What's Happening in YOUR neighborhood today pt 7

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/08/10/toronto.explosion/index.html


The above link is a pretty good precis of what happen in Toronto .. awful .. have to feel bad for the people displaced from their homes ..

~M~

wow, just dropped in, can't say it was a productive weekend but I did have the 4 grandsons and made memories I'm sure...all here for supper, not to interested in watching 'golf' am I, so came downstairs to clean craft room...rain off and on all day...

You've got me curious so now I'm off in search of news to hear what happened in Toronto?????

Loved the memory garden photo's...and yes, I'd love to see more...

Waiting for the 0600 news to come on the tube so I can catch up on what's happening.
Would read it online, but I'd prefer to listen to someone tell me :-)

Another disastrous KITTY KAT night .. heavenly days .. I do NOT know what gets into him some nights, altho, I do believe he is missing DH. Am going to reinforce that fact when he calls today. Darned cat had me up 3 times last night !!!

Looks to be an A+ day today in TBay, AND, tomorrow as well for the meeting here .. WOOO HOOO .. they took RAIN off the forecast til Thursday !!

Ciao

~M~

"M" took it off your forecast and gave it to us..stopped at Timmy's this morning for coffee and looked at the lawn, about 1/4" sitting on top, ground just isn't absorbing the water...sun in Toronto right at this minute but calling for storms at home and here later this aft.

Boss won't be coming in today to brought in more oil painting..blue morning glories..the large one will be a topper for the back bedroom drapes and the other 2 matching smaller ones will be decorative pull backs...so, just might finish them if I get ambitious...

As for my 'weekend' to do list, had a wonderful weekend with 4 grandsons and then their parents arrived and we enjoyed just sitting/gabbing and relaxing...

Have 2 Victorian Santa's sitting on my table that I worked on for about 2 hrs. so they can wait for evening time...probably no more than an hour or so to complete them....so much for the stained glass piece...still sitting looking pretty!

Hope you've sunshine in your day today..enjoy

Morning :-)

Betty, spending time with the grands is a priceless gift .. I love listening to their stories .. my grandson, Austin, is quite the story teller .. his blue eyes light up as he regales me with stories about what he has been up to. If there is ONE thing he inherited from me .. it's the knack of Irish story telling .. or.. 'spinning a tale'. He's 7 now .. but when he was just about 5 he was out for the day and Smokey wandered into the yard, at the very same time, a motorcycle went up the side road (obviously a Harley as the noise was LOUD) Smokey actually SCOOTED up the driveway .. both incidents startled us and I looked down at Smokey and shook my finger at him and said "WELL Smokey .. out riding your motorcycle again eh" .. OMG .. Austin's eyes got bigger .. I swear his freckles did too .. and he said "SMOKEY rides a motorcycle" !!!?? I proceeded to 'spin a yarn' .. and .. to this day .. whenever Austin is here .. he looks for signs of Smokey's motorcycle .. which, of course, is always in being repaired as Smokey is such a WILDMAN cat on it !!

Well .. the BIG day has arrived for me .. and .. have I completed ALL the tasks on my 'TO DO' list for the gathering tonight .. NO WAY !!!!!! Still has some dusting and vacuuming to do .. AND .. the volunteer coordinator came by yesterday and asked if I would hide the items for the scavenger hunt. Good thing it isn't going to rain !!

Weather here is going to be kinda perfect again .. we haven't seen rain in so long .. a shower or 2, but nothing that is lasting .. My Bee Balm is a bloom, as is the Black Eyed Susan Rudbeckia .. and .. the Dame's Rocket continues to flourish and is just awesome with the False Sunflower for cut flower bouquets ..

Everyone have a splendiferous day :-)

~M~

Hi folks,

Been MIA for awhile. Chamberfest is over, but there is a volunteer party tonight. I can only go for a short time as I have a summer orchestra rehearsal. Have to go to that as I will miss the one on Thursday and I missed the one last week because of Chamberfest.

Sunday I did some grocery shopping, some sewing and posted pics of all 130+ of my Hostas in my Journal on the Hallson garden site: http://www.perennialnursery.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=46824 I put them there because you don’t have to be a member to access them and because one can upload 5 photos at a time. You’ll have to scroll down a few posts to get to the pictures.

