Monday, April 21st - finally back on track

 After a cool but mostly sunny weekend, it's going to be a pleasant 9' today with a mix of sun and cloud - it figures as I go back to work today. But it will be a great day for bicycle riding for some people.

This past week has been a bit crazy and thrown things totally off the rails but I think we're back in the swing of things once again.

Last Wednesday was my first day back from my little trip away and it felt like a Monday. Then the next day, was Thursday before Good Friday and it felt like Friday, so it was a great short week.
I was hoping that James was going to be on the first flight in from Toronto but alas, that wasn't to be the case. A text from his mom around 10:30 indicated that he didn't get on that flight after all and that they would try the late one that night. I was a little disappointed to hear that but thought, oh well, we can make this work. I knew that Meghan(1)  was coming in on that late flight so it made sense that Brenda and I should plan to go into town a little early, have a drink and maybe a snack somewhere before ending our evening picking up the 'kids' at the airport around midnight.
You can imagine how surprised I was to look up from my desk just before lunch to see James standing there in his suit looking ever so pleased with himself at the surprise he'd successfully pulled off. I asked him how did he get there? His smartass reply was "by airplane". No, I meant from the airport, to which he responded "I took a cab".  Just like that.  A couple of people at work were astounded that he would do that but I'm not the least bit surprised. Before leaving town on Thursday after

work , Lloyd met up with us and we went to Lot 30 for a burger. James and I split one and we had an order of oysters to share to start with. James has tried one before but several years ago. He wasn't so crazy about it but he seemed to enjoy these. We all enjoyed the burger, even thought it was quite juicy and  a bit messy, but that seems to be the nature of the beast.
So even though his early arrival put a wrench into my late night plans, it all worked out. Instead Brenda came over to our place for tea before heading into town later in the evening.

Sorting dulce for cooking

Friday was a quiet day, with not a lot going on. He'd had a long day on Thursday so slept in. It was sunny and not too cold so I was eager to get outside and enjoy the day. It was the first time I've been able to get outside and really do anything and take stock of just what chaos the winter may have created. I spent a bit of time cleaning up the flower beds and pulling out the old stuff. I was surprised to find I actually have crocuses blooming along with a few brave tulips and daffodils poking up through the mud. Spring may not appear to be here just yet but there's hope that it will actually arrive this year. Lloyd spent the morning putting together some rabbit pies. I suppose that's possibly a new easter tradition - Easter Bunny Pie! Both James, and the neighbours who were given a sample, declared it delicious.

In the afternoon Lloyd got the bicycles out and in condition to ride so James spent a fair bit of time out riding one of the bikes while I puttered around outside. Weather wise it was the best day of the weekend.

He went for another bike ride on Saturday morning before we headed into town. I had to pick up a couple of things then we headed over to the farm centre for a seminar on seaplants. Besides using them as fertilizer we learned that many are quite edible. We had a demonstration on making biscuits with seaweed flakes, a vegetable stew that contained seaweed and an irish moss pudding. The biscuits were very good, the stew was more like a
soup, as it didn't have enough time to simmer slowly, but it was still quite flavourful, and the irish moss pudding was very tasty. I was surprised that he would enjoy such a day and the start was a bit slow, but once they got into the demo part he was right into it, volunteering for a couple of jobs. Being as he was the only kid there, they were more than eager to have his help. All in all, a great day.
Because we'd already eaten, we decided a simple supper would be best so we picked up some shrimp, some scallops and some mussels at the store and headed home to cook our seafood feast.

After supper, and the dishes were all cleaned up, it was time for one his favorite island activities - a lengthy game of Beatles Monopoly with his grandma. The game lasted until almost midnight when he left me with only $1.00 to my name. Pretty sharp, that boy.

Sunday morning, Easter Sunday, was a quiet day starting out as well. James woke up to a couple of things brought by the Easter Bunny - some books and peanut butter cups. Then it was outside for a lengthy  bicycle ride.

