Sunday, December 6th - Welcome to decorating on a dime!

 Our first snowfall came and went, but a second one arrived about a week later. It's mostly still here so it does tend to put you into a Christmasy kind of mood. Helps to take your mind off all the nasty stuff going on in the world, and especially in our own back yard, so to speak.

We are into our second week of Code Red, which means tighter restrictions for everyone. We were anxiously awaiting an announcement on Friday that we would be going into Grey zone, which would mean total lockdown, but fortunately that hasn't happened .. yet.

It has certainly been a very challenging year but hopefully we will come out of it soon, although it's not looking too promising. So instead I'm trying to focus on the positives.

As I had mentioned before, I'm using some of the downstairs apartment. The dining room isn't finished, as I had hoped, but one morning I was looking around the empty living room and thought, we can turn this room into a Christmas dining paradise. (okay, in my mind at least!)

There's an electric fireplace in the living room so I set up a tree (generously on loan from Patti - long story as I did bring one from PEI).  The next thing I needed was table and chairs. Good thing I work at a thrift store. Besides our stand alone store with clothing, housewares, etc we have a furniture store in the mall next door. Let me tell you, it's a very dangerous place for a bargain hunter like me! When all was said and done I secured a table long enough to accommodate the eight matching chairs for $70. Meghan was kind enough on her day off to bring a truck to the store to carry it home and inside.  Now I'm all set.

The kitchen downstairs is pretty much finished. I fashioned an island to give me extra work space with next to nothing. I found a dresser at the store for $12 cause the top was scratched. No problem as I was going to put something on top anyway. Some leftover paint from Patti served to spruce the whole thing up. My neighbour had this lovely piece of wooden counter top with beveled edges in his shed. It has some water damage so there are some marks that won't sand out but all in all it works. That cost me a loaf of homemade bread and a dozen butter tarts.

I found a range hood for the stove as there wasn't one, online for $5 and a microwave for $10 so I'm pretty much set. The other side of the kitchen has a floor to ceiling bank of cupboards that holds a lot of stuff. Very efficient for me. 

The living room window

One of the things that I really love about the downstairs are the windows Both the living room and kitchen have gorgeous stained glass.

The kitchen window

So I've been using the kitchen to do my baking for Christmas. We had our volunteer day last week at the store  and all of our cookies were happily consumed. Three of us each made 10 dozen cookies and they were pretty much gone by the next morning, so a success.

Now that most of my baking is done, and the tree is up, I think I'm ahead of schedule. My shopping is done and everything is wrapped and under the tree. I thought it best to get everything done earlier rather than later as red zone restrictions now mean standing in line outside of the store waiting to get in. It was fine in the summer when it was warm but not my idea of a good time now that it's cold. 

My last day to work at the store before we shut down for the holidays is December 18th, which is also the day that James comes home. It will be great to have everyone together again.

November 25 - Let it snow!

 We know it's not going to last but Sunday's snowfall certainly helped to put folks into the holiday spirit - all 21.5 cms of it!  It sure did for me.  I didn't have anywhere to be so I spent the day digging out the Christmas decorations I brought with me, to see just what I have (not quite as much as I thought, but enough to work with) and then I spent the better part of the day baking cookies. 

We're hoping we'll be able to have a special day for our volunteers in early December. In the past they have had a banquet but that's not an option this year. So each will be given a gift certificate and we'll have treats available. Hence the baking. A few of us are going to undertake that task, and a snowy day was just the right atmosphere.

 

I spent Saturday in Guelph at the Dennison's. Patti was working and Tristen had a project he needed to complete for school. One of his classes is donating handmade small toys to a woman's shelter. He needed to learn how to crochet so he could make a rabbit. So of course I got the text, "Grandma can you help?"  I went over and we found a very simple pattern to make a rabbit out of a crocheted square. Pretty simple but even at that it didn't turn out quite like the picture but it was a semblance of a rabbit. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!

Sunday morning (before it started snowing) was spent putting greenery into my bucket I rescued from the metal recycling at work. The bottom is rusted and has some small holes but doesn't affect what I needed it for. Not as fancy as I could have had on PEI but it will do. I saw on a neighbourhood facebook page that some folks had decorations stolen off their porches so good thing mine isn't that fancy. I certainly won't have the lovely birch sticks that we used on the island. I was at a local building store the other day and they had bundles of 3 birch sticks, about 2 feet long. They were a mere $16.98. Seriously??? Needless to say I didn't buy any, My bucket will have them in my imagination!

