The Water Festival

I took Wednesday off work and joined up with Cameron's and a few other classes for a trip to the Peterborough Zoo. The Children's Water Festival was on and so we spent the day there. Now, I'll admit that I thought Water Festival meant sprinklers, buckets and playing in the wet stuff. For that reason, I couldn't figure out why they weren't supposed to bring their towels and swimsuits. Well. Turns out, the Water Festival is an annual event, teaching kids (and their mums) about conservation, pollution, natural habitats and all things water. It was great and, quite honestly, I learned a lot! And, I got to hang out with Cameron and five really nice buddies all day.

We wandered around, visiting several booths throughout the morning. We learned how to identify some native frogs, turtles and snakes, then visited a demonstation that involved toilets - regular and low flush. Wow! What a difference. Same with the showers set up in the parking lot with regular and low flow shower heads. There were a couple of guys there who work for the City. They had a cut-away fire hydrant hooked up and showed how they work. There are 2100 hydrants in Peterborough alone! Then the kids went across the pathway, readied themselves, the water was turned on and in no-time-flat, they were soaked. Fully clothed, no less (although I did suggest they remove their shoes and socks first). Perfect day for a cool soak, too, as it's been so unseasonably hot.

After lunch we headed out for more. We arrived at 'the hill' and the guys wanted to take their turn rolling down it.  Well, our timing was perfect and the next thing you know, the guys joined the host of CHEX TV's 5 o'clock show rolling down hill...on camera!

If you skip to the 6:40 mark, you'll see them in the background. Cammy's the one in the bright green soccer shirt rolling sideways down the hill until he klunes the show's host in the head as she rolls by. And there's Aaron and Brent, Duncan and Ben and Jon, down at the bottom pumping his arms triumphantly in the air. And check out the performance by some grade 2 students from St. Alphonsus at the 3:15 mark. How fun is this water festival! 

The boys will be holding an autograph session at school on Monday.

Mamas and Cowboys and Friends and Family

We celebrated this long Victoria Day weekend with family and friends. To be more precise, family who are friends. Brother Enos dropped by on Saturday after hearing that Paul's cousin Robert, his partner Amy and their three awesome girls were coming by. The day was beautiful, the barbecue was tasty and we ended our fabulous day by the campfire, roasting marshmallows and wienies. As dusk fell the acoustic 6- and 12-strings came out and the best names in country music dropped by...Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Petty (okay, there was more than country) and, of course, Willie and Waylon. And somewhere in there, Angus and Malcolm treated us to 'Big Balls'. Hmmm, perhaps I should work on the wording of that sentence. 

For those of you in these parts, Happy Victoria Day. Hope your day is as beautiful as it is here. I leave you with a snippet by the fire...

Okay, so apparently I can't rotate videos like I can pictures. So just pretend the flames are shooting up, not sideways. Mental note: hold the camera normally next time. Hey, who knew?
 

And She Brought Croissants, Too

Dorito was up on Saturday. She'd had her car in for an oil change and figured, while she was up this way, she might as well drop over and see her favourite person. In the whole wide world. She saw me, too.

Paul had taken the boys to the dentist (mental note: no more sugar...ever) and Ri had stayed in town after school Friday to stay over at a friend's house. So, when Dorito got here, we just farted around for a bit, dogs got lots of scratches and then we headed out the door. 

Our first stop when we arrived in Peterborough was the Farmers Market. No. Wait. The first stop was the bank. I owed her cash for lumping in Paul's Christmas gift with her Lee Valley order. Then we headed over to the Market.

Dorito takes nice pictures

We parked and crowed and then went inside. First on my list was to restock the pantry with maple syrup. As we made our way to their table, I noticed that Allin's still had a booth so I greedily grabbed one of the last baskets of apples. No more applesauce, though; these are for fresh eating. We each picked up a big bottle of syrup and one of us, who shall remain nameless, bought a little bag of maple sugar candy. Oh. Mmmm. Or, at least, that's what Dorito said. Ahem.

