Tuesday, January 9th - Belated Happy New Year to you all

After a relaxing week off, we are off and running into 2018!
What a busy couple of weeks. Petra's last week was fairly quiet. She worked with me at one of my card stores but I left her at home the next time as it was just really cold.

 She found the cold quite a challenge, as is most of the rest of the country. It's been very cold for quite a while, and it's just not so much fun. We went on a couple of drives and saw a bit of the area.

We enjoyed an fun evening at Ray and Marlene's. We provided the food and everything seems to have gone well. Thanks to Marlene for her kind comments online after.

Sunday morning, the 31st, was travel day for both of us. I headed out early in the morning and caught my flight to Toronto. Lloyd dropped me off at the airport, then came back and shuttled Petra to the airport for her flight to Halifax a little later in the morning. She had an incredibly long day ahead of her. Charlottetown to Halifax, then to Montreal, then finally after a whole day and a long delay she finally got home sometime Monday. Needless to say she was exhausted but I'm sure she was happy to be home.

Patti was coming home from a flight and we met up at the airport. It was New Years Eve morning and we had no plans. When we got home, we spent a fairly quiet day having a second Christmas day. Meghan was working at the Mill Restaurant so we called to see if they by chance had any spaces left. Turns out they had one table for two available at 5:00 so Patti and I went down there for supper. We enjoyed a lovely meal and Meg was happy to bring us some bread, and she also plated our desserts.

We were home early and spent the rest of the evening watching some TV and waiting for midnight. I picked Meg up at work at 11:00 so she was home to share it with us. James was out with friends but everyone else was home.

New Years Day was a bit snowy but we all ventured down to Patti's aunts for her annual Christmas Cookie decorating day. It's usually held before Christmas but it just didn't work out this year. The kids enjoyed playing around with icing and decorations and then we all enjoyed a lovely meal.

Tuesday evening we were guests at the local Lions Club where Meghan gave a speech about her experiences at Diabetes summer camp. They asked her a lot of questions after and presented her with a very nice certificate. She did a really great job and we were all very proud of her.

Wednesday, we traveled to Toronto. Patti and Meghan were going shopping while Tristen and I went to Medieval Times. That was his Christmas gift and he had no idea what to expect. Needless to say it exceeded his expectations and had a great time.

"Lord Tristen" being knighted before the show

Patti picked us up when it was over, and we headed over to the Eaton Centre. We were meeting Greg's sister Nancy, who was taking Meg for dinner, and then to a play. She was staying over at Nancy's and then took the bus back to Guelph in the morning.

I was pleased to have some time to visit with friends on Friday night, before meeting up with the family at the Storm Hockey game, and then off to Fran and Walt's on Saturday afternoon, before heading home later that night.

It was a really great week and I arrived back home in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Patti was flying to Paris around the same time as my flight to Charlottetown so it worked out very well.

Pizza on Sunday evening with the VanGaals and all is well.

Now it's time to get back into a normal routine, whatever that is!  We're heading to Halifax this week to spend a couple of days. James has a tour at Dalhousie so Patti and Greg are flying down with him and we'll meet up with them. Might as well make it a little bit of a vacation! 

Tuesday, January 2nd - On vacation!

I'm on vacation this week. Please check back next Tuesday! Happy New Year to you all⏰

Tuesday, December 26th - Happy Boxing Day Everyone!

Another Christmas has come and gone. I sincerely hope you all had a lovely holiday visiting with friends and family.
It's been a busy week, sometimes, and relaxing at others. In fact, there were days when we didn't get out of our pajamas until midday.  Such is the stuff of vacation days I suppose.
Last Tuesday evening Brenda, Petra and I went into town to see Irish Mythen, an Irish singer who has made PEI her home. She's got an amazing voice and is funny as hell to boot. A very enjoyable time was had by all.

I worked a couple of  days so I recruited Petra to come and help me. Lots to do to keep the cards stocked up for those last minute shoppers.




One day we went for a walk in the woods. Petra had some nice warm furry mittens that a friend had
given her before she left. It wasn't bad in the woods but walking back to the car she needed them. We've been watching the temperatures in London and they are hovering around 10' to 12' with some sun thrown in. Needless to say she's finding it quite chilly here, in spite of our constantly telling her "this isn't cold, it's a lovely day".

We spent an enjoyable afternoon at Dave's shop. He puts on a bit of a celebration every year and we are fortunate to be invited. Caitlin and Mike had arrived in the wee hours of the  morning so they were also able to join us.






We took a drive out to Borden one day to see the bridge in the daylight. It was really cold that day,
 with the wind coming off the water. It was dark when we drove across it last week so we wanted her to see it in the daylight.

On our way there we stopped in to Summerside so she could see Lloyd's plane. She was impressed that he built it all by himself.







We had planned our trip so we would get back via North Rustico. I've heard they have amazing Christmas light displays. It wasn't dark yet when we got there so we found a little spot to have some food and by the time we were done, the lights were on. They seem to be in clusters but are quite fun to see. 

Christmas Eve was another lovely day, no snow in sight. We spent an enjoyable evening with the VanGaals. Lots of food, lots of great conversation, lots of dishes left for the host family!

