Wednesday, September 17th - decisions, decisions!

Conditions at 5:15 am :  a very balmy 12'
Expected later: 18' and mostly sunny

Firstly a very happy belated birthday to Brenda. Her birthday was yesterday and we had an evening out! Not exactly a celebration but a night out just the same. We'll take it, no matter how it comes our way.
It was the registration for community school and the big decision had to be made: whatever shall we take this year?  We stepdanced on Tuesday nights last year but we had a special reason for doing that. Now that reason is no longer valid so we've had to make the decision: what to do this year???

The courses offered this year are:
Fiddle
Guitar
Quilting
Yoga
Braided Rug 
Scrap Booking
Speaker-A-Night
Crokinole
Crochet
Square Dancing.

In the end it was a toss up between yoga and making a braided rug. I probably should have chosen yoga but opted instead to learn a new craft I've not yet tried. (just what I needed - another hobby!). Brenda on the other hand chose something that was both good for her and had no homework - yoga.
Only problem is her class finishes at the break so she has the option of either going home or sitting in on any of the other classes -two for the price of one! And since it only makes sense to take one car, she has to wait for me. Last night she attended the second half of the speaker a night class and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lloyd had supper ready when I got home as I didn't have much time. We were sitting at the table eating and looking out the window when a large flock of small birds, the same quail type that we saw last year, came onto the yard down by the road. They just marched up the lawn all the way up to the front of the house, like little soldiers on a mission. They came right up to the front window. No idea why. I stood up to get my camera and when they saw the movement, they all froze, like a bunch of tiny  statues. When I moved away from the window, they continued on their walk over to the driveway and across to the side yard. I took a picture through the window but it's not great, especially with the screen in the way. I opened the back door but as soon as they saw me they flew away, and went out into the big field behind our property. A very strange sight indeed.

Sunday, September 14th: a big job finally done - with a lot of help from some great people!

Conditions at 7:30 pm: slightly overcast and 14'
Expected tomorrow: mostly sunny and a high of 18'

I'm a little early this time but we're just ever so happy with the progress that was made this weekend.
Lloyd got a call on Friday that the cement would be poured first thing Saturday morning - starting at 7:00.  He was able to get the night off work so he'd be here.  And bright and early it was. We were both up early as I had some things I wanted to get ready for the guys to eat later, and Lloyd had a couple of last minute things that still needed to be done in the garage.

 A little before 7:00 Bernie showed up and they were all ready to roll when the cement truck arrived pretty much on time. The fellow who was going to be smoothing out the concrete arrived as well and brought a helper with him. Shortly after the cement truck arrived, so did our friend Jackie and his wife Helena  as well as Bernie's friend Pious.  Needless to say we had great help. Brenda had arrived earlier prepared to do whatever she might be needed to do but there were lots of guys out there, so she and Helena helped in the kitchen.  And I must say I was ever so grateful for that help

We knew it wouldn't take very long and there would be a  pile of hungry men needing to be fed. We made sandwiches and set the table with a veggie tray, potato chips and cinnamon rolls. I was surprised at just how quickly the job took.  They were in the house eating a little after 9:30. Of course, Grant, the fellow who was responsible for making it nice and smooth had to spend the better part of the day here, working on it from time to time to ensure it dried evenly.

And what an amazing job he did. It looks wonderful.
While the guys were working on the final finish,  I left to help with a wedding at the Rec Centre.  When I got home, Lloyd and I went out to see what the end result was. It's wonderful! Nice and smooth and finally finished!  Still some trim work to be done in the garage but that will come. So a big thanks to everyone that helped - we really and truly appreciate it.

Grant  told us we could start moving stuff in on Sunday, just not drive any vehicles on it yet - yeah, like that's ever going to  happen!  

Summer 2012

It was raining when we got up Sunday morning and I think Lloyd needed a bit of a break away from the garage. It had been a pretty stressful week for him trying to get everything all sorted round. So instead of starting to move things back in, as planned, he went fishing with neighbour Frank instead. They headed out to Georgetown to catch Mackerel. I did some laundry in the morning then headed out to the craft room, where I happily spent pretty much the rest of the day, only realizing the time when it was after 6:00.  We put together a quick but tasty supper and then called it a day.

Summer 2014 - well done Lloyd!

He's anxious to get started on moving things in but he also wants to take a bit of time to plan out how he wants things organized. Like he said, now comes the fun part. Even though it's a lot of work it's also pretty exciting. I know how it felt the day I was able to start moving things into the upstairs!