It was a cool day but a great day for working outside so that's precisely what we did when he returned. After a bit of a struggle, Lloyd was finally able to get the garden tractor running so we could use it to go round with the trailer and pick up all the old branches that had fallen over the winter. Like a lot of equipment, the spring start up is sometimes a bit of a challenge. The tractor was no exception, as was the chain saw. That was used to cut off some limbs that needed trimming as well as cut down one of the trees. A couple more will follow shortly. (Lloyd was especially pleased when Bernie showed up and took him off for a drive to look at some property) James was tasked with trimming off the little suckers that grow on the base of the bigger trees, then all those things were hauled to the fire pit. It was too windy yesterday for burning them but hopefully today will be a better one.

Probably the highlight of the day for James was driving the lawn tractor and hauling the trailer from spot to spot for pick up. It was certainly nice to have a bit of extra help with the lawn chores!

Supper was a group effort as well. James made mini burgers and Lloyd grilled them on the BBQ while I made sweet potato fries in the deep fryer.  After supper it was off for a cup of tea with the VanGaals before coming home and watching the end of season one of Murdoch Mysteries, which we had been working our way through the entire weekend.  It was a little earlier night for me as I have to work today, and tonight will be even earlier for both James and I as we are putting him on the early flight in the morning. I know we really enjoyed having him here and I hope he enjoyed his time with us. Sadly, the eggs that had been in the incubator did not hatch as expected. An eggtopsy performed last evening, proved that they never made it past the first few days so something went wrong. Now the challenge is to find out just what, and to give it another try. The challenges of farming!

Thursday, April 17th - Finally back from sunny BC!

 After a few warm and sunny days it's a  refreshing chilly -6 (that actually feels more like -12) here on the island at the eastern side of the country! But it should at least get above freezing and reach 2' in the sun.

Great weekend in the sunshine!(and home just in time for another long weekend!) Last Friday was a pretty low key day. We took a drive to the local grocery store to pick up a few things and a couple of bottles of wine from the liquor store and we were set. We pretty much spent the weekend out on that porch just sitting and talking.

"The Cottage" that we stayed in, part of a local motel

We did go for a short visit to the waterfront on Saturday and a quick tour through Chinatown on Sunday but that was the extent of our touring. Mostly we just sat and talked and caught up on the last 30+ years.

Flowers were in full bloom everywhere

A bustling waterfront on a Saturday afternoon

The hotel overlooking the waterfront that Patti stays in while in Victoria

Blossoms everywhere

 Then all too soon it was time to come home. I caught the early flight from Victoria to Toronto and was picked up by Patti at  the airport and whisked off to Guelph just in time to pick up the kids as school. My friend Nancy dropped in with  treats from Saunders Bakery, and we enjoyed a nice visit with her. Before we knew it the time had come for Patti to take me back to the airport. I was catching the 9:00 flight and after a few glitches with gates and so on I was grateful to finally get a seat, arriving in Charlottetown a little after midnight.  By the time I located my car, which had been dropped off for me, and stopped in to see Lloyd at work for a few minutes, it was precisely 1:30 am on Wednesday morning when I walked in the door. I think it was likely 1:32 when I went to bed!  After a short nights sleep it was up and back to work. Good thing I had lots to do to keep my busy. I think in the early afternoon I would have had a hard time staying away if I wasn't busy.
Home last night and back to our usual routine, supper, then Lloyd off to bed. I did a couple of things before heading off myself for a good nights sleep. I think I'm caught up now. With any luck, James will be arriving sometime today and we'll all be together for the long weekend. When Lloyd comes home this morning, he's off now until midnight on Monday night.
Happy Easter Everyone!

