Down Burst on Wednesday Night

You should have seen our back yard! We were in the sunporch night before last, closing windows against the rain, when a huge branch on our backdoor neighbour's butternut snapped off and crashed down through our next door neighbour's black walnut bringing two branches to land of their tips between our porch and the garden shed. No damage! But it will cost $100s to have them lowered safely to the ground and removed. Rght now they are leaning on the roof edge of the shed and entangled in the branches above with the butternut top spread out like a skirt on the ground. And of course, our backyard was littered with every kind of leaf and twig not to mention walnuts and butternuts. We paid granddaughter S a buck a bucket to pick them up and she quickly made three dollars. Having witnessed a tornado on Sunday, she was pretty upset when the wind came up and the branches crashed down. But the next day she was delighted with the money making cleanup scheme.

Tornado in Goderich

We were expecting my oldest daughter and her family to arrive today but were not sure when. So I went ahead and planned dinner to include them. I picked up a BBQ chicken and some artisan nacho chips from the supermarket to make things easy. We had PC vegetarian 'chicken' breasts in the freezer - she loves them - to top up the protein offering should they arrive in time to sit down and eat. While I was out husband got a call saying that they would not be leaving Goderich until after 6:30 pm. My son outlaw's family reunion was still going on. However, they would be coming to drop our granddaughter off for a week of day camp with us.

I called a neighbour over to join us for a before dinner drink and husband invited her to stay for the meal. While we sat out back the sky got dreadfully dark, not for the first time today, and then the wind began to roar through the treetops. The clouds were roiling and threatening but there was no thunder and very little rain. A little katydid landed on the table, blown from it's treetop perch and for half a minute I thought about capturing it for my bug-catching granddaughter to study. But I said, "I am glad they are waiting until later to come. Maybe it will have cleared up by then." Raindrops sent us into the sunporch. The phone rang. "Mom, have you been watching the news? A tornado just went by the place where we are staying in Goderich - we saw it go by! There are trees down everywhere and we are looking down over the cliff at the salt mine - it doesn't look good. All the power is out and there has been rain and hail. I am not sure when we will get to leave." "Stay safe" I said, "And text me updates."

I made the corn and peach chutney everyone likes so much with jalapeño and basil from the garden which we had as salsa with the nacho chips. I heated up the chicken and cooked up a few green and yellow beans. We had sliced and cherry tomatoes from the garden as well, some store cucumber (my vines were parched in July while we were away) and a small lentil salad from Costco (I thought I picked up the couscous salad but got the lentil by mistake). I made two peach and blueberry galettes today so we cut into one of them for dessert - yum, especially with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

A text message let us know that they were on their way after some delays getting out of Goderich. We checked the Weather Channel for news of the event - Good Grief! One man died and several had been injured. There was tremendous damage through the town, including the market square where the kids had been only hours earlier. They arrived at length, tired from the trauma of the day, with photos of uprooted trees and hail half the size of the palm of your hand. Granddaughter was carried in already sleeping. Her mom and brother stayed overnight while her dad went home to TO to feed their cat. It took awhile to settle our grandson down and it is now far too late for me to be up. We all have to get up early tomorrow morning for camp. I am going to sleep feeling sympathy for the people of Goderich and joy that our folks came through unscathed.

Blow winds, blow!

The rain started on Tuesday, coming in fits and starts but ending before the day was out to leave us a lovely evening. During the afternoon, daughter and I ventured out to find my sister's place north of the river. It was the disappearance of the Bangor Lodge welcome gate that had stumped me on my earlier search. It had come down after the demise of the old lodge. But a search on my maps app had provided me with the roads I needed to follow. It was still a rainy ride along the up and down and winding road but we found the place. My sister and her husband were at home after their golf game had been rained out. They have one of those great old Muskoka cottages: the main part built before 1930, with subsequent sleeping cabin and bunky having been incorporated at some later date. They have a great story about adding the master bedroom and arranging for rock beyond it to be blasted so they could install an en suite. They crossed their fingers and the only consequences were a few popped nails in the new drywall. It has that wonderful old cottage great room that spans the midst of the house with a huge fireplace on one wall and a sunroom on the opposite wall overlooking the lake. We sat there for a good chat with them and came back to clearing skies.

