Just a note: Sunday

Having a nice early Christmas with Mom, Kyle, Craig and Karen.  Wish it could be longer, but they have to head back to Toronto today.  We expect the driving to be better than it was for their trip up on Friday, thank goodness.  Iain had a white-knuckle trip to Renfrew and back to retrieve me, that day, as well.

There's nothing better than time with friends and family.  Yesterday, some old friends of Rod and Sheila came over for a little visit.  Bev used to teach at the same school as Rod, and her husband  Orville is an international consultant to governments on their healthcare needs. Very interesting and intelligent people, who it was a pleasure to meet.

Today we are having a slow, lazy wakeup:  lots of coffee and snacks required.  We did our best to sleep off the huge turkey dinner we ate yesterday evening.  Compliments to Iain, Craig, and Kyle, who prepared the meal!  We had to take a break before enjoying the plum pudding; we were just too full.  Bedtime came early as well; we hit the pillow before 10 p.m.

December the first

We are having a great weekend!

Friday night was just Iain and me fun - finished Lego Star Wars (as far as we plan to take it; we aren't doing the bonus rounds) and are looking forward to loading another game onto the PS3:  probably Lego Batman next.

Today we had a day of shopping for Christmas presents, hitting Carlingwood and Bayshore, among other shopping places.  We did accomplish a fair bit; got gifts for a few people and have ideas for others.

I love shopping for Christmas.  I enjoy buying little gifts for people.  It's the one time of year you can see something that would make a nice surprise for someone and not feel silly buying it!  I love wrapping things up in shiny paper and putting pretty bows on top.  It's the best!

It isn't about spending a lot of money.  I just want people to know I'm thinking of them, even when they aren't around, even when we haven't seen each other for ages.  I wish I could buy a present for every person who fits into that category, but there are so many!

Tomorrow, it is Christmas Tree Erection Day!  I'm really looking forward to that.

A quiet weekend at home

Not much to report in our little world.  Iain and I are puttering around the house this weekend - though we took a quick trip to the lake on Saturday, due to forgotten garbage (duh-oh!) which would have left the place pretty smelly if we hadn't gone for it.  We also checked the water line to be sure it was draining back to the well, and we are pretty confident in it now.

We do have some extended family having severe health issues, and our thoughts and prayers are with them constantly, as we hope for healing there.

At our place, though, not much is going on.  Iain raked the last of the leaves - well, the last we are going to bother with - and bagged them, today.  I'm doing this quick blog while he throws together some nachos for dinner.  Today's pic:  the kitties relaxing in front of the fireplace.  You may notice that Snaps doesn't really fit into his cat bed, but he doesn't seem to mind.  It's nice when they all get along, and this seems to be the case lately (unless Onyx is in one of his "moods").

All loving the fireplace.

That was Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving weekend!  Food, friends, family:  what it's all about, and we had all three.

Iain and his mom on the dock.

 

 It was particularly nice to have Kyle and Sheila up for the weekend.  Poor Kyle had to sleep in the old place, but a space heater kept his room cozily warm.



The leaves are really coming down, but it was still lovely.

We went for a few walks, and saw three cormorants that are (hopefully) just passing through on their migration route. 

Not a great pic, but you can see the long necks; I think most of the Loch Ness sightings are actually cormorants.

It was a bird count weekend, of course, so Dodie had us out looking, but we didn't see too many for her.  It was nice to see the heron, but I guess the bitterns have already left.  We took down our hummingbird feeders, too - they left a week before.

 

 

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful - we loved having most of the family there, and would have liked to have more of them.  For fun, I made a timelapse video that you can see here.

Weekend work.

Autumn is wearing her fancy clothes, in the Opeongo mountain range.

On the road to Quadeville

Big construction in little Quadeville:  they're replacing the culvert beneath the bridge.  I don't think they'll have to worry about it washing out, come next spring.

They're obviously trying to get it done ASAP, as they were working Saturday.

Small construction on Big Eneas (ha ha ha).  Roger helped Iain tear down the walls and let the sun shine in.  Big improvement to a small space - it feels a lot bigger, now.

