Charlotte Mary MacDonald arrives

Check our the kids' blogs for better pictures and details.







Here's the proud repeat grandma - now with 2 granddaughters and 3 grandsons.









There were lots of visitors at the hospital. Erika looked amazingly good. Hope she gets some rest.






Everyone made a fuss of Bennett, but he still likes to watch Dora.









And the star attraction, now at home and keeping everyone in line.

Penny in Texas

Penny went to Dallas to visit her friend Rodica. They had a wonderful time despite the 104 degree temperatures! Here we are enjoying the pool which is about 32 degrees celcius. Not quite like the ocean in Maine.




Here we are outside a mall (I think).







Last picture is sitting having dinner on our last night at a Salvadorian restaurant. We decided to to sit outside as we froze in the movie theatre. It is only about 90 degrees. Despite the hot temperatures, we had a wonderful time. We got to catch up on several years of news.
Thanks again Rodica and Theo for a great visit. Sorry I worked you so hard when I made you run for about an hour in the heat of Plano , Texas.

Bankers' Day

For the uninitiated, the civic holiday, the 1st Monday in August (Natal Day in Dartmouth), was once called Bankers' Day in Ontario.

So, we used it for a family bbq lunch. I took a few pictures but will only inflict a couple on y'all.

Penny was well prepared before the onslaught.

Erika, Mike and Bennet arrived first but my really cute pictures were horrible. Gotta get a quicker camera. Too many grandkid pictures don't have a grandkid in them. Very speedy, these guys.

Jack enjoyed his juice. Too bad you can't see his great walking cast.

We all had a grand lunch with complete mayhem. Exactly as planned!

Everyone played hide and seek. Here's Henry.

Hope Andrew & Ali had fun on PEI.

Tree Hice

New listing: lovely, older home in a neighbourhood of mature trees. Former owners have vacated, and the nest of earwigs has been cleaned out. Newly renovated and available for immediate occupancy.

Don't miss: modern home in an open garden community. Just finished and put on the market. Never occupied, this is a superb starter home.

Mom is in Montreal visiting Poppa and Granny Gwen. Hannah and I have to get together to look through the Tabbatha at Higgins Beach pictures.

40th anniversary - Higgins Beach

We are all back from Higgins Beach and our 40th wedding anniversary celebration. A great time was had by all. Lots of pictures and probably many more to follow. Check out the kid's blogs for more (see the links).



Higgins Beach is still as we all remember. Maybe the tides are a bit higher, but all the places are still there.

We all took pictures, and there was mayhem and fun.

Less happy news

As most of you know, Leonard (Penny's father) is currently in the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. I am limiting this to a brief update of how he is and what is happening.

Leonard entered the hospital about three weeks ago with a broken arm. He did not know the arm was broken when he went in, he thought he had hurt his shoulder somehow when he slipped in or exiting the shower.

The hospital staff was a bit concerned about why the arm was broken. X-rays and scans were taken over a period of a few days. The result was a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Bone density had been a previous problem, but the myeloma was new. This is a form of cancer within the blood, specifically malignant plasma cells. The “multiple” part means it has been found in the bone marrow in more than one place (e.g. the shoulder and the hip). Myeloma cannot be cured, but it is treatable. How far advanced it is with Leonard is still being determined.

The broken arm was repaired through an operation. Radiation treament for the myeloma has started.

A hospital is a dangerous place. While there, you are exposed to many more germs than normally. So, Poppa got a bladder infection. A course of antibiotics was undertaken to remove the infection.

But Leonard is not exactly jumping around at this time. He needs quite a bit of attention as he is rather frail and weak. Walking around unassisted is not an option, so there have been many visits to Montreal by Penny, Marilen and even Dana. Some help has been found in Montreal, but the current short-term objective is to get Leonard out of the hospital and back into his residence where he can receive a decent level of care and support. That will happen as soon as the five radiation treatments are administered – to end this week,

Or that was the plan. Last night we learned that Leonard has picked up another infection – c. difficile – so named because it is very hard to control as it does not respond to normal antibiotics. Now we have another course of antibiotics being administered and Leonard’s departure from the hospital is uncertain.

But he is quite well, considering, and sounded quite bright this evening. Visitors are allowed and welcomed, as are telephone calls. We all want him out of there as soon as possible.

