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. 

On the road again

 This afternoon we hopped in Ruby and headed out to an area south east of us, called the Lanark Highlands. This region produces the greatest percentage of Ontario maple syrup. There is a lot of maple there. 

The colors were just spectacular! As it was very overcast and a bit hazy,  I had no luck taking any photographs.

We were off to meet a gentleman selling the tires off his Toyota. The price was certainly right but, man, did we have an interesting time finding his place.

On our way we planned to stop at an orchard at Burnstown to buy apples and cider. We were so disappointed the place is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

On the return trip we stopped at a little hut at the top of a farm lane. They were offering pumpkins and a small bag of apples. They are kind of odd looking, probably cross bred to spy apples. Those were my grandmothers favorite baking apples.

M stopped into Valley Heritage Radio station to buy some CDs. They sell an eclectic mix of local artists. He's been going on about this song about  blue frogs of Ashdad as long as I've known him, and sure enough, they had that CD. I popped into the vet clinic and picked up another bottle of my dogs arthritis medication. It was kind of an expensive day!

EDIT: I had to correct a lot of odd spelling mistakes in this post. Sometimes these programs we post to pop letters in where they don't belong....or is it just me???

A beauty of a day

 I took some Tylenol Cold and Sinus this morning, which greatly alleviated my symptoms. There is work to be done!!

First on the agenda was peeling and slicing the last of the apples. M then made a coarse sort of apple sauce. I had some frozen puff pastry sheets in the freezer, so we are going to make two strudels.  We were talking about how flavorful the wild apples are. The store apples have been so cross bred that they have lost a lot of their unique flavors.

There is some serious yard work to get done up. M. hauled the patio table down off the porch. I brought all of the garlic and onions out of the dark garage and got them all cleaned up and into baskets. Now the table can go under the porch for the winter. I took all of the stalks and broke them up and stuffed them into the old washer tubs my neighbour brought over. I topped that with a thick layer of grass clippings and then a good thick layer of hummusy soil.  They will be ready for planting in the spring.

After that my get up and go left the building so I came in for a cup of tea.  I feel better getting a couple of chores off my list.

My trip to S.Ontario

 So, last Monday I drove down to Peterborough to see my siblings and my fathers cousin.

My fathers family is very fractured. When he was 6 or 7, his mother ditched him and his sister with her parents and scuppered off to the U.S. with their newborn baby sister in her arms. His father was not part of the household as he was living elsewhere with his WIFE. I was 6 when my grandfather died, but I have no memory of meeting him.

When my grandmother went to the US, she had my infant aunt adopted into another family. She married the guy she ran off with, then had at least five more children with him. There are possibly others. Some were in foster care, some were under supervision of older siblings. It was complicated. One died in unsupervised care.

My father passed away in 2013, well into his 90th decade. I kept hoping he would talk about his family, but it didn't happen. I only discovered the identity of his father a week or so before he passed. One of my American cousins found a photo of him and sent it to me, thinking it was my father! When the backing was steamed off we discovered my grandfathers name written on the back. 

My brother and I then DNA tested with two companies for proof. A whole lot of information came to light from some of our closest matches. We learned that we had relatives in the neighbourhood. 

Last year I met two daughters of my fathers first cousin Gordon. We had a wonderful visit. They were absolutely aghast with the story. One of the ladies gave me contact information for my fathers last living first cousin. She is living very close to my siblings! We have written a few letters and spoken on the phone but didn't actually meet until this week.

My first impression was how much she resembles my fathers full sister. She was tickled to learn she actually looks like somebody. As an only child, her life was different too. She told me wonderful stories about my grandfather and his wife, who she was very close to. The whole family lived on the same block. My father and his sister lived at the corner, about four streets down. If they ever knew their aunts and uncles lived within walking distance, they never told us. My cousin R had no knowledge of Dad and B, or baby P.

Cousin R, too, was aghast at the story of her older cousins miserable childhood. It was so completely opposite to hers, just up the street.

We will be visiting again when I manage to get enough nerve to go to the city again.

Things on the road

 I returned home today from S.Ontario trip.

I learned that my vehicle Ruby has marvelously effective brakes.

When you slam them doing 80 km. and come to.a dead stop within seconds, loose things become PROJECTILES!

An absolute idiot came roaring up behind me while I was doing highway speed. The person then passed me, cut in front and slammed on their brakes! As a woman driving alone I was not about to stick around to confront the person.

Now for the interesting part. I had stopped a ways back and bought a 4 litre bag of famous Kawartha Dairy chocolate milk and put it on the middle of the back seat, the one litre of coffee cream beside it, behind the drivers seat. When I hit the brakes, the chocolate milk flew forward, striking the control console, then bounced on to the front passenger seat. One of the bags ruptured, soaking the seat and my right pants leg. The coffee cream hit the back of my seat and then the floor, also sustaining a leak. Thankfully that leak stayed in the Weathertek floor mat. I had a big mess to deal with when I got home. Unfortunately when milk gets into a car seat it can get rather obnoxious. I did have some of the enzyme cleaner spray which I hope will neutralize that. The dog dish we keep in the car for the girlie also flew forward, but it hit the back of the seat. That might have been a real bell ringer!

The vehicle that cut me off was one of those minis. I'm driving a full size suv now, so the crash would have been pretty catastrophic. I've got to say, I'm pretty rattled about driving down south again.

I'll chat about the nice part of my trip after I recover.

Chilly mornings

 We need sweaters in the mornings now. Tomorrow will probably be 0C!

This morning I scooped up D.D and we headed to a fiber event. My favorite part was the lovely tame sheep. I was a good girl and didn't spend any money! We chatted with some familiar faces.

We left the fair grounds and I took my DD for a drive along some familiar roads. She really enjoyed the Beachburg lookout and wants to go back in a couple of weeks when.we do our fall colors tour.

I'm heading to S.Ontario tomorrow. I'm looking forward to spending time with my siblings and connecting with a long lost cousin. We write and chat on.the phone but we've never met face to face. She is my brothers NEIGHBOUR!

Saturday has come

 We had a hard frost last night. My flower plants are looking pretty dead. I cut all of the blossoms and brought them in yesterday. There were patches of white all over the yard when I let the dog out.

A big bull moose walked by my trail camera on the road Thursday night! Unfortunately the resolution is to poor to share.

Daughter and I were supposed to go to Taste of The Valley today but I'm not feeling very well. There is another event tomorrow we're hoping to make.

Hump Day

 Time just seems to be rushing by!

We have so much to do before the weather really flips. Thankfully this September has been really warm. I can't remember a year when we didn't have a touch of frost before the middle of the month. It was quite warm last night, and foggy as all get out by dawn!

Both M and I were not in fighting form today. He is still nursing a very sore, swollen knee and I've been fighting with a migraine. By late afternoon we were both a bit improved, so we had a bit of a job needing to be done asap. Awhile back we bought some BIG slabs of beef. We processed several of them at the time and put the others in the big freezer. We were out of ground beef, so I thawed one of the slabs and we got to work. We cut a bit for a beef stew, and another good chunk to roast. The remainder got ground. We love our big commercial Kitchen Aid machine. We bought attachments for it on sale at a kitchen gadgets store going out of business!

After dinner the pup and I went around swapping sd cards in the trail cameras. Only a little brown bunny has been interested in the pile of apple peels and cores up in the woods. The camera out on the road shows a coyote walking up to my neighbours lane every night! I phoned to warn him to keep his two little dogs in. Little Lucy doesn't like going outdoors at the best of times, but Brody wants to be out guarding! Brody is no more than fifteen pounds so he wouldn't stand a snowballs chance with the coyote!

Tomorrow we are hoping to get out on service calls. I'm going along to be the goffer. M has multiple golf carts to service at this facility so I don't want him jumping up and down until we're sure his knee is over this hiccup. The business is still going strong with the good weather so they need them fixed Now. This time last year they just tucked them into the barn until the snow left in the spring.

Brr

 Our night temperatures have sure taken a nose dive! We haven't had a frost bite yet. The duvets are on the beds. We are NOT putting heat on yet.

We are still processing apples. There is one cloth shopping bag yet to go. There are baskets and bowls of vegetables cluttering up every flat surface in the kitchen.

My sweetie has done something to his knee causing him pretty extreme pain. His service calls have been stalled. If he feels any better and the weather is favorable, I'll go help out on one of the campground jobs. He can sit still and I'll be the goffer.

I'm trying to get ahead on my Christmas knitting projects. I'm just about finished a pair of boot socks. I found a pattern for some nice fingerless gloves to start next.

Harvest time

 My garden has been pretty well finished, and the grass cut. The turnip and carrots can still until hard freeze. We will pull them as we need them until then.

My friendly neighbour, the appliance repair man, is giving me some tubs from washing machines. I'm going to put them behind the shed and use them as big flower pots, though not flowers. The plan is to put one tomato plant in each. Yeah, I'm big on container gardening.

This weekend we have been busy processing apples. Two of M clients have gifted us a large quantity of beauties. Our dehydrator has been very busy! This afternoon we went and picked another bag! We made apple pies for the freezer. Tomorrow we will try to finish up this bag.

A deer was in the yard snorting at the Princess Pup when I took her out for her bedtime piddle. I've been dumping the apple peels for the critters to enjoy. 

Sad day

 Rest in Peace Kitty, you were such a sweet girl

She looks so robust and healthy in this photo. She quickly went downhill from advanced kidney disease triggered by diabetes.

After we calmed down a bit we went outside and smoothed the soil in the pet cemetery. Next time we go shopping we will hit the garden center and find some unique tulips for a marker. My old Emmy girl has lovely orange and black ones.

Next on the agenda was relocating an elderberry bush. It's not so much bush, more TREE. We moved it from the front garden to the back where it can spread and grow as tall as it likes.

Sunday afternoon

 Dear daughter and I went to the town for breakfast and a bit of a shop.

Her grandaughter has her 5th birthday next week so I need DD with me to make sure I got clothing that fit, haha. 

This afternoon I'm going to steam clean the rugs and upholstery in Ruby. While that dries in the bright sunshine I'm going to get the gloves on and finish cleaning up the garden. The tomatoes and squash are all done. We got a grand total of TWO cucumbers that weren't worth eating. Some potato peelings that got dumped in the old garlic bed grew to be huge. They flowered, now starting to wilt, so there might be a few spuds to pull.

The cat is still among the living.

Weeks End

 Here we are at the Labour Day weekend!

The kiddies returned to school already this week.

We went shopping in a tiny village about 40 km from here. I FINALLY managed to buy a pair of Birkenstock closed shoes! My feet are sore from wearing them today, but that will improve. I've been slopping around for months in terrible footwear. These new shoes will tell my bones and muscles to shape up. I suffer from.planter faciitis and excessive outer pronation. Both contribute to sore feet.

This evening we harnessed up the pup and went for a walk. We are trying to get into a routine.

The cat is still among the living, though barely. If she doesn't fade away on her own before, the vet is making a house call on Tuesday.