heatwave

 Last night was our second agility class and the verse that best describes it is: ‘When she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid!”... At the beginning of class we warm up with ‘restrained recalls’ where the instructor holds Lupa back and I run and call her… well, as soon as Louise crouched down to hold her, Lupa flopped onto her back and got all crazy with her. 

And then when she did finally focus on me, it was just for an instant before she was zooming over to the other dogs. She didn’t go right up to them but held back a bit (which is a good thing). (when she was bad she was very very bad!)

Next were some jumps - we started with just one and miraculously she even progressed to jumping over two in a row! Even a few with me sending her to a dish with food. She went over the A-frame like a champ, hardly hesitating at all even for her first time over. The tunnel went well even when I sent her in with no one at the end calling her. Louise thinks she’ll be a great agility dog cause she’s so brave and smart :-)

I’ve got a bit of homework this week!

Bella loved agility and would get excited just on the words! Spike did some agility too but he wasn’t stellar as he wasn’t particularly brave when it came to his own personal safety.

It was wicked hot in that little field with no shade - too hot even for mosquitos!

Yesterday we popped into the village for a shop at the nursery AGAIN! This time we picked up 3 more flowers to stick into the herb planters and 2 hot pepper plants for fun. Everything is settling in well. Carm ordered a shade cover for the pergola - once that is up we’ll bring out the rest of the deck furniture and be ready for entertaining :-) 

I was reading back in my blog to see what we were doing a few summers ago; I can’t remember what year it was but I didn’t swim until the end of June!!! The lowest temp I’d get in was in the mid 70s… this year my limit has plummeted to mid 60s! (F).  I’m turning into a Beluga whale!

(note to self: got a haircut on Monday with Pamela)

The headlamps that I ordered from Amazon came yesterday - OMG - I’ll have to be careful not to be too close to an airport or I’ll have planes landing on my head - that thing is bright and will be perfect for dark walks with the dogs when we are camping :-)

We had supper at Trudie & Leo’s again Monday night - I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with me but we’ve hardly had people over for supper for months. The last few weeks (since the ice storm), we’ve been pretty busy so at the end of the day it’s all I can do to get some random food on the table… after the Titanium reunion, languid summer days will stretch ahead of us, perfect for entertaining.

Awesome!

“becoming a beluga”

“plants settling into their new digs”

“Lupa attacking the A-frame like a champ”

raising the roof

 Summer has arrived! We’ve had a few really nice days this past week and the forecast shows hot all the way to next Friday! The nights have warmed up so planting has begun :-)

Thursday we got the new herb planters filled with soil and Carm re-spaded the garden but with the temps forecast to get down near 3 or 4C we decided to hold off planting for one more day.

Carm has been out on the links a few times a week and Friday was no exception. Now that we have the truck back I was able to pop into the city to visit Dad in the morning, getting home not long after Carm did. We had coffee, then went to the lumber yard to drop $$ on some wood. We purchased a kit last week for making a bare bones pergola so we started to put it together. The top came together quickly but when it came time to lift it to put the legs under we found it impossible with just the two of us, or if not impossible, fraught with danger.

I put out a call for help and had takers :-) So I rushed around in the morning making stuff for lunch (wings, sun-dried zucchini salad, smashed Asian cucumber salad, roasted asparagus, hard-boiled eggs, and Kirsten brought a lovely bread). I wanted to feed them well!

While I was doing that, Carm got the garden planted in our whirl to get things ready for our strong men/women that were coming to help us heft up the pergola. 

Everyone arrived before noon and after a few minutes of chat we headed outside to tackle the job. With all the strong arms we got the job done in less than 10 minutes! The mosquitos were out in full force and the sun was beaming down hard so we crowded into the house for lunch. 

Later, Olaf and I donned our bathers and dunked in the freezing pool (almost 18C!). It was the coldest I’ve been in but I couldn’t let my big little brother out-do me!!! 🤪 (which almost always is a bad mistake…)

Gradually, bit by bit, we are getting set up outside for the season.

With Carm getting up at the crack of dawn for golf, the dogs have gotten used to eating their breakfast early so now their rumbling tummies are getting us up before 7… this morning I decided that they wouldn’t eat as soon as we got up and made them wait for an hour! Will keep this up I guess. I’m big on routine - it helps me to manage my illness so I will build in the change and feed them after my first coffee.

Yesterday we got the plants outside and planted the deck pots, Carm even had the energy to cut the grass. After we were done (and after an absolutely wonderful dip into the pool) we popped into the village for some tomato cages… on the way home we noticed that the local brewery had some musicians on the grassy patio so we stopped for a cold beer and some music :-) 

They weren’t the greatest but I LOVE it when people are doing what they love :-)

“To fly we have to have resistance.”

