Settling In

Today is our third day in the new digs. We managed to make a "real" dinner tonight, and Phyllis baked cookies this afternoon. Not easy finding the ingredients, bowls, etc., but eventually we'll get used to where things are.

We tranquilized the cat the evening we brought her over, and she has reluctantly come to accept her new home. As long as she has her food bowl and her grooming brush she stays pretty content. Yesterday we brought over her TV--the aquarium with three gold fish.

We were all happy to see our new recliner chair and love seat arrive today. The first two evenings we had to sit on our computer chairs to watch the late news--not a great way to enjoy watching TV.

There are still a few things to sew up over at the house, along with a lot of vacuuming, dusting, cleaning and polishing. The carpets will get cleaned next Friday, and that will be the final act before turning things over to Amy.

Now to settle in, get the income tax forms done, and prepare for our summer adventure.

"And that's the kind of a day it's been...."

Phyllis and Lew

Good Lord, a Whole Year has Passed!

After reading Gary's recent blog, I thought I'd have a look at ours. It's almost a year since we last posted. Lots has happened since then!

Our summer was spent, as usual, doing a lot of gardening. We did manage to hit the golf course a few times, and we were out in the fishing boat once or twice. The main event, though, was the reunion of Phyllis' maternal side of the family. This was basically held in our back yard on the long weekend at the end of July. There were 30 of us, and everyone had a wonderful time. We tried to keep the three days very laid back so that there could be lots of visiting. There were a few assigned 'trips' around our gorgeous city, and we think our cousins now have a much greater appreciation for Saskatoon and the province in which their roots are grounded.

Phyllis' daughter, Lindsay was home from Finland early in July, and it was wonderful to have her and her husband Jukka for a week before they headed to Toronto, Montreal, and back home. Daughter Leslie and her husband Trevor were here for the family reunion. So we had our annual visit with all the kids.

In October we began earnestly shopping for a condo. As much as we love the big yard and all the gardening, Phyl's hands and shoulders have developed enough arthritis to indicate we need to start a more laid back life. As well, we have begun an addiction for travel, and it is so much easier to lock the door on a condo than to organize people to look after a house and all that goes with it.

On November 15 we took possession of our new home. This was a month before we left for our 10-day Caribbean/Panama Canal cruise. We simply took the keys, but left the water turned off and nothing done--with the idea that we would do all that after Christmas and plan a move around February or March.

Our Christmas cruise was lovely. Although our Saskatchewan weather was very nice, it was still great to get some real sun and heat. We spent most of our time on the ship, but stopped in Aruba, Cartegena (Columbia) , Limon (Costa Rica), and Ocho Rios (Jamaica). We didn't get off the ship in the Panama Canal, as we really wanted to experience the traverse of the locks, and the best place to see it was from the bow of the ship. The shore experiences certainly showed us how fortunate we are to live in a country of wealth. Many of our tours took us through the ghetto-like conditions of many of the residential areas in the Caribbean countries.

On our way home, we stopped in Toronto where Phyl's brother Eric picked us up and drove us out to his family cottage on Bass Lake, just out of Orillia. His wife Jane and he were great hosts, and we had a wonderful New Year with them. Leslie and Trevor drove down from Montreal, so it was quite the family gathering. We brought in 2012 by having a wiener roast on the shoreline. some champagne and fireworks!

Arriving home, we found everything was intact. Once again Phyl's Mom had done a fine job of babysitting the cat and fish and keeping the house from being vandalized. We felt a little guilty having left her alone over Christmas, but she spent the day over at Aunt Flo's and had a lovely turkey dinner at the Chateau. She also had lunch with auntie on December 29 to celebrate Flo's 95th birthday!

Since being home, we listed our house and managed to sell it privately within 30 days! Everyone is happy with the possession date being April 1. This has given us time to do some renovations in the condo. Phyllis is never satisfied with how things are, so the laundry room has seen a complete makeover, the kitchen cabinets have gained a whole lot of roll-out shelves, and the den has had some conversions so that it can handle having two computers and all the peripherals.

Meanwhile at the house, we have pulled and scrapped and packed and recycled trying to get things down to a reasonable amount of movables. Each time we go to the condo we take a few more boxes of stuff. The purchase of a couple of lockable metal cabinets has made a home for all the canned veggies and fruit in one, and all the car antifreeze, oil, wax, etc. in the other. Lew has built a large set of shelves for our storage "cage", and already there is a fair amount of stuff packed in there.

The moving truck is coming on the 22nd to take over the bedroom furniture, the living room furniture and some other big stuff. Otherwise we are doing the moving ourselves. With three months to do it, we've found it quite easy to manage it all.

We'll have five weeks in our new home before we leave for our 12 week driving vacation to all of the Eastern provinces. We have two main goals: 1.) The Canadian Choral Convention and the Tulip Festival in Ottawa on the May long weekend 2.) The reunion of our Australia/New Zealand tour group in Little Bay Island, Nfld on the second weekend in June. Otherwise we are simply "wandering" and taking time to see the sights. This is our first holiday that doesn't have a schedule attached, and we are looking forward to that. We'll end up back in Montreal around the first of July, where we'll bunk at Leslie and Trevor's and await the arrival of Lindsay from Finland. Once she has had a good visit with her sister, she'll be our back seat passenger back to Saskatchewan.

A former Saskatoon couple, who now live in Costa Rica will be staying in our condo for May and June, so we have a built in cat and fish-sitting situation.

A few weeks at "home" to unpack and repack, and then we'll be heading West. Lindsay is to be a bridesmaid at a Vancouver wedding, so we will drive out, attend the wedding, and have a few days in Victoria with the Ousey's et al. By August, we'll just be happy to come back to Saskatoon and vegetate.

So, that's our ANNUAL blog--the last one was a QUARTERLY blog. I hope we don't get to the point of letting this slide for a whole decade!

Cheers,

Lew and Phyllis

Wonderful Holiday Came to an End

Hello there,

Five weeks away from Saskatchewan's cold and snow has made us think this should become an annual event! Two days with Carolyn and Gary in Casa Grande before leaving for L.A. and thence to New Zealand were great. Again we went to the "Organ Stop" for pizza and entertainment--something I would recommend to anyone who heads for Phoenix.

We arrived in New Zealand on February 23rd to torrential rain and cyclonic winds. This was the edge of one of many small cyclones in the area. Two days in Auckland proved to be windy, but we did lots of sightseeing and began our diary of video and photos. From Auckland by coach we went to Rotorua, seeing glow worm caves, geysers, mud pools and sheep shearing. After those two days we returned to Auckland, picked up the suitcase that I had lost at the hotel, and continued to the wharf to board our "home" for the next 12 days. This was the lovely Diamond Princess, one of the largest cruise ships owned by Princess Cruises.

