Blue Flax

Susan has inspired me with her great photographs! I am going to try to be more creative in my pictures.
Every morning, the blue flax in our backyard has a new display of beautiful blue flowers which appear to fall off in the evening. I think you will agree that they are breathtaking!

Backyard Addition

We were wandering around Home Depot last week and spotted a fountain that we thought would look nice in the backyard. We took it home and set it up and voila! Hoping that someday the wee birds will take a bath in the waterfalls!

A New Member of the Family

Yes, we are getting a new puppy!

In fact, the litter was born this week (May 24), all 9 of the furry yellow balls! Five boys and 4 girls. We have asked for a little female and have narrowed down our choice of names to Bailey, Katie, Chloe, Casey. What is your vote? Do you have any other suggestions???
Here is a look at the puppies, just 1 day old!




We visit the puppies in 4 weeks and then 4 weeks later, we bring the little gal home. Can hardly wait!
Check out Cooperslane Kennel here!

Bridge Competition Update

While Mark and Margot were here for Mark's birthday, we played lots of bridge. Here is a shot of Mark contemplating his next play.

During one of the sessions, the youngsters decided to take on the old pros. Mark couldn't resist taking a picture of the end result.
The luck of the cards had a large part in this lop-sided result but there is no denying the fact that the kids are becoming quite accomplished as bridge players!!

The Big 29

Well, Mark has turned 29! Can you believe it? But he says he still feels young. I have news for you Mark - you are young!!
The kids came down on the long weekend to spend some time with us. The weather was absolutely terrible the whole weekend - windy, cold and rainy by times. So we spent a lot of time inside - playing bridge! Lots of fun. And of course, we had a birthday dinner, 2 days late. On the menu was surf (for mom and dad) and turf (for Mark and Margot), all done on the barbeque.


Margot brought dessert - really yummy and complete with real whipped cream, kisses and a candle!

Niki's Wedding Shower

On May 7th, I hosted a wedding shower for Michael Burr's fiance, Niki Bergey. The wedding is on Jun 24th at Hockley Highlands near Orangeville.
The usual suspects from the neighborhood were invited as well as Niki's wedding party (only one was available to come), her mom and Margot.

The weather cooperated and we were able to enjoy the party on the back patio. Everyone seemed to have a good time and Niki received some great gifts.

The rest of us who have been married for eons said that it was time that we all had a shower too. Hey, maybe I should start a fad and throw a wedding shower for someone who has been married at least 20 years. Why Not??
One of the games that we played was the 'lei' game! Everyone received a lei when they arrived and were cautioned not to cross their legs or ankles. If you caught someone in this position, then you could steal their leis. At the end of the day, Mary Hohenadel and Paula Alblas were tied with 5 leis each! What a hoot!!
In another game, we were split into teams of three and each team was given a roll of toilet paper. One of the group was the model and the task was to design a wedding dress for Niki to consider wearing on her wedding day. What a fun game that was! Unfortunately I was a model so was not able to get a picture of these 'dresses' but believe me they were a sight for sore eyes!
P.S. I have since received some pictures from Sharon of the wedding dress competition. Take a look at these!

Love that thong, Paula

Don't cry Mary Helen

Don't look now Pat, but your dress...

Fishing at Elliot Lake

Back home from a fishing trip to Elliot Lake to long grass and a real change in the flowers! I guess some of the rain that we got up there fell down here as well, thankfully!
We left last Tuesday, May 9th and drove right to the municipal camping ground in the town of Elliot Lake. To our surprise the park was posted saying that it did not open until the long weekend in May. However the water and power hookups were working..... So we went to the information centre to see if we could stay there anyway. Sure enough, the girl said "Oh, just ignore the sign"! It hadn't been changed yet! So after registering, we happily set up - the only campers there!
Next day it was off to Mississagi Provincial Park, about 20 minutes north of Elliot Lake. Trout season was open so we expected to be able to use the park using day passes, even though there was no camping until the long weekend. Luckily we arrived there just as a ministry gal was locking up the gate! After speaking with her, she let us in but warned us that we had to be out by 3 or 3:30, the time that everyone would be leaving and locking the gate up again.
So after paddling the main lake and taking the portage, we arrived at Helenbar Lake, a fish santuary for brook trout. It was a miserable day, drizzling and at times, downright raining. The fishing was slow and we wondered if we were ever going to mark any fish. Finally Bob paddled us to a section of the lake where we started to mark fish. It wasn't long until we had two beauties in the canoe!
Here are some pictures taken of the fish back at the truck.
The bigger brook trout was a real beauty, at least 1.5 pounds and 18 inches long. He gave a great fight!


And here is a picture of dad, doing all the hard work!
The next day we fished at a lake where we had limited out on splake last year. Once again it was an overcast day with showers and periods of downright rain! And as was the case the day before, fishing was very slow! We like to say that the fish had lockjaw. We blamed the lack of strikes on the low pressure system that just would not go away. But we wouldn't give up quickly and before quitting time, had a nice splake and good-sized lake trout in the canoe. The lake trout had to be 5 pounds and gave a very good fight!
All in all, it was a good trip but the weather could have been much better! We ended up catching 5 fish in all. Oh yes, and the bugs were bad enough! Unless one was in the breeze, the blackflies were pesky, although I'm not sure that they were biting all that much. Next time we will have to make sure to arrive after the long weekend so that we can have ready access to the best fishing ( in Mississagi).
On the way home, we stayed at Grundy Provincial Park south of Sudbury. They obviously received a lot of rain as the one camping area had huge water puddles that made walking about difficult. We found that the Popular camping area was higher ground and had huge pull-thru sites.
Once again as was the case last year, the whistling swans are nesting on one of the lakes in the park. They seem to come back every year and have adopted Grundy park as their home.

Just Made It!!

Just made it in two senses: Made this cradle in six days, and just in time too because Margot and Mark are coming from Barrie today for the shower Delores is hosting. When I started this on Monday, I thought there was little chance it would be done on time, but a bit of whipping from Delores and voila!

Basement is Finished!

Hi All,
Well, after many hours of planning, measuring, and remeasuring, Bob is happy to say that the rec room is basically finished. And he did a bang up job! It is very, very nice! Dan helped as well when he was home. Here are some pictures of the rooms.

The first room finished was a bedroom, affectionately called the "Blueroom".



Next in line was another bedroom. This room is quite large, mostly because we decided to use one of its walls to conceal a steel support. It is referred to as the "Greenroom" and is Mark and Margots when they stay over.


...................................................................................
Next up was the recreation room. This is basically two rooms, with a huge arch between them. One room features a corner fireplace at one end and an absolutely beautiful handmade bar at the other. Notice that the walls are a fitting avenue to exhibit Bob's extensive bar sign and mirror collection.



The floor around the bar is made from red pine and the top of the bar from pine logs that we had kept from our previous log home (we had removed two walls and kept the logs). Behind the bar is another counter with bar sink and refrigerator and lots of shelves.


The other room is quite large with a tv room at one end and a game table at the other. We have already had 14 people at an euchre party recently and the whole setup worked just great. Lots of room and fortunately , no red wine spills on the carpet!
Notice the 'fake' window with the cowboys resting on the corral fence....neat eh??



Poor Dan had to leave his TV behind when he departed for England but it is in good hands and will be here for him when (if) he returns.



Notice the old telephone on the wall and the stained glass window inserted in the wall. Dan brought home from Kingston the old window frame and we thought that it would look good with old fashioned stained glass in it. What do you think?