Gramma Camp Finale – summer 2023

 We had fun Wednesday. The water was wonderful, what with our heat wave. There are heat warnings in 7 provinces and 2 territories. 

The dinner the girls made us was wonderful!

Isabelle brought home a dead crayfish, as well as some rocks. She named it Tobias III. There isn't a Tobias I or II. We popped him into a jar with rubbing alcohol.

Thursday, Isabelle had a read on the lower deck while Josephine finished her painting.

swimming from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After I booked an emergency appointment with the opthamologist, we were trying to decide what to do.  Swimming or thrifting in Perth. Thrifting won out!

They brought all their loot up from their Monday thrift. 

Jos ties these little beads onto her shoe laces! 

Old records have been a source of artwork for Jos.

I had two issues: 1. Floaters in my eyeballs. 2. Turns out my cataracts are coming back, as well. My cataract surgery was at the end of July, 2020. 

The floaters should dissipate. I have PCO. PCO is posterior capsular opacification, or a secondary cataract, a clouding of the thin membrane or lens capsule that surrounds the implant. I'll have laser surgery, again, in Smiths Falls. I've another appointment in a month to check it all again and see where we are. 

We took off to CC's in Rideau Ferry. Outside there was a white van with the motor running. Inside the van were dogs barking. I presume they were keeping the air conditioning on. Has anyone ever heard of Climate Change? 

Our favourite table was reserved. Apparently, businesses can sponsor a table and have the ability reserve it. We've been strong supporters of this restaurant. It was a bit of a shock. You can see that the table where we were sitting was similarly sponsored. 

There were several large groups of cottagers and multigenerational families. Good to see them busy, but service was a bit slow. Jos wanted to get back to the house as she was doing Facetime with a friend.

Our week with them is over today. There is just the hostage exchange this afternoon. We shall miss them, but very much enjoyed the visit. How they have grown and matured. I am a bit emotional about it! 

2013

They've their month-long trip to Singapore and New Zealand in a week. The girls are going to a summer camp later in August. The summer will fly by.

Gramma Camp – Tuesday July 4th

I checked out the ivy first thing. A tree frog!

 

I had orders to wake Josephine up at 9:45. It was hard slogging! Isabelle, however, I forgot about. I went down at 10:30 and woke her up. 

We had a family conference, and made plans. We ambled out to the car for Thrift Shop shopping.

On the way there, we checked out the beach. It looked pretty good. 

First stop, was Global Culture Trading Post. It was delightful.

We bade the doggie farewell. From there, we went to the Salvation Army Thrift store.

These shoes were the highlight in store #3!

Both of them had to try them on!

We gathered up our finds, and off we went to the car.

Smiths Falls has had a makeover. Wider sidewalks, and no more of that angle parking.

We tried a couple of places, and ended up here at The Vault for a late lunch. 

Iced tea for Josephine, and an Arnold Palmer: half iced tea, half lemonade, for Isabelle.

Pad Thai with shrimp for me.

We had room for dessert. The three girls shared it. 

I love their PRIDE crosswalk.

We came home and vegged out. Iz on her phone, Jos did some painting. Jos bought the skull at one of the stores!

I asked Isabelle if she wanted to beat me at Crazy 8s again. She did!

We made a plan for dinner, a pineapple stir fry the girls were going to make us. Jos and I made a grocery list. We will go swimming today. And Jos has some sewing to do. She is remaking her jeans. 

We all konked out in good time. Bedtime reading was called for. Teeth and jammies.

Gramma Camp – July 2023

The day began.  

No sign of Fred for 24 hours, or so. Ah, making an appearance just before dinner, I was relieved. All is well.

I put out garbage at 7:30 a.m. and spotted a caterpillar. Orgyia leucostigma, white-marked Tussock moth.

School finished last week, and the girls are here. We did the hostage exchange in Franktown, and headed home. Small disaster, Isabelle had left her phone with Caitlin. They tailed after us, frantically trying to Facetime or phone. I think my phone's sound was off.  They had to drive all the way to our house.

I apologised profusely. They drive an electric car, you see, and so they went into Perth, charged the car, and had a coffee, then drove home. 

They unpacked. We sat down and flushed out a plan for activities, and a menu.

Monday afternoon, they went in for Thrifting and groceries. We've a lot of thrift stores, and the girls enjoy thrifting on a regular basis. Sadly, all but the Salvation Army store were closed for July 1st, despite it being July 3rd! 

By then, it was well past noon, we all had lunch. Josephine made some guacamole. 

I'd bought the girls some fun cat stickers from a queer artist in Vancouver. 

Izzy and I played Crazy 8s. It was 7 - 0, and I said let's see you get to 10! We ended up with Isabelle winning 10 - 2. I reminded her of her great-grandfather who was an amazing card player, remembered who had played what, and usually won games we'd play back in the 70s!

I showed Isabelle the little car game she used to play. It was nostalgic. There are several apps that have a little car puzzle like this. I think it much more satisfying to have the actual game!

Josephine kept working on her embroidery on her runners. The sewing machine is out, and she's going to renovate her old jeans. 

Caitlin did Josephine's nails last week!

 

We've a heat wave. Stacking wood may not be a good idea in the heat and humidity. 

We took a test! 

Gramma Jenn – 19

Isabelle  – 19

Grampa Joe   – 23

Josephine – 17

 

Grampa began watching Wimbledon. These carrots are cheering for Italian player Jannick Sinner. They have quite the presence on Twitter, called the Carota Boys. It's a bit incongruous in the oldest most prestigious tennis tournament in history, with all their traditions and solemnity. 

I popped out back as it clouded over. The clouds were lovely. This is just with my iPhone. I took photos with my camera, as well, but they didn't match the quality of the phone.

We had a TV dinner, watching Jeopardy episodes Grampa taped, while eating our pizza. Isabelle did the carrying using Grampa's new pizza bag. It really kept the pizza hot!

We watched some of Janet King, and went to bed. We're on Season 3, and enjoying the Aussie, gay lawyer in this show. The kids are going to New Zealand this month, and the scenery is amazing. 

I smell smoke this morning. And we have heat warnings. We'll see if we can manage some fund today.