As mentioned on Friday, the Van Gaals were guests at a dinner on Friday evening to celebrate Island Heritage Farms.  They have a lovely plaque to put up where they choose to commemorate the legacy that is their property - Windy Isle Farm! I'm always surprised by things on this island and one of those things was the number of farms that have had the same owners for over 150 years - I think Brenda said there were 91 farms designated. That's a lot of family and island history.

Friday, September 12th - a very mild morning

Conditions at 5:30 am: an overcast 18' that feels more like 23' with a slight warm breeze
Expected later: lots of sun and 17' - looks like it's already gotten as good as it's going to get for the day

Our fall like weather continues but the days have been absolutely gorgeous - mild temperatures, light breeze and lots of sunshine.  It reminds me of the times when we used to come down to the island for a week or so at a time. It was usually in the fall and we enjoyed spending as much time as we could outside. There are fewer bugs now so it's much more pleasant. Of course in those days we had little else to do but rest and relax and maybe tour around a bit. No grass to cut, buildings to finish, garden to tend, etc, etc. Now don't get me wrong, I'm really not complaining. I still enjoy the time I get to spend outside, even if it's riding around on the lawn mower! It's just a different life than it was then. The best part about it now is that we don't have to think every day about how soon we have to go back to Ontario. Now the island is stuck with us!

Pretty quiet couple of days.Lloyd had been busy trying to coordinate the finishing of his garage floor. The last bits are in place and all that's left to do is pour the concrete. He's been trying for a couple of days to get that nailed down but so far nothing is definite. It might happen on Friday, if all goes well.

It will be so nice to finally have that finished. The yard is SUCH a mess! There's piles of stuff EVERYWHERE, covered in tarps to protect it from the weather. The shed is full of stuff, but we need to get the garage finished to move that stuff out so we can move the split wood into the shed. It's like a giant pack of dominoes - every thing hinges on another action being completed. Once everything is moved, then we can do some serious yard clean up. It's somewhat of an embarrassment at the moment, but I know it's only temporary, but it really needs to get done before the snow flies.



Speaking of snow, I'm very glad I don't reside in Calgary this week! Poor Caitlyn, in Edmonton, is also getting her first taste of snow for the season. She was wondering about winter tires,  guess it's never too early out west.  We know it's only temporary but what a shock it must be to the system to have hot sunny weather one day then snow the next, and not just a light dusting!

And speaking of the Van Gaals, they are being honoured this evening at a special dinner to celebrate the fact that their property has been farmed by the same family since the 1800's. I found this article online outlining the process:

Some of P.E.I.'s family farms will be getting some extra recognition this year. The P.E.I. Agriculture

Sector Council and P.E.I. 2014 are looking for farms that have been in the family for 150 years or more so that they can give them a heritage plaque.

To receive the plaque, farms will need to go through an application process.
"To apply, I actually need five things, one of which is a bonafide farm number, a property number, the year the farm was established, the surname the farm was established under, as well as some historical documents kind of telling me when the farm was established," said JoAnn Pineau, the coordinator of the Heritage Farm project for the P.E.I. Agriculture Sector Council.
The heritage farms will be announced in the fall.  In addition to getting a plaque, those who own farms with the designation will be invited to a gala lobster supper in September.
Pineau is looking forward to going through the submissions.
"It is going to be kind of cool to go through all these historical documents and learn about the past," she said. 

COOl? I guess so!  Congrats to the Van Gaals for earning this designation. Have a great time tonight.

Wednesday, September 10th - a great evening with friends

Conditions at 5:15 am- 10'
Expected later: 20' and sunny, making it feel more like 23'

It was very cool yesterday morning, making it really feel very fall like. This morning is a bit milder. The moon is very bright this morning, as it was last night.


We were very fortunate to be invited to dinner last night out with friends. Our friend Jens dropped into the dealership on Saturday morning to invite us to dine with them last night. It was their 42nd wedding anniversary. We met him and Linda at the Dundee Arms right after work and we had an absolutely lovely time. We don't see each other very often, so it was nice to catch up
.

 We had a great meal and lots of conversation, not leaving the restaurant until 8:00, a little past Lloyd's bed time. We all agreed it was really nice to just go out and no one had to spend time cooking so we'll plan to do this a little more often. We've never gone out before so it was a treat to just sit and be waited on.

