Nearing the end of June

Happy Sunday everyone! For the life of me, I cannot believe that today is the last Sunday of June. Despite COVID-19 and all, time is just flying by. I almost want to say that "time flies when you're having fun"...but heck, we make the most of what we have and life is just fine, and we're having fun.

We had a good week. We celebrated St-Jean Baptiste in our backyard, as did most people. The neighbourhood was quiet, no fireworks that we could hear that night. We'll see what Canada Day brings, probably another quiet celebration for most people.

We had some lovely walks by the lake with our pooches. As we made our way to the park, we noticed the many restaurants in Pointe-Claire Village that started reopening. Both indoors and patios. It's nice to see some action. We haven't been to a restaurant yet but we plan on going to Le Gourmand for our anniversary in August, on the patio.

On Friday, Russell surprised me with an early birthday gift....a set of free weights that he ordered online, for our home gym. I was over the moon happy. The weights came from Toronto, delivered in less than 5 days to our front door. Our home gym is now complete and I couldn't be happier. I've already used them yesterday morning...some tricep kickbacks, bicep curls, chest press and lateral raises. A good start and I'm feeling it today. Life is good.

We've had a skunk visiting our neighbourhood for the past few days. On Friday morning, when we took our doggies out at 7 am, it was in our neighbour's backyard, just strolling away. Cooper alerted us to his presence. Oh, "hello and good morning to you" he said! Friday night, at 10 pm, Russell took Cooper out.....on a leash as he always does at night. Sure enough, the skunk was in the middle of our yard.  If Coop hadn't been on a leash, I bet he would have been skunked! The coast was clear for Spicy's turn. Can you imagine our two little fluff balls being skunked? My worst nightmare.

Today we had my brother, sister and our two nephews over for a simple lunch in the backyard. Entertaining is not what it used to be, thank you COVID-19, but getting together, even at a distance, is better than nothing. We had great conversation and lunch was good.

That's my blog for today. It is now very dark and there is a thunderstorm brewing. We can hear the thunder. Have a great week everyone and Happy Canada Day! Stay well, stay safe and all will be good.

Spicy likes the high places, that's her favorite
chair...Cooper likes the lower point of view!

Now where did that skunk go...he was here a moment ago.

Spicy and Cooper approve of the new weights and the
whole gym set up.

Spicy was encouraging me to peddle faster.

New weights in their rack!

The home gym....fully furnished.

Preparation for the family lunch visit...safety first complete
with hand sanitizing station and space to physically distance.

Celebrating the Dads

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads, doggie Dads and the Dads who are no longer with us. A special loving thought to Russell's dad who left us 19 years ago and my papa two and a half years ago. We miss them always. Today, the pooches and I celebrate Russell. He is the best human daddy any dog could ever have. Cooper & Spicy are the kids we never had and Russell cares for them the way he would if we had children. The bond between them is very special.

This past week was good. On Monday, Russell went for his antibody test. He expected the results this coming week but they came on Friday morning. His doctor called to let him know that the result was negative....having said this, his doctor is not at all convinced of the reliability and accuracy of the test. They had a good discussion about it, and about other things. All in all, it was a worth while phone consultation between Russell and his doctor, who is very optimistic about a vaccine potentially being available by the end of the year.

Wednesday was picnic day for us. We had a wonderful time, just relaxing on a quilt overlooking the Lake St-Louis. We will do it again soon. Such a nice way to relax and ponder life.

On Friday, I met up with my good friend Lillian at Le Marche de l'Ouest. We hadn't seen each other since the beginning of the lockdown, although we've been in touch almost daily since. It was really hard not to hug each other but it was so nice to see her. We both bought local strawberries. Yum, they are totally delicious. We will meet up again soon.  I also bought a whole flat of coriander for the Trug. I should have enough to last until end of Fall. It was time to replace the first batch I planted in May. I used it all!

Summer has officially arrived and it feels like it. We've had a heat wave for the past few days, and it will continue into this week. The humidity is low so it's actually quite comfortable in the shade. We took Cooper & Spicy out for a walk yesterday morning before it got too hot. Today, no walk. Russell decided to give them a bath....yes on Father's Day! Their last bath was two weeks ago but he thought they looked a bit grubby. It was Russell's Father's Day gift to himself, clean doggies!

That's my blog for this week. On Wednesday, we celebrate St-Jean-Baptiste Day. But before we do that, we celebrate Spicy's Gotcha Day tomorrow. I can't believe it will be three years since this sweet little princess came to live with us. She's added so much to our lives, and Cooper's. Have a great week everyone. Stay safe and stay well. Ca va bien aller.

Cooper and Spicy enjoying the shade with their daddy
on our picnic by the lake in Baie-D'Urfe.

Cooper is Havanese from Cuba but he wears a
Panama hat so well.

Spicy always the fashionista sporting her
pink bow to match the quilt.

Cooper and Spicy enjoyed lounging by the lake with a
gentle breeze in the shade.

My good friend Lillian in a clever
COVID-disguise at the Marche our first
meeting since lockdown.

Sunny days ahead

Happy Sunday everyone! A nice and sunny day, and more sunny and warm days in the forecast for the whole week. Gotta love those forecasts!

