Saturday May 30, 2009

Well, we reached (65F) today from a low this morning of (51F). I stayed in bed longer than usually as it kept raining on and off, finally when I got up it had stopped but I took a small umbrella with me just in case as the rain I'd been hearing on the roof wasn't just sprinkling.

I didn't do much today, spent time on the computer, read and had a nap and went for a walk around the campground when the sun finally came out late this afternoon. Here are some photos.

Water droplets on a leaf

Clouds above the horse barn

Boat by the river

Our yard


Since I don't have much going on here's another joke that a friend of mine sent to me titled:

Girl on a Plane

A stranger was seated

next to a little girl on the airplane

when the stranger

turned to her and said,

'Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if

you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly

and said to the stranger,

'What would you like to talk about?'

'Oh, I don't know,' said the stranger. 'How about nuclear power?'

and he smiles.

'OK,' she said.

'That could be an interesting topic'.

But let me ask you a question first.

A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass - .

Yet a deer excretes little pellets,

while a cow turns out a flat patty,

and a horse produces clumps of dried

grass. Why do you suppose that is?'

The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence

thinks about it and says,

'Hmmm, I have no idea.'

To which the little girl replies,

'Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when

you don't know shit?

When I went out for my afternoon walk, I noticed that the campground were supplying hotdogs tonight at 6 p.m. so we decided to go over to see if there was anything Gordon could eat. We usually try to attend at least one food function when we're here in the summer to meet some of the people. It was a good turnout and the hot dogs were good but the homemade carrot cake was great!

Gathering for hot dogs

Friday May 29, 2009

This morning was 17C (62F) cloudy and somewhat humid as I headed out for my walk. Since the skies looked like it may rain any minute, I went three different ways and only a short ways each way but I didn't get wet.

I had decided that I wanted to go to Brockville, Ontario to see my Aunt Ruth today. Last Fall, her family felt that since she had fallen so many times at her apartment that being on her own was no longer something they could live with. Due to her fall she wound up in the hospital until they could place her at a Long Term Care Home. It's a beautiful, new, very clean facility.

We stopped for diesel and filled up at 78.5/litre.

On our way, we stopped at our favourite restaurant in Smiths Falls, The Roosterant for breakfast and met a couple there that we know so we sat with them and caught up on what's happened since the last time we saw them.

Inside the Roosterant


From there we stopped at a little RV park right on the river in the town and had a look at it. It's quite expensive but apparently a monthly price can be 'negotiated'. It's another park where you have to be pumped out. These parks close to the water don't have sewer.

On to see Aunt Ruth. Her Long Term Care Home overlooks the St. Lawrence River so she's back where she started life as her father, my grandfather, ran the waterworks in Morrisburg (east of Brockville about 45 min) and the family lived on the canal bank there. She enjoys looking at the boats on the river.

Myself and my Aunt Ruth

It's always difficult seeing a person that you love get older with the inevitable loss of short term memory as well as health problems and she has indeed succumbed. When we arrived, she knew who we were but not our names and suffice it to say that she is no longer the Aunt Ruth that I've known all my life. There were still traces of her humour but it was a difficult visit (difficult in that it was hard to see her like this).

I had stopped to buy her a plant and selected a little red rose plant in a pot as I know how she loves flowers. I also took her the necklace I made yesterday which she liked and some photos taken during the winter so she has those to look at.

We had some rain driving both ways but it wasn't too bad today and the temperature remained pretty much at 17C (62F) for the day. We even had a couple of showing of snn, brief though they were.

We got home around 3:30 p.m. and Gordon went to make a cup of coffee and the microwave wouldn't work, you push the start button and nothing happens but everything else on it seems to work so we called our dealer and I dug out the paperwork for when we replaced the microwave two years ago in Texas and hopefully it will be under some sort of warranty. It's a Dometic product and each microwave has lasted two years although it's been a different problem both times. Bummer! How do I cook without a microwave?

Thursday May 28, 2009

It wasn't raining when I got up so I got to go for my walk but it was only 11C (51F). The rain didn't start till late morning today. Another cool, dreary day.

After breakfast I decided to brighten my life and got out my jewelry making supplies. There was one necklace (the first one I made) that had come apart and needed to be restrung so I started with that one. Then I made two more. Here are some photos.

