Saturday 9/11 - 20 years later

We'll start off this week's post with a Post Ida Pizza story from the New Orleans area.

Back in Nova Scotia, Sunday continued with cloudy but comfortable weather we had at the end of last week. Melanie was in a baking mood and presented me with a lovely cornbread, made from scratch - I had to taste test it right away. 

 

In the afternoon we walked the perimeter of Coldspring, following the paths that bear and deer had made through unmown fields - first time we've done that in some years - coming across several portions of bear and deer poop along the way.

Sunday evening Claude and Florence came over for supper and the cornbread, what was left of it, was shared with them. We had a fine evening, catching up on summers and winters past, sharinging Rumtopf recipes, kayaking stories, tales of dogs, and so on. Monday was Labour Day, cool, cloudy, rainy and much like other days. Melanie was off to exercise while I went down to visit T and Judy at the Green cottage - seems everyone is packing up and leaving the Shore over the next few days, the water is colder so there's no swimming, school is starting, and jobs are resuming. Some folks expect to be back for Thanksgiving, others not until next summer.

Carol and Al stopped by in the afternoon, bringing with them some lovely blueberry muffins which Al had missed in their fridge, or he would have eaten them. More catching up with talk about Zoom hosted Seniors' classes this past winter, a new floor in Craig and Andrea's cottage, golf, books, Green Valley, and so on. Al and I will be golfing together Wednesday, which at this point promises decent weather. While they were here I started a small rack of pork on the grill, that's a first - we'll see how it turned out at dinner this evening with Marren and Jeanne. 

And the result is in - the roast was good, though next time I will cook it 3 minutes less on each side. Melanie laid on all the extras including several deserts with rumtopf (mostly blueberries). Lots of conversation, both political and otherwise. Jeanne told a few war stories about her family's experiences during the German occupation of Holland during WWII. We checked the cost of airline flights from various N. American airports to Heathrow and Schiphol, talked about our travels and travel plans, on into the night. A memorable evening.

Up bright and early Tuesday to do a few small chores and arrange to get the Hyundai inspected. Sharpened hedge shears and trimmed the Variegated Dogwood bush which has been obstructing the view from our kitchen window, now we can see more of the cars and people passing by as they go up and down the lane. Then 'in town' for both car and trailer inspection, both easy and won't have to be done again until September of '23 which seems a long way away right now. Grocery shopping, bank, and Roy's Eye Glasses. When I got home Ray Letcher was mowing the grass. We had a chat, he will continue to do the job until I get our mower back - maybe next week - followed by lunch and a nap since we didn't get to bed until around 11 last night. 

In the evening I had a Tidnish Crossroads & Community Association (TCCA) meeting, first I've attended since November 5th of 2019. This meeting was in the kitchen, because darts is on Tuesday evening and the basement is a mess. The six of us were masked and hand sanitizer was used, it felt like old times as we discussed names to go on our Honor Roll, the upgrading of building heating and electrical systems. Home to watch PBS News Hour and to bed.

Golfday, tee time 10:48 with Al Baldock, Blois Hennigar, and a friend. The weather was fine and the company excellent but my game definitely needs work. I had just enough decent shots to keep me coming back but got tired walking nine holes so Al was kind enough to ride the back nine with me. It's been just over a month since we left New Orleans. During that period I have done very little walking and have to get back at it so I can walk 18. Home to a fine dinner, a quiet evening and early to bed. Almost forgot, I was able to pay for our two year NS license plate sticker on-line though it took a few minutes

And this morning (Thur) I jumped through more hoops to pay our Green Valley, AZ property taxes. Later we went in town to get the trailer licensed, do some shopping - got some CBD oil at the Cannabis store adjacent to the NSLC store, and also picked up our new glasses; amazing how much difference the new prescriptions make. 

By way of interjection, here's a short SaltWire article about something to do when you turn 80 - Rudder Rust Removal in Cape Breton.

9/10  A good night's sleep - CBD oil does make a difference (for me) - to a steady rain. Had my tea and spent some time working on YouTube Music to sort Melanie's fitness playlist - she is planning to lead a class next Friday if she can get a new playlist sorted and practiced to her satisfaction. 

Around noon, between frequent heavy showers, we drove  to Clare's to help celebrate her 75th birthday with sandwiches, wine, and a very very tall cake brought by Merran, made by a local (Tidnish) baker. Excellent, but, having eaten a lot of cake with very fine icing I have no need for dinner this evening. 

As a parting gift Clare gave me several

studio photos, one of Daddy taken almost 70 years ago, and this one of our family in Mt. Gretna (PA) taken around 1954+/-.

This evening, we watched the PBS News Hour, while I browsed the CBC website -  came across this article which I found quite touching: In ICUs, the unvaccinated are silent, but as a doctor, I hope they can still hear my words.

Had a restless night and decided more daily walks are in order, not running though because of a crumbly right knee. So, after tea, I took off for an hour along Rte 366 where we occasionally get our kicks. It was a lovely cool sunny morning with little traffic. I made it down past Wayne Christie's and back in an hour at a bit under 3 mph. Following that I drove up to the Community Center to see if I could work the sound system which we use for fitness classes and line dancing. No internet so no joy. Got to find out if the 'no internet' is an on going issue or merely temporary.

Back home I finally hooked up our very small (one sq ft) solar panel to the Casita's battery. We'll see if that maintains a charge. With all the cloudy weather we've had it may not fully charge the battery.

Terry & Judy came over for supper this evening before heading back to Chester tomorrow. Dinner included pork tenderloins done on the grill (10 minutes), potatoes, broccoli, salad, various condiments and two deserts, a crumble and a tart, We had a fine evening, uninterrupted by politics except for a brief survey of the upcoming election here and Biden's status in the States. We spent some time trying to sort out the number of cousins we might expect to see along The Shore in the course of a summer and arrived at 35 as a round number; looked at a few old beach photos; T mentioned that there might be a few more relatives looking for places along The Shore and I suggested that at some point our property might be subdivided - just planning ahead - and so to bed.