It is officially one month till Christmas. I still have some stuff to do and my move downstairs has stalled slightly. I'm going to be able to use the kitchen and the living room but for now I will leave my living room furniture upstairs. I have the tree put up in the downstairs living room (although not decorated as yet) and there's even an electric fireplace to add some atmosphere. We'll put the table and chairs in there for Christmas dinner and call it done. We then can finish the dining room renovations after the new year. No point in getting ourselves all in a dither about something that's not that critical. After all there will be lots of other things to remember about the COVID CHRISTMAS 🎅

It's actually going to work out really well this year. Patti is working overnight on Christmas Eve. I'll go over there in the afternoon and we'll have our finger foods. Then she can leave for work, the kids and I can clean up and watch a movie or whatever, and I'll stay over. When Patti gets home in the morning, and after the gifts are open, I can go home and make dinner while she sleeps, before they all arrive later.  A win/win for all involved! I'm really looking foreword to it.

Lest we forget- Wednesday, November 11th

 

Things sure are different here in Ontario. Back on the island, November 11th is a statutory holiday, but not here. At least our store is being observant enough to remain closed until 12:00. This way those who wish to view ceremonies, will have the time. Gone this year are the ceremonies that the boys took place in as cadets. Not sure how James will be observing the day up in Base Borden.

As most people, not a lot is going on right now. Off to work and then back home again.

I did spend an enjoyable weekend in Brockville visiting Stephan and Trish. There was a light dusting of snow on the car on Friday morning but fortunately it was gone by the end of the day. My drive to their place was lovely, sunny and bright and not too cold. It was great to catch up with them. We drove to an area with trails in the woods and, sadly, none of us had a phone with us to take any photos. But it was a lovely walk, in spite of the fact we somehow got lost and had no idea where we were. But we did eventually find our way out of the forest but it was a much longer walk than was intended.

Sunday I left to come home and drove half of the way in pouring rain. Then the sun came out, then I literally drove into a blizzard that lasted for several kms before coming out into the sun again. A rather bizarre journey, but a safe one, so that's all that matters.

I've had my appointment with the eye surgeon regarding my cataracts and it's not likely to take place till sometime next summer. Same position I was in a year ago - oh well, what can you do.

The doors between the living room
 and dining room downstairs

The house I'm living in has a main floor apartment, with bedrooms and bathroom in the basement. However the basement area is badly in need of some construction work. With time and the economy not at it's best right now, I've struck a deal with my landlords to allow me to use the main floor in addition to my space upstairs. I have at tiny kitchen and small living room. The downstairs space has a larger kitchen, much larger living room and a separate dining room. The main  floor is in need of some cosmetic repairs and we are working on that at the moment. My hope is that I can be using the larger space by Christmas. That way I can host the family dinner at my place - a win for all concerned! Fingers crossed. Stay tuned for updates!

Recently I met my friend Kay at Conestoga Mall to go for a walk and a coffee. I'm loving the back parking lot. Facing one way you see the mall.

If you turn around you will see on the other side of the parking lot, the place where the Mennonites park their horses while visiting the mall.

  Wonder when Montague will look like this?

One of the things I did miss about Ontario when I lived away, was the vibrant colours of the leaves in the fall. 

Of course, those leaves do fall onto my back yard, creating quite the colourful quilt on the ground.

I'm told it's good to leave them on the ground. Guess it will give me lots to do raking them up in the spring when the weather starts to warm up again. 

Speaking of weather, a week ago Monday we awoke to about 2 cms of snow on the ground. The past few days we have enjoyed very mild temperatures - up to 24' when I left work today at 2:30.  The past 4 or 5 days have been the same - sunny and very warm. We know it can't last but we're enjoying every minute of it while it lasts.

Thursday October 22 - it's been a while

 Someone commented to me on the phone the other day that I haven't posted anything new in a while. I suppose part of that is because with Covid still hanging around, there's not really a whole lot going on. As they say "nothing to write home about"

Let's see, I can give you a brief run down on what's been happening.

I was invited to Greg's parents to spend labour day weekend with the whole family. It was a nice time
and the weather wasn't horrible, although far from beach weather. I didn't stay for the whole weekend, as I was itching to get up to my attic and start unpacking some stuff. I'd finally compiled enough shelves, drawers etc to have a place to actually put things once they came out of boxes. My friend Liz, whom I had just recently reconnected with, was coming over later in the week so I was anxious to have it sorted before she came over. So that was a good way to spend the holiday Monday which turned out to be rainy anyway.