That night the wind began to blow and blew for two straight days, right out of the west and directly onto the cottage we are in. It made for some interesting water and skies as dark clouds scudded in above the waves and rain came down every few hours. Wednesday morning was then a lazy one as we all hung out in the cottage. The landlord and his family went back to the city for a couple of days so our granddaughter was on her own to draw, colour, read and play games. Her grandfather taught her to play Casino, a good card game for two. She drew a character from the Fantastic Five and created a card for her missing playmate. Thursday dawned a little brighter but the wind kept blowing and brought colder temperatures with it. By last night the sky had finally cleared and the wind calmed down enough for a campfire and the rituals of toasted marshmallows and s'mores. Our grandchildren built sandcastles and filled a toy dump truck while their dad got the fire bright enough for roasting. After dark, when the kids were all in bed we sat out and watched an almost full moon rise. I had hoped that the meteor showers would give us some falling stars, but to no avail. Finally, I was too tired to stay up but also found it very cold away from the fire pit. I went to bed with my socs on!

Muskoka Monday

Near idyllic. Rose early enough that the morning was still cool and the porch and dock still shady. My attempt with the unfamiliar coffeemaker resulted in coffee so strong it refused to be diluted by milk, but I managed to drink it anyway. The day began lazily, chatting, reading and watching the ducks on the water. At eleven I made the short drive to town dropping the garbage off along the way to pick up a few groceries we missed yesterday. After I left the supermarket, I thought I would pop in to say hi to my sister since I had no way of calling her. I found what I thought was the correct road but could not find the familiar landmark of Bangor Lodge, which no longer exists. I kept on until I reached Santa's Village at which point I turned back for the main road thinking I had mistaken the turn. However, when I came close to Port Carling I realized that I simply didn't know how to find her place so I turned around again and headed back to the cottage. When I arrived my grandson was down for his nap as was his grandfather. I had a bite to eat and my daughter and I read quietly until her partner arrived. He brought more groceries and we began to plan dinner. Then my granddaughter was back from an afternoon of play with the landlord's son. Our little guy woke up and there was a lot of hustle and bustle for awhile. At one point, he was drumming with two badminton rackets on the floor of the porch and under his instructions, I was drumming on a small blue plastic sand pail. Lots of fun and noise. Then I went in to make peach and corn salsa for the tortilla chips (leftover roasted corn, fresh peaches, fresh lime juice, salt, and our home-grown basil and chili peppers). The landlady brought us some potato and macaroni salads. We had lots of raw veggies including some tomatoes from our garden at home. The fresh cobs of corn were bbq'd along with PC portobello and Swiss burgers and we sat down to a feast. Afterward, daughter and granddaughter did the dishes, his dad got our grandson ready for bed, and husband and I just sat on at the table until the cat tried to make her escape. We leashed her and walked her about the place, down to the dock where the neighbor boy was trying to catch one of the mallards much to their amusement, a big dog came along and had to be gently shooed along home, and then the cat decided to explore the back reaches of the property. It got to the point where I was not going to be able to follow her any further. We brought her back into the house and I resumed my reading down on the dock facing the sunset and watching the water change from golden dapple to opalescent to silvery with a pink afterglow. Once the sun had truly set the air became chilly enough that I was glad to go into the house. We finished the evening playing games of Spot It and Block-us with our granddaughter until her bedtime followed by Carcassonne with her parents until 1:00 a.m. And that is just the half of it. There was fishing, drawing, painting, bug-catching, frog escapes, walks, and playing with toy trucks and balls as well. More than you would ever imagine could fit into one day. But it did.

A week in Muskoka

We are away again this week at a cottage that our daughter's family took on a little bay on Lake Muskoka just south of Bracebridge. I have now relaxed to the point of resembling a huge bowl of jello and with about the same amount of brain power. I think about calling one my sisters who is at her cottage on another part of this lake, but didn't bring her number and haven't managed to search my wallet in case I have it there. I promised a friend I would email her my cell number. She has a place close-by and is not likely to be here this week, but just in case she does come up it would be good if she could let me know. I would love to see her cottage but can't unless she can call me. And then there are the thanks I owe to our friends on Lake of Bays for the lovely time last weekend. Instead to sending them a note of gratitude, I stretch out for another rest and read another chapter of pulp fiction. Summertime and the livin' is easy and so is retirement.

