The Month That Was

One of my daily habits is jotting down details about the weather - and how I spend my day.

I do it on a large sheet of paper - a calendar of sorts.

Last month, August 2026, the temperature ranged from 28 degrees C to 10 degrees C (82.4 degrees F to 50 degrees F). Temperature wise, for me it was perfect! 

But we did have one wind storm that caused us to lose power for 2 1/2 days.

Highlights of last month were several monarch butterfly sightings ... and lots of beautiful flowers in bloom. But we are losing daylight minutes day by day, and went from 14 hours and 45 minutes of daylight on August 1 to 13 hours and 20 minutes on the last day of the month. That's a noticeable shortening of the day.

Photographing Flowers

I've heard that photographers prefer overcast days when taking pictures - because there are no shadows.

But when it comes to photographing flowers, I prefer sunny days.  

Sunlight brightens the colours, so that the flowers seem to glow.

I Forgot!!

During my first year of retirement, I began to slow down... 

(But after all, wasn't that WHY I retired...?? I wanted to "stop and smell the roses," have time to notice sunrises and sunsets... and do things I enjoyed.)

More than a decade later, I try not to be too busy. I have my daily routine: morning coffee, check my blog to make sure there are no typos, take a walk... 

But occasionally - for a day or two - life gets busier. Last Monday was one of those days... And I forgot to post my blog!

Oops! Hope nobody noticed!

Grandma's "Cooking Class"!

Today it's back to school for kids in Ontario...

But a few days ago, my grandkids and I had a different kind of learning experience: grandma cooking HER GRANDMA's recipe!

My mother and grandmother often made "potato pancakes" for supper. It's a simple dish that I would never need a recipe for - I had watched them make it so often.

Shredded raw potato, rinsed and patted dry... Add several raw eggs and several heaping  tablespoons of flour to hold the shredded potatoes together as pancakes when frying.

As I recall, my mother used a generous amount of oil - or was it bacon drippings? - to fry it in.

My grandkids helped with grating - and Ivy watched over the frying pan.

I haven't made them in a long time - and wondered if I should add a small grated onion for extra flavour. 

Unfortunately I didn't, and they were quite bland. Next time I'll add onion and salt - if not using salty bacon drippings to fry them in!

As we were making them, I also wondered if they would taste just as good with other vegetables added - like shredded carrot and some chopped green vegetable, like broccoli. That's not what my grandmother did - but recipes do change over time! Why not start a new tradition?!

Delicious Meal Out

Terry and I recently joined our son and grandson for a lovely meal...

It was totally last minute!

We started out heading to a food truck that had a hamburger special - only to discover that they had run out of hamburger!

(Did we want anything else?!)

Another option was a nearby brew pub we had been to once before - years ago - in Ashton...

The food was delicious! 

The view from the screened porch looked down the hill (cliff?) to the river.

(But the beams looked SOLID!)

Glad we were impulsive!

Oasis

One of my friends has a patio oasis I love to sit in.

There's a pond nearby...

Lots of potted flowers - plus the sound of running water makes it a peaceful place to relax or chat..

Where's "Waldo"?!

My kids used to enjoy "Where's Waldo?" type books. 

I remember a Richard Scarry book where an ant or a "lowly worm" appeared on every page - and we used to hunt for them.

Also - trying to get them comfortable in French - I bought a book called "Ou Est Pere Noel?" ("Where is Father Christmas?") with lots of Santas on every page... and we hunted for them, too.

Hunting for bees (or wasps?) on this photo of Japanese anemones reminds me of this game. I pointed the camera in the direction of bees buzzing around flowers. I MUST HAVE captured a few... But where are they?! 

Grandma Camp

Last week Jericho had a few days of "Grandma Camp."

Out came the toys!

Actually, it was Grandma AND Grandpa camp. Here they are coming back from checking out a giant blow-up gorilla... 

Grandpa led the field trip to Arnprior...

We all enjoyed the visit with the chickens at the Needham Farm.

There was also Lego fun.

Jericho showed us that he was also skilled at washing dishes by hand! All in all, a fun and busy few days!

Remembering...

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary.

The wedding ceremony took place in 1944 at a church in south Edmonton, Alberta.

The reception was at my grandparents' rural home - just south of the city.

The top picture is mom and her bridesmaids at her parents' farmhouse...

