Monday, October 31, 2006

Happy 50th Birthday, PETER FLOYD!

Happy Hallowe’en

Two Monday’s ago I went night mountain biking around the Irving Nature Park. It was my first time on the mountain bike this year and also my first night ride of the season. It was a lovely evening and although the moon wasn’t out, the stars were shining. I followed behind Marci and Charles, often feeling like I was holding them up. I like to ride along at my own pace, being challenged and then walking the areas which I felt a bit too difficult….the stair descents and other technical drops aren’t as appealing to me. I DO NOT heal as quickly as I once did! I found it hard at times to follow the trail due to the fallen leaves. There are many spots along the route that are so much fun, I have a huge grin on my face. Bob and I both intended to do the ride but unfortunately my BLT light was burned out and wouldn’t hold the charge. That was a big disappointment as it was a $135.00 light and only 2 years old. They are supposed to be charged every so many months….but being away this summer, we forgot….hence the problem. Bob very graciously offered me his light and decided to stay home. Of course there was a ball game on TV, so it wasn’t a hardship for him!!
I have been busy with work. Because the Jordive office is located in my home, I tend not to realize the number of hours I spend at it. On days when I am not working at Town and Country Quilts, I go into my office at 7:15 when Bob leaves for work and I come out until around 10 to get my breakfast. Then I love to get down to my sewing room for the remainder of the day. I do take time out at some point to go for a long walk, which I enjoy. I am working of a few neat projects.
This past Friday my girlfriend, Julia, from Ottawa arrived. I picked her up at the airport and then we went to Sessions for coffee and lunch, then home to unload and then uptown to the Wine Bar, Happinez. The bar is a nice relaxing place, but we had too much wine….. Saturday we went to Moncton to attend a reunion with 10 other Acadia friends: Kaye (Flower) Andrews, Judy (Redden) Douglas, Margie (Wentzell) Wentzell, Cindy (Wentzell), Kathy Drew, Debbie (DeWolf), Barb (McLeod) Phillips, Dodi (McKay) Stewart, Izzy (Swim) Crawford, Julia (Martin) Janigen and Carole (Blackmore). Izzy very graciously offered her home to hold the event, she maintained her lovely figure, and her “baby smooth” facial skin. It had been over 30 years since I last saw Debbie and Kathy; Kathy pulling the surprise visit, as she wasn’t expected and flew in from Vermont. Debbie looks the same, seems to have lost her bum! Margie as blunt and funny as ever; I returned to her the “Hey Dude” Christmas letter she wrote in 1989!! Julia was in the limelight, reviewing the yearbook in great detail. Judy, marrying later and now having two teen age hockey sons; Carol reliving her Acadia woes; Barbie doing the odd rant, which was quite entertaining. Cindy, wise, arty and witty; Dodi as colorful and sleuthful with her stories. Kaye, the organizer, planner and director….as skilful as ever. We all had old photo books, year books, etc. so had a blast reliving the past. It was a very entertaining and lively afternoon, evening and overnight. Lots of chatter and laughter. On the whole, I figured we aged quite well….posted a photo to show us off!!
I am the convener of the Roast Beef Dinner which is to be held this coming Saturday. Most of the preliminary planning is done….now to pick up the groceries, cook the meat, and spend Friday evening getting the hall and kitchen prepared for Saturday. I will be happy when it is over and I can tackle some of my own overdue projects. We do have a commitment following the dinner ….giving a talk to a group about our cross Canada cycling tour with the Canadian Bible Society. I hope I don’t forget about that engagement!!!
My brother and his family have left BC and are on PEI ready to move into their home in Montague tomorrow. I called their hotel tonight and they all seem quite excited with the area, with settling in, doing some house renno’s, decorating etc. I look forward to being able to visit more frequently…..only managed about 6 get together’s in the past 30 years.
The “trick or treaters” seem to be dwindling….and this has to be the smallest crowd ever. Only had about 20 kids. Oh well, more candy for me!!
We haven’t been on the road bikes since before Thanksgiving….I guess our other commitments and the cold weather have interfered with our