When we were driving home the moon was low and very bright in the sky. I did some reading this morning and learned it was both a harvest moon and a super moon. And what a super moon it was. Absolutely beautiful. This morning the sky is clear and it's brilliant outside.

Monday, September 8th - a Fall type of weekend

Conditions at 5:30 am: a crisp clear 10' with a full moon shining up in the sky
Expected later: a sunny 17'

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous summers day. When we get to September we tend to think of fall but in reality it's still summer and Friday was indisputable proof of that.  The temperature was in the high 20's but it felt even warmer. It would have been a great beach day if we didn't have to work for a living!
Friday evening I stayed in town and went over to the Celebration Zone. Performers slated for the night were Sylvia Tyson, followed by the Irish Descendents. Lloyd was planning to perhaps join me but he didn't get much sleep during the day so decided to stay home. Brenda and Bernie were hoping to get there later. I arrived after work, to very small crowds, and no line ups so I bellied up to the bar, ordered some food and a Beach Chair lager. I found a place to sit and pulled out my ipad to continue with the book I've been reading. There was music playing on the stage area as I enjoyed my supper and my book. When I was done, I took my chair and headed out to the stage area as it was getting on towards time for the main events and it was starting to full up. Sylvia came on right on time and I was amazed that her voice still sounds the same as it did all those years ago, quite remarkable considering that she's 74 years old this month. (But then Sir Paul is 72 and he can still belt them out!) The Van Gaals arrived shortly after she started singing. Brenda came and sat with me and Bernie went into the beer tent to try to snag a beverage. There were huge line up there so was little he could do but drink his beer and then come back and join us outside by the stage. The food line was even longer so that wasn't happening.

The Irish Descendents didn't disappoint the huge crowd that had gathered. It was a beautiful night - mild and clear with just a slight breeze blowing the Canadian flag that was waving above the stage. As I sat there listening and watching the flag fluttering, and the crowd enjoying their evening, I was struck with how incredibly lucky we are to live in this place, and in this country, especially when we watch the news and see the horrific conditions and happenings in other parts of the world. We truly are blessed.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet,  even somewhat productive. Lloyd had rented a gadget from the hardware store to compress the sand that's spread on the floor in the garage. He picked it up after work on Saturday morning, took it home, used it and then returned it, all before I got home from work. He called me just after lunch to tell me he was now heading off to bed, after working all night and all morning. No problem as I had grass to cut and it was a relatively nice day. So when I got home, I jumped on the lawn mower and did the back piece. By the time that was done, and I had finished prepping supper, he was awake. Needless to say, it was a fairly quiet evening.

Sunday morning I was up early and catching up on a series I'm watching on Netflix. The main character is quite the cook and that inspired me to make a nice meal for our dinner. I took some pork tenderloin out of the freezer the night before so I made a garlic and lemon marinade for it and put it back into the fridge to do it's thing while I helped Lloyd outside. Now that the sand is nice and firm the next step was the plastic. That involved unrolling long strips of plastic, smoothing it in place and then taping all the seams. Finally something I was actually able to help with! Once that was done I went back inside to do a bit of work, in between loads of laundry and 'just one more episode' on Netflix, while he stayed outside to work on something else.

A while later, when Lloyd came inside he was done in, so I suggested a nice hot shower and a nap might be a good idea. Really, what's better on a cool Sunday afternoon.

By the time he got up from his nap, I was working on supper - Pork Souvlaki with Tzatziki sauce, Greek lemon roasted potatoes, Greek rice and a Greek village salad - do you sense a theme here?  Everything went well and it all lived up to my expectations. I'd been craving some souvlaki and we weren't disappointed. The good news is there's left overs for Lloyd's lunch at work later tonight.

All in all, not a bad weekend - some relaxing, some things accomplished - it was  all good!





Oh, and one final thing. I have to confess my guilt at having overlooked my son-in-law's birthday last week. So Greg, a huge belated Happy Birthday. I didn't really forget, I just wanted my wishes to be special and not get lost with all the others (okay, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)  Hope it was a great one and there was an ice cream cake with your name on it somewhere!

Friday, September 5th - everyone is off to a good start!

Conditions at 5:15 am: 18' that feels more like 22'
Expected later: sunny and a high of 23' that will feel more like 28 - not as hot as was predicted earlier in the week. It's not looking so good for southern Ontario - they're saying this could be the hottest day of the summer, and that's saying something as they've had some brutally hot weather this year.

Well, everyone has gotten settled into their new routine. And others have gotten where they needed to be.

