CHILLIN' POOLSIDE

They certainly have the chillin' part down pat.

They 

got to see the temple and checked out some wooden elephants.  Jodie said they got to touch a real live one!!  How exciting for them.  There are monkeys that come onto their patio at their hotel which is located in the jungle.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNE

I have to wish my baby sister Joanne a Happy Birthday today.
I am not saying how old she is but I can say that she can now ask for Senior Discounts legally!!

Happy Birthday Joanne - we will party in the summer when we are all together again.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

The boys are on the road again - this time to Sri Lanka for a little rest and relaxation - can't say the same for Jodie and Dave - they will be attending to Charlie and Monty's every need.
They got to see elephants and enjoyed a  dinner on the patio with a nice glass of white wine by the looks of it.  Should be in a sippy cup I think.
They are walking very well as you can see by Charlie's little stroll - check out the swinging arms - just like a big boy.  Less work for Dave and Jodie if they can walk on their own - maybe a little slow going but easier on the back I am sure.

JACK'S BEAUTY

My brother-in-law Jack with his beautiful walleye caught on his annual ice fishing trip with his buddies.  This year they went to Bear Creek Cottages and from the sounds of it, everyone had a good time.  Enough fish were caught for the last night fish fry which everyone looks forward to.
It has been a weird year for ice and it turned out that this was the first weekend that the resorts were able to get their huts on the ice.  The guys were out about 6 kilometres from shore - I wouldn't be out there with them - I would have been fishing from shore - but I am sure they wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't safe.  Rejean said that some guys even had their trucks out on the ice!!  That's bold!!

THE HOAR FROST

Had this going on the other day everywhere and it lasted for hours.  Just beautiful.  The conditions have to be just right for this to happen - it is formed by direct condensation of water vapour to ice at temperatures below freezing and occurs when air is brought to its frost point by cooling - according to Google.  It's as tho everything has been spray painted white.
Today it looks as tho the trees are covered in snow but the ice is still there.

GRANDMA STUFF

A couple of the outfits I picked up in my "travels" yesterday.  The kids love dinosaurs and I just happened to find a couple of t-shirts with some dinosaurs things on them and the matching shorts in 2T sizes.  I once had to ask what the "T" stood for in kids clothes - now I know.
Can't wait to see them in them.

LADIES WHO LUNCH

This month's luncheon was held at the Wharncliffe Community Hall - under new management.  We had a great turnout thanks to the ladies from Parkinson Township and Kynoch who asked if they could join in this month - the more the merrier.  We had over 24 ladies today.  The soups were delicious - I started out with the beef barley - good, but mine is better - and then I had a scoop of the pea soup and it was great.  I am not a pea soup girl but this one looked good so I tried it - this is actually the second time I have been surprised at how good pea soup has been - maybe I am missing out on something.  I had half a chicken sandwich and one cookie for desert.  The Trifle was a masterpiece and everyone raved about it.  Good job Mari-Lou.
Everyone enjoyed the luncheon at the Hall.  Sometimes we don't have good experiences at local restaurants -  maybe because there is sometimes so many of us.  We may choose to do a lunch at a local restaurant one month then back to the Hall for the next month and continue to revisit the Hall every second month.  It supports the local community hall and it is a very relaxing atmosphere that everyone seemed to enjoy.  The seating arrangement let everyone see each other and made it easier to talk to people across the room.  We went around the table introducing ourselves and where we lived.  It is good to see everyone out and enjoying themselves.
Next month Wakamata Shores Resort...

ANOTHER PROJECT OFF THE LIST

Got my new duvet cover delivered today - Canada Post right to my door - so now I can put up some pictures of my new bed and night tables.
We did a little tweaking on the head board - we didn't like the look of the pine showing thru the openings so we decided to put some dark smoked glass in there - but trying to find exactly what we were looking for proved to be a bit of a challenge.  We finally had to get two pieces of dark plexiglass cut in the Sault and decided to leave the paper backing on it so you couldn't see thru it and put glass over top of it.  It looks exactly what we were looking for - very dark smoky glass - almost like a mirror.
Just have to get some new rugs and a new blind - eventually...

W T F

$8.99 at Pino's today - I passed on it.  I looked back and a lady was taking a picture of the price with her cell phone.  I guess she couldn't believe it either.
I love cauliflower in my salads that I have every nite with dinner.  But I draw the line at paying $9.00 for a head of cauliflower that wasn't even in the best condition.  Even green onions were $1.89 and I always pay .99 cents.  I paid $12.46 for 2.8 pounds of green seedless grapes and $3.49 for a head of iceberg lettuce.
Ughhhh

TAKE IT EASY

It has been a rough start to 2016 - we have lost some amazing artists.  Today I learned we lost Glenn Frey, a founding member of the Eagles at the young age of 67.
I remember playing Their Greatest Hits over and over again listening to my favourite songs - the sound track to my teenage years.  I regret that I never saw them perform live but there are some great concerts recorded that make up for that and also The History of the Eagles that is very interesting.

