Arrivals and departures

It's been a busy week! The Brier ended Sunday evening with a win by the Brad Gushue team out of Newfoundland. The team was our representative at the Olympics in February, and the thought was they'd be tired. Well, they certainly didn't show it winning all their games in round robin play. They did lose in the 1 versus 2 page playoffs but came back and beat the winner of the 3 versus 4 in the semi-final to reach the final. What was even more impressive is their third player was diagnosed with Covid on Saturday and the three team members played the remaining games without him. Mark live tweeted through the game and it was clear he was stressed not being on the ice. :) The team will be off to the Men's Worlds in Las Vegas later in March.

With the curling out of the way (for a few days) it was time to tackle the housework that was somewhat neglected over the past ten days or so. I spent the first few days sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, washing and tidying in preparation for my visitors on Thursday. D and Eli arrived in the mid- afternoon. She had planned to leave right after school ended at 11:30, but a friend let her know there was fog on part of the highway. She still ran into fog for about 20 minutes but it wasn't too bad.

Eli was able to get his first Covid vaccine on Tuesday, with the second to follow in about 8 weeks or so. He was very brave little boy; there were some tears but D made it up to him with a trip to Tim Hortons for a doughnut treat and some time at the sledding hill. 

No sledding to be had at Gma's. I might have taken him to the park but the street was a mess and because of the ridges the grader made the sidewalks were ponds as well. Though I'll take the ridges of snow - were the snow still on the street it would be tough going with our smaller vehicles. There is a good reason why most of our neighbours drive trucks and SUVs. This is what the first week or so of spring looks like around here. We're forecast to have daytime temps over freezing so with a little wind it will clear up in the next week or so.

Eli and I did spend some time in the back yard, first on the deck and then he convinced me he could dig a path in the back yard to the bird feeder. He started his little dump truck and a rake and soon was marking out a path. At one point, he lost one of his boots in the snow, and turned around and carried it back to me to get help getting it back on. Silly kid! I grabbed the shovel and cleared out a wider path behind him.

Other visitors to the yard this week included the hare out front on Monday. It was enjoying snacking on the evergreen and then settled down to rest. At least it did until my son pulled out of garage. Then it took off in a big hurry. This next photo is of a little redbreasted nuthatch. For many weeks I've seen this wee bird when I go out to fill the feeder. It sits in the tree close by and talks to me - truly! It has a sweet call and I like to think it is saying thank you. I've tried several times to get a photo and each time it's been camera shy and flown away. Since I got the photo, I haven't seen it at the feeder. Hopefully it's okay and I'll see it again soon. (This was a cellphone photo and I cropped it to see the bird more clearly.)

On Thursday morning, I looked at the kitchen and spotted Hoover at the feeder. I thought the lighting was pretty - it's furs all aglow. 

Of course the camera focused on the branches but I didn't want to take the time to manually focus. I was right, as it spotted me and headed down the fence line.

While Eli was here on Friday morning, he got to see the downy woodpecker as well as the squirrel at the feeder. He told me they have a squirrel in their yard too, named Squirrely. D says it climbs on their neighbour's room and chatters at them.

They both had doctor's appointments Friday afternoon, and headed home once those were complete. D brought the paperwork from the pyschologist for the doctor to add to his file. It was confirmed last week that Eli has ADHD. We're lucky he was diagnosed early as the supports are being provided even before the official diagnosis. Dr. J pronounced Eli a physically healthy little boy and noted he has astigmatism. Not a surprise as we all have it in my family. The three of us, D, C, and I all wear glasses, though my son C has a tendency to only wear them for driving.

Before they left, Eli turned to me and said, "G'ma - you're the best!". I do so love that little boy - he is so sweet. Our visits are always fun, though tiring. I did a couple of loads of laundry after they left, did a little clearing of slush and ice, but did little else for the rest of the day.

