Down Memory Lane

Happy Sunday to all!  Many of you are enjoying the Civic Holiday Long Weekend.  I hope it's a great one for all.

This past week was a good one, not too busy.  I think that most of what we had to get done with regards to our move is behind us. We have returned to a normal routine.  We both go to the gym on a regular basis, we have our daily walks with the Coop and do other stuff in between.  We seem to be in a groove and that's a good thing.

I got more gardening done.  As much as we wanted to finish the planting next year, we found another place to buy some nice perennials so we may just do it all this year.  Today, I planted 12 daylilies. It's looking nice and I will take some pics for next week's blog.

Cooper is doing well but he is still adjusting to his new digs, not so much the house and the city noises but the overall change.  It's hard to pin point exactly what he has not adjusted to but he's off a bit.  His plays are not quite the same and he doesn't eat treats the way he used to.  Imagine that! Having said this, he gobbles down his two meals a day and sleeps like a log.  Oh, and he will not refuse a kangaroo tendon.  He went to a new doggy day care for half a day last Wednesday, a place in Ile Perrot called Chez Winston.  It is a home and Tracy, the owner, is the sweetest person.  She has an Old English Sheepdog named Winston and he is the same age as Cooper.  Coop did well, played some and is getting used to the place.  He will go back next week.  In two weeks, we will meet with another potential home boarding family in Rigaud.

Russell and I have been observing Cooper and have noticed two things:  the first one is that he doesn't used his crate anymore.  His "new den" is either under the kitchen table or under the patio table on the deck.  He also likes to sleep on the bench against the brick wall on the deck.  Whatever works is fine with us.  The other observation is that he doesn't like the texture of leather.  Our new couch in our TV room is leather.  We were wondering why he wouldn't go on it and realized that he doesn't like the texture of leather.  So, we added blankets and voila! The things we do for our pooch.

Back to the title of my blog for today.  After lunch, we drove to Verdun to watch the Montreal Highland Games.  That was the plan but we couldn't find parking anywhere.  We should have gotten there earlier.  But it wasn't a waste of a drive.  We took the Lakeshore Road all the way.  It was a beautiful scenic drive and it brought back a lot of memories for Russell who was born in Verdun. We saw the street where he was conceived, Edna Street.  How cool is that!  What's even more amazing is that when we got home, Russell found the lease that his parents had on the Edna house.  They lived there between May 1953 and March 1957, at a going rate of $30 a month. Russell also saw many other areas that he remembers from when he would visit his grandparents. A lot of good childhood memories were brought back today.  It's all good.

That's it for my news this week.  Another month is upon us tomorrow.  School will start soon.  Yikes! Have a great week everyone!

Perennial shopping with Russell and Cooper at Cramer's.

Cooper and his new buddy Winston.....
waiting for treats!

Casey Ball's flower benches have a new lease on life,
Cooper loves to catch 40 winks on them.

Spot the seagull...he is as high as the jet....well maybe not!
Shot hand held in the backyard on Avondale.

It was a hot week!

Happy Sunday everyone!  Wow, what a hot week we just had.  We were almost, emphasis on the word "almost", wishing for the good old Huntsville Winters.  Having said this, it's been just as hot in Muskoka and everywhere else for that matter.

All is good with us.  We just got back from spending a few hours at my parents' place.  We had some munchies and a glass of wine.  They wanted to celebrate my birthday.  It was very nice.  On that note, my birthday came and went and it was a wonderful day.  Russell and Cooper showered me with love all day long.  I also had the pleasure of having coffee with mom and dad, first time in 35 years that I got to see them on my birthday.  It was a special moment for them and for me.  I took the Coop with me and we have a nice visit.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing with my two guys, just the way I like it.

This past week was again a busy one but things are slowing down for us, which is a good thing.  We had one "meet and greet" with a potential home boarding family for the Coop.  It's called, Chez Winston, in Ile-Perrot.  Winston is the name of their Old English Sheepdog.  Coop and Winston got along really well.  Would you believe that they were taking care of another dog, a 5 month old Havanese of all breeds!  This coming week, we will meet with another potential family and hopefully another one next week. The more people we meet, the more recommendations we get.  That's a good thing.

I got a lot of gardening done.  The front bed is finished, now we wait for the plants to get big.  I got more done this morning in the back. Although we have bought many perennials, the stock is getting very low in all the nurseries so we decided to wait until next year to finish things up.  The selection of plants will be much better.  But we're off to a good start.

While I was out and about this past week buying plants and stuff, I got lost twice.  I don't know how that happened but it did....I managed to find my way home but I had to ask someone for directions once.  Hard to believe that I grew up in this area, but not hard to believe considering my poor sense of direction!

