Wordless Wednesday

 

Did I say spring? Maybe now!

Mother Nature clearly decided to hit re-set on spring this week. On Sunday, while the kiddo was out Easter Egg hunting, the temperature was a balmy 6C (43F) and the yard was clear.

By Tuesday evening, the snow was back in earnest. The photo I posted on Wednesday showed the boughs of the poor evergreen tree in the side yard weighed down with the snow. The backyard looked like this:

Over 36 hours we had nearly 10 inches of snow! Eli had day camp in the next door community on Wednesday and Thursday (Easter break). We waited until noon the first day to determine whether we'd drive in. D heard from the group leader who said their community hadn't received nearly as much snow, our roads were clearing, and after shovelling around and behind my vehicle we were able to get down the alley. We were a bit late the first day, as we were stopped by a train. D and I spent our time shopping, the first day at the Dollar store to pick up storage for our new shelving unit, and for groceries on the second day. Nothing exciting jumped into our cart.

Thursday morning, Eli and I spent some time outside. I had asked him if he wanted to make a snowman with me. The snow we got was heavy and wet, perfect for rolling. He had said yes, but when he brought out several other toys, he decided to play in the snow and left me to build. When I finished, I brought out a chair and enjoyed the sun while he played.  

Friday, I ran to the grocery stores here in town for a few groceries that were on sale, or unavailable at our last stop. D discovered we'd gotten water in the basement - with that amount of snow and how fast it melted, it wasn't a surprise. If you recall we had flooding last June in the basement. This was nowhere near as bad - it was mostly in the laundry room area (which has a cement floor). She was able to use the shop vac to clear up any standing water. We will need to buy new extensions for the downspouts as a couple of them have sprung leaks. I had checked for them last week at the Home Hardware, but they only had brown, ours are white. 

It has been quite a quiet week. There was housework accomplished, some sports watching, and I spent a fair amount of time working on ancestry. A distant cousin popped up in a story from 1939, in Pennsylvania, as the wife of a man who had been arrested for the murder of a two year old child. Based on the newspaper articles I was able to locate, the couple were separated, he was living with another woman, a single mother with a young daughter. He became jealous of the child (perhaps because she looked like her father, or because of the attention paid to her), and began physically abusing her. When the couple took her to the hospital where she would die a few days later, he was arrested and admitted to the abuse. I won't get into that, but the newspaper articles were quite explicit and no child should ever experience the torture he put her through. What really made me angry was, although sentenced to a life sentence, the governor commuted his sentence just 12 years later! He remarried a few years later and died in 1986. The mother was indicted as an accessory to murder, but I could not locate what happened in her case, other than she was expecting a child in prison, who died shortly after birth. I certainly went down a rabbit hole on this particular story. 

Meanwhile his wife, my distant cousin returned to Canada and re-married. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find much information about her son (by her first husband) but did locate her obituary. It is noted that he predeceased her and I found information to support that fact. 

Our snow has disappeared quickly, with the temperature reaching 14C/57F on Friday afternoon. It will be even warmer this weekend! I hope to get outside to clear out the shed and work in the raised flower bed. The snow certainly interrupted that work! I also need to transplant several pepper plants and some herbs. The window sill is already full, with tomatoes and herbs so it needs to warm up so the older plants can go out to the front porch. I do know, I won't be planting anything outdoors until mid-May at the earliest. We have a short growing season here.

Whatever your plans for the weekend, I hope you're enjoying sunshine and warm temps. Have a great week ahead everyone!

Friday Funny

 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

 

Monday

Tuesday morning 

Tuesday evening 

The end of an era, a quiet week, and Happy Easter!

Another sad family moment this week, when the last of my parent's generation passed away at the age of 92. If you've been reading for some time you may remember I visited my cousin B and her husband, and Uncle G on Vancouver Island a couple of times in the past 10 years. He was an avid golfer, out on the course two or three times a week until he was in his late 80's. Sadly, he's been quite ill for a few years and was ready to join Aunt A (my mom's sister). There was no service. This is a photo of Uncle G and Aunt A, at Christmas 1971. 

Speaking of services, my brother and I did not make it to our cousin's service. He had to be out of town on Friday. I didn't feel I could manage a long day, with about 8 to 10 hours of driving. Another cousin shared the link to K's obituary, so I did send a memorial donation. K was just 62, and two months younger than my younger brother. 

After hearing the news about Uncle G, I called my older brother to let him know. We realized we are now the oldest generation, and M is the eldest at 75. Unfortunately his health isn't great either as he contracted long Covid. He has been sick off and on for several months, and had a bad spell in February.  It's been 10 years since we were together for his 65th birthday. 

As for cousin B, he is still in the hospital but is improving. I haven't heard what caused the stroke, though that side of the family is well acquainted with the issue. My maternal great-grandmother lived bedridden for several years after a stroke, my maternal grandfather had his first stroke in his early 70's and my mom was even younger, at the age of 66. B is younger still, having turned 63 this past January. Hopefully, with physical therapy he'll regain the use of his hand and arm, and his speech will get better over time.