The cruise was great fun in spite of very high swells, rain, and rather cool weather. Lew was able to play bridge on "sea days" while I played Trivia, went shopping, and visited with others on the ship. There were about 3000 passengers with which to visit, so I never found myself bored! Unfortunately there were only a couple of days when suntanning was on the agenda, but we certainly partook of the food and the entertainment on board.

Land tours from the ports gave us greater insight into the two islands of New Zealand, the island of Tasmania, and the cities of Melbourne and Sydney in Australia. We did indeed visit Christchurch 3 weeks before the earthquake, and we circumvented Cyclone Yasi in Australia. Our tours took us to several different zoos and animal enclosures, as well as farms, Maori camps, historic sites, museums, Aboriginal encampments, and a Cadbury chocolate factory.

We disembarked in Sydney and flew immediately to Cairns (over top of Brisbane and all its devastation). Cairns had been visited by Cyclone Yasi only two days prior to our arrival, so we were able to see the uprooted trees, toppled fences and chimneys, and massive flooding. Yet, it didn't screw up any of our itinerary, and we were able to proceed as planned. After 3 days in and around Cairns (Great Barrier Reef, Rain Forest, etc.) we flew into the Outback, landing in Alice Springs. There we very much enjoyed the bright sunshine, 36 degree weather, and 99% humidity. The "desert" was lush and green from having received more than 10 times the usual annual rainfall. Our tour group of 26 Canadians were a wonderful bunch, full of fun and silly ideas. They decided that Lew and I should not be living in sin, so they planned and carried out a "mock wedding" on February 13 at a cattle station, where we learned all about boomerangs, heard more about Aboriginal culture, and were served bush bread and barbecued steak outdoors, followed by entertainment that was provided by a balladeer. All of the gentlemen involved had bought into the 'wedding' scheme, so they fit it right into the entertainment. It was a lot of fun, and quite confusing to the other tour group who were there that night!

From Alice Springs we took a long coach ride through the Outback to Uluru, commonly known as Ayers Rock. Along the way we came upon several herds of wild camels. After touring around the Olgas (an outcropping of rocks with 38 "heads"), and the base of Ayers Rock, we were glad to get into our air conditioned hotel and enjoy a shower. It was extremely hot and muggy, and during the days the black flies were quite nasty. The evening, however, was lovely and the second night we were there, we took a small bus through kangaroo country to a "secret" place on the desert near the Rock for the "Sounds of Silence" dinner. There, tables were set with linen and silverware and candles, right out under the sky in the desert. Wine and beer were included and unlimited--not necessarily a good thing. This was our night to remember, since Lew felt that February 14th, Valentine's Day, was a good time to continue our backwards theme. Since traffic is on the wrong side of the road, the sky travels from East to West along the NORTH sky, and water swirls down the drain the "wrong" way, he decided that following a honeymoon, then a mock wedding, there should be an engagement. It was at the dinner that he presented me with a "rock" that he felt I might appreciate. (As an amateur geologist he is always dragging home rocks, and I'm not usually very appreciative.) We are now officially engaged. A wedding date has not been set, but we will keep everyone posted.

The morning following this celebration we flew back to Sydney, where we spent three days. While there we travelled throughout the city, went up to the Blue Mountains, and went to see "The Barber of Seville" at the Sydney Opera House. On February 17th we had our final dinner with the tour group, with many promises that we will meet together again in June of 2012 for a "reunion". February 18 we flew back to LA, and thence to Phoenix to spend another two days with Carolyn and Gary. Luckily my cousin Pat and her hubby, Dennis, (from Ontario) were staying in Quartzite and were able to drive over and spend a day and evening with us.

We left Casa Grande on a beautiful 70F morning, only to arrive in Saskatoon to -25C with a windchill. No wonder we are so glad we did our "once in a lifetime" trip.

All was well here, as my Mom (at 85) stayed and looked after the house, the cat, and the fish. She even did some of the snow-shovelling, but she was severely admonished for that!

That's our quarterly blog for now. Be in touch later!

Phyllis

Fall is Summer!

Hello all,

What a weird year. It did nothing but pour rain and stay cold and miserable all summer, and now that it's FALL we're getting above average temperatures, sun and dry weather. We'll take it!

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Lindsay (and her friend Anulina) from Finland today. They will be in Saskatchewan for two weeks before heading back to Finland via Montreal, where they will stop to visit Leslie and Trevor.

In spite of the weather problems, the garden took up a lot of our time this summer. Along with that, we purchased a fishing boat, motor and trailer, and have been out a couple of times:

We have managed to get in a few rounds of golf, and have done lots of work on our yard. We re-landscaped the front yard completely--it was a very good year to lay down sod and get it established! We introduced some goldfish to the backyard pond and had great success. We put four fish in the pond and will be taking at least six out!

Lew has kept up his 3-day a week schedule of playing Bridge, and is on the Club executive--sometimes a rather thankless task. Meanwhile, Phyllis has tried to keep herself fit by going to the gym regularly.

We made a very quick trip to Grand Forks, B.C. in July. We spent a couple of nights in Canmore with Janet and George, where it was very cold and we could see it snowing on the mountain tops. However, the day we left to head West, the weather changed and it was well over +30 while we were in the Interior. Cherries weren't quite ready, so we came home empty-handed.

Although our own apple tree didn't produce at all this year, we managed to raid some neighborhood trees and do our annual pie/crisp/sauce/wine fest.

Once we had all the garden produce under control, we did a bit of a reno in the kitchen. We purchased a nearly new dual-fuel range (gas cook top with electric convection oven), so that meant cutting out a portion of our cabinets and countertop (where the old cook top was) and revamping a door and drawer in order to accommodate the new range. As well, Lew built 4 lovely roll-out drawers where the old wall oven used to be. In order to make all the materials match, we decided to bite the bullet and paint over the original oak. That was a bit scary, but it has turned out quite nicely, we think.

Before After

We also worked on the landscaping at the side of the house, taking out all the crushed rock, and digging out the black earth so that we could put in sand and interlocking block. By the time we did that, our muscles certainly let us know about it! However, we now have a "third" retreat outside where we can sit and drink tea with the neighbors.

The next thing in the JOB JAR is to pack up the trailer with a cabinet and countertop and several other things and drive to Montreal to visit with Leslie and Trevor, and to help them renovate the guest bathroom. While there, I'm sure there will be some yardwork to take care of, and I hear there is to be a basement waterproofing project as well. We have no definite time of return, but hope to get back before the middle of November. We'll leave here the day after Lindsay and Anulina fly to Montreal. They will be on their way home to Finland before we invade the kids' house, since it takes us three full days' driving to reach there.

Meanwhile Grandma will come over and look after the cat and the house. We are very fortunate that both our "little old ladies" are doing very well this summer. We only hope it stays that way, as we have travel plans after Christmas.

That's an update on the Heuchert/Johnston lives. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Christmas Time 2009

Hello,

This is an experiment on my behalf. Not sure if these videos will post, but it's worth a try.

To Phoenix and Back

Thanks again to Carolyn and Gary for hosting us on our 5-day holiday in Casa Grande. The weather Gods did not hear our plea for heat and calm, but the vacation was great nevertheless. It was great to meet the Kirkwood's, and for me to meet Sue and Rob after hearing so much about all of them. The trips to the Flea Market, Savers, Saguara National Park, and even the Golf course were memorable. We managed to get all the "bargains" home safely last night. Today has been a catch up day of pulling stuff out of the suitcases, doing laundry, and reading all the papers and mail that arrived in our absence.

The cat was glad to see us home, even though "Grandma" had done a wonderful job of keeping her bowl full and letting her in and out in our rather balmy weather. It feels warmer here today at +5 with no wind, than it did on the golf course on Tuesday! Oh, well, that is an adventure to remember.

Starting tomorrow it's back to the treadmill and the gym to grind off the extra pounds that always come with a vacation. Then into the Bridge for Lew and the Choral work for me. I'm looking forward to the end of May when all my "responsibilities" are done and I can puddle in the garden at my own pace. Hopefully I'll have sense enough to say "no" to any volunteer positions and become entirely my own boss!

Had a taste of the Saguaro honey this morning, and it isn't a whole lot different from regular Canadian clover/alfalfa honey, but quite nice anyway.

All for now. Safe driving for all the RVer's as they head back to their respective lodgings next month.

Happy New Year

BEST WISHES FOR

2010

The first day of 2010 has passed, and so far it's been a very good year! We awoke this morning in the all-season Hawood Inn at Waskesiu, Sk. after a wonderful New Year's Eve party in the dining hall. After having breakfast, we meandered down the "Scenic route" in the minus 32 weather. However, as we reached Saskatoon, the wind changed and was coming from the Southeast--hopefully a harbinger of better weather tomorrow.

Christmas was special this year. We had Leslie and Trevor home for four days, and it was great to have "kids" here for the holidays. They arrived late on the 23rd and were ready to chow down on a dinner of ham, homemade cabbage rolls, homemade sauerkraut perogies, and homemade Saskatoon pie.

Our main Christmas dinner was on the 24th so we cooked up a major feast for ourselves, the kids, and the two "little old ladies". The day was laid back and quiet. The most exciting activity was doing a jigsaw puzzle late into the night.

Next morning we popped over to Grandma's house for a brunch of tortiere, then off we went to the cabin in the bush. Roads were good, but temperatures were cold. We arrived there about 4:00 p.m. and got the fires stoked. Lew attempted to get the quads and the snow mobile running, but didn't have a lot of success. So we spent the evening chewing on leftovers and playing cards. It was toasty and warm and we all enjoyed our rum and eggnog in the glow of the lights from our forest-cut Christmas tree.

Boxing Day was bright and sunny and not quite so cold, and the men got all the machines going. Leslie and I went for a long walk around the subdivision before packing on all our extra clothing and joining the guys on a trek by skidoo and quad into the woodlands. We hoped to see some wildlife, but there was nothing but a lot of tracks. (Tracks don't make good soup.)

That evening we ate up another round of leftovers before the men went out for a night-time ride. There was just enough moon so that they could travel without lights. It is almost surreal when you can get away from the ambient light of the city, sit on the quad in the silence of the wilderness and breath in the quietness. I think this was the hi-lite of Trevor's visit.

Next morning we packed up and headed out of the bush toward Winnipeg. Trevor's Mom and sisters were anxiously awaiting their guests, and all of us were feeling the need of a nice, warm shower. We dropped the kids with Trev's Mom, gave them our hugs and kisses and relinquished them to his family for their four days. A quick stop at the motel to shower, shave, etc. and have a bite to eat, then we were off to Betty's for a few hours visiting.

We were lucky to have time with Gord and Sharon, Erin and Brian, David and Michelle and their little ones Lachlan and Taylor. Mustn't forget the bulldog cross "Marley", and of course Betty's lab "Toby".

Next morning we popped up to Deer Lodge for some time with Auntie Merle. She was surprised to see us, and we had a great time with her. She is just in fine form, and was so excited about having been "home" for a few hours on Christmas Day. Her family it to be applauded for making her outing possible. She certainly enjoyed it.

While we were visiting, Kathy and Bruce arrived and had pictures of Bobby's wedding to show. The marriage took place on Boxing Day at the Air Force Base in Winnipeg, and the bride and groom made sure to go to Deer Lodge in full wedding attire to show Aunt Merle.

We look forward to the annual trek to Winnipeg in early February to celebrate Merle's 101st! We have several minutes of video from our recent visit with her and will try and share it if we can figure out how to compress it and get it onto the airwaves. All this technology is a bit mind-boggling. Thankfully we can always ask for help from Gary.

So that's a recap of our past couple of weeks. We are anxiously awaiting our trip to Phoenix in March to meet up with Carolyn and Gary and get some sun and warmth. Best wishes to everyone for the coming year. May your cup run over with good health and prosperity.

Phyllis and LEW

Reporting from Sunny Saskatchewan

Hello all,

We had a wonderful visit in Victoria. Thank you, Carolyn and Gary. Also thanks to "the kids" for joining us for the family dinner, and for the extra visits. We got out of Sask just in time to miss the snow, rain, and wind and had fine weather almost all of the time we were in Victoria. Even the days there was rain, we managed to be in pockets where it wasn't pouring.

The Salvation Army and Value Village will never be the same since Carolyn and Phyllis' visits. Some of the best bargains they had have now reached our closets! Walmart in Duncan will continue to operate for another day or two based on the purchase of video cameras by Gary and Lewis. We have managed to do some filming since we got home. Now we have to figure out how to download and clear the card--but a little reading (and likely a few mistakes) and we'll get it done.

The major excitement since we returned home was prepping to take out the huge Scotch pine that was in front of the house. It would have been a gorgeous tree out in the forest, but it was a big pain in the butt here on a city lot. Every year it shed a truckload of cones (this is NOT an exaggeration) that had to be hand-picked and disposed of. They spit all over the driveway and sidewalk and were such hard little suckers, that stepping on one could cause a severely twisted ankle. Once out on the street, they were run over by vehicles, making it look like we still had our milk delivered by horse-drawn carts.

Each fall it shed its needles. We all know from Christmas experiences that a Scotch pine is far more difficult to clean up after than a "regular" Christmas tree. Besides all this, the people from whom Phyl bought the property had made the mistake of surrounding the tree with a layer of small rock over landscape fabric. So there was no raking or sweeping or blowing the debris away.

