Lots of planting!

Happy Sunday everyone! What a beauty of a day it is. Sunny, quite hot actually but I'm not complaining. The weather this month has been like a roller coaster...some very hot days and some pretty cool ones. We are fast approaching the month of June so let's hope for a really nice Summer. I'm sitting on the deck now, writing my blog, and at the same time, pondering about life and how quickly time goes by.  I'm also thinking about how fragile life is. We have a friend who lost her husband last Monday. In a blink of an eye, everything can change. So true.

All is good with us. On Tuesday, we met with a landscape architect. Oh my goodness, that was totally worth it.  She gave us a plan for the two front flower beds and one bed in the backyard. That very same day, I made a first trip to our favorite nursery store, Jasmin, and bought plants. I went back twice and planted some 65 plants/shrubs or so in total.  I finished today. We noticed a few holes here and there so I will correct that this week, then I will mulch. We only planted perennials. It is looking quite nice.  We will take pics after mulching. I think that it's for the planting. It is a lot of hard work but I truly enjoy it.  My two guys were supervising the whole time.  To ensure Cooper's safety when I was planting in the front, we kept him on a leash tied to a 35 pound kettle bell. He doesn't mind and we know he can't run away and chase cars. And bonus, he gets to be with us.

Today, we had Auntie Lorraine over for lunch.  It is always so nice to see her.  We got her DNA results so Russell showed her the latest on the family tree. There were no big surprises, apples don't fall far from the tree. Oh, by the way, I got my DNA results and it seems that I am 48% Irish.  My dad is not convinced that those results are accurate...he would have preferred it if I would have more Scottish in me.....I guess now I have a reason to celebrate St-Paddy's Day with Russell!

Back to today.  After lunch, Russell took his aunt to the Stewart Hart Cultural Centre in Pointe-Claire. As part of the celebrations surrounding the 150th anniversary of Canada, there were many expositions, one of them sponsored by the Lakeshore Camera Club. A while back, members were asked to submit some photos for the exhibition.  Russell submitted a few and two of his photos were chosen.  He was pretty tickled pink about it, and he should be. It was hard to take photos of photos but he was able to get a decent pic of his Barbados sunset.  I'm pretty proud of my hubby!

You may recall that, in my blog last week, I said something about a little in-home boarding business. Well, we started working on the details.  More on that in the next few weeks, but it will be a reality sooner than you think.  I am super excited!

That's it for my blog today. I leave you with a pot-pourri of photos, two of them taken yesterday when we had the pleasure of visiting Terry (aka Aislin), Mary and their Havanese Sparky.  We will spend the rest of the day relaxing on the deck......dinner tonight is in honour of National Hamburger Day in the US, good old burgers on the BBQ. Have a great week!

Perennials in bloom in a corner of the backyard!

Aislin's latest book "From Trudeau to Trudeau 50 Years
of Cartooning" along side our pear from Mary,
his talented wife.

Personally autographed for us and Cooper!

Cooper ready for a tasting while we BBQ....
his favorite spot.

Russell's Barbados Sunrise (top) on display
at the Lakeshore Camera Club exhibit
at Stewart Hall to celebrate
Canada 150

A Havanese trio

Happy Victoria Day Weekend! Wow, the first long weekend of the Summer is finally here. It doesn't feel too summerish out there but it is still Spring after all. Our weather today is a mix of sun & cloud with a temperature of 20, so not too bad. Compared to the two super hot days we had last week, it actually feels cool.

This past week was busy. I made numerous trips to the garden centre and bought many plants, perennials and annuals.  I planted them all and our flowers beds in the backyard are looking pretty good.  We decided to seek the help of a landscape architect in order to get some ideas for the front bed. She is coming on Tuesday. So lots more planting on the horizon.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Cooper's 6th birthday in style.  He had Fido sweet potatoe fries and grain-free birthday cake.  He really liked the icing, made with cream cheese and peanut butter. Yum! In the afternoon, we took him to Wild Willy's Ice Cream in Pointe-Claire village and he had a few lickings of a doggie size vanilla cone dipped in bacon bits.  It was a great day for us and for the Coop!

On Friday and throughout the weekend, we had our very first doggie sitting experience. Missy & Max spent two nights with us and left this morning.  Everybody got along just fine and it didn't take long for the Havanese trio to get in a groove.  They had some nice walks, numerous play and fun training sessions. They chilled on the deck while I was gardening and all slept through each night. We didn't know how Cooper would react since this was the first time that other dogs slept in his house, but there were no issues whatsoever.  It was fun for Russell and I to observe the interaction between the dogs as each has its own personality. Max is twelve and Missy is eight.  They are both such cuties.  Max's favorite spot on the deck was the chair so Russell got him a blanket. He was pretty comfie.  Missy is a real snuggler. She loved sitting on my lap.  So, this dog sitting experience was totally awesome and a repeat for sure.  Could there be a little home boarding business here for me?
Hmmm, food for thought :-)

That's it for my blog this week. I leave you with photos of the trio. We miss them already.  Have a great week everyone!

Cooper, Missy and Max...Cooper says I know the drill,
you guys listen to Anne, she has the treats!

Missy listening to Anne. She is a fast learner...
and a real treat hound!

Cooper and Missy look on as Max demos his skills.

No way to capture the three amigos on the bench all at once!

