Thursday, July 19th - hard to believe the week will soon come to an end

It's a partly cloudy 16' this morning with daylight just breaking through the clouds. You can see a fine haze over the river and it's very still this morning, an unusual sight here. We should reach a comfortable 21' later this afternoon with sunny skies.

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. Lloyd and I were out at lunch and he dropped me off at work at 2:30 and took the car from there back to his job.  I decided it might be a good idea to get Tristen a little earlier so I took the shuttle to UPEI and picked him up at 4:00.  It was around 4:15 when we got back so I told him he had to go and sit in the waiting area and watch TV until I was done - no bothering  the working grandma and no running round the showroom. He had assured me earlier in the week that if he could go to work with me he could stay there all day. Well, he lasted about half an hour and then he came over to my desk. He was hungry and he was bored. I reminded him that he thought he could do it for the whole day and he readily admitted he wouldn't be able to do that.  But it wasn't much longer to wait for Papa to pick us up.

All packaged and ready to take to his buddy Bernie

He was anxious to get home so he could make peanut butter balls to take home to his family as well as to share with Bernie. My friend Donna dropped in on her way to a dinner engagement in Morrell so it was 7:00 by the time we got to mixing peanut butter and rice krispies.  We put some chicken in the oven and some potatoes on to cook while we dipped the molded balls in chocolate and set them aside to harden. He was very keen to take the finished product over to the Van Gaals on the back of Papa's bike.

But first we had to eat supper. He did very well, had a good supper and it was almost 9:00 by the time they got on the road. Needless to say it was dark when they got home.  But a good time was had by all and he got his second motorcycle ride, which he was desperate to do.

Now that's a  happy camper!

His mom will be arriving sometime this evening and they're heading out early tomorrow morning. They have a really busy weekend. She's going to Muskoka to pick up Meghan, and then meeting Greg and James in Barrie for a ball tournament. Everyone is scattered around the country but by tomorrow night they'll all be back together. Patti was sad and worried to leave Meghan alone at camp last weekend but she got a letter from her yesterday from camp. Apparently Camp Nagiwa is "the best thing in the world" and she's made friends with everyone in her cabin. The food is awesome and she passed her swim test. But there is one thing she is afraid of - the snapping turtle in the lake. It's easy to sleep and she loves the campfires so it appears it's been a really fun experience for her. As Patti said, she probably won't want to leave on Friday. Of course, Tristen isn't crazy about leaving PEI either. I told her all she had to do now is find someone to give James a summer job working on a sailboat and she'd have a quiet, relaxing summer!

One last note, Happy Birthday to Lesa Murnaghan - we'll be celebrating with her on Saturday evening! Have a great day Lesa!

Wednesday, July 18th - we cooled off with an icy movie!

Yesterday was once again warm and sunny but with the breeze it didn't feel too bad. It's overcast this morning and the weather network says showers but there are none at 5:00 am. It's 19' and only heading for 23' later but the humidity will make it feel like 29'. Yesterday was extremely hot in southern Ontario. It was reaching 37' with a humidex reading of 43'.  That's WAY too hot even for a warm loving person like me. I checked the weather online last night and at 8:00 it was still 32'. Patti tells me she's ever so grateful they have air conditioning, that's pretty much been on continuously since May.

We chose to cool off yesterday after work by going to the movies. We stopped for a bite of Chinese food on the way to the movie, then went to see "Ice Age - Continental Drift".  The graphics and quality of kids movies has evolved amazingly since our kids were little.  It was very entertaining and Tristen loved it. He was very tired after camp but once he had a bit of food into him he perked right up.

http://youtu.be/qi_fcmm4nmg

Of course by the time we got home, it was almost time for bed so a few minutes playing an online game and a snack, and he was off to dreamland.

Tonight we're going to make Peanut Butter Balls because his mom will be arriving tomorrow and he wants to make some to take home (and to share with Bernie!)  If we start them right after supper then maybe later on Lloyd can take him and the balls over to the Van Gaals on the bike so he can get in one more bike ride. I know he's really anxious to do that.  He's also very keen to go to the McDonald's in town because it has the play area. I suggested to him that maybe we can do that tomorrow on our way home when his mom is here, assuming she can get on the flight she wants to get on.  We'll play that one by ear.