We went and grabbed a very late breakfast (it was lunchtime) and then wandered over to Chapters. Dorito is a computer geek. She volunteers her time and maintains the website for Canadians' Abreast (she's a nice geek) and was after a programming book. While she searched, my buddy who works in the store came by. He saw that I had a Countryside magazine in my grubby little hands and asked me if I'd ever seen Backwoodsman magazine. I confessed I had not and he went on to tell me a little about it. After our chat, I found it and added it to my purchase. This edition has info on making a simple water heater and fire from the sun - interesting little tidbits of information for the six- and nine-year old boys who want to make a fire with a magnifying glass to the survivalist. And everyone in between. Dorito came away empty-handed. I'll share my water heater with her.

Once home, we finally exchanged Christmas gifts (I love Happy Bunny!) and I think she liked the alpaca socks that my coworker made. They raise the Peruvian beasts. She gave Paul a book on Nascar. You know; some guy who turns left for a living. Takes all kinds, really.

Calling People Names

Kathy, my pal at work, and I, call each other names a lot. She's been known to send me an email addressed to Carol and signed Vicki *. I'll respond with Dear Alice...Sincerely, Vera. Or, Hey Thelma...From Louise. It's the little things that get you through the day.

For my birthday a couple years ago, Kathy gave me a subscription to Herb Quarterly. Once every three months a magazine arrived in my mailbox addressed to Marcia Thackeray. I'm not too big to admit - I thought they delivered it to the wrong box, four out of four times. And then, slowly, the light would go on. (A little dim, I know.) It was from my pal, Jan. 

This year at Christmas, as every Christmas, we exchanged a gift or two. We don't open them in front of each other, rather we take them home and the wee treasures go into our stockings. Chocolate. Hand cream. An ornament for the tree. Little things that bring big smiles. But this year, this year I received what may have been the funniest gift ever. Dear Marcia...

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

...Love Jan. It sits proudly on my desk at work.

It's hard to believe I count a nut like Jan as my friend, isn't it? I know.

Hey Pinky! Here's to a happy 2012. Be healthy, girl. Your pal, Joannie.


* Okay, so I started watching Carol Burnet videos and ended up wiping tears from my face I was laughing so hard. There hasn't been a show since, that has made me laugh like that. 'Shame, really.

Trials of a Sheepdog

Dorito arrived at our place around 8 yesterday morning in a fog. Oh, no, wait; that's not right. I mean she arrived in the fog. Yes, yes. The drive up had been clear but as she neared our neck of the woods, visibility all but disappeared and she slowly found her way to our driveway. Enos arrived a few minutes later. He was in a fog too. Greetings were exchanged, tails wagged, rain gear gathered and then we loaded into Enos' car and headed out on our two hour drive. The sheepdog trials were on in Kingston.

The fog cleared up shortly after leaving and there was no rain most of the way there. And, while the sun wasn't exactly shining when we arrived, the park was dry. And furry. We should have brought Rosie.

We wandered around, stopping first at a demonstration of a takedown by the Kingston police K9 unit. Sure wouldn't want to end up in the sights of that working dog.

Good thing he's got lots of padding. Ouch.

Next, we hit the washrooms. Then, we found our way to the show being put on by Jungle Cat World. Not much going on there; just a couple of critters that you'd see all the time. You know, like a lemur and a lynx. Oh, and a local siberian tiger.

The rain was hit and miss throughout the day - a bit of a shower here and some light sprinkles there - but it was never too bad. And the clouds kept the sun from beating down on an already hot day. There was an agility course set up for dogs and their people and a pen with some young sheep. If you had a young border collie with you, you could have him go in the ring with a trainer. Amazing the natural instinct of these dogs when they realize the critters in front of them are of the herding variety.

There's a joke in here somewhere.

The Canadian Raptor Conservancy was here again this year with some beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) birds. Red tailed hawks are stunning but I can do without seeing the turkey vultures. This year they brought along a bald eagle too.

Picture stolen from Dorito's place

Of course, the main event was the trials. Friday and Saturday brought over a hundred dogs and their handlers from across Canada and the US into competition, with the top fifteen vying for the big prize on Sunday. Given 25 minutes, the dog was sent off to bring back a group of seven or eight sheep. Then, once they reached a certain point, the dog was prompted to turn around and, as soon as he caught sight of the second bunch of sheep, off he went to bring them back, across the field and through the gates. 

Then, the two woolly groups were brought together and the shepherds guided the herd into the ring. Usually at that time, the four-legged herder was sent to the little kiddies' pool for a cool-down and a drink. Like I said - it was a mighty warm day. (There were pools placed throughout the park for four-legged visitors too.) We saw one handler call it because her young dog was overheating.