Friday, April 11 - Hello from sunny Victoria

It's amazing that I arrived here as quickly as I did. The travel gods were truly with me yesterday. After several texts back and forth with Patti and many flights booked I made it to Victoria by 11:30 in the morning. I had arrived in Toronto with meer minutes to make it to the Vancouver flight gate just in time to hear my name being called.
The weather was a bit cool at only 12' but the sun came out later in the afternoon and we were able to sit outside on the porch and enjoy the day. I did manage to stay up till 8:30  which would have been 12:30 PEI time.
Woke up in time for coffee and Baileys - awesome way to start our day.
All is well here and, in reality, much better than I was expecting.
Looking forward to the rest of the weekend.

Wednesday, April 9th -it feels more spinglike this morning - damp and foggy

It's a milder 6' to start out this morning. It rained pretty much all day yesterday, and quite hard at times. The snow has taken quite a beating and a bit of sun this afternoon will surely help along those lines as well. It's going to cool off slightly during the day and be much cooler overnight but the next few days should be quite nice. In fact there's no snow in the forecast until the day after I get back! Nice of Mother Nature to save those flurries for me.

Last night, being Tuesday, Brenda and I enjoyed our weekly refreshments at Pap Joe's where we  indulged in their burger love entry:

EL TORO :
7oz Seasoned Island Beef Patty Infused with Ground Bacon,

Black Bean Salsa, Sour Cream Spread, Fresh Avocado, Toasted Cumin Island Gouda, Banana Peppers, Chiffonade of Romaine Lettuce, and Crisp Corn Chips on a Toasted Ciabatta Bun garnished with a Jalapeno Pepper Popper Corn Chip, Olive, and Tomato

It was a mighty tasty creation that we both really enjoyed. So far this year, they've all been really good. It will be hard to choose a winner. Of course I can't imagine how anyone can sample every one this year. In past years there were around 30, a number one could do in a month if really motivated, but 54 will make it much tougher. Although we did hear on Sunday morning that someone had come into Hunters who had already sampled 5 or 6 by the third day or so. I guess it's possible if you've got lots of time and choose to eat burgers at least twice a day, but I'm certain there are some out there who surely will.

Lastly, I was deeply saddened this morning to learn that Lloyd's brother passed away last night. He had been battling cancer and we knew yesterday it was just a matter of time. It's a small blessing to know that he didn't suffer too long once put into hospital for the last time. Our condolences to Dennis' family. Lloyd is so glad that he took the time to visit him in the fall on his way back through Ontario. He lived in the Ottawa area.
Too soon for funeral details as yet.  

Monday, April 7th - More burgers!

The weather was slightly more seasonal the past few days, although we did see some heavy wet flurries in between the rain showers on Saturday.This morning we have clear skies and -1' but we should reach a sunny high of 5' later today. The sunshine combined with heavy rain tomorrow will certainly make for a really messy drive - especially in our lane and yard, which tends to turn to soup when it gets this amount of moisture! Can't wait.

Friday after work I met Brenda, Bernie and Lloyd downtown at the Gahan for their burger:

The Forbidden Donut-

9oz Island Beef and Chorizo Patty, Green Tomato Relish, Cows 2 Year White Cheddar, Bacon, Green Leaf Lettuce, Tomato, Panko Crusted Onion Rings, Poached Egg, Roasted Red Pepper, and Ketchup on a House Made Jalapeno and Cheddar Donut topped with a Cherry Tomato and Gherkin

It was mighty good eatin!  Everyone really enjoyed it, along with a beer and some live music. Everywhere was extremely busy as it's East Coast Music Week. Every eating establishment in the city had somebody strumming a guitar, it seems. We went home after our burgers as Lloyd had to work, so needed to catch a little bit of sleep.

I usually meet him in town for coffee on Saturday mornings as we have an hour between his finishing and my starting. I'd heard there was a charity breakfast at  Hunters as they are trying to break a Guinness Record for number of hours that a bartender can work - they were aiming for 150 and being as it is the ECMA's they apparently have special permission to stay open 24 hours a day.  Well, it was quite the experience.  The breakfast was great but we were fairly certain that several folks hadn't been home since leaving work on Friday afternoon. (that was evident by the work ID tags they were still wearing, and it was also fairly obvious that they hadn't just finished their shift) I have to say it's the first time I've had breakfast in a restaurant filled with very loud people drinking beer at 8:00 in the morning!  But they were having fun and it certainly added something to the festive atmosphere.