On the home front, it hasn't been a terribly busy week but good nonetheless. D has been organizing various spaces in the house.  She had purchased a new bookcase for her bedroom so brought down the older one for use as a side table in the living room. As a result, I was able to unpack the photo albums which were packed in the summer of 2023 in preparation for selling my old house. I spent an afternoon adding labels indicating the year and subject of the contents. I have several albums that belonged to my mom, a few from when I left home, a few more for my children, and the majority from the trips I've enjoyed over the years. It was fun to flip through the pages and re-live some of the memories. Though I'll admit there were more than a few photos that are no longer prominent in my memory.

As you'll have seen in Wednesday's photo, Eli had equine therapy on Monday afternoon. He shows little to no fear, even with the larger horses. Of course, they are used to children and very gentle. He wore his noise cancelling headphones as the wind was up and the barn was noisy - he's not a fan of the horse poop either. :)

We did get to the local thrift store on Tuesday, where D (mostly) filled a bag with clothing for $12. There were two pieces for me, a tank top and a pair of capris. She got two pairs of jeans and several t-shirts. Unless one "fills" a bag, the cost is $2 per piece. She did extremely well. I picked up another book to read though I have several books yet to read. I'm nowhere near the 52 that Connie at Far Side of Fifty has on her list. :)

On Thursday, D and I spent much of the morning putting together a shelving unit for storage. We'd bought a small hutch when we moved in, and it was proven to be too small for our needs. Like wallpaper, this is a job that was meant to be done by someone other than the two of us. Partially due to having only pictures, no text in the instructions, and also due to our differing interpretations of said pictures, the process took a little/lot longer than it needed to. But it is in place and we plan to pick up a few more baskets this week for storage. 

The snow has mostly melted with just a few places where the snow was piled from shovelling. The outdoor furniture should be out next week, and we're planning to use the BBQ for the first time in months. 

Though warmer, it has still been cool, but the weather is supposed to improve on Sunday. I'm hoping to get out to do some clean-up of the perennials and D is planning to do an Easter egg hunt with Eli outdoors. I think she'll need to wait until the afternoon...

Happy Easter everyone! Have a great week ahead. 

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Finishes and endings

My mostly Easter, a little bit of spring display on top of the China cabinet. It's the only real space I have for display here in this house.

Well, our men's team did not win the World Championship, but did bring home a bronze. They played Scotland in the semi-final and, as had happened earlier in the week, lost the game. It certainly was their worst game of the week. On Sunday, they were up against China in the bronze medal game and it was a blow-out for Canada. I tend not to pay much attention when the score gets lop-sided, so I can't tell you what the final score was. 

Scotland took on Switzerland in the final, and came out on top winning the World's for the second time in three years. What made this more interesting was a "Battle of the Sexes" charity skins game they were in the following day. Team Mouat (Scotland) played Team Homan (Canada). The Canadian women won the World's, so it was also two World champions facing off. There were some great shots on both sides, however Homan was only able to win one of the skins, Mouat and crew won the other seven. I didn't watch the presentation but I presume that the companies providing the prize money/charity donations likely evened it up. 

D and I tackled housework on Monday, and the main floor and upstairs were vacuumed and tidied up. I won't tell you what the basement looked (looks) like, as Eli had a friend over to play on Saturday. Let's just say it is a bit of a disaster down there. I have a puzzle set out on a table in the basement but will avoid the area until D and Eli spend some time tidying.

On Tuesday I made a run into the nearby community to visit the Service Canada office. My passport will expire in December, and while I have no immediate plans to travel outside of Canada, I wanted to ensure it was renewed. Unlike the office in the city, where one drops off the paperwork, in this small office a representative takes care of everything on line, scans the documents and prepares the package while you're there. The photos have to be processed elsewhere, and the return time is longer; about 4-5 weeks versus 10-15 days, but the process seemed more personable.

The woman assisting me, was asking about travel plans and I mentioned our trip to Nova Scotia this June. She originally grew up in New Brunswick and we chatted about the places I visited when I was there with friends in 2016. Of course, I had to ask how she and her family ended up here. Not unexpectedly it was her husband's work (mining), and they live in a small community nearby.

After dropping off several bags of donations at the local thrift store, I did a walk through the store. I found some divided plates for Eli, some silicone molds for D, and a travel tea mug (with strainer) for myself. A quick stop at the grocery store for a few items and I was home by 11 a.m. It was a productive morning.

Out of curiosity, I did a search for the tea mug on the internet. I just about fell over, when I discovered it is currently selling for $140 on the Canadian Amazon site. I paid just under $3 for it. 

Some sad news, I called my son that evening and he told me he'd had to surrender Shadow. Apparently Sage had taken a dislike to the puppy. I'm not certain if she got aggressive, but clearly the relationship wasn't good. He was quite disappointed, and has decided to wait a year or two before considering getting a second dog. I've encouraged him to get the two of them (he and Sage) enrolled in obedience classes. Sage has shown signs of aggressiveness towards other dogs on walks, so it's best to deal with those issues while she is still fairly young, about 16 months or so.