Of the twelve or fifteen sheep in the combined group, five had red collars on. The idea was to have the dog and handler shed the naked sheep from the ring and be left with just the collared ones. The groups we saw managed to chase off several but none were able to win full points for a complete shed. Not sure how they did earlier in the day.

The competition ended around 4 so we packed up and hit the road. We grabbed a bite to eat along the way, slowed down to a whopping 20kph when heavier rain hit and arrived back at the ranch around 7. I'm pretty sure they'll see us there again next year.

Scenes From A Canada Day Long Weekend

Thursday night Lakers lacrosse game against Brooklin - Lakers won 14-7

Canada Day Parade

We were a bit early for the parade. But look! Water!  'Nuff said.

'Cause what's a parade without a snowmobile...even in July

Canada Day Fireworks

Millbrook Old Car Show

Paul's cousin, Robert - probably bugging Cammy about being a Habs fan

And Last But Not Least...

... look who learned to ride a bike,

all by himself - Nolan! Wa-hoo!

Wow! Just, Wow!!

The Pedal for Hope campaign is wrapping up at school and, as of this writing, the kids have raised just shy of a whopping $19,000! Cameron handed in $540 in pledges today and, thanks to that stylish hair cut he received, was responsible for bringing in another $70 in on-line donations (made by a couple of my blogging buddies, I might add). You guys are all awesome.

So, time for a shout-out to all of you who were kind enough to give to pediatric cancer research...

Dorito, Enos, Oma & Opa, Grandma & Grandpa, Shane, Darlene, Marlene, Mrs. B, Aunt Marian, Aunt Margaret, Rob & Amy, Cammy & Nolan, Kathy, Jeff, Lizzy, Bob, Shelley, Tracey, Rick, Larry and to my blogging buddies, Cheryl and Sharon. You've all made Cameron one proud little man. And you've touched my heart more than you can know. Thank you.

Thank you!  Merci!  (It is a french immersion school, after all)

Please, check out the school website for the latest. Wow.

Here, There and Everywhere

Dorito was supposed to take her car in for some fixin' at the in-law's so we'd made plans to hang out today. The appointment for the car ended up being canceled but she decided to come up for the day anyway. She arrived about 9 with a little something for Cammy - an origami book and paper. Cameron discovered the art of origami last week from his buddy Nate and has now mastered sailboat-making. Dorito showed Cammy how to make a frog and then, figuring we needed thicker paper, promised him we'd pick up business cards on our travels today. 

We went into Peterborough for some breakfast - the usual omelettes and hashbrowns - and then we popped over to Fabricland. Dorito needed some quilting material and I picked up more patches. Seems I'm forever patching up knees of boys' pants. We'd figured on going to the Garden Show but the cars were lined up on the road to get in, the parking lot at the arena and across the street at the Canoe Museum were packed and so we kept going. The Antique Barn is just as fun anyway.

We wandered around checking things out, stopping every now and again so Dorito could take pictures of bizarre things. It's what she does. I did come out of there with one thing, though...

"Have your crutches handy, this be a toe curler"

Not sure on the definition of antique up there 'cause I don't think this is very old but, what the heck, it made me laugh. Oh ya, and Dorito made sure to pick up a bunch of business cards while we were there. Wouldn't want to disappoint the young lad.

We were going to call it a day when Dorito said, "Hey, you wanna go to Curve Lake?" Haven't been there in ages so we hit the road again and made our way toward Buckhorn. 

The Whetung Gallery - this picture lifted from Dorito's blog

Dorito's going to Halifax this summer so we browsed around looking for a gift for her friends and their new babe. Didn't come out with anything but, as always, enjoyed the gallery. On our way back down the road, we ended up in a traffic jam as people walked up the shoulder. We thought there was an accident ahead so I asked a guy parked on the side of the road. His face lit up as he told us that it was a parade for the Tykes who'd won the Little NHL. Very cool, I thought. I suppose the big trophy sitting on the hood of his car should have been a clue.

After we arrived home, we joined Paul who was sitting at the firepit, enjoying a beer. Dorito pulled out the business cards and she and Cammy made more jumping frogs. There was even a hint of a smile on his face as they worked.

