October 06, 2020

 Hello my friends:

Summer has escaped us, and fall is in full swing. The weather has been beautiful here; warm sunny days and cool evenings. It could stay like this forever and I'd be happy. With the USA/Canada border closed until the end of October, and maybe longer, we have decided to hunker down and spend the winter here. At least till the end of the year. The jury is still out on whether we will go if they open the border in the new year. 

So this summer has been a time of projects. Michel has been busy carpentering.... in between eye surgeries. Here are the screen doors he just finished. Looking pretty good eh??

The deck is another story. We are still waiting for the Deck paint from Home Hardware, so I don't think that will be a this year project. 

Michel's second eye surgery on his right eye was in Vancouver on September 24th. so we had to make the trip. I wasn't impressed, because that meant I would have to drive in Vancouver, because he couldn't drive after surgery or the next day....but all went well and driving in Vancouver wasn't that bad! We went up on the 22nd and spent 3 nights. His pre-op was on the 23rd and his post-op was on the 25th. They were very accommodating and his post-op appointment was at 7:30 a.m. so we were out of there by 9 and on our way home. His eye is doing very well, healing and his sight is getting better every day.  

And... as for me, same old, same old. I've been building dolls! More outside yard art. They are all sprayed with two coats of Varathane to help protect them from the weather and the UV rays, so I would think they will be fine outdoors in the summer....I wouldn't put them out in the spring~!

So, if you are ready, here they are....(there are lots of them - lol)

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!

August 01, 2020

One more project nearing completion. 

Michel has been busy this summer.

Meanwhile, my hydrangeas are doing wonderfully well.
At least this pot is. We have 3 pots, the same plant (Different colors), the same soil, etc.....and this is the only one with big beautiful flowers.

July 12, 2020

Last weekend Michel finished my arbor. I am thrilled! It looks awesome! 

I've posted different views so you can get a good look at it, and also see how my yard is coming along. 

That being said, Michel had surgery on his right eye on Tuesday. This one is healing slower than the left. That is because the doctor had to do a lot of scraping (the cataract), so his eye is still red, a little tender, and still blurry. Hopefully it will be good in another week or so. They did say it could take up to six weeks for the blurriness to completely go away.  So he will continue doing the eye drops and taking it easy ... no lifting, no bending over.

This view is from the deck.
You can see the whole back yard... and my new arbor!

This is my Morden:
the first to bloom in the spring and the last to bloom in the fall . 
Such a beautiful rose bush, given to me by my good friend Donna Kusch. 

The roses were so beautiful last weekend I took pictures to share, but since then ...... this week as a matter of fact they were stricken by a bug. I'm pretty sure it was a rose slug, and the reality of it was, we had to cut them down. I can't believe how fast they chewed up all the leaves. It was a matter of a few days. I sprayed but it didn't help. I was too late!! It was devastating! They should come back but in the mean time what was once big bushes are now little twigs. It's like starting over. 

I hate to end on such a sad note, so I won't.....although we aren't doing very much to blog about, we are enjoying the sunshine when we get it, and hanging around indoors when it is raining. We are getting a lot of rain this year. Very good in that we don't have to water the gardens every day, AND... there are no forest fires around us!! 

Bye for now and thanks for reading!

June 28, 2020

For those who follow this blog, I am sorry I have not been more diligent in keeping it up to date. My only excuse is that not much has happened since this Covid 19 pandemic hit the world in March. 

We finished out our winter season in California arriving home on April 5th. We were instructed that a quarantine was in effect and that we could not stop anywhere along our route from the Canadian border to home, and that we should stay there (at home) for 14 days. That wasn't a problem for us, as we had stopped and shopped in Bullhead City, Arizona and had enough groceries to l last a month. Our little city of Greenwood was in 'lockdown' anyway, so really? where were we going to go???

It was nice to be home, got all settled in and put the motorhome to bed for the summer. 

So now, what have we been doing since we've arrived? Michel has been busy carpentering. Three years ago we talked about putting barn doors in our bedroom to replace the bathroom door and the closet door. I bought the railings and this year it is done. Picture below. I am thrilled!!

That project out of the way, he is now working on an arbor for outside. I will post pictures when it is done.

We've had quite a bit of rain this year already, so outside work has been at a minimum. It is a good thing that my garden out back is all perennials. I just had to buy a few petunias for the pots..... It's looking pretty good!

And Michel had cataract surgery on this left eye on June 23rd and is scheduled for surgery on the right one on July 7th. That just put a small delay on the arbor. 

As for myself .... last winter I took a class from Maureen (our painting teacher at Desert Oasis) in sculpting with wire and fabric. I posted about it on March 4th. That really peaked my interest, so I have been "building dolls" so to speak.  I've been using a different product, but in the end... (I have to waterproof them with a spray) they can go outside too. 

This is my latest one. She is 20 inches tall 
I hope I'm getting better because I love doing this.


And I have been painting a little as well... 

So now I am caught up.  Another rainy day today. Just chillin' indoors.

Thanks for reading.

March 07, 2020

(L to R:  Peggy, Marian, Brenda, Bruno, Marjorie)

The last Hurrah in the park before everything was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. 

50's Dance with awesome 50's music kept everyone dancing. Some were dressed for the event in their poodle skirts and neck scarves.  Peggy had "Pink Ladies" on the back of her pink jacket. 

Everyone had a great time. 

March 06, 2020

3rd Annual Fishing Derby!

Last Saturday, February 29th, our pool was stocked with fish (plastic with metal noses) and we partook in the 3rd Annual Fishing Derby.  Our rods had a magnet at the end of the line instead of a hook.

We were divided into teams. There were 8 teams of 8 people and we had 7 minutes to catch as many fish as we could reel in.

There were helpers, so we didn't have to unhook our own fish!


In the end my team came in second catching 71 fish. 







Keeping with the theme, afterwards there was dinner of fish tacos. 

Karaoke finished the day, however we didn't stay very long. 

It was quite a lot of fun, lots of laughs and it was very well attended. 

March 04, 2020

While Tina and I were being creative Michel and Rich went hiking. 

They drove out to Indian Canyons where there are over 60 miles of hiking trails. 

They started at Andreas Canyon, which is 1.2 miles and considered the world's second largest California Fan Palm oasis. 

Hikers will be rewarded with spectacular views of rock formations, sycamores, cottonwoods, willows, and the magnificent California Fan Palm (Washingtonian filifera), all surrounded by the harsh desert environment.



Victor was their second hike. This trail is one of the most scenic trails in the Indian Canyons. The Victor Trail will take the hiker out of the shade of the palm trees, up and onto the ridge that overlooks the canyon and return the hiker to the Trading Post making a three mile loop.