Top knot time for Missy...a pretty girl!

Top knot time for Cooper.

Deck time for Missy and Cooper...it is a dogs life!

Max holds court in 'his' chair with 'his' blanket.

Max says....I see what you guys are doing....
any treats over there?!

Missy loves to snuggle and Anne loves to accommodate!

Cooper's 6th birthday complete with sweet potatoe
fries and peanut butter cream cheese icing on his cake. Yum!

Backyard crabapple is full blossom.

Close up of the blossoms....very delicate and pretty.

Happy Mother's Day!

I would like to wish all mothers a truly Happy Mother's Day! I hope this day is special in every way. I wish the same to all the pet moms out there! I don't have children but I am proud to be Cooper's human mom.  So this day is my day too! A loving wish goes to Russell's mom who is watching us from heaven.  Yesterday, we brought her flowers. It was nice. I can't forget my mom. We had her and dad over for lunch and it was lovely.  Precious moments that we will cherish forever.

So, here we are, half way through the month of May. Weather wise, it doesn't feel like it although the forecast for this week is looking very exciting.  This past week was a rough one for the thousands of people affected by the Quebec floods.  The water levels might be receding but the damage has already been done and it will take a long time to rebuild. It is very sad.

Despite the weather, we went to a garden centre last week and bought some perennials.  The weather will be warm this week so I'm hoping to get some planting done. We are way behind, as are most people. It hasn't been the best Spring but there is nothing we can do about it so no point in complaining.  I just hope we can get most of our planting done before our Toronto trip first week of June. More on that later.

Russell is still working on his ancestry.  He quizzed my mom and dad today so now he has more "clues" to work with. He received an email confirming that my DNA is in the lab....I'm guessing in about 6 weeks or so I will find out exactly what I'm made of.  His aunt's DNA should arrive any time now so that will give him more to work with.  He truly enjoys doing all this research. His family tree is now so big that it cannot be printed on just one piece of paper.

That's it for my blog this week.  I will spend the rest of this Mother's Day relaxing with my two guys. I leave you with four precious photos. I wish you all a wonderful week leading up to the first long weekend of the Summer season.  May it be a sunny and warm one. On Saturday, we will be dog sitting Missy and Max, looking forward to it! Oh, something special is happening on Wednesday...our pooch will turn six!

Anne loves to snuggle and give her pooch kisses
especially on Mother's Day.

Cooper and Russell visit his mom and dad on
Mother's Day....a lovely bouquet for mom

Anne and her Mom on Mother's Day. A lovely Spring
lunch with great food, conversation and love.

Cooper wishes all the moms Happy Mother's Day!

Splish Splash

Happy Sunday! I don't know why but I can't get Bobby Darin's Splish Splash song out of my head....it's just playing over and over again. I'm a little sick of it actually.

I hope everyone is surviving the terrible weather we're having. Many areas in Quebec are flooded and hundreds of residents are being evacuated from their homes.  Luckily for us, we are not affected by the floods but we feel for those that are.  It is very sad to see how cruel mother nature can be at times. The rain has stopped for now and hopefully the worse of it is behind us.

We had a pretty good week aside from having crappy weather.  We did manage to do a little bit of yard work on Thursday but not much.  We have so much to plant. I was hoping that by now I would have figured out what we need to buy in terms of perennials/annuals but it's hard to plan the flower beds since not everything that I planted last year as sprouted yet... although I suspect that after all this rain, I will see lots of stuff coming up this week. Having said this, our daffodils are blooming! I think the old saying "never plant flowers before May 24 weekend" will stand true this year.

Aside from the weather, things are good with us. My knee seems back to normal although I'm still a bit cautious so I'm avoiding certain movements at the gym.  Russell is now working on my family's ancestry. My DNA test has not come in yet but I now know the name of my great grand-father ten times removed. Wow!

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of going to Terry Mosher's, aka Aislin, book signing. Sparky, Terry and Mary's Havanese, was there in all his glory, watching his daddy sign all the books. The event was held at the Pointe-Claire Plaza, the only mall in the West Island that allows dogs.  We met up with Lillian and Blu-Belle. Russell took some nice photos of the Havanese gathering.

Today was a busy day for us. We had a "Meet & Greet" with two Havanese that we will board for one night later this month.  Missy & Max came over, along with their humans Linda and Bob, and got to meet us and the Coop.  It was a fun afternoon and everyone got along just fine.  I don't have any photos of today but we will be sure to take some pics when we host the two.  Oh, and it was nice to finally meet Linda and Bob, great friends of Darlah & Nathan. It's all in the family, what can I say!

That's it for my blog today. It's not raining so I suppose we could sit outside for a while but it's a tad cool so we will just chill inside.  Maybe Splish Splash will play on the radio soon.  Have a great week everyone!

Daffodils in our front yard finally in bloom.

Terry Mosher aka Aislin greets Cooper during his
book signing while Anne's friend Lillian looks on.

Lillian and Blu-Belle with Anne and Cooper
at the Pointe Claire Plaza...dog friendly, awesome!

Lillian, and Aislin giving Blu-Belle some love.

Triple the Havanese...triple the fun...someone
asked us if there was a dog show at the Plaza!

Aislin and his faithful companion...Sparky....just lovely!

Cooper, Russell, Anne and Blu-Belle
pose for a photo op...thanks
Lillian!