Cooling Off With Winter Pics!

Today was 33 degrees! Yikes! A real blast of summer and we have no air con! But we do have a very neat summer bedroom off our bedroom in which all the windows are down and the door is open to an outside balcony. There is a breeze usually, thank goodness! We're up in the trees and I just love being there when it rains or we have thunderstorms! We hear all the morning birds just as if they're in that room. It feels like a treehouse and we can look out the windows and see the river which runs along at the very end of our property. It is our "cottage" where you seem to be far away from everything.

It is definitely my favourite room in our big old house!

Mother of Invention, leaving you with some "Cool Cats"!!

Cat Pics!

Mooky! Tigery and leopardy!

Socks! (She has 4 white paws! Notice the white tip on her tail! Unusual)

My Cute Felines!

My crazy felines, Mooky, the greyish tabby, and Socks, the beautiful calico, are so amusing to me! Totally different in personality! One wants in as the other is let out...they are always on the wrong side of the door, as they say. I had to bring Mooky down from her favourite chair in the attic today, as it is 33 degrees outside and much hotter up there. They are such creatures of habit and this won out against any common sense about heat and fur!!
They love being outside down by the river in our backyard. They are the luckiest cats in the world! Such freedom...such loving owners!

I'm coming back as a cat!

Beauty Saturday!

Wouldn't we all just cave in if it weren't for the weekends? Well, it's here and it's going to be a gorgeous sunny day! Garage sales to go to and more planting of flowers! Then a 50th wedding anniversary of my old Camp Director and his wife who have known me since I was 17! Amazing that we are still close, eh? It is very special.

Have a good one wherever you are and whatever your plans!

Mother of Invention, sitting here with wet hair, itching to go to the garage sale I can actually see right across the street!

Cardio Workout Report!

My Cardio program is going well but only 9 minutes on that darn bike at 55 RPM's leaves my legs feeling like jello! Then I go to do hall laps for 8 minutes and usually get 9 laps done...not bad. My best "event" is the treadmill, on which I'm currently doing 9 minutes at 3.5 mph. I hope they increase the mph and time, and start throwing in some incline factor because it's still too easy, mind you, I start out with that so have more energy then.

We'll see. Slow steady progress!

Wish I could do a fast forward and hurry to the point where I'm at optimum fitness level for heart health! I want to know that I'm in good shape in which to start back to teach next September and I just think that I'm so not near that yet!
At least my weight is staying down near 145, and for my 5'9" height and moderately large frame, that's pretty good. My diet is better and so my blood sugar is lower too. All good signs that I'm on the right road!

Mother of Invention, taking her heart rate monitor off now after this morning's workout!

First Time!

Hey, I'm so proud I posted pictures for the first time! The techie in me lives! This opens up all kinds of possibilities now! Lilacs are for you eatapeach! And renny, aren't you surprised?!!

Mother of Invention, just tickled pink, no, that'd be purple!

My Lilacs! Can't You Just Smell Them?!

A New Dawn! Another Smile!

Today is warm and sunny and going to be 17 degrees, like it should have been all this past long weekend! And my lilacs have all bloomed and peaked! What a wonderful smell in my backyard....wish I could freeze frame this day!

The hot tub did it again today...made all those gurgly noises that were really coming from my new computer ocean screensaver...only this time I found my calico cat, Socks, on the desk, eyes huge, watching and pawing the fish and seahorses floating across the screen! It's so crazy...the same yellow fish comes in and out of the screen at different angles, forwards and then backwards..it's an absolute hoot! Seems like her natural curiosity and penchant for fish won out against her fear of these strange loud sounds of water which she normally hates!

That screensaver will be the source of smiles and chuckles for a long time!


Mother of Invention, still wondering how the heck the hot tub knows I've got my computer on! And wondering if I shall start seeing that darn crazy yellow fish swimming in my bath tomorrow!!!

Techie Wizards We Ain't!

Anyone reading this will LOL at this. We know nothing about our digital camera and we've already used 3 memory cards! Wish I'd known how to let the camera focus when I took all those pics! It gets worse!