Today I've been puttering around this morning, doing a few chores, setting a batch of buns, and catching up on blog reading and television programming. The Women's Worlds curling starts this afternoon at 3 p.m. local, with Canada taking on Italy in draw 1. Next up, is Norway at 8 p.m. I expect both games will be fun to watch. So you know what I'll be doing for the much of this week. The sports network will only air the games Canada is in, until the weekend when the qualification games begin. Fingers crossed, our Canadian team will be in the thick of it!

Of course, I can't forget that the spring equinox occurs tomorrow. It won't be truly spring here for a few more weeks, but I'm happy that the long winter is fading.  Happy Spring everyone!

Celebrating the good times

 Guess who turned four this week?  It sure wasn't me! Yes, my darling grandson Eli celebrated his big boy birthday.

I drove out the day of his birthday and surprised him when his mom and I went to the school to pick him up.  He had a really big food day: French toast for breakfast, lunch from Dairy Queen, and later pasta and vegetables for supper followed by his birthday cake.

The cake is special, not only because he helped mix it up, but because it is a recipe of my mother's.  She called it a 1-2-3-4 cake, thus very fitting for this birthday.  Of course, I halved it because the recipe was too much...but he doesn't know that!

I spent the night and had company, as both cats Sheldon and Stanley decided the single bed was the place to be.  I didn't sleep particularly well, it wasn't the cats though, it was the sound of the trains from the nearby train yard.  Even so, neither Eli nor I were awake until nearly 6 a.m. After a few more cuddles and reading the book I gave him one more time, I headed home as I had an appointment later in the morning.

It was time for annual mammogram...and that's all I'll say about that. After my visit to the clinic I treated myself to a trip to the nearby dollar store.  I did come home with a couple of items, nothing exciting.  

I did finish a couple of crafts this past weekend.  First up this little bird house.  It was from a run to a dollar store a few weeks ago, and meant for a child to paint...since my abilities in this realm are child-like I figured it would work for me.  Rather than paint it, I used acrylic paint as a stain.  The roof is corrugated cardboard that I painted using three colors to try to make it look a bit like a metal roof.  (Though it's difficult to see in this photo I even found a wee bird that fits on the little roost.)

The other finish is the knitted blanket that I worked on during the Scotties last week.  I finished sewing in the ends and got it washed up. I like the look of it as it almost looks like corduroy.

I now have four baby blankets listed on our local Buy and Sell Varage sale.  I'm hopeful that someone will take an interest and noted this morning I have a watcher on each of them.  If they don't see in a couple of weeks, I'll probably try Facebook Marketplace.  At least for now, craft sales won't be happening for a while longer yet.  We did get good news this week, with the AstraZeneca vaccine now approved in Canada, but not for those 65 and over, our province is planning to provide them to those age 60-64 beginning March 22.  Fingers crossed that I'll get an appointment in April.

On Friday, I did my grocery shopping, going early in the morning to avoid crowds.  The Co-op had a good sale on meat - I got a small beef roast, stewing beef, ground pork and two packages of sausages.  Prices have really creeped up here over the last year!  I guess it is simple economics, more people are staying home and cooking meals so demand is likely increasing more quickly than the supply pushing prices higher.

On Friday evening, the men's Brier curling even started.  Like the women's, there are 18 teams in the event, including three wild cards.  Unlike the women's the three wild card teams are from three different provinces. I have absolutely no prediction as to who might win the event, the caliber of the teams is that good.  Well, most of them anyway - for the northern teams their winning percentage is generally lower as there are fewer teams and fewer events to play in.  Of course, I'll be cheering for our Saskatchewan team, who placed third last year.  I do know it will be a good week of curling!

Finally, a recent visitor to the birdfeeder.  The birds are still showing up each day but with warmer weather they aren't eating as much.  I don't know if you can see in this photo but the trees have wee buds on them. Spring is only a few weeks away...at least on the calendar. :)

Take care everyone and stay well!