Anniversary, Shop Work, Quiet Afternoon

The Ridge

Monday, May 3^rd – aaah, a special day. As Bill and I met, me just getting up and he almost ready for work, we wished each other a Happy Anniversary at the exact same time. That made us laugh. 24 years ago, we tied the knot in a beautiful little chapel called St. Luke’s in the Garden. It was a colder day than this, windier, but dull just like this with periods of rain. 😊

Good morning

Bill left around 7 and I came downstairs to make my tea and sit to finish yesterday’s blog. We were falling asleep at the end of the movie last night, forcing ourselves to make it to 10. As you know, I always sleep well but when Bill informs me that he had a great sleep, not waking once until 5ish, I’m so happy for him. I had my work at the auto body shop for 9 so didn’t get too involved in anything on my laptop. With a thermos of coffee, at 5 to 9, I drove around the corner.

Gravel trucks went back and forth a few times

M asked if I’d run some errands in town for him which gave me the opportunity to fuel Ptooties up today instead of tomorrow. That was an easy hour and then back at the shop, we moved the big sheets of white paper around from the box to the lower gravel guard sections. The black was done and next he needed to paint the box cherry red. That papering and taping took an hour and I moved outside to the next project vehicle. A business van that needed decals removed.

And the grader followed a couple of times
grading and rolling

With the heat gun, working outside, it took a bit more than an hour but I enjoyed that kind of piece work since it came off quite easily. At 12:15 I headed for home, with more $ in my hind pocket. 😊 I made myself some lunch, a jam-packed wrap (with no jam btw) and had some of the messy Jello for dessert. I cleaned up dishes and made cardboard packaging for the MP3 player I received. Rather than buy a padded envelope, I fashioned my own box and taped the shipping label tout suite!

Lunch wrap, clementines and shrimp

It helped to work in a warehouse during my career

The mail lady would have already passed by so I walked down around 3 to put it out for tomorrow’s pick up. Because it was ordered through Amazon, there will be a full refund. It was worth a try but I’m not too disappointed that it didn’t work out. One day soon, I hope I’ll get back into my regular walks. For one reason or another it has been back-burnered.

At least the wind gusts were fairly warm today

The front field looks nice even with the dandelions

I finally got on to the Norwex ordering site and got my window clothes and dust mitt ordered. At the same time, I booked an online party of my own. Not until June but soon enough that Gayle gets a perk from it. There are a couple more items that I would like to order for the household and vehicles. My niece is also having a May party so soon we’ll all have what we want. Remember the Tupperware craze?

The corral garden

After the walk to the mailbox, I started this post and then sat to watch the last This is Us episode on our PVR. Bill doesn’t watch the show so afternoons are a good time to catch up. Then I watched a couple of episodes of Mom. It is a funny show, good for a laugh. Bill got home just before 5 and we shared our day with each other. At 5:30, I began preheating the oven

I know it is our anniversary but I didn’t plan anything special for supper. Chicken strips, which we couldn’t have Saturday because of our power outage, and fries. We have dessert choices too. Maybe I’ll light a candle to eat by. 😊 Bill was quite happy with whatever I chose and we enjoyed it as if it was something special. I didn’t light the candle, by the way.

Chicken strips and fries
Our anniversary supper

After dishes, we posed for a picture. I had fun putting my collage for Bill on Facebook this morning so I know how important it is to take photos of us together. I set the camera up and rushed to sit on hubby’s lap. I finished writing my blog so it could be posted before our programs start at 8. This was a good day although it would have been nice to be together. That is one reason we went for a drive yesterday.

Happy 24th Anniversary to us!
Good night!

Thank you for your visit.

The Love of My Life and a Memory Lane Trip

The Ridge

Well, it is Sunday, May 3^rd and time for a different kind of post. You know my usual routines so even though today was not humdrum at all, I want to dedicate this one to a special person in my life. He beat me to posting on Facebook so this is my payback. 😊

Happy Anniversary sweetie pie
An old picture but one of my favourites

Twenty-three years ago today, we were waking up apart, as it should be before you marry someone. Our experience was a bit unique, not entirely but definitely different from many. Bill had walked down an aisle 2 times before and I had done the same 1 time. Sometimes things don’t work and they didn’t for us in the past, bringing us to May 3, 1997. 