Wednesday's photo was taken on Monday evening. The snow is melting as the temperatures are starting to rise, and with rain in the forecast it should disappear more quickly. I saw my first junco that morning too, followed by two robins on Thursday...spring is definitely here! Here's how the backyard looked on Friday afternoon:

The front yard is nearly clear as it faces south. I suspect most of the snow you see here will be gone by early next week.

The next to last* curling event of the season was held this week in Toronto, a Grand Slam of Curling event. The broadcast on Sportsnet was scheduled to start on Thursday afternoon, though I discovered a single draw that was aired the day before. It finished just in time for the Blue Jays game; great timing!

Meanwhile I've done more knitting, another pair of mittens was finished, another toque completed (this one for Eli), and I've cast another toque on the needles. My goal is to finish six pairs of mittens, and three toques before I return to my stitching. My poor hands and wrists are starting to feel a bit painful from the repetitive motions. Definitely time for a break.

D has been busy re-organizing things in her bedroom and basement, and I've been able to empty three boxes of photo albums that have been stored away since at least the summer of 2023 (when I listed my old house). Friday was also the one year anniversary of our move into this house. It's been a great place for all three of us. There are some things we'd like to do it including replacing the exterior doors, replacing a portion of the fence, and addressing the "rock" garden area. Of the three, I anticipate the fence will be the last on the list. The old fence is still standing, though requires some support. Since our next door neighbours rarely mow or weed their back yard, it is tall enough to keep it out of our view. D did report them to the city last summer when the weeds were higher than the 6 foot fence. Can you tell they are renters and not owners? 

On to the weekend, you'll find me watching more curling, more baseball, continuing to knit, and weather permitting, spending some time outdoors. I'd like to tackle the shed and move some snow from the bigger piles so it will melt sooner.

Have a great week ahead everyone!I

*There is a new two day event, the curling all-stars planned for April 15 and 16 in Nashville. It is associated with the Grand Slam brand. I have no idea the what the format will be and don't believe it will be televised. I'll look for a live stream.

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Maybe finally spring, family news, and good curling

I cannot say the week was particularly busy, but it was full. Mostly with sports watching, knitting, with a bit of housework and shopping thrown in for good measure. I've finished a total of four pairs of mittens and a toque/beanie as well. The next pair of mitts is now on the needles too. I always get more done when watching sports - knitting keeps my hands busy so I'm not snacking. 

(Sorry, I could not get the photo to rotate, so you're seeing it sideways!)

The curling has been good, no real blowouts for or against the Canadian team. I do enjoy a game that comes down to the final rock in the final end. I'm sure the curlers prefer otherwise. The Blue Jays started the regular season this week, with mixed success. They have some new players on the roster too, and it is fun to see what they may mean for the team.

We had more snow overnight and into the morning of April Fool's Day. I didn't appreciate the joke. Before taking Eli to school, I shovelled out the back parking area and the sidewalk. It has since started melting and D has been sprinkling de-icer every morning. Neither of us want a repeat of my fall last week. The cut has completely healed but the spot on my head is still a little tender to the touch. 

Wednesday's photos were sent to me by my son, C. On the weekend he brought home another pup from the shelter. She is an eleven month old German Shepherd now named Shadow. She and Sage were immediate friends, racing around the house. C said they both slept well the first night. 

Saku, the cat has not yet been introduced to the new pup. Sage is excitable, but less so than Shadow. To be honest, I'm thinking I'll move Saku here this summer though the transition will take some time as Stanley and Spencer rule the roost. That means Saku will spend his time in my room while getting accustomed to the other cats. I suppose it will be no more difficult for him than learning to live with two dogs.

Btw, you may have noticed that all of our pets have S names. It started 25 years ago with Sasha and Silver. When we got our third cat, I told the kids it had to have an S name ... we couldn't call it Bob so she was Sami. We kept it up through the next three, with Silas, Shady, and Saku. Since then, my now adult kids have kept up the tradition.

This week brought some sad news. Our cousin K passed away on Thursday due to that damned cancer. She has been battling it for many years but it makes her passing no less sad. My brother and I are planning to attend the funeral. I'll drive to his farm and he'll do the driving from there. Another cousin was also hospitalized with a stroke on Friday. He neither smokes, nor drinks, still runs though not as much as he used to, so this was a real shock to all of us. Initial testing did not indicate a brain bleed, so the assumption is he had a blood clot. Still early days, and I'm sure we'll learn more next week.

The weekend should be quiet, with the final few games of the curling, more baseball, and hopefully lots more melting. My daughter had her car in the shop for a couple of days, and the ruts that have developed in the alley means she has to park out front of the house. I'm hoping more of the ice and snow will disappear so she can bring the car around back soon.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday