CatFromBath

2012-01-02T14:19:00.000-05:00

And its over !!!

2011-12-27T15:16:00.005-05:00

Yes, I made it through the holiday they call Christmas. I smiled, I laughed and I stayed as positive as I could through the whole day. You are welcome!

Friday night I started a new tradition of doing a radio show over on Amherst Island. And what a delight it was to join my friend Erin Merry and her niece Emily Merry for our first " Merry - Christmas " show. We both brought some tunes and even played some requests. I had not been in the studio for a few months, so it was nice to have some of my old listeners back:) It felt good, which actually made me smile. Things were starting to change.

I never left the house on Saturday. My day was spent cleaning and baking. In between, there were visits with a couple of close friends...tea and sweets were had and hugs were exchanged. They knew what a hard time I was having, and they were there for support. Many thanks to them for understanding and not lecturing:)

Sunday commenced with exchanging gifts with my hubby and having a delicious breakfast consisting of bacon and Irish Creme Pancakes:) I got a beautiful book on the history of Lennox and Addington County, which I am having a hard time putting down. The afternoon and evening were spent at my cousins house for Christmas dinner. It was a blast to connect with many of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins that I only see a few times a year.

The absolute BEST day of the holiday had to be Monday - Boxing Day. We traveled to Toronto to visit with our son and his 'zoo' :) Upon arrival, we were greeted with Bryce holding onto a little chiwawa named Nu Nu....he said "Merry Christmas ... here is your gift!" and held her out to us. I barked NO WAY, and he started laughing. He went onto explain that he was dog sitting for the girl who lives downstairs. Whew...

Dorrie (our oldest grand dog) was so excited to see us, but couldn't keep her snout out of the gift bag with her gift(s) in it:) Jacob (the black great dane) was all over me when he realized I had treats. We had a great afternoon visiting and exchanging gifts. Bryce's freezer is now full of a month's worth of baking...hope he enjoys all that sweetness!

After being trapped in the automated parking lot (long story) we 'escaped' to Yonge Dundas Square for some sight-seeing and lunch at Milestones. It was lovely - and the view was captivating. The mass of people down below made us realize how lucky we were to live in our small Village that only has that many people in it on July 1st:)

We stopped to take pictures at the rink at Ryerson University. It was so great to hug my little boy again. He has been gone from under our roof for over 10 years, but never far from our hearts. We can't wait till he comes down for a Summer visit with the Grand Dogs:)

After yesterday, I feel like I have the ability to embrace the New Year and all the joy and goodness it will bring to us all.

Thank You for allowing me to vent as well as be unique in my distaste for the end-of-December holiday season.

Count Down to the day after Christmas !!

2011-12-20T17:56:00.003-05:00

Every year, people look forward to this thing they call Christmas. Personally, I could do without it. People have been jamming the whole "try and remember all the good times you had"! Bahhh Shall I just blurt it all out here so I can point everyone to my blog to read.

Shall I clarify:

When I was 5, being an only child, I acted badly and my father boxed up all my presents and gave them away to a charity. I remember looking out my bedroom window and seeing all my toys in a big box on the front doorstep.

When I was 24, my father, who had been missing for over a year, arrived on my doorstep. Ten minutes later he walked away from me and I never saw him again, till he was on his deathbed.

When I was 26, my mother re-married. We were forced to share our xmas meals with another family. They made sure we knew that we were intruders.

When I was 42 my mother passed away. 13 days before xmas. Her husband wasn't even there....we couldn't find him. It was just my brother and I and reverend Andrew in the room with her. Two days after the funeral I had the joyous task of wrapping all of our families xmas gifts that she had purchased a month earlier. A year later, her 2nd husband re-married, sold his house he shared with her and confiscated her belongings. Many of them were things that my parents had saved for years to purchase.

Now, please tell me where I can find any type of JOY when it comes to December 25th? The only thing I look forward to is the day after...

Three hours of baking ...

2011-12-18T14:31:00.010-05:00

And I believe I still have more to do, but that can wait till next weekend!

Let me talk about the rewarding experience I had, working for the United Way. This is not the first time I have had the good fortunate to work for this agency. In 2009 I was awarded the position of "Loaned Representative" from my employer, Assurant Solutions. They pay my wages, as well as any additional gas I spend in running errands, deliver packages or attending functions. It is normally a one-time-only position, but for some reason, they decided I should return for a second term. I was giddy when I was told. In fact I had tears in my eyes when I was informed I was the successful candidate for the 2011 campaign.

Even though I had completed the two week training course in 2009, I went through it again, as a few things had changed. They had added 4 different components of actual volunteer work. We spend half a day painting four different rooms at 2 different group homes. I cant paint if my life depended on it, but the people in charge thought my handy work was quite acceptable. We also spent an afternoon harvesting vegetables at one of the local community gardens. As soon as it was picked, it was delivered to those in need. An afternoon was also spent at the Food Bank. They were just ramping up for the Food Sharing Project. This is where each school in our county orders food for the many children who come in to school with empty stomachs and no lunch. The philosophy of this program is that children can only learn if they have some sort of nourishment. It still chokes me up to think of children going to school without eating breakfast and not having a lunch. Heartbreaking!

Another event we attended as part of our Loaned Rep training was the "Seeing is Believing Tour". This is where a group of employees from local businesses who support the United Way jump on a city bus and travel to four different United Way Funded Agencies. One of the stops was at "Lunch By George". I had been here before; two years prior. The first time effected me greatly. I blogged it as well as copying and sending to a few friends and acquaintances via facebook and email. Here is a clip of what I wrote: (August 20th, 2009)

....Next on the list was Lunches by George. A 'soup kitchen' type environment which started 10 years ago at St Georges Cathedral. There were 5 people there for 'lunch' when they first opened. Yesterday, there was over 40 clients there for a meal at 11am. Many tried to sit alone, as we were told that this was basically the only time they had by themselves, if they came from a shelter, or living on the street. (one of the men's shelters consists of 8 beds in a SINGLE room) There was one man sitting with his back turned to us and a big gold bible by his side. He sat with his head bowed, perhaps in prayer; more than likely trying to hide his shame. It was hard not to look around at the lineup for the kitchen window that was developing. I tried my hardest to pay attention to what the director of the program was saying, but my mind was elsewhere. How in the name of God could this be happening in the city of Kingston? My face flushed with the shame I was feeling. The biggest worry I had that day was getting my housework done before my husband and I spent our weekend boating on lake Ontario. What a spoiled person I have become. Cripes...at least I have a roof over my head...how could I be so petty?

So lets fast-forward to 2011. Once again we visited Lunch By George. There were 70+ people awaiting their meal. Many I recognized from my first visit. The bible man was there, but he looked different. He had on a nice pair of jeans and a button down shirt that seemed to instill some sort of magic. The bible man was sitting up straight, face up and smiling. The campaign slogan of the 2009 United Way Campaign was "Bring about some CHANGE" It had happened for him. Here I thought I would skim through my training, this time, without emotion. Not so much.

The fifteen weeks flew by and everyday was a new experience. This time around I was able to walk to a lot of the functions I had to attend. This meant I was able to park at the Ukranian Church lot with the rest of the Loaned Reps. Last time I had to take one the accessible parking spots at the United Way Office. I had a new knee installed the summer previous and I was proud to be able to walk along with my co-workers and not have to drive to an event that was only 10 blocks away.

Because I had been there before, I was developing solid friendships with many of the people who worked for United Way, as well as the other people who they shared building space with. This spilled over to the agencies we frequented. Most Wednesdays we walked up to the Boys & Girls club at the old Robert Meek School. They put on a $5.00 lunch and all proceeds were donated to the United Way. We got to know the people who cooked there, as well as the ones who worked in the Youth Diversion Program and The Music Lending Library. All good folk who I felt good about getting to know.

It felt like the time flew, and next thing you know we are preparing for the touchdown breakfast at the Ambassador. All of the Loaned Reps were not looking forward to returning to their old jobs...except for me. A new position had opened up in my department and upon my return, I would be involved in on-the-job training.

So in conclusion, I need to express my gratitude for the chance to give of myself and be part of an outstanding team of individuals who have and will make a CHANGE in our community. Once again, this is an experience I will carry with me forever.

It appears I have ignored you BloggyBlog

2011-12-17T17:04:00.006-05:00

Yes, August was my last post. I have lived an entire LIFE since that time. If cat's have 9 lives; I just used up an entire one from mid-august to the beginning of December. While working a secondment with our Local United Way, I realized what it was like to live as the person I was born to be. I plan on blogging about it, when I get the time to elaborate.

Today is December 17th and the few Christmas pressies I need to purchase have been acquired. I'm ready. The worst season ever; the one I dread; the one that actually creates stress and anxiety in my world.

I feel the need to vent....I will be back:)

Yes I know...its only a cat

2011-08-21T20:51:00.004-04:00

The story of Jethro:

It was a brutally cold -24C day, January 12th 2003 when this little ball of blonde fur was huddled on our doorstep. I opened the door to see this little shaking face staring up at me with those bright green eyes. It had been exactly one month to the day that my mother had passed away. Due to the fact that Mum always said she would come back as a cat, I took this first encounter as a sign.

To say our 7 year old cat Emmy was miffed was an understatement. All of a sudden she was sharing a home with this extremely famished, bundle of energy. We pondered taking ‘it’ to the Humane Society, as no one on our street knew where ’it’ came from. Someone mentioned that the teenager next door to us had brought it home from a party but his Mom wouldn’t let him keep it. Dealing with grief plus trying to maintain some sort of normalcy after loosing a parent, I didn’t think I would have time to train a kitten. After much convincing from the hubby, son and friends, I decided to keep the little scamp. After all, my Mom was a blonde too. So after naming *her* Mae (Mom’s middle name) I thought I better make a trip to our local vet to get her checked out. Our local Vet knew my Mom and was tearing up as I told the tale of how my Mom wanted to return as a feline. Everyone in our Village knew my mother as she was our local council representative in the newly formed Loyalist Township. The vet didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he informed us that we need to change this kitty’s name as she was a he !! Once we got him back home and he dove for the food, bowling over our other cat, we both looked at each other decided “Jethro” was his name. As in the man-child on the Beverly hillbillies who never stops eating. The name stuck.

As our cats were always indoors, they were quite excited when we moved to our lakefront house in June 2007 & Billy built them a huge glassed in deck! The original intention was for our viewing pleasure however I am convinced the cats thought it was their oversized playground.

Imagine my surprise when Jethro dragged a small field mouse up the stairs and deposited it at my feet early one morning. Number one, how did it get in the basement…and secondly, how the heck did he catch it? He had never been outside long enough to learn the ropes of catching wildlife? I captured the mouse and threw it over the deck. He was so upset that I wouldn’t allow him the pleasure of mauling it to death.

Billy ended up putting a cat door in our front aluminum door that leads to the deck. Just so that the cats could let themselves in and out when we were home. Unfortunately this great idea backfired when the big guy took a hankering to dragging in June Bugs, giant moths and dragonflies. Just because he felt he needed to show us his new friends. Once again he surprised me last summer when he brought in a baby bird. My only justification of this capture was that the bird flew into our bedroom window, bounced back and landed in his open mouth, as he was yawning.

Last summer we made a trip to Lowes in Belleville to find a chaise lounge for me. This ended up in the purchase of his and her lawn chairs. The ‘his and her’ was intended for Mr and Mrs Christmas, however, Jethro thought that we bought them for him. He happily held down a chair every day.

Since I was a young child I have always had a cat in my life. My mother loved cats and we always had a house full of them. Cats, like dogs give love unconditionally. They comfort you when you are sad and lift your spirits when they greet you at the door every night. Whenever I pulled in the driveway, Billy would shout “Mommy’s home” and he would always run to greet me.

This cat meant so much to me. When he fell asleep in my arms on Friday morning, I felt like I was loosing my mother all over again.

Billy built a casket for the big fellah. We buried him with his favourite brush and his stuffed dragonfly.

RIP Jethro. We will meet again on the Rainbow Bridge.

Living in a box

2011-08-14T16:01:00.004-04:00

For some strange reason, today appears to be a time of self-reflection.

Recently I happened upon an occasion where I had to think outside the box. Yes, outside the walls of my desk!! Anyone who has worked in a call centre, knows exactly what I mean. For so many years my working hours have been spent in front of a monitor, or two. Always following protocol, abiding by call times and following a very strict schedule. In this environment, it is oftentimes hard to think any other way but what you have been conditioned to.

Considering that short of a 12 month stint at an Amherstview apartment complex in 1980, I have always lived at the same postal code. My address always been the same 6 digits: k0h1g0. In fact, Canadian postal codes weren't implemented till I was 11! (cripes, I am older than postal codes) I marred a man who grew up less than 2 miles from my childhood residence. Looking back, I am somewhat embarrassed to say I still spend every weekend with the people I have known since childhood. I did not roam far from home.

Many times I am tempted to start writing about the unique bond I have with these people. It would take ages to organize, and I am unsure if anyone would be interested in reading about our lives, besides ourselves. Keep that thought for the mental bucket list I guess.

Getting back to the original subject of this blog, thinking outside of the box. Why do I find this so hard? My father’s family have constantly steered from the norm by creating jobs that suited their personalities. My great-grandfather, on my fathers side was a gardener. He was paid for working in the gardens at Casa Loma. How sweet is that? His son, my Grandfather Les Beazer lived at Casa Loma with his family between 1941-1948. They had the good fortune of becoming the care-takers there. Imagine growing up in a castle in the middle of the city of Toronto in the 1940’s? My grandparents later started up a flower stall at the St Lawrence Market in Toronto. My father and my aunt Bella also followed into the flower-peddler path of life. They were paid for doing what they loved. Life has changed.

And I digress …

Being a child of the 60’s, I was raised in the catholic school system and spent my teen aged years being educated in the fine art of politics. That last sentence makes it sound so much more refined than it was. My parents both believed in volunteering all their free time to work for local candidates in both federal and provincial elections. Both spent years as councilors of the local municipal government of the Village of Bath. I followed along. Abiding by the rules of the almighty Roman Catholic Church, rubbing elbows with the Premier of Ontario and local members of parliament on many social occasions, my life fit into the ‘box’ that my parents created.

Fast forward: I go to college, get a job in my field & get married all in less than two years. The child comes one year & one month after marriage. (for those counting) Then we buy our first house. Still following the life path expected of me. My friends do the same. We work, we raise our children, we exist in the community our parents have helped create for us. Many of us join volunteer organizations and carry on the *good* things our parents have shown us to be worthy of our extra time.

Now at the age of 51 I have been asked to think outside the box that I have lived in. Why do I find this so tough? Is it that I am afraid to veer of the path I believe that I was destined to follow? Is it possible for me to be anything more than a mother/wife/phone-answerer?

Time will tell.

A new job for this old cat !!!

2011-08-07T18:30:00.001-04:00

Yes, that's right...I am off to a new job on August 22nd.

Well, its not really a 'new' job, I have worked there before. Two years ago, I was chosen by my employer to work as a Loaned Representative for the 2009 local United Way campaign. Those 14 weeks flew but my memories of the experience remain with me always. Imagine my surprise when I was chosen to do the same thing this year?

I was raised in an environment where caring for others came naturally. It was not taught, it was inherited. My last tour with the United Way made me feel like I was finally in my realm, like I belonged there. It was a very sad day when I left but going back will be a blast.

No doubt this old blog will be used to bore and perhaps educate the few readers I have on the fine art of philanthropy.

I believe that out of all the jobs I have had in my 35+ years of working, *this* is the one where I am best utilized. Just eight more working days and I will be back with the organization I love.

Holidays Part 2

2011-07-22T10:28:00.007-04:00

Just scrolling back in my blog, I have noted that I mentioned sitting back and relaxing on this version of my summer holidays. So far, I would classify that last sentence as EPIC FAIL. The sleeping last night was not good, as we have no AC and we fought over the fans. So I was up at 5 and out the door at 6 to swim. Due to the price of gas, whenever I am near the city, I feel the need to pick up supplies. So groceries was the second thing on the list today. After handing over $110 of my hard earned money for 5 bags of groceries, it was home again home again jiggidy jog. Now I sit, wondering what to do next? Do I prep for my radio show tonight? Do I prep for my radio show on Wednesday morning? Do I get off my butt and clean the house? Maybe I will find a penny and flip it...heads: Do nothing tails: clean

Last week just flew by. Billy and I made sure we stayed busy busy. Unfortunately we are running away from memories. Memories of a tabby cat we brought home from the horse barn, where our son once rode. We named her Emmy, after the fair town of Emerald, Amherst Island. At that time in our lives, we spent a large part of our summers at our friends cottage in Emerald. It was like the place that time forgot. We loved the fact that we could look across the water and see our house. It felt like we were escaping all of life's problems, running away to our Emerald City.

The year was 1995. We had just lost our first cat * Tony * . I spotted him in the window at the pet shop in the Cataraqui Town Centre and felt compelled to bring him home. Home to our first apartment; we were newlyweds for a whole 2 weeks and I felt the need to surprise Billy with our first pet. Tony moved many times in the first 10 years of our marriage and always adapted well to his surroundings. At the ripe old age of 15, he couldn't out run a cement truck while crossing highway 33 (Bath Road) Bill called me at work that afternoon to give me the news. It was a sad day indeed. We buried Tony behind my favourite flower garden.

Our son Bryce started riding horses that same summer. Of course, spending so much time at the barn, he was bound to discover the nine new kittens in the hay loft. One thing led to another and we had 'replaced' Tony with another tabby. She was just 8 weeks old, when she arrived at our door under the premise that she was MY mothers day gift. She took a liking to Billy and they bonded instantly. Emmy became Bills cat, plain and simply. When our son left home to go to college in 1999, we were once again reduced to a family of three. There was a morning and evening ritual between Bill and Em, and rarely was it missed. As early as last year I mentioned "It is going to break your heart to put her to sleep..." Gruesome as it sounded, it was in the futile attempt to face reality. Yes, we inherited another cat 9 years ago, but Emmy was always our 'favourite' ... (Dont tell Jehtro that, please)

Last Saturday morning we grabbed the cat carrier out of the garage,bundled up our frail old girl and off to our 930 vet appointment we went. It was so unusual that Emmy barely made a whimper. Any other time she went to the vet, she yelped and howled to the top of her lungs. Once the vet evaluated her and gave us the news that she had a mass in her belly (probably a cancerous tumour), renal failure, dehydration (despite her love of our free flowing water container) and a high possibility of feline diabetes, we shuddered. The cost of the first step of treatment was over 1K and it would cause her undue stress, and probable pain. Our second option was Euthanasia. (Greek for 'Good Death') No pain, just peace in leaving this world in a painless fashion. Bill decided it was time to let her go. When the vet came back in and we told her of our decision, she had a tear in her eye. She went and prepared for the procedure as we said our last good byes to the old girl. They wrapped her in a fluffy yellow blanket and we watched as they put the needle in her. The we heard the vet say "Shes Gone..." I am unsure of how long we stayed in the room, petting her and telling her she was finally free of her pesky little brother Jethro.

Not a fantastic way to start last weekend, and we spend the next two days running away, trying to forget. Sunday night we crashed.

Now its a new weekend, Billy and I are on holidays together, and we plan on relaxing and enjoying each others company. Emmy is in kitty cat heaven and Jethro is still moping around the house, trying to find her.

Sorry for the downer post. I had to write about the experience to try and get it out of my system.

Radio Ga Ga

2011-07-11T09:35:00.002-04:00

My *fun* job

It was kind of ironic how it happened. I had been posting on my Facebook and Twitter accounts about my bi-monthly radio show for quite some time now, never expecting that anyone besides my close friends and family were actually listening. How shocked/surprised I was to read that a long-time local DJ Jim Elyot was listening and even requesting tunes. To say I was honored was an understatement.

Seeing as the world is so small, I suddenly realized that this listener once worked with my sons’ Godfather, Greg Hunter, who has also been a local radio celebrity for over 30 years. When I suggested that the three of us do a radio show together, I never imagined that they would say yes.

Friday July 8th was the night we decided on. Greg met my husband and I at our local Legion at 5PM for dinner first. Then over to the island we went. Jim met us at the ferry as he rode his bike all the way from Kingston. The conversation immediately reverted back to the 70’s and some of the crazy things that happened at CKLC-AM, where they had once worked.

Jim was kind enough to bring the music, so all I did was put the two men in the production room with a microphone and my hand written advertisement for our sole sponsor and let them loose. I don’t think I had ever laughed so hard in all my life. To me, it was like time stood still, and I became that teenager with her portable radio, worshiping the local radio Gods.

Then the phone rang. It was one of their old co-workers, who had been reading Jim’s Tweets from the last week about the show. How shocked do you think *I* was to hear that it was Chris St Clair from the Weather Network! He loved the show and just wanted to call and talk to the boys.

The next day I received an email from Mr. St Clair relaying his compliments on my show. I was chuffed.

Thank You Jim & Greg (and Chris too) you certainly brightened my night.

Vacation - Part I

2011-06-26T17:57:00.002-04:00

Yes, it is time for this old cat to take her 1st week of required holidays. I remember back when I was in my 20's, I worked in a plant and managed to work through my holidays : I called it "double-bubble." By doing that, I ended up overtired, stressed out & disabled. Apparently your body needs to rest after standing on cement floors for 45 hours a week.

Life has changed since then... I grew up and realized the importance of 'down-time'. So this year when booking my holidays, I planned one full week for me to get my chores done and one week with the s/o. And now the first week has started, I already have almost 50% of my work-list marked off. This is a good thing as I secretly wanted a few days to do nothing.

This weekend (between rain showers) I did manage to get the entire house power-washed and the front deck sanded and ready for staining. There needs to be two days without rain in order to commence that job.