Saturday afternoon I met up with Brenda to hear some blues at the Guild. Once again everywhere was very busy in spite of the wet weather. When the show ended I dropped Brenda off at the Merchantman. She was hoping Bernie and/or Maureen were going to join her, so hopefully I wasn't totally abandoning her.

Sunday was slightly milder with lots of melting going on. We planned to go to Montague to Aaron's visitation in the afternoon but ended up going in the evening instead. Lloyd is busy planning the vegetable garden. It's not something I'm very good at and haven't been terribly successful in the past two years. I suspect this year will be much better now that Mr. Greenjeans has taken over the task. He's a great one for doing research and finding out all he can before he undertakes a task. This one is no different. So armed with questions and lists of what he plans to grow, he's visited the garden centre and gotten lots of information and lots of seeds. Some of those seeds are now in trays in front of the living room window. Others will be started at a later time, to be transplanted in the garden when the time is right and the snow is all gone and the soil warmed up enough - which right now feels like it could be mid July!  I puttered in the kitchen for part of the morning then headed out to the craft room. I got some good work done on a couple of things we're working on for the conference. Then it was grab a bite to eat and head off to Montague.

The funeral home was jam packed. In fact we were guided into the chapel to sit down, which was full on one side and half full on the other. I thought they were doing some sort of service, which I wasn't expecting, but instead it was traffic control. As one side was ushered up to the front to speak to the family, row by row, the other side was filled and this continued the entire time we were there. I've never seen so many people at a visitation before and I suspect it was just as busy in the afternoon. I know the service will be standing room only this afternoon.

Friday, April 4th - everyone's glad to see the end of this week!

The weather has finally settled down ever so slightly. It's currently -2 and we should reach +2 later with a bit of sun but maybe a few flurries and/or a bit of rain.

Our road still wasn't plowed on Wednesday morning. I was supposed to pick Brenda up on my way to work and drop her off at her school bus, but we managed to work it out. I walked out to the corner, where some of the drifts were well past my knees, and she picked me up. Fortunately the Van Gaal snowblowing company had just arrived as I was leaving, and after blowing a path down the road, I was easily able to walk through.  The plow did finally come by but it was really only wide enough for one car to go through. Yesterday they brought in one of the big snowblowers to finish the job on the road. I'm guessing it was just too deep in spots and there was no where to push the snow to. But it's all much better now and things are quickly returning to whatever we call normal!

James texted me yesterday that he was at a local high school in Guelph for the day participating in Skills Canada, building a wind turbine as part of the green energy component. I had hoped for a photo at the end of the day but haven't received one as yet. I'm sure it was an interesting experience for him.Perhaps he can build a bigger model to power the chicken house!

I've finalized my plans for my trip to beautiful Victoria (no, not the one here on the island - the one on the island at the other end of the country). I'll be leaving next Thursday, the 10th and returning on Tuesday the 15th - just in time for James' arrival on the 16th. This month is going to go by VERY fast! I'll have a 7 hour wait in Toronto on my way back, so Patti may be able to meet me and we can go for something to eat and kill some time. She might even be able to bring Tristen along with her for a quick visit.

Because Lloyd put in extra hours at work, he had the last two nights off. Wednesday after work I picked up pizza and delivered it to the Van Gaals as I had to return Brenda's car, that I had taken to work. Then last night Lloyd called and suggested he meet me after work so we could go somewhere and get a burger - yes, it's that time again - the annual Burger Love Competition. It gets bigger every year and this year there are 54 restaurants participating. Our choice last night was The Brick House where we enjoyed: 


 


The Bludacris Burger - 6oz Hand-formed Island Beef Patties, Blue Cheese Gouda, Blue Cheese & Maple Aioli, Bacon Jam, Caramelized Onions, and Arugula, on a Homemade Baked Potato Bun containing Potato, Cheddar, Chives & Bacon 

One down, 53 more to go. Guess we know where Lloyd will be eating most of his meals while I'm away. James will arrive just in time to sample a couple while he's here.