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Grocery shopping after work on Tuesday meant that I would be unable to meet for the weekly Quick Chicks Ride. However, I did get home in time to unload the car and then take off to attend the monthly Kennebecasis Valley Quilt Guild meeting. I picked up my cheque for selling the wall hanging at the Show last month. That please me because the money will go to the Animal Rescue League….and now I feel that I am contributing as well as Diane and Judy. I drove Diane and Elizabeth home from the meeting and we took a ride back to look at a home which is decorated for Hallowe’en. The home is an a frame type and they have these two enormous eyeballs in the upper loft windows, staring out. They are lit up, but remind me of two boobs. Quite a hoot. (ers?).
I worked three days this past week at Town and Country Quilts. I spent all of my time listing the product on the web site. I think it is looking quite nice….now I hope that people will use it and we can begin to do some “on line” orders. I worked alone in the store on Saturday and I was too busy with customers to get any work accomplished on the site. Tina was away in Fredericton as we had a booth set up at the Elm City Quilt show.
I have been re-organizing my sewing room and have just about completed that task. I have a quilt in the makings to be donated to the Boys and Girls Club; part of a commitment from the KVQGA. I had begun this quilt before I left for my cycling trip across Canada. It took a full morning to familiarize myself with what I was doing. Then I didn’t like it and some of the blocks were too small….so I am now taking apart and assembling differently.
I think I will have room now in my quilt room to set up my road bike on the trainer….and to use it this winter? I hate to exercise indoors. Perhaps if I get a TV hooked up, with a DVD and I can watch the Tour….or something to inspire me to get cycling…indoors.
Thursday Diane and I went to town. It was my first trip to Saint John since my return home in September!! You would swear I lived a million miles away. It poured rain all day and we were in and out of the car at many stores, but had fun.
I am recharging my BLT night light in preparation for the ride around the Irving Nature Park tomorrow night. I spent some time cleaning up the mountain bike. I am disgusted with myself for putting it away without cleaning it up first…there was rust on the chain and the derailleur was seized.!! Not a great way to leave a good, expensive bike. I spent some time babying it, and did get most of the rust off, and the derailleur moving, so hopefully it will work well on the ride.
Today was church….there seems to be a new growth and life within our church and it is exciting. There are more kids attending and I love the antics and noise and their curiosity. This afternoon we had a walk within our parish boundaries to help the Bishop’s efforts with his Aids in Africa campaign. This was followed with a pot luck and Chris and Claudine came out to join us, which was fun. Bob and I did a presentation with a slide show of our cycling trip across Canada. It was wonderful to see the photos…brought the whole thing back to life again.
I heard from Mary via e-mail. She will see many of our cycling buddies when she attends a CBS dinner this coming week. I asked her to pass along our regards to them. Mary is still riding…she purchased a new bike. It is blue….her favourite colour.