Tomorrow I am off to town to find something to wear to a wedding in early September. My fashion consultant will be traveling with me, as I really have no idea what to buy. How pathetic that I am so conditioned to 'business casual' clothing.

Tuesday will be the day I clean all carpeting and upholstery, as the liars network is calling for more rain. All the windows will be cleaned on Wednesday, after my early morning swim. Thursday and Friday may be days I sit and do nothing. Perhaps.

Home ownership offers one the opportunity to work themselves into frazzle...but the reward of saying that you have something to show for your holidays ... that is MY definition of priceless.

Better get a good sleep tonight...the next few days will be a real workout :)

I worked HARD this weekend ! Time to go back to work to get a break.

2011-06-19T18:58:00.005-04:00

So I had this huge list of things I had to do on my week of holidays at the end of the month. I had 0ne day dedicated to power washing the deck. Seeing as our boat is still not water-worthy, it was decided that I would utilize my 'day off' to get this big job done.

Bill had two friends here watching over me while I worked away. They said they were fixing the boat. Somehow a half of box of beer disappeared. No biggy, I figure they are all Dads...they deserve a day off.

As I sit here re-vamping my holiday-chore list, I wonder how many of these things can be completed before the 24th, so I can spend 7 days doing nothing?

Oh and I almost forgot to mention...MY BRUINS WON THE STANLEY-FREAKIN'-CUP this week!!! This chick has waited 39 years for this.

#ImAHappyCat

Sunday is Blog-Day

2011-05-29T19:56:00.005-04:00

Last Friday evening, as I was rocking out at the island radio station, a crisis was developing on the mainland. Our good friends, Rick and Colette have a chocolate lab named Casey, who we treated as our own. She drank beer with the boys and hung out gossiping with the girls. In her quest to catch a bunny, she somehow slipped a few disks in her back and was paralyzed. She had to be put down:( The next day she was buried out beside the garage, with her favourite toys, her garage bowl and a full beer, for the trip to puppy-dog heaven. It effected all of us, as she was truly one of a kind. Three days later, the Harper's made a trip to Ottawa, and brought home a 10 week old black lab named Abby. She is so sweet and no doubt, will be a treat to watch grow up.

Even though it was a short work week, it seemed to go on forever. It did end on a superb note, my boys (The Boston Bruins) are now the Eastern Conference Champions. Wednesday night they meet the Vancouver Canucks for the Stanley Cup Finals. No doubt, if you are not a hockey fan, you are wondering what the big deal is. I have waited MANY years to see the Bruins in the finals ... 40 years, in fact. The next two weeks should be exciting! Regardless of the outcome, I am looking forward to some first class hockey!

Tomorrow is swimming day, and despite the fact that I do not start work till noon, I will be up at 5 and ready to head out the door at 6. The exercise regime is getting a bit easier and the results are beginning to show. My clothes are much looser and people are noticing the change. So do I ! It feels great to get so much physical work done around the house that I was unable to accomplish before. Today I managed to do 4 hours of gardening, followed up by a vigorous sanding session with our teak outdoor patio table. 2 hours of sanding, then the clean up. The staining was the easiest part...boy does it look great now!

Next weekend - Project-Boat-In-The-Water!

I have ignored you Ms Blog

2011-05-22T19:19:00.005-04:00

But I have been a busy girl. Work, exercise, gardening, yard work. Those are all my excuses.

I opted for purchasing a pool membership and have swam 3 times since last Monday. So this means that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, I give * YOU * permission to kick my a@@ if I neglect participating in the early morning swim! It starts at 630AM, so I have to be up by at least 5am. Yes, you read that correctly. FIVE AM! What doesn't kill me will make me stronger!

This year I have decided to clean out an old flower garden and use it for a vegetable garden. This makes two gardens. Twice the weeding, but twice the harvest. Once again, I am forcing myself to do more work. It is my intent that the more I do, the stronger I will become. Thus, the more I will be able to do. I like that convoluted theory.

So now that there is potential for twice the harvest, and still only two of us living here, I have decided to donate at least 50% of the bounty to the food bank. It only makes sense to give away what you cant use. At least in my head it does.

Now that we have surpassed yesterdays rapture, I figure we need to work ourselves into a frenzy to get all the Spring Yard Work done this weekend. Possible? It may be, the dock is now IN the lake. So the next step is getting the boat out of storage and into the water for the season.

Ahhhh summer ... how we have missed you:)

Here we go, here we go...here we go again

2011-05-10T19:46:00.002-04:00

This week is flying by quickly. After totally wiping myself out on yard work, my paying job was a definite welcome yesterday.

My big news of the week is that our Soundgarden tickets arrived yesterday AND I have a paying sponser for my weekly radio show on CJAI FM! It has been over 30 years since I penned an advertisement. Maybe I better look up what I can and cant say:)

My biggest decision this week is if I pay for a day long writers workshop on Amherst Island on May 28th or if I buy a new membership for the pool. My excerise routine is beginning to get boring, so I thought I better change it up a bit so as not to have an excuse to quit.

Thoughts anyone?

2.5 years since I posted a blog...

2011-05-07T19:18:00.003-04:00

It is so unfortunate that facebook and twitter have taken over my desire to blog. My first blog posts back in the early 90's were some of my best...how sad I never took the time to save them.

Life changes as do the subject of our posts. Back in the day, I was angry young woman and always questioning why my life appeared to be jinxed. Over years of hardships, I have developed a tougher skin and reverted back to a kinder gentler person. One that would make my Mother proud.

Recently I have managed to get hooked on Twitter. This is bad bad bad. The last three months have been spent on self-improvement...walking, eating properly and trying to reduce my 'screen-time'. So far I have lost 20+lbs, walk over 2KM a day and spend my evenings being productive in the household chore department. Twitter is now my enemy.

From what I have read on Twitter, I was doing all the 'right things', years ago. I was 'LinkedIn' before the website was developed. Back then, I was told that revealing your soul in a public venue was frowned upon. So I stopped. But eventually came back to it in many fashions. Mostly on public forums, as well as this blog I commenced a few years back. I had this baby jam packed full of pictures, but managed to delete many of them over time. Many were removed because people complained that I was posting things that I shouldnt have.

So now I have my big girl pants on, and learned that I have a choice. Despite what others think, I plan on revealing whatever I please. So beware :) The Cat is Back!

*meow*

I could have laughed ALL night ... in fact I DID:)

2008-09-27T18:08:00.004-04:00

OMG I went out with the girls last night and Im still laughing almost 24 hrs later:)

To start the night off, Laura leaned over and spilled Tash's beer all over ME, the designated Driver!!! Then Tash bought some nacho's and the sour cream ended up all over Laura, so it was even...sortta!

Then the wait staff wouldnt bring us a rag or napkins to dry up the spilled beer and the nacho mess, so Becca so graciously grabbed an 'always' out of her purse.

Of course the salsa got wiped onto the 'napkin' and left on a railing behind us for 2 hours till some big burly guy came out with gloves on up to his elbows and took it away for further CSI analysis. Here is Tash laughing about it as the evidence lays just to her right!

By the way, the band The Firm was really good. I used to work with the lead singer, Disco John Tavares, and I have known Ron (aka CaptnRon) for 5 years.

I wonder why Carole is laughing so hard?

I call this shot Poetry In Motion:

And last but not least, this 'cougar' thought she looked hawt with this cut out dress on...Rebecca wanted to make sure that I didnt miss her when it came time to capturing the wardrobe malfunction on my memory stick:

The night ended at 3am at Tim's when Bec found a picture of a tit on her cellphone walpaper...the bright yellow pylon ended up in my car from the store as did a few beer mugs from Raxx...

A great night was had by all!

WOW I missed a few days :)

2008-09-20T18:50:00.002-04:00

I have to say, last week was a series of up's and down's. Had some issues at work and then magically they disappeared at 9:15 on Wednesday...The power of positive thinking (I swear) is what helped create the solution.

The last time I wrote I was on my way to Fare for Friends. It was an extremely hot day where I was totally out of place. There were Doctors, lawyers, members of parliment & rock stars there. The dumb-white-gurl-from-Bath sat in awe. My camera was my friend & I spent a few hours snapping pictures, eating food that wouldnt normally buy and swallowing it all down with free beer:)

Pretty fancy eh?

The rest of the week buzzed by...not even sure if I took any pictures till Thursday night when I went on the Krock boat cruise...what a hoot that was:)

I will try and edit and post pictures of that later...

Sunday Sunday Sunday

2008-09-14T12:14:00.003-04:00

I was getting so used to having Sundays off all summer...today I had to trade a shift to get this one off. Good excuse though, Im attending Fare for Friends; a wine and cheese party for the United Way. It takes place at the Vimy Officers Mess on the base. Hope I can find it!

Last night we played cards with our friends and then walked over to the marina to catch the band Steve Cheeseman and the Heaters...they were playing outside for an Easter Seals fund raiser.

Ok time to get ready...will edit this post when I get home tonight:)

sitting out on my deck...

2008-09-13T15:35:00.003-04:00

being a total geek before my guest get here...I have been listening to my iPod and txting my friend Laura on my cell...after I spent the majority of the day cleaning and laundry and cooking and stuff.....do you like stuff? I like stuff!

Here is a picture of Jethro with the 'stuff' he caught...a grasshopper...yuck!

ok so our friend rick and colette are coming for dinner...billy has the van stuck in the lake trying to take the boat out...i might post pictures later...

company is here..ttyl dudes....

Just another day in paradise :)

2008-09-11T20:21:00.003-04:00

I took a picture of the board announcing my QA score...there are few things that I can do well in life...one is to tan and the other is to talk. This is proof that I can talk well?

Billy took me pickrel fishing tonight and while grabbing our tackle boxes out of the shed, I noticed another one of my sunflowers had bloomed. A faint reminder of the summer we never had...

So although we didnt catch anything, it was nice to just troll back and forth and enjoy the peace and quiet!

Tomorrow is FRYday...I have to work till 5:15 and then Im off till Monday...whoo hooo :) And of course, its going to rain. Looks like the boat will be taken out of the water this weekend as the water is dropping constantly as is the temperature.

Hump Day is over with

2008-09-10T18:43:00.006-04:00

Oh man...Im working Friday this week so my Wednesday was really a Wednesday. I had a feeling it was going to be a bad day when I got a call at 8:00 am that ended after 9am. When your allowed 4 mins and 30 seconds for a call...this guy killed my stats for the day. Enuff of work stuff...

So I guess I should find some pictures from the summer to post here...as I have only posted on facebook (crackbook) and people dont really look at pictures on there.

This picture was taken at our friends Sue and Johns house on labour day weekend. We love playing with their dog Molly :0 She is so well behaved. Here is a picture of her jumping off their dock to catch the ball!

And here is a picture I took from their boat that same weekend. Our boat was being repaired so Sue & John were kind enough to take us out in their boat:)

Thats enough for now. Cant wait for the weekend to get here!!

It WAS my lucky day!!!

2008-09-09T18:38:00.005-04:00

So I get up at 2:20am thinking about things I needed to do today at work. It was impossible to shut my brain off. As well I was excited about attending the Kick Off Breakfast for the United Way at The Ambassador at 7am too:) While getting ready to leave, I noticed that it wasnt a commerant, duck or goose sitting on the mooring ball, it was our local Blue Heron, who I call Mork:)

The early morning event was a blast...I took a few pictures and almost cried when they played the campaign video as I know the artist (Emily Fennel) as well as the music producer. (Chris Koster) Here is a picture of some of the people at our table:

Our boss, Kathy Burke is this years campaign chairman, and I have been honoured by being chosen for the United Way Executive Committee at work this year. Here is a picture of our 'boss' Kathy giving her speech this morning:

Members of our local media were on hand to deliver this years campaign goal:

After returning from work, I was told a few hours later that I name was in the local online office publication as I had won a $50 prize for a suggestion that I submitted last week. SWEET!
An hour after that, they posted the 5 people who attained 97% or higher on their monthly QA scores...I was one! As I was in a 2 hr training session, a co-worker met me in the hallway and informed me that I had just won a GOLD award for sitting on another committee that had to with reducing our total call time by simplifying our IVR when our customers call in! The award is in the amount of $75 :)
I neglected to mention the fact that we saw the results of an accident right outside our office this afternoon too. This was on the corner of Fortune Cresent and Gardiners Road. Unfortunately none of the newspapers are interested in publishing it, so I will keep it to myself:)

Another lucky thing happened to me today ... I won a ticket for this years United Way Fare for Friends Garden Party this Sunday (my scheduled day to work) however I was fortunate enough to find a co-worker who would switch shift with me so I have Sunday off this year!!! (Thanks Kim...your awesome!!!!)

All in all, this one of the best days I have had in quite some time:) It made me blog again...a natural form of therapy so says my friend Snoshi:)

This is very odd

2008-02-18T08:42:00.001-05:00

I did create two new posts and now they have taken a flight to the land of cyber space. I viewed them last night however they have vanished this morning.

Today is a holiday but I am at work...the pool was open so I went swimnming. The sun is out and I am inside.

But Spring is coming...this I am sure of!!

Post number two of 2008

2008-02-17T11:02:00.003-05:00

This morning (the only day I had to sleep in) started at 630am. The sun is starting to come up earlier and earlier every morning; Im confident we WILL have an early Spring:)

We went to the Legion for breakfast this morning with our friends Rick and Colette. Our days plan was to travel to Brockville to visit some friends however there is 2 large storms on their way and we dont want to experience 6 hrs of freezing rain while we are travelling:( So we cancelled the trip.

Im trying to remember how to post pictures on here...lets try an experiment :

That is my pal Jethro with a swiffer-thingy around his head. Bill did this while I was at work one day. Then he had balls enough to take the picture too:)

Billy is out playing on his 4 wheeler...last I saw him was out on the ice. What a kid he is:)

Welcome back to me

2008-02-16T18:22:00.002-05:00

I believe I should use this place again...it may actually keep me off crackbook!!!

Today was spent viewing through a few of my posts and I realized how much I miss blogging. Maybe I can even post a few pictures up here instead of facebook.

So many things have changed since I posted last April...new house...new job...sigh Where do I begin?

One day last May, we saw that our favourite little house (the one we always secretly wanted to buy) was up for sale in the village and the first open house was the next day. Of course we went, of course we loved what we saw and of course we bought! From the time we looked at the place to the time we moved was less than 6 weeks...this included PREPARING (as that was a f***ing job in itself) our old house to be placed on the market. (I had three days notice and we had to paint, clean, de-clutter and stage the place and have it presentable for an open house)It is amazing which friends show up to help when needed. (sidenote: I probably lost my job because I had 3 vacation days left to use before July & used them to prep the house - the managedment was not happy and held it against me when it was time to decide who to cut out of the department - water under the bridge tho)

So we sold our house to a girl who I used help my friend Linda Poudrier babysit when we were young teens. She (Stephanie) has three boys and certainly could use the room that our old house had. It was way too big for Mr c and I, thats for sure. So we had a full summer here on the water and loved every minute of it. Billy built me a huge deck in the front of the house and I spent my 2 week holiday there at the end of july and beginning of August. Then I went back to work for a few weeks and the company I worked for decided to downsize my department & I drew the short straw. They demoted me from a Quality Assurance Specialist to an agent taking calls for bell Canada and being forced to sell Long Distance Plans, Satellite Dishes and High Speed Internet packages. I managed to do that for a month then had to leave. I left that exact job when Startek opened in July 2001. A job was advertised at Assurant Solutions, another call center in the city, so I applied and was hired. It took me three hours to say goodbye to some old friends at Startek on the day I went back to 'quit'...I cried all the way home, not because I would miss my job, but because I would miss all those great people I had spent many hours with at that building. Even though it was only an employer housed in that building, I had many memories of the people there who touched my life. We all went through 911 together, as well as deaths births and marriages. Enough of that...its a chapter of my life that is now closed.

Ok time for dinner, I need to carry on tomorrow maybe. Thank for reading my blog.

Hockey has me by the arse!

2007-04-08T17:52:00.000-04:00

Yes it happens, you walk the walk, you talk the talk and eventually you turn into the people you work or live with. I dont think I was this dedicated to any sport like I am to hockey! Watching the habs loose to Toronto last night was a turning point in my Sports-Loving Career. Now as I type this, the New jersey Devils JUST tied a pivotal game with the New York Islanders with ONE FREAKIN SECOND left in the game!!!! How bizarre is that?? They are still arguing over it but now its down to a 5 minute game to decide if the Leafs will get 8th spot or it goes to the Islanders.

The five minute game came and went with no decision so it came to the shootout and the Islanders won. Oh well...Toronto can start golfing early.

This past weekend was spent getting over a bad cold so I really was too miserable to go anywhere till today. (Sunday) My cousin Wendy invited us over for an early afternoon easter dinner so at least I got to go somewhere in the past three days:)

Tomorrow starts another work week and I hope really hope it goes fast. Those of you who work with me know why...I wont bore the rest of you with the details.

Seeing as this is a photoblog...I better post the latest pictures that my camera has taken. So we had a visitor at work last week and we had to get dressed up (again), so the photo opportunity was there. How I got wedged in the back between my manager and my supervisor, i will never know:

And of course I had to ham it up for the photographer:

Due to the fact that we managed to get more snow for Easter than we did for Christmas, I have a feeling that Spring will be here soon.

The end of March

2007-03-26T18:12:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? Im giddy just thinking about the upcoming boating/summer season...especially when I see the melting ice in the big lake! It's hard to grasp the concept that I have watched the ice slide out of the north channel 47 times now!

After spending 6 hours shopping on Saturday, just in the attempt to find something 'dress-up' for work today, it turns out that our special guest that was to arrive at our call center this morning, backed out! Guess I will have to go shopping again soon:) But I must say, for someone who hates to shop, I had a great time with my friend Louise on Saturday.

So I thought we had better take a picture of myself and my 'boys' today while we were all dolled up:

Wish I could get rid of that double chin faster....

Coronation Street is on so I must run!

Im back

2007-03-17T16:51:00.002-04:00

And I have absolutely no excuse for not posting in almost 3 months except for the fact that I have been busy with work and the radio station trying to keep a clean house. Oh, and adhering to a new eating plan. So far this year I have lost 30lbs and Billy has 31lbs off. He is doing Atkins (modified) and I started Weight Watchers on January 27th, after giving up on Atkins as it was making me feel shaky without any sugar.

Instead of going backwards in time, I will move forward with this blog. There are many 'before' pictures of the two of us in the archives so you may notice the difference in the two of us. This picture was taken by my friend Colette at the Legion a few weeks ago as we enjoyed the Sunday morning breakfast.

My radio show on Amherst Island has become the highlight of my week. I have a group of friends who have no fear of being on the air with me. They are all kind enough to bring some different kinds of tunes with them as well as their sense of humour. Last night my buddy Weezie and her husband Mike came over and I swear we just laughed for three hours straight. Here is a picture of Louise and I playing 'air-fiddle/violin'!

and a semi-normal picture of Louise and I:

and Mike and Louise:

and Mike and I:

Tonight is a big night in my house ... the stinkin' habs are playing the Leafs so it will no doubt be a loud evening.

So here's to those who actually read this blog and commented that they 'missed' it.

Where did the last 2 months go??

2006-12-31T14:22:00.000-05:00

Yes it has been over two months since I updated. Its weird...I got caught up with some weird file management issues at the radio station that swallowed up over 60 hours of my time and never got resolved.
Oh yea and Halloween happened too. My dept at work dressed up...It was suppose to be like a bunch of farmers but I couldn't find a tractor to match my blue plaid shirt! Gawd I'm such a blimpoid compared to the full moon hanging over my head:

On November 10th I had three young men join me in the studio. It was a night packed with hair songs...a tribute to our friend T-bone. Here is Rico, Babs & Snoshi hangin out at CJAI:

It was amusing when Robbie realized that there was not a Mac's Milk on the rock, so we used our tools and went out on the air as a public outcry for munchies:) We had two people call and say they would make us some microwave popcorn. When we went over to retrieve the snacks from the kind lady who owns the store, she ended up giving us the popcorn and opening the store for Robbie to buy smokes, doritos, penny candy, pop, chocolate bars and other various treats. What a doll that Laurie is!! The show ran smoothly but quickly. There were many laughs had by all and best of all, our friend Nancy Slater called us to say how she enjoyed our show. Nancy had just left Krock in Kingston to do a morning show at a rock station in North Bay!!! It was a treat to hear from her! Before I knew it I was rolling back across the water and said goodevening to the three boys who had me in stitches all night. The highlight had to be when I asked Ted (onair) what the call letters for the station were and he said CJAone !!! OMG I wanted to pee.

A few weeks later my friend Louise came over to the station to do a show with me! We had 16 online listeners before the internet crashed on us!!!! Weezie always brings great snacks wherever she goes:

She even took a video of me trying to queue up an album with my cd rom:)

Let's see...we went back to our friends Cheryl and Kenny's place for a surprise 50th birthday party for Cheryl. Here is a picture of all the crazy ladies in the house:
(please note, it was not ME taking my top off for the camera!)

Bryce sent me a few new pictures of Jacob and Dorrie:

doesn't Jake look like Alf in this one?

December has to be one of the fastest months...it went by in a blur. Maybe it had something to do with the record temperatures we had. This picture was taken on the 2nd of December and you would swear it was the middle of September. I like the way the sun is highlighting the coast guard boat out in the middle of the lake.

