Gramma Camp – Week 32.5

We all slept in Friday morning. Finally, all were breakfasted in their own time, in their own way!

 I went out to inspect the garden. The yucca is in full bloom! 

The Asiatic lily has finally bloomed. The flag fence did its work. Why didn't I think of that before??!! 

Grampa and the girls went back to Stewart Park. Picnic Cafe is there by the stone bridge for a few weeks. They picked up chicken satay for three, and Isabelle chose the deconstructed sushi rolls and I found her some chopsticks. Sadly they didn't meet her pallet, so she and Grampa traded lunches. 

In reverse order of events, here they are at the park. Photos courtesy Josephine!

At the bridge, they spotted a rat snake. Jos, especially, likes snakes.

Grampa took the girls for the Hostage Exchange, while I began doing the sheets. Jos had stripped her bed, I stripped Isabelle's bed. I vacuumed upstairs, and did the downstairs on Saturday.  I cleaned under the dining room table, although it's nothing like when they were littles! 

Saturday I made new food for the hummingbirds, washed the kitchen table and place mats, did my laundry, and made Izzy's bed. Whew! I'm so glad to be healthy again. 

⛈July 🌩 A strange weather pattern. Normally, the clouds move in from the east.

 And, finally, our doe does another smelfie, and the fawn bounces around! new fawn  

Gramma Camp – Week 32.4

Thursday – We eased into the day. Again, I opened their blinds at 8 a.m. I went back downstairs at 8:30. Jos heard me, and thought she'd just sleep a couple more minutes. She emerged about 8:50! She said a couple of minutes turned into a long time. 

Later in the afternoon, Momma texted me, looking for a Canada Day Facetime, but they were on walkies (see below). The kids brought home treats, having visited the chocolate shop after their walk. And the gift shop. Grampa couldn't remember if I had pierced ears or not. "She only has 5," giggled Josephine! They bought me a pair of earrings.

Momma told us that the snowbirds went over their house! I found the flight path on the radar.

While the Three Muskateers were in town, I went down to the trailcams. I wore my trusty deerfly patches. 

When the girls were swimming in the pool the day before, I wore my deerfly hat, although they don't tend to bother us when we are in the pool. The mosquitoes are really bad, when the day is cloudy. The blackflies have almost disappeared. I had Grampa throw down the fly swatter and I smucked three large horseflies.

On the way, I noticed the catalpa tree, which has been devoid of leaves. It was killed by the winter heat and thaw, as the heat reflected off of the dark sinding on the house. It kills the cambium layer. It has the ivy nicely climbing up the tree. These are wild grape vines, and the birds will like them! 

The second photo shows that the tree isn't dead, yet. I love the great big leaves.

Forest Walkies

The serviceberry berries are lovely and red. The cedar waxwings love them.

The frog pond is growing over with wild phragmites. There is a section in the middle, where I ripped a bunch of them out last year. The frogs are sitting on the platform in the water. 

From there, I moved on to check out the wood duck box. Apparently, we've had a bear. It ripped off the baffle from around the tree. This is to keep the raccoons off. It doesn't work for bears! Of course, the wood duck box is empty. They are done nesting for the season. You can see where the baffle used to be.

Park Walkies

Grampa took them for walkies in town,  Stewart Park. There are far fewer bugs.This time, instead of clamouring on rocks, he chose to observe. He's been in pain for two days from his last traipsing around!

Josephine took a photo of mushrooms! Not bad, with Grampa's little camera.

Isabelle posted some photos of her art for her other grampa, in the US. 

"Me and Josephine were trying to do each other’s styles, and chose a dragon tribe to do. We chose SandWing, and they turned out not as well as we thought, but it was a fun experience."

After a late lunch, we 3 played Sorry. I won!

Isabelle sticks to our old, old schedule, a video at 3 p.m., and they headed downstairs. I watched my own thriller on TV.

Grampa was supposed to go out and get us Kothu for dinner, but I suggested we have leftover spaghetti instead. We were in the middle of a thunderstorm. We had a decent 7 mm of rain, not to be sneezed at.

Everyoe was happy with that choice.

Gramma Camp – Week 32.3

 Last night, Nutmeg decided she had to redecorate her box. She hasn't done that in ages! She chews on the cardboard. Josephine often has a night time visitor, Cinnamon. She told me she'll need to turn over, with Cinnamon snuggled beside her, and she hates to because then he moves!

Grampa went for an early morning walk in town, at 7:00. The bugs are simply awful in the forest.

The girls roused themselves, after Gramma opened their curtains around 8! They eased themselves into the day. Josee was eating breakfast, when there was a knock on the garage door. Grampa was having a nap. It was the man to check and inspect our furnace and A/C. 

Once that was done, I set off to cut the meadow lawn and the front lawn. Long pants and a t-shirt, with my trusty ball cap and deerfly stickies.

Once that was done, I was a bit warm. I stuck my head in the basement door, and yelled, "Last one in!" It worked! I took off my pants, and jumped into the pool in my t-shirt. Soon, I had buddies.

They are good buddies. I got out, in order for them to play their new game, Whack-a-mole! Well, Whack-an-Isabelle!

 

swimming from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've two medium and one small monarch caterpillar. I'm sure there are more.

The milkweed hosts lots of critters! These little eggs shine copper in the sun.

A little lady beetle on the fountain!

Grampa took the girls down to the store for popsicles. They ended up with ice cream. A nice treat on a hot day. They tried to eat it on the swing bench, but it was too buggy. They came up onto the back deck with us. 

They like their routines. Grampa had taken them to the video store and they watched their regular 3 p.m. video. After that, they did more drawing until I called them up for dinner.

Grampa had gone into town for hamburgers, again. This time they were open.  It was a great day had by all!