Wednesday Witterings . . .

 

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Happy Canada Day to all of my Canadian family and friends. It will be a quiet day here.  I am not sure if anything at all is being done to celebrate it locally or not. If there it, it has not been widely advertised. Here at home, Eileen and I will celebrate being Canadian and living in Canada very quietly. I have Canadian flags in my garden, we will probably eat a simple meal, and we are planning on watching the second installment of the Harry Potter films. I had not previously seen any of them, so we watched the first one the other day and are going to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I remember buying my youngest son all of the books as they came out back when I first moved to the U.K. I was really pleased that he was interested in reading them and I thought it a great way to encourage him to read. His step mom wouldn't allow him to have them, however. They were unchristian and she wouldn't have them in her home.  At least that was her excuse.

Anyways, Happy Canada Day! It is sunny here, at least at the moment, and promises to be a warm day.

This is one of the photographs that my brother took of lightening in the skies above his Ottawa home yesterday. I thought it was amazing that he was able to capture it like this. 

 

He also took this one. Pretty lucky to capture these images. Lightening happens so fast he must have had to do some pretty quick clicking.

Cindy and I were just saying the other day about how we hardly ever see Thunder and Lightening storms these days. At least where we live. They were a lot more common when we were growing up. Now, if we get any at all, they seem to happen at night when we are sleeping.

I am not complaining about that. I remember the storms we had growing up as being quite wicked.

 

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I was thinking yesterday about how much time we used to spend at the outdoor pools in the summer months when I was a child. I think we went just about every day when the pools were open. Our parents would get us a summer pass, which was in the form of a cloth badge that would need to be sewn onto our swim suits.  Usually just the year number. 

We would start off in the morning with swimming lessons which would be held early in the morning before the pool opened for casual swimming. From out mother's perspective, it was really important that we learn how to swim. She never had as a child and had a life long fear of her head being under water. She did take swimming lessons once when we were in Gimli, but was not a huge fan.

We, on the other hand, spent many summers learning how to swim. I loved swimming. I do remember the water being almost hypothermic on those early morning lessons. Oh but it was bitter getting into the pool, but we soon got used to it.

The afternoons at the pool were much nicer. By then the day would have warmed up considerably and the coolness of the pool water was quite refreshing. If we were lucky we would have four cents to spend at the canteen to buy a popsicle. 

That pool would be teaming with bodies.  There were so many children that the lifeguards would often break it up into 15 minute sessions with groups of children taking turns. When the whistle blew, you would have to get out and let the other group have a turn.

As I got older being at the pool was more about ogling the lifeguards and innocent flirting with the boys of our own age.

Summers spent at the pools. Happy memories.

One of my cousins sent me this newspaper clipping of my father receiving a Good Conduct award back in October of 1963. It had been posted in the local newspaper. My grandparents must have been very proud of him. (My paternal grandfather died a month later on November 22nd) I had not known about this award, so it was nice to learn something new about my father.  And it was very nice of my cousin to share it with me. I shared it with David and Cindy as well. (Our father is on the left.)

My brother translated it to English:

"Corporal Antoine Villeneuve, on the left, receives a medal for good conduct from the Commanding Officer of Gimli, Manitoba. Corporal Villeneuve is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dollard Villeneuve, of Bagotville. Congratulations."

I remember being very proud of my father when I was a child. He used to do television repairs and put up television aerials in his spare time. I would ride my bicycle around the PMQ's (Military housing) looking for him and I can remember feeling very proud of him when I would see him on top of people's rooves.  I always had a way and a "hello dad" to share with him.

I am so grateful that we are still blessed to have him with us, and I am grateful for my sister's tender care of him. On Sunday he had not felt well and told her and myself that he thought he was dying. We told him that he had to hang on a while longer to see our brother David when he comes in August. And then there is his Birthday in January.  I think he was probably just feeling very tired.

I get that. I have days when I just feel very tired as well.

Anyways, these last (almost) six years have been a special blessing to me. I do not see him as often as I should, but I am grateful for the occasions that I do see him. I suppose I could see him every day if I wanted to, but I don't like sitting in Tim Hortons and when he is living in someone else's home it would be a bit awkward to descend on them every day just to say hello. I did used to talk to him on the telephone every night at 8 p.m. but his hearing is so bad now that he doesn't hear his phone if I call and he can't hear what I am saying anyways. I do love him very much however and I hope that he knows that.

 

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I still haven't picked up any strawberries, although I better do so soon before the season finishes. They have not come down very far in price.  Still being about $7 a quart in most places or even more, but they do look good.

I did buy a jar of strawberry freezer jam at Pelton's the other day. I will crack that open come winter. For now it is tucked into my freezer. Mom always made freezer jam every year. She thought it was a lot easier. We sure used to enjoy it when she would take a jar out in the off months.  Usually we would enjoy a spoonful drizzled over a dish of vanilla ice cream. That was some good. Yum yum!

Maybe I will go to the farm market behind us today and get a pot of berries, if they have any and if they look good.

Most places will not be open today due to it being a holiday.

 

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I got a jar of sliced dill pickles the other day as well. I do so love a good dill pickle and I love the slices most of all. They are great for snacking on or tucking into burgers, etc.

Not that I eat many burgers. It was an impulse buy.

And there will probably be more as the summer progresses. I am not much into making my own pickles and preserves these days.

 

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I was quite pleased to learn that Eileen will be getting free internet from the CSS program that she belongs to. Her box will be mailed to her sometime this week and she will just have to hook it up. She is quite excited about that. Her television needs to be put onto the stand and her bed needs to be put back together as well. They have a lot to do before next Wednesday if they expect her to start staying there from then. She will still go out for supper Wednesday night. (She's not giving that up!)  We won't be going out today however as all of the restaurants are closed.

I have a ROKU dongle to attach to her television that will give her some nice programming which will be free, plus I can add one more person to my Netflix, so will be adding her and I am going to help her get YouTube onto her television as well. She is going to pay for the Disney channel. That should be enough to keep her happy.

I also ordered her a couple more Diamond art kits from Amazon yesterday. She really finishes them rather quickly. We will need to get some picture hangers for her to be able to hang some of them up.

I just looked over and this is Nutmeg laying on the carpet near my desk.  He is such a little character. My cleaners have never seen him. As soon as they go to come in he scoots in under Eileen's bed. Cinnamon stays out the whole time watching their every mood and as soon as they wash the floors she rolls on them. I don't know why she does that, but she does it every time.

They are such funny creatures.

Well, I am about out of things to say this morning so I will finish this off  now.

A thought to carry with you . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

*You are a gift,• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。

even on the days you don't feel bright.

Your kindness, your presence, your laughter,

your care -- they leave little pieces of light

in places you may never seen.

~unknown

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Not Your Mama's Potato Salad.  A delicious version of potato salad with plenty of fresh vegetables and a creamy dressing, lightly flavored with a bit of horseradish cream.  This is fabulously tasty!

I hope you have a beautiful day today. May it be richly blessed from beginning to end. Don't forget!

Have a beautiful day!  Don't forget!  

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!