Thursday already

 

Gosh this week is flying by! Monday was a holiday of course, which threw us out of sync.

It was some sultry today. It felt like 35C though it was only 26 with a high humidex.  I finally put the AC on at dinner time. We just couldn't take the humidity. My poor old power bill has taken an awful hit with this constant AC running.

I popped up to have a visit with my pal early this afternoon. She has had a visit to the hospital with a variety of problems. She is hoping to get moved to her new place in the town no later than the end of the month, where she will get more support services for daily living. I took her a bouquet of flowers from my garden. 

Sunday drive on Monday

 We finally got rid of the rain clouds. It was shaping up to be a gorgeous day. We put the dog cover on Ruby's back seat, boosted up the dog and headed north east. We crossed two bridges and ended up in Quebec.

 Highway 148 is a lovely drive. We meandered off the beaten track into a wee village. I don't know the name unfortunately. On a cottage road we spyed an older lady sitting under a sunshade selling blueberries. Her "quart" certainly was bigger than the grocery store quart! They are so yummy!

We saw a doe and fawn attempting to cross the road in front of us! We waited for her, but she chased her youngster back the way they came.

On the highway very close to our turn, there is a hill with a bend right at the top. Imagine our surprise to see a flashing police cruiser on either side of the road! Oh boy, some truck driver missed the bend, crossed the southbound lane and ended down the steep embankment into the woods! It will take a bit of work to get that vehicle up and out, as well as closing the highway for however long it takes.

We had a nice bbq for dinner. I took the corncobs up the path for the raccoons. I swapped out the card in the trail camera. A young coyote came by for a visit!

Wet

 We sure haven't experienced any dry spells this summer.

I might have had to water the gardens three times this season.

This is one of six garden boxes. I've had to do some trimming since this photo.

This weekend has been a washout. We were supposed to have guests but that plan washed away.

Our neighbour across the road called over to report a bear! I put another trail camera up with hopes it will wander through here. The wild berries and chokecherries are so abundant this year! Ol bruin will be well fed in preparation for hibernation.

Door in old wood houses

 Door is in but awaits trimming. 

It was like a sauna outdoors all day, then the rain came. 

It roared and poured pretty much all afternoon so M quit for the day. He is not happy with the look of gaps in certain places, though the big patio door IS square and level. This old wood house has settled and twisted, hahaha. 

I had a laugh with my neighbour who had a nearly 150 year old log house. He told me a story about trying to install a door with his f.i.l. When Poppa and B were here yesterday she was telling me about their basement door starting to sag. They live in the original homestead dwelling in their hamlet. It's one of the oldest in our township.

Old wood houses throw up some frustrating challenges.

I'm not taking any photos until it is all trimmed out and the glass washed. It sure is a lot brighter in the kitchen, compared to the old clouded up French doors.

Messy messy messy

 We are having (exterior) French doors replaced today.

Why does a simple "pop the old one out and new one in", have to get so complicated?

Porch boards and floor boards are being torn up. yucky yucky.

And to further complicate things

I started vacuuming up dead bugs by the thousand, and sawdust, but forgot to put the replacement filter back in the vacuum, which is now probably buggered for good because it is barely sucking. (Yes, I did put the new filter in)

And it's going to get hotter than haddes this afternoon and this gigantic hole in the south facing wall is letting in the heat.

What a day....

My Old Ladies

 I've been thinking about the elder women in my life lately.

My mother was younger than I am now by several months, when she passed over. She developed a rare disease as a result of being a long term smoker. She worked until she was 73 though! (I left work at 46 due to my fibromyalgia). Despite my disability I've managed to stay quite active and relatively physically fit. This summer though, I'm finding my body trying to kick me down. ( Which might be why I'm thinking more about my elders?)

My good friend Pal was a real power house until she was about 85. She developed diabetes with all the complications that really knocked her for a loop. She was widowed with a small child shortly after I met her. She always worked without social supports, until she was pensionable age. Even then she still did baking for special clients. She really has been my role model, though I don't care for her old lady pincurls. Hahaha

So, old lady hair styles! How they have evolved. My grandmother and her pals all had that pin curl thing going on. My grandmother went to the salon every Saturday morning for a shampoo and set. She touched the stragglers up with her own clamps, pins and nets at home. I was always fascinated with those odd things as a youngster. That drawer in her bathroom was dusted with scented powder. I love the smell that arose when I dug out those funny clips. Once a month my grandmother had a blue rinse put in her hair. Ladies of my generation are more variable with their color choices. Pink and mauve are popular. My eldest daughter frequently goes for green or a brilliant saffire blue.