Other than that, nothing is new. I called Brenda when we got home last night and she wasn't in.  She called back a few minutes later, having just returned from a bike ride. It was a lovely evening for it. They've been busy at their house  with multiple projects going on.  It's hard to believe we're almost half way through summer already and there are going to be several weekends when we won't get out together but once fall comes, there is usually some pretty good riding and kayaking weather to be had.

Tuesday, July 17th - maybe some rain?

It's amazing how quickly the days start getting slightly shorter once you reach July. A few short weeks ago it was bright outside at 5:00 but now it's quite dark, with just a hint of light creeping in.  It's 19' this morning but overcast and we should reach 26' later. Yesterday wasn't quite as warm as was expected so it was a pleasant change from the heat. We did get a sprinkle of rain last night but I don't think it amounted to much.

Good thing we went to the beach on Sunday. It was very warm and after going for a bike ride, then stopping for some breakfast, we called it a beach day. Brenda came and picked Tristen and I up along with all our stuff - lawn chair, sand toys, etc.  We drove over towards Savage Harbour and went to a little beach that is little used. It's fairly stoney in spots but the beach is great. Unfortunately there were jelly fish in the water so Tristen was having no part of that.

Brenda was brave and went for a swim - much braver than I was, I have to admit.  She had been to this a couple of weeks ago and it has a really interesting feature. A ways down from where we came in from the car, there are 4 spots where an underground spring comes up right in the middle of the beach. They make little rivers to the water and are very shallow but quite fast moving. Needless to say, they were a wonderful source of enjoyment for a six year old boy. He played there for a very long time and at one point, another little boy came along and was playing with him.

Later he came back to where he was building something but we're not sure what. It started out as a sand castle but the sand kept sticking in the bucket. So he changed tactics and collected a variety of rocks and built a maze for mice (apparently).  Eventually it was supper time and we had to make up a story about everyone having to be off the beach by 5:00 pm because the tide was coming in, or he'd s
STILL be there. Needless to say he enjoyed his day. But before he went to sleep I asked him what was the best part of the day and he said it was the motorcycle ride with Papa. Guess we'd better try to get in another ride before the end of the week.

Yesterday morning I dropped him off at UPEI and he just marched in like he owned the place. He was quite chatty with the staff checking us in, and happily left to go to his group. I think he was the first one there so he'd enjoy the opportunity to chat with the staff by himself. When I went to pick him up he was happy to see me but equally happy to be coming back today.

After supper last night I set up his laptop on the butcher block table that's sitting in the living room so now he has his very own workstation with a computer. While I did some laundry and Lloyd cleaned up the dishes from supper, he happily worked away at some games on Treehouse and Disney until time for bed.  

Tonight we're going to see the movie "Ice Age" playing at the theatre. It starts at 6:10 so the timing is perfect. A quick bite to eat somewhere and then the movie.

Yesterday I got some pictures in my email from the wedding we went to on Saturday. They were much better than the ones I'd taken.  I still can't believe what a great job they did with the building that housed the reception. It's a garage! Amazing what you can do with a bit of ingenuity and a lot of work!

Monday, July 16th - and the hot , dry weather continues

It's a cooler 17' at 5:00 am but by midday we should be sitting at 26' with a humidex of 32'. We didn't get any rain on the weekend, as was predicted last week and even into the 14 day forecast, there's virtually none. This is really quite unique for a maritime province, to be this dry.

It's been a very busy few days. Friday night we devoted exclusively to decorating the cake. It would have been a much longer process if Brenda hadn't come over and helped.  We cut out the pieces of fondant to be applied and once they were done we did the shaping and painting. The top layer of cake needed to be covered and the noodles made. My pasta cutter worked perfectly for that job. Carrots and peas had to be painted and little squares with Chinese words needed to be made. Working together made it go much faster and by 10:00 we were finished. All I needed to do was put it all together once we arrived at the wedding.

Brenda using a lightbox to transfer images to fondant with food colour markers

Once that was done, and Brenda was gone home, I killed some time while waiting for the trip to the airport to pick up Patti and the kids. Turns out all three kids came so that was a nice treat for me.  They arrived right on time and we went straight home and off to bed.