Brother Enos showed up a short while later and he and Paul hopped in his car and headed to Toronto for the Motorcycle Show. Then we said goodbye to Dorito and she headed up the road. Now there was just one more thing before we settled down and had some supper. Cameron has decided this year he's going to have his head shaved when the Cops for Cancer come to the school in a couple weeks with the Pedal for Hope. He'd already hit up Dorito and Enos for pledges, called up Grandpa and, of course, I put some money in. So, we walked next door to see if Darlene would like to donate. Cameron practiced what he'd say on the way over and, with a little prompting from his dear ole ma, he did a fine job of explaining the event. He came home with a big grin - happy that they'd donated and proud that he'd been brave enough to support the event. The boy's coming out of his shell.

This Or That

A couple weeks ago I picked Nolan up from daycare, paid Julie for the week and off we went. We returned on Tuesday. While Nolie hung up his coat and the beautiful red Calgary Flames ballcap that adorns his sweet little head everyday (I'm so proud; Paul rolls his eyes; mwahahaha), Julie mentioned that I had paid 5 dollars too much. I tend not to remember what I had for lunch the day before, so the overpayment was long forgotten.

She offered, "You can either have your five dollars in a bill or cheese curds."

Well, gee, that's tough. Not sure if I took one second or mulled it over for as long as two seconds before declaring, "Cheese curds please!"

I continued on into work with my treasure. As I put the bag in the fridge I noticed the label read $5.66. Good golly. I owed Julie 66 cents. 

Yesterday, I paid up. "Julie," I said, "I owe you 66 cents. Do you want it in change or two freshly laid eggs?" Her reply came in the standard one to two seconds. Nolan handed her the eggs. Some would call this the informal economy. The folks I know, call it country living.

Cheese curds and still-warm eggs

Yesterday, on the way home from the Remembrance Day ceremony in Oshawa, brother Enos and I stopped at the orchard and picked up close to a bushel of apples. We had a good chat with the owner who, it turned out, had grown up in the 'Shwa and went to the same schools that we went to from grades 7 thru' 13. And, if that wasn't coincidence enough, her sister's first house after she married, was next-door to ours. Enos got that far-off look as he reminisced about the beautiful, red '69 soft-top Camaro that they had. And I got that far-off look as I thought about the bushel of apples that I was going to be turning into sauce. Which is today's job. So off I go. Enjoy the day all! It's a beauty out there.

The Cenotaph in Oshawa after the Service

Busy As Bees

Dorito and I have a little tradition. Well, it's all of two years old, but you've got to start somewhere. Towards the end of September, there's a really great antique show in Aberfoyle, out near Guelph. It's a bit of a trip but, gosh darn it, I love it. We went yesterday. Ended up not getting anything (well, maybe one thing which I can't talk about because it might be for someone's birthday that could be coming up in October). Dorito, as usual, took lots of pictures, which you can check out here. 

This morning, the boys and I headed into Peterpatch for their second class of this season's swimming lessons. Nolan's in Sunfish and Cammy's in level 3. They're both doing awesome and shouldn't have any problems getting through these levels. All that swimming during the summer paid off. (Ooh, I can hear the coyotes as I type.) And you know what's almost as fun as half-an-hour in the pool? Why, hanging out in the lockers beforehand, of course.

Here's Johnny

I was in need of some caffeine by the time we got home, so I put the coffee on. Once the pot was made, and my cup full, I went outside and cleaned out Lord Stanley's Coop. All the wood shavings and, therefore, chicken poop, were shoveled into the dumpcart and taken to the back garden where Paul was cleaning up for the winter. With help from Nolan, my little farmer boy, the ladies will be hunkering down tonight with fresh bedding and an oh-so clean coop.

The Stanley Coop all polished up.

Celebrating Good Times

Dad turns the big 8-0 next month. We originally had planned to completely ignore the day 'cause that's the kind of good-fer-nuthin' kids he raised. Brother Enos especially. But, after some thought, and for fear of pay-back, we planned a celebration. We discussed things with Elizabeth and decided on a party fit for a king...or, at least, for the king of bad jokes.

Sunday, we all met up at the Legion in Oshawa where we had rented the lounge for the afternoon. Shortly after 1, friends and family began arriving. All brought best wishes and many, as we'd requested, delivered their worst jokes. The best jokes of the day came from Cammy, who took three hours to work up his nerve to step in front of that microphone and deliver these beauts...

