Summertime!

I've been taking my time to recover after our wonderful week with the kids here. I have to wash the kitchen and bathroom floors, but everytime I come in from outdoor chores I have a debris explosion from my hair and/or bra! I tired to do a workout, but had to stop after 8 minutes and put my foot brace back on. It's about managing the aches and pains of old age. 

Laundry is done; sheets, napkins and towels. Art supplies put away for another time. (Josephine and Isabelle are here sometime in August, but have been more into sketching than crafts.) The pool is drained and cleaned. I may set it up for me. I like reading in my pool on hot days. 

I've been trying to figure out how to make a waterproof cover for the bench swing. I am loathe to bring the pillows in and out, as I often just sit there randomly in passing. The rain pours through the canopy and the pillows take awhile to dry. Any thoughts?

The guest room bed is remade. This room got little use, as the Vancouver kids all slept together in the basement. It was easier, as littles often don't sleep as well away from home. 

I sent them home each with one of the bunnies my friend Natrice made. She's been handing them out to healthcare workers. They liked the little masks on them!

I walked out on the back deck and heard a strange noise. It took me awhile to figure it out. I'd introduced the cockroach to Bryony and Cluny, "Do you want to hold my cockroach?" 

     "No, thank you, Gramma!" They were a tad fearful. These are all new critters to them.

cockroach from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The other chore was to wash the window crayon off of the windows. They are a fun toy, and kept them occupied. It was good motivation to wash the windows. Sometimes I leave it until too late and can't do it as the temperatures fall and the cleaning fluid freezes on the window. 

That was a bit of a funny story. I set a towel under the window and went to it with soapy water and a cloth. 

I stood back and admired my work. I wasn't done! I had totally forgotten the right-hand window. That was Bryony's work. 

Maple, the tree frog, is still around. Bryony wanted it named Maple, as it was sitting under what looked to her like a maple leaf. On their last morning, I suggested they say goodbye to Maple. Asking if they wanted to hold her, they declined. I put her in the palm of my hand and showed them her yellow legs. They bade her farewell.

I forget what they called the other tree frog. She decided to nap in the daytime (they are nocturnal) under the table umbrella. 

Percy goldfish is doing well. The rain filled up the pond, as it is hooked up to the water barrel.

I wrapped the deerfly patch around a stick, and put it in the goldfish pond. They like to pick them off and eat them. This was from one walk in the forest with the grandies. Sitting on the back deck reading, a deerfly bit me on the foot. It was swollen, and it felt like I was walking on a marble for awhile. The bugs are merciless, numerous, and vicious this year. Much worse than any other. I had another tick latch onto me after walking in the acreage. I got it off quite quickly.

deerfly patch

The orchid is happy on a corner of the back deck. It gets morning sun, and that seems perfect. The bud stem is getting longer.

I track the prey the cats capture. They usually bring their critters up on the front or back decks. Only 2 birds this year. 

After Rogers telecom went down, Canada's Industry Minister has met with the big guys. We have several big Canadian companies (Rogers, Telus, Bell, Shaw), plus some provincial ones. Our family has our smartphone with Telus, Internet with Xplornet, and our TV satellite is Shaw. We've no landline anymore. We were relatively unaffected. Some were unable to call 911, though.

This is what Minister Champagne has demanded of the big four executives within 60 days: 

• the minister has directed the country’s major telecom companies to reach agreements on emergency roaming, 

• assisting each other during outages, 

• communication protocol to better inform Canadians during emergencies.  

Tuesday – 8:00 a.m. The Istanbul airport is quite spiffy in the business class lounge. They are frequent flyers. There is a huge toy race track, a flight simulator, and Isabelle had a shower in the marble bathroom. The kids arrived in Athens Tuesday, and traveled on the metro to Monastiraki. Caitlin sent me a text. They were in their new hotel.