Election Day

 If you live in Ontario, I hope you were able and willing to get out and vote yesterday. I'm sad that the turnout was so poor, but none the less, the people have spoken. 

We voted by internet last week. It was no fuss and easy peasy.

The results are now in and the records are showing the wishes of the people. ALMOST overwhelmingly we voted for change. A lot of the old guard are gone. 

The small city near me elected to put a female mayor at the head of the table. 

My own township had a 50% shakeup. It's a younger council than we've probably ever had. I'm happy with the results. There were some on the previous council that needed to be retired well before this election.

Now lets put them to work!

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We were away on the weekend. M's mother is in rapidly declining health so we wanted to get together with all of her children while she was still up to it. I ended up being billeted out with M. aunt for the night. I've met her numerous times, but didn't really know her. I'm glad we had the opportunity to spend some time getting to know each other better. I can see us being friends going forward.

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The first big bag of bird seed was purchased today. I brought the bird feeders out of the shed a few days ago. The blue jays have been coming by to check them out. haha

This morning the Princess Pup and I went up the bush trail to swap out the trail camera chip. She flushed a big brown owl that flew along side me for a bit that up into a tall pine tree!

Last night we had a gang of young coyotes in the back yard singing their song. Unfortunately they managed to avoid all three cameras.

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The internet company sent another contractor by today to lay the fiber optic cables into the ground across our yard. Now we have to wait for another contractor to hook it all up out at the road, and then ANOTHER contractor to come set it up in the house. We were happy to get the cable into the yard because the last guy who came here said he didn't think it would happen for a couple of months OR until spring.

Warmth

 Our autumn has been pretty moderate, temperature wise. Our firewood is stacked in the wood room and two sheds. The chimney was cleaned last week, but we haven't lit a fire yet. M still has to put a vent in the ceramic floor for the heat to rise. He was waiting for a special saw to cut that. He has that now, so hopefully he will get that done this week. We have the gas furnace running at night when the temperature gets down to freezing zone!

I'm not sure how el Nino is going to affect us as we roll into winter, though I don't expect any measurable snow until the new year turns. It could get dicey then.from what I'm reading.

Another one

 Yes, another glorious autumn day. It's indeed quite nippy in the mornings, but it soon warms up.

This morning I discovered my adjustable side mirrors in Ruby have heaters! When I blow heat within the car, little vents in the mirrors clear them!

I hadn't seen my Pal in over a month, so we made plans to meet up today. She was feeling a bit sad and teary because her former residence out here was officially someone elses today. She and her late husband built that house as newlyweds many moons ago.

When I collected her, she was having a great laugh at some of the Halloween displays at the other end of her street. I suggested we grab Tim Horton beverages then take a wee drive before doing some shopping. She said she would LOVE that! Her family take care of her needs, but I don't think they have much time for fun stuff. Her d.i.l. is a politician and her son is a building contractor. The grandkids are all in the process of getting out in the world.

But I digress....

I knew of a subdivision where folks get right into the spirit of all the holidays. Two homesteads have over the top with displays that they charge admission for. They donate the funds. My Pal was shrieking with joy when we took in the sights! I suggested we come back next month when they switch over to Christmas.

We meandered back into town and did our grocery shop. I got our goods and Pal tucked into the car and was about to return the cart, when I noticed a very elderly woman in obvious distress. The poor dear was in a state. She couldn't get parked close to the store, where all the handicap spots were taken. The vehicle just beside me just pulled out. I said "Look, lets park this cart in.the middle of this spot, you hang out with my Pal, and I'll go bring your car up?" She trusted me with her keys and I got her vehicle up beside me. She seemed quite a bit recovered by then. Of course we had to hear her life story. She is 9 0+ years old. She is going into a nursing home at the end of the month. This was her last shopping trip and she was "damn well going to enjoy it!" She hobbled off with my abandoned cart. I would loved to have known her for awhile.

Sunshine and a day for outdoor chores

 We are having quite a beautiful autumn. Sure, we get some rainy days and the nights are frosty. It still seems pretty mild and sunny from my perspective.

We had a great long chat with my dear brother last night. He is coming to terms with the tragic death of his eldest son on Thanksgiving. He is hoping to go to Port Colborne very soon to spend some quality time with his other two boys, reminiscing and looking at photos. Their own private celebration of life.