 Christmas morning was a leisurely time with coffee and a late breakfast. Once again, Santa spoiled me much more than I deserved, I'm sure. We usually do stockings for each other and we did one for Petra. She was quite thrilled as she hadn't gotten a stocking since she was a child.

We had been watching the weather all week. As Christmas day got closer the weather forecast got worse. Eventually we were up to an expected 25 cm of snow predicted. What to do. Should we postpone our dinner till Boxing day so our friends who were traveling could get here safely. We decided to wait it out and in the end it was a lot of hoopla over nothing. We got a bit of snow and a tiny bit of freezing rain, but in the end, everyone arrived safely.  We had a lovely dinner and great company once again. We skipped the turkey and opted instead for roasted Cornish hens

 with a rice stuffing. Sticky date pudding with toffee sauce rounded everything out nicely.

I have lots of work to do this week. I have to take down all the Christmas cards at the pharmacies and put out the valentines cards. Now I'm one of those people pushing the seasons seemingly way too early!

Tuesday, December 19th - what a difference a day can make!

Remember last Tuesday, when I showed you our lovely snowy wonderland?

This is what we woke up to on Wednesday morning. Bit of a downer when you're trying to get into the Christmas spirit!

It was an uneventful week, just some cleaning and getting ready for Petra and Christmas, as well as keeping my card shops topped for the holidays. Brenda and I enjoyed some snacks and wine and a festive themed movie on Thursday evening and then I was off to Halifax on Friday morning.
Fortunately the weather was good, although quite cold,  and roads were for the most part, clear and dry. I arrived in plenty of time and had a bit of a wait as quite a number of passengers on her flight were sent to secondary search, including Petra. But we were back on the road  before 4:00 pm. Some of the ride was in the dark and unfortunately it was too dark for her to see the bridge she was crossing so we might take a drive out that way one day to have a look at it in the daylight.

I'd gotten an unexpected call from a lady in North Rustico on Tuesday looking for some food to be catered to a party she was hosting on Sunday. Needless to say, Petra was put to work on Saturday morning helping in the kitchen.

With her help, we finished up early enough to go over the back lane and cut down our Christmas tree. Lloyd came with us and brought the chain saw to make quick work of the job. Good thing cause it was freezing!

 On our way back, we stopped in at the neighbours for coffee before bringing the tree in and putting the lights and a few decorations on it before retiring for the night.

I still had a few things to finish on Sunday morning so I was up very early to get those underway. By the time we had breakfast and got everything packed up, it was time to leave. We needed to delivery the goods by noon, and it was roughly an hours drive. However it had been snowing lightly most of the morning so we thought it might take a little longer, but in the end we arrived right on time.

Once our delivery was over, we headed back towards town and stopped in at
Island Hill Farm.  I was so happy to see they had some newborn baby goats to cuddle.  Petra loved seeing them all and having the chance to interact with them.



 By now we were both getting hungry so it was back into town to find some food.  Since it was Sunday, I knew there would be live music at the Old Triangle so we headed there. We enjoyed something to eat and some lovely music before heading back out to the country.

On our way home, we stopped in at Brenda's to check on progress. She and Meghan were baking cookies and were well into it when we arrived.  A short visit and then back home. Lloyd had very graciously offered to make dinner for us and was knee deep in prep when we arrived. This left us no choice but to fix ourselves a drink and retire to the living room to keep out of his way.

After a delicious supper of poached salmon, rice and beans, we said good night to him and sent him off to bed. When the dishes were done, we retired to the TV to watch some more festive programming. All in all, a great end to a lovely weekend.

Monday was a day with no plans. I had some cookie orders to be filled for Friday so I spent the morning tidying up the kitchen and checking out my supply of cookies to ensure I had enough. Petra had the morning to herself to just relax and chill. She is, after all, on holidays!

Lots of stuff going on the rest of the week!

Tuesday, December 12 - it's beginning to look like --- winter!

The snow started falling yesterday afternoon and accumulated quickly. It's looking quite festive out there but unfortunately it may not last but there's more to come. Hopefully it will wait till I've returned from Halifax on Friday.




 We enjoyed the community school pot luck supper on Tuesday. We were treated to a wide variety of delicious dishes and entertained by some of the students. As usual, a very entertaining evening. The rest of the week was spent getting ready for Friday nights party for the flying club.


 It went okay but once again we learned a lot. Several things to change and do differently next time but a big shout out to Brenda for all her help at several times through out the day and to our other friend Jens for helping out as well.We really could not have done any of it without you folks. Lloyd and I were in town early in the morning to start setting up the tables and Brenda joined us part way through. We were done before lunch so it was a good start to the day. All in all it seemed to go over well but we did learn a lot.


There was a guest speaker at the party, who was one of the pilots who flew the Vimy planes across Canada. As he was telling his story and showing slides of their adventures, who should pop up in one of the photos, but James. They had spent some time in Guelph and the Cadets were part of the event. What an amazing coincidence.