Needless to say we learned to despise the tree. Phyllis had an on-going battle with the city over whose tree it was. For four years the city insisted it was "an asset of the city" and that it was on the easement. That means that although the tree and lawn "belong" to the city, the homeowner is tasked with looking after it. Finally this spring Phyl wrote a pointed letter stating that the city's "asset" was paying huge dividends, and perhaps they would like to come by and collect the proceeds. Failing that, perhaps they could send someone every second day from June 1st till September 30 to tidy up behind it as it rained cones and needles.

This brought the city arborist out to our property with his tape measure and clip board, not once, but several times. Finally he came to the door and advised that it had been determined that the tree WAS on our property and not on the easement. Therefore the city would take it off their inventory and we would be free to do with it as we pleased. We made sure that we got a letter and an email from the city informing us of their decision. Once done, we planned our action.

Lew took off the lower branches up to about 16 feet high. Then he tied a cable around one of the main trunks as high as he could reach on the extension ladder. The other end was tied to the Sorento. We had our friend Arden over, and he sawed out the wedge, then back-cut as Lew put tension on the cable. Over it came with a beautiful thud, and pine cones flying in all directions! This is all documented by Phyllis on video. Lew, Arden, and Phyllis wielded chain saws for about an hour, limbing the tree, packing the "slash" into the trailer for composting, and sawing the branches and trunks up into manageable lengths. Lew's friend Bill will take the wood for burning in his fireplace. We have a wood-burning fireplace, but it is so ineffecient that we have blocked it off and put an electric insert in.

Once the wood was all out of the way, Phyl called up Big and Low Stump Removal. The owner, Gerald Bigelow, came over and assessed the situation, then arrived the next day with his truck, bobcat, stump grinder, chain saw, leaf blower, and two dozen other small pieces of landscape equipment. Within 3/4 of an hour, he had all the rocks scraped up and into the back of his truck and was prepped to grind the stump. We had issues over where the water valve happened to be in the yard, so the whole episode got put on hold while the City shovel-leaners blundered around finding it. Turned out that the stump didn't get ground until the next day. It was quite the process to watch, and again it is all captured on video.

We now have a nice, flat black front yard that is calling for some fill and sod next spring. We know in advance that there will be some sore muscles in May! We are planning to plant a recently developed tree to replace the Scotch Pine -- a EuroCADyenUSD $$$$ tree. If we can get it to grow, we'll send you the address of the secret place we were able to obtain it!

All of the flower beds have been cleaned and put to rest, and the pots are tucked away until next year. We feel like we have everything ready for winter to officially set in. However, the past few days have been quite lovely. We have had a bit of mist, but usually the clouds part and we have several hours of sun. It is just a bit cool for shirt sleeves, but certainly one can work in a sweatshirt very comfortably.

Lew is back to playing bridge and we are both bowling on Wednesday nights. Phyllis is attempting to go to the gym five days a week, but finding it rather gruelling until the muscles get used to the work out. Lew does 45 minutes on the treadmill almost every day. Phyl is singing in the University Chorus and practises every Monday evening. Hunting season for deer is on so Lew is trying to find a week when there are no other appointments on the agenda so that he can head to the cabin. We have begun the annual ritual of attending Symphony, Gateway Players, Persephone Players, Live Five Players, and Amati Quartet concerts. When there is nothing else to do we wedge in visits to the Bassment (the local jazz venue) and some small University concerts. There is certainly lots to keep us busy.

Well, that's about it for this report. Hope everyone stays well. Use lots of hand sanitizer and stay away from crowds......

Phyl and Lew

Hot and Healthy

Hi everyone,

Finally we have summer. It has been HOT for three days in a row! We can almost hear our cucumbers growing. The tomatoes are turning red on the vine, and we're only a couple of days away from eating some home-grown corn on the cob. Everything cries out for water, so the hose has been put to use every evening.

Lew had another MRI a couple of weeks ago, and a follow-up visit with the oncologist on Monday. Everything is good, and we felt that the Doctor was very pleased with the outcome. Lew's thyroid problem has been corrected, and he is now looking and feeling healthy once again. It has been a long year of medical nonsense, but the end result seems to be what we were hoping for.

I have had some problems with my hands, particularly with fingers "locking up". We happened to have dinner about a month ago with my cousin who is a local plastic surgeon. I took my opportunity to complain to him about my hands, and he said he would be glad to give me some steroid injections to make them feel better. So I had that done yesterday. Although one wouldn't expect instant results, I can already tell that things are going to be better.

The next thing on the agenda is a trip to Calgary next week for me to attend the Canadian Sleep Institute to determine why I am doing such a lousy job of sleeping. By coincidence, we will be bunking at George and Janet's, and they are expecting Betty to arrive on Thursday. So we hope to have a good visit with all of them.

A picture recently received from Kathy shows Aunt Merle out in the sun with Betty. She is looking really, really, good. Can't keep an old dog down!

The past few weeks we have been picking wild berries and cooking and canning. Attached is a picture of the production line.

We were lucky to find several apple trees in a vacant lot nearby where we picked a wash basket full. Six pies and four apple crisps are tucked in the freezer. After an afternoon of chokecherry picking, we have 15 jars of choke/apple syrup and a garbage can full of chokecherry wine brewing. Also made some apple jelly and apple cider. This all happened at the same time as the prune plums and pears came into the stores, so of course we had to get a case of each of those and can them too! If there is a war, we have our bomb shelter stocked!

Lew plans to head to the cabin on the 13th since hunting season for elk is on. He'll likely spend ten days out there. Has to be back on the 28th for a Bridge Tournament that lasts till October 4. By then I hope to have the garden all cleaned up and packed away so that we can leave home without any tag ends.

Looking forward to our week in Victoria over the Thanksgiving weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we won't hit the rainy season. But if we do, so what? We have good people to visit with and won't have any trouble being indoors with them if that's all we can do. And after all, Value Village is indoors, isn't it Carolyn?

That's all for this post.

Overdue Blog

Hi to All !

July has been a crappy month weather wise here in Toontown. The garden is progressing slowly, but our peppers are way behind due to lack of heat and sunshine. Lately, however, the peas and beans have been prolific, so we've had some great feeds of those veggies, along with some swiss chard and beet tops.

Lew has been for a few more tests, but no results yet. But we suspect the hyperthyroid problem has been solved. He's now doing 45 min daily on the treadmill at various speeds totalling almost 3 miles. So much for potential heart problems. Phyl suffers from SADS, so all the dark cloudy days have not been good for her - but she "endeavours to persevere".

We had Phyl's cousin Lawrence stay with us for a few days. He's from the Lower mainland in BC. They had a few days to reminisce together before he journeyed down to their old stomping grounds in southeastern Saskatchewan. Nice guy, Lew met him last yr at the Jacobs reunion in Ontario.

Lew's 65th occured this July 15th. Phyl threw me a great party at a local rib joint. Most of my closest friends were in attendance. Very much a pleasant surprise! We aso had a little party at home with a very large dairy Queen Ice cream cake. Took us about a week to eat it all!

