Busy Day! Mom Time, Candle Wax, Hair Colour, Acreage Visit

My working husband was up to the alarm at 5:15 and in the shower immediately on Thursday, June 28^th. I remained in bed staying out of the way, not wanting to be a distraction. That’s how he forgets things. At 6, he crept up onto the bed and gave me my kiss and hug goodbye. See you tomorrow, sweetie! I remained in bed with Clemson, who rejoined me after Bill let him out, until 6:30 when I got up. Snuggle bum stayed put for another hour.

I love these bright yellow fields
Is it mustard?

It was cloudy and a wee bit sprinkly when Bill left and there was some low-lying fog out on the country roads. I admonished that Bill drive safely as I always do. I made my tea since it wasn’t a good morning to walk so early and sat in my chair and read the West-Grey News Week. There was a nice article on the back of the Crossword puzzle page about the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre in Owen Sound and my sister , Wendy, was featured.  That is kinda cool!

Here's a better picture

When the sun popped up from the east around 8:30, I turned the inverter on and unplugged us from electric. Now, as I type there are only tell-tale signs of the clouds hugging the horizon. It is already 67F/19.5C at 10:30 which is a true indication of what we can expect today. I will pull the blinds to half mast but leave the windows open for now. I don’t care to use the a/c unless I have to. I got washed and cleaned up and had a glass of my peanut butter/banana smoothie.

As if the beautiful aroma wasn't enough.........

I’d received a gift from our friend, Pat’s, daughter, Sandra a few weeks ago. It was a Charmed Aroma candle. I placed it in our bathroom in the Suite and would burn it on occasion, when I knew we would be home and not forget about it. Now this morning, as I’m down to the last inch and a half of melted wax, I discover the ‘charmed’ part of this gift. In tightly wrapped foil is a little plastic bag with a gorgeous ring. I’m tickled that Sandra thought of me. I love it!

Stunning!

At 10:40 I took the bag of purged items from yesterday’s organizing and drove into Durham to visit Mom. I’m thinking we might be able to sit outside today if she wants. She wasn’t in her room, her door was closed so I cleaned off her white board (we all sign in with our name and date of our visit) and signed for today. I always check the halls as I walk in but hadn’t seen her so went on a ‘Mom chase’.

She's so pretty in her blues and her necklace

She thought this was funny and tried to scrunch down

I found her coming out of a sitting room near the nurse's station and her face lit up. “Good thing you found me because I was thinking I was lost!” She should write for Hallmark, she is such a card. We walked back to her room and some confusion set in but we talked past it to other things. Talking about her 'boyfriends' she asked if Daddy had passed and was that why she had so many men in her life. Interesting that she ask that now because it was 23 years ago today, exactly, that we lost him. At one point, she mentioned her address book so I opened her night table drawer in search of it.

Reliving her days in the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force)

Instead, I found her Autograph book from 1940! OMG! If I knew she had this, I’d forgotten and we started at the beginning. Here is where Mom shines. The names she was reading off the pages were bringing back instant memories of her friends from all those years ago. 

How I remember our Autograph books
Unfortunately, as a teenager, I never kept mine
I just didn't think of that!

The more she thought about them, the more the memories faded so we just continued to flip the pages. She enjoyed telling me ‘she was our Flight Attendant’ or ‘we used to call her Pug’ and even ‘oh, we had a nickname for Harold L. Bancroft too, what was it?’

All too soon, it was 10 to 12, her lunch time so we promised each other to go through them again starting at the back next time. I took her down to the Main Floor and got her seated at her table. Numerous hugs and kisses later, we waved “don’t say goodbye, say ‘see you later’s”. I stopped to say Hello and wish Aunt Mary a nice lunch before making my exit. Mom’s arm was still in the air when last I turned to check, in between the front doors.

this was one of my favourite entries
written by Mom's Mom, my Grandma

I’m sure all my sisters feel the same as I do when we leave Mom. Full, full of her outpouring of love. Lately, there have been more good days and if we don’t dwell on her spells of confusion, they seem to pass quickly. Mom is receiving a visitor this afternoon from a Legionnaire. I didn’t know they did this but Donna said it was all set up. Mom will like that. She is dressed to impress too in her ‘blues’ as she calls them. I was happy to see her in her new denim dress pants and a white blouse. She looked lovely.

I drove uptown and easily found a parking spot for Black Beauty even though it was just past noon hour. I walked to Rethreads and dropped the donation bag off to the ladies. Then it was home for me. I could feel the heat closing in and had a couple of things to take care of at home. After greeting Mr. Sleepyhead and thanking him for a job well done, I swept the floors while drinking another glass of my smoothie. They are quite filling and tasty too.

