Tea... and Lunch

Last Sunday, after church, I had lunch in a charming tea house in Almonte, together with my son and his children.

(Terry chose to head home as there was stormy weather in the forecast.)

It was my first time eating there - though I have stopped in to purchase baked goods.

Jericho discovered that - until they are needed - bundles of cutlery make good vehicles to drive around the table!

The food was good - but (of course!) once it arrived, I focused on eating and forgot to take pictures!

A very cute place for lunch - or "high tea."

Report Card Time!

Now that school's over, let's see Ivy's report card, Terry said yesterday when we were visiting our grandchildren.

It's on my phone, our son replied. We don't have s physical copy.

In the end, he read it aloud to us - the print was small - hard for grandparents to read. 

I think my grade 2 report card must still be around somewhere, I thought. My mother used to keep things like that.

(I wonder how long the digital ones will be saved before they're deleted!)

Drive-In Movie Fun

I really had no idea that drive-in movies were still "a thing"! But they apparently are! 

They were very popular when I was a child. I still have memories of sitting in the back seat of our car watching "The Glen Miller Story" with my parents... My father loved music - and Glen Miller was a popular band leader he admired. 

The line I still remember from the movie was Glen Miller exclaiming: I need glasses to find my glasses!

Do families still do that today?!

Not exactly!

My granddaughter and a friend got comfortable outside on the HOOD of the car ... while her dad sat inside!

Practicing the Art of the "Selfie"

I have NOT YET mastered the art of a "selfie" - let alone a group selfie! But occasionally I try...

"Time to take a selfie," I tell my older son as we watch baseball.

(But I unintentionally block his face...)

"Maybe take your hat off..." he suggests.

(Still can't get it right! It's a lot harder than it looks!)

Pizza Fun

A family meal at our favourite pizza restaurant was made even more interesting when the chef gave little balls of dough to the kids.

It was so much fun to roll it out by hand...

It reminded me of when our kids were little - letting each child make his or her own treat with biscuit or bread dough, adding sugar, cinnamon, raisins or chocolate chips. Then baking it.

Creativity - and eating...

Two of  life's simple pleasures!

New Virtual Challenge

I recently completed my 6th "virtual challenge" - a 500-km walk in Italy, called the St. Francis Way - running from Florence to Rome.

Since starting to do virtual challenges, a little over a year ago, I've logged over 2,500 km. I would never have believed it possible!

This has given me the confidence to attempt a really long challenge - one that I'm really excited about: Route 66, one of the earliest highways built in North America. It's over 3,000 km long. I expect that it will take me almost two years to complete.

I wonder if it passes through any of the cities Terry and I have visited on vacation... What an adventure!!

Front Yard Mystery

Seen on our lawn early one morning... To the untrained eye, two piles of dead grass...

No... Probably a squirrel's nest resting on the branch of a tree... knocked down by an overnight storm.

I wonder what happened to the squirrel family living inside... 

I suspect they had already moved, leaving the nest in disrepair. But I could be wrong.

It's a Box!!

Somewhere online I saw a picture of a cat sitting inside a taped rectangle on the floor... Did he really believe he was sitting inside a box?!

I had a hard time believing that a cat would make that mistake, so I asked my daughter to give it a try.

Sure enough, one of her cats did the same thing!

Mary's Latest Quilt

My neighbour Mary has been busy quilting - and she recently showed me her latest creation. 

So beautiful! (It reminds me of art by M.C. Escher.)

Here's what Mary said about the quilt:

This is my latest quilt.  It was a pattern that my daughter really liked.  So I thought I would try the smallest size which was classed as crib size. I then added a five inch border all around to end up with a 48 x 64  inch (122 cm x 163 cm) quilt.

The initial cutting of the pieces was easy.  It started out by cutting out numerous 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) strips by the width of the fabric in the two colours. Then made into the four types of blocks that were not all that easy. Particularly the one where you had to match the pieces on the diagonal.  All the squares had to be a precise size so when you put it together the seams would match.