There are summary articles about Chamberfest at http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=9db55097-e28f-46b4-a580-a81e9f8738b2 and http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=1ba5eb7a-e1e3-449c-b8f2-0a68be4da118 and there is a “sound installation” - recordings of the sounds of the festival in the lines, lobbies, etc. during the festival at http://www.ottawalines.ca/

Eventually I expect that the Festival will have pics on its web site. At the moment, there are a few only on their Facebook page.

Yesterday I got back to aquafit and a good coffee session following in and in the afternoon a DG acquaintance came by to see my garden. The Hostas got somewhat nibbled in the last two weeks. With all the rain, the slugs are hard to control and I think the earwigs have been feasting too. Spent the last hour or so of the afternoon pruning and tying up my tomato plants which grew wild over the last two weeks.

We head back to Vancouver for a few days on Thursday afternoon and I've been working to finish up the 3 pairs of PJ's for my daughter there. All they need now is button holes, buttons and elastic.

Well, off for breakfast and to practice the viola. Then maybe I'll get out in the garden before the sun disappears.

Ann

I am procrastinating in a big way before heading to the office. Thought I'd post a picture of my new garden pal. LOL. I'm a total sucker for garden junk....


Have a great summer day all...
Joanne

Oh Joanne he's gorgeous..he looks rather tall, is he???? Don't you just hate going to the office when it's sunshine, especially when we've had so many rain days..yuk...told Suzanne this morning as we entered the parking lot here that I should not have come in, too nice, she said it's kind of a must if I want a job tomorrow...lol...so guess I'm here to stay...

Just fell alseep last night when the dog began barking, went to the door and here there was a man (late 30's) with 3 young children, drove from Quebec and was going camping but was too late to set up in the park so needed rooms at my B&B...was fascinating, when I said I was french and fluent in the language (although rusty) and my last name was Pauze he couldn't believe it, his wife is a Pauze as well...small world..said he didn't know why he entered such a little town knowing there would be no hotels, asked the variety store if they knew of somewhere they could spend the night and she said 'next door'..how cool is that...

Got them all settled, told him I'd have breakfast set on the table but I had to leave at 7 for the city so he wanted to pay me for the 2 rooms, here's this young family out for enjoyment so only charged him $40.00 ..I'll never get rich doing this..lol..but I do meet nice people..last year a cyclist was travelling to North Bay to the Terry Fox Museum, wanted to pay me and I said donate it to the cause...hmmmm maybe I better start a new part time venture to buid up for retirement ...

"M" you are right, we're a very large part of what our children/grand children will become..such an overwhelming responsibility..one I take very seriously...

We've sunny sky here in the sity, much as it was when I left home this morning, howeveer, they are calling for more rain later in the day!!! more for the rest of the week and weekend as well..

Anne, you must have worked extremely hard to get most of those jammies done..am sure daughter will be pleased...my goodness you are always travelling somewhere..how wonderful for you..

"M" what exactly is it you are having today??? sounds like fun..wish I could join you...

Hope you have a sunshine day in your neck of the woods...

Joanne .. I am chuckling here .. sorta .. looks like MY bear in the back .. the REAL one .. looks great in your garden ..

I am having a VCARS meeting here http://www.tbayvictimservices.com/ it's one of the associations I volunteer with .. there will be 20+ for a BBQ and Scavenger Hunt .. I just finished hiding/placing all the 'things' and .. dontcha know .. the wind has picked up .. I still think it'll be a challenge to find everything .. only Lilly and I know where things are :-) and I am hoping she doesn't 'yip/yap' too much at the people.
Awesome day ..

Boy Betty .. that's quite the coincidence with your visitors .. and .. NO you won't get rich charging that amount .. but .. it does your heart good to know that you probably enabled them to have a bit more pocket money for their vacation.
I'm again chuckling re the French comment .. a few hundred years ago when I was a fresh faced new RN .. we had a patient come into Emerg .. he was a bushworker .. totally Francais .. they wanted to know if anyone could speak French .. well .. i had taken it for 5 years and felt I could handle it .. the feller looked at me and started the parlez en francais .. I was dumbstruck .. I finally said to him .. are ya sittin down ? I said .."Monseiur, ou est le BOO BOO"!!! He started to laugh .. and everyone just stared at me wondering what I had said .. as it was .. his brother arrived about 10 minutes later .. LoL

I best go and tidy up some more ..