This week, in Quebec, marks, the beginning of Construction Holiday.  It is a two week holiday for the construction industry.  This holiday came into effect in the Summer of 1971.  It is the busiest time of year for Quebec's tourist industry.  One quarter of Quebec's population will be off during this two week period.  It will be interesting to see if we notice anything different during that time.

That's about it for this week's blog.  Oh, Cooper just saw his first racoon! I wish you all a great week. Some of you have the Civic Holiday Weekend coming up.....not in Quebec.  Have a great one!

Cooper has found a new lounger in the yard!

Anne planting outside the fence but still in the yard.

Anne with more plants while Cooper supervises!

Orange crocosmia, what a find. Hope the hummers
find them.

Cooper at the top of the stairs taking a break.

Cooper surveys his kingdom from the front window.

Anne and Cooper at mom and dad's place,
a great visit!

A new Focus

Happy Sunday to all!  It is a beautiful Summer day, nice and hot, just the way we like it. This past week was super hot though, much too hot to do anything outdoors.  The humidity was unbearable at times.  I was almost wishing for Winter....just kidding.

All is good with us.  We are still busy getting stuff done but our focus has changed.  First, this coming week, we will start checking out the few places that have been recommended to us for the occasional overnight boarding.  This is a big priority for us.  We need to find someone that we can totally trust, who will care for Cooper the way we do, and the way Darlah and Nathan do.  We are only looking for home based boarding.  We know that we will not find another Camp Talemaker, but we are hopeful that we will find a place that we can feel comfortable with.  Having said this, Coop will return to the Talemakers for all of our extended trips. It will so be worth the drive to Richmond Hill!

Our other focus now is to get some serious gardening done.  Today, I spent a good 6 hours weeding all the beds and making space for new plants.  Next, I need to draw a sketch for each flower bed and figure out what to plant and how many plants we need to buy.  I've been keeping an eye on the sun/shade so I have a pretty good idea of what to get.

On the topic of focus, we got ourselves a little Ford Focus SE.  When we got rid of the Mini Cooper a few years ago, we decided that we could live with one car.  We managed very well in Huntsville but now that we live in an area that has so much to offer in terms of shopping, running errands, etc, we thought it would be best to have two cars.  So, our little Focus arrived on Friday.  It is cute and drives well.

My biggest challenge so far in Quebec has been to have to deal with the Quebec Law that says that women must keep their maiden name even if married.  The law to that effect changed in 1981 and we got married in 1982. Even though we got married in Quebec, we were living in Alberta at the time. The Albertans couldn't pronounce my maiden name properly (Pelletier) so I decided to change it. Now that we are back in Quebec, this decision to change my name to Duncan is coming back to haunt me.  Enough said on this topic but it is a bit of a hassle.... but it will get sorted out.

Other than this, the three of us are doing really well and have adjusted to life in Beaconsfield. Cooper is a happy dog.  He will go to his new Vet tomorrow, Dr. Stiles.  He will have his first bath on Tuesday at Spawsy's. We took him to DoggyDay in NDG for the first time last week and he will go back this week for half a day.  It is a very good place and we think that it will be good for him to have a play date from time to time.  As for Russell and I, we both went to the gym twice and enjoyed it.  I tried out two classes, each very similar to the Huntsville Bootcamp with the exception that each class lasted one hour instead of 30 minutes.  Twice the workout.  This week, I will try a Cardio Box class, a combination of martial arts and boxing.  That should be interesting.

I leave you with a few photos of the Coop on his deck.  He now has figured out how to spy on the neighbour, Peter.  He also loves watching the robins.  We also took a pic of him sound asleep on his back....that's how you know that a dog is comfortable, when he's in his most vulnerable position. Finally, a pic of the Focus.

I wish you all a great week.  It's hard to believe that we are entering the third week of July.  It will be another busy week for us but we will take the time to have a little celebration on Friday for someone's birthday.

Cooper says, I spy with my little eye the neighbour...
Peter...think I'll woof, woof a little!

Ooooo...look a robin...no woofing!

Four in the air...no better feeling of comfort and security.

The new Ford Focus SE.

New dog on the block

Happy Sunday everyone!  What a soggy weekend we've had but the rain was much needed so no complaining from us.

Well, Cooper is back with us, in his new kingdom.  He is the new dog on the block and he is making his presence known.  He is adjusting to "life in the city" after spending 4 years in the country where the only outdoor sounds to speak of were the odd car coming up the gravel road, the gobbling wild turkeys and the wolves at night.  We didn't quite anticipate that the city noises, or white sound as we call it, would be somewhat disruptive to him. He is getting used to it but the first couple of days were interesting.  The sound of traffic and trains, although quite far away, is much more noticeable to dogs given that they can hear sound up to 4 times farther than us humans.  But the adjustment is going well.  On his first night, he wandered in the house three times on his own.  Not sure where he went and what he was checking out, but he always came back to the bedroom.  How do I know?  I'm a very light sleeper and I hear everything that goes on at night.