Got the gloves on and Daddy's old plaid shirt

In the bathroom I prepared for the first chore. My hair roots are looking pretty silvery so I wanted to get that taken care of. Bill isn’t keen on helping me with this process so I’ve gotten pretty good at doing it myself. Setting my mind to it is the hardest part of it all. With my hair in a plastic hair net for 25 minutes, I noticed that I still had some recipes sitting on the island, yet to make.

all ready to start

The top one was for the Easiest Coconut Oil Fudge you’ll ever make. Quite the name, huh? I’ve made it before and it is easy and it is good. The best part is that it contains 3 ingredients, 4 if you count the vanilla, and natural ingredients. So, I made it up in 10 minutes and put it in the fridge to harden.

hardening in the fridge
I actually added a few walnuts that the recipe didn't call for

At 2, my time was up so back up to the bathroom I went and rinsed. Now that my hair just needs to dry, I moved on to project #3. I lit the Weber Q and set up to begin a new challenge. I have all these free candles from the garage sale I went to a while back and the wind is down today, so a good day to melt wax outside. 

a box of old candles

Melting on the Weber

Sawdust shavings in the egg cups

My home made pouring apparatus

almost ready to pour

Interesting how this looks like a cherry dessert

First, I need everything together: wax paper, egg cartons, sawdust shavings, candles, broiler pan, stir stick. I wasn't able to finish them, needing to let the wax harden around the shavings before I wrap them in the paper. 

That was a messy job, but also an easy thing to clean up off an old table. The dilemma of how I get the hot wax from the broiler pan onto my sawdust shavings was answered easily thanks to Bill. He had cut the top off of a jug in the recycle bin for something. So, with an empty Kraft peanut butter jar, it worked like a charm. I did two batches and still have enough candles left for two more. There will be plenty of fire starters when I finish the meltdown. Yay!

I have two trays that need to be cut and wrapped and 36 egg cup starters to wrap

I do believe I accomplished everything on my list today and that feels great. I even managed to finish The Escape before 5. What a great book! Clemson and I walked down the lane but there was no mail today. Donna and Gerry arrived at the Acreage after lunch and were busy cutting grass and trimming. Wow, that is a hot job today! They only have weekends to do this stuff so at least they got some of it out of the way today before it gets hotter. Maybe in the early morning I’ll dig my mower out of the shed and cut my part of the lawn.

simple but delish

After feeding Clemson, I made plans to drive over to the Acreage for a short visit tonight. They had an early supper so after I fried up some bacon and potatoes and did the dishes, Clem and I headed down the road. 

thank you Mom for letting me sit with you

Hard to know, when it is 80F now, what to wear over there. It will likely drop off quickly so needed to either change into warmer clothes or at least take something to slip on overtop. I’ll be driving tonight so won’t be taking anything potent like my beer margaritas! I'll stick to water. 

Their beautiful pond and reflections

Clemson felt quite honoured to be riding in the driver's seat with me on the way over. First time he seemed to enjoy the wind in his face.

The outside is quaint

Donna showing me changes to the Hilton cabin

I was killing myself laughing over the antics of these two
pumping up the boat
I think the conversation should have been X-rated!

On the way home, the sunset is in our rearview mirrors

This has been a fantastic day and I’ve chatted with my sweetie, long distance, a few times. His day was a good one as well and ended shortly after 5 pm. I hope you can say the same for your day as we all approach this Canada Day long weekend.

Good night all!

Thank you for taking the time to stop in. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated.

Saturday Preps, Tire Fix, Hair Touchup, Disappointing Responses and Gale Force Winds

On Friday, May 4^th we were up around 6:30 and I was pleased that the sore muscles in my back had pretty much eased. I dislike taking pain medication to be mobile but found it was necessary yesterday at least. We had our coffee and tea together and did some reading on our laptops. We talked about the day’s plans and of course, as always, discussed the weather for the next couple of days. Today, we are looking at some rain, clouds, high winds but a high of 23C/72F and then a nice sunny Saturday.

eggs don't look too bad

I want to make a couple of snacks for our clothing exchange tomorrow although now that we have received some disappointing responses from the London gang, we won’t need as much to eat. Seems like many of our guests are dropping off like flies so the turn out will be small. We will still enjoy ourselves and the company of others in attendance.  I suggested to one of the girls that we need to hold another exchange up here in the fall so they can all make it. Besides Bill won’t mind if there is food leftover for me to bring home!

No-bake Macaroons

Bill wanted to replace the tube in our tractor tire as well as a couple of other jobs that were on his list. Anyway, he will find things to busy himself. I also have a job to finish down the lane, even if it just means moving the snipped brush cuttings off more to the side. Picking up wet trimmings doesn’t sound too pleasant but Black Beauty has a tight squeeze getting through the way it is. If it clears, I'll get out there.

First, I boiled 8 eggs for devilled eggs and while they were cooling, I began making the chocolate macaroons that turned out so well last time. The recipe makes 4 or 5 dozen! Holy moly! I cut back to the lesser quantities and it still made 60 cookies. They are in the fridge to harden. I’ll only take a portion tomorrow. Okay, now to finish the eggs.

the old inner tube had a hole

Today, I had the worst time peeling the darn things. Grrr! Sometimes they peel easily and others it is a fight and they end up all scarred. I’ve heard and read all the tricks and tips: not to use fresh eggs, peel them cold, peel them warm, blah blah blah. I can’t help it if the eggs are too fresh, they are all I’ve got in the fridge! So, I finally completed 16 little ‘devils’ and at least they will taste good. That is the only consolation, no matter what their boats look like. They look like little boats before I fill them.

