Saturday 16 July 2022

Good times

I had a great, if tiring, time with Eli and D early this week. My drive out on Monday was unremarkable; there was one short section of construction that had me stopped for a couple of minutes. D had warned me, there was more construction, but it was finished and I surprised her by arriving twenty minutes ahead of schedule.

Eli and I spent the morning watching 'toons together, while his mother caught up on some housework. I'd brought the carpet cleaner with me and she put it to good use. After lunch we headed out to the parks, first to one I'd not been to before where a resident cat named Lily often makes an appearance. Eli was disappointed that she didn't show up that day. We played tag for a bit (Eli climbed the equipment out of my reach), and then took a walk on the nearby path. Then it was time to head for the park close to home. There were lots of friends in the park so Eli was quite content to let his mom and I sit in the shade and watch.

That evening, he chose to sleep with G'ma. We read a couple of stories, then he wanted me to tell him a story. I started, "one upon a time, a long time ago, and far, far away lived a little boy named Eli, and his best friend a dragon who was a very nice dragon". At this point, Eli stopped me and told me the dragon's name was Bon, and that Eli lived in a castle. So I started again adding these details, and then saying that one day an evil dragon came to the castle. He stopped me again, and told me that Eli lived in the castle with his mommy and grandma, and he had a secret stash of weapons in the basement. Start again, he said. So I did and this kept on as he added more details until eventually the hero Eli slayed the evil dragon and everyone was safe. 

I can't say I slept well that night because, not only is he a wiggle worm, he's a little furnace too. Their house has no a/c so I slept on top of the covers. A couple of hours in, I opened up the window to let the breeze in.

Tuesday we had plans to head to the beach about a half-hour away. D and I did a few things around the house in the morning, she pulled some weeds in the front yard, and then we started packing lunch and all the beach items while Eli played his learning games on his tablet. He doesn't yet know the names of the letters but can identify the sounds - he even sounded out the word fish on his own. He is only able to access his video games when the learning games are complete. Smart mom!

We arrived at the beach about 10:30 and were one of two small groups there for about ten minutes before several more families showed up. Both D and I wore our bathing suits too, so we were all able to get into the water. Eli had a blast on the slide, jumped off the dock into the water or our arms. But his happiest moment was when he was able to dump a pail of water over G'ma's head!

The water felt a bit cold initially going in, but once I was in and mostly wet, it felt wonderful. We stayed and played in the water for an hour or so before heading back to the beach for our lunch.

D and I had made sandwiches, while Eli had a bento box of crackers, veg and cheese. For dessert, I'd cut up a few pieces of watermelon. What I didn't realize is this kid loves watermelon. I was able to get a couple of small pieces before he inhaled the rest. Then after a bit of play on the equipment, we headed back into the water.

We stayed another hour or so, then headed back into town. It was quite warm by this point, but there was a good breeze so D and I stayed outdoors to catch up on some yard-work. We were both tired so D ordered and I picked up dinner that evening. At bed-time I again read a couple of books to Eli before he asked for Chapter 2 of the dragon story.  This time I knew enough to stop and ask for the details and eventually all was well in the world Eli and Bon once again. This night he decided to sleep in his mother's bed so I had his big boy bed to myself. 

I got away fairly early on Wednesday morning after lots of hugs and kisses from my boy. The temperatures increased as the days went on, and though my son had watered for me on Tuesday, I figured things were going to need a good watering earlier on Wednesday. By mid-afternoon, the tomatoes were looking a little peaked, with the top leaves starting to curl. I gave them a good watering, and waited until early evening to do the rest.

Other than the tomatoes, I might well have waited. We had an incredible series of thunderstorms roll through with heavy rain starting about midnight. I was woken several times during the night and could see the flashes of lightening through the window. The storms finally passed by about six a.m. At that point, the cat wanted to be fed and watered so I was up for the day.

I did get the closet painted in the new room on Wednesday and Thursday. All of the painting equipment has now been cleaned up and put away, or in the case of my plastic drop cloth and couple of rollers tossed in the bin. I'm going to give myself a week or two break before I finish the caulking and baseboard painting. I'm tired of it all.

Yesterday, I went out early and got the grocery shopping done before it got stinking hot. Once home, I spent some time on Ancestry, did some knitting, and had an afternoon nap. As I was watching baseball and football in the evening, my phone alerted me to a tornado watch in our area. I kept one eye on the radar and when the wind picked up and the sky was darkening, I headed outdoors with the camera. (Maybe not the safest place but I wasn't alone - lots of neighbours were on their driveways). These are a few of the photos I took.


The storm seemed to circle around the city, it came from the north but swung around to the east.

