Summers Over

Hard to believe summer is over.  Well not officially but the children returning to school is always the start.  Miles is starting high school this year and is really enjoying it.  He is trying out for the football team but from the sounds of it, they try not to turn anyone away.

My niece, Liz came over on the weekend.  She always seems to come when we are eating something good.  We are not big fish eaters but since everyone has become uber healthy, we bought some sardines.  I love grilled sardines.  Hugh gutted them and stuck them on sticks and onto the barbie!  Of course we had to do some shrimp and scallops also.  It was delicious.  I am amazed how everyone loves seafood, I wouldn't touch it when I was their age!

I had also bought some pizza/bread dough.  Though in the end it turned out to be more pizza dough.  I wanted to make the Chinese buns we used to buy downtown on Baldwin St.  The bakery seems to have shutdown and I am having withdrawal symtoms for some fried rice buns.  So I made some curried beef and Detta had made some fried rice.  We made the buns and baked the buns.  They turned out more like Pizza Pockets.  We all enjoyed them and I sent a few home with Liz and a vegie one for her sister.  I will have to try and make proper bread dough and give it a go again.

Vacation time

Oh, I am so glad it is Friday.  It has been a very long and slow day.  It just is not very busy between terms.  But next week I am off with the family.  We are camping for our 4th year in a row.  Everyone is really looking forward to it though I think a few people will miss the wifi.

Picked some books up at the library.  I really must find Detta's kobo.  I am sure it is on my desk but there is a foot high of "stuff", I mean "very important stuff" on it.  My four books consist of 2 hardback and 2 paperbacks.  If only I could find the kobo I could have downloaded these books and it would have been much lighter.  Then again I do have a google tablet, I am just not very good at using this technology.  My children just laugh at me!  The bunny did eat the power cable, anyways that is my excuse!

August Long Weekend

Had a wonderful long weekend.  We spent Friday & Saturday at Anne & Al's cottage in the county.  Went to Sandbanks Provincial Park on Saturday, it was quite busy.  The waves were great but it was not particularly hot and it was too windy for the umbrellas, hence sitting in the shade.

Upon leaving the beach, Lizzy announced that we had to find a chip wagon.  She was in the mood for chips which made us all hungry.  Not too far up the road we found a fabulous chip wagon called Urban Herb on the Curb.  They had seasoned fries and sweet potato fries which were delicious.  The chips were served up with mayonnaise sauces, even a horse radish one!  Well worth the stop!

There was also a movie marathon of Harry Potter.  We almost made it to the end of #6.  I think I will have to go and buy the set.  Everyone really enjoyed watching the movies.

But unfortunately on Saturday, something broke in the septic tank.  The neighbour came over and told Al.  Anne and Al spent all day fixing the problem.  But they were all cleaned up by the time we came back from the beach.

Hugh, the boys and I headed back to Toronto on Sunday.  Detta stayed with Anne, Al and the girls till Tuesday.  She had a great time going out for Thai food, kayaking and shopping.  We spent the rest of the weekend just lying around and relaxing.

Miles' New Job

My little boy has a job!!  Well Miles is 13 now but he is doing dishes at a local restaurant.  Probably about 5-6 hours a week.  Miles is so chuffed about it.  But he is going to miss Thanksgiving dinner today at my sisters.  The prospect of earning some cash is hard to resist.  Last winter he would grab the shovel and head out to all the neighbours to clear their driveways.  Miles made $90 one Sunday!  Now we just have to find Detta another job.

Weight Watchers Week 13/14

I think I am in week 14 but I have been so busy. The past week was not good. I have been on a yo-yo for the past couple of weeks and this must stop. I made some 0 points soup last night for the next four days. Lots of mushrooms, spinach and green onions plus I used beef stock for a change - low sodium, of course. I had a good day yesterday, even though I had Chinese food.

Hugh is steadily losing which is good. We need to be exercising more but I am very busy or either that, I am so tired. If the weather would get better, Donovan and I would go to the park.

Weightwatchers Week 12

Week 12 started out pretty bad but I have stayed on track the past two days. Back to my skinny bagels and cream cheese (low fat of course). I added some tomato the past couple of mornings.


