Dear Earl…

September 4, 2010

Dear Earl:

I am writing to express my deep disappointment that you chose not to make an appearance today in Hammond River…That imposter you sent was hardly up to your standards!  Do you call that rain?  I can spit harder than that!  And wind?  It barely messed up my hair! 

We worked really hard to get ready for your visit!  I picked everything that was ready in the garden.  The kids took down everything but the frame of the trampoline…

Kids working on the trampoline...

Jim used bungee cords to lash our lawn furniture to a tree…

Our lawn furniture isn't going anywhere...

Jim also brought all the bird feeders in the house, except one, which was buzzing…he decided to leave that one out on the porch.

I had the menu all planned: tuna sandwiches and cheese and crackers (because we assumed that your presence would not have a favourable affect on our electricity).  Instead, we were forced to eat spaghetti sauce made from our garden tomatoes:

Freshly-peeled tomatoes...

Sauce cooking...

The finished product on some radiatori pasta...yummy!

The kids watched a little TV (or a BIG TV, as it turns out), something else we didn’t think we’d be able to do (we had board games on standby).  Deal or No Deal was on.  The contestant was from Alaska.  Hope asked Anna, “Does she live in a snow globe?”  When Anna broke into hysterical fits of laughter, Hope corrected herself…”I meant an igloo!” she said.  Anna assured her that the woman probably lived in a house or an apartment.

Once the rain stopped, Jake had fun with his little friend on the deck, who was helping himself to the formerly buzzing birdfeeder…

Jake watching the chipmunk fill his cheeks...

As you can see, we had a fine time without you.  I think our friendship is over, and we never want to see you again.

Regards,

Wendy

Deck-reation…

This afternoon, I took some time to relax on our back deck with a glass of iced tea…

It had been a busy day:  I made luscious homemade rolls for a double graduation potluck tomorrow.

My Perfect (I hope) Homemade Rolls...

There were going to be 32 of them, but I accidentally dropped one on the floor while I was knotting it…I grabbed it before the dog could scoop it up…

I did three loads of laundry (not folded yet – that might happen tomorrow morning).

I went for a bike ride with Jim, Anna and Brianna…I guess I might be getting a new bike for my birthday after all…the one Jim’s dad gave me is too big for me, and there are issues with the mechanism.  I borrowed one of Jim’s today…his seat is more comfortable than Anna’s (gel-filled seat cover…nice).  However, I was having great difficulty getting it into gear (the bike, not my butt!).  My birthday is two weeks from today…

I returned from our ride with sore thighs and a dry throat…bring on the iced tea!  Our dog, Jake, joined me on the deck…our neighbourhood chipmunks had fun tormenting him.  He would stand at the edge of the fenced deck, and watch as one of his little buddies approached.  Jake would wag his tail in welcome: “Are you coming to play with me?”  Then he realized they were coming closer.  He would growl and bark, and the chipmunk would flee to safety around the corner of the house again.

Our presence on the deck deterred the birds who would have loved to visit the birdfeeders…goldfinches took turns doing reconnaissance runs past them to see if the coast was clear or not…spying us, they would sail back up into the trees.  One brave little chickadee lit once, but didn’t stay long enough to grab a bite.

Soon after I sat down, I saw a neat little ladybug – not the traditional colours, but dark brown with cream-coloured spots…it was something like this one (I thought Anna had taken a picture of it, but her camera batteries were dead):

My bug friend looked something like this...

As mentioned in previous posts, I like bugs that don’t bite me…I let this one crawl around on my arms and hands for a good half hour!  She seemed to prefer to crawl away from me, no matter which way I turned my hands or fingers.  Every so often, she would stop and perform some mysterious ritual with her front legs on her face (?).  Stuff like this fascinates me…

Soon, it was time to go back in and start the potato salad for supper (we also had ham, and Jim made salad from the garden and strawberry shortcake for dessert).  I left my new little friend on the patio table…when I went back out a few minutes later, she was gone (I hope she flew away, and wasn’t devoured by a bird!).