I try to spend time outdoors puttering around. There isn't much more I can do for the gardens. The garlic is mulched with a thick layer of leaves. There are still a few carrots and turnips in the west side garden box. This brings to mind a chat I had in the little grocery store the other day. I had bought a larger turnip to add to our stash. The woman behind me in line asked me if I called them turnip or rutabaga. (I call them turnip). We agreed that the small white ones are not very nice. The clerk proceeded to tell us how her mother cooked them and how much she hated them. My dear old dad liked them that way, calling them Tatties and Neeps. Only in a small town small grocery store would you get that interaction. 

Yesterday I pulled all the vines and trellis off the back porch. I stashed the trellis under the porch, but they probably won't be used next year. We are going to tear off the big porch and rebuild. The new stairs will be located where we had the trellis for hops. The back porch is 25 or so years old. It is huge, about 15 by 15 feet. We don't use it because it gets too hot once the weather warms up. Many of the boards are showing serious rot. We will tear it off and salvage what is still "good". The new porch will be about four by 15 feet with the clothesline at one end and the stairs at the other.  I will have to think about relocating some precious plants in the spring.

I've painted the fresh wood around the new patio door. Terrible paint! It's like milk, impossible to NOT have splatters. After that nonsense I had to wash the glass.  I just wanted to get the wood sealed. I think the back of the house is going to need a total coat of paint next spring.

I watched an aspen shedding it's leaves in a sunbeam just now. It looked like gold dust falling.

A sad day for our country

 I have written at length in the past about our family's military history going back generations. My eldest grandson is our present serving member, in an eastern Canada unit.

Early this morning we saw the news about a catastrophic explosion at the training center in Wainwright Alberta. At this moment the death toll sits at FOUR with dozens of catastrophic injuries.

Public information has not been released about the cause of the situation.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and bereaved. If your family is affected by this horrible situation, we are thinking of you.

It had to happen sooner or later

 Every surface was white when I woke up this morning! And it wasn't feathers or frost! I'm really surprised that the back porch never melted away, because the sun did hit it for several hours. We are heading for a relatively warm, sunny, few days so it won't linger to long.

M puttered around outdoors putting some things to bed and torching the pile of brush above the garden. Pup and I wandered up hill to swap out the sd cards in the cameras. We still aren't seeing any wildlife.

We started getting organized to make a lot of cabbage rolls. I thought we were going to do it all today, but no, there is just to much preparing before we get rolling.

Daughter T and I are off to visit a craft thing tomorrow, and maybe a spot of lunch. Daughter C and her partner P were intending to come visit today until their cat got sick. Hopefully we will get another nice weekend before winter lands for the duration.

The military establishment near us is doing some training with helicopters. We had a huge, low flying Chinook and a small Huey buss our little valley.  Those big guys are LOUD!

Thanksgiving Weekend will never be the same

 

This sweet fellow was my brothers eldest son Ben. He has tragically died as a result of a car crash last night, Thanksgiving Monday.

I can't imagine losing a child, or so tragically.

As a little lad he was obsessed with fire trucks and fire fighters. My brother has the sweetest photo of Benny, age about five, at the firehall. One of the staff put one of their big old jackets and a helmet on him. Benny has his head thrown back, eyes closed, laughing his head off.  He was in love with that until he got old enough to discover cars!

My nephew was a speed demon who was involved with the racing community in central Ontario. Was he speeding? He wrapped the car around a power pole on a long straight stretch. The weather was HORRIBLE.  Unless there were witnesses, we will never know. We just have to try to believe he was doing what he loved to do at the time of the crash.

I hope his beloved Grandpa Jack was there to greet him on the other side. 

Family Time

 We had a lovely dinner with family and friends yesterday. The weather was great too. Sadly, mr. M mother and step father were not able to join us. His dear mother is in rapidly declining health. M and his brother D are going to spend next weekend with them. My daughter and her partner are coming up to visit from the GTA so I will be hanging back home. 

We had the technician from our new service provider at the door very early this morning. The phone call last evening said they would be here at 8AM so my dear daughter got up early while M and I snoozed on. He arrived at 9:30. We were very disappointed to learn that we wouldn't be changing internet providers until the spring. Our cables haven't been laid in, and the contractor doing that part of the work isn't scheduled to be down here for two months. If we are frozen up or have snow, that can't lay lines until spring. so we continue at the mercy of that ding dong bell company.

