A Rose

This is the rose Little R received with her diploma. She gave it to me. She says they were supposed to give them to their moms, but I'm not sure about that. She may be telling the truth, now that I think about it all the roses were being carried around by moms. Isn't that sweet? It's a nice rose too, it's opening nicely and has aroma.

We got the class picture that was taken by a professional photographer yesterday. It's lovely. It came in a beautiful folder thingy too. That's a nice keepsake for her.

It has been stifling hot. I think we are expecting thunderstorms today. I've been enjoying the heat, not looking forward to rain cooling it down. There's been a perfect breeze through it all, so with the windows open the house has stayed cool enough, we haven't needed to put in the air conditioner yet.

I still haven't decided what to do with our little pool. I'm leaning towards keeping it. Every time I type up the post to Freecycle it, I end up hitting cancel, I just can't do it. In fact, I think we'll just set it up this weekend, then there's no more dilemma. Little R does use it when it's there and even I have been known to jump in and get wet just to cool down. I've been thinking about having my yard sale. It just seems like every weekend we have other things to do, it's never the right time. Mr. Mans idea is to rent a dumpster bin and just get rid of everything that way. I couldn't do that. I have a hard enough time parting with stuff, I couldn't just throw it away. Besides being a member of Freecycle, I do believe in recycling, trying to keep good junk out of the landfill. At any rate, something has to be done. I knew it would be bad news to join in that community garage sale back in April. I knew it would screw up my plan to have a yard sale, and it did. It just never seems like the right time.

We received an invite to a Trike-In this weekend. It's kind of short notice, I doubt we'll go. The bike isn't fit. The last time we rode it, it was making a knocking noise. Apparently Mr. Man will have to take the whole motor apart to try to fix it and that's a big job. I think he was counting on the settlement to buy a new engine or just get a new bike. I suppose we could drive to the Trike-In, but what fun is that? It's too bad we didn't get the invitation sooner so we could make plans to go, we haven't seen these guys in ages. In 2 weeks is the next Friday the 13th. We've missed several, either because it was snowing or because the bike wasn't running right. I was counting on making this one. Maybe I should just forget about riding this year.

Oh well, time to get started with my day. I'm going to putter in the garage. Going to see what's out there that I can Freecycle. I can think of one thing for sure, an old console stereo. That's something I don't think would go in a yard sale, it's too big and heavy. But it may go to a Freecycler. Wish me luck.

Have a great day.

The Graduate

Well thank heavens that graduation thing is over and done with. I must say it was very elaborate. The ceremony was held in the gym and the decorating was fabulous. It was 35 degrees celsius yesterday, so it was dam hot in there though. By the end of the speeches and whatnot I couldn't wait to get out of there and get some air. Afterwards there was refreshments. There was the most elaborate cake I've ever seen. Then we left and the kids had a dance until 11 p.m.


Poor Little R with her hair. I did what she wanted me to, I would have done something different, but it was her day so I just went along with her. But with the heat and humidity, her hair was just frizz. The part I curled just wilted. I wish I had taken her to town to have it done. Oh well, we get to do it all over again in four years. Hard to believe my baby is going into high school. Man I'm so old. The teacher put together a slide show with a baby picture and a grad picture of each student and it was very cool. I must say I'm going to miss this school. It is by far the best school either of my daughters attended. I'm going to miss having her just down the road too. The high school is in town, which is quite a bit further away from home. I hope and pray high school is a good experience for her. It wasn't for me and I dropped out in grade 9. Same with Mr. Man. It was good for Big R and I hope the same for Little R. One good thing is she'll be reunited with friends who had to leave this school because of boundaries when they opened another school closer to town. She was at this school for 4 years and that time has flown by.


Heres a photo of her on stage when she received her diploma...






Heres a picture of the stage all decorated, good job...






It looked much nicer with the lights dimmed. Heres a picture of the cake (I don't know when they cut it, we left before that so we didn't get any)...






Heres the graduating class...

