Ce n'est pas ...

This is my classroom. This is S and J in my classroom. This is S and J in my classroom helping me get ready for the first day of school. Which is only SEVEN DAYS AWAY!!! This is me having a heart attack. This is S standing on top of a desk which is violation of every safety precaution I have ever taught him. This is J jerry-rigging an extension cord for the listening centre and the CD player. This is a poster of "l'alphabet" which confirms the language that will be taught in this class. Ce n'est pas l'anglais ...

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

On

Saturday morning, I was treated to a pedicure from my favourite Texan chick (thanx!) and while I was luxuriating in the spa, P was taking care of his feet in a totally different manner. While I was preparing my feet to public viewing, he was orchestrating the covering up of one of his for 6 to 12 weeks.

Oh, his Yamaha is fine, a few scratches maybe. He was able to deflect the cranium-sized boulder quite effectively with his front wheel and his right tibia. And his fibula. Rendering both said bones into approximately four pieces each, the surgeon inserted plates and screws and put my own Steve Austin back together.

* thx to M.E. who inspired this post. In my scattered state, her input was tremendously welcome.*

A Chip off the Ol' Butcher Block

Finally ...

The butcher block counter for the kitchen was ordered about a month ago and delivered with the laminate that P installed a few weeks ago. Sadly, though, the monkeys at RONA proved a piece that was 12 inches too short. We called them and was promised delivery the following week ... but that didn't happen. In spite of phone call after phone call, RONA couldn't explain why the counter wasn't available. Two weeks later, they said that it was held up at their warehouse because shipments will not go out to stores until they read a certain dollar value. Hmm. Funny that the people at our local RONA didn't know that. Trying to keep frustration at bay, we agreed to return the too-short piece ourselves and pick up the new one at the same time. Delivery would have taken another week. To their credit, they did not charge us extra for the longer length ... however it doesn't come in the length we needed, so they sent one 12 inches too long. ARGHH.

It took forever to cut it with the skill saw (or some other type of saw? I don't know which) and there was great billows of sawdust and the smell of wood smoke, which normally is lovely but in my kitchen is quite alarming. Finally, VOILA! My amazing husband comes through again and provides a perfect finished product.

Tree House - Part II

A few days later, construction has begun again. A couple of new men on the job: E and JL. With this added manpower, you'd think that some serious headway would be made. Alas, there was much discussion and contemplation and negotiation (and eating of ice cream sandwiches and lemon loaf) and only the floors or platforms are finished.

Whew. This hard work calls for a snack break.

Caving

As summer draws to a close, we wanted to get out and have some fun! S and J and friend B packed up the car with PB&J sannies, carrots and celery and lots of water and sunscreen, and our headlamps of course, and we headed out to Warsaw Caves, a conservation area with unique rock formations perfect for spelunking.

http://www.warsawcaves.com/

It was interesting and unexpectedly informative, and here's what I think happened: 12,000 years ago the Indian River, for some reason, was really big and flowed through here at such a fantastic rate of speed that it cleaned all the soil away and left a ravine full of huge limestone chunks and underground caverns that form an amazing series of caves, some of them connected to each other. The river flows underground in some places and it's eerie to

hike along, listening to the rushing water coming from under your feet. A few of the caves have ice in them year round. You can feel the cool air drifting up around your ankles as you try to decide how best to descend. There was a beach and a dog-unfriendly picnic area but the sun hid behind some clouds and a cool breeze convinced us to hike rather than swim. Along the hike we saw kettles of varying sizes, smooth round holes or pits in the rock made from swirling pebbles during glacial retraction. Neat! And we're not supposed to learn anything until school starts ...

Beautiful scenery! The only downfall: dirty kids.

Rural Family Robinson

The kids are building tree houses, a la Swiss Family Robinson! It began with selection of just the right tree (or group of trees) followed by an intense planning session with diagrams and levels and protractors and ladders. The first nail was hammered in and the construction had begun! Phase one -- the foundation -- is complete and phase two -- the floor -- is underway.

Five Decades of Wedded Bliss

Congratulations to a very special couple! Fifty years of marriage is an amazing accomplishment, and we celebrated yesterday with a few close friends and relatives. It was so enjoyable to see people we hadn't seen in too many years, to eat some delicious food together, and to share some memories of Grandma M and Poppa's adventures.

It was a great opportunity to take some long-overdue family photos! P's sister and her family live far away and we see them too rarely. The cousins had lots of time this visit to hang out, play WII, practise heavy metal music in the basement, swim at the cottage and out-wit each other with inane riddles.

At the 50th Anniversary celebration, it was so nice to see relatives who travelled many miles to join us. Here is Aunt E, crazy cousin K, and Aunt M (Aunt M is Grandma's sister) who, in spite of the modern mapping capabilities of GoogleMaps and MapQuest still managed to stray off the beaten path en route, enjoyed a lovely scenic country drive, and still made it to the party with plenty of time to celebrate with the anniversary couple.

