of something that looks like cabbages and other vegetables. There's a wagon set up in the middle of the field near the road so it looks like they may be selling some produce from there. That would be great.

I talked to Lloyd and to Brenda last night then went to bed early. I had been up really early yesterday morning and it caught up with me.  I woke up this morning at 3:00 but I was able to go back to sleep after a little while. I'm picking Caitlin up this morning so I'd best get going and get ready. Don't want to be late!

What a difference an hour can make!

Conditions at 2:24 am: 13" and some clouds
Expected later: 11' and rain for most of the day

If you read my blog on Friday, You'll remember that I was a little disappointed because I didn't expect to be able to attend the McCartney concert in NYC. Of course if you know me at all, I will always find a way. It kind of nagged at me all the way to work and in the end, I called Toyota and suggested that I would need the 15th of July off and it was no problem at all. Fast forward to a few hours later, and.....
I'm going to see Paul McCartney in New York City!
What a great thing to have to look forward to.  I'm really happy it worked out. Every time I go to a concert I think to myself, okay, this will likely be the last time I go due to cost, distance, etc. But we all know that's not the reality of the situation, is it? Anyway, I'm very excited to be going.

Now back to the real world! What a great past few days. Friday afternoon was warm and sunny and I stopped at the grocery store on my way home to pick up stuff for Saturday's dinner with the girls. I assumed that because we planned to go for drinks after work on Saturday that we weren't going on Friday and no one mentioned it. So you can imagine my surprise when I checked my phone before heading out to the country at 6:20 to see that I had a several text messages, wondering where I was. It seems after they'd been there for a while, someone asked if I was coming and then they all assumed that someone else had invited me. So of course I sent a message back that it figured - I wasn't even out the door and they'd already forgotten about me. I probably would have went for one drink but I'd just bought ice cream and had no choice but to go straight home. But we made up for it on Saturday. A few people came out and we had a lovely time. In fact I didn't get home until 5:00 so it was a good thing I had done most of the tidying up on Friday night.

Brenda, Lesa and Charmaine came over around 7:00 and we had a lovely time. It was just about 11:00 when they left and I think they enjoyed themselves. I'd love to get together again but just do a pot luck and sit around and chat. Charmaine brought some shrubs she dug up from her garden so I was motivated to actually try to finish my flower bed now that I have the beginnings of things to plant. Brenda also says she has lots I can put in when I get it ready.

On the West River

I worked a little bit on it Sunday morning and then decided I would cut some grass, while I was waiting for Brenda to get back from church. Unfortunately I only cut about 5 feet when the belt came off again. It was a little frustrating. So instead I sat outside and read my book after getting dressed.  When Brenda called, we headed out on our bikes. We went over to West River and participated in the Sporting Intentions Kayak Demo Day. There were quite a few people there and they had been quite busy earlier on. They had suggested to Caitlin that we show up around noon. We tried out a much longer and narrower kayak than what we have. It was very stable and quite maneuverable and once you got it going, could go quite fast. But I'm not going to look at the web site because I know they are very pricey. I'm happy with what I have for now, and certainly the motorcycles are cutting in to our kayaking time. I really need to retire - this working for a living is getting in the way of my social life!

We had a wonderful ride. The sun was warm, once it came out to stay, and we toured some absolutely beautiful roads. Lloyd would have loved it. Some of the scenery was gorgeous and every time I'm reminded how very lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place.  On our way back home we stopped at a little place on the highway and had a burger and milkshake. When we got back, Brenda went home and changed and then came over and helped me with the flower bed and thanks to her it's now got all the sod taken off. I need some manure and she's going to help out with that when they are all done planting. I was so happy to get that done and it went so much faster with two people working on it.

When we were done, we grilled a couple of steaks on the bbq and boiled some mini potatoes then tossed them in some butter and fresh chives. A little coleslaw on the side made for a really quick and easy supper. We were both a little sunburned and tired after a busy day so she went home and I called Lloyd to check in. He was out for supper and said he would call me back, so I read my book until he returned my call. Then it was bed time for me as well.

 Must be nerves, I suppose, due to starting the new job this morning. because I woke up at 2:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I took the dog outside and it was gorgeous out. Now I'm writing this and will try to go back and get a little more sleep when I'm done. This will give me more time to decide what to wear when I do get up. Wish me luck!

Oh wow - talk about poor timing

Conditions at 5:30 am: 10' and drizzle somewhere but not here
Expected later: Sun and cloud and a high of only 12'

It seems we get these nice days every so often just to tease us. Yesterday was really quite nice but now today is cooler again.

I opened up my email this morning and there it was - an opportunity I don't think I'll be able to take advantage of  because of timing. Jana forwarded the following and advised she was free on the 15th  - she'd received it from Kristi who suggested Jana should bring me down to New York with her...

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	Just Added | This Week's Shows | Upcoming Shows | Venues Paul McCartney Fri, Jul 15 Yankee Stadium On Sale Mon, 6/13, 11am More Info

Unfortunately I'll only be a month into my new job so it's highly unlikely that  I'd be able to get the time off and  that's too bad because I'd love to go and see Kristi and go to the concert with them.
Talk about a disappointment!

But on the other hand, I heard something on the radio yesterday that confirmed I've made the right move. I was on my way to work and I heard the DJ talking about this little kid in Stratford who is raising funds for the Japan relief. It mentioned that the father of the child had called the radio station to inform them that our company had donated $1,000 to the child's efforts. That was very generous. On the other hand I was not able to get permission to organize a company team to put into the Relay for Life in support of one of our staff members who is currently  fighting cancer. That just seems wrong to me on so many levels. It's the little things like this, that really make me question the values of some people.  So I really felt good about my decision after I heard that.

Well, I spent so much time looking at email and stressing over the fact I can't go to New York to see Sir Paul, that I've used up my allotted computer time so I'd better get going. Have a great weekend everyone.