We are having a lazy day. I delivered my daughter home around noon, then scuppered on home to sit quietly and knit. My great grandson B.L. has outgrown the beautiful sweater I knit him last winter. He wanted to wear it but it's much to short. Using a pattern called "FLAX", I can knit one up pretty quickly for him. I'm going to make it on the bigger size. I felt sad for the little lad when I dropped his Oma home. He was all alone riding his bike up and down the lane. There are no other children close by for him to play with, and his sister was with her mother.  He's only eight years old. He came running up to me for a big hug and said "I hope you have a good afternoon Granny". I love these two little ones. 

Shots from a lovely day

 

Long Shadows, river levels dropped in anticipation of spring floods, red leaves and lazy walks up my quiet country road

Preparations

 Today was just a gorgeous day. It was warm and sunny. The pup and I walked up our back trail to the woods. The maple leaves carpeting the trail smell lovely. This evening there are THUNDERSTORMS blowing around S.Ontario, though they are missing us. 

We are approaching Thanksgiving Weekend. We are hosting dinner on Sunday. I will.collect my dear daughter. Several members of M family will be with us. His dear mother is in failing health so they have had to bow out.

The pies are baked and in the freezer. We will shift the bird from the freezer to the refrigerator on Friday.

I'm plugging away at cleaning house. My stamina still isn't back to normal. I was supposed to be.in an aqua fit class two weeks ago but that isn't happening! Maybe next week?

One solid sick week

 Yeppers, the sickest I've been in YEARS!

M seems to be resisting it to some degree. He bombarded it with some of his alternative medicines. He's braver than I about that stuff.

I'm getting a wee bit better every day. This afternoon I had a burst of energy and toddled outside to do some yard work. I managed to trim everything along the west side of the back porch. The rubble got loaded into the wheel barrow then trundled to the woods for dumping. I believe in returning organic stuff to the earth. After that I washed up and hit the bed for half an hour!

After a rest, I made a cup of tea and knit for a bit. Then I got back upstairs to swap out my summer duvet for the winter one. Changing those covers is as physically demanding as that yard work. I had to lay down again! Hahaha

 It got quite breezy this afternoon. The beautiful maple trees really started shedding. I can see the forest floor at the back of the house now. This evening the pup and I walked up the forest trail behind the house. I needed to put one of the trail cameras further into the bush now that hunting season is upon us. We have had interlopers with guns trespass in bygone years. When the girl and I were out front removing some trellis for storage, a deer was snorting and huffing in the woods. We don't see them but they let us know they see us. They seem to be hanging out in the woods behind our shed. I heard them there a couple of weeks ago too.

So that's the kind of day it's been. I hope we can go for a drive tomorrow.

The flu house

I had strange things happening to my body over night that kind of made me think this flu is finally letting go. I'd say I'm 25% better.

We needed some things from the store. Taking precautions, I ran through quickly, getting back into the car $130 poorer. We put away the food and faced the music. I'm whooped! 

M has it now. Lots of napping going on. Tylenol and antihistamines are our friends again.

Wednesday September 30

 Tomorrow is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation & Orange Shirt Day in Canada

It is the day we remember and honor our First Nations people and the struggles they have had at the hand of the people who came here back in the day.

Orange Shirt Day is in remembrance of the children who were lost or suffered in residential schools.

My family are settlers who have history with the First Nations people. There is a Canadian author named Catherine Parr Trail. My grandmothers maternal grandparents were part of the colony that is the subject of her book. If it wasn't for the First Nations women teaching my ancestor how to live in this harsh land, I doubt they would have survived.  My grandmother shared lessons with us that she was taught by her grandmother and mother. Most of my cousins have forgotten, but I try to carry them on. 

When I was 15, I befriended a young mother in our neighbourhood. She was a First Nations woman from Manitoba. At only 25, she had five children. The troubled past wasn't really on our radar back at that time, but she told me her stories of growing up on a depressed reservation and being forced to Residential School.  The children were stripped of their culture and treated very badly. Unfortunately quite a few didn't make it out alive. I think of her often and wonder how she and her children carried on. Her stories have never left me.