-Maya Lin

Awesome!

“our amazing helpers”

“jumping in the pool (today too)”

“the pergola”

“getting the plants out of the house and the deck arranged”

“tender new plants in new ‘digs’”

“an impromptu stop at the beer garden”

trailer woes

It’s been one thing after another this spring… first the ice storm and the devastation from that. Then when we moved the trailer to take down a tree, the landing gear broke. The repair guy came to see it, didn’t have the part, and then didn’t show up for another month waiting for the part - finally yesterday he finished fixing the leg. He happened to be looking under the trailer and noticed a fairly big problem with the suspension… 

Today we drove over an hour through the rain, stopping several times to clear out the truck’s air filter which was getting clogged with mouse nest, to a heavy truck and trailer repair centre. Carm went inside while I waited in the truck with the dogs. Soon the repair guy, Sylvian, climbed into the truck to drive us into a bay. 

Lupa’s eyes popped out of her head with a stranger getting into the car but managed to stay reasonably quiet. We would not have been able to say that a few months ago.

It’s a pretty cool place with a giant garage with 3 bays. Each bay has a long pit that the vehicle is centred over. It was neat to climb down the steps to walk under the trailer - and oh my gosh! Some major problems…

We unhitched and drove home, leaving the beast there for the work. Soon after we got home Sylvian called telling us he can’t get the parts but we can order them on Amazon - order placed while on the phone with him… delivery date June 1st to 3rd. YIKES! We leave for Kingston on the 8th.

Apparently the shop is seriously understaffed - they used to have 25 workers and now he can only get 3! No one wants to become a mechanic anymore. It would be a good paying job!

Lupa passed her obedience class last week so we immediately signed up for an agility class! She had her first one last night and did great. She barked a tiny bit at the other dogs - 3 that she’d never seen before. She got to go through the tunnel a few times, jumped onto the table several times, and jumped a jump a few times. By the end of the class we were both bushed!

We’ve had some rain and lots of sunny days but, alas, the nights are still really cold. Tonight it’s forecast to get close to freezing, fingers crossed that we’ll be able to plant on Saturday. Meanwhile, we’ve been hoisting tubs of plants in and out of the house. The apple trees have finished their ‘ode to spring’, dropping petals down the length of the laneway.

Awesome!

“arriving at the repair facility after a drive in the rain”

“apple blossoms”

“lilacs!”

first swim!

The emerging flowers on the lilac are clashing beautifully against the bright blue sky - it’s perfectly placed outside the window of the living room with a view from my little hollow in the sofa. I get to gaze and imagine a summer of colour and blossom, scents filling the air, a break from the austere environment of winter.

Everywhere I look there are blossoms - the wild crabs in the pasture are cloaked in white petals, the apple trees have dainty pink flowers and the chocolate trees are fully embelished in white. Tulips, wild strawberries and dandelions also vie for attention. And we can’t forget the grass which is already growing at a ferocious rate, it’s greenness almost overwhelming.

Sunlight is filtering through the leaves outside the house, changing the light from bare white to a sunny green, creating a feeling of being in a forest glen. I love the feeling this gives me. A peaceful easy sort of feeling!

When Carm isn’t golfing, he’s been hard at keeping the grass in check - he’ll be a muscle man before the month is out! 

We had our first swim on Friday!!!!!!! Same date as last year, same temp - an icy 20C/68F. We dipped in yesterday as well, but last night was cold so it dropped to 16C/60F - no swimming today!

I finished both the books I was reading and downloaded another one about mindfulness. I should probably hold off on this new book for a few days to give myself time to think and hopefully apply what I learned in the other two books - I sure hope I retain what I’ve learned!

Awesome!

“a visit with Dad”

“first swim!!!!”

“a swallow swooshing through the air doing acrobatics”

“new cookies”

not chocolate turtles

 With ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ by the Eagles playing on my little speaker I stepped out the door to the back deck to enjoy a beautiful morning that borders on summer. The only thing that keeps me from jumping in the pool is the icy 60F water! (update: by the end of the day it was up to almost 64F… getting closer to swimming temps)

Green day has come and gone almost without notice. Everything is so slow this year it seemed like the trees would never green and then suddenly the Earth has cloaked herself in chartreuse robes embellished with tiny buds of yellow, lilac and pink. 

Last night was Lupa’s 5th class - she’s doing great! Last night there was no barking and she even got to play a bit :-) Her sits/downs/stays are great although we do have to clarify that sit means stay even when I step away from her side - we’ve done lots of practice where she automatically moves with me but that might have been a mistake! Her loose-leash walking is a work in progress - she can do several steps but when I reward her she bounces ahead again - so back to square one with that for a bit.