Tonight I am going to make Bok Choy Skillet Supper. It has mushrooms, tomatos, shallots, bulgur and bok choy, of course. I don't know what the children will eat but I am sure they won't want to try the Bok Choy. I will give it a try though.

Hugh and I did some exercise this morning, finally, I managed to drag myself out of bed. I feel invigorated for it though. We followed the Low-cardio power walking by the Biggest Losers. It was 16 minutes of constant moving. A friend at the library recommended it. I can see myself doing this every day.

Sea Cadets

Last week Miles received his uniform for Sea Cadets. We had the badges put on and he wore his uniform for the first time to Sea Cadets. I just love the hat. He even has a shirt under the jacket, it looks like something a sailor would wear with the square neck. The Sea Cadet unit provided everything even the boots. Miles also has a gym outfit he can wear.

What's On for Knitting - April

April seems to be a busy month for knitting events.  Here are three events that I am going to take part in.

April 9 - Durham Spring Yarn Crawl - you need to be on Ravelry to see this, it's part of the Durham Region Knit & Crochet & Fibre group.  But for those of you who want to take part, the following shops are participating:  Never Enough Wool (Port Perry); On the Lamb (Uxbridge); Soper Creek Yarns (Bowmanville); Fergusons (Myrtle Station) and The Kniterary (Whitby).  From what I have heard, you can get discounts at some of the stores.  It will be nice to get out and about.  My two sisters, Joan and Kath are hopefully going to do this with me.

April  15-16 - Creativ Festival - costs $15.00 to get in.  Look at their website because there are lots of mini courses to take for free.  This event is being held at the International Centre in Mississauga. I am going on the Friday with my sister, Joan.

April 30/May 1 - Knitters Frolic - costs $5.00 to get in, plus there are classes to sign up for (but at a cost).  This event is held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.  I don't know if anyone is going with me but I will go on my own.

Sisters

It is so nice to have all my sisters close by.  I saw Joan on Saturday for a cup of tea and showing her my new hairdo.  Detta and I went to Church on Sunday but we were very early so dropped by Kath's house first.  It was nice to have a chat together before Church.  Then today I was working at Anne's for the morning so we popped out and she treated me to breakfast.  I consider myself very lucky to have such nice and unique relationships with all my sisters.

New Dos

I forgot to mention Detta and I both had our hair done on Saturday.  I have gone for a really short style where as Detta has added red to hers.  That girl is starting to cost a lot for hair and she looks so grown up!!!!!  We stopped by Joan's to show her our new dos

Spotted Touch-Me Not

Today, Hugh and I wanted to have a look down the east side of Lynde Shores Conservation Area.  We had been told by friends, that when walking their dog, they saw a snake and a turtle.  So we set off today to see what we could find.  The children were most relecutant to come out with us.  The path was a paved one, we were not expecting it to be so developed.  There seemed to be no access to Lynde Shores from the east side, in fact most of it was fenced off.  We did see a frog or toad jump through the grass but we were unable to catch it.  We think it was a Leopard frog

We walked along and down to the lake by the Ontario Shores Hospital.  There are very large rectangular cement blocks for stopping shore erosion and big boulders.  The boys had a great time walking along.  They dragged Hugh out to see a cave they found.

We found a spot with some picnic tables.  I spotted this little flower growing amongst these boulders.  On closer inspection I realised it was an orchid.  It was very tiny and very orange.  I did pick one flower so that I could look it up in my book when I came home.  Of course after I found it in my wild flower book, it said to never pick!  Well now I know.

It is called a Spotted Touch-Me Not or the Orange Jewelweed.  The latin name is Impatiens capensis.  This plant is found near poison ivy and the juice from it's crushed stems can soothe the itching.  We didn't find much else, at least not today. Note: I didn't take these pictures, I will have to go back during the week to get some pictures

The Latest

Well everyone is home from camp.  Detta would have liked to stay longer, maybe next year.  Miles and Donovan are glad to be home.  Miles has gone xbox mad and Donovan has started playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.  Detta has spent lots of time watching movies off YouTube.  Two weeks with no tv or electronic games can be an eternity. 