Meanwhile the sky to the north west still showed a bit of blue sky with the sun glowing on the clouds.
This was taken a half hour later than the others. The clouds were lit up by the sun. The storms continued east of us, then turned again and went northeast. We didn't get a drop of rain but I'm sure other areas got a dump. D told me this morning, they didn't get rain but did get a lot of wind. One of the city trees in front of her house lost a large branch and there are reports of trees down throughout the small community. 

I was up early this morning in order to get some things done outdoors before the heat arrives. (35C/95F). The containers and front flower bed were watered and did some need deadheading and weeding. I made some breakfast and took it out to the front patio to enjoy the cooler air and the breeze. I opened windows in the sunroom and front room to allow the breeze to flow through the house. It's now after 11 a.m. and my a/c has yet to kick in, though I don't expect it will be much longer. We had a recent announcement that the power company is seeking a 17% increase in rates effective August 1. I don't think they'll have the approval quite that quickly but it's worrisome to think costs are going to increase that much. I'll likely have to rethink my usage and find ways to economize. Our energy costs are also increasing but by a much small percentage. 

The football starts shortly, so I'll be picking up my knitting, to watch our Riders play the Toronto Argonauts. It's an away game for both teams as the game is being played in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Later the Blue Jays are at home playing the Kansas City Royals. You know my butt will be planted on the couch for much of those games. I'm making decent progress on my knitting and hope to have the front of the top complete today.

Have a great week ahead everyone. Stay cool. 



23 comments:

  1. It sounds like a glorious trip to your daughters. I love the story telling part! What a nice week you had. I don't blame your for taking a bit of a break from all the painting. It will get done.
    We had a light rain yesterday afternoon and evening and it was lovely. Still need so much more.
    Have a fantastic weekend.

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    1. Thanks Cheryl. I love Eli's imagination.

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  2. What a wonderful visit with Eli! I think he needs to be telling you stories, not the other way around. :-)

    Those clouds are incredible! I'd have been scared seeing those; I'm glad the storm passed you by.

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    1. I know, right? He has a far better imagination than I do.
      I would have liked some rain but was happy not to see a tornado

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  3. Really enjoyed Eli's direction on the story telling. Maybe a born writer?
    Know what you mean by the heat and needing rain. Those were some awesome pictures you took of the almost tornado. Glad it was an almost one.
    Impressed with Canada keeping the non-vaxed ball players out of the country. Sure wish all were as strict.

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    1. I guess these baseball players make enough money that losing $200K (for some of them) is no big deal. They might be more concerned that the young guys who got called up really impressed.

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  4. I loved how Eli used his imagination to add to the story. I've nnever heard of a child embellishing the story as it went - asking questions, yes, but not 'writing' it, too. I'm sure others have done it, but that Eli's smart. Maybe he'll take up writing as a career.

    And what clouds! I saw the first cloud-picture before I read about it and thought that those were the sort to give birth to tornadoes. Fortunately, you avoided that. The third picture (taken from the same angle and origin as the first, I noticed) is very impressive, like something special effects would create in a movie. Nature is better.

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    1. He certainly is a smart little boy. I'd be happy if he did become a writer someday.
      Nature is definitely an incredible artist.

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  5. enjoyed every paragraph! The wonderful times you have with Eli just really make me smile! And that story...what an imaginative and smart boy. He certainly loves his Grandma too! That really makes me smile! Had to laugh when you said he's a furnace! Aren;t they THOUGH! I remember a girl friend and I toiling up the hills of my street talking one evening on the way home and she and I were remarking on how hot seeming our sons were. She called them little active atomic piles! Then she said they're like furnaces.

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    1. Thanks Carole. Eli is definitely a love bug.

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  6. The storytelling held so much nostalgia for me -- stories with my grandson as the hero of many adventures. But then the day when he announced I didn't have to tell him those stories anymore. But there are new adventures.

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    1. I hope this phase lasts for some time yet. Though I suspect I'll run out of ideas long before he does.

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    2. If you run out of ideas, have Eli tell YOU stories.

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  7. I love story time with Eli. Grandma’s stories are the best!

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  8. Sounds like a whole lot of fun with Eli. you are a wonderful Grandma. ♥

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  9. You had some fun days! Good for you making memories! Stay cool:)

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    1. I do hope Eli remembers these times when he gets older.

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  10. It is wonderful to have your grandkids add to the stories you tell them. Try and write them down to share with him much later.

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    1. I ought to try to write it down, though I'm not sure my memory is good enough to remember all the details. :)

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  11. I love how Eli added to the story.

    Those are some threatening clouds.

    God bless.

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    1. I was amazed at the color - we didn't get any rain that night. Another storm is heading our way right now.

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