Phyl's brother Eric is visiting from Toronto, along with a couple of classmates from BC and one from Saskatoon. As it turned out, Phyl was also a classmate of these folks as she went thru school at the same time as Eric in spite of being a yr younger. Small school, needed to fill up a class so Phyl was promoted, so to speak. They all had a nice reunion at our place.

Phyl and I spent a couple of days at the cabin, primarily to fetch one of Lew's snowmobiles back to Saskatoon, and also to get some flat rocks for Phyl's garden pool which will be going into our yard this fall. Lew bought a new machine, so he's selling off his 2 older sleds.

Phyl's car was rear-ended on an open road by a lady from BC. Ended up no one hurt, but SGI is writing off our 2003 Aerio. So today Phyl went out and bought another 2003 Aerio - same colour,but a few more bells and whistles, but also 30K km more on the odometer. Unfortunate, but crap happens. At least we think we got a fair settlement from SGI ( our provincial insurer), and were able to come out not too far in the red on the deal. The mounties charged the other party, so she won't be so fortunate.

That's us up-to-date for now.

Love to all,

Phyl, Lew, and Melissa

World Travelers Return Home!

Hello there,

I finished work on May 20, and have no plans to go back. Retirement suits me just fine!

Lew’s treatment for hyperthyroidism seems to have worked, and he is feeling better every day. He now has some energy, generally looks better, and has given up wearing his nitro patch. We think he’s on the road to complete recovery.

We are just home from five weeks’ holiday visiting the girls. First, we loaded up our cargo trailer with my piano, sewing bench, antique kitchen table, and some other goodies and drove to Hudson (near Montreal) where Leslie lives. She needs furniture to fill up the six-bedroom house she and Trevor bought last year!

Traveling was good, and we arrived there in less than four days. The kids had a long list of “to do’s” for us, so Lew and Trevor did a bunch of plumbing while I went out and dug up the gardens. There had been about ten years of neglect, so the long-handled spade we took got put to good use. I could likely go back every year for ten years and dig before I ever caught up with all the work. Leslie isn’t the frantic gardener I am, but I tried to teach her a little about “maintenance”.

We stayed a week then flew from there to Finland to visit Lindsay and Jukka. We got to see their new condo. It’s pretty small, but works well for the two of them. Of course, the bathroom and sauna uses up a whole lot of space that I think would be better used for other things—but saunas are a must in Finland. The condo building is brand new, and they were able to pick out their own décor, tiles, etc. We enjoyed spending time with the kids and Jukka’s family. His parents are very fine people, so it makes me feel satisfied that Lindsay has a good family to support her. She was sick with a nasty cold while we were there, but she determined to show us a good time anyway. Yesterday was their first anniversary, and it just seems a couple of days ago!

After a week, we flew back to Montreal. By this time the little garden I had planted for Leslie was poking through. She had the week off, so she and I planted some flowers, but generally we just relaxed. Trevor was working, so Lew just hung out and rested. My Mom flew down and spent a few days with all of us in Montreal. Then we hooked up the trailer and the three of us headed back. Mom has become a new woman since she had her knee replaced. (The next issue is seeing if we can fix up her hearing.)

We spent a night with my cousin south of Ottawa then headed to Lindsay, Ontario where we visited with Fraser MacDonald and Gail Dagneault. Their oldest daughter, Alyssa, is two weeks younger than Leslie. They are still operating their art-work business “Summerberry Signs”, named for their stay in Summerberry, Sask. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours.

From there we drove through to my brother, Eric’s cabin at the lake near Orillia and spent two nights there. Lew was pleased to be able to go sailing in Eric’s 14-foot sailboat. Then on to Elmvale for brunch with my Aunt (Mom’s sister-in-law). From there, we bombed straight through to Portage la Prairie. Mom had never been back since she moved to Saskatoon, so she tried to catch up with some of her old friends. We had coffee with her next-door neighbors, but there was no one else around when we phoned. Next morning we went out to the Re-cycle Center that Mom and Dad had helped to set up. There, she met a lady that she had known while in Portage.

We drove up and down the streets of my old stomping grounds, Grenfell, but didn’t stop to visit. By the time we got there, my Mom was quite sick with a head cold/bronchitis, and Lew and I were both catching it. We didn’t think we needed to spread it to anybody. Things in the old town haven’t changed significantly. I see that the house I built on the Main Street is still up for sale.

We arrived home on Thursday to lots of yard work. Mom had been over for the first three weeks that we were away and did an amazing job of keeping the weeds picked and the garden watered. She had to cover the tomatoes and peppers five nights to keep them from frost, and was busy telling us that nothing was growing. However, when we got back, there was an amazing surge of growth. We’re eating up the lettuce and I pulled all the radishes yesterday. There are a couple of tomatoes with nice big fruit on them, so it looks like we’ll eat again this year.

I’m not feeling great. Sinuses are draining and a very sore throat with lots of coughing. Lew is coughing, too, and has a runny nose. I guess that’s penance for having had a great holiday. We’ll spend the summer pretty close to home. Lew has a bridge tournament here at the end of September. Depending how things are going, we may take a quick trip out to Victoria in October.
Do take care, and hello to everyone.

Another Unemployed Person !

Hi to All !!

This is Phyl at Trevor & Leslie's home in Montreal enjoying a little retirement party !

More to follow soon !

NUKED AND WIRED

Finally, finally, finally. The answer to wait, wait, wait.

Lew had his nuclear thyroid treatment on Tuesday morning. He is now "radioactive" and can't cuddle and kiss, can't lick my spoon, and has to flush twice. Hopefully the long-awaited drink will be the answer to the misery he's been suffering the past two months. Whether it's coincidence, luck, or the drink working quickly, he has managed two full nights without having an angina attack. Today he decided not to put on his nitro patch, and at suppertime has still had no "twinges", as he calls them.

Today he went to get his Holter monitor, so he is now wired to a heart monitor for 24 hours. Somehow we doubt that anything startling will be found. The one part of him that has remained strong seems to be his heart (and that can be taken both ways!).

Tomorrow we both pay a visit to our physiotherapists. Lew will learn what kind of exercises he will have to do to get his shoulder and arm working the way it should following the cancer surgery and radiation. I've been taking treatments for a couple of months now for screwed up sacroiliac joints. I guess that's what comes of thinking you're 16 when you're closer to 61.

Two more work days! Whahoooo! Now, if I can dig through the snow I'll be able to finish planting the garden. No, it's not really THAT bad, but, yes, we've had snow today! My poor tomato plants are two feet tall and blooming, but they're still in their little greenhouse with a light bulb and blanket on. Even at that those that touch the plastic are a bit touched by the frost. We need the moisture that we're getting, but that's all the good I can say for the weather we're having right now. Thankfully, the really nice days have fallen on the weekends. But soon, it won't matter to me. I'll just take them when they happen.

