Welcome Rains, Friends for Dinner and Double Series

The Ridge

Saturday, Aug. 17^th was the perfect day to sleep in, so we did. It is not unusual that Bill is up past 11 but for me to stay up until 11 is very rare. After ‘To Sir with Love’, to which I did cry, I watched a couple of hours of the 3 ½ hour movie ‘Woodstock, Three Days of Peace, Love and Music’. What an eye opener!

Our loaded crabapple tree for the first time
Obviously, it is loving this weather

I was 14 and a good friend of mine (and a boyfriend for a period in my teens) invited me to go with him and some friends. I was shy, naïve and denied by Mom. That turned out to be a good thing although what an experience it would have been! It was a long movie so I had begun recording it on the get-go.  We’ll watch it together over the winter.

And speaking of apples, the one at the road has great ones
for applesauce
Don't ask me their name though!

So, we got up around 7:30 and made our hot drinks. Even though it wasn’t raining and a beautiful mild morning, I chose not to walk today. How nice it is to see that it had rained a few times overnight without any heavy stuff or storms. Our awnings were out all night. Bill hears them if they flap, he is such a light sleeper. I chatted with Donna by text and got an invite to go swimming at the Hanover pool next week again. Yay, that was fun last time.

My peach banana smoothie - yummy

At 9:30, I made our breakfast of peameal and eggs. We usually cook 3 eggs. Bill has 2. Today, I debated on having 2 on top of my peameal but stuck to my original order since I wasn’t overly hungry yet. When I cracked my egg shell, it was a double! Such strange little things make me chuckle. Guess, I’m having 2! It was good and I offered to do dishes while Bill got ready to go to Hanover. 

So, my dessert started out looking good

 He needed to drop a prescription off in Durham, go to Rona for a sheet of plywood and Zero Coke on sale before picking it up on the way back home. In his absence, I dusted the Suite and reorganized things off our hutch. We have invited company for supper and a later game so I like to have space beside the table available for serving dishes. Someone is going to get first hand instruction on how to cook a one pot meal! 😊

Looks like enough liquid

I/we weren’t expecting outdoor weather today, although more so than the London area according to last night’s forecast on CTV. Because of that, I thought an indoor meal would be nice. 
However, I still went out and wiped the chairs and patio table off and moved them to our mat area. Soon enough, around 11 am, the sun made an appearance. How lovely! The 5 – 10 mph breeze is quite nice coming in the windows too. I can feel humidity in the air.

I wanted to show you the difference from this year to 2016

With the dusting done and meal planning done in my head, I pulled out my last package of frozen rhubarb from the freezer. This has done us well from last summer. Who else to make a rhubarb dessert for if not for the people who provided us with the delicious fruit? By now, you’ve probably guessed who our company is. I puddled around inside and then outside for a quick walk down the lane.

That was the year of the drought and boy was it apparent early September
(ps - the tractors were the reason for the picture)

The sun didn’t last long but we may see it again. Yesterday, while I was inside during the showers, I put together my Word document tallying our 2018/19 winter expenses. I’m happy that I record every penny we spend when we are away. Each year we try to curb/kerb our spending but I record in U.S. dollars so it bounces off the document less than what it would be in Canadian funds. Depending on the exchange, of course. It is what it is.

We had beautiful skies at one point and it got very hot and humid

I want to sit down and put together my book of our travels. I wasn’t as impressed with last years and will revert back to my original format. I won’t do them every year from now on but because last year was special in so many ways, I will try and get one finished in the next month. The dessert was in the convection oven. This is Jo-Anne’s recipe for Rhubarb Custard Crumble. Seems our guests, no matter who they are, are guinea pigs for something!

The pond looked pretty with reflections

Bill had a snooze; he’d not stopped all morning and then a shower. I had a quick wash and changed into something cool and light. Another batch of shingles on my back, right at the waistline makes wearing shorts uncomfortable. Today will be the last day they bother me. I’m so glad that we’ve found a resource for getting the pills and cream. I used to skimp with the prescription, now I’ll just keep stocked up.  I’m taking them more regularly and breakout seems to vanish quicker because of it.

Rob and Pat arrived around 4 and we made short work of our visit immediately. It is such a comfortable feeling with these two, no pretenses, no concerns. The conversation and laughter never ceases in the company of our buddies. We sat outside in the shade of our little tree (the Happy Hour place) and shared a bottle of a delicious fruit wine. Did they make it? I forgot to ask, but we enjoyed it before Pat and I came inside to start supper.

It was a refreshing taste of dark fruits

It was a bit of tutorial for Pat as I related step-by-step how I cook a one-pot meal in Madame IP. We had chicken thighs, small potatoes, carrots and onions with gravy to top it off. For dessert, I’m ashamed to say that the rhubarb custard crumble did NOT turn out. Bless their hearts, when I said I wasn’t serving it to them, they insisted I give them a bit in the dishes so they could be the judges. It wasn’t as horrible as I thought but served it with ice cream – that helped a lot!

Supper is served!

I filled the dishwasher and had used our new dinner plates for the first time. Food tasted just as good! The thighs were perfect as well as everything else. I hope this helps Pat to get her IP into action easier. Sometimes being shown, first hand, is what we need. Kim helped me with mine. We cleared the table and got into a very challenging game of Double Series. We played best out of 10 and the guys came out on top by one game. That was fun!