The first part of Saturday was spent doing dishes - lots and lots of dishes. The hall had few facilities or equipment to speak of so everything had to be brought in, and taken back home again to be washed. In the end it was quite a huge task.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. I did some tidying up and pulled out a few of the Christmas decorations. The rest will wait till this coming weekend. We plan to go out and cut down a real tree, with Petra's help, of course. With any luck, we'll have snow for Christmas - the first time she's had that in her life!

Tuesday, December 5th - 10 more sleeps to get ready for our Christmas guest

December always seems to fly by much faster than most months and this year is no exception. While we're busy getting ready for a catering function this Friday, I'm also trying to sneak in a few other chores that need doing before Petra arrives, as well as make a small start on decorating for Christmas. Plus throw in some cookie orders and it's all good. Fortunately I'll have all most of next week to really get busy.

This past week I once again worked at Island Honey Wine bottling mead. It's always a full day but this time we only had to do 1,000 bottles, although it still seemed to take just as long as last week's 1,500.

Thursday was an absolutely gorgeous day and after working in town for the morning, I suggested to Lloyd when I got home that it would be the ideal day to put up the lights outside. Fortunately for me, he didn't have anything specific planned for his afternoon. So up they went. Just in time for Brenda's arrival to watch some TV and enjoy some snacks, supplied by Meghan, thank you very much!



Friday Lloyd acquired a number of gallons of raw  cows milk so his plan was to spend the weekend making cheese. Needless to say I found it best to just stay out of his way. I worked on a few other projects over the weekend while he made several varieties of cheese.

 I made some cookies and fashioned a large wreath to put on the outside of the house with fresh greenery - we'll see how it holds up in the strong winds that are predicted for Wednesday. 

 I also took some time to 'trim' some of the trees in our yard and came up with greenery for my rack by the back door. It's starting to look a little festive around here!

 One task that I did complete was the centre pieces for the tables at this Friday's events. The way we're setting up the tables will give us a large table that will seat 10 people so I needed something fairly large to set off such a large space. I saw this idea online and thought it would be perfect. It did involve cutting up a value village table cloth, scrounging habit for humanity for old globe lights and having Brenda rummage through her recycled tins to find suitable cans.  In the end I think they turned out not so bad. Check back next week for a photo of the tables all set up with their finery.





Other than that it was a pretty quiet week. Okay, I'd better get back to work. Lots to do to get ready for Friday. There are no supplies at the fire hall we're using, so that means we have to bring absolutely everything - dishes, cutlery, etc, etc so lots to think about to make sure I don't forget anything. (But we all know I'll miss something!)

Tuesday, November 28th - it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - literally!

We've woken up to a light covering of snow for the first time this fall. It's such a lovely sight. Or course, once we've dealt with huge masses of the stuff over and over again, it kind of loses it's appeal, but for now it's beautiful. Unfortunately it's likely to be gone in the next 24 hours or so. Too early to haul out the skis and snowshoes just yet.



Busy week just passed. The  most exciting thing is James passed his drivers test and is now licensed to drive by himself. Well done James. Now he can drive himself off to various Christmas parades and highland games. I wonder if he drove himself off to the parade this past weekend in Puslinch?

It is that time of year.


Our Christmas parade was on Saturday and I was in town, but I didn't stick around to watch it. I was helping the PEI Speedskating club at their Atlantic Cup meet. I've met some really  nice people there when volunteering in the past and it's nice to catch up with them, albeit only once a year. While there I had the pleasure of meeting a young woman by the name of Jamie MacDonald. She's a speedskater from out west and is headed to the Olympics in February. It's kind of neat when you have actually met someone who will be competing. Makes the watching that much more interesting, so good luck to her.

Saturday was also the Victorian Christmas weekend, when dozens of vendors set up shop on Queen Street in town for three days. There's also all sorts of other activities planned around this event and it gets quite busy. Not so much fun for the vendors if it's cold and wet but Saturday should have been lovely. The sun was out and the temperature was around 10' so a perfect day for residents to get out and do some Christmas shopping. I had thought about putting a table in but didn't get my act together early enough to have enough baked cookies to last for three days. I do have some cookies baked but I have some orders to fill so that's going to keep me busy in the next couple of weeks.  Perhaps next year I'll plan a bit better. I'd like to do a whole range of gingerbread cookies. There's nothing like that at the market (or at least there hasn't been in the past). Plus a week from Friday is the Flying Clubs Christmas party so that will occupy a bit of time over the next little while.

We endured a wicked wind storm during the week that left quite a bit of damage it it's wake. We were very fortunate in only  losing some of the older branches off the trees but others weren't so lucky. In fact when I drove into town, there was a huge trampoline hung up on the power lines. An interesting sight to see. We did lose power for a few hours, but that's not a big deal.

I also worked out at Island Honey Wine Company. They have these huge tanks that hold enough wine for 1500 bottles. We washed, sanitized, bottled and corked them all. Tomorrow I'm off to do it all again.

We also had the pleasure of attending Lloyd's work Christmas supper on Friday night. It's held at Red Shores and is always a nice time.

Now that there's snow on the ground, I suppose I might get away with putting out a few Christmas
decorations. Petra is arriving on the 15th and we're going to go out and cut down our tree so that won't be happening yet but that doesn't mean other stuff can't go up!