The trailer is all ready to be loaded up for Montreal. Now that Lew has had his treatments, we are feeling more confident that we will actually hit the road as planned. Whatever follow-ups he needs can happen when we get back. This time the doctors can wait for him!

Happy Victoria Day to everyone,

Phyl and Lew

Happy Mom's Day to Everyone Who has had the Joy of Motherhood

The best to all Mom's on this special day.

Because of this lady, I get to say "Happy Mother's Day, Mom":

And because of these ladies, I get to be a Mom:

---And the bonus is that we're actually having a beautiful sunny calm day that simply calls out to me "garden, garden, garden".

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

What a lovely Easter weekend it has been! The yard is all tidied up. The lawn chairs are out on the back patio, barbecue has been cleaned and serviced, and the compost grinder repaired and back in action. Today (Monday) I even dug up a couple of flower beds and took all my seedlings off the windowsills and put them in their little plastic greenhouse. The 14-day forecase promises that it isn't going to freeze solid. Today was a balmy +20.

The only thing that puts a damper on the emergence of spring is Lew's inability to fully enjoy it. He is simply feeling rotten. He continues to lose weight, is getting shakier by the day, and has no energy or strength to do anything. Other than going out to play bridge, and cooking simple meals, he pretty much only watches TV. It's a good thing we've had the Masters and the Men's Curling to watch!

Tomorrow he sees the cardiologist and we're hoping he gets booked for a thyroid scan this week as well. Now that we've narrowed the problems down to angina and overactive thyroid, we're anxious to get the scan done and treatment started. We're still planning to travel this summer, and want him to be on the upswing so he can enjoy the holiday.

He's terribly frustrated at not being able to putter around in the shop or the yard. Even after he starts feeling better, it is going to take a couple of months to get back to normal. I think he is secretly glad that I am pretty independent and am able to take on the "man" things that he can't do at the moment.

My mom is doing really well after having her knee replacement, and is walking better than she has for the last couple of years. My Aunt is doing great for 92, and I've been trying to convince her it's warm enough to go outside and walk around her building. They were both over for dinner on Friday evening and enjoyed the season's first barbecued steak and some real homecooking.

Otherwise we had a very quiet weekend. It has been nice to have a phone visit with Betty, and a couple more with Carolyn. It helps us keep up with what is happening with Lew's family. Hope everyone is doing well. Will try to keep the blog updated as Lew's medical saga continues.

Cheers,

Phyllis and Lew

I wish I could lose weight at the rate he is doing for about a month! But I don't want all the other nasty symptoms along with it. I'm looking forward to some serious gardening to get some muscles going here.

Good grief, two months have passed since our last blog. Maybe it's time to tune in again.

Lew finished his radiation on January 15, and has been recovering very nicely. His sunburn peeled and healed, and he has regained most of his energy. He will see the oncologist at the end of April for a follow-up. We expect there will be a call for an MRI prior to that.

Phyl spent all of January preparing for her role as Delia in "Bedroom Farce", one of five plays presented annually by the Gateway Theatre--a non-professional volunteer theatre here in Saskatoon. At first, the play seemed like it would be less than exciting, a typical English farce without much real humor and including a lot of anachronisms that only the British might understand. But as it came together it became more and more enjoyable. The local newspaper reporter gave it rave reviews. Phyl was pleased to read ".....Blake Cumming (Ernest) and Phyllis Johnston (Delia) were perfectly cast as the oldest couple". In reality, Blake is 30 years old! That also means, that in reality he is exactly half as old as Phyl. Later in the review, "Johnston was even more believable when she provided motherly advice to her daughter-in-law". Given that I will never have a daughter-in-law, I guess it worked!

While Phyl was away in the evenings, Lew spent his time keeping tabs on golf, NCIS, Business News Network, and West Wing. He had his sidekick, Melissa the cat, to keep him company. On January 17, Phyl's Mom came to stay for two weeks as she had just had a knee replacement. So she and Lew could watch TV together. Lew was in his element looking after her while Phyl was off to work or to rehearsal. Ella stayed until the first of February when she went back to her condo. But both Lew and Phyl have been on the reserve list for grocery shopping, medical appointments, etc. The plan is for Ella to be completely well so that she can babysit Melissa and water the garden while we are away for six weeks this summer.

The first weekend of February we flew to Winnipeg to help celebrate Aunt Merle's 100th birthday. Even though her body was weak, she was amazingly keen-minded and could keep track of everyone as they came and went. It is unfortunate that she wasn't able to be up out of bed to have her party, but everyone had good visits with her. And we all had wonderful visits with each other. Betty and her clan did a wonderful job of feeding and entertaining all of us.

Phyl's last official day of work will be May 20. We hope to be on the road by May 22 with our cargo trailer behind the Sorrento. With any luck we'll have the piano, a big sewing desk, the kitchen table, several boxes of books, tools and hardware, an office chair, and perhaps the tea wagon tucked carefully into the trailer. These are all items destined for Leslie and Trevor (Phyl's eldest daughter and hubby) in Hudson, PQ. We hope to arrive there by the 27th of May, unload, get our work clothes on and help them rip the stucco and brick off the exterior of their house.

For some relaxation, we will fly from Montreal on June 2 and be in Finland with Lindsay and Jukka (Phyl's youngest and her hubby) for a week. Back to Montreal/Hudson on June 11 to recover from jet lag. Then another week helping replace windows, add styrofoam insulation, and install vinyl siding. End date for the travels depends a lot on how things are going here at home. We'll hire someone to mow grass, and hopefully the weeds won't get any higher than the back fence in the garden. We can hardly expect Ella (at age 83) to take complete responsibility. Perhaps she could bring Florence (92) over to help her!

The past week we have torn the house apart in order to lay laminate flooring throughout the dining room, kitchen, and hallways. Every door casing had to be removed of course. There never were any respectable baseboards, but there was linoleum glued, screwed and tatooed onto the walls. So there was a lot of dismantling done before we could mantle.......hmmm I wonder if that the correct use of "mantle"?

Effective yesterday we laid the last piece of laminate. Today has been a day of scraping off old paint around the door frames and building new casings. It's slow work. As we go, Phyl is doing some patching and painting. That expanded into painting an entire wall, and it appears that entire hallway into the bedrooms will need the same treatment. No rest for the wicked.

Lew is anxious to get this job put to bed, as we are supposed to get some warmer weather (they've been wrong for the last two months on that forecast!). Regardless, he has plans to head to the cabin for some snowmobiling. Given the doctors' prognosis last year, it's pretty exciting that he has full use of his arm and can wrestle the snow machine and quad around. We've been discussing going golfing this summer--something that was out of the question for the past two summers for Lew.