what wonderful weather.....Thanksgiving weekend/06

Plans for the Thanksgiving weekend were constantly changing....Christopher and Claudine were unable to make the trip. Trevor and Tamara were to be hosting the "dinner" and my parents, sister and her husband and daughter, my brother, Bob's father and Tamara's mom were all invited.
The original plan was to leave early Saturday morning but seeing Chris and Claudine weren't able to make it we decided to leave after work on Friday. Bob was late getting home and I had to make the sweet potato casserole and also the stuffing for the turkey first. It was a rush, but finished the task just before 6. Joan (Tamara's mom) arrived at our place shortly after 6 on Friday evening and we were on the road by 6:30. Bob and I hadn't had dinner so stopped at a quick stop for a "pre packaged" (ugh) sandwich, tea and muffin. Good way to drop $15 .... We did get to Timberlea just after 10:30 and had a quick visit with Trev, Tamara and the pets before I hit the hay.
Bob and I were on the road early Saturday morning....stopping at Wendy and Mike's for a quick coffee first. The weather was beautiful and sunny and they were on their way to a golf tournament. We then headed onward to Ponhook where I dropped Bob at the cabin with his dad. It was determined then that his dad didn't feel like coming to the Thanksgiving dinner and then Bob said that he might stay behind with his dad. I was becoming a little ticked...and the thought of having to return from Timberlea to pick Bob up the next day meant more hours of driving, which I wasn't prepared to do!! I continued on to Lunenburg arriving just as my mother was going over to have a "reflexology" treatment. I enjoyed puttering around several shops while she had her appointment. Then it was back to the house where we sat outside enjoying the lovely weather and some wine. Although the inground pool looked very inviting in the sunshine, the 58 degree temperature of the water was soon a deterent. We had a lovely meal of fish and scallops, salad and asparagus. Yummy. My sister and Peter dropped in on their return from their cottage for a quick visit. My mom, dad and I had a good game of scrabble where I beat them on my final turn by using all of my 7 tiles and going out at the same time!! Bingo. My brother called that evening to say that he was unable to make the Thanksgiving dinner.....now 5 down....
Bob called on Sunday morning to arrange a pick up...I told him I would be there in an hour and half. Picked him up, stopped quickly at Vicki and Peter's in Mahone Bay before heading in to Trev and Tam's. My sister's home is so lovely and she has it decorated so, so well. I always leave feeling totally inadequate and want to burn my house down and start over!! Mind you, she has more $$$$ to work with, so that does make a difference.
We got to Trev's where he had everything under control. Turkey wouldn't fit in the electric turkey roaster which I had provided, however it was cooking nicely in the regular oven. Tamara was away in Truro helping a friend handle two dogs for a dog show, but she had called to say that she was on her way home. The Van arrived shortly after three with my parents, Vicki, Peter and Erin. We had a lovely afternoon sitting out on Trev's new deck. The meal was superb...great turkey, sweet potato casserole, fresh carrots, asparagus, smashed pototoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts. Rich desserts of chocolate/caramel pie, and a mixed cooked berry with dumpling and whipped cream delight. All very yummy. The evening ended with a fun and livelhy word/association game. A good assumption of wine throughout the afternoon makes everything work out fine!!
On Monday, Bob and I stopped in for a quick coffee with Wendy and Mike again before picking up Joan and heading back to NB. I managed to knit two dish cloths during the drive...certainly makes the ride go quicker. We got home shortly after 2:30....the weather still magnificant. We spent the remainder of the afternoon outdoors, Bob cleaning the deck and I raked and bagged leaves. I did manage to find some food ingredients to make a chili. The cupboards and fridge look like Old Mother Hubbard's....we will go for a grocery order after work tonight. I am excited.

midweek.... Wednesday....October 4

Monday was a dreary, wet day. I began the morning by re-arranging furniture in rooms. I guess I was bored with the current look and wanted to create something different...using the same things??? Unfortunately the lay out of the house is so boring and there is only a limited way the furniture will go. Joyce was here before I had accomplished anything but making a mess in 4 different rooms!! We were off to ACW at the church to quilt for the day. There were Karen, Suzanne, Barb, Janet, Joyce and Jean dropped in briefly. My fingers were getting sore, as I am not regularly quilting, so the callusses need to return and toughen up. WE stayed until 3.

Back home, I continued trying to sort out the rooms and make plans of where things would go. I dug the vacuum cleaner out and managed to get the dining and kitchen level done while my seafood chowder was cooking. AS we were eating supper, the phone rang at 6:15. It was my mom, in this loud excited voice asking me if I wanted to go and visit my brother. Assuming something had happened to Andy, I asked "what's wrong with Andy". She replied "it's Mark and he and Margo have just purchased a home in PEI and will be there finalizing things until Thursday". She was in shock... Mark had just retired in April after 30 years on the RCMP spending all of his time in British Columbia. I hung up, ate a few more mouthfuls of my chowder and said to Bob, want to go to PEI? We were in the car and on the road at 7. We arrived at their hotel by 10:15 and had the desk call to his room. They had to call the room twice and finally Margo answered and she told us that we could find him watching TV in a room just off the lobby. WE found him in an empty, semi dark room watching TV. He glanced our way, but really didn't recognize us so I snuck up behind him and flicked him on the head. Man, was he SURPRISED to see us!! We went back to the room and he got Margo up. She has MS and is quite limited in what she is able to do. We all were so excited to see each other and they told us the story of how they were there:

Afer Mark's retirement party in July, they decided to look for property east....and had been checking on line. Found several places that spurned their interest so flew out to see them. They settled on a lovely 90 year old home and property in Montague. They hadn't wanted to tell anyone until all deals had gone through...the selling of their home, and the purchase finalization on this one. Everything worked out and they will move down on Hallowe'en weekend.

Bob and I checked into the Econolodge as the HOliday Inn where they were was full. We met on Tuesday morning for breakfast and drove to Montague to look at the house. It is a great spot. Just up the street is a lovely pool, and has a wheelchair ramp which will be great for Margo. The property is huge and has a large back yard. Really a lovely spot... I can see them blending into the community so well. We had a wondeful day together, driving around and back to the hotel for some wine before we headed off for home.

I did get to buy some PEI potatoes before leaving the Island.

When we passed Port Elgin Bob and I returned to Trinity United Church where the Bike for Bibles Tour had a rest break. Sid had e-mailed me earlier in the week wanting to know the name of the church in Port Elgin because when he left his sunglasses behind in the church yard when he rested under a tree. Bob and I looked but his Boli's weren't anywhere to be seen. I did contact a gentleman from the church who will check with the the lady who was responsible for hosting the group when we cycled through just to see if the glasses were turned in?

Today is sunny....I must finish with the house work, rearranging and pehaps get some exercise raking the leaves that adorn the yard. I don't mind the raking, I hate the bagging. WE have a friend who collects them for her compost. Hopefully the weather will remain bright so we can get out for the Wednesday night ride...?

Sunny Cycling Saturday, September 30/06

I was up early to feed cats and proceeded to finish putting the remaining blocks on my quilt plus the border on two sides. Then a quick breakfast and donning of cycling clothes. Bob and I cycled to the beach to meet up with Barb, Leonard, Dan, and Gary. We had decided prior to take the back route to Sussex, cycling along the Hammond River to Titusville, Upham, Upperton, Hammondvale and coming out at Sussex Corners. It is a great ride, wonderful scenery especially with the fall foliage. The hills in the backdrop are so colourful with the changing colours. The ride is quite hilly and even the flats are on a slight incline. It definitely is a good workout. We stopped in at the Quilt Show in Sussex for a quick peak and some cookies. Tina was still there with the store booth...sales she said were slow. We then went on to Pizza Delight for something to eat. I was feeling quite sleepy and felt like crawling under the table to sleep!! Not a great feeling especially with 65 km to cycle to home!! It was supposed to be sunny with a high of 15 and before we left from the beach I had taken off my jacket and left in Gary's car. After leaving Sussex I regretted that as I was feeling quite cold and not comfortable and it took about 15 km before it seemed to get warmer. I was feeling quite sluggish for the trip back, but the ride was pleasant. We stopped at Kredyl's briefly before heading back through the Lower Norton Shore, to Ketchum and Hill Rd on the peninsula and back across the ferry. Gary had told Denise that he would be home at 2:30 and by this time it was 5:30. Dhhhh...Gary, you knew we were doing 135 km....and I know you can ride fast BUT even at 25 km per hour it would have taken 5 1/2 hours, without our stops. We didn't leave until 10!!! Go figure!! A little hint.....next time be GENEROUS with the time frame allowing a full day!! As it was, Denise had called Dorothy around 6 as she was worried. Dorothy just laughed when she had said that Gary told her he would be home at 2:30.!!! Oh, oh....Gary is in trouble!!

Bob and I arrived home just before 6. I fed the cats, and made up the batch of raisin bread and then I hit the bath. I was extremely tired.....crawled out of the tub and dozed on the couch. Bob had gone to the church with Joyce and Donnie to set up for the breakfast tomorrow.