The next day I had a 'xmas party' at The Lodge on Amherst Island for the Radio Station. Here is a picture of Tom (CEO) and Terry Culbert (PD) of the station:

In Mid-December, our boss took our entire department bowling for the afternoon. How sweet is she??? We all had a riot...Some even dressed up for the occasion:

This is my new manager after he won the high score trophy:

The remainder of the month was spent shopping for that dumb holiday at the end of the month. Billy tells me that next year we are going away and don't have to be bothered with all that crap...Whoo Hooo

So Bryce and Dorrie came home for 6 days. Of course we had to get the dog dressed up for the occasion:

And this is what she did to her new kong:

Guess she wore herself out:

Here she is looking for more treats for her under the tree:

At Carolee and Norms on Christmas afternoon:

She just loves sitting in chairs:

At Wendy and Seans for christmas dinner:

Oh and check out these beautiful new socks (I bought for Bryce)

Santa brought me a new leather coat and the best gift of all...a NEW Canon digital camera. As my friend Shayne says "Its the tits!" It certainly is...I can even add zoom lenses to this puppy. I am so pleased and applaud Billies choice of new playtoy for me.

Here is a close up I took of Jethro yesterday as the sun streamed in through the front window:

And one of the snow as it twinkled down from the sky yesterday:

And the beautiful colour of the sun as it rose at 7 this morning:

Tonight we are off to Jim and Brenda's for New Years Eve festivities. Billy is making his world famous pizza dip to take with us. I just plan on drinking a few gingerales so I can drive his ass home. Tomorrow should be an even lazier day than today!! But at least I got this blog updated after 8 weeks of it sitting dormant!

October is ending ...

2006-10-29T16:31:00.000-05:00

And we didn't even have an Indian summer !! Well, Thanksgiving Weekend was awesome, but since that time it has rained, snowed and the wind has been incredibly high. Global warming my butt!

Billy managed to save the lives of the moose around his camp this year; so his trip was relatively uneventful. In fact, it rained and snowed everyday he was gone so they didn't get a lot of hunting done. He came home on Friday and teased me by calling my cell phone and saying "You will be impressed by what is hanging in our backyard." I left work early only to find that it was our ladder, that he had brought back from the camp, hanging on a hook on our fence. Whew....No Bullwinkle in my tree:)

On Friday October 20th, the Great White Hunter and his lovely bride Tina came to the Legion to join us for dinner. They were a bit late, so I ate early then traveled home to brush my teeth and grab my laptop. Once we got to the station and uploaded Greg's music he had compiled, we got down to having some fun on the air. The next three hours went by in a blur; and before we knew it, it was 950 and time to catch the boat.
Here is the only picture I took that sort of turned out:

In my haste, I raced out of the station and left my purse sitting on the counter. The next day, I got up early and caught the 8:30 am boat back over. Tom was at the station and had a great laugh at me being such an absent-minded doofus. On my way home from that boat, something caught my eye as I approached Millhaven Pen:

The next night (Sunday) I picked up my friend Christine and off to Grant Hall (Queen's) we went. Sarah Harmer and her band were playing and the depressing downpour of rain was not about to keep us away. After finding a great parking spot in the underground parking lot, we walked up one flight of stairs and Grant Hall was right in front of us! Good thing we didn't bother with umbrella's!! The show was fantastic but the seating was bad. We didn't get there early enough to get a 'good' seat so we got as close to the stage, on the balcony as we could. The seats were very uncomfortable but I didn't care as the music was soothing and relaxing and I was not going to miss out on another Sarah show. Here is a picture of the band as they performed:

I have to say, I have never been to such a quiet concert. Everyone was silent and I felt like I had to wait to clap....Very strange.
Yesterday, we picked up Harly and Judy and traveled to Brockville to spend the day at our friends Cheri & Kenny's house. They are fortunate to live in a beautiful 150 year old Limestone farmhouse that sits on a 100 acre original plot. This home has been in Cheri's family for many years and she has a lot of documents and memorabilia to do with the history of the property. It rained all day so we basically stayed inside. We spent the entire day eating, chatting and enjoying each others company. This picture was taken as we enjoyed our first table full of snacks:

Billy brought his famous pizza dip, so that mixed well with the taco chips and salsa that was already on the table. There was also shrimp, veggies and some really tasty cheese and crackers.
Here is a picture Cheri took of me at the dining room table:

And this is Harly and Judy....as I check the hockey scores on my cell phone. (I cant be away from hockey on a Saturday night)

We got home just in time to watch the final shootout between the leafs and the Habs. How sweet it was to see the Leafs win! And my Bruins one as well, over the Sens. Thanx Big Chara!!!

Today (Sunday), we went to the Legion to have breakfast and were kind of shocked to see the crowd there. I am not sure if it is the time change or if the word is out that their food is GREAT, but that place is getting busier and busier every Sunday morning. I am glad I suggested that they open on Sundays:)
Ok, here is hoping that this work week goes fast. I don't think I have any meetings this week, so I need to concentrate on downloading a pile of music, and maybe even get a CD done that I promised someone at work 4 weeks ago that I would complete.

So its been 13 days...Is that unlucky?

2006-10-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

Yes we just passed Friday the 13th and it was relatively uneventful. Except my new manager called a meeting for 3-4 pm on Friday and at 415 I had to excuse myself. I had to get home, pick up Bill, go back to the legion, have dinner, race back home, brush my teeth and grab my laptop to catch the 630 ferry. It had been very windy for the past few days and the wind was not about to die off just because I was traveling across the north channel! It wasn't too bad going over, but coming back was another story. I was the only car on the 10 and even though I was in the stern, the waves were coming over the bow and the swells were deep. The only thing I could see were the lights from the mainland bouncing up and down. Then when I realized we were facing Millhaven Pen., the captain cranked the boat by 180degrees to the east and traveled with the waves to the ferry dock. What a feeling! I took pictures, but guess what? I mistakenly deleted all the pictures on my memory card before downloading them to my laptop! Not too bright eh?

Ok so last weekend was Thanksgiving. It was just a long weekend for us. Our son didn't come home and my brother and his fiancee were both working. So I managed to take Friday off and made it a 4 day weekend. The weather was beautiful and I was happy I borrowed a camera from work. I stopped at a park just between here and Amherstview and took some pictures. The sun was so bright and the colours seemed to be so bright!

I also stopped at Fairfield Park and took a pile of pictures as well. This is the Fairfield "White House' that was just painted a few days before I took this picture.

That night was a harvest moon. It came up from the horizon in the East and the sun dropped in the west. It was a weird view from the top of the ferry. That's the great thing about getting to know the ferry staff...I can bribe them to allow me to go upstairs for a few photo opportunities.

The next morning, we got up early and went to Morrison's for breakfast and then tripped over a multitude of people at the farmers market. MAN was it busy there! It was such a beautiful day so I am sure we were not alone in our quest for some fresh air. We drove over to visit my bro for a bit before heading for home.
We had parked right across from St Georges and I thought I couldn't let this photo op slip by without capture the colour of the trees vs the limestone.

On the way home, we stopped at our friend Sue's place. Of course I had to take a few pictures of the lake. The clouds were reflecting nicely off the cold dark blue body of water:

The rest of the weekend was spent doing outdoor chores such as painting and getting the boat ready for the winter. Instead of having a traditional thanksgiving dinner, I went into town and bought Mino's take out. YUM!
I would gladly share all my pink sunrise pictures from this past week, but I deleted them:( DAMN...I just realized I deleted our first snow pictures from Thursday evening as well! Does that mean that if I don't have proof, it might not have been real snow?

Ok, so here I sit, its Sunday night, Billy is gone hunting and I'm watching Disney?! I need a hobby!

Back to the EveryTwoWeeks routine :(

2006-10-02T19:13:00.000-04:00

Yes I have fallen back into the bad habit of not updating my blog...and I was doing so well!

Ok, so we went to a housewarming party at our friends Stephanie and Shayne's house in Kingston. I have posted pictures of their new digs a few weeks ago...but it certainly looked different with their furniture and computers set up! Shayne's boss and co-workers were there and were definitely enjoying themselves. Our friends Clarke and Ted showed up as well! It was a fantastic night and I didn't have to drive, as Bill promised to be my DD. (for a change)

Billy made the best version of his pizza dip EVER and it disappeared in no time! And our friend Nancy Slater was present in order to say goodbye to us all, as she has now started co-hosting a morning show in North Bay.

Here is a picture of Shayne, getting fresh with my husband:

The night of the party, I gave Shayne my laptop to take a look at, as we thought it was overheating. Turns out the cpu is at a perfect temperature but I had a virus and a lot of spyware issues. Tuesday morning I went to pick my unit, and drive Shayne to work. On the way there, I had some time to kill, so I pulled off at the Collins Bay Church and took some pictures as the sun was coming up.

After dinner that night, I had to catch the 630 boat for a 730 meeting at the lodge on Amherst island. Of course I had to bring my camera (as it never leaves my purse) and take a few pictures as the sun went down. This one was taken from the waterfront, in front of the lodge:

On Friday, I worked till 3, then met my friend Louise and off to Ottawa we went. We had tickets to see the red Hot Chili Peppers since May, and yes they were burning a hole in our pockets. On the way up we stopped in Carleton Place for a bite to eat. When we pulled in to a Harvey's, I was confused by a sign right beside the building:

The show was AWESOME, and I will only bore you with one picture....The rest can be viewed by checking out my photobucket page, and clicking on the slideshow button:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v294/cchristmas/2006%20Pictures/September%202006/Red%20Hot%20Chili%20Peppers/
This picture was of Flea and Anthony K hopping in unison:

After getting home at 1am, and having a partial nights sleep, I decided to follow the men into the ChiliFest for the day. The sun was out and I wasn't into hanging around the house and cleaning all day! As soon as I got there, the guys were ready to rush off and test the many different booths. I stayed back and watched Mikes car. This '38 Chevy looks like a gangster car to me:) Check out the grills:

The day was sunny and I had to capture the moment somehow:

On Sunday, we went to the Legion for breakfast, ran into Mike, Louise and Andrew there and were fed quite well! Then we went down to the marina to see if the boat ramp was free for us to take out boat out for the season:( Of course I had to take a few pictures of this event. It was a calm day but the sun played some funny tricks with the camera. This one looked like a rocket had blasted off:

I liked the way the sun was reflecting off the water in this one:

And here is Billy, preparing to drive the boat around to the boat ramp one last time:

We weren't home an hr and the sky opened up and started to pour on us, again:

Then as quickly as it appeared, it drifted off and the sun came out. It was the best time to take a picture of the vine on the side of our house, that has turned such a beautiful shade of red:

Maybe this weekend I will get caught up again and get a chance to update. That is, if anything exciting happens in my life:)

The last week of summer:(

2006-09-20T19:38:00.000-04:00

This has to be the worst time of the year for me. Dealing with the fact that summer will end and the impending cold weather and <*GaG*> snow will be here soon! Perhaps the only way to find a silver lining is to remind myself that the old boy will be off to the hunting camp soon:)

So lets rewind a bit to last Thursdays chamber of commerce ladies golf tournament at the Loyalist Golf Course in Bath. We were asked at work if we wanted to volunteer to 'hole-sit'. Hmmm that is kind of a no-brainer as the course is less than 2 miles from my house and I would be paid to sit in a chair all day and get paid. So even though it was an overcast and drizzly day, the rain held off and the winter coat I had on was not really needed. Here is a pic of some of the crazy ladies I met that afternoon:

The next day I worked and then raced to the legion for dinner and then to the island to do my weekly radio show. It had been overcast and raining for the majority of the day and then as soon as I got on the boat, the clouds cleared and the sun came out!

When I finished my shift and raced off to catch the 10 boat, the fog seemed to float down over the ferry as we traveled across the North Channel. I tried to capture this from the window of my car but it was way too dark, without using a flash. When I tried to correct this picture with software, this is how it turned out.....Very freaky:

On Saturday, Billy took off for the deer camp to complete some of their masonry work and I spent the day cleaning, getting groceries, doing laundry and making dinner. I took a break in the afternoon, as the sun was making an appearance and sat out back with my book. Then I heard this loud roar in the sky and grabbed my camera. It was a Hercules Plane flying so low over the house that the windows were shaking! I thought it was just another RCMP helicopter looking for fields of dope.

The next day was very foggy but we decided to venture out for a short boat ride. We had not been out in 4 weeks, since our fateful trip in the lightening storm. We started to travel east, but we seemed to be heading right into the fog bank so we turned around at bush bar and started to travel east.

In Stella Bay, we came across a flipped dock. I think this is the third year in a row that this dock has done a 360:

Even though we were only out for a few hours, it was so nice to sit back in the comfy boat seats with the sun on our skin! It will probably be the last time we will be able to enjoy this feeling this year:(
When we got back to the marina, I noticed that there was a loaded gun in the boat docked next to us. I am guessing the blowboaters had some sort of regatta the day before and these were just leftovers from the festivities:

So here it is, another Wednesday night and I am counting the sleeps till the weekend:) I am keeping my fingers crossed that the sun will shine all day Saturday and Sunday. If not, I guess my days of tanning are truly over with for this season.

Back into the update mode:)

2006-09-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

It appears that I have been tardy in updating my blog again. Not a lot has happened in my life I guess. The hubby has been spending time at the deer camp so I basically stay at home and do my housework while he is gone. {That's what I'm suppose to do, right! hahaha}

It was weird to go to the Legion by myself on Friday night for dinner and then come right home after my radio show too. It was fortunate that I had a ticket for the Pig & Lamb Roast for the radio station on Saturday. Seeing as I had a meeting at The Lodge on the island from 10am-12noon, I packed s few drinks as well as a lunch. After the meeting I went to the station to sort some of my music files and eat my lunch. Then I took a drive up the road to an open house. It was a beautiful home, on the water, but not something we could afford at 269K !!!

So I spent time with the camera I borrowed from work; having a camera at hand is almost as good as having someone to talk to at a social event! The event was well attended (about 166 tickets) and the rain held off all day. Here are a few pictures of the event:

Billy came home to a very clean house and we ended up going. The sun was out but there was a real chill in the air. I just sat in the passenger seat and took pictures out the window of the car. How lazy, but you cant ignore a bright blue sky, can ya?!

On Monday, I had to stop along the side of the road to take a few pics of Sun coming up! Please tell me why the sun only shows up on week days?

Tomorrow I have volunteered my time to the Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament. And it is going to rain. Good reason to call in sick on Friday I guess:)

The Long weekend SUCKED - Weather-Wise that is !

2006-09-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday (Sunday) was yet another crappy-ass day so we went to McGinnis Landing for lunch then tripped over to Shayne and Steph's new house for a quick visit!
Of course Shayne was excited to how me his new camera:

And I was jealous that he his new house came with its own grocery cart! Bill was envious of the garage that held the grocery cart:

That evening we attended the third annual Doyle Road Shindig at Harly and Judy's house. The usual bunch of characters were in accounted for...even Jim Reagan, who sported the most hilarious t-shirt:

This party was for all of us to reflect back to what we were doing and what we wanted to be 30 years ago. Judy and Chrissy were the only ones who came in costume:

Here is a picture of Chrissy and her friends sucking back the jello shooters:

I am unsure how this happened, but this picture of Pa walking across the fire came out as a double exposure?

And this shot was kind of cool as well:

It was a great party...Everyone was in a good mood as the weather-gods managed to hold the rain away for the entire evening. Even Pa was in a good mood:

Today (Monday - Labour Day) started off kind of slow as I didn't get up till almost 11am and we didn't venture out of the house till after 1. We went for a long drive, looking at rural properties for sale as I drooled over the tractors we passed along the way.
Tomorrow is the first day of school! I wish I was there to see all those little noise machines (kids) get on their buses for the day. I also wish I had some holidays left so I could sit home and listen to the peace and quiet that had been missed on this street since June.
This coming weekend Billy is going to the deer camp for some work weekend thingy and I will be on the island for a Board of Directors meeting for the station as well as the 2nd annual CJAI Pig Roast. This should be a hoot...I just wish I didn't have to attend this event on my own.

Yes I was WRONG !!!

2006-09-02T20:40:00.000-04:00

The forecast for the entire weekend is RAIN and lots of it. There are two tropical storms happening in the states right now that have forced the rain our way. It has been pouring since 2 this afternoon and is not suppose to end till Monday. Thanx Ernesto!

Of course, the weather this past week was beautiful and sunny, but work got in the way at least 4 days this week. I did make it outside in the late afternoon to take some pictures of my flowers and plants before the frost hits! I am unsure of that this plant is called but I thought the colours were nice:

Ohhh I guess the big news this past week was the fact that the station manager figured a way to put the radio station on the internet. Yes, that's right kids, I, Cathy Jane Christmas am able to communicate to the masses now! Well at least a few of you anyways! I found out about 45 minutes before my taped show was to air on Wednesday night and I managed to get 8 people listening before the feed dropped at 10:15pm. So after sending emails and messages to all my family and friends across the land, I was prepared to have a pile of people listening to me on Friday night. I got to the station at 6:55pm; went on the air at 7 while I uploaded the music from my memory stick and watched the listener graph rise. By 7:15 there was 4 people listening to ME, and then the internet dropped. It came back up around 8 and then dropped at 830PM for good.
When I asked someone to call me and let me know if they could hear me online, I heard the answering machine kick in and my buddy Greg Hunters voice came from it. He said I was coming in loud and clear in Deseronto! WOOT!
So I was excited as I had downloaded an awesome collection of tunes for the night and due to the fact that I did not have time to check them all out before hand, well I ran into a bit of an embarassing problem. I had downloaded a version of The Odds singing 'Wendy under the stars'...the song about the night that Elvis died. So I start playing this song around 730ish and I almost flipped when it came to the chorus. In stead of "I made love to Wendy under the Stars...the night that Elvis died" I hear "I was fu*king Wendy under the Stars...the night that Elvis died!" Well, *I* could have died. I didn't know what to do, but the phone never rang, so I let it slide:)

Billy and I couldn't decide what to do today so we gave our friend Greg Hunter a call (seeing as he was kind enough to call me the night before) and made arrangements to go a visitin' in Deseronto:) Greg's two daughters Ami and Jossi were there, along with his lovely wife's Tina's two sons. And then there were two of the neighbours kids there as well! I had to take a few pictures:

Please note, their house is under renovation, this is why the walls are exposed:) (I know Tina would want to make sure I said that!)
And speaking of Tina, here is a picture of her and the Great White:

Here is a picture of Billy with 'Nelly'... the family basset hound:

And Nelly with the Easy button:

And that was our day. We came home, we ate and we watched the rain come down.

If it is like this tomorrow...well...it looks like we will be burning even more gas trying to find something interesting to do besides sitting in the house waiting for Harly and Judy's party to start. This is the third annual "Say goodbye to summer" party at their place. We need to get drunk to forget about the seasons changing! I'm kidding...but there will probably will be a few brewski's emptied during the evening. I might be tempted to take some pictures of this event:)

Sometimes I wonder ...

2006-08-27T08:30:00.000-04:00

Friday was spent updating my blog, clearing out a bunch of useless files and programs on my computer. The few times the sun came out, I did slip outside to do some reading and take some pictures of the few flowers that managed to live through the summer with a water ban on. Sometimes plants need to be watered more than once every second day! So here are a few boring pictures of my surviving plants:

Why I did not move to a warmer climate when I was younger! Why do I subject myself to the ever changing seasons in our area? Being such an avid lover of the sun and warm weather, it kills me to see the summer turn to fall. Yesterday we decided to go to the cottage for the day, and seeing as we had been warned that there were 6 foot swells on the other side, we decided to take the ferry. Here is a picture I took on the way over:

Suffice to say, by the time we got there, the wind had dropped to nothing and the sun disappeared. It was damp and cloudy and dreary...and some people present were kind of in a bad way because their long summer holiday was coming to close.
Seeing as I didn't really get time to rename and reorganize some of the 1500+ music files that I have saved at the station, I decided to take a drive down to the station and spend a few hours getting stuff sorted. Here is the picture of the 'new' sign at the station:

someone took the time to plant a lovely bunch of flowers right next to the barn as well:

After I was done there, I traveled back to the cottage but stopped to take a picture of one of my favourite barns, before the wind takes it down:

After dinner, we sat around and yakked then took off a bit early to take a look at a house that is for sale in the village of Stella. Damn, if we bought that, I could walk over to the station on Fridays:)
When we got on the boat, I discovered our friend Brent Wolfrey's was the Captain, so I asked if I could come up to the wheelhouse for the ride over. I had never been up there in the dark...man was it spooky!! None of my pictures turned out well so I wont bore you with them:)
So I guess today will be a day to do housework! The forecast for Monday Tuesday and Wednesday is sun sun sun...Figures!
Next weekend will be hot and sunny for the four days I am off...I can just feel it!

Might as well keep this update thing going...

2006-08-26T10:47:00.000-04:00

**edit** This was from yesterday but the blogger site was down when I tried to post it.

And I am trying my BEST not to do stupid housework today! So I am spending my day reading and gathering music for my show tonight.

Still bummed by the news of Kim Taylor's passing yesterday. Then when I read it in the paper today, I noticed that the announcement of another person I knew of was placed right below it. You know your getting old when.... {yes I check the deaths before the employment section...how pathetic}

But getting back to Kim. I had mentioned in my post about the benefit concert held for her last Thursday, I never knew this woman. She was 10 years younger than I and our paths never crossed, until I heard of the stories of her life from her friends and relatives. {how odd, one of the supervisors in my department was her cousin by marriage as was one of my favourite 'lunch-ladies' in our cafeteria at work}

I knew of her, she had never heard of me. But I knew a bit of what she was going through as I used to ask my Mom what the chemo felt like and how if effected your body physically and mentally. She told me it felt like being hit by a car, {I can remember that feeling somewhat} to the power of a thousand and then add in extreme fatigue...Similar to the feeling of when you go many nights without sleep. I am not a fan of pain, nor have I ever been that sick in my life before, so I didn't really understand, but I tried.

So today I had time to view a video a friend made last week at the concert of Chris Koster's set. He mentioned Kim quite a few times. Which made by bottom lip rumble..Then the gentle tones of the piano solo to commence the song 'Secrets of the Lonely' ... Then hearing Chris say simply "To Kim" .... and I started bawling.