That's the news from 55 O'Neil in Saskatoon. We'd love to see some information come forth from Mike and Charlene, and David and Tina and crew. Did manage to catch up on Lynn and Noni's lives and kids while in Winnipeg. Take care everyone.

Lew and Phyl

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

To the left is Lew and I just before we left for a Christmas party last year. We like to think we haven't changed significantly over 2008!

I chuckle to read Gary's blog. You guys are only getting a little reminder of growing up in Winnipeg! Shucks, we'll take the snow and give you our -30! Actually it has warmed up significantly this Christmas Eve day, and we're at a balmy -18 this afternoon.

Lew is off playing bridge and I've just finished the peanut brittle and have the carrot pudding steaming, ready for a quick heat up tomorrow. Christmas will be very quiet. Just the two of us and the two little old ladies. We have plenty to be grateful for. Lew has finished 20 of his 33 radiation treatments and the oncologist told him yesterday that everything is going as planned. We hope that the middle of January, when the last treatment is done, we can kiss this whole episode good-bye and get on with life.

I'm revving up to do a play in one of our semi-professional Theatre groups here in Saskatoon. The run is the last week of January. Thanks to Lew's help, I have all my lines memorized and am just working on getting all the inflections, gestures, etc. in place.

As soon as that is done, we look forward to heading to Winnipeg for Auntie Merle's party. It will be a grand reunion of all the crew.

In May I officially retire--even if the stock market doesn't recover. We have a Sally Ann and food bank here, so somehow we'll survive! Hopefully we're off to Montreal as soon as the garden is planted. We plan to drive down with our trailer loaded with furniture for my oldest daughter and her fiance. They'll have a job list for us, as they are updating their six bedroom house, and every room needs some kind of attention. We're hoping we can focus more on the exterior of the house. The garden will likely call us home around the middle of June. My Mom is to have a knee replacement sometime this summer, so we hope everything works into a schedule.

Our relatives and friends have been wonderfully supportive during Lew's surgery and recovery. We had a marvellous day in June to hold my youngest daughter's wedding in our back yard. Life is good and we are thankful.

We wish everyone a happy Christmas filled with fun, family, friends and fellowship. May 2009 give all of you good health and happiness, and perhaps the urge to travel to 55 O'Neil Crescent in Saskatoon!

Cheerio!

Phyllis and Lew

99.9% Out of 100--Great News

We are home from Edmonton where Lew had his surgery on October 1. Nobody (including the surgeons) knew what the outcome might be. We were given "possibilities" as grave as: 1.) He may lose all use of his left arm. 2.) He may have to have the nerves removed and reconstruction attempted by taking nerves from his leg. 3.) He may have any degree of mobility up to 80%.

He was under the knife for a little over four hours. Result? The A-team pulled through! He has at least 85% mobility in his arm and hand with no numbness or tingling. They were able to excise 95% of the tumor. He was released yesterday at noon, only three full days after surgery. He is on precautionary antibiotics and only takes a pain med at bedtime. We will phone the oncologist tomorrow and begin proceedings for radiation. The dosage will be quite low, and there is almost 100% guarantee that the tumor will be completely eliminated. Thus, this past year will become a "blip" on the road of life, we hope.

For anyone who questions the existence of a Higher Being, I can't help but disagree. Our prayers have been more than answered.

My mother looked after house and cat and had a lovely supper ready for us when we got home. Last night was the first night that Lew had a really good sleep. Hospitals are notoriously noisy and disruptive. Although he had a room all to himself, he was right across from the nursing station and public washroom, and everyone who came into the "West" wing had to walk past his room from the elevators. So sleep was not an easy thing for him, especially when he doesn't sleep that well anyway.

He stayed awake for the six hour drive home--probably because I was driving! I think I did a really good job of getting us home safe and sound. Edmonton has grown phenomenally in the past several years and the traffic is getting a bit crazy, but no problems were encountered.

Unfortunately Lew spent three of the most gorgeous Fall days stuck in the hospital. The temperatures were around 26 degrees during the entire time. I made sure I went out for a good walk every afternoon. The drive there and back was beautiful with all the colours. Nobody needs to say that Ontario and the Maritimes have the market on Fall colors. This year on the prairies is more beautiful than we have ever seen. Even my mother, who has gone through 83 years says she can't remember ever seeing such rich color. And to date we haven't even had a significant frost. Flowers are still in full bloom!

Today we are having the first rain in about six weeks. It is an old-fashioned "soaker"--just the kind we should have before winter sets in. Amazingly there were still many fields of grain not combined as we drove home yesterday. I have no idea what the excuse is. Never in my 60 summers has there been a drier, more wide open Fall. I guess too many farmers have too much land and just can't get it all covered.

For now, no further exciting news. We hope everyone else is happy and healthy. Now, "wealthy"--that's another issue with the world economy in such an uproar and the stock market in chaos. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Take care,
Phyllis and Lew

Garden Pics as promised

Here is our backyard on July 6, one week after the wedding. Too bad the kids couldn't have delayed for three weeks, as this is what

happens by July 26:

The tent you see in the background is the tent we used for the wedding. My brother, an engineer, figured out how to move it from the lawn to the car park without having to take it completely apart. Four people were able to "walk" it through the gate, post by post. It is now a great place for Lew to park his car. However, the last couple of weeks he has been using it as a cover while he works at re-vamping the trailer. Due to some overloading by his buddy, a wheel bearing fried and chewed up the axle. So a new axle was ordered and new tires were installed. Then the box and floor were completely torn off and will be replaced with new plywood. Since it's down to the bare frame, Lew has scraped and sanded and prepared all the metal for a fresh coat of paint (the color is up for further discussion since I discovered the plan is Robin's egg blue!) Today we pulled new wiring through the conduit, and tomorrow there will be further wiring and new tail lights and lenses will be installed. All in all, it will be right back to "new" again. This is a job Lew wants to get done before he goes for surgery.

Meanwhile I have torn out all the bean and pea vines and hope this will make some room for the cucumbers to crawl. I also pulled out some of the flowers that are now finished and going to seed. Here are some of the closeups--Lew is getting really good with his camera!

Coleus, Portulaca, and Impatiens Ice Plant

< Candytuft and Portulaca ^ Hope for Humanity Rose

Ageratum Day Lily

So there you have it! We CAN grow things on the Prairies--it just takes a lot more work!

All for now. Phyllis

Reunion, Rhubarb and Beans

A week in Quebec in Ontario during July was not exactly a holiday. Taking along 91-yr-old and 82-yr-old travelling companions is quite a challenge! It would have been a disaster if Lew had not been able to go along. The flights there were fine, and the hosts on WestJet did everything they could to help, provide wheelchairs, and generally move us all about without confusion. We arrived in Montreal on the evening of the 12th and were greeted with fresh leek soup and homemade bread at the home of Phyl's kids, Leslie and Trevor. They had borrowed enough beds from friends to fill the "spare" bedrooms in their 6-bedroom house, so everyone had a nice comfortable place to sleep.