Yesterday I spent the day in town visiting with Kirsten and Dad. Kirsten and I took a little trip to Value Village which is a bit of a treasure quest! I lucked out on a beautiful blue & white vase with a dragon on it :-) Blue and white pottery brings joy!

Tuesday Kirsten and Nissa dropped by for a quick lunch! A lovely last minute surprise :-) Luckily the house was already clean and the table set for supper so I had lots of time to throw together some food. Later, Trudie, Leo, and Marie came over to celebrate Leo’s birthday.

I’m going through a little phase of not writing, or even thinking about writing, but I hope that will pass and my muse will return… perhaps all the rain of the previous month(s?) has sapped my creativity. But I won’t throw in the towel just yet.

Carm’s been tearing up the golf course, getting back into the groove of hitting the ball. I’m lucky (ha ha) enough to get a blow by blow, stroke by stroke, reenactment of the round. His persistence and dedication to get up before the crack of dawn is impressive :-)

I’m reading 2 books at the moment: ‘Mating in Captivity’ and ‘Tiny Habits’. Both psychological

tomes about behaviour. I’ve also been watching lots of podcasts by Susan Garrott about the same topic - you’d think with all this reading my life would be perfect but alas!!! 

There have been five turtles hanging out in the pond - the biggest is at least 45cm long! There are 2 medium sized ones and two ones the size of a dessert plate.

Awesome!

“lunch with Kirsten & Nissa”

“lilac buds”

“walking around the property looking at all the flower buds”

“dandelions everywhere”

“Lupa doing some really great stays at school”

“email from Edna saying that they’ll be at the reunion”

chained to the stove

 It’s a ‘rainy day people’ sort of day with some of my favourite Gorden Lightfoot music playing on repeat to mark his passing yesterday. His greatest hits album has been played heavily since I was first diagnosed bipolar as it’s perfect for those days when I’m creeping into hypo-mania or those lower days… the melodies fill my brain, displacing negative thoughts as well as calming my thoughts.

I imagine that I can actually sing but alas!

When I was in my pre-teens I had an old record player in my room along with a selection of 45s and 78s leftover from when my uncle Graham lived with us. One of those 45s had ‘Pussy Willows’ on one side with ‘Black Day in July’ on the other. I grew up loving both those songs by Gorden Lightfoot.

Another song I often played on the ancient player with suspect wiring (I’d get shocked when I changed records), was “Drunken Driver" by Ferlin Husky… it was the start of my love of dirge music… I suppose “Black Day in July” would be another dirge song… thank goodness I didn’t know about Leonard Cohen back then or I might not have grown up…

“The bumper struck the little girl taking her life away

While the little boy in a puddle of blood in the ditch lying there did lay

The drunk man staggered from his car to see the damage that he had done

And he let out a yell you could hear for miles when he recognized his dying son”

If you do a search on Youtube you’ll find a rendition - it’s a sad sad song but now it just makes me laugh thinking about my 12 year old self listening to this song over and over - I’d play the stanza with ‘puddle of blood’ over and over… wacked out!

The rain has been coming down the past few days, sometimes in sheets, other times just a light drizzle, but enough to mostly keep us inside. Yesterday I spent the day chained to the stove making three new recipes and one that I’ve made once before: first I made bacon crackers which are basically crackers with bacon & brown sugar cooked in a low oven for over an hour. Then I made an apple pudding cake with apples from our trees, lots of cinnamon, and a bit of cake layer. Later, I popped a small roast into the instant pot with some pepperoncini peppers, ranch dressing and onion for some Mississippi style tacos. The tortillas took another hour to make.

Pat was the lucky recipient of my labours. The tacos were fantastic with the sauce from the roast to dip and a bit of sour cream to top it off. I gobbled mine down before Pat and Carm got half way through their first one - I’d starved myself all day in anticipation! The apple fritter cake finished the meal - it was still slightly warm from the oven so melted the ice cream in just the right way.

Today is the 36th anniversary of our first ‘date’! THIRTY SIX years!!!!! Carm was my upstairs neighbour in a 2 apartment house so in a sense we were living together from the beginning. Trial by fire! It was a risky move considering I would have had to move if things got sticky but luckily! Here we are 36 years later :-)

Lupa got the brunt of attention this morning when I brought out the clippers. She was pretty cute before the shearing but I wanted her to be at optimum tidiness/scruffiness for the Titanium reunion at the beginning of June. Carm helps to steady her so it goes really quickly compared to the poodles - she was done in just over 30 minutes - easy peasy!

Awesome!

“a day spent in the kitchen”

“a quick haircut”

“a few minutes of sunshine this afternoon”