Before & After ... The Dining Room

If you stand in the living room and turn to admire the dining room, there's a lot to admire, especially if you do a side-by-side comparison of the before and after. The first picture was taken before we moved it, before the kitchen wall came tumbling down, when we were eating off the folding table and camp chairs. The second picture was taken moments ago ... I know it has that lived-in look about it, for the reason that it is lived-in. The kitchen/dining room is the hub of our house and we're in it all the time.And it's much more pleasant to be in it when it looks so gorgeous ... don't you agree?

Monsieur le Frog

There are heaps of frogs jumping all around Hawthorn Creek Farm! In the garage, around the truck, on the laneway, and sadly, there's evidence of high numbers of green roadkill nearby ... is it frog season?

FROG!

Morning Glory

I love this place at all times of the day but dawn is glorious. While Scooby runs around exploring the nighttime changes, I grab my camera and try to capture the moment to share with my poor friends and family who are trapped in the city. Come for a visit and see for yourself!

Closets R Us

The front hall closet used to be huge but half of it needed to house the new duct work that was installed last spring for the new furnace. So this ugly metal duct was the first thing you saw as soon as you came in the front door. None of our guests mentioned this hideous feature, though, for which I am grateful. We pondered the possibilities of putting in a shallow closet to hold the mop or the vacuum hose or something similar, but it would only be about an inch and a half deep ... not very usable space! Peter put on his toolbelt and started building. He framed in the duct side so it'll look like hallway, and built a small closet for coats and shoes. It's almost finished!

It's almost finished, yes, but the motocross track needs tending to and a friend of a friend has loaned us a Bobcat for a few days. Is there anything more fun than boys digging in the dirt with motorized toys?!?! Stay tuned for the finished closet ...

How Far We've Come in the Kitchen Department

Here's a classic Before and After shot of the kitchen. We borrowed the sink and faucet ideas from friends who recently re-did their kitchen (which looks hip & hot & fantastic); the sink is double with a large deep left basin and a shallow smaller right one that comes with this cute & cool drain tray. The tap set is tall and looks a bit like a tulip. Practical and fun!

Finally the peninsula has an overhang for the kids to sit at on our new stools and eat some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and share their deepest fears and secrets with their June Cleaver-esque mom. Well, the cookies are probable. Don't hold your breath for the rest.

We're still deciding on backsplash tile and light fixture. I think it's a bit of an improvement over the original, don't you agree?

Yikes! This was one alarmingly hideous kitchen, and looking at this photo I can practically feel that film of 15 year old grease under my fingertips. Shudder.

Counterfitting

WOOOHOOO!!!! We have a countertop in the kitchen. After a fair amount of confusion with the ever-confused RONA, receiving a damaged piece was a near-miss. Sadly, though, the counter meant for the opposite side around the stove was a foot short. Sigh. Why am I surprised? I'll just look at this side for the next while because it looks so fabulous.And look at our young plumber. With excellent guidance the sink was installed and works so well. It almost makes me want to wash the dishes!

Where Is Indiana Jones??

Unlike the adventurous Mr. Indiana Jones, Scooby doesn't seem to have a fear of snakes at all. In our backyard there lives a huge garter snake that is about 30 inches long and slithers around the back porch. I mowed the lawn and disturbed Monsieur Serpent and Scooby was surprisingly intrigued, chasing him all over the yard.

I bet Indiana wishes he had Scooby's fearlessness!

Do You Like My Hat?

For the past few days both kids have been away: J was at a friend's cottage and S was with his grandparents. It hasn't been an uneventful few days, though, because Scooby ingested something awful that came out again from both ends with amazing force, I went for a job interview for which I'm pretty sure the successful candidates are already selected, and the planning for a certain couple's upcoming 50th wedding anniversay is well underway. So when J picked up some supplies and put them on his head, I laughed and laughed. He looked positively Seussian. I really missed him!

ps. what is my awesome husband doing in the background? Could he possibly be measuring the NEW countertop for installation?? Hold on to your hats for an upcoming post ...

Deer in the Woods

Early in the morning a few days ago we spotted a visitor in the trees to the west in front of our house. It was a silent and still morning and the sun had just come up. The deer looked to be young and seemed to be looking right at us, not moving a muscle. We ran for the camera and zipped off heaps of pictures during which the deer cooperatively remained still. We've never seen a deer this close to the house before! Very exciting!

Scooby, in his morning search for the perfect blade of grass on which to relieve himself, scampered so close to the deer that I thought for sure he'd scare the poor thing away. But Scoob seemed to not notice the animal and ran on past.

On closer inspection, this deer had a curious seam across its withers and its gaze was woody and absent. And it only had one front leg ... and only one hind leg. And it was riddled with bullet holes. And made of styrofoam. Hmm. It appears that we have been the victims of a cruel hoax. Who the perpetrators are we do not yet know, but INTERPOL is working on it.

In the meantime, he remains in the front trees, and greets me with his wooden stare every morning. I think he needs a name ... any ideas?