The graduate, my Little R...

Her dress is stuck up on one side, it was like that in all the pictures, I didn't notice until after the fact. Oh well. Some of the gowns were very formal. I was a little surprised there were no two alike. I thought for sure, with the limited shopping choices there would be someone with the same dresses.

Now there's just 3 more days until summer vacation. I kind of think they drag it out so long to make up for all the snow days. Glad its over. Next year will be a whole new ball game.

Thats it. Have a great day.

Our Gazebo Weekend

Well yesterday was fun. The house actually looks great. I had forgotten how it looks when it's cleaned up. Thanks to Mr. Man, he did most of the work. He did all the floors. Now if I can just stay on top of it, that would be wonderful.

It was GREAT to see Big R! I have missed her so much. Thankfully she didn't bring Penelope. It would have been a circus with the 3 dogs. My sister brought her photos from her trip to England, that was nice. My dad was looking good, chipper as always. We had a nice little visit out in the shade of our gazebo, eating pastries, drinking lemonade and shooting the breeze.

It looks like I should invest in some bras eh?

After they left, the beer started flowing. Then Mr. Man and I did something we haven't done in YEARS, we played Cribbage. We played a few games, he kicked my ass.

Later in the evening, the W family dropped by unexpectedly. As we were enjoying the shade of the gazebo, the cards were sitting there, so we started playing Euchre. It has been ages since we've played that too. We had a blast. In an effort to personalize the gazebo, Mr. Man had strung some lights up in it. That worked perfectly for playing cards after dark. And then when the mosquitos started biting, we zipped up the netting, and you know what? It works! It was great, being outside and not getting eaten alive. So, as much as I didn't really like the thing at first, it has grown on me. I hung some wind spinners in it and with the lights, it's quite charming.

So here we all are playing Euchre. Mr. Man was the cameraman for the evening...

Playing Euchre in real life is so much different than playing online.

This morning when I looked outside I found that I had left the sprinkler on all night long. I guess I was a little tipsy and forgot that it was on. I couldn't see it after dark, out of sight out of mind. The grass needed it anyway. And how lovely it was waking up to a clean house!

Today is Little Rs graduation at school. I can't believe what a big deal grade 8 grad has become. All the girls took today off school to get their hair and nails done! I'm going to be doing Little Rs hair myself. But if I had a car I would probably be taking her into town to have it done. This is the last week of school and I'll be so glad when it's over with.

So that was my weekend.

Have a great day.

Our Gazebo

I've been in kind of a haze all week. Every now and then this wave of utter sadness, hopelessness, loneliness washes over me. At other times I feel just very angry. I've been a real treat to be around. Mostly it is due to the let down of the mediation meeting that wasn't. We waited so long for that day. It was such a gargantuan disappointment. To think positive for a moment, there is still a chance that, with new information, the other side will make a better offer. Because really they don't want to go to trial. I can't go into great detail here, but you wouldn't believe the silly little points they are basing their case on. I am very confident a trial would end in our favour and surely the other side knows this as well. I would expect another offer of settlement before trial time. It's the waiting. The waiting is getting to me.

Also I think I'm experiencing full blown PMS, yet again. Let the tears flow. This week was my mothers birthday. That always has her on my mind. When I think about my mom, I cry. I miss her. Many times I wish I could just talk to her. I miss talking to her. I miss having a mother. I guess its safe to assume at this point that I will never stop missing her.

So I've been trying to think happy thoughts. Trying to think positive. Sometimes thats just not easy to do. Today my father, my sister and my daughter (Big R) are coming up for a visit. We've managed to get the house into half decent shape. Mr. Man has been a great help with that. In a way I look forward to seeing them. But on the other hand its kind of an annoyance. Of the three of them the only one I really want to see is Big R. I saw my father and sister the other day. I'm really not in the mood for any criticism or lectures about quitting smoking.