There is something about the 13th, though! Sunday the 13th was a disaster. Auntie woke up feeling not at all well. It was our hope that some breakfast might help her, but she couldn't eat and just pushed the food around her plate. She wanted to go back to bed, so Phyllis started helping her back when she collapsed in Phyl's arms. Trevor bodily picked her up and put her on the couch where she gradually came back to awareness. Lew and Trev forced her to drink some sports drink and eat an energy bar in the hopes she would perk up. She never really perked up, but soon after "coming to" she had some major bowel eruptions and caused everyone to pinch their noses. It was an inopportune time for her to be sick since Trev's birthday was the next day, and Lew's the day after and we had a bunch company coming for Sunday dinner and celebrations.

Here we were one day into our "holiday" and our prime reunion candidate had us guessing as to whether she was going to live! We got her back upstairs to bed, filled with Gastrolyte and Emodium, and she finally settled down around midnight. The next day there was nothing planned, so we could look forward to working on her recovery.

Well, Monday morning she got up and dressed herself, ate a bowl of porridge and a slice of toast and had three cups of coffee! However, the bowels were still pretty scary. She decided she wanted to go with the rest of us for a drive, so Leslie drove us all around the area of Hudson, Quebec. It is a lovely suburb of Montreal, about twenty miles South of the Island of Montreal. All the houses are huge, as it used to be a somewhat elite WASP neighborhood where the horse-loving people had small acreages. So it is well treed, and everything was growing lush and beautiful. We got back home to Leslie's safely. Trev was working late, so we left Auntie at home in front of the TV while the rest of us went to a little upscale restaurant for dinner. It was fine, but very expensive for the little that we got. However, there was enough in the seafood to make Ella get sick to her stomach that night. Fortunately it was only a brief illness and she was fine.

Tuesday Leslie was to drive us to Ottawa where we would rent a car, stay with Phyl's cousin, then on Wednesday drive some seven hours through Ontario to Elmvale (near Barrie) where the reunion was to be held. Still afraid of Auntie's eruptions, Phyl and Leslie went to a pharmacist to see what else could be done. The answer was to keep her on Emodium and give her lots to drink. When we got back to the house, Lew and Ella were in a panic. Auntie had gone to the washroom and was passing blood! So in order to get any kind of response, Phyl called 911 and told the operator we needed an ambulance--even though we knew this wasn't really the case. The firemen arrived and took all Auntie's vitals. She was perfectly okay and quite indignant that we would have taken such extreme measures. However, it was the quickest way to get medical attention, as the firemen called the ambulance and told them not to attend, and also called the medical clinic and told them we were bringing Auntie in immediately. Nothing like overkill to get a response!

Long story short, Auntie had only had a hemmeroid. The doctor gave her a clean bill and told us to feed her yogurt (which would build up the 'good' bacteria in her system), and Metamucil to bind the contents of her bowels. Incidentally, that was the best advice we could have had.

Needless to say it was too late in the day to travel to Ottawa. We decided that rather than push our luck any further we had best just book a flight from Montreal to Toronto, rent the car there and drive the hour and a half to the reunion. So we stayed another night in Montreal and landed in Toronto at noon the next day.

Auntie pulled herself together and was able to partake of almost all the festivities at the reunion. She really doesn't remember very much of all that happened, but at the time she enjoyed visiting with all her nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law and cousins. She and Ella stayed with their two sisters-in-law (aged 88 and 84) and everyone survived.

Lew and Phyl spent the evenings with Phyl's brother and his family at their cabin near Orillia. It was hot and humid and rained almost every night. However, the days were nice. One day we took an open boat tour of the Georgian Bay. The next we took a bus tour of Wasaga Beach, Minesing and surrounding area. This was the part of Ontario where Phyl's mother's family originated and is also the same area where Lew's grandmother's parents originated. In fact, in the graveyard in Minesing, we found the graves of Edward and Sarah Lewis--now we are trying to track down the possibility that they may be great-great-grandparents of Lew. Good grief, maybe Lew and Phyl are actually related four or five generations back!

We arrived safely home on Sunday the 20th. Everyone was pretty exhausted. Auntie and Ella just flopped into bed and slept soundly. Lew and Phyl were more emotionally exhausted than physically. It was just nice to have everyone back alive! And Melissa, the cat, was glad to have her humans back.

The next day was supposed to be a day of rest, but the garden had different ideas! The peas were in full production, the beans needed picking. The rhubarb was on another spurt, and the Swiss Chard was getting out of hand. So were the lawn and the weeds. However, the flowers were absolutely glorious. All the pictures are on Lew's computer, and this blog is coming from Phyl's, but we shall send along a few just to prove that we CAN grow things here on the prairies!

On Tuesday, the 22nd, Phyl went off to work. Lew drove to Edmonton to see the specialiast (the same one he had seen in November). The oncologist here had decided NOT to do any radiation until this consultation. So Dr. Paul Paul spent about 3/4 hour with Lew. He agrees that radiation would ultimately be very likely to destroy nerve tissue and render Lew's left arm useless or at least very painful. So he and Dr. Olson (a plastic surgeon with a specialty in nerve reconstruction) will operate. They will remove 7 cm. of the collar bone, then go into the top of the tumor and pick out as much as they can. Their focus will be on removing the tumor from around the nerve endings. If, when they get in there, they can remove most or all of the tumor they will. However, until they open up the site they can't determine how extensive an eradication they can do. There is still a 20% chance of doing nerve damage, but we are banking on the 80%. Once the 4 1/2 hour operation is completed, Lew will likely be in a partial body cast while the bone and muscle heal. Then there will be the possibility of radiation and some extensive physio therapy. The best case scenario is that he will be able to regain all the use of the arm, and that the tumor will be completely removed. Although we aren't really the praying kind, we certainly have sent some requests to whatever Higher Power there is.

Surgery will hopefully take place in the first week of September. We are waiting for the letter that gives us the date. Since Lew's health is a priority, Phyl has opted out of the proposed acting role that was to also take place the first week of September.

Lew has been busy rebuilding the trailer, hoping to have it completed before surgery. Phyl keeps busy picking and canning. The Saskatoon berries were good this year, but we waited a little too long, and managed only to get one ice cream pail full. Also picked some wild pincherries and made some jelly. Then we cleaned out the neighbors' raspberry patch while they were away on vacation and Phyl made three batches of jam. So the larder will be full again this year. No tomatoes ripe yet, but tons hanging on the branches. There will also be some cucumbers. With food prices soaring we're just glad we have some of our own to put away.

All is well otherwise. The days are quieter now that the wedding and reunion are overwith and the interior renovations are finished......???? Phyl always has another one up her sleeve, but is cooling it while the carpenter is himself under construction.

Our best to all. Keep in touch.

Lew and Phyl