What do a hockey player and a magician have in common?
~ They both do hat tricks.

What's the messiest sport in Canada?
~ Basketball, because kids dribble all over the floor.

And then Cammy's profound wish to his Grandpa - "Happy birthday you old fart." Hee hee. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Nolan and his old Grandpa

A Windfall of Apples!

Our neighbours down the road have a kind of applefest each year, inviting family, friends, and neighbours to their backyard orchard...which is actually in front of their house by the horse pasture. They gave us a call yesterday and this morning, working around the rain, we went over.

I had seen the tip of the orchard before as I'd driven down their driveway but was astounded, as we walked through, at the number of trees they have. There has to be fifty or sixty trees pumping out gazillions of apples - delicious, macintosh and others. Why, if I was an applesauce maker, then...*gasp*...but wait! I am! It was applesauce heaven.

So, while the boys played with their three apple-retrieving dogs (great fun) and Ri hung out with their daughter, Paul and I filled our baskets. Careful not to confuse the road apples with the macintosh apples, we came away with over a half bushel of firm red fruit in no time flat.  Guess what next weekend's job will be.

Once finished, our host walked us around the farm, visiting the horse and donkeys, the hens and their rooster and showed us the new tree fort. The boys ditched the tour there and headed up the ladder. Next, we checked out their cider press and went inside for a taste. Mmm-mm-mm. Next on their list, is learning to make hard cider. May have to rename our road Copperhead.

Ooh, can't wait to get into the sauce.

A Cuppa Coffee On Gum-Smack Day - Sixth of Seven

The kids have settled into the routine of school this week and I, adjusting quickly as always, am sure to have mornings running smoothly by early November. Friday's on the bus are a special day. Christopher, our bus driver, has christened it Gum-Smack Day - the one day of the week when the kids can chew gum. They've got it made.

One day last spring, I took a sip of my much-needed morning coffee as the kids boarded the bus. Christopher jokingly asked, "Where's mine?"

I replied, "I didn't know how you take it."

"With milk," he answered with a sly grin.

"Alright."

On the next Gum-Smack Day, the kids and I announced that, from that day forth, Friday's would also be known as Coffee-Smack Day and we handed him a hot cup of coffee. A big smile spread across his face...very much like the one that spread across mine. He thanked us very much and off they went. That day, a tradition was born that continued until the end of school in June.

Today was the first Gum-Smack Day of the new school year and with it came the first coffee delivery of the 2010 season. A wide grin crept across Christopher's face. Mine was bigger.

Can't Beat These Chips

The boys and I hit the Farmers' Market yesterday and picked up another flat of strawberries for drying. After putting them in the van, we returned and wandered around. Eventually we stopped at the Allin's Orchard table for some apples. I suggested the boys take a look at the apples and pick one. Apparently I should have been slightly more specific in my instructions - they both picked a candy apple. The guy behind the table laughed and told them that the pickers get really sticky when they take them off the trees. By the look on the boys' faces, they weren't too sure whether to believe him or not.

Once we finished at the market, we stopped at a friend's house to drop off the manual for our tent trailer that they're borrowing for the week. As I spoke with my friend, the boys bounced on their trampoline. We wished them a good trip and then over to Kawartha Dairy to pick up a week's worth of milk and a little ice cream treat.

Yesterday was Dorito's birthday, so, later in the day, the kids and I loaded into the van and went down to the Shwa. We sang a rousing yet slightly out-of-tune rendition of Happy Birthday (the 'live in a zoo' version), visited for a bit and then popped over to Dad's. Dad has decided to join Facebook - no small feat for a computer newbie. He had signed up and then couldn't get into his account. Riley, the resident expert, was there to assist. In no time, she was through to his page, had sent out a couple of friend requests and had a profile picture - of his lovely begonias - all set up. High-fives for the eleven-year-old. Then home.

Today was strawberry day. I spent the afternoon slicing up berries and arranging them on the trays. Dorito was kind enough to give us a basket of plums from Cookies' over-producing trees, so they were sliced up and are drying in the dehydrator alongside the berries. We tried drying plums a couple weeks ago and Cammy and Nolan love them. They can't wait to get their paws on them when they get up in the morning.