The sun is trying to come out now and that tells me I better get out and enjoy some of it as it doesn't sound like a great weekend, weatherwise.

I have to record a Public Service Announcement tonight to run at CJAI. It is for a Breast Cancer Awareness Walk that takes place in my little village on October 1st. Hopefully I will do it on the first take and not get all choked up. Keep your fingers crossed.

P.S. I haven't taken many pictures this week, as my camera sucks...but I did take this one on the 401 yesterday morning at 630am...thought it was kind of neat:

Day 5 of Blogger Updates !!!

2006-08-24T18:53:00.002-04:00

Yes, I think Im almost caught up on blogger updates. And Now, I am officially done training so I can start work on Monday morning at 8am and not 7am!!

Last Friday evening, I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Shayne (Snoshi) jump in my car as I waited to drive on the Amherst Island Ferry. He had told me he would be there but I kind of thought he may get called away at the last minute. In fact, our friend Ted (Rico) was suppose to do my radio show with the two of us but he apparently forgot. (He had to move...I forgave him even before I was mad at him) So away we go to the little building known as CJAI! As soon as we got Shayne's music uploaded and moved over to the On Air studio, Shayne started trying to get my laptop connected to the internet. To no avail, our signal was not strong so I just packed it up and enjoyed the company of a friend who I hadn't really SEEN or TALKED to (face to face) in almost a year!
Here is a picture of Sir Snoshi as he played with my system:

The next three hours went by in a blur and all our on air time was spent reminiscing and discussing our favourite indie bands and some of the concerts and shows we have enjoyed together. I was very sad to see the night end and I only hope I can convince him to join me on the air again real soon!
The next day we got up early to go to the market. We went to Morrisons for breakfast (which is always great for an entertaining time) then crossed the road to find the organic farmer from Picton who told us a month ago to come back around the third week of August for some HOT peppers! Well, he had lots and we stocked up on them some nice red field tomatoes and these very tasty items called ground cherries. By the time we got home it had started raining, so we packed up the car and took the ferry over to the cottage. Our friends Ken and Cheryl were already there with their daughter, her husband and their two children. It was pouring rain for the majority of the day so we were all kind of bored. Then Jimmy went down to the basement and dug out the minibike. This was done for the kids but they had to get the adults off of it before they could test it out. Here is Jimmy popping a wheelie for all to see:

Then Judy decided to take the green beastie for a spin:

I know Brenda must have been impressed that night as we had too many people to fit around the over-sized harvest table. We even had to seat a few on and around the staircase:

The next morning, we checked the LIARS Network and low and behold it said 40% chance of rain and winds at 5 kph. After buying stuff to make lunch with, we launched from the marina, after telling our friend Roger that we were taking off for Black River. We slipped across the gap and I remember commenting how calm the water was and how that had to be the quickest trip across to the county EVER!! This is one of the sheltered harbours just before we got to The Rock:

Remember this place, it comes into play again later in the story. So we traveled west around The Rock. We noticed a few places where the rocks had fallen since last year:

When we got to Wapoose Island, we threw the anchor and we had a bite to eat. Just as he grabbed the anchor, it started to rain. The water was very still at this moment and after we ate we put the bimini cover up ... well part of it...the sides and back of it were still at home. Great place to leave it eh? Billy turned the boat around(when we heard the thunder) and started to head East. As we started to get soaked from the sides, I suggested that attach the mooring cover at the stern for added protection. As the wind picked up, the rain/hail got harder and then the lightening started hitting the lake. The effect looked like boiling water in a pot. I started crying and hyperventalating and praying to God, under my breath. (Normally I would not be frightened as Billy and I are both very strong swimmers but the lightening made that whole thought obsolete. I knew was having an extremely hard time seeing where we were going as my hot air was steaming the windows. I was trying to 'REMAIN CALM' (my favourite saying) but it wasn't working. Nor was the depth finder and we knew there was a shoal somewhere close by. We managed to get around to the other side of The Rock and bounced over to the 'sheltered cove' we spied an hour earlier. This is what the same spot looked like in the storm:

Somehow Bill managed to slide under the bow cover and dig the anchor out. This helped as we just sat in the same place and bounced...But we knew we were safe as we had passed the shoal we were so concerned about. We sat for almost an hour (it seemed longer) and I tried not to act as hysterical as I felt. Then I got thinking about Bryce and how things would be explained to him if anything happened. This made me cry even harder and I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. Somehow those shots would tell the story, if we did not survive. This is Bill saying how sorry he was this was actually happening to us:

You can see how we had to rig up the two covers behind Bill's head to try and keep dry.
Once the storm subsided, we traveled back across the gap and it was one bumpy ride. I took my book out and started reading at an alarming pace. It took my mind off how scared I was.
Long story short, by the time we got back to the marina, the sun was coming back out.
Note to self...Check the MARINE Weather forecast, Online, before venturing out to the lake!!!

Concert for Kim Taylor @ The Elixir Aug 17th 2006

2006-08-23T16:57:00.000-04:00

**Edit** As I was scripting this post, Kim Taylor left us for a far better place. RIP Kim.

Last Thursday night I was fortunate enough to score a ticket to a sold out event at the Elixir nightclub on Garrett Street. My friend Tina (GodBlessHer) was kind enough to hold a ticket for me at the door and when I got there (early as usual) I was shocked to find there were no available parking spots. Then I saw the lineup at the door and realized I wasn't the only one who was trying to get a good seat. When I got in the door, I grabbed the only available stool and dragged it to my usual spot at the front table. Due to the fact that I was alone for the first hour, I had to leave my purse on that chair and slid over to the bar to buy a beer and a bottle of water.
The first artist up on stage was one of my favourite Kingston artist, playing without his band. When Chris Koster took the stage, I squealed with delight as he never fails to capture my heart with his melodic beautiful music. His brother 'Billy Ray' was the one who organized the whole show in order to raise funds to assist a young woman with cancer who needs to travel a great distance for treatments to help ease her pain. Even thought it was only 4 short years ago that I was trying to comfort my own mother while she underwent chemotherapy. I know how important it is to try and help out others, even if they are complete strangers.
Here is a picture of Chris with his broken heart background:

I have never seen that place as packed as it was that night and even before the first act came on, it was full to capacity. My friend Tina and her two friends arrived just before Koster so we took turns keeping out spots free while we rotated our bathroom shifts:) And even though we were right next to the washrooms, we couldn't get through the crowd ... i think it was almost unsafe. Regardless, I made it through the crowd and 'held it' for the rest of the night.
Next up was James McKenty and the Spades. This band from Peterborough never fails to please and I swear my friend Tina Burke is their number one fan. She even had them play a gig in her back yard a few years ago. Now this band (who is under the careful eye of Gord Sinclair from the Tragically Hip) is making big waves locally and nationally. So what a treat it was to see the guys play for a few songs before they invited Gord Sinclair AND Paul Langois up on stage for the duration of their stage time. Then after a few songs, Dan Ackroyd got up and sang a few songs with a local artist named the Fridge Doctor. It was kind of amusing to see the two of them dancing together:

After that large group of entertainers left the stage, a surprise guest was brought on, with his band. It was none other than Matt Mays and El Torpedo. They happened to be touring with Sam Roberts and wanted to be added to the venue at the last minute. WOW...they were awesome and they didn't even play their big hit 'Cocaine Cowgirl"! After they packed up, Sam Roberts rocked the house for the next hour. man, for a little guy, he sure has a massive stage presence! Here is a picture of him hanging right into the audience:

Sam just loves his fans and it shows. For an encore, he dragged all the other artists of the night up on stage. It was a touching yet fitting end to a night that many will not forget!

Now you may be wondering why the pictures I took have so many white spots on them. The fact that I am using a crappy little Nikon 3200 camera that had been dropped a few times and has the batteries held in with an elastic. I am hoping to get a new camera soon but unfortunately the funds just aren't available right now.
So the night was a major success, I had heard the next day that they were over capacity by 10 or 20 people which means there was at least 360 people there. At $25 a ticket, I certainly hope this assist's Kim in her treatments!

Third night of updates...

2006-08-22T19:37:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? I have absolutely no time this week yet am getting my blog caught up !!

Ok so where did I end yesterday....Oh yea, the long weekend in August. Ok so I had to return back to work on the Monday (Civic Holiday)and found out that I would only be doing *my* job for one more day and then I would be in training for three weeks. Classes start at 7am. Crap, that means I have to get up at 5am!! *GaSp* Regardless, I have been able to arise on time and have not been late at all.

So the second weekend of August is Poker Run Weekend and we had made plans to slip on down to Ktown just to see the big, loud, gas-guzzling boats. That morning I had promised to help out at a book sale for the radio station I work at. The night before I did my radio show after a one week holiday and man was I tripping over my tongue! Oh well, its not like I'm getting paid for this...And its suppose to be a NO PRESSURE NO STRESS activity. We had a HUGE pile of books and the majority of them were grabbed up by the many customers that stopped by that morning. I didn't do a lot but I tried to help. The woman who was running cash said I was helpful so I am satisfied with that.

Even though I had to hand back my favourite camera at work, I have still been using my poor little damaged Nikon 3200. The battery hatch is broken and I am currently holding them in with a red elastic. It looks tacky but it works. Peter Trueman was doing his Saturday morning show so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of him and Terry Culbert (Program Director at CJAI) and Peter as they kept us informed.

And here is Terry with the 'outdoor' microphone and Tom the station manager.

After I caught the 11 back home, we got packed up and hit the waterways over to the backbeach of Amherst Island. Billy jumped out and wiped down the boat while I sat in the sun and read. Then we decided to drive slowly around the back side of the island as it was calm and we had yet to travel all the way around yet this season. When we got down to the foot, we found it was still calm so we carried on to Kingston. It was KAZOO as there were boats of all sizes and types EVERYWHERE. I couldn't believe that there was a sailboat regatta happening at the same time as the poker run and they were very close together. There were many other boats just observing, so it made for a very cluttered waterway. We went around the backside of Cedar Island and threw the anchor for the last 30 minutes of the poker run. The finish line was right in front of us so we did managed to see the last 25 or so boats cross it. As we went to leave, it was another traffic jam as we heard the Wolfe Islander honk its horn as it tried to leave the dock. At the same time a dozen poker run boats were traveling right into the path of not only the ferry, but the island star cruise boat. (My brother just happened to be cooking on this particular trip so he can confirm the traffic jam) There were a group of blowboaters (sailboats) trying to come into Confederation Basin at the same time as the very LOUD poker run boats. We just floated for awhile till it was safe to cross. I couldn't believe even the ferry was packed with people that day:

We went over to the cottage afterwards for dinner and then came home to pack up for a long trip to Main Ducks Island the next day. If you know where the Lennox Generating Station is just West of Bath, you just travel 32 miles due South (by water) and you will find these islands that are uninhabited and have been the wreck of many a ship over the last few hundred years. The rum runners used to stay there till 'the coast was clear' when they were transporting their wares from point A to point B. Believe it or not, I have read quite a few books about this place over the years. The lake has always been a main source of interest to me. We followed Roger, Roberta & Jim and tried to get behind them as the waves were beating our little boat quite badly once we were way out in the big lake. That didn't work so well as I was beginning to feel kind of woozy when we got there almost an hour later. But what a treat that place is. Here is a shot as we entered the small bay where the only dock is.

The guys got out for a walk to take some pictures of the ruins of a small shack that a friend of theirs burned down last year in an attempt to send up an SOS as his two other friends were drowning in the high waves in their kayaks. Roberta wanted to go for a swim in that little bay till I spotted a baby water snake. So once the guys got back from their stroll, we traveled over to another small cove for a swim and a bite to eat. As usual, Billy made us all some Cajun chicken wraps which were very much appreciated.
Here is a picture I took there that I call Natures Steps:

The ride back took longer as the wind had picked up quite a bit. So our three hour tour was more like a 4.5 hour cruise:) I was very happy to be back around the gap and convinced Billy to make a side trip over to Stella Bay just for the hell of it. We traveled a bit further to snoop around Popular Dell. This place is always good for a lovely summer picture:

We went to the cottage for dinner and then back home to get ready for an early workday on Monday.

Long Weekend on the water

2006-08-21T20:14:00.000-04:00

Yes, it was a beautiful civic holiday weekend...The sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky. Of course we celebrated that by spending the entire day on the dock and in the water. Bert was kind enough to entertain us with her tubing skills. I was the spotter so of course I had to have my camera in my hand. Our friend Kenny brought his video camera so he got some awesome footage of Roberta bouncing across the lake.

Our friends Richard and Herbie showed up in Ricks boat and we had a small art viewing on the dock to try and keep up to their fine Odessa standards. Can you guess what the subject matter is displayed in this canvas?

Its funny the lengths we go to to protect our men. Here is a picture of my friend Judy protecting Pa's family jewels:

And at the end of a very exhausting weekend, poor Pa passed out on the couch. I thought it so kind of his friend Billy to assist in painting his fingernails black. Can you not tell how deep this friendship is?

I had to work on the 'holiday' Monday, so I had no way of extending my holidays by one more day. Having a bunch of our friends around us for the weekend was definitely cause for celebration!

'Our Holidays! (Part Two)

2006-08-20T18:30:00.000-04:00

Yes, once a year, Billy and I take a 10 day holiday together. This year we/HE decided we would go visit my Aunt and Uncle who live in Gore Bay, which is on Manitoulin Island. We decided to go in the middle of the week as the long weekend would prove to be a traffic nightmare. Suffice to say, it was one of the hottest weeks of the summer and on Monday we packed up the lawn chairs and a few cans of beer and headed out to the park across from the invests plant for the afternoon. We managed to find a spot under the trees where it was shady and windy. The dip in the lake didn't really cool us off but the wind certainly did! We didn't want to leave.

The next day (Tuesday) was even hotter so we headed over to the cottage just in time to see LB and Jimmie doing some insulation work upstairs. It was stifling hot so we convinced them that the dock was the place to be! Jim was kind enough to show us his latest Stupid Pet Trick that he had taught the ducks. Its called 'EatTheSandwich' :

And to end the day, we witnessed a lovely sunset!

That night I spent 3 hours, in the sweltering heat, ironing our clothes for our trip. The next morning we got up at 6am and left the house by 8 for a long 12+ hours on the road. Billy decided to NOT take any major highways, so we took backroads all the way to the trans Canada highway. He was very good in the fact that we needed to stop at least once every 2 hours for a break and here is a picture of a lovely place called French river.

When we finally got to Uncle Bobby's house at 9 at night, we spent the next few hours looking at some of my Mom's old pictures that I had remembered to bring to see if they recognized any of the people in the black and white shots. We had a few glasses of wine then I went to bed. It was a very long day and I was beat. How kind of my relatives to give us a place to crash for the next two nights! We were just going to go to a bed and breakfast but they insisted. So the next day we got up early and Aunt Joan and I swapped some computer programs and I managed to get my blog working on her laptop. How convienent it was that she had a highspeed connection that I could use! Here is a picture that Billy took of us 'geeking'.

Once we were pried from our laptops, we took a 5 hour trip around the island to see all the sights. There is a look out spot high on a hill and I took this shot that actually looks like a post card:

Seeing as we were on holidays, we had to play the tourists! We visited this beautiful spot called Bridal Veil Falls. What a gorgeous spot:

Then we hit the beach but it was closed:( It was a beautiful spot though:

We stopped at a quaint dinner and had a delicious white fish lunch/dinner. We headed back to the house and had a late dinner of salads and cold meat and buns. None of us were very hungry but we managed to eat some. We sat out in the dining tent and had a few more glasses of wine before I had to go to bed. The next day we had to get up at 6 to leave by 7am to be at the ferry for 8am. Oh, before I get to that, here is a picture Billy took of my Uncle Bobby with an old license plate he found:

It was like being at home, we raced to catch the ferry! But this ferry was very different to the Amherst Island Ferry. This ferry was 4 levels and once you parked your vehicle below, you had to go upstairs to one of the many beautiful lounges. Here is a picture I took from the top of the ferry as we left the dock from the island:

The 2 hour trip through Lake Huron was very relaxing and entertaining. In many spots there was nothing but water as a view....no land in site. Where we sat, we could see on the big screen GPS where we were in relation to where we were going. Although I never got any pictures of the entire ferry from the outside, Billy took a few shots from one of the outer decks:

And seeing as we were acting like tourists, here (in Tobermory) is a typical lighthouse picture for ya:

Now we had planned on going on a few sightseeing tours when we got to Tobermory, but it was the Friday of the long weekend and when we got back to the mainland, it was packed with tourists and bikers. We decided to travel south to Owen Sound, where we stopped for lunch at Timmies. It was at that time we started to head east, and took backroads back home. According to our map, if we took the long way around, we would travel the 'scenic route'. Well, even though the map was a 2007 version, this scenic road was packed with trees therefore we could not see the water at all. We did find one little spot where there was a lookout called Skinner Bluff. This is the beginning of the Niagara Escarpment. Naturally I had to take a pic:

Somewhere along the way we passed a 'crop' of wind generators. They looked very odd and creepy, in a way. I really hope these things done pop up over on Amherst Island as they really are UGLY:

We made it home just after 8 pm which meant we had spent over 13 hours on the road. So to sum it all up, we were gone from our house for 60 hours and spent 32 hours traveling in the car. Yes it was fun and I am happy to say that after all that map reading I am still married to mister C:)
Next time we plan a road trip, I will insist it will be less miles and more time involved.

One month later....

2006-08-20T17:52:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have been negligent...I have not updated my blog as I have been toooooo busy living life to the fullest! July and august are the two months of the year where I take all my holidays, therefore I am not at home a lot nor do I have the time to scribe my exploits. (damn...That almost made me sound important!)

So lets see...on Friday July 28th, I had arranged with Kyle Murray to do part of my radio show with him. He has the 10pm-12 midnight slot at CJAI on Friday and Saturday nights...We had talked about getting together sometime as we have similar tastes in music. It was a hoot...We did 2 hrs together and even had some people show up and take pictures of us on the air. Kyle showed me how to use the CD players on the air and I instructed him in the ways of HAL...The computer that runs the station. The thing with playing CD's is that you have to scribe exactly what songs and the artists that you have played. I prefer to allow the computer to log it for me. So we had an eventful 2 hours and instead of taking the 10 boat home, I took the 11. Here is a picture that Terry Culbert (CJAI Program Director) took of us with my camera:

The next day we had a family reunion for Bill's family at our local legion. It was very educational and a lot of fun. The local news paper was there to take a picture of all 109 of us. Once I scan it I will put it here:

Here is a picture of our nephew Brent Bell and his fiancee Jenna. After discussing all the concerts I had been to since I saw him last, Jenna ended up calling me the 'cool aunt!'

The next day (Sunday) was sunny and calm so we spent the day on the boat and at the cottage. Its funny how the duck family we fed for the 2 months feel comfortable enough now to just come up on the dock with us:

In fact, they eat right out of our hands in the water too:

So that is the end of July...a great month for boating, tanning and swimming! I believe this picture sums it all up:

What I did on my summer vacation.

2006-07-24T18:36:00.000-04:00

or at least the last half of it!

Lets see, Monday i stayed home and cleaned the house. When Billy got home, we went down to finkles park with a box of chicken. The water was barely cold enough to cool off our sweating bodies but the wind was a definite bonus. We sat there for 3 hrs and certainly didn't want to leave. Tuesday was market day ... I took a side trip to my aunt's house and when I got home, I did the laundry, weeded the garden and vacuumed the entire house.

Wednesday was shopping day. I managed to score some awesome sales at the Cat Center and Cotton Ginny's. Due to the fact that I was already in the city, I decided to get my oil changed at COndies and see what can be done with my car predicament. After three hours, the service manager came out to tell me that the next time I bring my car in for an oil change, they will replace the intake manifold gasket as GM is now covering the cost of replacement due to an impending law suit in North America. Let me say, it certainly helps to put up a fuss and make the company aware of issues that you are not happy with. It has certainly worked so far in my case.

Billy came home early on Wednesday afternoon so we went for an early dinner at the Legion and then went for a boat ride around 3pm. We managed to make it out to the Jenna Lambert flotilla and as we watched this young disabled struggle to cross the lake, it certainly makes one put things in perspective. I wanted to jump in and swim with her however there were so many boats and people around her, we couldn't get close enough to even ask. Here is a zoomed in picture:

We took a side trip to Confederation Basin and found this huge ocean cruise ship docked in where the Island Queen usually is. My brother said this beast is over 200 feet long!

On the way home, we stopped in at John and Sues place. Their neighbour was there and decided to play photographer. So here is a picture of the four of us:

On Thursday I rested as I knew that I was off to the Krock Party Cruise with my hairdresser Joanie and some of her crazy friends. It was so hot that I was sweating after I got out of a cold shower. It was so funny to see all the people I knew on this cruise. Two girls I once worked with at Bell, one young man named Mitchell

that I met online and worked with for a short time, a bunch of people that I work with now, a guy I worked with for 3 months in 1996 at Altair Electronics and a lovely lady that I met online 8 months ago but had never met face to face till that night. Her name is Christine and I feel like we have known each other for ages. Here is a picture of us on the boat:

On Friday Billy took off for his deer camp to do some repairs and I got up late (as I didn't get home till 2am after driving 3 drunks females home) and got my music together for my radio show that night. I also took the afternoon to finish a book I had started back in May. So now I can say that I have (finally) read The DaVinci Code! We went to the Legion for dinner and I sat outside by myself as the guys sat inside and yapped.
Saturday was a rainy dreary day so I worked and cleaned all day long. I cleaned the basement and even vacuumed all 4 floors of the house. I decided I needed to be rewarded for this so I went to see James Mckenty and The Spades at The Merchant that night. I met up with my friend Tina there and she was kind enough to take a bunch of pictures for me and of me. Here is one of me and the band after the first set:

The place was packed and at one point in time I realized that Kirk Muller was standing right beside me and Paul Langois from The Tragically Hip was sitting right across the table from me. Even my favourite Prince Edward County girl Emily Fennel was in the house. I managed to have quite a conversation with her and I think we may be able to get her over to the Island for a show at The Lodge and/or a recording at the radio station. What a sweet lady she is....She even posed for a picture with me:

Here is a cool picture I took at 2 in the morning from the parking lot where my car was parked:

The next day I dragged my butt out of bed at 9 and we were on the water by 11am in the boat. It started off as a beautiful sunny day as we slipped over to the back beach. Billy washed the bottom of the boat and I swam around him in circles. The water was actually refreshing and I didn't want to leave. We went across the gap and took our time viewing the beautiful shoreline of Prince Edward County. We stopped for lunch and a quick drink and then took off again for a short time till the black clouds formed overhead and we were chased down the lake by a looming thunderstorm.
It certainly was a short week, even though it was 10 days long:) In three more days Billy and I will be on holidays and I certainly hope the time goes a bit slower.