Saturday morning everyone took their time getting up as it had been a late night. Brenda popped in for coffee around 9:00 and the kids were pleased to see her, as always.  After some breakfast, Patti, Meghan and Tristen and I headed into town to do some grocery shopping for Tristen's lunches this week at camp. Lloyd and James also went into town to buy a fishing rod for the kids as he only had two. They went in on the motorcycle and James really enjoyed that.

Once we were all back at home, we quickly made some lunch then got ready to go. Meg, Patti and I were getting ready to go to the wedding while the three guys went to Cardigan to go fishing. It was pretty cloudy and grey outside and we were sure it might rain during part of the day, but it never materialized.

We arrived at the location for the wedding the they had done an amazing job. They had virtually transformed a large garage into a lovely site for a wedding. All the walls were covered with white fabric, as was the ceiling. There were twinkly mini lights everywhere. All the tables were covered in white fabric as were the chairs.  We worked quickly to set up the cake as it was almost time for the ceremony.

Everyone gathered outside and down by the river where the ceremony was going to be held. It was a lovely service complete with brides maids and groomsmen.When it was over, everyone went back up to the house and enjoyed some drinks and snacks before dinner.

Patti and Meghan and I spent quite a while walking along the beach. There was all kinds of interesting creatures in the water that totally fascinated Meghan. We saw numerous crabs of various sizes, some hermit crabs, some tiny little things that looked a bit like crayfish, and lots of huge clam shells. She had a great time, all dressed up in  a new dress and good shoes, digging in the sand for clams, that kept squirting liquid into the air from tiny holes in the sand.  

After a delicious meal, we said our good byes as we all had to get up really early in the morning to put people onto the early flight. It was also the last chance to spend any time with the boys. Mike and Willow really liked the cake and there were lots of comments on it so I think it worked. We took a couple of photos of them with the cake before departing. Heat and humidity are not a cakes best friend but i held up not too badly.

When we got home, it was around 7:30 but the boys weren't back yet. So we girls got into our PJ's and watched the video of Meghan's dance recital that she had brought for me to watch.  Around 8:30 the fishermen got back after a somewhat disappointing day but at least James did catch a fish. Once he caught one, he didn't want to leave. He was pretty happy with his catch. 

Unfortunately it had been sitting in the water in the heat too long so it was no longer great for eating as the flesh was all mushy. They didn't expect to be gone quite so long and had no where cold to store it. So we dug out some frozen pizza from the fridge and some other bits and pieces and made a quick supper for them as we all had to get up to catch the 6:00 flight.

More on the weekend tomorrow - I have to go and make a lunch for Tristen to take to camp this morning and get him up and ready to go!

Happy Friday the 13th of July!

Today will be more of the same hot and humid temperatures as yesterday. Everyone was complaining yesterday about how hot it was but there was still a breeze.  Coming from southern Ontario, THIS is what I'm used to for summer weather. On the other hand, I don't mind not having it for weeks on end. We should have more of the same for today - going from the 18' we have at 5:30 to 26' later with humidity to make it feel like 31'. Unfortunately we now have a 70% chance of rain tomorrow. Hopefully it won't interfere too much with anything that's planned for tomorrow.

Last night when we got home I started in right away making icing  and Lloyd set about cutting up wood. This morning Benny is coming by to pick up a cheque sometime between 6:00 and 6:15. He just happens to be going by this way so that works. Lloyd's really happy with the wood this year. It's skinnier trees so they're much easier to cut through and they'll be a dream to split. In the past we've had some really big pieces and they are much more trouble to cut through and to split. Of course those ones burn longer so there are trade offs.

The cake is progressing. It doesn't look like much right now but the basics are there. I've made it

wider than the original picture to accommodate the numbers they want to serve but once the decoration are all on it I think it will be somewhat like the picture (says she optimistically) . I had made a top layer with styrofoam but I wasn't happy with it so I made another with cake. This one I baked in a squre bowl that I have and I think it will work out just fine. I really wanted the entire thing to be edible so this way it will be.  It also gives them another flavour of cake. The bottom layer is lemon poppyseed, the middle is coconut and the top little one is chocolate. It's not iced yet but it will be covered in white fondant. It seems like a lot of red right now, but once the gold accents are on it the red will be toned down slightly.  I'm looking forward to the final decorating tonight. Stay tuned for more pictures of the final project on Monday.

