April at a Glance

April brought a bit of a mixed bag, weather-wise and otherwise. Early April brought summer-like temperatures, followed by a return to winter digits though thankfully sans snow, and finished up with moderate days filled mainly with rain.

With better roads for travel, we squeezed in some long overdue visits with friends and family, including a long weekend run to the Kingston area.

Our village continues to recover from the August 2021 gas explosion, with most restaurants and a lot of other businesses STILL not open due to damage or wrangling with insurance companies. Luckily for us, the ice cream place DID open, a nice treat after some warm walks at the park - they even carry a non-dairy soft serve!

At the other end of the spectrum....they finally got around to demolishing the pharmacy on the corner that took some of the worst damage. It seemed like half the town turned out to watch, and we ran into several friends we hadn't seen in a while....including the owners of the smokehouse next door, who watched a fair bit of the structure topple on their patio and lovingly grown shrubbery.

On the plus side, Renny's was able to set up shop at a hockey tournament in Leamington, so we waded into the fray of young players and hockey parents just to get a brisket sandwich for the first time in nearly two years!

Besides the usual spring chores, we also tackled some long overdue home projects, including having a support beam installed in the crawlspace. We also took on the tedious task of removing various layers of aged wallpaper lining the kitchen, stairwell and upstairs hallway.

To end the month on a high note.....the Toronto Maple Leafs took out a tough Tampa team and finally managed to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, after a 19-year drought!

The pollen is callin' outside our back door

iScreams reopened!

Adamson Pharmacy about to come down....

New landscapes emerge!

The poor guy had quite an audience watching from across the street

Mike (not me, the handy one) installing a beam

Renny's patio not opening any time soon....

....but Brisket is back, baby!

Rip, peel, wet, scrape....

Windy walk at the provincial park

Dinner with friends at The Grove....and a few flights of fancy!

March-ing towards Spring

March began to get mild, as it often does down in these parts....but then again, we never really did get the usual February "winter". We took advantage by walking at the provincial park more often than we might normally in early March.

We used the electric fireplace a little more, trying to avoid having to put more oil in the tank before winter's end. A local handyman started work on an extra support beam in our crawlspace. I fired up the burn barrel to get rid of some old papers, both ours and others'.

We also made a trip to London area for a late celebration of Jane's 50th - while we quietly celebrated at home on The Day itself, a few weeks later we undertook more expansive festivities with the Coxeses and extended family.....involving board games, BBQ, much music and much laughter!

Eagles soar over the Provincial Park

Tree damage at the Provincial Park from the recent ice storm 

How apropos!

Flowers in the yard in early March

Still a bit cool but no snow helps!

Many balloons matching many years

Luckily it was a short drive!

A rousing round of Viticulture

Taverns of Tiefenthal!

Ice Storm!

Late February brought a nasty round of rain and wind - as temperatures dropped, the rain continued and ice began to accumulate on everything. We eventually lost power, as did the entire area, and we were out for 13 hours or so. Mind you, some parts of Detroit were out for nearly a week....so can't complain.

We pulled out the camping gear to make coffee and cook food, and lit the candles. With temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, the house only dropped down to 8 C by the time power was restored.

Luckily, the day after, temperatures shot back up to +10 C, so suddenly everything was shedding ice. We had a fair bit of tree damage, but fortunately all limbs and no major losses. By the weekend we had cleaned up two van loads of brush and taken them away to the yard waste depot. 

"A terrible beauty" - Jane

A little icy for hanging laundry

Weep for the Willow!

Second load for the yard waste depot!

Walk This Way

We had to drop the Juke off at the garage for some maintenance, and we decided to take advantage of the unseasonably nice February weather to walk home from the village. 

It's a pretty good walk, but at just over an hour, it's not much longer than we would spend walking at the park anyway.....though the shoulder of the main road is far less friendly than wooded roads and trails.

At any rate, a nice stroll on a winter afternoon!

Remnants of the August 2021 gas explosion in the village

Bend but don't Break!

Making stops along the way

Sign Language

The Road Less Travelled....at least at the moment!

One of our favourite trees!

The long shadows of a "winter" afternoon

 

We Welcome Thee, 2023

We rang in a quiet New Year with green grass and a Veronica Mars marathon, switching over to festive coverage in time for midnight. Mild weather and sucky felines rounded out the occasion, and my new lava sand clay goblet from Iceland was pressed into inaugural service.

For all its faults, 2022 did seem to fly by very quickly - looking forward to a better 2023!

We also watched the celebrations in Reykjavik, who greeted 2023 some four hours before we did. It was actually rather impressive, and we decided that some year we might join them for New Year's!

Happy New Year to all - may 2023 bring you peace and joy.

Veronica Mars marathon!

Happy New Year!

Icelandic lava goblet

Frescobaldi and Venetian glass

Ringing in, in Reykjavik!