Our engagement photo
1996

We were married in a small pretty chapel called St. Luke's in the Garden in London, On in the middle of the afternoon. (forgive the picture glare, taken from photos)

Dad and Bridgette were our attendants

Bridgette, Dad, Patsy, Bill, Mom

We had Bill’s dad and my daughter standing up with us and our other children walking down the aisle in front of us. It was special. 

Bill and his sisters
Liz and Carol

Patsy and her sisters
Two that my blogger friends may know Gayle 2nd from left
and Donna far right
My how we have changed!

It was a cold, windy, wet day and pictures were taken inside the chapel as it was not nice enough outside to do that. Our reception was a potluck meal prepared by family members, speeches by the wedding party and a dance hosted by a Dj friend from work. It was perfect.

With Bill's girls
Charlotte, Krystal, Yvonne, Jessie

A week later, after having our Grand Am broken into and then repaired, we drove to Washington, D.C. to see the White House and corresponding memorials. 

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial
and we visited the Memorial Wall
Washington, D.C.

  Next, we drove south to Norfolk and Virginia Beach, VA before heading home again to life as Mr. & Mrs. Richards. This was our week long honeymoon. Ooh, that was great.  Life changed for us. We were good together.

Norfolk, VA

Throughout our next 23 years, we combined families and navigated through the trials and joys of having a blended family. You know, step-Mom, step-Dad kinds of things. They aren’t always easy but with 6 children between us, we all worked together to make it work. Employment at a school board was where we met and where we forged towards retirement in 2016. By then, there were 9 grandchildren in the picture and life was wonderful.

Seems like ages ago!

We took a giant leap after retirement and sold our small home to entertain our huge dream of full-timing in our 5^th wheel trailer. Here we are after 4 years of spending winters in the southwest. We’d dreamed of Arizona and travelling and now we can say we are hooked on both. Today, we can’t even think of a life that doesn't involve pulling our 36' Suite from our mid-western Ontario location to the border of Canada and across the United States.

It was a great day in the neighbourhood

Bill has been the answer to my prayers for so many things. In the form of a best friend, a sweetheart, someone to laugh with, a shoulder to cry on, someone to endure hardships and the loss of family or friends with and he fills every one of the gaps in between. Happy 23rd Anniversary, Bill!

So, back to today, May 3, 2020. We had a great day together. The weather was perfect. I put on some makeup and a pretty pink top. I got an early walk in, some time together, some time apart, some great time with family, some special time with friends and some time with ……P I Z Z A! Ha ha, it has been a long time since we’ve had pizza and that was the only thing I asked for on our anniversary.

Family wishes us Happy Anniversary

 There is one more thing you need to see on this day. Oh, I’ll let the pictures tell that story.

Yes!!!! A Baltimore Oriole arrives!!

This was a great surprise after my efforts
with the feeder

However, the orange halves may have attracted him
but he was more interested in the hummer food

I hope you had a great day and thank you for all the celebratory wishes from near and far! 

Good night everyone!

Thank you for your visit!

Making the Best of a Dull Day, We Survive our First Anniversary Apart

The Ridge

When I woke on Friday, May 3^rd, one thing was on my mind. Happy Anniversary, Sweetie. They were the first words spoken to each other through our Samsung phones. I stirred first around 6:45 and since Clemson was cuddled under the covers next to me, I remained still until I contacted Bill to let him know I was awake. When he called back, we chatted and he informed me that he’d found the card and package I left him in his carryall.

This little guy was sound asleep snuggling right up to mama

It is our first time to be apart on our anniversary and that feels strange but we wouldn’t be doing anything too special anyway. We will celebrate on Monday evening with my sisters and my b.i.l.’s birthdays. 22 wonderful years with this guy, wow, we should be incarcerated since we each stole each other’s hearts all those years ago. Har de har. 