It's good to have the Coop back with us.  Our new home now feels just right.  We still don't have our routine back but it will come.  We seem to always have something to do, whether it's an electrician coming to install the backyard spotlights or someone measuring the windows for the blinds, or having to run errands for little things that we're missing.  Believe it or not, we both haven't had a chance to go to the gym yet but we will this week.  We may have unpacked in record time, but it does take a while for everything to fall into place. We're almost there.  The good news is that the fence was installed sooner than anticipated.  It was ready for Cooper's arrival on Thursday. It is beautiful!

We have resumed our walks with the Coop though. It is a nice neighbourhood for walking and lots of places to go.  We haven't walked to the Lakeshore yet but we will soon.

Oh, and guess what?  We both had a hair cut last week.  Russell went to the nearby barber, just walked in and had his hair done.  No appointment necessary and not quite the Toronto prices.  As for me, I went to a salon in Beaurepaire Village and was quite pleased with the result.  No hairdresser will ever replace my good friend Linda but I was happy.  We're off to a good start on that front.

I think that just about sums up this past week, which seems like a blur to me.  I leave you with some photos of Cooper, a few taken by Darlah the day before we picked up Coop.  Nathan had quite a few dogs in the pool that day and they all had a blast.  I should add that when we picked him up, it was a bittersweet moment for us as we will not get to see our good friends at Camp Talemaker quite as often.  But they will see the Coop again, of that there is no doubt.

I wish you all a great week.  It's supposed to be a hot one.  Enjoy!

Coop and Russell having some deck time.

Cooper surveys his new kingdom...daddy, I just saw a rabbit!

Cooper loves his new perch with the 60 incher in the
cinema room.

Cooper had a blast swimming at Camp Talemaker.

Cooper and his gal pal Inula the Tibetan Terrier
swimming side by side.

One week already

Happy Sunday to all!  I hope you are all enjoying a nice Canada Day long weekend.  The weather has been beautiful and very warm.

So, here we are, one week after our move to Beaconsfield.  Honestly, we don't know where the week went and it feels like we've been living here forever.  But we've been very busy.

The sound system in the house has been installed and it is amazing.  We only have to use one remote control instead four, as we did before...what a concept.  Cooper's fence got started but will not be finished by the time he comes home this week, as we had hoped.  It will be completed on July 12.  In the meantime, we will use baby gates to secure a space for him in the backyard.

All of our boxes and packing material got picked up last Thursday.  We can now walk in our garage. We have ordered the window coverings for the bedrooms and the mudroom/basement doors.  As for our kitchen, the windows are so large and there is so much light that comes in that we decided to leave them "au naturel".  Russell hung all of our pictures.  He took great pain in ensuring that the measurements were just right...not one picture is crooked.  Oh, and we also joined a gym.

So, all and all, I'd say we don't have much else to do except some gardening and a bit of landscaping. Today, I planted 12 hostas in the front.  There is quite a bit more planting that needs to be done but I have the whole Summer to do it.  We found a great nursery that has an amazing selection of plants and flowers.

We have a couple of busy days ahead of us with a bit more running around. Then we leave for Toronto Wednesday morning.  We will stay overnight and pick up our Coop Thursday morning and bring him home.  He will have been away from us for 16 whole nights but he's been having a real good time at Camp Talemaker.  He even went swimming.  We miss him terribly and are getting very excited to see him.  His favorite toys and chews are already out in some strategic spots and his water bowls will be filled before we leave.

Yesterday, my parents came to our house for the first time since we moved.  It was nice to see them and it was also nice to know that it will not be another 4 months before we see them again. We're planning on having Russell's aunt over Tuesday.  Later this month, we will invite my brother, sister and her children.

We look forward to getting back into a routine with our Coop.  There are many dogs in the area so he will get to meet them when we go for walks.  Life is just about to become normal again.

That's it for my blog this week.  I leave you with a few photos of Cooper swimming, courtesy of Darlah.  Russell also took a pic of the "fence in progress" as well as a Basswood (Tilia) tree that we have on our front property.  The smell of that tree is simply divine! I wish you a great week!

Stay still till I get there Nathan...stop running away!

Hey....Cooper says look at me swim, I like doing the
dog paddle.

Forget drip dry...Cooper says... I think I'll run dry!

Fence post set in concrete, panels next.

Our basswood tree with am amazing
fragrance!

An assortment of hostas have found a perfect home.