Enjoy everyone :-)

~M~

Having another nice quiet week here - actually went out and did some weeding this morning!

Betty your story reminds me of one too - several years ago a garden group was having an evening visit to my garden - a tall fellow came up to me and asked if I was Carol V.V.? I said yes and he said my grandmother was a V.V. Well there are not many of this name around - my brother and I the last ( named) in one line and there is another line in southern Ontario but I dont personally know them.
We compared family geneologies ( as it turns out both had the same) and sure enough our great great grandfathers were brothers! So now when we meet we say Hi Cousin! I actually have a picture of that generation with their parents which he had never seen.

How marvellous .. sometimes it's not co-incidence...perhaps fate!

Had lunch today and got back into the office..BIL (boss Paul) was sick with pneumonia for almost 2 weeks his 1st day back..anyway I no sooner got back that a call came in for him, gave him the message and on my way back the fire alarm in the building went off..ah, another drill! Our building has 7 floors - top one penthouse..we're on the 2nd floor..we pick up our wallets, car keys and walked out..lucky we did, 7th floor had a fire..4 firetrucks on scene and emergency support vehicles..we sat in parking lot all of us, then they asked us to move even further...after 1 hr. of waiting, they said unlikely any of us would be able to go back inside..so, long story done short...home I was at much the same time I would have left Toronto...wooopppieee...

Tonight I washed all the bed linen, now off to make the beds, wash the floor and make sure everything is spic and span just incase I get more nightly visitors...lol...

Did come home though to the nicest note left for me....

Aww .. what a wonderful note from your guests .. a keeper for sure .. !! As for the fire .. well .. sometimes good things come in 'smokey packages' !!!! Hopefully not too much damage was done ..

The VCARS meeting went very well .. had 21 .. and am the proud recipient of ALL the leftovers !!!! I have a fridge stuffed with numerous types of salads as well as desserts and fruit .. DH picked the wrong time to go away LoL ....
Of course .. there was ONE bad moment .. I had just finished BBQing the burgers and came into the house .. placed the burgers on the counter and reached behind my neck as i had 'an itch' .. WELL .. ZAPpppppppppp .. it was a wasp and it stung me on the index finger of my right hand !!! OWWWwwwwwwww .. but .. I said nadda .. grabbed a green onion and went into the bedroom .. rubbed the sting with the onion .. trust me .. that works WONDERFULLY well .. I was out in less than 5 minutes .. no one was the wiser .. stil kinda sore today though.

On call today .. best get a move on ..

Ciao

~M~

Ah pouring rain here AGAIN!!!

Brought eldest grandson Kyle down to the city for Canada's Wonderland,
Jeff took 3 of the kids, got to the gates and it's a downpour.. kids will be so disappointed...hard not to get depressed when all you see is rain and dark sky...oh well, have to do some painting here in the office (Christmas project) for a swap..that always brightens up my day...

OMG "M" those bites can hurt !! Wow 21 guests, at least the weather co-operated right?

Employees of the 7th floor were sent home, Fire Dept. has to check further as to what cause the electrical fire, so employees will enjoy a day vacation..just too bad it's not sunshine for them...

rain thats all we are getting here as will.cant make planes for anything.the only thing thats growing good is the grass cant keep it cut,ah%$%^ i wish the sun would shine

BRING ON THE RAIN !!!! North Western Ontario has had NONE for so long .. a 10 minute sprinkle here and there. Only moisture that is coming from nature is the heavy dew on our COOL mornings !!
I had intended to have a bonfire last evening, but when I went to the Township office for the burning permit I was told the MNR had heavily suggested NO open fires .. so .. despite that we all enjoyed a wonderful summers evening.
Not so nice re your grandkids outting Betty .. very disappointing for them.