There has been some suggestion that this could become Iain's "man cave".  Hmmmm.

A much tidier storage and work space.  And the view is good, too, he says.

Happy stuff!

Onyx has decided that our bed is indeed the best place to spend not just all night, but most of the day as well.  I don't think he will ever be a lap-cat, as he rarely jumps up for pets and, when he does, will not lie down at all; but he has become a bed-buddy, usually curling up by Iain's feet.

Biiiiiiig stretch and.....flip onto head!

Black cats seem to gravitate to Iain.  Phantom used to sleep on Iain's ankles.  Onyx sleeps at his feet but on my side of them, so I can feel he's there, too.

The other cats tend to sleep on my side, and it's usually only Stitches who will stay most of the night.  Jez comes and goes, and Snaps - well, when he's on the bed you can't help but know, because of his squeeky purrs.

After about 10 pictures, Onyx was giving me the evil eye.
 

Although I didn't take pictures at Mom's 95th birthday party, my cousin Carl got this nice one of Mom, Elva and Irene; I had to let you see it!

Golden girls (Irene's a bit young in this group, though).

Wood Work

I didn't blog about the long weekend, though it was a lot of fun; my birthday, and my mom's birthday (for which we had a nice party) made for a good time. No pictures: I was feeling very lazy and I don't think I took any! I'll have to get some copies from the others who were there snapping Mom's picture.

Last weekend Iain decided to have a go at the old cottage, as we are tearing down one bedroom wall to make the space more useful.


He removed the door and trim with little trouble.

It was touching for me to see wood exposed that hadn't seen daylight since my grandfather nailed it into place 70 years ago.

Removing the wall is a bit trickier: the nails are hidden by the ceiling, and he'd rather avoid tearing that down.

Although our original thought was to remove the cottage ceiling, we changed our minds because of the heat that is kept at bay by the insulation there.

As it turned out, the blade on the saws-all is not long enough to reach the nails, from above or below, so until a longer one can be purchased we can't go further.

Up in the attic, checking out the wiring (shudder).  It needs....replacing.

I was pleased with how the place is standing up; no leaks visible.  Iain replaced the roofing (with a lot of help from family and friends) about 15 years ago, or perhaps longer.  At that time, he put ice barrier over the entire roof before shingling.  It has worked well.

And no bats.  That doesn't make me really happy, though - the decimation of the little brown bat by the "nose fungus" has me worried that they might go extinct.

Despite the pouring rain on Saturday, we had a lovely sunset!

Weekend Update

Thank goodness for birds planting seeds; otherwise I might have no flowers at all!  This sweet little Sunflower started growing in the lawn (hahaha lawn, that's funny - looks more like a lot of sand with a few tufts of green thrown in here and there for amusement).

A little crooked, but pretty!

Iain took this nice closeup.  I love the dewdrops!

 

Airmiles came through with our outdoor speakers, and after a bit of trouble locating the speaker wires (don't ask) Iain and Kyle hung them up and we tried them out.  Verdict:  these Yamaha speakers rock!

 

Just under the eave on the left and to the right of the door you'll see our speakers.

 

Kyle was up for the weekend, and enjoyed himself.  We had a big 'ol steak barbecue on Saturday night.

Kyle seems particularly ready to eat!

 

 Mom had an impossibly huge steak, but she ate over half of it!

Let me at it!

 

On Sunday we did a bit of decking.

Mom just about to reach for her water cup, I think.

Iain thinks he looks tired in this picture.  I think he looks great!

 

I had to get a picture of Kyle in his cool hat. 

 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Oh holidays, where did you go? Two weeks of cottaging, all too short.

The lack of rain and the dammed-up creek meant the lake wasn't flowing, and so the bottom became covered in algae.   Myles to the rescue!  He dragged the swimming area, stirring up the algae and taking away lots of sticks and clams as well.

Myles' bottom-dragger.

Look at the green goop on that.  Yuck.

