Saturday 9/18
Melanie started a new fitness class this morning, it's called 'Yard Work.' While she worked on clearing two years of weeds and extraneous growth out of the berry patches I limbed up pine trees in the back yard, severely pruned an old sour cherry tree, and cut down random aspens. 'Random Aspen' is a new plant species rampant in our area which we raise unintentionally amongst the flower beds. And about that 'yard work,' it really does make for fine exercise and I may take it up. What do you think, maybe one day a year? That should do it.
Gorgeous fall weather; not a sign of colour in the trees, warm and breezy with some showers around supper, just as Jean and Bev arrived. They'd had a very busy week. When the got back from Mahone Bay via the Valley Bev had to take a nap before coming over but we had a good dinner and an evening catching up on activities over the last few days. Bev's Facebook (fb) account had been hacked; I had been getting messages from someone wanting to send me material so that I could get $40,000 from the federal government. I reported it all to fb while Jean spotted a young porcupine digging for grubs in our lawn. Life at the Shore.
Today's bit of interesting news, at least to me, from the SaltWire, was about a Boat stolen from Halifax yacht club sails into hurricane Larry/ from the yacht club where we kept our boat when we lived in Duncan's Cove (NS).
Yesterday we learned that a) one of the TBAG partners had fallen down the stairs and was pretty banged up, we'll try to visit her when she is feeling up to 'receiving, and b) Ian McLean is in hospital, aka the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre, post op, and is receiving visitors. We went in to Amherst and I spent a half hour with Ian who is looking well - much better so I hear - and expects to get home in about two weeks - major surgery and heavy antibiotics, NPO for the time being. Talked about his surgery, curling, golf, reading, and whiskey, which is not on his current list of consumables. Stopped by Ted Embree's to pick up my trailer hitch with a 2 5/16 ball so I can start using our utility trailer to move cuttings and trash.
Tuesday we hitched up the trailer and drove to Pugwash, then about 4 1/2 miles down the Pugwash River Road to Arnold MacEwan's small engine repair shop. He'd had our mower and tiller since October of 2018 and was happy to be paid and see them go. Arnold and I sat and talked for a while. He has traveled a lot, all over the States, and is now thinking about retiring from the repair business. He figures 82 - 83 is a good time to do something else. Took the equipment home and immediately mowed the path between the garden and the field and also mowed the garden itself; it had dense weeds four feet tall; looks much better now. We'll still have to weed around the asparagus and black currant bushes but now the garden is ready for Brodie to plow.
The trees I limbed up a few days ago look good so I did some more trees today and mowed around them. Also rode the mower around the yard, trimming edges and widening paths as the sky gradually clouded and the breeze picked up. I also baked a small loaf of no-yeast bread which took about 50 minutes, start to finish. The resulting loaf, intended to be a cylindrical loaf, unrolled itself during the baking process; it was edible but a bit heavy, not a recipe I'll repeat in the near future. I'll try a yeast bread soon but don't want to get in the habit of baking bread because then I eat it, which means I gain, which means I have to suffer the pangs of eating less for a while.
Potential friends, a couple we may see more of, came by to look at some trays we have which we thought they might be able to use in their new green house. She is Canadian by birth, he's a Brit, and they have moved here from California to be near their daughter (Nick and Becca live at the end of the lane) and new grandkids. Thursday evening we had Bud & Nancy and Bob & Judy (Boudrot) over for a curry dinner dinner. We'd not seen the Boudrots for two years so it was great to have an opportunity to catch up; they will be here for a week - visiting Bud and Nancy since they sold their place on the Tidnish River several years ago. You may recall that they started the Occasional Picture Show in their guest cottage and also hosted Jazz on the River for a number of years. We try to stay with them overnight in Concord (MA) on our way south. In the course of the evening our conversation turned to CBD oil and related topics; I got out our stash and Bob & I partook after desert.
Friday Melanie led the exercise class at the Tidnish Hall; it was her first time leading an exercise class in almost two years. For it she had created a new playlist which she kept on YouTube Music. All week she had been concerned about how she would perform and whether or not she would be able to access the music on her phone when she was at the Hall. From all reports both she and the class were a resounding success so she will probably lead the class on a once weekly basis as long as we are here. On my side, there was an 8 o'clock shotgun start at the golf club - Al, Garth and I walked - first time I've walked 18 in two years and I'm pleased to say I felt no ill effects except those resulting from poor strokes - negative aspects of the round were relieved by one of Janie's most excellent cinnamon rolls. After leaving the club, which was filling up for a large (100+) tournament of Mt. Allison students and faculty that afternoon, I went shopping for yeast which we will use for bread and stopped by the bank for some cash. As I drove out Victoria Avenue I saw Fran hard at work painting their garage and stopped by for a chat.
In the evening we joined Jack & Shirley and Don & Joan at the McClinton's for another fine meal. In particular, the pre-dinner munchies included a Dragon's Breath Blue cheese from That Damn Dutchman's, though I must note that some years ago the 'damn' was deleted to comply with 'acceptable language' rules. Hal did a great job with the pork tenderloins as did Heather with the rest of the meal which was topped off by Melanie's Rum Cake - some of us enhanced the cake with a few glugs of Gosling's. A great evening - we didn't get home until after 11.
Saturday dawned warm and partly cloudy with rain this evening. We have no social commitments for the next few days and plan to spend the weekend here, working around the yard and taking life easy. I'll probably do some more mowing and help Melanie with some of the cutting and trimming around berry bushes. I finished my current James Lee Burke novel, Robicheaux (2018) while an attempt at a homemade artisan bread was slowly rising in the warm afternoon sunlight, broken by intervals of clouds drifting by. I think I'm going to call that a wrap for this week's post and go take a nap. You all take care.
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