With everything cleaned up, at 10 I took Bill a coffee and asked when to start breakfast. At 10:30 we were eating bacon and eggs and cleaned up the dishes soon after. Bill called H.H. to see if our rain barrel had arrived on the delivery truck today and it had so he drove into Durham with the truck. 

My first wagon load

After he left, I put my gloves on and took my wagon down the lane and gathered the branches and long twigs. It took 3 trips but now all that is left are the wet leaves I raked up. I’ll get those once it stops raining and dries them out. The rain had stopped and the sun made a few appearances.

His little leg was curled up so I moved him so he could straighten it out

Bill returned and put the spigots/taps in our new flat rain barrel. It’s a beaut! I took a couple of pictures of that and then of my daffodils in full bloom and tulips in the shovel on the hill. This is the best part about spring, watching stuff I’ve planted come to life. Oh! Guess who I saw! I was so excited to see Yert Jr. when I was picking up the twigs! He wasn’t more than 3” long and just adorable. So, this means they are starting to move and our signs will now remind us to go slow.

He had no fear and never once put his head in his shell

I came inside and worked on colouring my gray roots. Yeuch. Now with the short hair, they are more visible. May as well get that taken care of on a day like this. The wind has picked up and although it is still looking bright out there, the rain and the sun are fighting in the sky. At least it isn’t a wash out, yet. Bill closed up the shed after a 1 minute downpour and came inside. Then it stopped and started and so on for the remainder of the day. But it remained very warm.

I only have one daffodil plant but it is so pretty

When at 1 pm we noticed the mail-lady stopping at our box, Bill chanced it and walked down to retrieve it while I hopped in the shower to rinse my hair.. Clemson went out but dawdled so much that Bill was almost down and back before he got to the gravel. The mail was not what we were expecting so we made contact once more with Al at Ford. This is getting ridiculous.

Should work great!

The next project Bill wanted to tackle was the replacement lock mechanism for our front door. Peggy had ordered it for us when we were in London and we were lucky that it was covered under warranty and we didn’t have to pay a dime. It will be nice to have a combination lock again and even better to have a remote! While he set to doing that, I started preparing meat loaf for supper. Another inside meal but one that we love.

Bill finished the door lock but it wasn’t easy fighting the wind as he tried to attach the lock. The wind was so strong the door had to be held intact as he worked. 

Testing the new code

At least the rain continued to remain at bay. By 3 pm we felt we were full in the throes of the front moving through mid-western Ontario. Up here on the Ridge puts us in a prime target position but to our benefit the winds were southwesterly, hitting the Suite from the nose. We were certainly rocking a lot and it got scary.

Old lock
The keypad no longer worked

New lock

For a couple of hours, we felt concerned especially after hearing a crash outside and seeing our patio table and chairs had completely toppled over. That is the second (and last) glass top patio table that has shattered on us. What a mess that will be to clean up. The umbrella went with it, of course, landing on my bird bath and breaking the solar light at the peak. Two of our patio chairs are over the hill and caught up in the trees, so at least not in the pond. Looking for the silver lining here.

And the table and umbrella were flipped

Notice how the metal screws were snapped right off
This will be added to our metal pile
Surprising how this glass remained intact

one chair over the edge

and here is the second one
thank goodness for the trees down there, we will be able to retrieve them

By 4:30 things seemed a bit calmer but rain started lightly and as soon as we think things are better, the wind switches and by 5:15 it is belting in gusts now from the northwest corner. It could be an interesting evening. 

The pond almost has waves

And the pond and the sky look angry

I can only hope our power remains so I can cook supper. I knew there was a reason to plan an inside meal and at 5:30 I decided to take a chance and pop the meatloaf in the oven. The outdoor temperature dropped from 72F/22C to a chill 42F/5C in a two-hour period.

Ready for the oven

Ready for me to eat

I peeled some potatoes and will cook corn for Bill and cauliflower for me. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. When the convection oven beeped at completion, I had the potatoes mashed but the meatloaf was not quite done. Another 15 minutes at a higher temperature did the trick and it was a very comforting meal. We cleaned up the dishes and out the window, I could see lighter skies on the horizon to the west. That shows promise for tomorrow as does the forecast. Fingers crossed.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Thinking of the cleanup outside tomorrow morning, we settled into a quiet evening. I’m happy the wind has let up some (which should be quoted as ‘let down’, don’t you think?) as we should both be able to sleep without a worry. I know the wind storm has been prominent everywhere today so by no means do I mean to imply we are the only ones battling the gusts. We hope everyone is doing okay in your area and have experienced no personal upset because of it.

this was a beautiful reward after the day we had

And finally a calm evening sunset
Good night!

I love that you have stopped in today and I do love hearing from you. Please feel free to drop a line, I will read and respond as time allows.