My maternal grandmother was a prominent role model in my life. My mother was a surprise "change of life" baby, so my grandmother was pretty old when I was born. My mother married in her 30s after my father returned from the war. So, my grandmother was really elderly forever. Still, she had lots of time for us and taught us great life skills. My grandparents were master gardeners. Grandmother had an amazing knowledge of natural herbs and remedies that she learned from her mother, who in turn learned from the First Nation Matriarch's. 

As the much younger baby of the family, my own mother had no interest in any of these skills, so it all came from Grandma. Mum graduated high school just as the second war started and went to the big city to work in a munitions plant. I had visions of her all dolled up like Rosie the Riviter, but she was an office worker. She stayed at work after the war, after my Da convinced her to marry him, and after she had me. She was a modern woman!

Now I'm an old woman, sitting here ruminating over the changes in each generation.

 I still can't get over that blue hair business though.

Another week in the books

 I can't believe it is Friday already. Where did the days go?

Wednesday I took a run to the town with my dear daughter T and my Pal. We did a little shopping, grabbed an iceCap from Tim Hortons and beat it home. 

Today we bundled the pooch into the car and went to the lake for the afternoon. It was a nice day for a swim. I bought some adult floaties that sure helped my confidence in the open water. We thought about going out fishing with brother in law but it was a little too windy for me, so we ditched that plan.  I get sea sick VERY easily. They are getting ready to host the pilgrims on the way to the shrine at Cornac, so they are busy getting set up anyway.

Tomorrow we are heading to Deep River to see some sights.

Busy Weekend Quiet Day

 Saturday was cloudy, but the smoke seemed to have cleared. About noon, I left M doing some prep work for the event he was hosting,  and headed to the small city to attend the Multicultural Festival. I didn't get to far when I noticed the extremely ominous looking sky across the Quebec side of the river, and a bit of thunder rumbling. It seemed like a good time to get back to Ruby and head out. As I reached for the door big fat rain plops started hitting me. Before I got anywhere there was such a deluge I could NOT SEE!

I had to pick up a couple of things for M. at the grocery store. I got soaking wet, even with the rain poncho! It was just blowing and raining like crazy.

I came home and gave M. a hand chopping and dicing and moving things to freezers and all that. 

Sunday dawned bright and clear. 

M. was hosting a Chinese buffet for Poppa''s 83 birthday. There was a lot of cooking going on in this house. It was a really great meal and everyone enjoyed it with great gusto. Ten bodies were filled to bursting, haha.

M. especially is just whooped after being on his feet for two days cooking up a storm. We are on 'vacation" this week so we're going to enjoy some down time.  We have at least one out of town day trip planned. On Wednesday I'm having a girls day with my daughter T and my Pal.

There is a bit of rain in the forecast so we will probably have to figure out how to work around that. I think the one day trip can probably be okay because it is mostly just a drive by.  I hope we can work a lunch stop in there.

We had the Fifa soccer final on in the background all afternoon. That was one nail biter of a game! We were happy to see Spain win. Some of the spectacle was questionable according to our audience, but the game was fantastic!

Living in the woods

 Or why I live, where I live

My home is approximately half way between the small city and "the Lake".

There is a tiny village just up the way. It has a church and a cluster of homes, a coffee roaster and not much else. There is no store or post office or coffee shop. Just a kilometer up the highway is my road running to the south west. There are 25 households down here so I guess we qualify as a small subdivision.

Most nights we are serenaded by coyotes, owls and an occasional wolf. The neighbouring chicken farm has a couple of lads who herald our wakeup call. There are frequent wanderers moving through the yard. I've seen bear, moose, deer, foxes, and raccoons. Yes, we have seen a wolf and the odd coyote too. We had a wolf sit and watch a worker tune up our AC unit one summer afternoon! He wasn't aggressive, just curious. Once he was satisfied with what he was doing he wandered across the front field and out the lane.

 

It is very peaceful here. It's usually a few degrees cooler than up at the highway where the heat radiates off the pavement.

My home is at the very end of the road, so frequent power and internet outages are a fact of life. We cope. We learned how the hard way.   

Time and Time again

 Once again we are deluged by smoke from northern fires. This is the second summer in the past five years that we have had the issues. In my 70+ years of life I can never remember this before.