Fresh local produce ready to become strawberry and plum chips.

(Thank you Cookie and Dorito for sharing the goodies!)

Roadtrips, Dogs, Friends, Dogs and More Dogs - Second, Third and Fourth of Seven

Brother Enos, Dorito and I all took the day off work today. Roadtrip! Dorito brought her car up to the brother-in-law's garage for the day. Enos took a bit of a detour and picked her up around 9 before making his way to our place. I dropped the kids off at daycare at the usual time and came back here to wait. Some time before ten, we loaded into Enos's car and hit the road for the 2 hour trip to Kingston.

This weekend is the 23rd annual Sheepdog Trials. Dorito and I took the kids last year and really wanted to go back. We had decided this time we'd go without kids - but invited Enos anyway. Just before noon, we pulled into Grass Creek Park and, well, parked. After a quick pee break, we made our way to the Dock Dogs pool. There were dogs everywhere. German Shepherds, Labs, Border Collies, Retrievers, big dogs, small dogs, wet dogs, dry dogs - it was canine heaven for dog lovers. We found a spot near the corner of the pool and made ourselves comfortable. Then we watched the dogs do their stuff. Some of the dogs were just itching to get in the water. Others weren't too sure about the two foot drop from the dock. Some of them never did get wet. But the pups that were rarin' to go put on an awfully good show. The three of us wore ear-to-ear grins watching them. A couple of them looked an awful lot like Chimo - she would have been in her glory.

After awhile, we were getting hungry so we walked over to the food tents. We took a seat and shared a mighty fine lunch of, among other things, onion rings, fries and poutine. After filling up on that highly nutritious meal, we took a seat at the trials.

The dogs are amazing. I guess some credit should go to the handlers too. As the collies run out at top speed, across the field to gather the sheep, you can see that they absolutely love what they're doing. It really is something to watch. The skill and control of both dog and handler is incredible. I can't even imagine the hours of training involved. I'd love one of these dogs to herd my kids.

After watching several of the border collies do their thing, we strolled over to another area of the park to see some pups in a pen with the sheep. It was here that you could really see that herding is what these animals are bred to do. An eleven week old pup instinctively worked the herd. With training, it may find itself on the main field one day going for the big prize.  

Boy, what did we do next. At 4 o'clock, the Canadian Raptor Conservancy put on a really good birds of prey display. Lots of information was given out while showing off a harris hawk, a barn owl, a kestrel falcon, a red-tailed hawk and a great horned owl. Great horned owls prey on skunks among other things. How can they stand the smell, you ask? Turns out great horned owls can't smell and skunks are slow movers. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure all my dogs have found out just how slow skunks can be. Wish I couldn't smell them either.

Great Horned Owl - look at those eyes

I have no idea what time we finally left the park. We worked our way west, taking a little detour by Fort Henry before stopping in Belleville to pick up a gift for Cammy's friend (birthday party tomorrow), grabbing something to eat and then starting the final leg home. 

Days don't get much better than this one. A rare roadtrip with a couple of nuts, um, I mean, with good friends (who may also happen to be family) on a mighty fine day, to a place that can only be compared to heaven on earth for dog lovers. We'll be smiling for days.
 

Pickin' and a Grinnin' - First of Seven

The gauntlet has been dropped. Well, alright, it's not quite that serious. Philip, one of my backward buddies, has written a series of posts about seven things that are guaranteed to make him smile. Now he has passed the torch on to seven others. And lucky for you, I'm one of them. Oh-ho, you can sense your day getting better, can't you. I know. Here goes.

The boys and I headed down to Orono this morning and met up with Dorito at Wilmot Orchards. The blueberries have been ready for picking for a good week now so it's time to stock up for winter. We checked in and were sent out to row 23. After wandering about half way down, we set our stuff in the grass and got to work. Nolan's a pretty good co-picker - he tends to dive right in there and get the berries closer to the ground, saving his ole ma's back in the process. Cammy picked and ate. He may have even set a record for shortest time lapse before whining. We kept picking.