And that was pretty much our evening. I didn't talk to Brenda last night so I'll have to call this morning to catch up. I think she had exercise class last night so was busy.  There will be lots to paint on this cake. I have gold food colour paint that works really well on the white fondant.  I might get her over tonight and hand her a paint brush!

One last note, Happy Anniversary to our friends Richard and Daralen Anderson over on Five Houses Road.

Thursday, July 12th - it's going to be a warm one today

17' at 5:00 and heading for a steamy 28' later that will feel like 31'. That's mighty warm for the island but we  likely won't have that for weeks on end like other parts of the country. It is getting very dry though, and there's even talk of putting watering restrictions on in Charlottetown. Now that's something I'm used to in Ontario but I've not seen here before.  There are talking rain for Saturday which is good if you're a farmer, not so good if you're planning an outdoor wedding! I'm not sure but I think that's what Mike and Willow have done. I know the reception part will be inside so they may have to move the ceremony part inside as well, but I'm just guessing.

The good news is Lloyd has Saturday off so he can take the boys fishing. I'm assuming you can still fish in the rain but I don't know for sure. We'll just have to hope for the best for all concerned.

The cake is progressing slowly but right on schedule. The cakes themselves are all baked. I did that last night in spite of the fact we kept running out of water. Our local plumber had installed a replacement part on our pump last week but there seems to be some issue with it as it keeps shutting the system down.  Hopefully that will get fixed tonight with another new part.

Brenda came over last night just as we were finishing supper and I caught up on her trip. She and Meghan had a wonderful time exploring Vancouver and the Whistler area. She also brought me back a copy of the Granville Island Cook Book. There had been an article in the Charlottetown newspaper about it just a few days before she left and it reminded me to mention to her to add Granville Island to her list of must see spots while in Vancouver. It's a lovely book and I'm up early enough this morning that I can make myself a cappuccino and spend a few minutes looking through it. 

My kitchen was an absolute mess last night when Brenda arrived and as soon as Lloyd was done eating he headed out for a bike ride. I had cakes to bake and Brenda decided she would help out by washing up some of the dishes that were piled everywhere. What with supper dishes, and baking dishes the pile just kept growing.  But the water was still an issue so we sat and had a glass of wine instead while the cakes were baking.  Eventually Lloyd got home and she started in washing, despite my protests  - she just got back from holidays and didn't come over to work!  But she's like that, our Brenda, and kept at it until she was saved by the bell - literally. It seems she has a cousin staying down the road at her aunts cottage, who had arrived at her house. Like most people, they know if she's not home, there's a really good chance she's here! So when my phone rang, and it was for her, it was no surprise !  So she told the caller to put the kettle on and she'd be home in a couple of minutes.  Now the cakes are baked, the dishes are all done (I finally got them all done before going to bed) and all is well with the world.

And on that note, there's a cup of coffee and a cookbook that needs browsing before I get ready for work!

Wednesday, July 11th and no water this morning

It's a pleasant 14' this morning before it warms up to 25' later today. It's gotten really dry around here, as we really haven't had any rain for quite some time. Now this morning when Lloyd went to take a shower, we have no water. I'm sure the two things are in no way connected. I suspect it has more to do with the plumbing problem we had earlier last week.  All I can say is thank goodness Lloyd's here.   I'd really hate to be calling Raymond at 5:30 in the morning! But I'm sure Lloyd will be able to figure out what the problem is. Of course, Raymond is away with Bernie so that wouldn't do any good anyway.

I did some work on the top layer of the cake last night. I decided to use styrofoam for the top because it's the most fiddley and I can do it well in advance. It's quite small anyway so we're not really sacrificing much cake.

I didn't get any calls from Brenda needing a ride home from the airport last night at midnight so I'm assuming she got home okay. She sent me a text yesterday to tell me about a hot dog she had in Vancouver - just to make me jealous. I checked out the website and it looks pretty amazing. Check it out at http://dougiedog.com/ 
Can't wait to hear all about it.

I talked to Patti last night and she and the boys are arriving on Friday on the same flight (the midnight one) but I'll still be up doing cake stuff, I suspect.  We're not sure yet how Saturday is going to play out, just depending if Lloyd had to work or not. But we'll see. We'll just take it as it comes and work around it.

Okay. I slept in a little this morning so time to go. Have a great day.