My 'Boo Boo' is minimally tender to touch .. thinkin I'll survive :-)

Been putzin around in the gardens .. won;t go back to the veg garden unless someone is here .. that's the area the bear hangs out in .. DH comes home Friday and I am sure he's going to be disappointed to see I haven't picked more vegetables .. he has NO 'Bear fear' .. hmmmmmmmmm .. just looked at that .. if you pronounced Bear like you pronounce Fear .. it'd sound like 'Beer Feer' !!!! LoL Gotta love the English language :-)

Off to feed Lilly ..

~M~

So sad, just came over the news that a 47 yrs. old I believe just got the ok to return home - not far from the blast, she had a heart attack and died..am sure they said 47 and not 77...regardless...so sad, they said the pressure was just too much!

As in Thunder Bay, we here in the Southern Interior of BC desperately need some rain. We have had a day and a half of rain since the 23rd of June. Everything is parched, including our ever volatile forests. And the temps continue to reach low to mid thirties.

Oh Don, we are so very tired of rain, not just light rain, torrential rains..it cleared up somewhat just before lunch but it's dark sky and on the cool side..well, better accept the fact that fall is shortly to be on our doorstep and the white stuff a coming so I'd better stop the complaining and enjoy..

Wouldn't it be great if we could divy up all the precipataton equally through the provinces... Dreamin' here. Agreed though, summer is quickly passing; before long, the leaves will be turning...and then....

MOUSE INNARDS !! CATS !! UGgggggggggggg .. let Smokey in at THREE in the morning .. stepped out to see what he was 'catterwalling' about .. well .. shoulda looked DOWN before i stepped out the door !! Y'all can fill in those blanks --------------- !!!!!!

It's a brisk 47F here this morning .. but .. going for a high of 26 again .. no rain predicted ..
DonM has a fine idea .. I kinda think some Provinces would buy rain by the barrel over OIL right now !!

BDay shopping on the agenda today, my good friend is hitting the BIG 5 0 on Sunday .. am thinking I will likely go to CAA and start the paperwork for her passport .. mine too .. as I have said many times 'PROCRASTINATION' is my middle name .. maybe this way the task will come to fruition.

May take some pics of my Cannas today, they are FINALLY in bloom !!!

Take care all ..

~M~

Sunshine all the way to the city this morning..slight chance of rain tonight, tomorrow but they are calling for a 'sunshine' weekend...I've got the weekend all planned, mentally at least...if Cathy (a neighbor) decides to cut my grass today as she has done all summer - 3 hrs. of cutting, then Sat. morning I'll take her to Gravenhurst which is probably an hours drive..large 'artisan' show on the lake..mom's cottage is mid-point so could visit with her for a bit..then home to play in the gardens...
Can't you tell I don't want to be here, I want to be home enjoying the last of the garden beauty...

What you all up to today? anything special, please share - my day will be dull/dull and duller...lol

Good morning,

Heading out to Vancouver on the 5 pm flight. Back on Tuesday. Might be MIA for that time. Finishing up the PJ's for my daughter which are nearly done.

Ann

Farmers market this morning and Cirque du Soleil ( Corteo) this evening. Have only seen Cirque once before someyears ago - looking forward to it.

Sounds very exciting for both of you...think Cirque du Soleil is also here in Toronto or at least a rendition of it...because I travel to work the 100 miles each way each day, last think on the weekend I want to do is make the trip again..so, miss out on a lot...

Enjoy your trip Anne, am sure darling daughter will love her new jammies...always more comfy when made with love and by a mom!

Hello everyone.....

Im so excited, and just got a new puppie...wooohoooo...and I cant even go to bed, as Im just adoring him and loving him at the same time...hes so sweet...Black Lab again..5yrs old from the black lab rescue locally..

Good timing, as Im off duty until Monday nite and he cant stay away from me, or vice versa...tooo cute...I will post some pics...when I figure out how to work my dig camera...dont have a clue right now...

I know its hooked up to the computer...but have never downloaded anything before...and my first brugs (blooms) are starting to bloom now as well. I know all of you think Im silly, but Ill figure it out somehow....hope you all have a great day..cheers!

CONGRATS on your new baby Sydney :-) and a HUGE thumbs up to be off til Monday !! Enjoy ..