Dad's birthday - August 5

Today, Friday, August 5, 2011, would have been my father's 97th birthday. What is special about it is that he passed away at the age of 67 with congestive heart failure. In March it will be 30 years that he has been gone. My mother has been on her own all that time. She will be 98 at the end of this month and is doing brilliantly. She told me today that their wedding breakfast was at her parents' home in Hamilton. Her three best girlfriends served. That was in 1939. They had been married 42 years when Dad died. He was a lovely man, hard-working, devoted and funny at times. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Beginning to get the feel of it

I danced a little hula around the dining room this morning, singing "I am beginning to feel it." "It" being "retired." Husband cracked up when he caught on. It seemed late again when I got up at 9:30 today. But last night I did not sleep solidly as I usually do. The night was punctuated by restlessness, coughing, a strange bird cry flying down the hydro cut, irritating fabric in my new pajama pantlegs, pain in my injured rotator cuff making comfort impossible, the Guernsey book calling to be finished which I managed by moving to the couch, the mantle clock striking 3:00 and then insisting on tick-tocking noticeably instead of silently. I returned to bed and slept from 3:30 to 9:30 - sort of. And yet when I did get up, I was elated by the lack of agenda, at least any outside agenda, dictating how I would spend my day. I had to look over a letter to be sent with the documents required for an audit of last year's medical expenses claim on our taxes. Other than that, I got the pot of beans put together by 11 to cook for 8 hours in a slow oven. As it turned out, they were not quite the right beans after all and cooked a little quickly so they were ready in 6 hours. I made us some toast for sandwiches at lunch - slicing half of a bright yellow tomato for mine. Past mid-afternoon I tackled the trimming of three shrubs in our front garden. It went quickly because I was not pruning them, just giving them a bit of a haircut. Nonetheless, by the time I finished I was hot and tired and ready to put my feet up. As I sat in my recliner, I sorted through bundles of receipts and statements and enjoyed a vodka and soda. Supper was simply a bowl of the baked brown beans with bread and butter, followed by sliced strawberries. Yum! Frittered away the rest of the evening playing solitaire while watching an old Video of Brigadoon. Van Johnson, Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. What could be better? A fat packet of receipts, summary statements and a fine cover letter is ready to send off to the Tax man, no great thanks to me (I did make encouraging and approving noises as well as find a couple of receipts and proof the letter). Oh, and alas, our daughter called and we told her that due to her dad's summer cold, we could not possibly come to the cottage tomorrow. It will have to wait until Saturday. Good thing. I'm not packed.

Midweek at home

Today dawned cooler after the rain, but still humid. Our air conditioner is not working the way it should so the house is stifling if we don't close it up before the day gets too warm. Husband came down with a terrible summer cold on the weekend and slept in this morning. I slept long too, getting up at 9:50 to sit in the sunporch with my coffee and read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I have to say, it is a very compelling little book that I highly recommend. Once I finally got moving, i went shopping for butter and potatoes as well as the makings for Grandma Brady's Brown Beans recipe. It is a family secret so I can't share it here. But it calls for Thomson white pea beans and there are none to be had at any of the grocery or bulk food stores. I had to settle for Great Northern beans and hope that they do not doom the pot of beans to disaster. The original recipe calls for salt pork so I already have to tweak it for vegetarian tastes by using diced sweet onions and extra salt instead. I haven't made it for years and want to take it to the cottage we will share with daughter and grandchildren next week. If the summer cold has disappeared by Friday.

Home for a few days

A quick post tonight just to say that we are home for a few days. Husband has a summer cold which meant we left early from Lake of Bays. A good thing really as it took 4 hours to get back instead of the 5 it took going. We got home in time for me to harvest the garden and serve up a dinner of mixed greens salad with sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes and chevre; a sort of stew-like concoction of olive oil, sweet pepper, garlic, baby eggplant and tomatoes; green and yellow beans with butter, and some brown rice crackers. I cracked open a retirement gift bottle of real potato vodka to sip over ice with a bit of fresh lime. But my left shoulder is acting up, keeping me awake, so I am catching up on email etc with Run Silent Run Deep running in the background on TV. I think it really is time for bed. Yawn. Yup. Goodnight.