Monday, August 27, 2018

The Rain Isn’t Finished, In the Hangar or in the Suite, Birthday Celebration


I have to admit that I was disappointed when I woke up at 6:30 on Monday, Aug. 27th to hear rain, again! I had my morning planned with another nice walk and then grass cutting but that isn’t going to happen. I crawled out of bed at 7:15 and let Clemson out. It is so mild though and not windy so I stepped out under the awning to wait for him. Bill got up soon after and made the bed while I prepped our drinks.

The herd gathered near the fence
Some watch me drive by
Today, is another family birthday and I want to send a special shout out to my big sister, Gayle. It is a very special birthday for her and tonight we are heading over to celebrate with a barbecue supper. Bill and I have had enough parties for our 50th, 60th and even Bill’s 65th and they’ve always attended so we are delighted to return the favour and rub her nose in her 70th. Ha ha, nah, just to tease her, it's what little sisters are for!

Gayle gets to relax on her birthday
Happy Birthday, sis!
We sat and read blog posts and then did a bit of exploring on line. I played my Scrabble and Words with Friends games. Bill went on the Manulife site to check out our travel insurance for this winter. We’re looking at $500 deductible with no changes in our health from last year. We got really good rates with $1,000 deductible so we're curious how we can help ourselves. The data is slow on that site so I’m thinking everyone is doing the same thing this Monday morning, making plans for winter.
It was time to swap out the chair covers (pillow cases)
so I could wash them
I hopped in the shower around 10:30 and then made sausage and pancakes for brunch. This would tie us over until a later dinner. Once we got the insurance thing settled and booked, I drove into Durham’s Foodland. My contribution to supper was a Caesar salad so needed to buy the ingredients. They come in a neatly packaged bag, all I had to do was throw it together. The height of laziness, eh? I also stopped at the Liquour store to pick out a nice gift for Gayle.

Brunch filled us until supper
As I drove home, the sun began to make appearances but it’s too late. I’m not about to get all sweaty by mowing the lawn now. It can wait until tomorrow when I check the weather again. Bill got a call from Peggy at CanAm that his morning appointment was changed so he wasn’t expected until noon. That gives him a better night’s sleep, knowing he doesn’t have to be up at 5:30, and a little easier morning after being out celebrating tonight. She also confirmed his Wednesday jobs with him.

After I got back, Bill had cleaned up the dishes and had his own shower. There is a lovely breeze today and that is a blessing because the humidity is quite high. I found a gift bag for the bottle of wine I picked up so Gayle will understand that it isn’t meant to share tonight. The afternoon was quiet so I took a walk down the lane and to the corner. I didn’t trust the sky too much so didn’t wander too far.

This was Clemsons day too, a lot like mine
Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to thank a reader from yesterday who helped me sync my Fitbit this morning. I’m confused why that worked when it wasn’t necessary in the past, but I’m grateful to Brian all the same. I didn’t get much walking in over the past week but at least I should be able to up my weekly step count online. My Fitbit friends must think I’m a real sloth! Well, I'm back in the game now!😊 

Through Williamsford first on Hwy 6
Bill went out and carried his fuselage down to the shed and set to work. This was going to be a bigger job than he’d anticipated, I think. Funny though, when that Stinsen landed the last time, it wasn’t even visible to the admiring onlookers that anything even happened. He has his work cut out for him though in order to get it back in shape to fly, sorry to say.

This old church is now someones home, I think
Unless God subscribes to Shaw
 While he was busy, I swept the Suite out and put the two vent cushions on the hall floor to encourage Clemson to jump on the bed. Nancy K’s suggestion. With tons of encouragement and me on the bed, he did it…..once and easily so maybe……..just maybe he’ll do it again. I’ll take some of his treats up there for the next time. At 3 o’clock, our friends from Illinois called us to talk about the winter plans. We were hoping to meet up with them during our trip south so discussed a couple of possibilities.

Gayle and John's house at the end of Periwinkle Lane
Bill went back to work on his plane and I came inside and prepped the Caesar salad I was taking to the party. I suggested that Bill have a bit of a siesta before we headed out at 4:30 so he settled in the chair for a bit and closed his eyes. We fed Clemson and left him in charge of the Suite and drove to Chatsworth. John was the host and that allowed Gayle to sit and enjoy the company so we had margaritas, rum and pina coladas before dinner.

Kelly, Gerry, Donna, John, Gayle, Andy and Bill
ready to chow down
John grilled burgers and the rest of us brought salads. It was nice to meet their friends, Andy and Kelly, and dinner was delicious. When John brought the cake in, we all followed tradition and sang Happy Birthday to Gayle. 

Gayle gets a FaceTime chat with two of her grandchildren from Millgrove
Seven candles on the cake were easy to blow out and the meaning was clear to all of us. Gayle opened her cards and passed them around before we all excused ourselves from the table. Bill and I excused ourselves from the party at a few minutes past 8. With him leaving for work in the morning, we needed to get home to relax this evening.
It was a lovely supper
John did well putting the dinner party together
It sure gets dark fast now. By 8:30 the blanket of night has covered the land. I can’t believe that the summer is almost over. This has been another quiet day, just puttering around and getting a lot of reading done. Not many pictures were taken though, so I apologize for that. I hope you’ve had a good day too.

Gayle was enjoying herself tonight
and that is a great thing!
Thank you for stopping by. I love to read your comments.

6 comments:

  1. Looks like a nice birthday dinner. You girls all look so much alike!! Coop loves those cushions. He never could jump up on the couch, let alone the bed. He's so proud he can make it now. Btw you've encouraged me to get back to the treadmill with all your walking. Thank you!!!

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    1. It was a nice dinner. Funny how I don't see that us sisters look alike the way every one else does. I can see that a couple look so much like each other but that's it. :)
      I'm going to have to encourage Clem more with the cushions, he's so timid of new things.
      Good luck with the treadmill, I could never stick to it and ended up selling it. I didn't have a tv to watch while on it and it was too hard to read a book for long. :)

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  2. What a nice birthday celebration at Gayle and John's. Great that you live so close together.

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  3. Happy Birthday Gayle! She definitely doesn't look 70 or is it the closer I get 70 is really young! :) How nice that you all get together like that! Nice dinner, burgers look awesome along with the salads! YUM..I see Nancy's going back to the treadmill, I will be soon once the outside work is done, I can only stand it if I've got my kindle with a good book to read...Our area is just not walkable (dogs etc)..

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    1. thank you, yes, I agree she doesn't look 70 but I also agree that the older we get, we have lost that perception of how old 70 actually should look! :) As a teenager I used to think Mom looked old at 50!
      Fun how we encourage each other in our own ways. :) a kindle or kobo would be easier than an actual book, maybe this winter I can use some of the treadmills in the parks that way. :)

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