September was a very busy month for birthdays. Meghan, Tristen and Greg all have birthdays very close to each other and they were celebrated in Port Elgin. When everyone was back Tristen wanted to have a special birthday supper. He had been watching Gordon Ramsay on TV making Beef Wellington and he figured he could make that. So for his birthday dinner he made individual beef wellingtons and I have to say, he did a really great job. 

He's gone back to school but it's very staggered. Meg is done but she is taking a year off. She has left the long term care facility as she turned 18 so she's now able to be a server. She's gotten a job at a local bar and grill and is working pretty steadily. She's hoping to take a trip to Europe next summer so she's saving for that (assuming any of us can travel next year!)

James has left Halifax and is now in Borden. He sublet his apartment and left his furniture there until he knows where he's going to end up. As we speak he's waiting for his course to start so is helping out with a course that's currently being conducted. He's presently living in a tent in a field with 5 others. It must be quite the set up as he tells me the tent is heated. Sounds like a party to me! Even though he's not begun his own course yet at least he's no longer sitting in his little apartment by himself. I'm sure the past few months were a challenge. 

My friend Carol also had a birthday in September. It was suggested that our old friend Ms. Vista might make an appearance. Unfortunately Ms. Vista didn't make the cut during the last two downsizings. So she needed to be recreated. Fortunately I work at a thrift store. That along with another thrift store that I'm not supposed to name 😀, allowed Ms. Vista to attend the luncheon. It was at a lovely little tea room in St. George and a grand time was had by all members of the old Grand River Chapter who attended. 

Big news from PEI. Brenda and Bernie welcomed their first grandchild, born to proud parents Wil and  Amanda.  I'm sure they're just learning that the grandkids are way more fun than their parents were!

On a sadder note, my long time friend Fran passed away recently. It was fairly sudden but I'm ever so glad I had the chance to spend some time with her before she passed. I'd have been devastated to have heard about it while on PEI. We had a chance to reconnect and do some reminiscing about some of the crazy situations we sometimes found ourselves in. RIP my friend. 

Wednesday, August 19th - OMG look what I found!

 Earlier in the week I neglected to mention that Nancy and Marla had come into town to have lunch at a little cafe just up the street a week ago. I met Liz there on Monday as well. It has a little outdoor patio that is sheltered by trees and tables spaced apart. On Monday it started to sprinkle rain just as we finished our lunches so we drove back to my place for tea. Liz walked in, took one look around and declared "Oh my gosh, this place is SO you!". And she's right. That's the reaction I'm getting from everyone who has known me for a number of years.

When I was on PEI I took a couple of basic quilting classes. They taught you how to construct the top of the quilt. The majority of people I met in the quilting world there had someone else do the actual quilting for them, although I know some still do it by themselves. But it's a very time consuming and space taking venture.

One of the ladies who works at the store I'm volunteering at, is my age. We got together one afternoon last week for a glass of wine and a chance to get to know each other better. On Monday she called and invited me to visit her on Tuesday when I was done work, as she was putting together her latest quilt. I had no idea what I was going to be seeing. I arrived with a basket of fresh baked biscuits and some home made jam cause I learned over the last 11 years that this is an appropriate thing to do! When I arrived at Carlee's house, I was introduced to her sister and two of her aunts. The quilt in question had just been attached to a large wooden frame that took up the entire dining area. The quilt top, batting and backing were all thumbtacked to the frame. Now it's ready to be worked on. I've never actually seen this done in person, much less taken part. But I watched for a little while and was asked if I wanted to join in. I politely declined but said I would come back. So Monday when both of us are off, I'm heading back out to her place to give it a go. I felt like I was stepping back in time when I entered that kitchen, which just happens to be in a old farm house. So I think I may have found my new place to hang out. 

Monday, August 17th - Well, it's certainly not been boring...

 I've been managing to keep myself busy during this very warm and humid summer.

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Judi at her cottage in the Kawarthas. We spent lots of time just sitting around the cottage and catching up. We had a nice time but it was cut shorter than planned due to a meeting on Monday. This brought be back a day earlier than expected.

I'm learning that living in the city can have some unexpected events take place. Early last week I went over to Walmart to pick up the vitamins I take for my eyes. I had just found what I needed but as I headed to the cash the fire alarms went off and we were instructed to leave the store immediately. I decided to wait it out and after about 20 minutes it was determined to be a false alarm so we were let back into the store. Fortunately there's a liquor store on the same parking lot so it gave an unexpected opportunity to do some shopping of another kind!