A friend came by and got us at least approaching the learning curve! Mike took two hours and we surely owe him a dinner! He attempted to show us how to get our pics onto a CD and I managed to send some in e-mails but can only send one at a time. They print huge after the 1st one and I don't know how to make a few pics into a folder so you can just downsize the whole bunch! Should be easy but I just don't know which thing to click.

Now I have to ask the Zehrs babe how to view them on CD and pick out which to print. I followed the instructions to e-mail them but there was no way to add Zehrs to the company list and even if I knew, I didn't even know the e-mail address!
If you ever have lots of time, I'd gladly buy someone dinner if you could show me some more stuff!!!

I did put Socks, my cat, on as a screensaver! I changed my upstairs screensaver to underwater and I never knew it had blubbing sounds so this morning when I let the hot tub water out, I actually went to check and see what was wrong with the drain!!! HA! I'm so useless! I can just see me phoning the tub repair guy and him tracing the sound to my computer!!!

We watched, "You've Got Mail" last night on TV...it was way ahead of its time! Now, at least I understand about e-mail!

Now, if I could only follow the instructions how to put links to other blogs on my sidebar! Notice the one there doesn't work! Yikes!

Mother of Invention, wishing I knew a heck of a lot more about these new inventions!!

Dull and Cold!

Well, it looks as if Firecracker Day from my childhood would certainly be serving up warm blankies and hot chocolate this weekend. It is very cool, cloudy and windy; not even good enough for a bike ride. Not even BBQ weather! More like a go clean the attic trying to downsize clothes and junk sort of day!
I've already taken 3 big bags of clothes to our local second hand store. I have empty hangers to use and you know what that means! Clothes shopping. But that can wait until next week.

A good day to curl up in front of my non-existent fireplace and read the paper or a good book. Maybe I'll rent a movie. Perhaps I'll finally get out my guitar and practise some Gr. 1, 2, and 3 songs for school. There's always laundry, dishes, and other mundane maintenance tasks.
My husband has made 5 trips to the plant places and hasn't planted one flower yet! The annual planting marathon is on hold.

The day will go by uneventfully I suppose and will simply "evolve" into whatever. That's okay though. Sometimes you need those non-entities!

Mother of Invention, just letting it happen!

The Boys Return!

Well, the fishermen returned from their male bonding excursion a day early! I guess three days of pouring rain is enough, even for them! And everyone knows that fish always bite in the rain, so it follows that they had already caught their limit of a variety of trout and splake anyway. Splake are a cross between lake trout and speckled trout. The Quebec ministry has stalked quite a few lakes with these big fish. Lucky for our group, these fish have taken very well.

What this means for me, however, is that we have a lot of extra food in my fridge and several large fish in my freezer. I don't actually care to eat fish but there will be a few fish fries happening shortly for all the trippers. Each one of them has his own favourite recipes for coating, baking and frying these fish as well as for preparing home fries.

It seems that all the lures worked splendidly, especially the Panther Martins, Williams Wobblers and Woolly Buggers! The real fish enthusiast takes great pride in his tackle box! These boxes used to absolutely fascinate me as a young child! I could not believe how many storage sections were actually contained in such a seemingly small box! The metal unit would spread open outward in two directions to expose multi-levels of various sized compartments. Silver of any sort always caught my eye but there were also attractive gold metal designs, wonderfully painted wooden mini-fish, feathery flies, red and white bobbers, rubber worms and frogs, and just a myriad of other treasures. It was almost as good as looking through my mom's jewelry box!

All the members and guests had a great time of camaraderie and sport and will probably already planning to return next year.
As for me, I can hardly wait to spend 10 days up there in August where on a hot and sunny afternoon, a bass will be jumping high out of the water, bending my rod with a lively frog in its mouth!

Mother of Invention, looking to purchase my first tackle box!

Gone Fishin' ! I'm Surviving!

(see Legacy of The Log Cabins (April) and The Annual Spring Fishing Trip (May)


Well, the "boys" left yesterday at 6:00 a.m. for the much-awaited, meticulously planned spring fishing trip up to the log cabins in Quebec. The Pathfinder was packed to the GILLS, (HA! no pun intended, well, not at first anyway!)