On our way to the lake, we spotted a fire near Sebastopol.  Just missed getting a shot of the helicopter that was water-bombing it.

After much fiddle-farting around, I am finally done with the small cabinet.  Ta-da!

Lots of room for the rest of our glassware, and the cookbooks.

Summertime is puttering time.  Iain has been landscaping again.  Here, he has started work on a wee patio aorund the barbecue.

And here he shovels off the load of crushed stone which Myles was so kind as to bring from Renfrew.

We did a bit of goofing off, of course:  a trip into Pembroke for the fun of a tour and to get some groceries, for instance.


Had a snack at the marina, and noted this unique sundial they have there.

Baby loon is growing, and getting harder to tell from mom and dad.

More work for Iain; he was finally able to remove all the wood formers around the pathways.  It looks wonderful and my mom's walker rolls on them nicely.

Dishing the dirt.

We spent a lot of time just reading and having martinis and such.  I read The Hunger Games trilogy, and enjoyed it immensely.  Lots of good times with family, too, having dinners and playing games.  Have you ever played Rummikub?  A good game!

Some sad things happened too.  We noticed that our large tamarack is dying from the bottom up, and it appears it has been invaded by the Eastern Larch Beetle.  Unfortunately, the damage is invariably fatal, so barring a miracle over the winter, we will be cutting it down next year.  I can't tell you how unhappy this makes me, especially coupled with the drought damage that has possibly killed three other trees on our property.

See that little hole?  The beetle bores through the bark and makes these little holes all over the tree.  This is supposedly diagnostic of the Eastern Larch Beetle.

We were also sad when the adorable painted turtle we'd found on our beach died mysteriously.  He'd been much less shy than we'd expected, so he was probably ill already, but we were shocked when he died.



RIP Terry the Terrapin.

It was nice to see momma merganser and two of her chicks still hanging around, though.  They are almost as big as she is, now.

This frog is incredibly hungry.  Iain noticed he'll jump at ANYTHING, including other frogs just about as big as himself.

And we do have a tiny snapping turtle hanging about.  Here he is peeking out of the water; you can see his little body below the surface, and his little feet with their tiny claws.

On our way home, we saw a lovely hawk, I believe a Northern Harrier or Marsh Hawk.

We didn't really want to come home.  On the other hand, I was really happy to get to church this morning!

Hot and bothered. Not in a good way.

We've been puttering about for the last two weekends, Iain on his paths and I on the little cupboard (one coat of paint before I got lazy); and I got the shelves rearranged in the kitchen (much happier with that).

Iain tamping the driveway.

My mom has been enjoying the beautiful weather.  We'd hoped to have Iain's mom up this last weekend, with the whole family, but things didn't work out that way.  Sheila has been ill for over a week, and finally she was admitted to hospital on Thursday.  She is fighting pneumonia, which the antibiotics seems to be beating, but the doctors can't find the cause of it.  She has also had trouble sleeping and has some mental disturbances which probably all have the same cause.  We're praying they get to the bottom of things, soon, and that she'll be on the mend quickly.  Craig and Karen popped up for the weekend to see her, and Iain got to visit with them and Kyle at her bedside.  I wish I could have been there, too.

My mom, relaxing on the deck.

This hot, dry weather is causing problems throughout the Ottawa Valley.  This was our view on the way to the cottage on Friday night, taken from the top of Foymount:  smoke from the fire at Base Petawawa, close to Algonquin Park.

No one knows yet what sparked this fire, but conditions are tinder-box dry throughout most of the area.  They got a little rain in Pembroke yesterday, but without a good drenching it will be very difficult to quench this fire.

POST-SCRIPT:  Sheila is out of hospital and doing fine!  That nasty infection was totally defeated by really powerful anti-biotics.  Don't let anyone tell you our "socialized" medicine is no good!

Work, work, work

Life at the cottage seems to constantly revolve around various projects.  Iain keeps working on his paths, which are looking wonderful and are great to walk on.  My Mom's walker rolls smoothly on them, too.