Part of why I said yes - look at that smile

Some single people may think ‘hmm, you are incarcerated in a way, aren’t you?’ Nope, not us. I’m happy to be where we are today. He still makes my heart pitter patter on a daily basis.

The day of the big event - sorry for the blur
These were non-professional photos
Bridgette, Dad, me, Bill, Mom

I crept out of bed without disturbing the little bum beside me and made my tea. He was up at 2:15 am but seemed to only want a drink, not go out. So, I picked him back up and brought him back to bed. He remained under the covers with me up to and after that point. Good boy! He rustled himself out of bed around 8:30. It is a dreary morning and not going to get above 10C all day so I don’t blame him his sleeping in.

I love this cake cutting picture
Happy Anniversary, Sweetie

On the agenda today? After the call I just got - a trip into Durham to pick up Mom’s income tax papers will be a definite and I am going to jump in hands first and make at least one of the keto dishes my friends have been recommending. I have the spaghetti squash, zucchini and cauliflower so I’ll start there. I found and copied a few recipes into my Word docs so I can work away. Wish me luck! Before I started, I had a few greeting cards that needed to be mailed today so walked them down to the mailbox.

I thought I should get something to eat so around 11:30 I fried up more chicken hearts with zucchini and an egg for lunch. That was another fulfilling meal sticking to the appropriate foods for keto. I cleaned up dishes and as I sit here now, the road grader is making its trek down North Line. We do appreciate how they look after these gravel roads. This time, different than the other day, he is doing the stretch down our end of the road to fill the pot holes before they get worse from all this rain.

Another section of the freshly graveled road

I drove into Durham and met with Tim, our tax guy. We chatted about Mom’s income tax results, I paid him and left. I wanted to stop at Foodland for some fresh mushrooms for a pizza I was planning to make. Then it was home again. I pulled up my recipe, the one I found on line for a pizza with spaghetti squash crust. Let’s see if I can make this and then the test of all tests – can I eat it?

I cooked the squash in the microwave for 10 minutes and cleaned the stringy innards out into a bowl. Now to try and get as much liquid out as possible. This was the hardest part of the whole recipe. There is a lot of it in spaghetti squash. I tried many ways to do this even down to squeezing it into a ball in my hands. When I thought I’d sufficiently removed all of the liquid, I mixed the spices, shredded cheese and an egg to make the ‘dough’.

Ready for the oven

It certainly wasn’t dough-like at all but I carried on and shaped 3 pizzas onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. It wasn’t enough to cook them for 15 minutes as the recipe instructed but 25 minutes seemed to do it. At this stage, I didn’t think that it would be a ‘pick up and eat it’ type of pizza. I loaded it to my satisfaction with some sauce, bacon, cut up salami slices, ham, green peppers, green onions, mushrooms and cheese on top.

I let it sit until I was ready to eat around 6. I cooked it for 8 minutes until the cheese melted. Turns out I was right. I could pick it up with a lifter but I had to use a knife and fork to eat it. It didn’t stay hot for too long but it sure tasted good. I’m not sure what I did wrong and maybe nothing, maybe it is just the liquid in the squash that changed the crust texture. I’m happy though that I have enough left over for tomorrow night.

And it tasted wonderful!

I talked to Bill after I finished dishes and after he finished his day of work. He’ll be having a leftover roast beef dinner tonight so I’m happy he’ll have a good meal too. I settled with Clemson, who took a while settling down, and we watched old Clint Eastwood movies. The last of Magnum Force first and then the Enforcer. They were made in the 70’s so some things make me chuckle but he didn’t act in a bad movie so I enjoyed them.

And I had to wake this little guy at 20 to 6, way
past his supper time!

This was a good day and I got a few things taken care of. Woops! I meant to get the dusting done today but I guess that will be tomorrow’s chore. Nice that not too much is on a schedule in this life. The temperature did hit 10C today but no higher. It wasn't sunny but it wasn't windy either so not too bad of a day. I hope you had a good day. I was happy to hear that our buddies made it home safely from Manitoulin this afternoon. Welcome back, Rob and Pat!