Mmmm, blueberries

The weather's been quite nice lately - mid-20s with lower humidity - but you could feel it climbing out there today. By noon, Dorito had a bucket full, and, with help from Dorito and Nolan, I had just shy of two full buckets of dark blue, perfectly rounded blueberries. Judging by Cameron's blueberry intake, they were awfully tasty. Dorito assured me they were very sweet. I can't really say 'cause, quite honestly, I can't stand blueberries. I sure do love picking them, though. Can't really say why, either. For years now, I've made my way to the pick-your-owns and loaded up on strawberries and raspberries, blueberries and apples - sometimes turning the fresh fruit into jars of summer goodness or, like the blueberries, freezing them so we have the local tastes of the season all winter long. I know I do it partly because I want to eat locally and support our neighbours but there's more to it than that. I think it's the love of all things pioneer (except for outhouses) and growing up watching Laura Ingalls and wanting to be like her - living in a simpler time, doing for ourselves and, I'll go out on a limb here, being happier. Picking does that for me. 

Cammy next to his hockey hero, Mike Cammalleri's, number 13

After we had our fill of blueberries, we paid and dropped our bounty in the cars. Then we headed back to the café and cooled down with a Muskoka Dry ginger ale. Dorito took some goofy pictures - 'cause that's what she does - we said our goodbyes and off we went towards home. Tonight, there's two trays of blueberries sitting in the freezer and a bucket in the fridge. This winter, when the kids are diving into the frozen blueberries, I'll think back on today with a grin. And I'll dream about next summer, walking through a berry field with a basket in each hand.      

Cheers

Celebrating Home

What a beautiful day! An absolutely perfect day to celebrate this glorious land we call home. Paul had to work today but the kids and I were here. We started off with a leisurely breakfast while playing Uno. Then the boys went outside to play hockey, Ri hit the computer and I cleaned up.  The laundry fluttered outside under a big blue sky with marshmallow clouds. The house, with windows flung open, soaked up the freshest scents of the day. And the sun shone down, showing off our tiny corner of Canadian countryside in all its glory while the maple leaf flew proudly in the breeze.

This afternoon Dad, Elizabeth, brother Enos and Ri's friend Kaitlin joined us for a barbecue. And Enos's friend Sean dropped by for a beer too. Around 9 o'clock we packed up the lawn chairs and a blanket and headed over to the park for the fireworks. The kids played at the playground and, just before dark, the show began.

Happy Canada Day!

Cookie, Baker Extraordinaire

I have a confession. I buy frozen pie crusts. Please. Don't judge me. I always thought they were hard to make so I've avoided the whole process. Yesterday, I took measures to rectify this situation.

Cookie and I go way back. We were in Mr. Pettyjohn's class together at Duke - I was in grade 4, she was in 5. We never hung out back then, but we were in the same schools all the way along, even college. We'd say our 'hi's' in the hallways and chatted a little but that was about it until one summer during our college years. We were both lucky enough to land summer jobs at Chrysler and ended up working on a door panel press together. We drove together and got to know each other better. She still puts up with me to this day - more out of pity, I suspect because I hang out with her sister, Dorito. But I digress. Cookie and I see each other about once a year. We were due.

Cookie is a baker extraordinaire. She whips up and sells pies and cakes and cookies and makes the best darn butter tarts this side of Toronto. Maybe even Guelph. Coincidentally, she also makes her own pie crusts. So, yesterday, after the kids were on the bus, I headed out to her place. She had given me a list of things to bring and, being the good student, I brought them along. Brought her some pickles, too.

We set up at her baking table and she mixed the ingredients. Turns out she follows the Tenderflake box. Who knew there were directions on the Tenderflake box?

(The squash is just for colour)

Cookie mixed the ingredients and warned me several times not to play with the dough too much once the wet ingredients were added. Then she divided the dough into balls about the size of her hand and placed them back in the bowl.


Next, she floured the rolling surface, readied a ball of dough and grabbed her chair leg. "Chair leg?" you say. Cookie uses a chair leg instead of a rolling pin. Crazy, eh? But it works beautifully. She rolled out a couple of crusts and then it was my turn. I was pretty slow about it the first few times, but by the end of it I pretty much had the hang of it. And I have ten homemade pie crusts to show for it. Not bad. And it wasn't that hard to do. The real test will be the next time when Cookie isn't there to get the dough ready but I think I can do it.

I've got two-and-a-half bushels of apples out in the garage waiting to be sauced and dried. I think I'll hold some back and make a couple of pies too.