Today Miles and Detta both went to Wonderland with different friends.  I am glad they were able to go.  That is one place I am not really interested in going especially with my sore feet.  Speaking of which, I went to the doctor today and explained my foot/heel pain issue.  One of my sisters told me about plantar fasciitis which I had never heard of.  It seems she was suffering from this also, only she knew what it was.  I have been suffering from this heel pain on and off (more on) for about 6 years.  I had put it down to the cermanic tiles in the house we moved to and being overweight.  Anyways I had my feet xray'd today to check for heel spurs and I have a referral for a foot doctor.  Maybe the pain will be over soon.

I have been knitting some socks but with all this heat I just haven't had the energy.  But I did sign up for a community yard sale with Creative Yarns Inc.  I have sorted through loads of yarn.  I have been very ruthless, I just can't keep all this yarn.  I have found two beautiful cotton sweators that I knit when I was much smaller.  One of them just needs sewn up and the other only needs an edge knit and then sewn up.  Tomorrow, I am going to sort patterns and books that I no longer need.  The community Yard Sale is this Saturday, July 24th from 8:30am to 1:00pm.  It is at 269 Ellesmere Rd or here is Google Map Link.  10% of everything I sell will go to the Cancer Society of Canada.

Frogs!! And Toads

This is from last week, Donovan and his sister caught a Leopard Frog down at the pond in the park.  He was very excited about the frog.  We took the frog back to the pond later that day.  Here are a couple of pictures.

The children are off to camp for two weeks.  The first thing Donovan did was check the little mud pond for frogs.  He found some!!  I was informed that they are Green frogs.












I shouldn't forget the toad that hopped into the church picnic on last weekend of June.  It was an American Toad.  We were just finishing the watermelon eating contest when the toad hopped into our midst.  I really think it made Donovan's day.

The Birthday Party

Donovan's party was a great success.  He was so excited all morning, the time just didn't pass quick enough.  We spent the morning tidying up and blowing up balloons.  Setting the table which we discovered we really couldn't fit 12 people around as our chairs take up too much space.  And then it started to pour with rain so we wouldn't be able to have the pinata outside!

Then finally at 1pm, everyone showed up.  They all had a great time dancing for the first 15 minutes, then the pizza arrived.  Of course everyone seemed to want cheese pizza and we had pepperoni mostly but it all worked out.  There were even leftovers for Miles.  Finally the people from Sciensational Sssnakes!!.  Once they were set up, the children all trooped downstairs for the informational part of the show.  We had been told that they would do a talk first, but as they did their talk, they continually brought out different snakes (there was one turtle).  The last snake was a huge boa constrictor.  At this point, they passed the boa constrictor to some of the children and brought out at

least 3 or 4 other snakes.  The children were all ohh-ing, ahh-ing and lots of giggling.  There were lots of different snakes: milk snakes, corn snakes, an Ontario Water snake, a ball python, an Eastern hog nosed snake.  I took so many pictures.  Donovan was just so excited.  This was really worth it, if you are interested in snakes.  The children had lots of fun getting the boa constrictor twisted around them.  I think Detta liked the boa constrictor.

Once the Sciensational Sssnakes packed up, the children had the pinata.  Hugh held it on a stick so it could be hit.  Donovan was the first one to give it a good whack and the pinata broke on the second hit.  I am sure the children didn't mind as it was stuffed with lots of toy reptiles and candy.  Then everyone came back upstairs for cake.  Donovan loved the cake.  Some of the children even had a second piece.  And now it was time for everyone to go home.  YEAH.

Once everyone left, Donovan opened his presents.  He received some really nice presents and money.  Lucky boy.

Getting Ready for the Big Party

We are putting things together now.  Hugh took the day off and we went shopping for more candy, toys, party snacks and a few assorted things.  I am so glad he was available, I don't think I could have done all this by myself.

I made the pinata last weekend, in the shape of a snake.  It is painted and today Hugh helped me put the tissue paper on.  But first I filled it with lots of toy reptiles - snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators and candy, of course.  The pinata is not any particular snake, Hugh thinks it looks like a hairy caterpillar.  I think it looks great, quite the masterpiece but the glue is going to take a while to dry.  The tissue side is actually the bottom as that is how the pinata will look when it is hanging up.