Rest in Peace

IT'S TIME

Finally got some snow so time to get the snowmobile out of the other garage and over to our garage.  We had been talking about it before the big dumping of snow this week but never got around to it.  The new truck got thru the deep snow no problem and the snowmobile started right up.  We just have to get a new air filter for it as the mice decided to build a nest in the old one.  Little creatures get into everything.

FISH

Here's a picture of the boys at the huge aquarium in Dubai.  In all the times Tish has been to Abu Dhabi visiting she has never been to Dubai.  This was her lucky visit.  Tish is Dave's Mom and Jim, Dave's Dad are visiting right now.
One day Grandma and Grandpa will be teaching the boys how to catch and cook fish - maybe not these fish but some more local.

A LITTLE CLAMPY

I think we used every clamp in the workshop on this project.  See - you can never have too many clamps.  I also posted one of my night tables with it's final coat of varathane on it.  2 coats, sanded, another coat, sanded again and then another coat, another sanding and the final coat.  They are smooth!!  Drawers still have to be installed - we are waiting for the slides from Lee Valley along with the hardware before they can be finished.  Rejean is working on the head board now.
I have been hunting on line for a duvet cover and it is becoming a very tiring experience.  I know what I want but finding it is another matter.
Hopefully it will be finished in a few weeks and I can finally have my new bed.

WINTER PROJECT

I hate bed skirts and box springs!!!  Don't know why but I have a great dislike of them so this winter our project is building a new bed that will appear to be floating - it is actually going to be situated on a base that is set far enough away from the sides of the bed that it appears to be floating - something like the bottom picture but mine will be nicer.  Also the night tables will be floating as well - attached to the wall with a french cleat.  In the top picture is one of the night tables - a cube that will have a drawer up top and an open space underneath the drawer.  They are made out of oak stained in ebony.  The middle picture is the base that the platform will sit on - the mattress will sit on that platform.  The headboard will be composed of two types of wood - oak stained in ebony and natural yellow birch.  It is all coming together rather nicely.

GAME NIGHT ON CHENEY

We had John and Linda, Doug and Diane over last nite for a couple of hours to play Kinect.  Doug and Diane had never played and it didn't take them long to catch on - except for Diane who had a little trouble letting go of the bowling ball at times - That floating ball was everywhere!!
That first picture was of the final score for a bowling game.  That is my 225 score!!  Never in my life have I scored that high.  So proud!!
We next switched to darts and I must say that Doug's hand was soooooo steady - he was getting bull's eyes with each dart.  I was impressed because, as you know,  they call me Tremor Girl.  But I did manage to win a couple of games of darts - no one was more surprised than me at that.
It certainly was a fun night and I bet we do it again this winter.
Diane wants to try ping pong…and I want to try golf...

FEEDING THE CAMELS

The boys were feeding the camels at the park yesterday - I first thought it was a giraffe but at 7:30 in the morning I can be excused for mistaking them.  Jodie set me straight.
Someone had a death grip on little Monty - I think it was either Jim or Tish.
The sign says not to "poke or tease" the animals but nothing about not feeding them.  The poor goat didn't get any.  Maybe when I go I will feed the goat.
Fearless little boys.

THE PARTAY

I did manage to stay awake until midnight thanks to the great group of people at the annual Axe Lake New Year's Eve Party which was held in John's garage mainly because he has a big screen tv and we could watch the hockey game (which Detroit lost) and the Ryan Seacrest New Year's Eve party.  Thank goodness we had Emily there to tell us who was signing and what they were singing.  That's her and her brother Nathan in the last picture with John and Linda - they have a camp next door to them.  I would say about 35 people showed up and Linda was panicking about whether everyone was going to fit but there was also a bon fire going outside so it was never an issue.  Everyone fit just fine.  As usual Davey brought the ribs and chicken and sausage from Windsor - he cooks them over an open fire and they are always delicious - there was also chilli, perogis, Sault St Marie meatballs and my eggs of course - 36 gone in no time. Tons of other food as well including Linda's world famous Rice Crispie Squares - they quickly disappeared - I helped!!   We also had Diane showing us all how to do the mashed potato once Randy Googled the right song.
We are invited back today for Ceasars and leftovers - he had me at Ceasars …

Happy New Year everyone - mine is off to a grand start!!