Thank you for stopping by!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US! Errands to Run, Friends to Visit

Before I went to bed last night at 10, I took some Tylenol. After my work yesterday, the muscles along my mid to upper back were aching. I’m sure sitting in my chair for the evening didn’t do anything to help either. Regardless, I’m happy I did what I did, I had a great sleep and woke to a rainy day which means a day of rest from strenuous chores today!

I thought you'd be able to see the rain drops

On Thursday, May 3^rd I woke up around 6:15 when Bill and Clemson got up but lingered in bed until 6:45 or so. Bill was first to wish me Happy Anniversary so I handed him his card. I haven’t shown him the changes on our perpetual calendar yet but before the day is out, I will. We had our hot drinks together and read blog posts from yesterday. Catching up with our blogger friends makes for a good morning start up.

We followed this van through Durham, I love the murals on vehicles
Looks inviting, doesn't it?

Bill hopped in the shower after having a bowl of cereal and I had some yogourt and a banana. It was around 8:30 when we drove into Durham first to buy stamps and pick up Mom’s completed Income Tax and then to Hanover to First Choice Haircutters. We got our hair cut together and both feel much better walking out of the Shoppe. Mine is a tad shorter than I’d originally planned but I’m quite happy with having my neck bare for the summer heat. We picked up bread at the Bread Depot so Bill will be happy with his favourite sandwich makers!

A bit fuzzy, but we are happy with our new dos

We drove to Mount Forest from there and Bill picked up the tube for his riding mower tire and some other new ‘toy’. I won’t tell you about it, that is his option if and when he writes another post. On the way home, we stopped at the West Grey Meat Market and picked up a freezer pack of mixed meats. It is a great deal for us and we get ground beef, pork loin chops, sirloin steaks, sausage and a beef roast. All good things we like to eat!

Bill's perpetual calendar that gets updated every anniversary date

Back home, I made an egg and bacon western for each of us. I’m out of my tortilla wraps so had mine in toast as well. I’ll try not to do that too often but it was so tasty! We cleaned up the dishes and then I went for a walk to get our mail. We are still waiting for a couple of pieces to come from Ford.  I think it was a combination of our past two busy days that caused us all to go upstairs for an afternoon snooze. I didn’t think I was going to drop off but an hour later when I looked at the clock that was proven wrong.

I tried really hard not to wake my sleeping beauties
The way Clemson curls up on Bill's arm is priceless

Once more we left Clemson in charge again and drove back into Durham to return Rob’s chain saw and thank him for the loaner when we needed it. He is a great friend and is always offering assistance one way or another. They invited us in so we sat and had a lovely afternoon happy hour together. No drinking was involved this time, although the offer was certainly made. We had a nice relaxing chit chat.

Patsy Patsy Quite Contrary, How do your plantings grow?

From there we drove to the Movie Store where I picked up the movie I ordered last week. Yay! Now we have a copy of Bridges of Madison County of our very own. It seems to have brightened up outside, hovering around 55F/13C but the rain at least stopped this morning around 10. I’m still glad I’m not working in the brush today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for it anyway.

*sigh* The chic flick we both love to watch

Once back home, I caught up a bit more on the post, Bill did some banking and Clemson got his supper. On time today, 5 o’clock on the dot. We relaxed for an hour before deciding that I would bake sausage for supper. I was hoping we could barbecue them but we easily opted for this instead, since we were plugged in to electric.

Can you see him?

Now you can!

This has been a good day and the weather has not really dampened any plans. I hope you can say the same. I do believe the bulk of the rain missed us today but wow, are things every growing everywhere we look. I didn’t get many pictures taken today simply because it was dull and wet so I’ll close this up before you fall asleep.

Nice to see the grass greening up as well
I haven't raked this area yet, but I will get rid of the dead grass

Thanks for stopping in today. If you wish to leave a comment, I would love to read it.