Last Friday I was talking to Sarah at the house when I returned after work. She asked if I'd heard what was going on. Unknown to us in the store there were 3 incidents in the city in less than 3 hours that morning. The biggest was the explosion of a car outside the courthouse in the downtown (which is actually not very far from my house). The driver of the car was killed and it was determined that there

was an explosive device inside the vehicle. It's also been determined that he acted alone. Very sad. Then there was a report of an elderly woman who had hit a pole with her car in Waterloo and she also died. Even more sad. Then at the same time a cab drive was allegedly threatened by a passenger with a gun, who left the area and was the subject of a police search. Friday morning was quite busy.

Saturday morning I went to the market and then walked on to the library. I had to pass the courthouse to get there but by Saturday morning all traces had been removed. I love that the library is so close so I can pick up a couple of books a week.

I missed our Thursday evening supper as one of the ladies at work came over to my place for a glass of wine and some snacks. Also a great opportunity to get to know each other better.

It was a rainy day on Sunday so I used the day to visit with Fran in Rockwood. I hadn't seen her since Boxing Day. On my way out of town I dropped in to see what Nancy was up to. She was busy with a sewing project so I only stayed for a few minutes. She suggested I stop in to see Marla. She was busy watching the Jays play so I had a short visit there as well. But it was so nice to have people I could actually just drop in on. Then today, Monday, I had lunch with an old friend I haven't seen in a very long time - Liz. They now live in New Hamburg and have 4 grandchildren. Needless to say we had lots to catch up on.

Tomorrow I'm going to my co-workers house to see a quilt that she's putting together. She has some other ladies coming over and she thought I might enjoy meeting them. So lots to keep me busy.

Friday, August 7th - summer is flying by!

 It's been a busy few weeks. Most days are pretty humdrum but a few things took place in the past while to break things up.

I turned another year older on the 30th and had the pleasure of supper out with my friend Kay on the 29th and then a wonderful BBQ at Robin's with another group of friends. It wasn't in my honour, it was because his daughter and grandchildren were visiting from out west so it was just a happy coincidence. But it was very special to be surrounded by good friends on my special day, even though I wasn't there to share it with Ethan! I'm sure he's happy to get his birthday back all to himself. But I will always think of him on the 30th of July.

The same week I got older, I also traded in my car. I found a 2015 Toyota Prius.(same year as my old car) 

 It has less miles on it than mine did, it's automatic and a hybrid with a few more bells and whistles. It has air (not that I care about that), cruise control (essential when driving out to PEI) and a back up camera. I had to spend a little bit of money on it but I absolutely love it. I find I'm sitting much higher than the old car and the insurance is actually cheaper, as it seems to be rated as a safer vehicle, and the gas mileage so far has been amazing. So it's a win/win all around.

Last weekend we loaded it up (it's also a hatchback, which I love) and headed out to Sauble Falls Provincial Park to camp for the weekend. There were six of us - Patti, Greg, Tristen, Meg and her friend, and me. We had a great night on Friday with warm weather and a bonfire. Saturday was

very warm and another bonfire at night. The sky in the evening was brilliant red so we assumed we were in for a great day on Sunday. You know what they say about assume.... sometime in  the  middle of the night it started raining and just never stopped.All tents leaked, some more than others, and we were soaked. Fortunately for us Greg's mom and  dad live about 20 minutes away. So a group of rather soggy campers showed up on their doorstep at 8:00 Sunday morning. We were kindly taken in and given hot coffee and breakfast. Mid morning Patti. Greg and I went back and  dismantled everything.Meg and her friend had gone back to Guelph on Sunday as she had to work on Monday. Even if it had stopped raining (which it didn't) there was no way to dry everything out. We packed all the wet stuff into the back of Greg's truck and finished off the weekend at Lynn and Paul's. After lunch on Monday with Greg's parents and his brother's family, we all headed back home. 

Once back in Guelph we unpacked everything and sorted out who owned what. Because my landlords were painting the stairs up to my apartment, I stayed overnight at the Dennison's. John and Sarah had figured there would be enough time to finish the painting but the damp weather made it difficult. But the wait was worth it. They look absolutely beautiful. 

Back to town on Tuesday morning and back to my usual routine. I worked Tuesday till today. Last night I joined our group in Elora for supper on an outdoor patio and I'm meeting another friend this afternoon in Guelph for a late lunch.  Then tomorrow I'm off the spend the weekend at my friend Judi's cottage in the Kawartha's. Of course the weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend. But I should have known. Brenda had texted that if I was going camping, guaranteed it would rain. I sent her a message on Sunday saying "Okay, you win|"