This one I made for my Aunt

This is the one I restrung

And a blue one



In between times, I played on the computer, got some computer banking done and read a bit.

Then I lay down to read and woke up about 1 1/2 hours later!

Wednesday May 27, 2009

I woke up to 11C (51F) this morning but it was cloudy and it started to sprinkle during my walk, then got a little heavier so I cut the walk short by a bit. It looks like the next three days will be rainy.

After breakfast I went in to town to pick up some groceries and stuff at the SuperWalmart. I also went to Dollarama where I found some small digital timers for the kitchen for $1.25 each. I had one before and it wore out after about three years but that's not bad for $1.00 which it cost at that time. They, like everything else it seems has gone up in price. Dollarama is no longer 'all things $1.00' but their prices are still pretty good. I was back in time for lunch.

I had bought fixings to make stew as the next few days are going to be cool and rainy so I got that on the stove before laying down to read my book and inevitably, falling asleep.

We had the stew for dinner. It was the right thing to have on this rainy, miserable day.

Tuesday May 26, 2009

My day started out at around 7:30 a.m., 5C (41F), cloudy and windy. It apparently got down to about 2C (36F) last night. This is the coldest spring that I can remember in this area. In fact we usually don't have spring, we go from winter almost directly into summer. Anyway, I had a nice walk since with the cold there were few mosquitoes around.

The rest of the morning I spent on the computer and reading.

I saw this cloud and thought it looked like a calla lily.


We had to go in to Ottawa this afternoon for Gordon's appointment at the dermatologist to check him out for skin cancer. He gets checked once a year as he has had a couple of episodes of basal cell skin cancer. He had a couple of spots on his face treated with liquid nitrogen.

While there we stopped again for a few minutes at Andrew Hayden Park as we were early having gotten through our errands that we needed to do.

Trees in bloom

Bridge in the park

Groundhog

Things are getting very green

Apple blossoms

After the doctor, we headed home.

We did get some sun today but only got up to about 17C (63F).

Gordon updated his web page today, to read it, click here.

Monday May 25, 2009

It was 9C (49F), sunny and windy this morning. The wind was coming right out of the north. I had to put the hood up on my jacket to keep my baseball cap on. I wore my gloves again....on the 25th of May! Here's are some photos of my morning walk.

The end of the road

On the way back to the RV park

Wild strawberry flowers along the road

Pretty canopy of trees over the road

Back on the paved road


The horse barn

Beautiful horses

Back at the RV park

Walking toward the river in the RV park

The RV's across from the river


Going up the hill toward our RV

While I was sleeping Gordon got the Windows part of my Mac working again so I should now be able to run my genealogy software. I also got some programs put back on the PC side so I can synch my PDA. I installed Microsoft Office and my old Streets and Trips software.

Other than that, a nap and a short walk around the RV park, that about made up my day! It never did get too warm today and the breeze was cool all day. The highest I saw was 18C (64F) but it was sunny all day!

My walk around the RV park

Along the river

The Mississippi (Ontario) River

Pretty little blue flowers - no idea what they are

Pretty little violet

Sunday May 25, 2009

It was 14C (58F) and sunny at 8:30 a.m. today, now that's better. I did my walk in a short sleeved T-shirt.

When I went out Shonagh, the female part of the campground ownership was just riding by on her bike so I got a hug from her and we chatted for a few minutes. They always make us feel so welcome.

I always take photos of this tractor when I'm here


After breakfast I sat outside for a while then decided to make potato salad so came in to boil eggs and chop up the potatoes and other ingredients. While that was on I had some black eyed peas here so I cooked them up.

I was intrigued by the Chocolate Mug Cake recipe on Dee's blog last night. Since Gordon can't eat chocolate, I decided to try it as a Gluten Free Butterscotch Mug Cake. I semi melted some butterscotch chips to replace the cocoa, used gluten free flour and it turned out pretty good. It didn't all come out of the mug well but it sure is tasty. I love trying easy things!

I sat outside some more this afternoon, read my book and called my cousin in Brockville to see where my aunt is. She is now in an old age home that's on the water. She's happy there as she grew up on the water and that is apparently where she thinks she is. We have to get down to Brockville and see her now that we're both feeling better.

Pretty flowers around the campground






Couldn't stop myself this afternoon, had to have a nap again! This is getting to be a habit!