Holiday Week #1 is now over 50% complete!

2006-07-19T13:41:00.000-04:00

Its pretty bad when you cant get percentages out of your head when you are away from work for a week! However, I have had a great week weather-wise but not so great dollar-wise:) Last weekend Billy had to work all weekend doing inventory therefore I had to drive over to the cottage both Saturday and Sunday. It seemed weird not having our boat tied to the dock but I guess you make due with a lawnchair as your sunpad when the boat is not available.

On Saturday I stopped at the radio station just as Peter Truman was finishing his show with one of the local residents. It seemed weird to be in there when someone else was on the air:

When I got to the cottage, our friend LB was getting ready for his step-daughters wedding. Apparently he was the bearer of the shotgun therefore we thought we should get him ready by handing him the potato cannon:)

Our friends from Amherstview came over and left us with a lasting impression. What a couple of asses!!

On the way home Sunday night, my friend Warren (who is a captain on the ferry) invited me up to the wheel house! What a great spot to take some pictures:)

The wheelhouse is airconditioned and has a fantastic view up and down the channel. Here is a picture of Diane docking the boat at the Millhaven dock. The two toggles she uses are like operating an oldschool video game!

On Monday evening, Billy came home with a box of chicken from Dixie Lee and we packed up the cooler and the chairs and headed to Finkles Park. The sun was shining through the trees and the water was just a blessing in the sticky humid heat.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent shopping and cleaning. And right now I'm waiting on mister c's arrival so we can finally go out in the boat...its been over a week!!!!

For some reason I have been compelled to shop every day for the last three days. Now remember, I am not a shopper therefore this is a once a year event! And it was an added bonus that all the sidewalk sales are on this week as well.

Rock Crew & The Golden Dogs!

2006-07-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

My favourite band out of Toronto visited Kingston last Thursday night for the Rock Crew Productions 4th anniversary party. Unfortunately this was to be the last Rock Crew show as Chris M has made a career move to real estate. He will be missed and (IMHO) local rock shows will never be the same. Regardless, it was a night out for me and seeing as I was officially on holidays, it was going to be a late night for this cat. My 'boss' from the radio station wanted to get a quick interview with the singer from The Golden Dogs, so we snuck backstage before the show started and Tom started questioning Dave as I snapped pics. Its funny, Dave remembered me from my myspace page as well as all the Kingston shows they have played. (I'm always up front) The interview was cut short as the sweet sound of the Lady Racers crept into the room. Here is a pic of Dave and Tom:

The real reason *I* was there was not only to see the dogs, but I had never witnessed The Mudlocks...This band that only plays every two years or so consists of my friend Shayne on drums, Robbie G on lead guitar, Mike Perlin on bass and Morris on vocals/guitar. They sounded pretty good considering the time frame since their last gig!

The Slaves of Spanky came on next and I am happy to say that I was bopping and bouncing along with the crowd...not bad for an old gurl:) This rap band had the crowd on their feet immediately!! They managed to get Morris up on the stage to dance and sing with them and then BOOM, out comes the shaving cream and Morris ends up smelling like an old man (Old Spice) for the rest of the night!

And then the Dogs hit the stage and the crowd pushed to the front again. What a show these guys put on...everyone was dancing and singing to the top of their lungs. Sweat was flying everywhere. I certainly hope this entertaining band makes its way back to Kingston despite the fact that Kingstons greatest promoter has retired.

It was a good thing that I didn't have to go to work the next day as I didn't get home till 3AM!!!!

The second week of July !!

2006-07-16T07:54:00.000-04:00

As we roll into the third week of July, I realize that the summer is running away from us in an alarming rate! We hid out from the crowds that invade our small village on Canada Day weekend. It's always a tradition for us to run away to Amherst Island and watch the crowds from a distance. Really, who would want to be walking around in the sweltering heat when you could be relaxing here?

Or even here, in Stella Bay:

The next weekend we started our Saturday off as tourists. We went to Morrison's Restaurant and then over to the market for some fresh veggies. Its weird, we have lived here all our lives and have never experienced breakfast at Morrison's. What a lesson in teamwork that place is. We managed to get a table right down by the kitchen and watched the waitresses race back and forth and shout their orders to the three men at the grill. Never once did I see a chit pass over to the cooks...they filled the numerous orders by memory. Damn, I wish I had that type of gift.
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to explore the newly cobbled market square. The colours were such a treat to the eye, and the camera lens.

That afternoon we hit the water for an afternoon of sun and fun. Being the chicken that I am, I decided to be the spotter/photographer for my friend Bert.

The ducks that have been hanging around the dock for the past 4 weeks are now eating out of our hands. How tame can they get?

As the sun slid down, the perfect photo opportunities always present themselves:

On Thursday at 430pm my supervisor told me that I could start my holidays early!!! What a treat, as I had already planned on going out that night and having the next day off was a real benefit. Thanx Helsby!

I told you I was having fun!

2006-06-28T19:39:00.000-04:00

My friend Mike did a radio show with me two weeks ago and he was so kind as to take pictures of the event. This is the only one I can show here:) hahaha

The end of June...Canada day is this weekend!

2006-06-26T18:55:00.000-04:00

So we finally got the boat in to our slip last Sunday. Even though it was a hot sunny day, the snow was there in full force:

I realize I take way too many pictures of the trees and the water and whatever else strikes my fancy....But I must say, this picture just says PEACE...To me anyways:

It was a day of 'firsts'. Bill's first dock treats:

And the first tow of the season went to Roger this time:

It is ironic that our last trip of last season ended with Roger towing us!!!

As all of you know, I never travel without my camera. So when I started chasing a big black cloud down the road last week, I made a feeble attempt to capture it. I thought it looked kind of freaky...like that movie Independence Day:

As usual, on Friday evening I took the boat over to the island to do my weekly radio show. My friend Brenda and I were up top when I shot this pic. It looks like the poor puppy is being asked to pay for his ride over:)

We took off for our second boat ride of the season on Saturday. Man it was soooo hot and the water was so smooth. Doesn't it look like paradise?

Of course we had to stop at the cottage. I took this picture just as Ian was traveling by on his tractor:

Every year I have to take a picture of Jessies point:

Then that night I went to a party at our friend Mike and Louise's place. They have such a beautiful back yard:

There were no bugs due to the massive citronella burners that Mike set around the yard:

Its June, but it feels like March!

2006-06-10T08:49:00.000-04:00

Not a lot to report here. The weather has been deplorable (except for the weekdays when I have to work) and our boat is still sitting in the driveway. This does not make this cat very happy! When will the summer start?

So my radio gig is developing into something big for me. My friend Mike will be joining me next Friday night, which should be a blast! Maybe I will get him to take over my show while I take holidays in the summer.

On my way home from work the other night, I saw something out of the corner of my eye as I came off the highway into our subdivision. As I pulled to the shoulder of the road and reached for my camera, this is what I captured: (just doubleclick on the loop and it will pop open)

Ohhhh and I forgot the most exciting news...My friend Louise managed to score us EXCELLENT seats for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on September 29th in Ottawa! Its a Friday night which is perfect timing! Maybe I can get her husband Mike to do my radio show that night:)

Well, if the weather doesn't improve this weekend, I guess I will have the cleanest house on the street!!! Come on SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And two weeks later......

2006-05-28T20:26:00.000-04:00

Yea I'm awful for updating my own blog. With so much going on around here, its hard to justify the time to sit down and write about me.

Last Thursday I was fortunate enough to be in attendance for another amazing Chris Koster show at the Elixir. When I got there, a bunch of kids from work were in the lineup....As I shuffled in behind them, one of them looked down their nose at me and said "what are YOU doing here?' I said "To witness an amazing show, as well as meet up with some of my friends!' "oh" was the reply. And with that, they turned on their heel and headed in the door. Those poor little punkass kids sat at the back, all by themselves. I went right to the front and grabbed 2 chairs on my way past the bar and parked my ass right in front of the center of the stage. Then the promoter Chris came over to have a drink with me. A few minutes later my friend Scoobie approached with a smirnoff ice for me. Then his buddy Brian arrived. Ten minutes later my second son Mitchell tapped me on the shoulder. Couldn't wait to give him a big momma-cat hug as I haven't seen him since December! Then my original date Grigg arrived, an hr late, but at least he showed his face! I had to get a picture of that:

And then my rock and roll friend Derek Downham (who was out in Bath that week recording the second album with the Hugh Dillion Redemption Choir) gave me a big hug as did his 'date': Snoshi (aka Shayne B) I was surrounded with men! What a great feeling it was to look at the back of the room and see the 4 sad-sack faces of those kids from work. They were still sitting in the back of the room...alone:)

The show was amazing, as I fell in love with Chris Koster and his band all over again. There is nothing like LIVE music to get one's soul in perfect balance!

Here is one of the many pictures I took that night:

It seems like summer will be here soon, however its the end of May and we still haven't put our boat in the water. Yesterday Billy spent 12 hrs at a friends house assisting in the placement of siding on a new garage. He came home, had a beer and went to bed.

Friday nights are still my on-air shift at CJAI on Amherst Island. This past week they installed the new computer and moved all the files around the way they should be. When I arrived there on 630 boat, I farted around taking pictures and stuff and didn't get in the door till almost 7pm. The queue had emptied and all that was playing were recorded promo's and station id's. I had to race around and try and find my music and all that the on-air studio computer would access were the files with my old music in them. I dumped a bunch of songs to the queue then went on the air explaining that the new Hal (name used for the onair computer) and I were not seeing eye to eye ! It took me an hr, but I finally figured out their ancient method of networking. Damn, all those years ago I took a course and it finally came in handy. So I found my new files and carried on with my show.

Here is a cheesy shot of the station from the ferry on the way over on Friday night:

And another of the freshly painted milkhouse:

Today I spent the day working on the gardens as Billy painted the front pillars as well as the rest of the woodwork around the front of the house. Its going to look great when he is done!

Happy Mutha's Day

2006-05-14T12:03:00.000-04:00

When starting this blog, I actually thought I would have the time to update it on a regular basis. Man was that wrong! Life keeps throwing stuff in the way which always seems more important about writing about yourself.

Regardless, I went to see Pearl Jam this past Tuesday (May 9th) and that's all that matters to me this week. My friend Stephanie was kind enough to drive my ass all the way there and back; which worked out fine for me as I hate driving in Toronto. We had planned on taking the GO train from Pickering to Union Station as the show was at the ACC. The turnoff was not clearly marked on the 401, or else we totally missed it as we were going 120+kms just to keep up with traffic. We didn't have to deal with backups as we were going into the city when everyone else was trying to escape. So we ended up driving all the way into the downtown core and finding a lovely parking spot right across the street!

My cell phone 'broke' earlier that day so I was pissed that I couldn't call Bryce as soon as we 'landed'. We were to meet him and Dorrie somewhere in Union Station. Can you imagine how many people were floating around that building at rush hour on a Tuesday evening? So I find a payphone and call his new cell number. A foreign voice comes on the voicemail so I hung up in disgust. Steff says 'you know, he may just find you in this crowd!' I'm like 'yea I'm sure he has his Mommy-radar on.' As we stand in a line up to buy a tshirt, the announcer says the line is starting to form by the front gate of the ACC and the doors will open in 30 mins. Naturally we bolt for the line so I could find a way to slide the camera in a private hiding spot. Ok, camera is hidden and as I turn around and see the people race for the lineup, I see two young men approaching with a dog. Yep...he found me!!! After a very short visit, I gave Bryce his birthday card with $$ enclosed, gave him lots of hugs and smooches, hugged Dorrie and then the gates opened so we had to move. I think I had a whole 7 mins with them:(

To say the concert was a spiritual experience is an understatement!! It doesn't matter that I saw them just over 7 months ago....I cant get enough Ed and the boys. It was very evident that the band had really rehearsed for this tour as they were one tight unit. On the last tour, Ed seemed to be a bit off and it seemed to throw the rest of the guys somewhat. Maybe it was the few bottles of red wine he consumed during the show. Anyways, I took over 400 pics and was glad to have the camera in my hand as I was trying not to sing along and act like a fool in front of Steff. I can really get into a Pearl Jam show...just ask my friend Louise!

When we picked up our tickets from the willcall, it was a great treat to find out that our seats were even closer to the stage than last time. We were 6 rows up, and to the right of the stage. Perfect! Thank You Pearl Jam fan club:)

Here are a few pictures from the show:

Its a truly amazing feeling to be at a sold out show at the ACC. The roar of the crowd is almost deafening. Good thing I had my ear protection.

The rest of the week slipped in a blur ... in anticipation of a weekend of rain. What a treat it was on Friday evening when the sun came out as I drove onto the Amherst Island Ferry.

It was sweltering hot in the studio...just from the equipment I am sure. The blind was up so I could see out to the fields as I did my show. It was kind of cool as the clouds turned pink as the sun set. The full moon emerged shortly after and it certainly added to the peace and quiet everyone experiences when they are on the rock.

Saturday was spent doing housework as Billy ripped the front of the house off for repairs that have been needed for quite some time. Our friend LB showed up and asked if we wanted to go to the Legion for a steak dinner. So off we went with our neighbour for a few hours of smokey enjoyment in our local legion. I will be so glad when this new no smoking regulation comes into effect in a few weeks.

Ok, now its time to enjoy my mothers day.

Ciao

CJ the DJ on CJAI

2006-04-30T07:44:00.000-04:00

How corny is that? Well my little hobby has now turned into a 3 hour show from 7-10 on Friday nights as well as attending board of director meetings every couple of weeks. To say I enjoy being on the air again is an understatement. To have the ability to express oneself, freely, with the assistance of their favourite tunes is one of life's simple pleasures. For me anyways. Take a look at this picture I took getting off of the boat on Friday evening and tell me that it isn't a peaceful place!?

This one was taken as I was driving down the laneway to the station:

Last weekend was a total write off as far as outdoor renovation was concerned. It rained Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At least my housework got done:) Billy had to move the boat out of the sideyard on Sunday as we had an appointment at the boat mechanic's and the canvas shop to put new mooring covers on her on Monday. Well the van got stuck and Bill had to pull it out with the 4 wheeler. Then the boat trailer got stuck so we had to ask our neighbour Morey to help us with his 4X4 truck. We now have 2 foot deep ruts in our sideyard. The boat covers turned out beautifully...I just wish it would warm up a bit so we could get out on the lake. We have put the boat in on may 1st weekend and it is way too cold to be enjoyable.

This weekend has (so far) been spent putting up the fascia. Today will be dedicated to the EAVESTROUGH. Then the outdoor work ON the house will be done. The gardens have not been touched yet, but that can wait for a few more weeks. Here are a few pictures of yesterdays work:

This one was taken from the roof, by Billy. (I was too chicken to get up that high:

***** ATTENTION EVERYONE: I lost all my contacts in my address book as I had to format...if anyone I had sent email to in the past would like to still receive emails from me, please either leave a message on here or drop me a line at c2me4me@hotmail.com

No Time Left For You ...

2006-04-17T18:58:00.000-04:00

So I have been busy...that is an understatement...between work, fixing up the crib & outside projects, there has been no time for my dear old blog. Sorry:(

Lets start with the fun stuff first. I started helping out at a local community radio station on Amherst Island. It has been 26 years since I was 'on the air' and even though I was real rusty, I enjoyed it. When your laughing so much your face hurts, then you know you had fun. And after all, isnt life about having fun? So this station was built in a milkhouse, attached to one my favourite buildings...A BARN! Check this out:

Here is one of the studios:

Even though I didnt speak a lot, I got to play my music and hang out with a few islaners...definitely worth the $6 boat trip.
And speaking of boat, I took this pic on the way back...thought it looked kind of interesting:

Tomorrow night I have a Heritage Meeting on the island, so I will be over there again...three times in one week:) Maybe I should be looking for property over there.

Due to the fact that Friday was a holiday, we took full advantage of that and spent three days power washing the house. It lookes GREAT! Last weekend Billy replaced the closet door and finished off the trim around the front door. It is perfect. Next weekend he plans on putting up new sofit, facia & evestroping. It will make the place look brand new. I was suppose to get the windows cleaned this past weekend, but that never happened...maybe during the week. Oppps...except I have to hunt for new music to play on my show on Friday night. Any suggestions?

Tonight, I have to get started making choices for my hockey pool at work...$20 for a few months of entertainment. This one is kind of neat as you get to see the updates everyday online. So you know where you stand in reference to the others you work with. It will be fun if I end up higher than some of the boys when its all over:) There are cash prices for those finishing in 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Ok, time to do some hockey research.....

7 weeks to go !!!!!!

2006-04-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

I cant believe summer will (officially) be here in less than two months !!! Apparently we had an awesome day yesterday. Being the type to not be terribly distracted from my job, I never ventured outside, until it was time to leave. Of course it was getting cloudy and colder by then.
So this past week I have been burdened by a cold. It started in my throat, then to my head, then nose and now to my chest. So its almost gone. But holy jebus did it ever kick the crap out of me! It must be my age or something, but I'm not one to actually get sick, so I often times forget how it feels. As well, we have been under a bit of undue stress at work, so I am bringing that baggage home with me and stayed wide awake almost 4 nights in a row, going through things in my head and re-living situations & wondering how I could improve things. CRAP! I don't get paid to work at home, so why am I allowing it to effect my sleep patterns? Things are very strange when your brain is suffering from sleep-deprivation.
So lets try and get this brain kick-started again! Lets talk about more pleasant things such as The Trews show I went to a week and a half ago. Being the DD for the night (as usual) I picked up a couple of girlies on my way into the city and got there a bit late (by my standards) and had to rush up to the front to get my spot by the stage. I had not been to 'the hub' since they implemented the new security measures after a young man was murdered in this same building almost a year ago, to the day. It spooked me when I thought about it, but realized the importance of the metal detector invading my crotch when I recounted reading about that night in AJ's. Of course there were already kids crowded around the front middle of the stage, so I stayed to the left and never said a word to anyone as I inched up till I had my elbows resting on the stage. I had my small waist purse and a camera I had borrowed from work. I will never use that camera again. The flippin lens cap popped off and landed in my glass of water. Thank God this happened before the show did, so I found the small metal pin that holds it onto the lens laying about 2 feet away from me, on the stage.
I got a pile of pics, and if you want to bore yourself, I will leave the link to my photobucket site at the end of this post.
The show opened around 1130pm with Tom Wilson. He did a few songs from his Junkhouse days, some from his Blackie & the rodeo kings cd & a couple from his new cd. Two of the three band members were from Junkhouse, so the band sounded pretty tight. Tom had a rather disheveled look, and there were quite a few flat notes, but his little portion of the evening certainly satisfied this girls desire to here 'Shine', twice.
Here is an interesting pic of Tom and his bass player. Like I said, the camera I brought didn't like me, so not a lot of my pictures turn out the way I wanted them to.

When the Trews hit the stage, the crowd came alive. It was like a 70's flashback as the first thing I smelled, as the lights dimmed, was the sweet smell of weed:) Yes, someone was brave enough to strike a spliff and there were so many people there, the security must have known it was safer to just let it be.
In true trews fashion, by the second song, John-Angus had started playing on the speaker stacks, right in front of me:

The plane hanging overhead in this picture reminds me of the show LOST:)
And here is a nice clear shot of Colin as he played the keyboard, right in front of me:)

The cool thing about these 4 men from Antigonish nova Scotia is that they remember their fans; the people who are pushing for their success. They don't snub us, they promote the bond between the audience and the musicians. Right after the guys left the stage, after the encore, they came right back out of their dressing room to greet the fans. They headed for the merch table so they could autograph their new cd for everyone who bought one as well as had their pictures taken with their fans. I managed to snarf Colin's set list from the stagehand, so I got both John Angus and Colin to sign it for me. I then turned around and saw my friend 'Roxy' getting her CD signed by Colin, which I managed to capture:

Since that night, not a lot of excitement has happened in my life. Well, I shouldn't say that...Currently I am listening to CJAI - Amherst Islands new radio station. It is amusing & entertaining and it reminds me of what I sounded like the first time I opened a microphone:) The music is pretty good though. They have played Cockburn, The Hip, The Mahones & Moist. So I cant complain:)
I am trying to find a way of getting my husband motivated enough to start on one of the many chores that we want to get completed before boating season starts. Any ideas?