 
 Yesterday afternoon was the first of what will be, many remote broadcasts from the local radio station, at work,  as part of our annual spring promotions. I had been speaking with the local DJ on the phone last week, and knew he was coming in. He loves Peanut Butter Balls and I sometimes make some for him (it's a long story that goes back about 4 years). Anyway, he has a daughter who is allergic to peanuts so he's not able to share. I decided to try making them with sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. They don't taste quite the same but they are still pretty good. And really, if you've never had a real one, you won't know any different!  I told him to try one but didn't say why. He liked it and then I told him to take them home to his daughter. He was thrilled. He's going to let me know how she liked them. I hope they live up to her father's expectations! She's heard him rave about how great they are for years - she might not even like them!

And finally, I was deeply saddened to receive news yesterday morning of the death of a good friends son. Aaron was probably in his mid thirties and just died suddenly at a hockey game where he was one of the linesmen. It's suspected it was a heart attack but I haven't heard definitely as yet. My heart and thoughts go out to the entire family. Such a tragic loss of a fine young man who leaves behind a wife and two small children.

Wednesday, April 2nd - It's been an insane 36 hours!

The good news is the wind has died down and the temperature is only -2. The bad news is the road is still not plowed from the storm on Monday night. I ventured down the lane at 5:00 this morning and all is like it was last evening. Guess I'm not going anywhere anytime soon this morning.

It started with some freezing rain on Monday as I was coming home from work. The roads were getting quite slick and in fact when I put the brakes on to turn onto my road, I continued sliding up the hill. It was due to change to snow, which it did, before Lloyd left for work on Monday at midnight. He tells me it was the most treacherous drive he's had all winter. By morning it was quite a mess. The strong winds blew the snow around and there seems to be much more snow than we were expecting in our area.

After checking the radio station to find that work was delayed opening until 9:00 I thought I might have a chance of getting to work, even though the radio was strongly advising everyone stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary. At about 7:45 a plow came into sight so I thought it might not be so bad once the road was cleared. Not so. He promptly got the plow stuck just at the bottom of our property, just beside the lane. He was there for about 30 minutes when I took a walk down to see just how much snow was there and to take the driver a hot chocolate. We chatted a bit about the quantity of white stuff they were trying to deal with when another plow came into sight down the road. This one was going to pull him out

. The ice under the snow made it impossible to get any traction once you did get a little stuck. So I went back up to the house to watch from the window, out of the fierce winds. The second plow was a large Caterpillar loader and after numerous attempts, had to give up - the truck wasn't budging. I can only assume the first driver left with the second because the truck remained stuck in the middle of the road until 2:00 when a second loader came by, and this time they were successful. Unfortunately that's the last plow we saw. After pulling the truck out, they both left. I can't imagine how tired those guys must be dealing with storm after storm and it just seems there's no let up whatsoever.

Fortunately Lloyd has the job he has, so he has a warm place to stay to wait out the storm. He caught a couple of hours sleep in the morning, then they opened up the shelter for the day, ahead of the usual opening time of  5:00 p.m. There was no way he would have been able to get home last night so he stayed and worked the night shift as well. As of 5:00 this morning he has been there for 29 hours. The up side is he'll have a few extra hours he can take off at a later time.

Not sure what's happening this morning. Just waiting to see if there is school or not as Brenda is driving a bus this morning. If the road is cleared she's offered to drive me to work as my lane won't get cleared till sometime later today. But we'll see. I can only assume that if our road isn't cleared yet, there must be a lot more side roads that are still plugged.

But it's not all bad. I spent a relaxing day yesterday baking a batch of bread, doing some laundry and watching several movies. Kind of like a little mini vacation!