Meanwhile Hugh was also mixing up the cakes.  We made two chocolate bundt cakes.  Once they were cooled we cut them in half and fit them together like a snake.  Hugh trimmed the head and tail.  The cake is delicious, I suggested we add some chocolate chips for that extra chocolate taste.  Then I iced the cake with chocolate icing,it didn't look much like a snake at this point if you know what I mean.  But I got out the smarties and small ju-jubes and started decorating.  It is a ju-jube diamond back snake cake.  It looks great with the candies on it.  Hugh put together this really big box so we could put it away in a safe spot, ready for tomorrow.

Gr 8 Grad Trip

Detta's hair looks great.  She won't need to wash it for a few days.  I am going to have to try and have Detta let me do her hair.  It is just too expensive to be running to the hairdresser to have it straightened.

I dropped her off at the crack of dawn this morning.  Her Gr. 8 class is off on their graduation trip to Ottawa.  All the girls seemed to pack these enormous suitcases for 3 nights.  I can't even begin to imagine what they have packed but I think they are going to have a great time.  So it is just me and the boys for the next few days.

Getting ready for RDA

I was at Ryerson today.  I signed up for the workshop on RDA (Resource Description & Access).  It looks very interesting, not that I am cataloguing much these days.  The event was put on by the Canadian Library Association.  There were a lot of interesting people there.

It was a long day though.  I forgot my cheque book when I was parking so I had to rush home to get it and missed the train.  I took the GO Train into Toronto.  Then of course I lost my ticket when I got to the station in Toronto so I had to buy another one on the way home.

Hugh took Detta to have her hair done once again.  She had it straightened again.  Tomorrow Detta is off on her Gr. 8 graduation trip for four days.  I thought it might be nice for her to have her hair straigthened for the next few days.

Zoo Visit

Today Donovan and I went to Toronto Zoo.  Miles had some buddies overnight and I think Donovan needed some distraction.  Donovan wanted to join in with the older boys and they didn't want him.  So the two of us headed off to the zoo.  The weather seemed poor so I brought along rain ponchos.

The zoo had the new carousel running so Donovan wanted to give it a try.  Of course he had to sit on a reptile.  The snake seat was a bit boring so he chose an iguana.  It is really beautiful, quite a work of art.  I can see that is something we are going to have to try everytime we go to the zoo.  We had a visit to Stingray Bay, where not only touched the stingrays but the sharks also.  The sharks have very rough skin.  Then it was off to the Australasia Pavilion to see the reptiles.  We took the zoomobile and had the grand tour of the zoo.  Of course Donovan had convinced me to buy him some reptile toys so we were playing with them while we waited for the zoomobile to set off.  The rain had still

not given up at this point and was drizziling.  We toured around the pavilion looking at the reptiles and other animals.  From there we headed towards the Caribou Cafe and grabbed some lunch.

We walked towards the Americas Pavilion.  On the way there was an opening of a new garden celebrating Aboriginal beliefs.  Donovan didn't want to stick around so we continued to walk.  We had a great time looking at all the snakes, other reptiles and amphibians.  We saw a sign for the snake keeper to be onsite at 2:30 so Donovan and I decided to hang around.  We had about 30 minutes to wait.  By now the sun was beating down and it was very hot.  The snake keeper did not turn up at 2:30 so after waiting we decided to head out.  I was a little ahead of Donovan and all of sudden he came running after me that someone was coming with a box with bags in it that were moving so back we went.

Well it really was worth the wait.  The snake keeper brought out a Guyanese Red-tailed Boa Constrictor.  It had a beautiful red tail.  The keeper let a member of the audience hold him and all the children swarmed around him to touch it.  Then she brought out a Eastern Fox Snake.  This snake is native to Ontario, it is a constrictor snake.  She let Donovan hold this snake first.  He was very pleased, it is quite a big snake.  Then other people had a turn to hold on to the snake.  After a bit she asked if Donovan would like to hold on to the other snake, the Guyanese red-tailed boa constrictor.  The snake had been in his bag for a while and she was concerned about him getting too hot.  So Donovan was the only other person allowed to hold on to this snake.