Oh yes, and here is the link for all the trews pictures:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v294/cchristmas/2006%20Pictures/March/Last%20Two%20Weeks%20of%20March/The%20Trews/

Another week gone...Another week closer to summer:)

2006-03-20T19:04:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday we were invited to my brothers place to celebrate his fiancee Stephanie's birthday. Steve spent 2 days cooking up a storm. We were so impressed with all the work he had gone through to create such a lovely meal for us. This is just one of the appetizer he created:

After we wolfed down the main course, we had to leave. It was so great to see my brother on the mend, although I am having a hard time getting use to him having a chin. I don't think he has had one of those since he was 12:)

When we got home that evening, our son Bryce had sent us some pictures of our granddaughter Dorrie. She looks so happy in Stratford...I really wish she didn't have to move to Toronto in May:(

So today was the first day of SPRING!!!! As I was driving to the pool this morning at 6am, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. What a beautiful site...I couldn't resist pulling over to take a few shots:

Here's hoping the week will fly by fast. I checked my calendar today and I still have 84 days till I go on holidays:( However, there is only 44 days till May 24 weekend!!!

This is an experiment

2006-03-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

Only 9 days left till the official launch of Spring 2006 !!!!!

2006-03-12T08:58:00.000-05:00

The sunrises lately have been so amazing...I am sure people who see me on the side of the road, camera in hand at 6:30 in the morning think I'm insane. There is just something about the sun hitting the flat, smooth ice that makes me smile:

And if you manage to witness this event prior to the sun peeking through, the colours are amazing:

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day...So Billy thought he better rush out and buy a new BBQ as our last one flipped off the deck in the last wind storm and smashed to bits. Our friend John also bought a new BBQ yesterday morning...so we had a bit of a race to assemble them. I think Billy won, but our BBQ was a lot smaller than Johns:)
Billy said it only took two tools and two beers to put the bad boy together:

Afterwards, we went over to Sue and Johns to check out their new grill...Isn't it a beauty?

While we were there, we had a quick euchre tournament and the girls beat the boys this time!!!!! Here is Sue counting out our well-earned cash:

Then it was time to test the new bbq:

Today (Sunday) isn't sunny, but its warm out, so we cant complain! We are going to go look at a farm that's for sale and then to my brothers place for a birthday get-together for his fiancee Stephanie! Have a great day everyone:)

Dude...It feels like SPRING!!!!!

2006-03-05T18:02:00.000-05:00

Thursday morning, I had to take my car to the garage. The sun coming up was just gorgeous, so I had a few minutes and stopped on the side of the road and took a few pictures. I will only bore you with one:

Saturday began with me running into the city to do a bit of shopping then get my hair cut. On my way back, I had to take a few pictures of the frozen lake:

illy stayed at home and started the flooring by the front door. Once again, we were both amazed at the simplicity of the installation. I want this flooring throughout my house...So I can do the Swiffer dance and never have to touch the vacuum again!
Sing it everyone....Swiff it....Swiff it good...Swiff it...SWIFF IT REAL GOOD !!!
So this is what I found when I got home from town:

And this is basically what it looks like till we get the trim down next weekend:

I was impressed with how nice it looked!
On Sunday, we were to go to the hospital early in the morning so we could get my brother out of the hospital. Instead, he called at 9 to say he was already home. So we decided to go out for a drive. With the MLS book in hand. We didn't find anything we likes or could afford, but the sun was bright and it was the perfect time to take a few pictures with the camera I had borrowed from work, again.
Here is a red house I found in Newburg:

And a blue shed:

And a lovely mixture of red white and blue:

On our way home, we stopped at the lake. I couldn't believe how beautiful the blue sky reflected off the clear ice. The first two were taken facing West and the last one was taken facing the East:

When we got home, Billy made lasagna while I did laundry. After he finished, he decided to go for a short drive on the 4 wheeler. I took a picture before he left, just in case the insurance company needed it:)

I'm hoping that we can get the trim around the front door and the painting started next weekend. I want everything done, as far as renovation go, before the boating season starts!

What a busy week!

2006-02-26T10:17:00.000-05:00

I volunteered to take care of my friend Sue's house while she and her family were down south for her daughters wedding. On Tuesday morning, there was a big snow storm so I figured I should take some pictures to show the family when they returned. I know how much they are missing the snow right now:) So this is what their front yard looked like at 7am on Tuesday morning:

There was a huge accident at the turn off to highway 15 on the 401 just after I got to work that morning. They closed down the freeway and routed the traffic onto highway 15. Quite a few of my co-workers got stuck in this traffic jam for almost an hr:

Although it was a bit late, one of the guys at work gave our friend Deb a new boyfriend who doesn't talk back. Isn't he a doll?

Then I got a call at 4pm that they were taking my brother for his long-awaited surgery at around 6-7pm. So I rushed home and picked up Billy then rushed back into the city, only to find out that the operation was cancelled.
On Wednesday I got another call at around 4pm saying that they were taking Steven in for surgery right away. So off I go to the hospital again. When I got to the sun room, my aunt and cousin were both there waiting with my brothers fiancee Stephanie. The sun was getting ready to drop, so I had to take advantage of the photo opportunity from the 9th floor:

With God watching over him, Steven made it through the surgery with flying colours! He is on his way to recovery and I want to thank everyone for their prayers...they certainly worked!
Friday was such a beautiful morning...I couldn't resist taking a few pictures while Molly the doggie chased her stick:

That evening, as the sun was about to go down, I couldnt resist the beautiful blue colour of the sky:

As I fed the cats, I thought I better take a picture to prove that I was feeding all 4 of them:

Here is a nice shot of the sunset reflected on the ice:

What a difference a day makes. Here is a shot of the same place, 14 hrs later:

Despite the storm, we headed into town around 9am to visit my brother. He needed some reading glasses but put in a request for the ugliest ones that we could find. His financee Stephanie had to model them first:

Then it was Billys turn:

Then Steven's turn. Do you think he was trying to look like Drew Carey?

When we got home, Billy thought he better get his 4 wheeler out and plow out the neighbourhood:

After the driveways were cleared, we ate dinner and then took off for Jimmy's 50th birthday party. What a loooong day it was:)

We tried to relax this weekend...

2006-02-20T20:15:00.000-05:00

Thursday night we went to an NHL Oldtimers game at the Memorial Center. We hadn't been in that old building in 12 years but it still looked the same. We had taken our son Bryce to see the Barenaked Ladies for his 13th birthday and I would swear that time stood still. Even the picture of the Queen looked the same:) But we had fun, and that's all that mattered. Here is a picture of Kirk Muller with his NHL replacement players. Like I said, it was fun night and totally worth the price of the tickets!

Remember the guy who sings the national anthem for the Toronto Leafs games? His name is Michael Burgess and he was doing double-time by playing the game and singing before the games and during the half-time show. Believe it or not, he is an awesome hockey player.

On Friday night, we went to the Legion for dinner, then over to Sue and John's for a birthday party for Sue:

I felt obliged to help with the dishes and someone decided to cover me with bubbles:

Here is a picture of the birthday girl and our friend Deb Gibbs:

Then the poker game started:

And by the end of the night, all of the poker chips were in front of Diana Lynn:

On Saturday, we spent the day in the hospital with my brother. I couldn't resist taking pictures from the sunroom as it was such a beautiful, clear day:

After spending three hours cleaning, we went for a drive on Sunday. I found this house that had some pretty cool gargoyles growing out of it:

I took a pile of pictures of barns, but I will only bore you with this one. I love the way the heritage window was preserved in this old building:

This week I will be doing a short stint as a cat & dog sitter for some friends who have gone on a vacation, so I wont be swimming in the morning for the rest of the week.
Due to the fact that this is the last week of February, there is only 2.5 months till May 24 weekend!!!!!!!!!!

The kitchen floor is done...The trim is 3/4 done!!!

2006-02-12T20:36:00.000-05:00

To begin, I must show you one of the many pictures I took of the sun coming up over a partially frozen lake on Wednesday morning:

I took Thursday off to go to a good friends fathers funeral in Brighton. This town had no Timmies so we settled for a beautiful little spot named Lolas:

We really needed a bright and cheery place to try and lift our spirits. It didn't work for me, as I knew the pain my friend was experiencing that day. Having to be brave in front of family and friends, when all you want to do is crawl away and hide. When I got home that afternoon and rushed downstairs to start the laundry, it hit me. And I sat and bawled like a baby...Feeling the pain for my friend, and reliving those haunting memories of those close to me that I have lost. An hour later, I came to. Peace be with you and your family Snuff:(
I never thought that this reno job would be so easy and quick. Usually we leave things half-done and then complain that we never got it completed. Well this time was different. Due to the fact that the larger pieces, that had to go up against the wall, needed to be cut outside, this is how the floor looked all week:

That was fine but this is how my living room looked:

So after having a few beer at the Legion on Friday, (this round was our friend Lawerence's...hehehe he didn't know they had quarts)we decided to buckle down and get this floor completed.

So Saturday morning, Bill started back to work on the flooring, and Jethro thought he might like to help:

I said goodbye to the fridge in the living room:

and went for a drive to take a few pictures:

The black and white one is the park bench named in honour of my mother and the sign is in the park named for my mother. I guess I was still feeling emotional from Thursday.
So Sunday, the fridge went back in the kitchen and the trim is almost completed:

I had to go visit my friend Sue, so I took advantage of the perfect sunlight and snapped a few pictures while I was there:

I really felt out of place when I got there and was the only one without a computer...I should have brought my laptop for a visit:)
I took this one on the way home. The ice just looks so perfect, like a virtual sheet of glass:

Tomorrow I will be swimming at 6:30, into Walmart by 7:45 to get a Valentines Day card for Billy as well as one for my brother to give to his beloved. Then work, then off to the hospital to visit my bro. He might be having his surgery on Tuesday so please say a prayer for him.

One man renovates; all women suffer!

2006-02-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

Rona sales suck! They put the flooring we wanted, ON SALE this week, so Billy decided the time was right to replace the kitchen floor. Please note, this house was built in the mid 70s and the floor in the kitchen was the last of the original flooring. The reason it was never attempted was that the kitchen had been modified about 10 years ago, and the doorway was now too small to allow the fridge to make an easy exit. All the trim around the doorway had to be removed before the behemoth unit could be moved.
Then we managed to wedge it sideways out the kitchen door to the front foyer where the rollers quit working. So we found a set that Bill had acquired and attempted to get them under the fridge. They kept sliding out as there were big round metal things underneath the backside. Talk about a stressful situation. The fridge had been unplugged for 3 hours by then. I kept suggesting that we could borrow our neighbor's dolly but he kept insisting it wouldn't help. Not my idea of a pleasant Saturday afternoon. Long story short: The fridge finally got moved to the living room, and all the tiles peeled off the floor very easily. Then the boards had to be screwed down as they never had been when the floor had first been laid!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must note that these houseÂs were built by a company who hired a bunch of my teenaged friends to spend a few summer pretending to be contractors. I guess I canÂt blame them as they were young and usually drunk or high the majority of the time.
So this is what the floor looks like now:

I cant wait to post the after pictures! Now our place looks like a hillbilly house...fridge in the living room:

The highlight of my day was watching the sun come up this morning, reflecting off a very calm and still lake:

Hope tomorrow is a better day than today!

The last weekend of January

2006-01-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

The week whizzed by, as usual. We received news that my brother had been admitted to the hospital...So that kind of threw me off a bit. Billy's 50th birthday was yesterday and we managed to make one trip into town due. We hit Walmart first, so I could get some anti-bacterial wipes for Steve's room as well as hard candy and a few magazines. Then spent a few hrs visiting...little bro was lucky enough to get a room with a beautiful view of the lake. We watched the sun go down then took off for Kelsey's for dinner. The game was on when we got home and I promptly fell asleep as soon as it was done.
Today (Sunday) was spent cleaning, ironing, cleaning the oven, doing laundry and other weekend duties. I also made a few music cd's for my brother as he has a walkman in his room. I will purposely leave all the names of the songs off the cover so he will be scratchin his head trying to figure out who the artists are. Mean eh?
Here is one of my favorite pictures of my brother and I! He was 12 and I was 20.

And here is a picture of him and my friend Shayne taken a yr and a half ago at the Toucan.

I hope he gets out of there soon as I need him to go see the Trews with me in March:)
Yes, its ALL about me:)

We went to the ROCK on Sunday!

2006-01-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

Yes, we made our annual 'winter' trip to Amherst Island. We spent the majority of the spring, summer and early fall over there, so even the guys working on the ferry were telling us it wasn't summer yet:) This little piece of heaven has a lot of charm, and as much as I would love to live there, I cant leave the things that have spoiled me over the years. High Speed internet, sewers, municipal water, bank machines & grocery stores are just a few of them.
One of my first pictures has to be of the new CBC affiliate radio station that is designed to hit the air waves sometime this year. This barn is part of the property where one of my childhood friends grew up. Her name was Lisa Nielson and the one thing I do remember about this barn is that her dad was out milking one night and she took me in to meet him. The first thing he said was 'if your in my barn...You have to have a 'chaw'. And with that he handed me a tin of chewing tobacco. YUCK!
That was 1974...Fast forward to 2006 and the little milk house at the front of the building is being retrofitted with radio equipment. Maybe I could apply for a part-time job there with my whole 3 years of radio broadcasting experience!

Its hard to believe we have almost made it through to the end of January and the big lake is still wide open. This may be the first year that this old cat can remember there being no ice in the north channel!

There is a story about the 'round' buildings on the island. I do not know what it is, perhaps I should research it. These structures can be found on both the north and south shore and even in the center of the rock. I find them interesting and definitely worthy of a few clicks of the old nikon.

I couldn't believe the green grass we saw there on Sunday. Maybe it was because the sun was partially out, but man it looked like Spring:

Now, 2 days later, we have a pile of snow which actually took out our satellite dish. This is the first time in 6 years that this has happened for this length of time.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I hope that the rest of the week goes as fast as these last two days have.
Billy is taking me out for dinner on Friday night...Maybe I can convince him to stick around for a few hours to see Emily Fennell play at the Merchant.

I spent the day in the closet...

2006-01-21T19:16:00.000-05:00

Yep, I have this closet full of stuff screaming to be organized. Instead of cleaning it I simply added to it for years. Three years at least. I found newspaper articles about my Mothers passing and the lovely articles that were written about her and her life. I had a little bawl, and then carried on. No doubt I will write my own obituary as there is no way that job should be left to someone in grief.
Topic change:
Ever suck up one of your computer keys with the vacuum? DUH! I did that very thing today. Billy went to get groceries so I had to get the vacuuming done while the living room was vacant. The laptop was open and looking kind of dusty, so I ran the end of the vac across the keyboard and 'click' away goes the Insert-print screen key. Yep, had to take the bag out and cut it open to retrieve the key. Man they are small, and narrow.
My big trip outside today involved shaking mats and pillows and blankets. Then I took a long trip to the store to buy the toronto star. Whoopeee :)
Bryce sent me a few pictures of Dorrie...just thought I would share them:

These were taken in Stratford. This one has Dorrie sporting one if her christmas gifts around her neck. I called it her holiday bling:)

And here she is in her chair in Bryces room. I guess she owns this chair.
Ok, time to watch Hockey Night in Canada!
Lets hope I get to do a bit of travelling tomorrow. Im getting cabin fever.

The case of the missing post

2006-01-20T18:59:00.000-05:00

This is very odd...I lost a post. I created a new post last night and once i edited it and saved, the previous post went POOF! Anyone ever have that happen before?

Well not a lot to report here. Mister Christmas and I plan on spending a quiet weekend doing nothing as he has worked his butt off this past week and I just want to spend two days in a row relaxing. That means no cleaning. Lets see how long that plan lasts!

We had 5 hours of training today at work. It is a course we are taking for 5 weeks in order to be certified. Imagine that, certified to do a job that you have been doing for almost 5 years:) After the training I had to create a report for my client then made arrangements to leave work early as I had to make it to the license bureau before it closed as well as the pool to buy my membership. Yes, I did it! I bought the membership and will start swimming at 6:30am Monday morning. Its been almost a year since I swam there, so no doubt I will be sore afterwards. But I need to do this. I need to get active so I wont be feeling so lethargic.

So...the disappearing post. I cant remember what was said in it...only that I wanted to name my tree for my friend Shayne. Maybe U2 could name their next Cd the Snoshi-wah Tree!

Tomorrow is Friday!!!

2006-01-19T18:09:00.000-05:00

and a payday friday to boot:) well, i just need to pay a few bills and i will be broke again.
so since bryce and dorrie left, the cats have been celebrating their freedom. billy bought them a few new tiys and a new scratched board with catnip. here is a picture i took last weekend of jethro and emmy 'playing?'

jethro is almost as wide as he is long now...guess he takes after the rest of the family:)

Billy took me for a drive on Sunday and I made him pull over so I could jump out and take this picture of a scarey old abandonded house. the blue sky behind acentuates its beautiful old features.

For some reason, we have been having awesome sunrises and sunsets this month. I realize that they are just poluted air, but they sure do brighten things up on a bleak winter evening: (all 3 of these pictures were taken from the same spot, 10 mins apart)

Im toying with the idea of going to see Tom Green next week at the elixir. Maybe I will get lucky and win tickets.
Ok...lets bring on FRYDAY!!!!!

Im coming back here

2006-01-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

As part of an experiment...Im coming back here to try something:

(i cut and pasted the rest of this post from the new site that will not allow me to cut and paste):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I Cant believe that a 1 nasty piece of spyware took my system down! Well, maybe 200+ pieces of spyware....and a downloaded backgammon game that allowed access to every file and operating system registry file it wanted. Regardless...I now know how to do a full backup and reinstall of my programs and device drivers. Damn...I spent the majority of today on the phone to Dell but now its all good and my life can return to normal!

Due to the fact that I had to take today off as New Years Day fell on my regular day off, I thought that I could afford to go out on Thursday night to see James McKenty and the Spades at the ELIXIR. What a wise choice that was:) This three-man band has an undeniable bond that was obvious from the time they hit the stage. They studied each others movements and moved together like the three were one. Winchesters smile and the boyish grin on Chachi's face only seemed to compliment the pride worn by James throughout the show.

I think my resolution this year should be to attend more local shows. Live music has a way of making you feel good for days on end. What a cheap high:)
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Alright.....I like this site better...I can cut and paste in here. Yes for anyone who has never tried to set up a blog, you will think Im insane...anyone who has tried to do things they are not intellectually capable of, will understand.

So Im staying here...it works better and I know how to cut and paste pictures over here:)

Half way through january my friends...and 125 days till May 24 weekend:)

Werd

Catx has left this BlogSite!

2006-01-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

As I have explained on my new blog.....which you will probably read there....

http://catfrombath2006.blogspot.com/

I will leave this one up as it has lots of pretty pictures but they are large and people with dialup want to kill me! I am starting the new site with smaller images and (hopefully) less of them.

Lets see how long they will leave this free site up without any traffic:)

Cat

My laptop is on a holiday now...

2005-12-31T15:27:00.000-05:00

And I miss it terribly! My house is getting clean and stuff is getting done around here.

Well, I think I need to go back and add some pictures to my last post as it looks so bare without cooler! I would add pics to this entry but I cant find my friggin usb cord for my camera. i have a feeling it just went back to Stratford with Bryce. Now i have to buy a new one or just buy a new camera and get a new cord for free. (think i can justify that?)

Well, best be getting back to cleanin da house before my hubby gets home:)

Happy New year everyone...looks like i may be sitting at home for the night, watching the hockey game! WOOT!

Here is a picture of Bryce and Dorrie at our friend Sue and Johns house on Christmas Eve:)

And now its boxing day ...

2005-12-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday went by in a blur. We went out to a friends house on Saturday night for a fondue...didnt get home till 2am on christmas morning. Then I had to get up at 8 and go pick my brother and his fiancee up. After they packed up my car with gifts and food and stuff, off we went to grannies house. Bills Mom actually, she was coming for breakfast and gift-ripping.!Then back home by 10:30. We tore through the gifts in record time then had a quick bite for breakfast at lunch time!I played a trick on bryce by telling him that I couldn't afford a portable playstation (PSP) as he requested...he was kewl about it but I know he was kind of bummed about it. Can you imagine his surprise when I handed him 2 more gifts long after the last of the gifts had been opened. He just threw his hands in the air and yelled YES! when he opened the Grand Theft Auto game. It was worth it just have reaction in digital format!

My hubby bought me a really nice moto camera/mp3/bluetooth/cellphone. I have yet to figure it out, but I will. Steve and Steph cooked a fantastic meal which consisted of roasted red pepper soup, turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, glazed asparagus & baby carrots and some crazy delicious stuffing that Steve concocted. We were so full, we couldn't eat dessert. It is still in the fridge.
Today I took down the tree and decorations and vacuumed for over an hr. I had to get it done today as I have to go back to work tomorrow...Pooh! Billy took Bryce to the Y to workout and that was 4 hrs ago. heheheh I think they got lost.
So here are a few pics from the last few days of this chicks life:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v294/cchristmas/October%202005/December/xmas%20eve%20and%20xmas%20day/?

and click on slideshow:)

More Snow

2005-12-16T17:05:00.000-05:00

It just never seems to end! It just seems like yesterday that I was taking pictures of a beautiful sunrise...actually it was:

And then, just as the liars network predicted, we got dumped on! What a great excuse for Billy to get out the door at 5:20am to save the neighbourhood! He plowed and plowed and before he knew it, it was noon-hour! These pictures were taken around 6am:

Here are a few pics I took on the way to work this morning. I went through the city as the 401 didn't sound like a safe place to be:

When I got to work there were only 5 of us, out of a department of 25! Damn I cant believe that people who live a mile or two down the road cant make it to work when I live over 50 kms away and almost make it there on time! So I got kindda pissy, did my required work and then went home at 1:30. When I got out of the building, the sun had popped out for a short bit so I pulled over and took some pictures of the new fallen snow. I was shocked by the size of this snowbank behind the building that I work in:

When I got home I found Jethro taking dancing lessons with a string of beads:

Then the sun went down in a pink flame:

Tomorrow will be spent cleaning and wrapping gifts.....so I really don't care if it snows anymore:)
One week till Christmas....Brycearoni is scheduled to arrive home next Thursday...I cant wait to see him and Dorrie again!

