Happy Birthday Caitlin!

Last week, during the last day of Gramma Camp, Friday was prep day. It was a cold morning, and we eased into the day.

 Caitlin's birthday is August 16th. On the last day of Gramma Camp, Friday, we did a lot of preparation. Grampa bought Josephine and Isabelle some blank cards and they painted them.

Carrot cake was iced by both girls. There was some trouble with a large cake decorator tip and too much icing. We even popped it into the microwave for 10 seconds. Hilarity ensued.

Cake and presents hidden, the parental unit arrived after work, and dinner prep was begun. Chicken, carrots and broccoli on the BBQ. Caitlin and I prepped the veggies, JL did the cooking. Grampa and the girls had bought the cake. We're a team!

Isabelle finished her Diamond Dotz cat. She had begun it in July 2020 [A walkabout and a sit], but during the school year, and our weeks of Virtual School, it was put to the side and only brought out from time-to-time. I found a place for it in the living room during last week, Week 36 of Gramma Camp, and she picked at it. She finished after such a long time, and we took a photo of the finale.

We found some old metallic balloons, I blew them up with the pool pump, and we hung them in the window.

We had the pre-birthday party Friday, August 12th, although the 16th is the day. JB and the girls had gone into town and ordered a cheese basket from a local store. Isabelle had done a painting, for which I had found a frame. 

Saturday morning, it was an early one – 7 a.m. alarms. Jos had to pick up a friend, and then drive to another friend's house. From there a friend's family was taking the girl pals to their cottage for an overnighter.

Jos ate breakfast on the back deck, it was 10 C., and I spotted a tree frog on the deck's plexiglass. It gives an amazing image of it's yellow legs. It was cold. 

Isabelle went over to it later, touched it and it flew off the 2nd story railing into the hops leaves. It turned up later.

The grandies will return on Monday, Aug. 22nd after an appointment Isabelle has, and spend week 37 with us! 

Gramma Camp – cont'd

Wednesday

Back home after mini-golf, a light snack, and we decided on a swim. I'd found the can of shaving foam and put it outdoors. Josee thought they should reprise Foam Girls! They created that in 2014, and in 2015. 

Yumbo Dump: Comedic Duo Makes Unbelievable Sounds With Their Bodies - AGT 2018

They watched the above AGT show with us. It was rather ridiculous, but good for a laugh 4 years later.

It was cold! In August, the nights are cooler and don't let the pool keep its warmth. They hugged to get warm!

 

 

Foam girls from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Grampa watched the Canada Open Tennis 2022. The men are in Montreal, the women playing in Toronto. At one point, the umpire had to ask the 'volunteer' to stop moving! I realized she meant the mascot! 

We went down to CC's for dinner at 4 and snagged my favourite table. Timing is everything. We had a wonderful conversation, and I reminisced about teaching. Then we went around the table asking about our 'favourite' subjects. I told them about a very smart male student I had who would always get 51% on tests. Turns out he'd stop when he knew he'd passed, and rested on his laurels. 

The movie we watched was The Tomorrow War (Chris Pratt!). It's a serious SciFi thriller set in present day, and 2051. The girls were thrilled! Great role models, the female lead character (Yvonne Strahovski) is a scientist. The film was made by Paramount Pictures, but with the pandemic they sold it to Amazon Prime Video for $200 million. The CGI work is amazing. A sequel is in the works. 

Thursday 

It was a relaxing day. Some art was done. Jos did some laundry. She is going to a cottage with friends on the weekend and needs to be ready. 

I tried to find my lost pond pump piece, scooping out the mud in the bottom, but no luck! I wasn't feeling great. I'm not sure what it was. 

Thursday was a great day for Josephine. She adores snakes. This Suzy Snake was in the hops vine blessedly eating bugs. It is covered in leaf hoppers, ants and wasps eat their poo, and they attract the frogs and snakes. 

Grampa took the girls to Stewart Park and picked up some Korean food for dinner from Jiny's Kimchee. She is at the Terrace, beside Stewart Park. Such great flavours. The girls have traveled in Asia, and really enjoyed this.

These are the photos Josephine took. I stayed home, feeling a tad under the weather. She has a great eye.

Here is Isabelle at the park! They get along so well, these sisters.

We finished off The Tomorrow War. Wow.  

Gramma Camp – Tuesday

 In the early morning, Grampa went walkies. I did not. About 9:30 I checked on the girls. They were stirring. There was breakfast, reading, and some artwork. An overcast day all day. 

Isabelle did Dazzle Dotz. Jos was on the back deck sketching. 

     "It looks dark, Jos!" 

     "Just sprinkly!"