I either needed more food or smaller plates!
We broke the carb rule tonight with no regrets at all

It sure doesn't look or taste like Jo-Anne's did
LOL
But our guests were gracious

After they left around 9:30 (we’re such night hawks, aren’t we?) Bill and I sat up with our books. Mine is King and Maxwell by David Baldacci and it has caught me right from the start. Bill is reading a Stuart Woods called Dead Eyes. Summer is not his time for reading so he has quite a few to catch up on. I was in bed by 10 and dropped right off to sleep. Work tomorrow so I’m glad I sleep well.

A friendly game among friends

This was a great day, some time to ourselves and then one on one time with our buddies. I hope you enjoyed your Saturday as well.

And a lovely day it was from beginning to end
Toodle-ooh from the Ridge

Thank you for your visit today!

Chilly Morning, Great Hike, Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, Slow Afternoon, Fun Evening

I don’t know what it is that makes you dream for nights on end and then you get a lull of peaceful sleep for even more nights. At least that happens to me. Last night, or early this morning I had very vivid dreams until I woke up at 6:30. I was so relieved to be able to find Bill’s hand by my pillow on Monday, Dec. 3^rd. He was absent in my dream, making it even more weird since I was with the CanAm group.

Pretty sky to the north

and to the east

southeast - just gorgeous!

We were up out of bed by 6:45 and had a tea and coffee together. I’d read blogs last night so caught up on the few new ones this morning. The clouds were heavy first thing but ‘pretty in pink’ as we opened the blinds. Clemson was up soon after so went out and did his business. This meant that after our drinks were done, we were able to bundle against the brisk 47F and go for a walk together. Bill was keen to walk and we invited Rob to join us. He walks anyway so may as well have company.

Heading off towards the Hand

My walking partners

It was a different path we took today but a great workout again. Down, around, along some beautiful red rocks with animal caves and then back up again. The old heart was sure pumping and we stopped a couple of times for a breather. Next time, we’ll go back to the water reservoir and we’ll take Kleenex and water. You never know how long you’ll be once you get out there.

We love the colours
That is actually green right in the middle of the photo

Wonder who lives up there?

Today, we didn’t take any chances, like Jill and I did 2 years ago. We had plans to be on the road into town at 10:30 so headed back in good time to have our bacon and egg breakfast and get dishes and ourselves cleaned up. The sun was persistent, yay! and finally, the clouds moved off somewhere. Wherever clouds go. I guess they dissipate into the sky since I don’t see them sitting on the mountain tops.

A fork in the road - hmmm, we went to the left (closer to home base)

I chatted a bit with Donna on text this morning and she sent an email with a couple of pictures yesterday. My Christmas cactus back home has decided to flower this year! Donna is plant sitting it for me and last year it did nothing so I’m happy about that. On Dec. 1^st she helped Mom decorate her room at Rockwood and sent a picture of that too. Not only are the decorations lovely but Mom looks so beautiful and happy.

Climbing the steep hill, I kept my eyes on the ground and the feet ahead of me

A nourishing breakfast
I'm enjoying the salsa on my eggs

At 10:30 we left Clem in charge and Rob dropped Pat and I at Hobby Lobby. I’ve been in one before but knew Pat wanted to browse so took more time checking things out. They have a lot of nice things, it is similar to a Michael’s store back home in London. Pat steered me towards downloading the free app and it got me 40% off one item today. I found a couple of wire wreath frames for under $3 and a couple more paint colours at 30% off. She has created a monster with the crafts! 😊

Happy Hour

We walked to Big Lots! along the strip and then a quick pop into the 99¢ store. The boys were back from checking out the Classic car sales and getting propane. Too bad the propane was right beside Dunkin’ Donuts. LOL I was happy with my purchases and we didn’t need to go anywhere else. Rob drove us back to our site and I made myself a coffee before settling outside with my book. The sun felt nice as long as the wind remained minimal. I had to be seated in the perfect spot.

My Christmas cactus is blooming at home
Thanks sis for looking after it for me!

Bill poured me a diet ginger ale and came outside for a while. Soon, Rob and Pat brought their chairs over for an early Happy Hour. The air gets cooler still around 4 so we get our outside chats taken care of around 3 instead. We made plans for a game of Double Series after supper so went our separate ways around 4:30. Bill lit the Weber to warm up the 2 pcs. of leftover pollock we brought home from Black Bear Diner. I put salad out on our plates inside and we were eating by 5 and cleaned up by 5:30.

Mom in her decorated room and red sweater
She looks so relaxed, doesn't she?

For some reason, our batteries were reading low so we made use of the new generator we’d bought last winter and fixed this summer. Bill started it to get the batteries up at a more comfortable reading. I snuck outside to get a picture of the sunset and it was just going down behind the mountains. Supper was good but of course the fish wasn’t as good as the night we had it in the restaurant. Oh well, a nice easy meal, regardless.

supper hit the spot tonight

We walked over to Rob and Pat’s around 6:30 and taught them how to play the game. Soon enough we were all playing it comfortably and the boys beat the gals 5 games to 4 so a close challenge. 

A little embibing - a reward sip for each "Good girl!" from my partner

The game was a challenge and fun

We packed it up and walked back home around 9ish and read our books for a while. By 9:30 Clemson was dancing his jig trying to tell me that it was time to go to bed. That meant ‘time for you to come to bed with me, Mom’, so I took my book up and read for 15 minutes until I was ready to sleep. Don’t even think that he controls us!

And the sun set on another great day in Paradise

It was a fun day and one to be repeated down the road, I’m sure. I hope you had a great one as well. Thanks for reading along!