This picture shows my mother's wedding cake - which she baked and decorated. She kept the top layer on display in the china cabinet for years - until we moved to Kelowna, in fact. That would have been about 15 years later. I remember her sadness at saying goodbye to the cake, a special souvenir of her wedding day.

I really have no idea how long top layers of wedding cakes were kept - but it was a tradition to keep them on display. I don't think they were intended to be eaten. The icing never attracted mice or ants, to my recollection!

Here is part of the group who attended the wedding. My father is standing to my mother's right.

I wonder if my mother and her family prepared all the food - or if friends contributed gifts of food... 

I never thought to ask.

Wild Flowers of the Season

Driving along country roads or along the highway, I'm often struck by the beauty of wild flowers growing in nature.

Month by month the flowers change - just like my carefully planned perennials do. 

Planted by nature - wind, birds and squirrels -  they're always beautiful!

I should post regular photos of roadside (or wayside) flowers... just as I do photos of my own flowers - and the sky.

Enjoying ... Chickens!

Terry and I were planning a day of "Grandma Camp" with our grandson.

Among the activities I suggested was a visit to a pick-your-own-vegetables farm that Terry and I had visited last year.

I looked forward to picking - and eating - tomatoes fresh off the vine.

I also remembered some exotic-looking free-range chickens wandering around.

Would they still be there?!

They were! Jericho enjoyed hanging out with them.

Then he found an egg - smaller than ones we buy at the grocery store. He took it over to give to the lady in charge. 

You can have it, she said.

What can I do with it? he asked.

You can eat it, she replied.

He wasn't sure about that! He held on to it all the way home. A little crack eventually developed.

When we got home, we asked him what he wanted to do with his egg.

Tomorrow, I'll open it. If it's an egg, I'll eat it. If there's a little chicken inside, I won't.

Nice to see that he has figured out a plan!

Bees? Or Wasps?!

The Japanese anemones are in bloom... 

And the bees are out... or are they bees?!

I think of bees as yellow with black stripes ... These seem more white with black stripes!

After looking "white bees" up online, I came across a website where black and white bees are really wasps... But that was in California...

Are these wasps, too?!

There's so much variety in nature! So much to learn. So much to know...

We Love Greek Fest!

Last weekend, Terry and I went to Greek Fest - which is still on this weekend.

We've gone for years!

The food is great! It's the biggest drawing card for us! 

Not pictured is the custard pie I had for dessert. (I don't know how that happened!) I won't attempt to write its name in Greek!

Then there's the music and folk dancing!

And finally (last, but not least) is the arts court in the church basement. 

My potter friend Dina wasn't there, though her pottery and paintings were! Her daughter was there in her place and we enjoyed chatting with her.

I picked up a few of her unpriced paintings that were available for a donation. My daughter wants this green one! (Above)

I'd like to go back this weekend. Hopefully, Dina will be there. 

Power Restored

Two evenings after we lost our electricity in an unexpected thunderstorm - big trucks rumbled into our neighbourhood.

What were they going to do?! We were one of the last neighbourhoods in the city to still be without electricity... 

Some of us gathered to watch.

A transformer near Earl and Mary's yard had been knocked out when branches from a neighbouring tree fell onto the wires.

Now it was being replaced. But the problem didn't end there... More downed branches on power lines needed to be removed.

Twelve hours later - on Saturday morning - our street finally had electricity again. 

Now life is returning to normal! We can cook and open the fridge. And as evening approaches, we can turn on lights again!

New appreciation for what we have!

August Vacation - Looking Back!

When our children were young, we usually took family vacations in August.

I often taught summer school in July - so, during that month, the children attended day camps and enjoyed activities we never did as a family: tennis camp,  YMCA camp outdoors in the woods - where a squirrel memorably chewed a hole on one of the kid's backpacks because he could smell a peanut butter sandwich inside.

Then in August, we'd pack everyone into the station wagon and head off - some years to Texas, where my brother's family lives. Some years out west, where both Terry and I have relatives. Other years, we'd stay closer to home.

In 1988, we headed to New England, Maine - and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, where Terry was born.

If our kids learned to be adventuresome, to get along - and to know their cousins - I credit these long family vacations - when we spent 3 or 4 weeks together - in a cramped vehicle - on the road!