The keeper didn't want may people holding or touching this snake as he was new to being on display.  Donovan was very pleased.  I held him for a bit also.  The keeper didn't want to be carrying two snakes so she let Donovan take the Eastern Fox Snake to hold.  He helped the keeper put the Eastern Fox Snake in his bag.

As we were talking to the keeper, Michelle, I mentioned that we were probably going to buy a corn snake for Donovan.  She said that she owned two corn snakes.  Michelle invited us back to the Americas kitchen and gave Donovan a snake shedding from the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Patrick.  It is big, much bigger than any of the other sheddings he has.  We also were given a bunch of porcupine needles.


It was a great afternoon, one that I don't think Donovan will forget too quickly.

Detta's Graduation

Detta's graduation was on Thursday. It has been days in preparation. The day of the great frog rescue was the start with Detta and I having pedicures. Then the following Monday, Detta had her first facial. A lot of firsts this week. Thursday finally comes around and here I am thinking I can have a nice line in and Detta says when are we getting my nails done! And I still need a handbag!!

We headed off to the same place we had the pedicures and Detta had a French manicure with gel nails. They look really good, I may just have to get some myself. We set off for the Bay to look for a handbag. The Bay didn't have the one Detta really wanted, we should have bought it weeks ago but there was a small clutch she liked. And then after a quick bite at McD's we headed to get our hair done!! Detta had her hair straightened and an updo. I had a trim also, it is so nice and cooler.

I dropped by the school to help set up the food tables but there really wasn't much for me to do. The other mums had everything under control. So I just went home made some pierogies for Detta. Detta put her make up and was ready to go.

The graduation started with all the students walking in. There were a lot of presentations and to our surprise Detta was recognized for having an above 80 average for two terms. Hugh and I hadn't realized how well Detta was doing in school. They played a video which had their student picture and a baby picture of them and there was also a music video to a song by the Black Eyed Peas, "x". At the end one of the students played the song by Green Day, "The Time of our Life". He played really well. After this, there was fruit punch and cake. The students were all very excited. Detta had a dance with her Dad and then we left.

Detta stayed for dance and pizza later. One of the students was having a party after the graduation but we didn't want Detta to go. Not only did we not know the student but it was already 10:30 at night. She will have plenty of time to go to parties in the future. Detta had a great time.  My baby is going into Grade 9.

The Great Frog Rescue

Today, Detta and I were to have pedicures and Detta a facial.  Well the place I booked, I thought was today but as it turns out it was for next week.  So I knew of this other nail place so Detta and I drove over there.  As we were walking in the shop, there were little frogs everywhere.  Anyways Detta and I had our luxury pedicures with fancy designs on our toes.  As I finished my coffee from Tims, I said to Detta, wouldn't Donovan love to see these frogs?  Detta said yes but you aren't going to catch them?  Oh yes I was.  I caught two of the tiny frogs in my Tims cup.  We headed home and showed our frogs to Donovan and Hugh.  They were suitablely impressed. I released them in my front garden.  A few frogs would be great in the garden.

Then we decided to go to Party Packagers to look for party invitations for Donovan's Birthday Party.  We are having the Sciensational Sssnakes!! come to his party.  We didn't find any invitations but we had to go home so on route we stopped and gathered up a whole pile of tiny frogs.  Detta was very upset with us.  But I wanted to put them somewhere where they would be safe.  The parking lot was not a safe place.  

We had to drop Detta off for the school's group performance by the SASS (School Alliance of Student Songwriters) so on the way we stopped at a conservation area, Lynde Shores and released our little frogs.  This would at least give some of them a better chance of survival.  After dropping Detta off, Donovan and I decided we would go back and collect some more frogs!!!  This time we gathered up lots

more.  We dropped by home to show Hugh and the boys.  One of the little boys came with us and we went to Rotary Park to release the rest of them.  Originally I was going to go to the boat launch but we were beaten there by some Canadian Geese and their babies.  We choose several other spots and let them go.

After dinner, Hugh, Donovan and Miles have gone again to collect some more.  I am not sure where they are going to release this bunch but I have asked them to save 10.  We will take them to church tomorrow to show everyone.  And then release up there.