All is good with us. We had a great week despite the unseasonably cool weather. Thursday was particularly windy and we lost power for almost 4 hours. We had some good walks with the doggies. We had planned on going for a picnic but the weather was a bit unpredictable so we will have our picnic this week instead. Just something different to do plus I love picnics!

Cooper and Spicy also had a fruitful week. They took part in some enrichment activities, courtesy of our good friend and dog trainer Wanda. She wrote a very good article on how to enrich a dog's life, be it through tricks or games, and gave me some fun ideas to play with. I also used our cones to practice "figure eights" as well as crawls. Both, when done properly, will help strengthen the hind and front limbs, core and is an excellent focus exercise. What can I say, I love doing this for our pooches and they enjoy it. It is always done in a fun way, no stress, and with total supervision.

As planned, I used up a lot of my cilantro. I made pesto, a vinaigrette and a marinade for chicken. Later this week, I may buy more plants which should last for the rest of the season. We'll see what this week brings.

I've been reading a lot of books lately. You could say that I'm binge reading. I discovered a few new authors through BookBub, a book discovery service recommended by my friend Lise, also an avid reader.  I'm hooked now on Robert Bailey, great stories. I haven't watched much Netflix lately, saving that for a rainy day.

Russell is doing good. Tomorrow he will be getting the antibody test for COVID-19. Late December, we both came down with the flu, in a very bad way, Russell worse than me. Despite two courses of antibiotics, Russell didn't start feeling better until early March, respiratory issues being the culprit. His doctor is now thinking that it is likely that he had COVID-19 back then. As such, he gave him a requisition for the test. The results are apparently 97% accurate and we should have them in about one week. It will be interesting to find out. Not that it will make much difference to our lives now but nonetheless. Good information to have down the road.

That's my blog for today.  Have a great week everyone. Stay well, stay safe. Ca va bien aller.

Spicy and Cooper in the 'ready box'...
set to start the fun enrichment exercises.

Cooper doing the crawl under the bar...

Cooper is focused on the treat and making it
under the bar without knocking it down
 while keeping him bum down.

Spicy did her shimmy under the bar!

The yin and yang pose of Cooper and Spicy....BFFs!

Look up...look way up....to the Treat
cupboard!

Free CBD gummies for anyone
who can identify this plant growing
on our property!

A busy Sunday

Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a good week. Ours was good and somewhat busy. I'm amazed at how fast our weeks fly by despite the fact that we don't really go anywhere. The days just seem to come and go in the blink of an eye.

Although we had a good week, we felt this incredible sadness following the tragic and senseless death of George Floyd, not to mention the unrest it has brought to the world. We need to be in a better place, now more than ever.

Russell and I are doing good. We're keeping up with our exercise routine. Russell keeps reading about potential vaccines and treatments. He is optimistic and keeps our hopes up that eventually we will be able to travel again. Without a vaccine, we won't so let's continue to keep our fingers crossed.

Last week, I started "designing" some agility/rally courses for Cooper & Spicy. I'm having fun with that. Our VegTrug is out of control, the basil and cilantro taking over everything. The photo below was taken last Monday. Today, the cilantro is even bigger. I will need to start making a huge dent in it, then I will replenish in 3-4 weeks time.

On Friday, we got a nice little package containing beautiful masks made by Anne Bergen, a friend and former co-worker. She has been making those since April. It is Anne's way to help and to keep her family, friends and front-line workers safe. They are beautiful, colourful and most importantly very comfortable and snug. When I think back at the beginning of the COVID crisis, I was not wearing a mask. I think part of me was in denial about what was happening and I felt that wearing a mask would make this COVID thing more real. I am now proud to wear a mask when I go out.  It's not about living in fear, it's about protecting ourselves and others. Thank you Anne for providing us with those cute accessories!

Yesterday was bath day for our two pooches. Once again, Russell did a wonderful job. It is quite time consuming, one hour for Spicy and 1 3/4 hours for Cooper. The bath and blow dry event comes with paws, feet and bum trims. Oh, and a few treats along the way! The nails and ears are done on a regular basis. Teeth are done daily. Well done Russell!

We spent most of this morning and early afternoon doing yard work. I topped up our flower beds with 12 - 3 cubic feet bags of black mulch. Russell cut the grass, trimmed a few trees and put down top soil and grass seed on a patch of our front lawn. We also went for a walk with our doggies.

Those are my little news for this week. Tomorrow will mark my dad's birthday. He would have been 87 years old. We think of him always and miss him every day. I wish you all a great week. Stay well, stay healthy. Ca va bien aller.

Spicy and Cooper on a small break during our walk at
Park Alexandre-Bourgeau.

A tree swallow nest part of the Pointe
Claire biodiversity program.

Spicy post tub time...snuggled in her pink
towel and ready to be dried.

Cooper was next in the tub and on to the
grooming table to be blown dry.

Always on alert, this time on the back deck...
must be squirrels.

The VegTrug in full growth mode with basil, cilantro and
chives not to mention parsley, thyme and rosemary.

The backyard course set up for Cooper and
Spicy...they love the jumps and obstacles.

Modelling our new masks made by my friend. We love the fit, comfort, style and, bonus...
no fogging up my glasses.