WE HAD RAIN!!!

We did. What a relief. 

Poor Fred on the deck. They were wet!

wet Fred from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a glorious rain. 

rain June 12 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Percy was quite happy.

Percy from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We'd planned sausages. The rain stopped. The sun peeked out. I fired up the BBQ. Of course it rained again! My late father barbequed in rain, snow, sleet or hail, so I felt right at home. We used to say he'd BBQ lashed to the deck in a blizzard!

I love this Hops Vine. It is up to the roof. 

Out the back 40, things are growing. The aspen grove is growing nicely. The previous owners cut the law here, but I love the trees and our aspen grove is expanding. I was headed to pick up a trailcam card.

Out the back 40, the bear had popped by again at this trailcam. They are curious things. 

 

Bear sniffing June 9 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I think he is moving along the edge of the wetland. He was at the frogpond trailcam, 200m away. They have a large habitat area. Again, I've not seen him near the house, and the mother bear with cubs seem to have gone off into the wetland somewhere.

 

Bear from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Remembrance Day 2016

It's an important day in our household. JB has traditionally attended ceremonies, when he has been healthy. This year is different. He was asked to deliver Meals on Wheels instead. This, too, is an important task. He would be replacing a veteran, who wants to attend the ceremony. What could he say? Of course.

National War Memorial

In the past, he has represented Air Canada, laying a wreath in Ottawa.
We have attended many ceremonies together. Archive photos will have to suffice.

Uploaded on 11 Nov 2009 

 At the joint Remembrance Day Ceremony in Bala, Muskoka, the Ladies of Wahta sing 'Oh, Canada' in Mohawk. It was very moving. This is one part of the ceremony. They also sang Amazing Grace.

Maj. (Ret'd) Eric Devlin, 
served in Korea, Japan, before this gramma was born.
He just keeps on going!

Keith (left) a former paratrooper!
Bala

Perth, On


I asked if I could take his picture, he said yes!


A 1943 Christmas Card to my mom from Eddy, who died overseas. They were engaged.
They were so young, the soldiers. Mom had the rest of these photos in her collection. I have no idea who they are, but I laud their spirits.


My mom is in the centre photo, on the left.


My late father was discharged in 1943, after being trained, as he had a seizure while in training. It might have been a foreshadowing of his brain tumour in 2005. He was trained as a Hospital Assistant.

Dad, 1942

My dad and his sister, 1942

We must remember those who served and suffer in modern times

Globe and Mail 

 

Hobbies and my feeder project

Hubby's joke is: Dad would BBQ even in storms,
lashed to the deck. I carry on that tradition!

The news, of course, is horrific. Flooding in Kashechewan. A young man dead, another injured from a Sunday 4:00 a.m. collision in Ottawa. A young Smiths Falls man who went into the water at Peggy's Cove. They are still searching for his body. The tragic earthquake near Nepal, with thousands dead. Truly, one must enjoy each day.

My problems are insignificant! Hobbies take up some time and provide relief for worries, as well as giving me something to do. Part of early retirement is having something to do. It's peculiar but my hospice clients' families keep canceling. One of them is too healthy, the other too ill to leave the house for fun.

I've never bought wood before. My dad's stash in Bala had enough spare leftovers that I could work
on lots there. Here, I put the stash of wood, from under the garage workbench, out at the road with a for sale sign and $20. It was excellent wood, as the previous house owner was a furniture builder with several built-in saws and a workshop in the garage.

A woman picked it all up and agreed to build me a woodpecker feeder in lieu. I have yet to see one, lo, these 3 years later. It's hard not to be bitter. People make promises they fail to keep. It is predictable for many.

Dad, building his shed.
At the time it met the building code.
It was only later that the township made rules about
building close to the lake. Rightly so. 

It's fun to realize that I can figure out this project, based on watching my dad when I was a kid.
 He was always working on something at the cottage.

Anyway, I decided to build feeders for hubby. Off we went to the store, after my daughter explained how it works.

The wood fit in, and hubby didn't have to hitch hike home!!! He's so supportive of my projects. JB is off to deliver Meals on Wheels again today. He does this twice a week. It's great to give back.

Hubby snapped a photo after I finished
feeder #2! He was cat walking.

Bread making and April congratulations

Joan Jilks (1925 - 2006)

Today is April 4th. April was a busy month in my family home.

• The 4th was mom's birthday. 
• The 12th was my parents' wedding anniversary. They made it to 59 years of marriage! 
• My brother's birthday is April 21st.

My late mother and my daughter

Music drove my Mom's life. Still working on that danged cross stitch she was unable to finish!
Mom hosted the best parties.
She always baked cookies when she knew we were coming. Also, baked chicken. Always.
Dad was the baker. He did the turkey and stuffing, on special occasions.

I tried to make some bread machine bread and even though I tested the yeast, it was dead bread. I was thinking of my parents, as my late father taught my ex-husband how to bake bread from scratch. I cannot tell you how many times dead bread was the result many years ago!

Dad (1925 - 2007) baked up a storm at Christmas.
Mom loved her Christmas parties!
Yes, that's me!

Mom and Dad

Mom was celiac and made rice bread,
while dad bought a bread machine for his bread!

This was a sad, little dead bread!
The yeast expired in 2012. 

Brand new yeast and I was successful.
Dad would have been proud!

Little lambs aDaisy –she works, plays, prays!

She worked hard today –deserved a rest!

She prays hard.
Doing 'bear', she was trying to reach
a dragonfly, her food of choice outdoors.

She played hard today.
You'll note the basket of toys behind her.
She plays, instead, with a paper towel roll.

Trying to get the bug
in the light, she bats at them.
'Bear'

There is something about pets. Our pet of choice, cats. I know many of you prefer dogs. Some eschew pets altogether. They must suit your lifestyle!

I have many memories of cats and Dad's dogs (see below). He'd walk the dog, and the cat would accompany him around the block, returning up busy Yonge St. in Toronto.

I remember having measles and the cat had just had kittens. It was

Me with measles, kitten from earlier brood, puzzle

much fun snuggling them, sick in bed. There is something about giving up to illness, just giving yourself permission to take it easy.

Mom hated me staying home sick from school.
I would often have to go to the school nurse. Yes, we had one, full-time in those days. I'd be coughing that seal-bark, whooping cough and she'd phone my mom to let me go home.
Mom worked hard, and didn't take well to being ill. We had pressures. Things to achieve.

 This past week, having flu, it was good to have no pressure to accomplish something, after a 25-year career of alarm clocks, report cards, parent-teacher interviews, insomnia worrying about the next days agenda. Somedays, being too sick to be able to write up a daybook for the supply teacher, it was easier to just go in and do the program!

They were a handful

Older kitten would babysit for momma, Percy, a
cream-coloured cat!

Dad, neighbour's dog, our dog: Jenny
on Walker Ave., TO

Dad and Fluffy