It was very hard to say good-bye for a few reasons. We kept coming back for more hugs and kisses. He told me I'd be fine but I'm not sure that he was sure. This is the first time since my heart attack in March that I have been alone, and my mind tends to be overactive, imagining all the things that could possibly happen. Last night is actually the only night I had to be by myself and I survived!

I went to my choir concert and watched in the audience,which seemed weird but I had missed most of the practices. Then they invited me up to sing our traditional encore, "Shine On Me", one of my favourite Gospel songs. I know it perfectly and always say, "Whoopy, eat your heart out!" when we do this one. I got tears in my eyes when they all clapped as I found my usual spot and the leader told the audience that, yes, this was the girl who had had the heart attack. The girl next to me instinctively clasped my hand to infuse her strength and support. I got such a warm and caring response and lots of hugs from my choir friends. I must have been the youngest person in that room and many people were coming up to me afterwards in disbelief, asking me all about it.
It was all very touching and showed me that these people really were glad I was back.
And it all felt so right.

I went out for coffee afterwards and was pleasantly tired when I crawled into my big empty bed. Well, not that empty...my little feline friends, Socks and Mooky, slept curled up beside me and we all purred our happiness.

Hey, now there are just three more sleeps until he returns! But I have my nieces staying tonight and my older sister for the last two nights and I shall have a grand time visiting.

There are lots of outings planned and upon the return of the fisherman, we will both have tales to tell! (And my felines will find their OWN place to sleep!)


Mother of Invention, happy that I have such wonderful connectedness in my world and to the people in it!

Might be Today!

It has poured kitties and puppies for a whole day and night, and since it is nice and sunny again, I predict that this will be "Opening Day"! Although, there are always keeners in every group, (you know, the ones who have to jump the gun to a false start), and even some of our white lilacs had a few that had done that after the rain...they looked just like popcorn on the Jiffy Pop commercial! I bet the other more laid back lilacs are cursing those guys!

Ah, but true to form, our delicate, classy "Genuine Purebred Purple Lilac Ladies" have all managed to CONTAIN themselves until the appropriate mutually agreed upon moment!!! (I love to personify "Things"! You should hear me talk about my cats! You'd swear they were my kids! And they are! AND they know it!)


Here's to Opening Day for The Lilacs!

It's Almost here!

It poured rain today and man, did we need it. The local farmers are all very happy. Our grass is a beautiful lush green and the maple tree bright lime flowers are all coming down. The lilacs are still holding tight although a few keeners have burst open. I predict they will all gush forth in fragrant bloom on the next sunny day. The lily of the valley will soon follow. They smell divine. How DO they get that flower to smell just like the perfume anyway??!!

Don't you just love Spring?

Any Minute Now!

It could happen any minute! I keep going down my deep backyard several times a day to check and see if there's been any action. It would be tragic if I missed this! We should have a time lapse camera set up.

You see, my lilacs are just waiting for their precise time to burst out in bloom! They are so ready, it must be killing them as much as it is me, to have to hesitate any longer! The tight, little green balls are just beginning to split ever so slightly so as to reveal which colour they will be.

We have several white and about five purple. It is said that the white ones actually smell more fragrant but I still prefer the purple. This is probably just that conditioned colour association thing...I should get someone to do the blindfold sniff test on me!

I'm sure I'm making a way bigger deal out of this than usual because it is a symbol for the official breaking out of Spring In Ontario, and believe me, this year I've really been looking forward to it. It was a long snowy winter here, I've been recuperating from some major health issues, and my husband was off cross-country skiing a LOT! This Spring represents rebirth and renewal of good health and happy spirits.

I'll go down tomorrow morning, coffee in hand, my two feline friends, Socks and Mooky following along, and I'll be wondering if today is the day.

Mother of Invention, saying, "Bring on the lilacs!"

Making Progress!

Just got back from cardio and got good news about tests!

Now (May 1st) Jan. 2006

LDL (bad fat!) 1.13 2.5

HDL (good stuff) 1.80 1.6

Triglycerides .65 1.1

Total 3.23 5.2


They said it was excellent! Just have to get the sugar down from 0.085 closer to 7%.

