Bring on Spring!

Spring finally sprung here in the sunny south, after about six weeks of "real" winter. We got a lot of snow for here, but nothing compared to what the rest of Ontario got. Thankfully, we have a very nice neighbour with a tractor, because the drifting was quite bad - he did our driveway three times in a little over a week.

We watched a lot of Olympics from Italy whilst snowbound in February, including the two nailbiters in men's and women's hockey, in which we lost both games in overtime to the Americans. We'll get 'em back in four years.

Late February brought a few concerts of note to raise our spirits. We headed to Chatham and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Korean Fusion before heading over to the Capitol Theatre to catch the Sam Roberts Band from our front-row balcony vantage. He/they did not disappoint, bringing all the hits and his usual cool vibe. He also made me slightly regret our delicious dinner when he announced that the band hung out and had drinks with the locals at the bar we usually go to before shows, the Elephant's Nest.

About a week later, the venue was Caesar's in Windsor. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Legends before heading to the Colosseum for a double shot of Crown Lands followed by The Trews, as they wrapped up their Bloody Light tour. Eschewing our usual nosebleed seats in the mezzanine, this time we opted for second row on the floor.

The boys brought their A-Game and wowed the crowd with all their hits plus a few new offerings, rendered in Colin's unfaltering vocals. They even threw in a few mashup covers with nods to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and The Who. The band also came out into the crowd twice, having to pass right by our seats each time. 

Any day now we will break the van out of winter torpor and repopulate the deck with furniture - bring on spring!

Beef bulgogi - Spicy pork - Sweet and Sour chicken

Two kinds of kimchi at Korean Fusion

Balcony seats at Chatham Capitol Theatre

Sam Roberts Band bringing the love!

Released from winter's icy grasp by late February

Crown Lands - crazy sound from just two dudes!

The Trews rock the Colosseum at Caesar's!

John-Angus lays it down

The hardest working band in the land!

Colin in the crowd for Ishmael and Maggie

The boys passing by our seats in the second row

R.I.P. Gronk

And then there were Six. What a crappy start to the New Year.

We lost Gronk in early January. He had been diagnosed with a mass on his lungs that was also compressing his trachea. Steroids bought him a few good weeks to say his goodbyes but this was a hard one.

He was born Perca on the property in May 2011 with his sister Pita (passed) and his brother Bonk (Pistol), all offspring of crazy Momma who is defying odds and still with us.

He was our dominant male after taking the reins from Jebus, and was a BIG personality. Literally, it was HIS world and we just lived in it (and served his needs). As a younger boy, he led the Nug Pile by sleeping on top of his siblings, or whomever happened to be in "his spot". 

Once he matured, he definitely also mastered the Resting B!tch Face. He also grew into his signature b!tchy meow which let you know he wanted in, he wanted out, he wanted food, or just wanted your attention. From there his name Gronk was established, and it stuck for most of his life.

He took his job of securing the property very seriously, driving off interlopers and patrolling the perimeter with regularity. He had his usual spots, and of all our outdoor cats definitely liked certain places in the barn or garage to curl up and sleep.....and MAN could he sleep. We've never had a cat that slept deeper than Gronk when he was "out". We were constantly amazed he was able to sleep so hard and survive outside.

 Also unique - he fished in our ditch every spring. We used to think he was crazy, but then we saw him actually attacking fish in the water. We even found a half chewed fish up on the bank, proving that he was a successful angler at least once.

On his last day, with newfound energy he took one last patrol around the whole property and even out into the neighbour's field and halfway to the corner. We spent his last days cuddling a lot on the couch, a luxury we don't always get. He slept harder than normal in his weakened state, but he also had a number of "good dreams" in our laps as he chased his final rabbits and bagged one last fish.

Farewell sweet boy - you are already missed and have left a huge hole in our household.

R.I.P. Gronk (Perca), aka Gronky, Grump, Grrrrr, Grrr Digivens, G, G-Dogg, Big Nug, The Rump, The Fisher King, Garnk, Grim/Grimmy, Grimiss Daladay, Grimiss Jackson, Grimmy Poliver, Grimmy Po, Grimpel, Ronkers.....and Nuggles Nuggington the 3rd (of the Wheatley Nuggingtons).

Baby Gronk in 2011

Early feedings in the garage with his siblings

Nug Piles!

He was a paddler at the door when he wanted in....

Sleeping hard with brother Bonk

Out like a light!

Fishing in the ditch

Who does that???

Surveying his domain

One wet and angry boy!

Marking his turf

Beautiful boy

Let me in!

Comforting Pennywise

Bromance with Vincent

Snuggled up with Pinhead

One final patrol before signing off duty

Quality time on his final night

Bands in Town!

We took advantage of a couple of killer shows lined up at Caesar's in Windsor to hit the town and get our retro rock on. 

In late November, I Mother Earth and the Matthew Good Band hit the stage for a double bill. 

A few weeks later, we were treated to a three-peat of Headstones, Finger Eleven and hometown rockers the Tea Party. While there were no true headliners for the show, Tea Party definitely took the spotlight and brought a little something extra to a special night.

Still tapping my feet and humming the tunes....