Digital cameras are a learning curve .. for me .. taking the pics was not a big deal .. BUT .. sometimes the uploading from the camera to the computer can be a tad confusing. Basically .. you just plug the camera into the USB cable and follow the instructions that fly up atcha .. OOOOOOO .. make sure you turn the camera ON :-) That was my first big mistake. Another small suggestion .. make sure your pics are in jpg format. My pics go to bmp first .. BIG FILE .. but very easy to convert. Good luck to ya .. can hardly wait to see pics of your boy .. has he a name ?

Well .. DH is meandering home from the US today .. only to leave again tomorrow for the day to go with a buddy to a Sportsman's Show west of here by 200 miles in a small town called Dryden. From what I can gather i am going to have to find some room in my cupboards for some OUTRAGEOUS deals he got. .88 a pacakge for Pasta and $1.50/lb for butter are just 2 of the bargains he mentioned. No doubt Lilly will be getting MORE 'stuffy toys' .. she's a funny little gurl sometimes .. she doesn't often play with her WIDE array of plush toys .. they sit in a bin, and every so often she'll go over and knock a few out .. but that's it .. she is a bone chewer (and hider)

Have a funeral to attend today .. then lunch with the 'girls' ...

TGIF :-)

~M~

Took a pic of my perennial bed with my cell .. hope it comes through OK .. I think it'll show my wonderful 'Prairie Sun' Rudbeckia :-)

~M~

Blurry pics I think .. this one is an attempt to show the poor Cannas that are STRIVING to bloom while surviving our very cool nights.
Goes up to over 80F in the day here and down to the low 40s over night !!

~M~

Big fire down the street early this AM.Woke to hear sirens going down the street but they faded and so I relaxed a few moments later another one which seemed to srop nearby, got up and looked out windows, saw nothingk back to bed. A bit later another siren, this one certainly stopped nearby and could hear motor running so up again and went outside intime to see a huge tower of smoke and flame in the next block, ashes actually floating over our houses ( apparently may have been just after a propane tank exploded). Unfinshed duplex in next block so nobody in there so far as I know, not sure at this point about damage to next houses althoughs omebody said one had fire on roof. Lots of fire trucks, ambulances etc.

Fire is always one of the things that scares me after an experience in Boston many years ago where an apartment building fire half a block away killed several people, fire doors were blocked open and people got trapped as the fire spread thru the stairwells.

While watching a couple came along with an animal carrier, they live across the street from the fire and were advised to leave just in case, had 2 cats. She recognized me as "the gardener"( from the newspaper) and said I used to canvas - they live in a house which was originally identical to mine.

I havent been out with the dogs yet but will go have a look.

Cirque du Soleil show 'Corteo" last night as always very enjoyable. They always have a great bit of show in the audience before the mainshow starts which is good for lots of laughs. Had some fabulous masks for sale - the best ones were 400 and 500 dollars, no use for such a thing but would have loved to have one, even the cheapest at about 100 was pretty neat.

This message was edited Aug 15, 2008 7:11 AM

Stained my new window boxes. Have one more coat to do & then I'm going to hang them under my front living room windows. Picked up some pansies and mums from Home Depot.

Here a pic of my "fall colors" camouflaging the tramp.

Pic of last nights damage.
House to south was badly damaged, north side not so much, There is ash debris for two blocks or so,
Hear police were out with dogs checking the neighborhood and also patrolling around the rest of the night
Chatting with various neighbors including a women who lives a couple blocks from me and her new house ( not yet finished) was another one targeted.
Scarey!

This message was edited Aug 15, 2008 11:39 AM

ooooooooh Fancy - so glad it wasn't closer......

I heard it was arson, and hit 2 houses that hadn't been finished. Also another house where someone had just moved in?!
I heard about it on the news, just never thought it was close to someone I knew
Glad you're ok!! Scary though, eh?!

No they were mostly all unoccupied buildings /garages mainly nearly finished or partially constructed.

It's so sick that there are people so destructive. We had about 36 fires within in 3 months, all vehicles in the back-alley, in our area a few years ago. Rumor has it that it was suspected that it was a young teenager and out of the blue it stopped.