Let it snow

2005-12-11T19:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm actually in a holiday mood this year. It must have something to do with this snowy environment we have been forced into dealing with:) Here is a picture I took from the back patio door...

I took half a day off on Friday to be here when the cogeco dude came to replace my modem. Naturally Bill had to race home to save all the neighbourhood ladies from lower backache caused by pushing a snow shovel. Here he is playing on his very expensive snow plow.

Instead of playing in the snow, I spent the weekend cleaning, shopping, wrapping gifts and putting up that damn tree. Jethro helped, so it wasn't that bad:)

And when I got finally got the tree decorated on Sunday, it looked alright! (IMHO)

In my next life I want to come back as either a cat or a man...either way, I will get to nap all weekend long:)

I've done my Penance

2005-12-09T16:12:00.000-05:00

I had no internet service since last week.

Well, it was 5 days but that still constitutes a week, right? So this nice Cogeco technician came to my house today and replaced my old tired blue modem with a shiny white RCA version. And all is good. I think even mister christmas was happy to have our lifeline back even though his house is cleaner that it has been in a long time. What the heck else do you do when your computer has no function?

Christmas is fast approaching and I think this weekend I will have to finish the rest of shopping. Damn, my list is bigger than my budget again this year. But I don't care, its all worth it to have my family here and enjoying each others company during the holiday season. It will be great to have our son and his puppy home for a few days as well as my brother and his fiancee here for christmas dinner:)

Ok, 6 days left till Chris Koster plays at the Elixir!!!

I want to know

2005-12-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

When the heck is the 10th annual Weeping Tile and friends Salvation Army Benefit show this year? Last year it was on December 13th at AJ's Hangar. I guess I need to let Sarah Harmer know that I would prefer it to be at Stages this year !(as they have a kickin sound system now) Also, it cant be December 15th as Chris Koster is playing at The Elixir...Or December 22nd as our friend Derek Downham is also playing at the Elixir. hahaha !!! Like I am in any position to make a request to someone as regal as Ms Harmer!

Seeing as it is now December 1st, I guess I had better start christmas shopping....sigh

On the good news front...Tomorrow *is* Fryday...Yeah!

i have some new pictures of dorrie:)

2005-11-20T18:01:00.000-05:00

i forgot to post these earlier in the week when bryce sent them to me.
here she is on one of her daily walks:

i love this action shot:

this would make a perfect cover for a christmas card " our new grand-daughter dorrie wants to wish you the best of the holidays!! "

and finally, a picture of brycearoni with a cowboy hat on !!! isnt HE cute? i dont know why he has such a stern look on his face!?

ok, its sunday night and i actually get to sleep in till 5:45 am tomorrow..wheeeee!! so much better than 4:30! hope this week goes by quickly!! i need to start christmas shopping on friday...yuck!

i graduated!!!

2005-11-19T08:51:00.000-05:00

yes, my first part of my training is completed. i passed with the rest of my class. this means that i don't have to get up till 6 everyday. YEAH! getting up at 4:30am has been brutal. ok, im done whining! (/whine-off) monday should prove to be a very interesting day:)
Here is a picture of my class. (please remember, i was the second oldest person in the course)

so my hubby still isn't home from deer hunting, so im sitting here debating weather i should go shopping or sit on the couch for the day.

Its the third week of training

2005-11-14T17:43:00.000-05:00

and my head is spinning!! however, I'm learning and managing to keep the majority of the material in my head. hard to imagine at my advanced age:)

not a lot has happened in my life except the fact that I missed the Trews last Wednesday night!! (entersympathyhere)it has been a real experience getting up at 4:30am to get to work by 6:45am. good thing i have a couple of ladies in my current car pool or i would probably be walking into the training room at the last minute.

so my highlights of the month of November happened all in the same day. first off, we had to go to Belleville on Saturday morning and arrived too early so Billy took me to the Tractor Store!!! I was in heaven!!!

then that night we went to Harlys garage and I got my picture taken on Harv's tractor. Wheee...it was a great experience:)

ok, next big event in the future is the Derek Downham show on December 22nd at the Elixir!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait to see D again!

Long time no update ...

2005-11-01T17:14:00.000-05:00

Not a lot has been going in our household. The shed addition is almost complete...just a final coat of paint and its complete:)
This past weekend I borrowed the 4800 Nikon from work for a Halloween Party I was attending at the Merchant on Saturday night. Betablokka were playing, so I knew I couldn't miss this!!! I was dressed as the grim reaper and had a large heavy black robe with a matching hood:) My friend Judy was kind enough to offer to do my makeup...as well as lend me the costume. Didn't I look scary???

This costume rocked...Buddy dressed up as a penis:

I even found a few celebrities there...Elvis and Basketball Jones:

My date for the night got totally smashed, and I ended up driving his ass home. On my way home, I noticed that 'someone' had written something on my back window. Imagine my surprise when I got home at 2am and read "I only wish my wife was this dirty!" etched on the dew.

The next day was spent entirely cleaning my car. And taking pictures of the few plants in my gardens that hadn't been hit by frost yet. I wont bore you by posting them here, so if you really have a desire to see them, check out this link:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v294/cchristmas/October%202005/Backyard%20Pictures/

The next three weeks of my life will be spent in a training room, so the internet will probably be the furthest thing from my mind.

A Hunting Bill will go....A Hunting Bill will go

2005-10-16T18:07:00.000-04:00

Yes, its that time of year...time to sneak up and scare bullwinkle. Thus causing him to fall down and die of a heart attack. That is how my mind perceives hunting, and I'm sticking with this theory.
Yes, I used to be the type of tree-hugger that never understood what hunting was all about. Just think about the storie's of a friend 'bagging a deer' on the way home. It's merely because this species of animals has over-populated themselves to the point where they have become a nuisance to themselves.
Anyways, before Billy could go away, we had to get to the marina and get the boat out for the season. It was actually a fairy warm day and the sun managed to stay out for the amount of time that I was knee deep in the water. Thak You weather gods! As I waited for Bill to bring the boat around to the ramp, I took some pictures of the guys stepping the mast on an old sailboat. I found it amusing that one of the marina dogs had to put themselves right in the middle of the action:

The people on our dock are diehards and still have their boats in the water:

After we got the boat home, Billy had to go get his new four-wheeler to get ready for the hunting camp. This would be the first time that I had laid eyes on this new toy, and figured I had better take a few pictures of it.

Hey, my cosmos are still blooming...Does this mean that fall still hasn't arrived?

After Bill left, I swept through the house and magically cleaned all dust, cat and dog hair and dirt. Then I went for a drive. I stopped out to check out the progress of my friends Laurie and Jack's new house. They are almost ready to move in:

When I got there I was told that miss dubleberger had gone to the office....so off to Rigney ave I went. I took a side street off of mud lake road and kind of got lost. Naturally my camera had to do some documenting:

After I got home, I went over and had a beer with the neighbour ladies. Cheers !!!

Here's to a quiet week alone!!!

I can handle this....

2005-10-08T11:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am a big girl and can deal with the fact that I am aging. So when I found out that I had a grandchild, well, I took it like a trooper. She is the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time and I can fully admit that I am biased. My two cats do not agree with my mushy sentiments, but they have had it too easy for too easy for too long.
Without further adieu, here is Bryce and Dorrie:

I have been pleasantly surprised that she is so well behaved. She sits out on the step all by herself and doesn't bark like the rest of the dogs in the neighbourhood!

And here is Jethro, trying to sneak up on Dorrie and Bryce:

This is how she slept while we had our dinner:

This is what Thanksgiving is all about; being thankful for our blessings. We are just tickled that Bryce and Dorrie will be staying with us till Monday.

Now its October.....

2005-10-04T18:11:00.001-04:00

But so far the weather has been great! On Saturday we went do to Confed Basin for the 15th annual chilifest. It was just like summer out but I opted for wearing jeans and sweat all afternoon. We were meeting up with our friends right out side city hall. Mike had an antique car on display, so we all took turns watching it! Isn't it a beauty?

The real reason I went was to see the Chris Koster band. I love this band and will find any excuse to see them play. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was excited to get some pictures of this great band in the daylight for a change.

Before the bands started, I made a trip over to the market with the girls. Everything just looked so bright and colourful; I just couldnt resist taking a few shots:

When we got up the next day, the sun was still shining brightly so we figured it was a great day for a boat ride. It was the second of October and it felt like labour day weekend. As usual, Bill had to find something interesting floating in the water. There was no note attached this time, which was a bit of a let down!

We decided to travel East, towards the 1000 islands as there was very little wind. I have so many pictures of the waterfront, I started taking slanted pictures.

Being brave, we traveled past RMC, into the mouth of the islands and past the Howe Island Ferry. As we were following an antique wooden cabin cruiser, all of a sudden the motor died. GASP! What to do? We thought that the gas at the marina has a bit of water in it as the last 2 times we filled up there, the motor was a bit harder to start. We dumped gas line anti-freeze in it before we left the dock. So that couldn't be it. How ironic it was that our boat stalled in front of a marina. We managed to get the boat started enough to coast into the dock. I felt really ridiculous walking up to a small gathering on the dock to ask them where we were. The Trident Yacht Club, I was told. We called our friend Harly, as we didn't have Rogers cell phone number in the cell phone. Roger just happened to be at Harlys and very kindly offered to come help us. After a few hours of waiting, Roger appeared on the horizon. Now don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful spot and the sun was burning into my skin. We had food and drinks and an offer to use the 'head' in the club house. It wasn't a bad way to while the time away. And the scenery was gorgeous!

Once Roger appeared, it was evident that the problem couldn't be fixed immediately so we tied a few ropes together and started to tow our beastie home. Man, it seemed to take a lot longer going back, especially when we noticed the gas gauge going dropping at a fast pace. We started off towing Billy then we decided that it would be best to pull the boat on its own. Besides, Billy was having far too much fun with the whole situation:

Anyways, around 7 that night, we made it back to the marina as the sun set in the western sky. It turns out that we have to replace the fuel pump, which cost under $300, so that's not as bad as it could be. Not a great way to end our boating season, but it gives Billy something to do during the off season:)

The last week of summer...

2005-09-25T12:41:00.000-04:00

Yea, it happened this week...That four letter F-Word arrived. I prefer to use the A-word to describe the season we entered on Sept 22nd. Damn! I must have had too good a summertime I guess! Being able to use the boat for 5 full months was definitely a bonus, especially when we spent the extra bucks to buy a slip for the season. It was definitely money well spent.
On Saturday, we decided to make one of our last trips out in the boat. Naturally we needed gas, and the $1.37 a litre price tag was a bit hard to swallow...but what can ya do? Here is Billy looking for our next boat:

As soon as we left the marina, we swung around the breakwall to this sight...a power boat towing a blow boat. How amusing:

As I sat in the back of the boat, snapping pictures aimlessly, I felt the sun on my face and realized it had been a great season for Billy and I. The time had come for me to face the fact that I had to start wearing long pants again, and prepare for taking the boat out of the water till 2006.
Is it my imagination, or can you almost see the rays of sun descending from the top left hand corner of this picture?

As we started to head back for the marina, we rounded the point by the cottage only to see this sight:

Its not everyday that you see a house on a barge, resting on the shoreline. Apparently this structure was floated over to the island via finkle shore park a few days ago. From this point, they need to transport the house a few miles east. I guess that's one way to move a house:)
Now that the restaurant in the village has closed, we have had to fend for ourselves for the past week and a half. It awful! Anyways, we decided to go to the Red Lobster for dinner. I had a gift certificate that Bryce gave me for Christmas last year, so off we went for seafood heaven. We hadn't had lobster and steak in years so maybe that's why it tasted so good.

After we were done, we rolled out of the restaurant and back home to get ready for a 25th wedding anniversary party for our friends Mike and Johanna. This year marked both of their 50th birthdays as well as their 25th anniversary. It was kind of neat to meet their old friends that they grew up with as well as our own group of friends who attended. Here is a picture of the 'toy' that Johanna bought Mike for his golden birthday:

Nice eh? All I bought Billy was the four-wheeler he wanted for hunting!

Pearl Jam at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto !!!

2005-09-25T11:14:00.000-04:00

On Monday morning I awoke at 5 as I was so damn excited about traveling to Toronto to see Pearl Jam again. I know that everyone thinks I am some kind of a cougar-groupie, but it is so hard to make someone understand the importance of seeing the band you love playing in 2 cities that are less than a 3 hr drive from you! Especially when they only tour every two years! I could not miss Eddie and the boys, regardless of how I got to the shows. When I bought my tickets to these two shows back in April, I originally only planned on going to the Ottawa show with my friends Louise and Mike. Last time I traveled with them to the 2003 show at the Molson Amphitheatre, I invited my co-worker Robin to escort me. This time I offered my extra ticket to my buddy Shayne. I felt bad that I couldn't get more than 2 tickets per show so Steff (Shaynes bride) to go with us. This guilt somehow provoked me to buy tickets for the Toronto show after asking Robin if he wanted to go. I had made the rule that he was going to drive as I didn't need the stress of maneuvering around in downtown Toronto. Besides, he had been to the ACC a few times, so he knew the way there and the best place to park. For me, this was a win win situation.
So off we departed from work a bit late, and off to smog-town we traveled. It was nice to score some cheap gas on the way there; under a buck a litre is a bonus now a days. Once there, we had a hell of a time finding the will call wicket to pick up our fan club tickets. After walking around in a circle a few times, we finally got the tickets and went searching for a bite to eat before the show. Now imagine this building that is attached to Union Station at rush hour. There were people everywhere, and I swear there was a security guard located on every corner. Before I hid the camera I borrowed from work, I took this picture of a tasty piece of art:

As we stood in the lineup for the pat down before entering the concert, I noticed that this time around, the security guards were actually patting down the ladies. So I had to change my course of action and had to hide the large camera in a more secure spot! After I breezed through that, I felt like screaming HURRAY, but didn't want to cause attention. There were even MORE security guys inside the ACC than there was in union Station. It gave you a feeling of some sort of impending doom. But I am sure that Ed and the boys had requested beefed up security in a city of constant violence.
What a thrill it was to find that my tickets were in almost the same spot as the Ottawa show! We were sitting next to two ardent fans from Bay City Michigan. They were both feeling no pain and an entertaining conversation was started between us and the girls from Oakland California, who were sitting in front of us. We were all trying to figure out which song they band would open with. BettiVedder from California guessed correctly with her choice of Release. Hearing the opening notes of this beautiful song made me cry and I couldn't even hold the camera up to take a picture. It was like Ed had cast a spell on the entire audience. The 6 of us were all high-fiving each other as we all sang along with the opening tune.
I will not bore any of you with a pile of my pictures from this show, but I will show you the one where Ed was looking right at me AGAIN! :)

If anyone wants to see the rest of the published pictures, please go to : http://photobucket.com/albums/v294/cchristmas/Pearl%20Jam%20Toronto/

The rest of the concert flew by in a blur, but towards the end of it I had to go back and delete a bunch of pictures to make room for the guest who appeared on stage. As the band started into Rockin in the free world, I thought I saw Uncle Neil Young take the stage, instead I was delightfully surprised to see Bono from U2. SWEET! Bono thanked Ed for opening for him the night before; and that's when Ed's opening statement started making sense. After the first few songs, he said he wanted to thank U2 for opening for them tonight. Everyone giggled at the time and no one suspected to see Bono, with a white cowboy hat slide onto the stage at the end of the night. It was a very cool sight, especially due to the fact that the lights were up and this rare scene was in plain view for all to see.

I am unsure how many people were at the show, but the sound from the crtowd was almost deafening, even with my earplugs in. Here is a shot of a very small portion of the audience:

Once again, I was speechless on the way home. I crawled into bed sometime around 3:30 am and managed to make it to work the next day by 10am!

In between Pearl Jam concerts....

2005-09-25T10:22:00.000-04:00

My hubby took me for a loooong boat ride over to the main ducks islands. It was a weird feeling to be out in the middle of the lake with no land in sight. We had been trying for three years to get over there and finally the winds were favourable for us to make the trip. It took a while to get there and naturally my camera was busy as soon as land was in sight!
Billy used to commercial fish with our old neighbour Gary Bell (RIP) back in the 80's. The main ducks were one of their frequent stops (to pick fish out of the nets) and Bill remembers this dock just after it was built. Apparently the ice has tipped it slightly over the years:

What a beautiful little spot this place is. The water surrounding the islands reminded me of quarry water.

After bouncing back over the waves of the open lake to Amherst Island, we stopped over in the bay at Poplar Dell for a bite to eat. Naturally the winds had died down by then and it was a beautiful time to take some 'end-of-summer' shots:

Hmmm...Well I took about 25 pictures but I will just post the one. People have told me that my photoblog has too many photos:)

Pearl Jam deserves an award!

2005-09-18T07:39:00.000-04:00

Tell me how easy it is for a band to play a show for almost 3 hours?! That's what Ed and the boys did on Friday night at the Corel Center in Ottawa! I didn't even notice the length of the concert as I was basically in a state of love and trust all throughout the show. My friends Mike and Louise managed to get floor seats and my seats were 8 rows up from the floor, right beside the stage! What a great vantage point for pictures. Yes, I managed to sneak in my camera, that was so easy...Now I just need to borrow one from work with a stronger zoom for the concert on Monday night.
Even the crappy weather couldn't lower our spirits as we traveled up to the nations capital with my good friends Mike and Louise, with my buddy Shayne as my 'date' :) We laughed and listened to some tunes on the way up and discussed the various concerts we had experienced together. After a quick tour through Ikea, we hit Montana's for dinner. It was funny to see Shayne order off the 'little troopers' kids menu as he ordered a beer!
Off to the Corel we went. The traffic was heavy, but Mike is a highly trained professional when it comes to darting through many lanes of traffic. I'm so glad he was driving! The boys dropped us off in 6 lanes of traffic so we could go pick up our tickets. I couldn't believe how packed the inside of the building was! So many different PJ shirts were flooding the sea of bodies. I didn't have time to look at the m all.
When we got to our seats, we looked down on the floor and spotted Mike and Louise in their spot. Man, I'm so glad I wasn't on the floor as I'm short and would end up with some 6 footer standing in front of me!
Its ironic that Shayne, myself & Mike and Louise all filled our memory cards before the show was done. We all spent time going back and deleting some of the fuzzier pictures to try and take better ones before the end of the concert.
Enough of the talk, here are a few pictures of mine that actually turned out.

This one was taken as Ed was looking right at me:)

I have a few of Mike and Louises pictures as well, but wont bother posting them as I didn't take them:)
Today will be spent out on the great lake...it will probably be the last time we will be able to take the boat out for a run!
Come on MONDAY!!!!!

Pearl Jam Weekend!

2005-09-15T17:54:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me, KNOWS of my intense love affair with the band Pearl Jam. It started in 1991 and continues to this day! This time tomorrow, I will be getting ready to enter the Corel Center and partake in my 6th Pearl Jam concert. Even though the tickets were purchased back in April, this upcoming weekend has been occupying a small backroom in my cranium since that time.
Like a ritual, I will be attending my first show with my buddies Mike and Weezie. My second fan club ticket was given to my friend Shayne. I think this is his first Pearl Jam concert and I'm sure that he will dig it. He is very well versed in subject of Big Venue Concerts.
Now the only thing that bugs me is the fact that I haven't known where my seats are and I really REALLY wanna sneak my camera in there and run up to the stage and take an Eddie Pic for my collection.
Speaking of pictures, I actually acquired a few pictures of my son Bryce's latest art work. Here is one I am particularly fond of:

And here is a picture of his newest housemate...Her name is Dorrie:

So everyone keep their fingers crossed for me tomorrow night...in hopes that the old Cat will be able to flash her idol, Ed Vedder!!!

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone.....

2005-09-07T20:03:00.000-04:00

On my last day of work before the long 4 day weekend, we had a new client come to visit our call center. For that reason, they asked that we dress up a bit. Well the guys in our ticket logging group certainly WOW'd me, and I certainly couldn't allow them to get away without having their picture taken. SO here are my buddies, Mouse, Mark & Wavey-Davey:

The next night, after dinner at the Last Chance, we went out to the lodge for a visit. Judy asked me to take a picture of her in front of Harly's new/old tractor.

On Saturday, we took our friends Shayne and Stephanie out for a boat ride. It started off to be a great day but as we neared the gap at the foot of Amherst Island, the wind picked up and we had to head it back to the cottage STAT! As we traveled at blinding speed, I felt something hitting my skin...I was sitting alone in the bow of the boat. It was HAIL! Jebus! So we made it back to the cottage, hung out with our friends, had a bite to eat and then headed back to the marina as the sun went down. An amazing sunset was welling up in the sky and Shayne couldn't wait to start clicking at the scenery:

And here is what he was snapping:

On Sunday, we went back out on the water (after Coronation Street was done) and met up with Roger and Roberta. We convinced them to go up the Cataraqui River with us to Kingston Mills. On the way up, I took this sideways picture as Bill was speeding between the markers.

I found this sign under the 401 quite amusing:

That night, we went to Roger and Roberta's for dinner, then off to Harly's for a corn roast/bomb fire. When we got there, we were quite surprised to see a lot of out friends dressed up in Trailer Park Boys attire. Here is a picture of Brandy's T-shirt:

And Shelly's shirt:

And Christine's shirt:

Last but not least, Jim as Julian:

We didn't get home till almost 1 am and then back up again at 7 to get ready for another trip to the great lake. Due to the fact that the price of gas was so high, & there was no one at the marina to pump gas for us, we decided to boat-pool with Roger and Roberta. Their neighbour James joined us for the trip, and doubled as our captain on the trip back home. We went into the bay in Picton and actually met up with three other boats from our marina. What a beautiful spot for a day trip!
There is a lot of history in this little port, it is evident with the old structures that have been restored:

Can you believe how blue the sky was? None of these pictures have been altered:

On the way home, we almost got t-boned by this float plane that came soaring right towards us. Suffice to say, we had to speed up so they could land safely.