They went shopping with grampa. There was NO ground beef for meatloaf at the store, or bacon, only ground pork. Poor Grampa went back into town to the butcher and brought home both.

While they were occupied, I worked on some weeds. Also, the pond pump, which was working after it cooled off. It must have overheated.

 I have lost the top of the protective box (on the right in the photo, below), however, in the bottom of the mud and dead leaves in the pond. I fetched a towel, lay on my stomach, and fished around in the bottom. I couldn't find it. I was using a trailcam buckle to keep it together and I should have kept using it! I will look for it later.

I decided to pull out the fridges and clean them. Having cleaned the top, then the sides. It was a bit of how one thing leads to another. You know how that goes. I ended up having to clean behind them.

Gramma's famous meatloaf was had for dinner, with fruit pies for dessert. This was followed by running the dishwasher, and the end of Ghostbusters, and two young ladies had showers!

We had lots of great chats about school, Isabelle goes into gr. 7, and Josephine gr. 10. 

Gramma Camp – August 2022

 

Our world travelers have been home a week. On the weekend, the girls went camping with friends at Lac Taylor, in Gatineau Park. While they camped, S-I-L Jean-Luc was off helping an uncle in Madoc who had terrible tornado damage from one of the last few storms along highway #7. There were stories of a family work party, and Wild Parsnip in Madoc, and a hot weekend of work. He arrived home to a big thunderstorm! 

It was a lovely, hot weekend and perfect for the girls to be beside the lake. Their friends had booked this campsite in February, in hearty anticipation. It looked delightful.

Sunday, they finished their camp weekend, and toodled on home. 

I spent the day in idle work. Sunday afternoon I finished my book, sitting in the pool.

The thunderstorm rolled in, Sunday afternoon. Josephine was supposed to help volunteer coach a preschool soccer team for volunteer hours. Ottawa had a thunderstorm and what with the heat warning – it was cancelled. She had a shower!  Caitlin texted me and we agreed on meeting at the Hostage Exchange for 4:30. 

Gramma Camp has begun. We had the girls for 35 weeks during the pandemic. I don't know if I should call this Week 36, or just move on! 

They drove through a storm to meet at Franktown. We left in clear blue skies! There were clouds to the south of us, you can see down the highway. We were happy to be doing the hostage exchange before dinner, as there was a storm warning for after dinner.

These are, of course, Drive By Shootings. I loved the clouds, and the corn is standing tall in the fields.

We were doing the speed limit, and two cars passed us. The second one passed the first car, as well as us, at the same time. Of course! ERs are closed, they are having trouble finding nurses to staff them, but foolish people continue to push their luck.

The anticipation of rain was near and dear to my heart! 

Hostage exchange complete, the kids said they'd traveled through a storm on the way. Off they went home. Bye bye, Momma and Papa!

Perth was pretty quiet, but look at the clear skies! 

Yippee, a sight for sore eyes. Clouds rolling in as we headed home.

 Happily home, the girls took their things to their room in the basement. I'd posted photos on the family photostream of Izzy with pollen on her nose. She reprised the moment. Josephine, an avid photographer, went outside to take some photos. I had to Google, "How to remove Tiger Lily pollen from clothing." 

Firstly, you use tape to remove what is on the surface. Then, spray it was spot fabric cleaner. Soak it a half hour. Then turn it inside out, and rinse it. Next, you wash it in as hot water as the fabric will take. It is still drying.

🍕 We decided on pizza for dinner. I ordered online for pickup, Grampa fetched it for us. Josephine blew up their bed, and we made it. There was some discussion on bed orientation. It was sorted out. 

Whilst eating dinner, we planned tentative meals for the week. Izzy fetched her iPad and checked out the weather. We figured out the best day for BBQing hamburgers outside, for example, and going out to the restaurant patio in Rideau Ferry. I made a list of possible activities, too. On the car ride here, Josephine asked if we had stuff planned for the week. After their world tour, it'll be difficult to find exciting stuff! 

We watched Pandora, a cheesy show set in 2199. It was just on the edge of acceptable. We will look for something else today. 

After that, Josephine must have been tired, she asked if it was bedtime. So, teeth and jammies! Grampa and I watched the last show in our The Bay series. As we watched, the Internet feed stuttered and dimmed. I figured girls were reading, as per normal routine, but this was a sign of bandwidth. They were doing Facetime with Momma, saying goodnight. Hooray for technology.

⛈ Jos popped upstairs saying she could hear it raining on the chimney cover. Indeed. We handed out flashlights, just in case. A total of 10 mm! Rain, glorious rain!

After a half hour, lights out. We finished our show and fell into bed!