In preperation of today, Mr. Man and I went shopping for shade yesterday. We were looking for one of those shade canopy gazebo things. We haven't had much luck with them in the past. We've had a couple that collapsed after rain or wind. We went to several stores and after finding one we liked, each time they were out of stock. So we ended up getting one I don't particularily like, which cost more than I wanted to spend. It was a lot more difficult to erect than any of the others we've had. So once it was assembled, I took pictures.

That reminds me. Why is it I never have my camera with me when we see wildlife? The other day while driving just around the corner, we saw a deer prancing through a field, right in front of our faces. No camera. A couple of weeks ago and actually more than once in the same spot, we saw a bunch of ducks crossing the road. There must have been 20 of them, a bunch of babies and a few bigger ones. It is quite the sight. No camera. Then there are days I forget the camera in the car and Mr. Man takes it to work with him. Thats when I usually see something around the house I want to take pictures of.

Oh well. There it is. Our new gazebo/tent/canopy. Notice it even has convenient mosquito netting which zips up to enclose the whole thing. Hopefully it's a little more sturdy than the ones we've had in the past too.

Have a lovely day.

Very Disappointing

It's been an odd few days. Fathers Day was ok. We just hung out at home relaxing. We gave Mr. Man cards, no gifts since I never got the chance to go out shopping for him. The W Family came over to visit and we all ended up going out for dinner together. The Dads wanted Chinese buffet, so that's what we had. I hope everyone had a lovely day.

It's been extremely hot and humid, but dry, no rain. My grass was dying and flowers were wilting. I put the sprinkler out and then it rained the next day. We had torrential rain yesterday.

Yesterday was the mediation meeting for our lawsuit. We've been looking forward to this for years. It was very disappointing. It was a big fat waste of everyones time. The other side had no intention of settling our case. They made an insultingly low offer and said that was as high as they were prepared to go. So now the next step is a trial, with a jury. Unfortunately that won't likely take place until next spring. Optimistically, it could happen in the fall, but more than likely not until the spring. So we are pretty disappointed. And angry that they wasted everyones time. They could have done what they did over the phone. No need to drag everyone down to downtown Toronto. We were prepared to spend the whole day there, dickering. They had no intention of it. Very very disappointing. We were hoping for an end to this nightmare. Everyone involved was pretty shocked by the behaviour of the other side.

Mr. Man has been working at this new place. There are some good points but more bad points to this job. Once again our whole future is up in limbo. Its very depressing. I don't think I can stand another year of this.

Little R left for a 3 day school trip today. Her birthday is coming in a couple of weeks. She'll be turning 14. I am at a loss for what to do for her birthday. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And now with the new financial issues, I don't know what we'll be able to afford to do.

I've been doing my best to pull myself up out of the funk I was in and now it's all coming back on me. I almost feel devastated. I'm confused. My life, my future is in limbo. I feel pretty helpless to do anything about it. With Mr. Man back to work, at a new place where we can't talk much during the day, and now Little R gone away for 3 days, I feel pretty lonely. Alone with my thoughts. Really missing all the little perks of his old job. Miss the constant contact with him while he's at work. Wondering how we're going to make it on the pay he gets now compared to what we were living on previously. Its scarey.

We had a meeting with our lawyer on Monday so after that we whipped down to visit my dad and drop off his Fathers Day card. He was looking well. Thats when he told me he was planning to come up here this coming Sunday for a visit. That means I have 3 days to whip this house into shape. It is not fit for company at this point. As much as I want to do it, I didn't do much today. It's sad.

My gardens are being neglected. That depresses me. We had a kid dig out around our firepit and it was a tough job. But he stuck with it and got it done. We'll be hiring him to rake up the grass clippings when I cut the grass too. But yeah, the yard is looking a little rough with the gardens all full of weeds.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for me. Have a good night.

More Flowers

I finally got all the grass cut again. It is quickly becoming a chore I don't like. It has been super hot lately. Mowing the lawn in this kind of heat is not fun.

I finished the book, Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood within 2 days. I totally enjoyed it. I am now reading a Sidney Sheldon and the title escapes me at the moment. In between I read The Husband by Dean Koontz. Read it in 2 days also.