I'm staying indoors as much as possible.

I was reading a piece in a Toronto publication about folks going on vacation. It continues to baffle me that having spotty cell service is worth anxiety. I would think folks want to get out of the city and leave that crazy umbilical cord detached. Once upon a time we would take a computer device so we could check in with our home and pet sitter once in awhile. It baffles me when I see the folks wandering around the features, not paying any attention to their surroundings - unless their connection drops, sheesh.

What a headache

 Yes, I was awake about 5AM with a real pounder and one side of my face feeling numb. I usually get two migraines a year, during an extreme cold spell in winter and the opposite in summer. 

I watered my gardens and took a quick run up to give my Pal some paperwork I'd copied for her. Her house was lovely and cool with no AC! It is very hot today but tomorrow looks worse!

It's usually nice and comfortable here early in the morning, then again late afternoon. Not quite today though.

My hanging baskets are doing great. I'm not sure what kind of petunias these are. The flowers are very tiny, maybe the size of a nickle. They don't require deadheading like regular petunias. Tomorrow morning I will give them a touch of fertilizer in their morning drink.

What a Day

The 40th Annual Artisan Market/Fair happened today in the nearby hamlet of Barry's Bay. 

(Unfortunately my computer or blogger is giving me grief about adding photos)

This was my first trip into the wild blue yonder without M., my daughter or my Pal by my side. I'm still figuring out some of the geegaws on Ruby so it will be interesting. Getting the CD player to play before I even left the lane was the biggest head scratcher.

It was quite a nice drive. There was little traffic until I got quite close to B.Bay when it all seemed to be coming to a near halt as I drove down the hill into town. It was a slow crawl to get through the main shopping area. I managed to snag a parking spot right in front of the lovely Madawaska Coffee Shop.  I had to make a pit stop and get caffeinated! 

I parked there and wandered up the other side of the street. Stop one was a run into Afelskies Shoes for a chat with the proprietor Sean. He knows I'm trying to snap a certain pair of Birkenstock SHOES. He hasn't had any luck yet but he pointed to another line he just brought in that are VERY GOOD (and CANADIAN!) knockoffs called Viking.! They are also about half the price. Sean says the footbed in this product is identical to the Birks, which is what I need.  I'm going to head back in a couple of weeks when he has most of his fall stock in to see what is available.

Stop two was a run through Stedmans V&S looking for a sundress. They had a nice selection marked down, so that was a score! We have an extremely hot week coming up and I need something to wear that isn't a muumuu. If you ever watched the TVs program Threes Company and remember Mrs. Roper, she always wore long loose cool dresses called muumuus. I think they originated in Hawaii though.

By that time, I needed to hit the Artisan Market. It was SO CROWDED. There were so many crafts and lovely art on offer.  I didn't buy anything there. I had a quick few words with my pal Teresa, who is the proprietor at the yarn shop in the town. She was at the market cooking up blooming onions. They sure smelled good. Unfortunately I'm allergic to onions so I had to pass. Her hubby Jason tried his best to convince me they were some delicious, but I tried my best to convince him they weren't for me, haha.

Teresa told me there was some delicious hand dyed yarn with my name on it across the street in her shop so off I jogged, dodging the traffic in the crosswalks. Barrys Bay has well marked cross walks with prominent signage. Unfortunately the tourists don't seem to be able to read very well.

I snagged my beautiful scarlet yarn and scurried back to the car. I decided to skip the traffic jam and headed up one of the well known back roads out of town. It was a pretty round about road, but a relaxing drive. I did get a little bit "lost" when I thought I was taking a shortcut. Instead of turning right off the first side road, I managed to miss it and turned on the second, which turned out to be a logging road with a gate at the very end. I had to drive a little further out of the the way then I anticipated. Yes, I got lost wandering around the Wilno Hills! It was no big deal in the end because all roads lead to the highway eventually. I even stopped to take some photos along with way.

When I left town my eyes started bothering me. They were itching and burning and my vision was a bit cloudy. I was getting concerned until the radio announced we are getting smoke from Quebec wildfires northeast of us.  Well that was a relief, of sorts.

Refreshing

 We had a couple of hot hot days, but it broke overnight. This morning we are getting a lovely rain.

The deer flies are horrible. We don't seem to have as many dragonflies to take them out. Where are you dragonflies?

My Pal and I are hitting the town today to get her business taken care of. This is her first trip in Ruby. She is excited about that.