Paulette

Jean and Helene had us over for supper.   It was a beautiful evening.

We sat outside and admired the new fence Jean had built recently.  Dave and Jean are both handymen.  We always compare renovation stories when we get together.

It was nice to get away from our “Garage Kitchen” and have someone cook a wonderful meal for us.

They are definitely good friends, keepers in fact.

Guy (a.k.a. Roger) , Melanie and Faith are in town for a few weeks.  They came up from Texas where they’ve been escaping our winters for the past 10 years.

We had a BBQ with Mom & Dad.  We enjoyed the pool and managed to get through most of dinner before a little rain showered down on us.  We scrambled to get things put away.

The shower didn’t last very long and we were able to stay outside which is a good thing since we don’t have an inside to go to.

Faith was a lot of fun to be with.  She has changed a lot since we saw her in Texas in October.  She is conversing more and growing up fast.

We had lots to eat and lots of laughs.  I totally forgot to take pictures.

We’ll try to do it again before they leave.

Why me?  Probably because I’m the one who drives every day.

This happened this morning on my way to work.  As usual on Friday’s there is not much traffic.  It was a beautiful morning.

I was following a car on the off ramp at March Rd.  This off ramp continues into it’s own lane so you don’t have to merge with traffic.  The car ahead of me had it’s brake lights on as it slowed for the curve.  I did as well.

Suddenly for no apparent reason the driver slammed on the brakes and came to a complete stop in the ramp.  I tried to stop/swerve but just barely nicked his car.  I had almost come to a full stop.  I didn’t have the benefit of seeing the brake lights coming on since they had been on through the curve.

WHAT THE HECK WAS HE STOPPING FOR?  I also almost got hit from behind as other cars approached.  There was nothing ahead of him.  There were no cars anywhere.

When he got out of the car he looked ill.  He was completely distressed and could barely speak.  I thought this was the cause of the sudden stop - he was having some sort of attack.

Finally he splurted out “I’m so sorry.  I don’t know why I did that.  I had a brain freeze.  I’m so sorry.  I’ll fix this.”

HUH?  What can you say to someone in this state?  Iwas a little shaken but fine.  A car can be fixed.

I wrote out both of our information because he was trembling so much he couldn’t write.  He phoned me later to arrange to pay to fix the car.  He phoned the dealership and arranged payment.

It’s been that kind of week.

Today is Kathryn’s birthday.

She can’t have a regular cake so no cake picture!

Kat has been eating very healthy foods with no preservatives etc.  Lately we’ve been eating a lot of homemade yogurt.  She wanted to try making frozen yogurt so we bought her an ice cream maker for her birthday.

We tried making frozen yogurt and after 30 minutes of it swirling around it didn’t seem to be getting solid.  She took the mixture and put it in a bowl in the freezer.

The next day we took it out and it scooped just like frozen yogurt.  It worked!   We are going to be trying some flavoured frozen yogurt too.

Here’s the birthday girl.

Happy Birthday!

Love Mom & Dad

That’s right.  We don’t have kitchen cabinets.  They were to be installed last week.   We are still living with our “Garage Kitchen”.

Dave phoned quite a few times and finally was able to talk to the man in charge.  The president of the company phoned him and explained the situation.

Our cabinets are stained dark brown.  These types of stain take time to dry and with the humid weather they have taken longer than usual.  The company also has an unusually large number of requests for dark cabinets (the current fad).  This has put them behind. Theyhave been working overtime but there is only so much they can do given the humidity.

He reassured us that the cabinets are being done in order and we are not being bumped out by others.  The new estimate is to have them in on Friday the 18th.

The granite counters take 2 weeks after that.  I won’t have a finished kitchen for my once a year dinner party with some friends.  I also won’t be here when they install the counters since I’ll be in Greece.

I just want it to be over…

It’s Jean & Helene’s 29th wedding anniversary today.  We went out to dinner with them on Saturday to celebrate.

We were at Tremblant for the weekend so we ate at a nearby hotel called Le Rustique.  It is owned and run by a young Montreal couple.   They are both Italian and they make really delicious food.  J&H are regulars there.

Next year is the big 30.  There’s talk of going to Quebec city for a mini-vacation.

Congratulations!

We played golf today at Les Ruisseaux in Mont-Tremblant with Jean & Helene.  Les Ruisseaux is a nine hole course.  It is perfect for me.  It has wide enough fairways but with streams and hills it stays challenging.

I kept track of my score for the first time this season.  I got a 62 on the first 9 and a 58 on the second.  My putting just wasn’t working today.

I have a benchmark for the rest of the season now.

Carla and her friend Shelley were supposed to be going to Rescue 2008 in Germany to compete and then on to Greece for a vacation.

Shelley broke her foot while training and is no longer able to compete or do a strenuous Greek vacation. Although Carla can still compete she had lost her travelling companion.

That’s where I come in.  I decided to fill in the gap.  I’ve always wanted to go to Greece and this seemed like a chance I just couldn’t let slip by.

I leave on July 28th and arrive in Athens Greece the morning of the 29th only 5 minutes behind Carla.  How is that for planning!

We come back on August 7th.  It sounds like an action packed vacation.

I really need to read up on Greece now.

We took a day off from home renovations and biked downtown.

We walked along the celebrations and watched the snowbirds do their fly-by.  They go by so quickly and then it’s over.  I wish they would do more than a fly-by.

We stopped at Memories on the market to have lunch at their outdoor patio.  Service was extremely slow but the food was good.

That evening we went to Paul & Carla’s.  They do family fireworks at the nearby park.  When we got there several other groups were also letting off their fireworks.

Carla buys the fireworks and organizes the event.  Their group’s fireworks were by far the best.

The fireworks went on for at least 1/2 hour.  I’m definitely going next year.