Here's my new window boxes. Planted pink mums & pansies since it is so late in the year.

Joannabanana love the color blue, great window boxes...I have a few boxes that were on the windows before I had the entire outer house done, want to give my back metal shed (you know the cheap kind) a look of country so today will try to cut them down..making faux windows so and hoping mine turn out as pretty as yours...

Fancy, sorry to hear about the destruction..Last weekend in Toronto a propane facility exploded, a caretaker died, firefighter was burried yesterday and a woman in her late 40's when allowed to go back home this week had a heart attack and died..although they evacuated thousands most have returned home with damage done but hundreds of homes are not yet habitable...mega controversy about having such a facility within city limits and in residential areas...

Love the photo's 'M'..was it a friend who passed away? My condolences...

Know if I sit and play on DG and my other sites I'll not get anything done, it's a beautiful day here, I'm aiming for cutting out and painting 2 birdhouses, cut down and do the window boxes and go through the house just incase I have B&B guests tonight so think my day is planned...

Was going to go to Gravenhurst at the artist/craft show but it's over 1 hr. drive, then I'll spend all my $$$ for things I don't need lol and be mad at myself that I wasted a day, so we'll see...plans to change rather quickly around here.....

Enjoy YOUR day!

Hort Nite at Greengate this evening - members only, wine and cheese and staff discount (25%) a good time to buy some of the plants you thought were too expensive in May!
And tomorrow working at Lougheed House plus the Fools garden gathering at a members.

Our early morning fires ( all but one within a block from me) were confirmed to be arson. 1.3 M damage.Fortunately(???) targets were all unoccupied buildings but because of the time put people in surrounding areas at risk but nobody hurt.

My computor is going to my IT friends in an hour or so for its semiannual check up so I will be computorless until Sunday evening ! Withdrawl symptoms by then Im sure!


Have a great weekend all.

Still cookin' down here in the Southern Interior of BC. We recorded 38.5C yesterday, supposed to be another hot one today before a blessed cool front moves in on Monday with much needed rain for our tinder dry forests. Have a good weekend everyone. We are headed for the lake! :D

WHEW !!!! Hot and muggy in the northwest today .. 35C with the humidex factored in .. but .. blessedly .. we had a pleasant wind !!!

The funeral was one of my patients .. have cared for her for about a year (intermittently) .. young woman with a young family .. sad day .. but .. she is now free of pain.

Bought my bud a 'ZUNE' mp3 player for her BDay (17th) .. we have spent MOST of today trying to sort out how to download songs onto it !!! I thought it would just be 'zip, zip, zip !! NOWAY!! Very frustrating .. have set it aside and will tackle it again tomorrow (maybe I should ask my 10 yr old GD LoL )

Had a window box once upon a time .. one of my cats at the time thought it a rather pleasant perch while she did her business !!!!

BDay party here tomorrow .. I best get some sleep !!

Ciao

~M~

Is indeed sad "M" when they are so young..my DH was 47...

Was sunshine earlier this morning, had cut out 2 'cafe' style birdhouses yesterday, wanted to paint outside but as I was preparing to get organized it clouded over, now it's downstairs in the craft room..took a break and it's sunshine again, lordy..better just stay where I am..

Have been working on a DG friendship garden..old metal shed need an uplift - country style..found some old flower boxes...in order to fit would have to be sawed and ends put in..hate working with my table saw when I'm alone, so, thinking hard on that one...brother had cut 1/2 his finger off in his workshop and that put me in a 'safety mode' ...

So off I go, do hope you all are enjoying Sunday...
Talk later...might even have a birdhouse to show you..lol

Good morning from Vancouver. Overcast today and maybe a bit coooler if we are lucky. Yesterday we spent the morning at the mall and went out to dinner at a lovely restaurant in Stanley Park -- celebrating Aunt Alma's 92nd birthday (which is next week) and our 40th anniversary (which is today). Little baby Leila out on her best face in public - slept through the shopping expidition and was charmong through dinner. Then screamed all the way home.

We'll meet again for brunch this morning. And might, in the afternoon, visit the Van Dusen gardens.

Ann