I've been prepping the small cabinet for painting, but haven't accomplished much due to an annoying shoulder injury that confined me to a chair in the sun after taking a robaxacet, on Sunday morning.

The other thing that's been occupying me has been how to stop birds from hitting our nice shiny windows.  I've put up decals, cardboard cutouts of bird silhouettes and a bunch of "window junk" like a dreamcatcher and a windsock.  I've reduced the number of bird hits - only one this last weekend - but it still makes me sick when it happens.  I have UV decals on the way, and Iain and I have been discussing how to install a motion-sensor flash (maybe?) to scare birds off if they fly that way.  There must be a solution.

Happy Canada Day weekend!

What a gorgeous weekend! We could use some rain, though, as the grass isn't growing as quickly as Iain and I hoped.

The gravel we ordered was delivered this week, and Iain started working on the paths.  By the end of the weekend they were really taking shape, and his arms were ready to fall off.  You see, the method involved is: a) shovel fill into trailer or wheelbarrow; b) distribute onto pathway; c) tamp down with 10x10 stamper; d) spray with water to settle gravel; e) lay garden fabric; f) repeat above with crushed stone.  Hard work, but the paths are so smooth - a big improvement!

This picture doesn't do the path justice.  I'll get more next weekend.

The big cabinet was moved in on Saturday morning, and Mom and I spent the day filling it up.  I carted over dishes from the old place and she washed and dried them so I could put them away. 

If you look closely, you'll see the cabinet has a rustic look that wasn't expected:  the doors wouldn't close after I painted them, so I had to sand them down quite a bit.  I should have expected that!

Saturday was the fishing derby, and we had a great pot luck supper; then Iain cooked a huge batch of ribs for Sunday night. They were wonderful!

Post-and-pre-weekend blog

I am definitely getting tired of painting. Last weekend I spent most of the two days painting the large cupboard (two coats of lovely "Bellini" colour paint from Para), and I'll be doing the small cupboard soon; but not on the long weekend. I'm taking a one-weekend break. No pics of the finished cupboard yet. I'll take one this weekend when it is moved over to the cottage.

Summer is truly here.  We took a walk to the far field, and discovered it full of - what?  I can't remember what these bushes with the tiny pink bells are called.  At one time I could have relied on Wendy B. to ID them for me.  I will have to research them on my own or ask Irene G. for her help (she is full of herbivore lore).

What the heck are these things?  They smell lovely!

Iain made a friend on the way across the field.  He always finds a snake or a frog, or an interesting bug!

There are always lots of garter snakes.  We've spotted a couple of brown water snakes as well, but that's as exotic as we've managed, so far.

On Monday evening, the sunset was glowing and dark; very mysterious-looking!

I'm looking forward to an extra day this weekend; happy Canada Day to all!

Very striking!

I do love summer.  Everyone else can complain about the heat:  I don't care!

Now that I have that off my chest, here's to Iain, who celebrated his 47th birthday on Friday.  Many more years, my love, and good ones!

Myles made a fire-poker for Iain.  Engarde!  He and Dodie also gave him several interesting bbq implements.

When we made our dump run on Saturday (it is becoming our weekly entertainment, to drive out to the Brudenell waste site, and every week our lot is a bit neater as a result) we surprised a doe and fawn on our way back.  Click the pic to see them a bit better.

There was some excitement at the lake during our absence:  a tree on Roger & Vicki's lot was hit by lightning.  This seems to happen about every 20 years, as far as I can tell.  When I was about 16 there was one hit, and Roger recalls one hitting shortly after they bought the place - which would have been about 20 years ago.

You can see how the bark has split, all the way up the tree.  The blackened area toward the bottom is tree paint that Roger applied to try to keep the bugs out of it.

The lightning entered (or exited - who can say) the ground at the base of the tree.

 We haven't had much rain, but the roses are all in bloom!

Sheila was up for the weekend, and had a good time, she said.

Relaxing with a cuppa.

 On Sunday, Iain tried out the sword/poker.  It worked perfectly...good job, Myles!