Family From Afar

Huge sigh of relief!  I worry about the stupidest things sometimes.  My dear brother & his wife Maria from Oklahoma and Maria's niece Julie & husband Orama from Puerto Rico were coming for a visit.  Great news, indeed!!  So why did I worry about the fact that our little retirement cottage only has one bathroom!  Well, guess what!  No problemo!  We had a great time together every minute of their visit.  So I won't worry about that issue again.  I think we are all a bit spoiled when we know our ancestors would have thought indoor plumbing was a luxury.

     It was great to see my bro and Maria and to show them a bit of our new life in Canada.  It was great to get to know Julie & Orama better.  They are all welcome back here any time!

Granddaughters

Aren't they beautiful!  Claire, age 6, and Emily, age (almost) 4, were looking like little angels with their golden curls and baskets of yellow rose petals for a  wedding in California.  We can't wait to see them when they fly out, with their mommy & daddy, for a visit in August!

Canada Day

This is our first Canada Day in our little home.  We were in Canada at this time last year, but were still quite dazed from the big move.  One year later, we feel very at home here in Canada, and gratefully so.  Thanks be to God for all our family here, and for all our new friends and neighbours.

     We got the idea to put out our American flag and Dutch flag along with our Canadian flag from the neighbours across the street.  The wife of one couple was born in Germany, so she and her husband hung a German flag and a Canadian flag on their porch.  Next door to them, the husband is British and his wife Canadian, so they hung a Union Jack and the Maple Leaf.  Martin was born in Holland, me in the U.S.A, and now this is our home.  It's nice to share our heritage with one another and also appreciate what we have in common as citizens of the world.

Gooch Retrospective Continued. . .

Photographing art was harder than I realized.  Lighting is key.  Without professional equipment, I had to figure out a way to capture the true beauty of Linda's paintings.  I had a lightbulb (pun!) moment one day and decided to take the paintings outdoors.  Very fun, indeed.  This opens up all kinds of possibilities!  I'm including an outdoor photo of "Cherry Tea" as well as an indoor shot--just to show where it hangs in our home.  You can see which one gives a better view of Linda's skillfully rendered water colour.  I love this painting, a going away gift from Linda when we left California.  And it is cherry season now, so time for a cherry tea.

Poang Potato

We've all heard of "couch potatoes", but, since we don't have a couch in our T.V. room, we had to come up with our own term for comfortably watching a bit of telly.  For those of you that don't recognize the chairs in the photo, they are made by IKEA and are dubbed their Poang (two dots above the letter A) series.  We bought our Poang chairs for $79 each and the matching footstools for &39 each.  They are very well made and very comfortable,  lightweight and easy to assemble.  Because, as you know, the IKEA furniture comes in pieces in a box.  I call their stuff "affordable chic."  Martin is watching the Rick Mercer report, which comes on at 4:00 every afternoon. We often have afternoon tea with Rick.  

Picking Peas with Poppa

We came upon this sign just outside of town.  Peas are at their peak this month, so we were eager to try our hand at pea pickin'.  The green pods really blend into all the green leaves and are hard to spot at first.  Poppa Martin is hard to spot in the bottom picture.  Can you find him, Claire & Emily?   We enjoy that Chatham is surrounded  by farms.  Since we arrived in our new home in Canada one year ago, we have been able to visit farms and pick blueberries, apples, strawberries, and now peas.  Fruit and vegetable stands are a  great source for purchasing seasonal produce, as well.

Library book sale

We struck gold when we browsed the book sale tables at the library one morning this week.  We placed our stack of books, many of them chosen for the August visit of the Hudson girls, on the patio table, and settled in for some good reads.  It was so nice and we were so comfortable that we brought a tray out for an alfresco lunch and read.  Poppa Martin is reading "The Wind in the Willows."