On Sunday, Mr. Man decided it was time for me to get my nose out of the books and get out of the house. We went for a little drive. We grabbed Timmys coffee and drove around. We stopped at one yard sale. They even had Harley parts for sale, but nothing he could use. We actually walked away without buying anything! The new Taco Bell in town has finally opened, so we picked up tacos for dinner.

My gardens are rocking. Everything is coming along and blooming. Even my Cranesbill Geranium is blooming and I was sure it didn't bloom until the end of summer, guess I was wrong. I took pictures of course.



Cranesbill Geranium.



Yellow Iris that I didn't even know I have. It's so heavy it fell over and is laying on the ground.



My decorative wheelbarrow with Wave Petunias and a Bacopa in it.



Purple/blue Iris. This shot was taken at dusk with the flash.



Spirea.



Chives and Blue Fescue Grass.



These flowers light up at night. It's solar powered. I do have many other flowers in bloom. Unfortunately the pictures I've taken turned out blurry. When we were out for our drive we stopped to check out the Osprey birds down the road. The pictures of that all turned out blurry as well. I sure hope there isn't something wrong with my camera. It was left in the glove box of the car in extreme heat. I'll try again to get pictures of my other flowers in bloom.

Another Day With Nothing To Say

Today it warmed up outside but I haven't gone out. I finally finished that Stephen King book last night. It'll be awhile before I tackle another one of his books. I have several more waiting to be read. But that just took way too long. It wasn't one of his better stories. I started reading Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, and ended up pulling an all-nighter with it. I'm about half way through it already. It's not my usual type of reading fare, but I am totally enjoying it. I needed something different. So today was spent sleeping and reading, all day.

I still need to mow the backyard again. It got put off because of the rain and cold. Today I just didn't have the energy and really wanted to continue reading. It could feel like a waste of a day, but it doesn't.

So there you have it, another day with nothing to say.

It Was A Creepy Dream

Good morning.
As you know, I've been depressed lately. In a funk. Down in the dumps. I'm not sure why. I've been trying to talk myself out of it. Nothing is working. I so don't want to feel this way. I wish I knew how to snap out of it.

This morning just before waking up I had a dream. I was dreaming that we moved from this house into an apartment in the city. The apartment was like a little bit of everywhere we've lived over the years. That dream gave me a new appreciation for my house this morning. Usually when I look at my yard I see all the flaws and all the work that I need to do. Not so this morning. I saw the beauty in it. It's never looked so nice to me before. And as for the house, I saw the space, the rooms, the room, rather than the flaws and the mess and the work I have to do. I can't imagine moving back to an apartment.

We are having a cold snap. It's a mere 5 degrees out there this morning. The temperature is supposed to go back up today, I hope so. I've had the furnace on since yesterday afternoon. The weather is such a funny thing. It's hard to believe we're a week into June already. It looks like it will be a sunny day, unlike yesterday which was dark and dreary. If it does warm up I think I'll get back out there and get on with digging the extension to my garden.

I really have nothing else to say today. Have yourself a great day.

The Weekend

Until tonight, the weather this weekend was fabulous, if you like extreme humidity. I live for summer, so I was liking it. On Saturday we finally got around to taking Little R into town for a haircut. After being told it would be an hour wait, we went out to the car only to find that the power windows were no longer working. They were stuck open a couple of inches. Well then we were on the prowl for fuses, driving around in the sweltering heat looking for a parts place that was open, ate up the rest of the afternoon. We finally found the fuses and the windows still didn't work, ugh. Because there was a threat of rain, Mr. Man got out the packing tape and sealed the open windows with that. Real rednecks would have used duct tape! No haircut for Little R, no Blues & Jazz Festival, no Show & Shine. What a waste of a day. After dropping Little R back home, we headed back to town to maybe catch part of the Show & Shine. We missed it, the vendors were packing up. However there was still a band playing as part of the Blues & Jazz Festival. So we got to see that and ran into a couple of friends. We managed to salvage a bit of fun out of the day.