Spring & Mothers' Day happiness

Here are some pictures from Sumday, May 13th. They reflect the happiness of the many mothers gathered for a luncheon BBQ with the many kids and the many grandkids. The gardens are in their Spring finery and the kids were all having fun.

Another post will follow anon.

Mutterings

So Penny is running back and forth to Montreal (by train). And Linda and Rick Creese are in town. And there was a 5k run on Sunday. And somewhere in all that, because Penny was pretty fragged out and needed some TLC, I made a nice dinner with candles and mushroom risotto. So all you need now is the pictures.

The fun news is we have new tennants. Andrew gave us a neat bird house many years ago and we dutifully (with some optomism) put it into a nice neighbourhood in the back yard. It has been looked at by several bird couples of varying types and sizes, but has always remained empty - until this Spring. We have a pair of red breasted nuthatches in residence. They are really cute, about the size of a chickadee, and they walk up and down tree trunks and flit through the back yard trees and shrubs looking for seeds and bugs.

So all you need now is the pictures. A confession: I scanned the bird picture from the Audubon field guide that Chooch gave us in 1980.

Rabbitted again!

We thought we were going to get crocuses (crocii?) this year. There were 6 or so yellow blossoms yesterday, not yet open but fully visible, waiting for some warmth. And this is what they look like today. The rabbit loves the crocii. The squirrels love the tulip bulbs. So, we grow squill and daffodils. Both are getting close to flowering. Spring arrives tomorrow; better get going on the raking of lawns and thinning of perennials.

A Quick Experiment

These are photos of the family room aquarium I just took to send to a friend. The point-and-shoot camera has trouble with fish focusing (delay in shooting, fish moving during exposure ...), but these worked quite well, all things considered. The flash has to be disabled, so the light source is limited to the aquarium lights.

I know, y'all could care less.

Spring Visits & Messes

So, it has been a while since the last posting. Normal happenings and some seasonal things going on. Spring is slowly trying to arrive. The plants and gardens are responding. The corn stalk plant in the living room which we have had for at least 30 years is completely root-bound and desparate - so it flowers. The pictures are over several days with the last one showing the sticky sap that the flowers produce. Penny didn't even let the flowers open before she chopped the stalk right off.

This is not the first flowering, we have had 3 or 4. The blossoms only open at night, around 8:30 pm, and they are really sicky sweet, drip sticky sap that ruins carpets and furniture, a they are powerful. The whole house smells like very cheap perfume. Wonder why Penny dislikes them.

The next seasonal event was Easter. Granny Gwen was here for a nice visit for a few days. She got to visit her friend Marion Dunlop, and all the great grand kids. And the grand kids. And the kid.

We had dinners out, pizza in (watching the Masters golf tournament on Thurdsay evening), made a nice dinner at home, and had another nice Easter dinner here on Sunday. Erika came over for a bit before she had to head off to work. She only got a quick dinner.

Mike and Bennett stayed longer and fared better. Bennett really liked the ham.

As with any large dinner, the aftermath was a kitchen disaster.

This past weekend we had friends over for dinner. We have done dinners at our homes before and we always have a good time; however, one couple or the other has to do most of the work. So we changed the plan. Instead of just coming for dinner, we now start at someone's house at about 4 or 4:30 and completely wreck the place. Menus and ingredients are discussed and purchased in advance. It is super fun and the resulting meals are wonderful. On Staurday, we made:

• a lovely soup based on celery root and other good things,


• a warm salad with asparagus and orange,


• a pork tenderloin entree prepared in toasted, ground herbs served with an apple sauce and jasmine rice; and


• a coconut bread pudding.

Each of these courses required quite a bit of preparation, but the results were worth the effort. The recipies for most menu items came from the LCBO Food and Drink magazines.

First, the clean kitchen

and lovely dining room setting.

Then the kitchen staff - Ken, Joan and Penny.

Eventually (around 7 pm), we had the soup and salad.

Back to the kitchen for further preparation, then the entree and the dessert.

And, once again, the aftermath.

Ken had to get up and work on Sunday, so everyone went home around 11 pm. Right on schedule. Ken is working at a golf course, but that is a whole other story.

Did you notice the orchid on the window ledge in the kitchen disaster pictures?