Today I worked a lot harder and actually got in my target range for about 10 minutes which was only 124 at this point. I did the treadmill for 7 minutes at 2.8 miles per hour, the bike for 7 minutes, and in 6 minutes of hall laps I got 7 sticks which is 1 more than they even want you to get! I was actually sweating!
Yesterday, I biked on the balcony for 20 minutes and walked for 7 minutes.

Well, baby steps, baby steps...I'll get there!

Mother of Invention, gradually getting my heart rate up!

The Annual Spring Fishing Trip!

The phone calls and e-mails are zipping back and forth and plans are hastily being made....all part of the frenzy of The Boys' Spring Fishing Trip! Menus are madly being scratched out on paper! Questions like, "Are scalloped potatoes hard to make?" are being asked! Trips to the tackle shops to buy that perfect trout lure are looming! Yikes! You'd think they were actually getting organized!

The trout await.

Went to my dad's for dinner last night to "PLAN"! He is 86 and is so excited. Ever since he was twelve, my dad has been going up to this Hunting and Fishing Camp on the Dumoine River in Quebec. It is an absolutely magical place for him and still captivates him today. This week, he just has to get those Panther Martins that Bob, the always successful local fisherman, says is THE LURE to use!

My husband, his brother, a friend and my nephew are the young guys in the group now. This whole camp trip deal is definitely an exercise in male bonding! My poor father had three daughters and I think we might have fallen short of his expectations in regards to the enthusiasm we showed towards the camp. It is after all, an all male club, so to be fair, we were legitimately limited!

The under eighty men carry all the canoes, boats, motors and heavy packs to help the grandfather generation make just one more trip a lot easier. This is a right of passage. Everyone pitches in to make the meals. It is a model lesson in community living for sure; living in simple abundance and in harmony with the outdoors. And they all cherish it immensely.

It is so funny, yet touching to watch all these preparations. It is a flurry of excitement. Why, this must be half the fun! Soon, the departure date will be upon us and they will load up the SUV's and take turns driving the long seven hour trip, the last hour taking them on logging roads in the bush. The cool nights have them building roaring fires in the Franklin Stove. They will rise early, make fresh perked coffee and savour bacon and eggs over at the log cook camp. Searching for trout will take them to a few different lakes. There will be much discussion about rods, reels and tackle. And yes, there will be the odd fish tale told in the evening of fighting and landing the BIG ONE!

Spirits will be high as they pack and leave the camp at week's end, and as the vehicles climb and rattle up the rocky hill up out of the clearing, I know that each one will already be silently contemplating the next trip!


Mother of Invention, kinda wishing I'd been a boy!

My week has been busy...cardio guy on Mon., Gyne on Wed. and cardio rehab on Tues. and Thurs.....Massage on Fri.!!!! Yah!

Got blood tests done Mon. morning and went to the cardio man, Dr. Hess, who used to work from the house across the street so we made that connection right away. Then the girl who did the ECG was a girl I taught in Gr. 3 at Tos! Here she is years later putting ticker stickers on me full boobs in view! Weird!

The cardio guy said to us that he thought I looked like that babe on Grey's Anatomy, the one who is now going out with the vet. Was funny that he should watch a Doctor/hospital show and we had just both watched part of it for the 1st time the night before! Do you watch it? I can kinda see it with her wide face and smile and longish hair..but not the age!! HA!

Yesterday, I tried on shorts and yuck! I have a bigger middle than I Used to and my legs are all dinty looking and bruised because of blood thinners! I need major firming up! The cardio lady said today that beta-blockers knock the crap out of you so of course that's why I am so tired, in addition to my usual tiredness.

My sweetheart of a husband set up my bike mounted on a magnetic trainer in the backyard so I don't have to walk as much because my foot was getting sore and swollen. He also got me a heart monitor which works great. It beeps when I get over the max. heart rate and when under the min. target range. We take our pulse a lot in the cardio class and I can't feel mine.

At the GYNE, it seems that I'm almost through menopause...no period for over a year and very few hot flashes so she dismissed me, just as she did you! I've graduated I guess! Not sure if I should celebrate or mourn!

Sitting low for this weekend since I burned the candle at both ends last weekend and paid for it dearly.

Mother of Invention, constantly re-inventing myself it seems!