When you did sew all the squares together they were done on the diagonal (kind of twists the brain a little bit) and then you cut all the triangle edges and square it up.  

The back of the quilt was kept simple.

The pattern is called "Interwoven" and it is from a company called "LO & BEHOLD" loandbeholdstitchery.com 

My "Sky" Collection

For the past few months, I've been part of a "creative circle" of painters, meeting once a week in a church basement in Almonte to do art.

We all work on different things - and it's fun!

What to paint?! Whatever we feel like!

One woman sketches the human body, another paints  flowers.

I've been drawn to the many sky pictures I have stored on my cell phone. I can't stop myself from taking pictures of beautiful skies.

Now I've been trying to replicate the sky's awesomeness in paintings - every week a different one...

There it is... lined up on the piano - my spring 2024 "sky collection."

(Hopefully, more to come...)

"Not Old"

I enjoy hanging out with my grandkids - though sometimes it's hard to keep up!

Recently, as I headed downstairs with them into their playroom, I urged them to go ahead of me on the stairs: Grandma's old, I said. I can't go as fast as you anymore.

Then later, after getting down on my hands and knees to crawl into their fort, it was a struggle for me to stand up again.

Why are you so slow, Grandma? Jericho asked.

I'm old, I replied. 

With a touch of impatience, he pooh-poohed my answer: Get up! You're not old!

(He's wrong! But that was the best compliment I've received in years!)

Free Lunch!

A few weeks ago, Terry and I stopped briefly in Kingston, en route to Niagara Falls.

As we walked into the historic downtown area, thinking of getting some food, we noticed burgers and hot dogs being served.

Where do we pay? we asked.

Oh, it's free, a soldier serving cake replied. We're celebrating the 110th anniversary of our military batallion. Join in the party - it's all free...

So we did!

My Orchid's Aerial Roots

Should I trim back the aerial roots on my orchid? I asked my daughter, who has a number of orchids, and seems very knowledgeable about all her plants.

(In the photo above, the plant is growing in the pot on the left - filled with above ground roots - while all the flowers are growing on a stem to the right.)

I sent her this picture of the roots...

Ask Google, she replied.

Glad I did!

All the articles that came up indicated that - as long as the aerial roots aren't turning brown or dying - they are an essential part of the plant and feed moisture to the plant through humidity in the air...

So - even though they may look messy - they're a healthy growth and should not be touched!

I'm not a fan of the aerial roots resting on the table, so I bought a basket that lifts them up a bit! (There's a solution to every problem!)

Just Cake

Last year's birthday was a quiet affair for our daughter, at her request. 

The only festive touch was this birthday cake, decorated with broken cookies instead of candles, (from a bakery called "Corner Peach.")

Perfect for a quiet - but tasty - celebration.

Beautiful Flowers - Indoors and Out

These days, I'm enjoying flowers indoors...

And out...

These peonies in our backyard are surrounded by so much greenery that I almost missed them.

There are two types - some lie flat - like daisies. Others are fuller. I think they're called single blooms and double blooms.

The white flowers behind the peonies are gout weed.

Nearby, almost finished blooming, are Persian cornflowers. More white gout weed flowers grow near them as well. Even the gout weed looks pretty at this time of the year!

Riding Lessons

One of the first local events our granddaughter participated in - when she moved to her rural Ottawa home from downtown Toronto - was horseback riding lessons.

As I recently watched her saddle up "Percy," I was reminded that my mother had to ride a horse to school in high school.

The school was too far away - and, in those days, there were no school buses!

She must have saddled the horse at home in the morning - and unsaddled it once she got to school. Did she tie the horse to a tree while she was in class? Or was there a hitching post? Where did she put the saddle?!

Was she the only student to come on horseback? Or were there others?

The only story I ever heard about her horseback riding days was the warm spring day the horse stopped and lay down on a flooded road. She jumped off, pulling on the reins, thinking he was dying. But he was just hot and wanted to cool off.

After a few minutes, the horse got up and they continued on their way. She was annoyed that she had to jump down into muddy water - and that her clean clothes and shoes were now dirty from the mud the horse was covered in!