We took over 2 hrs to make it back to the marina, as the sun was so warm and it felt like the end of the summer was going to happen when we returned to solid ground. I think this last picture pretty well sums up the GREAT summer we had with our good friends Roger and Roberta:

My favourite month went by in a flash.

2005-09-01T18:26:00.000-04:00

But I do have a few pictures to remember it by:) Just a few! Here is one of our friend Roger on his boat. Its funny that its in black and white as I forgot to change the setting from the barn pictures I took from the day before.

People always comment on my obsession with my camera, how I never leave the house without it! Lets put it this way, if I left my camera at home, would I be able to snap candid shots like this?

or this:

and this picture that I took last friday when gas was 'cheap'. This gas station found an inevitable way to post their price. I still cant believe we are expected to pay $1.26 a litre this labour day weekend!

Last friday night I visited Stages night club for a fund raiser to help a local photographer venture off to Africa to help build house for Habitat for Humanity. My friend Grigg came with me as he had gone to Africa in June to perform a similar task. (Grigg helped to build a school for those in need) My support goes to thbose who give so much of themselves; I only wish I wasn't so set in my life's path...Maybe I could help others in a similar fashion.
Getting back to Stages....Two of my favourite bands were playing that night, Betablokka and Chris Koster and The Lonely. A band named Mystic Caravan was opening the show. I had heard a few of their songs but had never seen them live.

Here is a picture of Chris Koster, who put on one of the most amazing live shows I have witnessed in ages:

And one of his new mic stand:

A close up of an extremely talented man:

And one last picture of Cheri Rose and Scot:

Then Betablokka took the stage and the lead singer Matt managed to break three strings on three different guitars. This is Matt with Zanes guitar:

And here is one of the whole band:

On Sunday, we hit the water and ended up with some hoodlums following us:

When we approached bush bar, I spotted a swam. Isn't it beautiful?

When we got back to the cottage we found out that Jim and Roger had already left to check out the precious gifts that awaited them at the Amherst Island dump. Here is a newly-picked COLOUR TV that actually works: (i think the plate on it said 1979)

And this beautiful 'stereo' that came from a 1953-1954 vehicle:

As the sun was preparing to drop out of the sky, I snapped this picture from the road, through the trees:

Before the sun disappeared, our friends Johanna and Mike showed up in their boat. It was so calm, as this picture proves:

As the sun dropped further, it turned this beautiful shade of orange:

Next weekend is labour day weekend, the so-called end of summer. My one hand will have a 8 mp nikon camera in it and the other one will have a beer.

Three Weeks Later.....

2005-08-24T19:49:00.000-04:00

I guess I should have realized that summer time activities are not conducive to keeping an online blog updated. Oh well. Our boating time has been sparse lately, so we need to make take advantage of any sunny day/evening while we can.
Alright, where did we leave off? We went back to work after our 10 day holiday together and reveled in the fact that we managed to spend a lot of time together and didn't fight. We have become complacent in our old age, I guess!
On Friday night, August 12th, we acted like tourists and hit the patio at Stoneys for an early dinner. This just happened to be the same weekend of the 1000 Island Poker Run ... otherwise known as PartyWeekend in downtown Kingston:) This would explain why there was 4 or 5 very large cigarette racing boats parked in the middle of Ontario Street.
Here is a picture of our view from our dinner table that night:

After dinner, we went down to the basin...Bill went to check out the boats and I sat out in front of the stage to watch Emily Fennell and Nancy Slater sing the National anthem's:

Emily was next up on the stage to play a one hr set @ 6 and I didn't want to miss it. After we hid under the eves of the old train station, (and it became obvious that the rain won over the show & all the equipment was being packed up) we decided to take a run for it and hit the patio at The Holiday Inn. What a great venue this place is for a show. As coincidence would have it, we knew the guys in the band who were scheduled to play at The Slip & the first set was starting in 15 mins:) Even thought we were soaked to the bone, we had a great time with a table of old friends that we hadn't seen in a while. Steve Cheeseman & the Heaters took the stage & I actually got Billy up on the dance floor for a waltz.

After 2 sets, we left The Slip & I dragged Bill into The Merchant McLiam to see if Emily Fennell was playing there. You can imagine how delighted I was when I saw Emily up on the stage with her band setting up for their first set:) I managed to catch her attention and told her how disappointed we were that the rain stopped their show in the park. We struck up a quick conversation about people in the music business that we both knew. Afterwards, she took me over to meet Piper, her 2 month old daughter. I bought a CD off of her, after she went off to feed the baby before she had to work. What a trouper she is! This child was born 48 hours after she left the stage on her last night of work.

As we were leaving, I ran into some people I hadn't seen in 5 years. What a treat it was to catch up with these fine ladies! After sporting a TimHortonArmour, we headed home. Man, that was one late night for us old folks. We didn't get home till after midnight.
The next day we went over to the cottage for the day. Our friend Lawerence brought his little dog Ted. Here is a picture of Ted Bundy, trying to give Bill a kiss:

After dinner, we retired to the living room to play another game of trivial pursuit. Unfortunately it rained all day, so this wasn't our first game of the day. What a crappy weekend it was, weather-wise.
I took this picture of Lawerence, and after viewing the picture on my camera, it appeared that I had just been to a puppet show. What do you think? The effect is worth posting the picture.

Fast forward to last friday night. I had asked Pa (Harly) if we could do the brakes on my car at his place. Harly has a hoist, and friday nights are often spent hanging around in his garage that we have so lovingly renamed Possum Lodge. Here is a picture of Bill up on the hoist. Dont worry kids, he wasn't drinking and driving, even though he had a beer bottle in his hand.

Simbah (SteveFrench) was in the house...he never seems to be amused with the antics of us crazy folk:

On Saturday I went to my Aunts husbands 50th birthday party in Napanee. Gawd I hope no one does this to me in 5 years:

On my way home, I stopped along county road 22 and took this picture of a barn that has intrigued me for years:
When I downloaded the pictures, it almost looked like I had taken a picture of a painted picture. And the black and white one I took turned out even better:

The many times I have passed this barn over the years, I felt like there was a story to be told just by the many unique characteristics of this stately building. How do you explain a love for a barn? I cant. But the pictures are worth a thousand words, in my opinion.
This coming weekend is the last one in August. Man where did this month go? This is my second last Friday off and I don't have any more holidays (after a 4 day labour day weekend that is)till Christmas. Boo Hoo!
Oh yea...this Friday night I am off to Stages Nightclub with my friend Grigg to see Betablokka, Mystic Caravan and Chris Koster. Whoooo...I cant wait.

Back to work :(

2005-08-08T17:56:00.000-04:00

Yes, the day finally arrived; we had to go back to work today and it wasn't quite as bad as I had anticipated. Last week went by so fast...Lets see if I can recall it with pictures.

Monday (the holiday) was spent at the cottage, hanging out, swimming and boating. Tuesday was market day, so we took a trip downtown to buy some supplies for making dill pickles.

I tried a few macro shots while I was there:

The sun was so bright that day, it made even the oldest buildings look great. This is the old Whig Standard Building that will soon be the new home to The Keg Restaurant.

We were meeting up with a friend for lunch at Stoney's patio. It was hard not to be tempted by the beauty of City Hall while we waited.

On Wednesday, we took off in the boat after lunch and went for a cruise to the back beach. It was so humid and smoggy, it looked like this ship that was escaping from the cement plant was a 'ghost ship'.

After dinner, we went to Sue and John's for a visit. When we got there, it appeared we had arrived too late:

Here is a picture of Sue's flowers by the door. Notice how the hue of the blossoms bring out the honey colour of the logs:

On Thursday, Bill spent the afternoon making pickles (a summer-holiday ritual) while I cleaned the house. That evening, we attended a family BBQ out in Glenvale at my cousin Linda's house. It was such a beautiful evening till the food came out, then the skies opened up and poured buckets on us.

Bill took this picture of one of the kids diving into the cake, amongst the arms of the adults.

Obviously the 'vacation mode' was evident in our household this past week, as even our buddy Jethro thought he was on holidaze:)

On Friday, we brought the boat home so Bill could vacuum it and give it a good bath as there was quite a bit of green scum stuck to the bottom of her. We wanted the vessel to look good when we took out friends out for a day-trip on Saturday.
And what a beautiful day it turned out to be. Shayne and Steph had a fantastic time 'doing nothing' on the boat:) We dropped off dinner at the cottage before heading around to the back beach. The winds were minimal, so we decided to travel all along the south side of the island, for a change. After Bill discovered we had left the lunch meat and all the fixings for wraps back at the cottage, we decided to have a liquid lunch. Here is a picture of Shayne and I, yapping away, as Stephanie looks on.

This is Billy, up to his old tricks. I still don't know how he drives that boat backwards:)

We ended up at the cottage for the afternoon, and ended up staying for dinner. Our friend Jimmy was kind enough to show us his new trick. Her can pull a beer bottle out of a coffee cup. GAwd I have some amazing friends:)

By the end of the day, all the guys had bonded. Here is a picture I call the three stooges:

As the sun went down, I snapped this picture from the dock...Through the railing of Rogers boat.

On Sunday, we headed back to the cottage for the day. I cant even keep track of how many times I was in and out of the water. We stalled at leaving as we knew that our holiday had finally come to a close. Once we got back to the marina, I thought I better take one last picture with the camera I had borrowed from work for the past month. This is the view from our dock.

Next weekend we will be traveling down to Confederation Basin to see the Poker run boats. Hope the weather is as good as it was this past week.

What a beautiful week for a holiday!

2005-08-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

I started our holiday a day before Billy and that left me with a whole friday with nothing to do. Seeing as it was a gorgeous sunny day, I took off in the car and drove out some backroads to take some rural-themed pictures. My first stop was at our friend Mike's farm. Can you tell I am envious of his property?

I cant believe how well the corn has been doing this year. Thank God for all the rain we have had in the past few weeks!

I love this building. It tells a tale of many years of use and even more of 'retirement'.

On my way back, I found a little roadway created by the demolition company who has been ripping out a large area of cedars alongside the county road, just North of the village. They are making way for a group of townhomes being developed beside the golf course. I thought it would be appropriate to take a picture overlooking the village. To the right, you can see the back of the united church where we were married 25 years ago.

On Saturday, we went over to the cottage for the day. In the afternoon, we took a ride in Roger and Roberta's boat to check out the scene at Tink's house in Amherstview. Most of the crowd had left by the time we got there as it was Puck and Ball weekend and the gang had a game to play. Isn't this an impressive place? It must be so nice to wake up to a beautiful sunrise over the lake every day.

On Sunday, we got the tube out and pulled a few people around the lake. Here is a great shot of young Robbie doing a faceplant & Christine giving us the Victory sign!

As the sun was going down, I took this shot of Shelley swimming with the ducks.

Naturally I had to snap a shot of the sun as it slipped below the horizon. This picture has not been touched up. The sky looked like it was on fire.

Monday went by in a blur...sun...water...friends. Does it get any better?

Holidays and MORE Holidays:)

2005-08-02T20:13:00.000-04:00

I cant believe I haven't had a chance to update my blog since mid July. My excuse is that I spent a week on holidays, by myself, and all I did was basically run the roads. On the first day, I spent time with my friend Mandy and her Mom in sweltering-hot Napanee. Its amazing how I very rarely see Mandy but whenever we get together, its like life has stood still for us. How blessed I am to have a friend like Amanda:) Can you believe that I didn't take any pictures AT ALL that day??? I'm telling ya...it was one HOT day!
On Tuesday, I traveled to Lansdowne to visit with Joan who was my mothers best friend when they were teenagers. Joan was here from Florida for a week, visiting with her daughters. It was so great to see her as all I ever remember of her was through the pictures I have sifted through that once belonged to my mother. We figured out that we had not seen each other since I was 3 years old. I took a bag of old black and white pictures for her to look at and see if she could tell me who some of these strangers were. What a great time we had reminiscing about my grandmother and some of the silly things my Mom did as a teenager. Joan was very helpful in answering so many of the questions I have had over the years. Thanks Mrs. Thompson for making me smile!
Seeing as I was traveling on the Parkway to Lansdowne, I stopped on the way home to take a few pictures of my favourite abandoned house:

Wednesday morning I took a trip into Value Village to do a bit of shopping. I found a few things for Billy and a book for me. As soon as I got home, the bathing suit went on and beer bottle was opened. It was lovely in the backyard...No kids screaming, a nice breeze blowing and the perfect amount of shade to enhance my reading environment.

On Thursday, I decided to go down to the farmers market for some peas. On my way over to the market, I naturally had to take a few pictures of the historic buildings in the area. I have always loved this Masonic Building on King Street.

Due to the revamping of historic market square, the farmers market has been moved over to Clarence Street. Here is a side view of the Customs House on the corner of Clarence and King Street.

That night, we went out to the Lodge for a visit. I couldn't believe it when I say Harly loading up the farmall into his friends trailer. Man I'm going to miss that tractor. At least it has only moved as far as Camden East. I would hate to think of the poor old thing spending its remaining days in a city environment!
It was funny to see the Love Shack back in Pa's driveway again. The bumper sticker that we put on it a few years ago was still there...Friends Dont Let Friends TOW Junk!

On friday, I took a trip to Picton beach. It wasn't a very nice day however I wasn't about to change plans because of a few clouds. Once there, I was amazed to see this guy land his parasail right in the middle of the crowd.

I love the beach....its so relaxing, especially when there were no screaming kids near us:

On Saturday, we went to the cottage for the day. This was after we took a sidetrip down the Napanee River. Damn I cant believe how green the water is in that area. Here is the evidence. I took this picture as the abandoned building caught my eye. You can certainly see how different the color of the water is compared to the lake water in front of the cottage.

After we got to the cottage, I couldn't wait to jump in the water and have a cold one:

A family of ducks has recently moved into the area. They love us as we feed them all constantly:

As we were having dinner that night, a deer appeared in the field:

Dont you love colourful sunsets on the water?

The next day, the girls were in the water most of the day. Here is a picture of myself, Judy & Cheryl. Dont we look like professional synchronized swimmers?

When we got home Sunday night, I noticed that my mystery plant had finally bloomed. This weird plant just appeared in my flower bed a few years ago and has since multiplied.

As well, it looks like my vine has not completely taken over the West side of my house.

Thank God I only had four days to work and then I was on holidays again. This time with Billy:)

My Holidays start in 22 hrs and I can hardly wait!

2005-07-14T17:59:00.000-04:00

Yes, the one week for ME is coming up at 4 tomorrow night!!! Even though I have things I have to do during the week, it will still be so nice not to have to get up and take my life in my hands at 5:30am on the 401 everyday.

On Tuesday night I came home in a rain storm that evolved into a hail storm. No one was home with me so I decided to take a few pictures of the event. (in other words, i was too scared to stay inside)
My neighbours driveway was awash in pingpongball-sized hail stones. I couldn't believe how fast they were coming down:

My front lawn looked like a cooler had been dumped in the grass:

After the 25 minute storm, I went out and gathered some of the hailstones to show Billy. Then I macro'd a few of the rocks in my back yard:

This one looks like there is metal stuck to it:

And this is a pile I found by the fence:

I sent a link to my photobucket webpage to Tony Orr, who does the news on K-Rock (our local rock radio station)the next thing I know, I hear a story on the 7:30am news about a freak hailstorm that hit Bath. "A local listener, Cathy Christmas, tells us of a wild 25 min storm that hit her Village of Bath. We even have her online pictures to prove it!" heheheh My 15 mins of fame!
Moving forward, tomorrow night I am going to see The Tea Party @ Stages. Although they are not one of my favourite bands, I have to give this nikon 4800 camera a good workout at a rock and roll show! As well, I LOVE that new sound system at Stages. It is so crisp and clear...I doubt that it matters who is playing...its gonna sound GREAT!
Ok, so now its 21.5 hrs till alcoholidaze...Bring It On!

Another Weekend in July!!!

2005-07-10T07:19:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday night, we went out to my cousin Wendy's place for dinner. When we got home there was a message from my friend Grigg saying he had just returned from London England. This was a bit surprising as I knew he had gone to see the Live8 concert, but he wasn't to return till Thursday night. When I got up at 5:30 the next day the news of the day was a terrorist attack on London!!!! All I could do was thank God that Grigg got out before the ruckus started. That night, we decided to pack the cooler and take off to the back beach. There was absolutely no wind, which pumped the temperature up considerably. When we got around to the other side of the island, we jumped in for a swim. How refreshing and relaxing it was. You have to admit, it is one beautiful slice of scenery:

As we turned the boat around to leave, the clouds were starting to come in from the west. I really like the way that this picture looks like it was taken with a filter and retouched with photoshop, but it was not.

Friday night was spent at the restaurant with our friends then out to possum lodge for the unveiling of a newold tractor. Isn't it pretty? A 1948 Case:

I found this sign in Harly's garage, thought it might give someone a giggle:

On Saturday, we went over to the cottage in the rain. It was not a pleasure cruise! This past week, Jim and Brenda were busy putting up the 100 yr old tin ceiling tiles that they acquired. What a beautiful touch to the cottage it makes:

Since last week, the new hutch has acquired a new plant and an old clock:

After dinner, we slipped out to the back porch and I noticed a big black cloud creeping up from the East. Billy decided it was time to leave so we traveled back across the lake in gale force winds. Suffice to say, I was soaked!
Today will definitely be a better day. There is a bit of wind, but no sign of clouds! Sunblock, here I come!

Happy Canada Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-07-05T17:23:00.000-04:00

It was so nice to have a long weekend to kick back and relax. The rain happened on Thursday night so it didn't ruin the weekend at all. It rained so hard & then disappeared as fast as it came. I buzzed outside top take a few pictures. You can almost smell the raindrops on the daises:

We wanted to take the boat out on Friday but it was so windy, we decided to travel to the island via ferry. It was a beautiful windy day and we all soaked up the sun-block, shade & friendship.
We had made plans for a night out on the town for Canada day but Bill decided to stay at home and I went out for a night on the town. My favourite local band Batablokka were scheduled to play at the Merchant Tap House & I wasn't about to miss the show. Little did I know that the fireworks were scheduled to be lit off of Crawford Wharf, right behind The Merchant and right beside the Holiday inns patio bar The Slip. Suffice to say, there were NO parking spots left around The Merchant. Regardless, I found a spot on King Street and made the trek down Princess Street. I remembered that my cousin Wendy mentioned that Steve Cheeseman & the Heaters were playing at the Slip, starting at 7, so I ventured over there. It was so packed that I took off after a few minutes. Here is a pic I snapped as I was running away from the crowd:

Once I got to the merchant, I felt much better as there were a few people I knew as well as some of the band members I hadn't seen in quite a few months. It had been 6 months since I had seen Betablokka play together. My friend Shayne used to be their drummer and after he left the band in December 2004, it made me think that I didn't want to see them perform again. Boy, was I wrong! A little bird reminded me that it was the music that I loved so much, not just the musicians who created it. What a fantastic night it was. I was stuck to the front of the stage for the entire time. For once I decided to take a souvenir and asked Matt (the lead singer) if I could keep the setlist.
Here is a silhouette of Matt, taken from the side stage, right beside the speakers:

And here is one of Jon (Bass Player), Zane (Guitar) & Matt.
I have so many more pictures of the band that night, but I uploaded the better ones onto my photobucket site.
On Saturday and Sunday, we managed to burn about $60 worth of gas in the boat in two days. On our travels, we happened upon the tallship Playfair. She looked pretty regal in Stella Bay.

While we were boating, we both noticed this cloud that had a rainbow-hue to it:

We ate well and spent time with our good friends for three days straight and it really put things in perspective. When we took off from the dock on Sunday evening, I took a few pictures of the beauty we take for granted everytime we go boating. Here is Jim and Brenda cleaning up after the crew has left for the weekend.

And one last shot of the sun reflecting off the water as we slid across a beautiful lake on the way back to the marina.

Long weekend coming up

2005-06-28T20:18:00.000-04:00

However last weekend was pretty excellent too:) Our friend Roberta & Roger have been working hard for the last year rebuilding a boat. The maiden voyage was last Friday night after we all had dinner together at the restaurant. Unfortunately there was a small leak in the stern so she had to be hauled out that night:(

The next day (Saturday) we went to the back beach for lunch till the wind picked up. We decided to head over to the cottage in hopes that the dock was ready to accept transient boaters:) Well our timing was impeccable as Jimmy has just finished attaching all the bumpers and railing! After we docked, Roger and Roberta appeared in their newly named vessel "No Stress"!

Our friends Rick and Colette brought along their new puppy 'Casey'. Well the poor thing is so young, she wasn't quite sure how to behave on the dock or even how to get from the dock to the water. Here is Billy trying to show Casey how to dive:

I realize everyone must be growing tired of my many stories of the boat, marina, lake,cottage and dock, therefore I will take a short break to show you the young couple that has recently moved into our back yard, under the shed. I call them Chip and Dale:

And here are Emmy and Jethro drooling over the new neighbours:

So Sunday we hit the water around noon. Billy forgot his wallet at home, so he left me at the dock as I watched the snow fall around me in the boat. There are a pile of cottonwood trees that are shedding their fluff right now and it seriously looks like it is snowing in June:

We spent the day on the dock and I think I was in the water at least a dozen or more times. Now I have an earache, which I have never had. I'm hoping it will go away.
Check out the nice reflection of the cottage:

that's it for now. Billy and I are going out on the town on Friday night. He is off to the Toucan for a retirement party for a guy from Dupont & I am going to The Merchant Tap House to see my favourite local band Betablokka.
Be prepared to see some band shots in my next installment!