We came home and had a barbecue dinner and had a quiet evening at home. We were star gazing and remembered the telescope Mr. Man purchased at the yard sale last weekend. Unfortunately, it didn't have instructions with it and we had no clue how to operate the thing. We'll have to pull it out in the light of day and have a look at it to figure out how it works. I guess niether one of us has any telescope experience lol.

This morning, I was the first one up, as usual, and I waited til a decent hour, 10 a.m, before mowing the front yard. I'll do the back tomorrow, if it isn't raining. If I let it, this cutting the grass could become a full time job. Once Mr. Man got up we decided to just go to the Show & Shine today. It's not often there are 2 on the same weekend. Since we missed the one on Saturday we thought we'd make it to this one. It started at noon, we got there around 1 p.m. Of course we rode and the bike sounded like shit. Something is still wrong with it. But hey, it got us there and back, could have been worse. Anyway, the Show & Shine, it was sad. Usually we stay beginning to end, this year we left after only an hour. We go to this one every year, and this time didn't even compare to previous years. I don't know if it's because there was the other one the day before or the threat of rain, or what, but there was not a good turn out. There was only about half the number of people there usually is. The 50/50 tickets are usually an arm length of tickets for $5, this year, 3 tickets for $5! When we mosied over to the prize table to have a peek, we were disappointed. They usually have excellent prizes, not this year. The beer wasn't cold, it was a little pissy. They didn't even bother having t-shirts made up. We've got t-shirts at this event every year. When we went to the t-shirt booth, we were stunned to find they were selling last years shirts! We were disappointed with the whole thing and as I say, left after an hour. We rode over to D & S's place and went for a ride with S. We went to a little bar called the Happy Hog for lunch. As we were riding home it started to rain.

When I was out puttering in the yard this morning I noticed my Clematis had an open bloom. Of course I ran in the house and grabbed my camera. Here's pictures of that. Also, here's one of me sitting in the shade at Sundays Show & Shine.

Does Stephen King Smoke Crack?

Todays horoscope...

You are quite verbal today, yet there is something sensitive that you are cleverly withholding. Even if you are being politically or socially correct, your interactions could lose authenticity if your words don't remain grounded in truth. Your charm is poised to serve you well now, but it's no substitute for being real.
Friday, June 1, 2007

This is so true. I am withholding. I'm not being real, with my blog. It's only a matter of a couple more weeks before I can say anything I want. Then I will be free to be myself again, hopefully. Though lately I haven't been feeling much like myself.

There are 2 local Show & Shines this weekend. I'm not sure if we'll go to both or any at all. They are getting old, always the same people, the same bikes, the same goings on. On one hand they are always fun and I do want to go, but on the other hand, I can think of other ways to spend our weekend and don't want to go. Maybe we'll compromise and just pick one of them to attend.

I broke down and took a bit of a nap today. It's been very muggy outside and with Flo here, I just don't want to do anything. I was trying to finish that damn Stephen King book and of course fell asleep. He must have been smoking crack when he wrote this book. I'm not really enjoying it, it's too bizarre, it's quite silly really, a silly story. But I'm almost at the end now, I have to finish it, so I keep plugging away at it, a few pages at a time. I've never before had as many unread books as I have now. I think I know which one I want to read next. But I may change my mind and just pick one randomly.

So yeah, we did have a thunderstorm yesterday. I've never seen such heavy rainfall before. There were cars pulled over out on the main road because it was so heavy you couldn't see. It didn't last long. Long enough to make the power flicker off, which was long enough to screw up all the clocks, etc. The flowers got a good watering anyways. There were a few loud claps of thunder. We had some wind damage. The whole storm lasted less than an hour.

Today is awfully muggy. There is a chance of another thunderstorm. But the weekend is supposed to be beautiful. I'm just staying in the house doing laundry and such.

Have a lovely day.