Bev and Tiny never expected to get off the island as quickly as they did. They were waiting for the 1:00 ferry on Monday and were not optimistic they would get on. The CBC was traveling about the parking lot interviewing people in line to get their thoughts on the situation. They just started interviewing Tiny when the line started moving. Needless to say his 15 minutes of fame turned into about 4 seconds, as he turned his attention to the moving traffic ahead of him. Luck was with them and they got on the boat. So they made their way to Pictou to continue their holiday travels.   Have fun guys!

Tuesday was  the first day of school for our grandkids and by all accounts, everything went very well. I talked to Meg on Tuesday evening after her dance class and everything went much better than she expected.
James had an orientation at his high school in August and they've put the highlights on youtube. I can only tell James by the blue baseball cap with the number 32 on it. It seems they have a great system where they have what are called Link Leaders. The Link leaders are grade 11 and 12 students who volunteer to be "mentors" for the year. Each gr 9 student is assigned 3 Link leaders that they have their phone numbers and schedules, etc, and if they ever have any questions or problems they can go to one of their link leaders and get help. What a great support and resource for the new students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvKGQFxndug&feature=youtu.be

Patti  tells me she wanted to get a photo of the three of them together outside, in front of the house, but unfortunately there were kids at James' bus stop and they could see the house from there, so that wasn't a cool thing to be seen doing. I told her I know what that's like. I think I totally embarrassed him when he was on PEI in August. We were in the line to go through security at the airport and it was time for him to go through. I gave him a hug in the lineup and he kind of said very quietly, "Not here Grandma".  I thought that was pretty funny - but our boy is growing up!  I guess it's going to take a while for his mom and I to figure out what's cool and what's NOT cool! We should have it figured out by the time Tristen gets to this age.

Had a glass of wine with Brenda last night, who also had a great first day of school!

Speaking of back to school, I got this little story from our friend Katy and I thought it was worth sharing:

Her Name is Rose

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

 I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze.

 'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.

 She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'

 'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

 'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me.

 After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

 We became instant friends.  Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop.  I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

 Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

 At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'

 As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ' We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

 There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

 We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

 There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

 If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

 Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

 The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.'

 She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose..'

 She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. 
At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. 
 One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

 Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Tuesday, September 2nd - a belated Happy Birthday to Tristen!

Conditions at 8:15 am:  15' and overcast
Expected later:  23' and maybe some sun that could feel like 31

It was a busy weekend and I completely missed the fact that yesterday was Monday! A big Happy Birthday to 9 year old Tristen, although I did actually talk to him yesterday. Hope you enjoyed your birthday dinner at the Mandarin! 

It was a very busy few days as our guests were still enjoying our island hospitality. Saturday morning, after Lloyd got home and we all had breakfast, Bev and Tiny and I went for a drive while Lloyd caught up on his sleep. We toured around through Belfast and the Mini Mills, then out to Point Prim, Murry River and then back through Montague before heading home. I was working at the Rec Centre on Saturday evening so made something to eat for everyone before I left.  Saturday evening was the Shania Twain concert in town so it was a good day to stay away from the city.

Sunday morning was another lazy kind of day.  After breakfast and several coffees, Bev and I headed into town to do a bit of shopping. She wanted to stock up on supplies for the trailer before their departure on Monday morning. We toured around down at the waterfront, up Queen Street and then off to the grocery store before heading home. It was overcast but we didn't get any rain so that was a good thing. After supper on Sunday it was a relaxing evening of Netflix (and a good book for me!)

During the night, it poured rain so it was a wet beginning to holiday Monday. After breakfast Bev and Tiny got packed up and Lloyd helped get the trailer hooked up to the truck. Unfortunately one of the ferries was out of commission so we had no idea how long it would be till they could get a boat to the other side. Tiny called around lunch time to advise they were in line but there were over 100 reservations in front of them so it was going to be a while. Lloyd had told them if they didn't get on to come back but they told me on the phone they might head for the bridge. I was half expecting them to arrive back in the yard before bed time but they must have gotten somewhere they could spend the night. Hopefully so. I'll call them later this morning and find out just where they landed.

Today is the first day of school in Ontario. James is off to High School, Meg at Junior High and Tristen is the only one left at Montessori. I talked with Meg yesterday and she's a little apprehensive about the first day but also excited. She was happy to show me the new clothes she plans to wear on the first day. I told her I'd facetime her this evening to see how it all went.  I have no doubt she'll find her way as will her brother on his first day in Grade 9.