Goodbye July!

Happy Sunday everyone! A lovely but coolish morning in Beaconsfield. When I took Cooper out at 5:30 AM, it was only 10 Celsius. I could have used a sweater LOL! A sunny and warm day is on the way though.

This past week was good and very quiet. We only walked the pooches once. It got too humid. Instead, they enjoyed the backyard. Cooper has been obsessed with the squirrels. One squirrel managed to get into the dinner bell bird feeder. That drove Cooper crazy! He watches from the deck then runs down the steps and chases after it. A very effective way to deter those little critters from coming back...as long as Cooper is on guard. 

Our garden is in full bloom although some of the early blooming daylilies are done. Russell cut the grass on Wednesday. This morning, we noticed how long it is already. Our grass is so  green and lush due to more rain this Summer. 

Our pooches are doing well. Yesterday was bath day for them. They don't mind and are quite cooperative although Cooper sure likes to shake off the excess water, it's hilarious to watch! Russell does an amazing job 💖

I've been trying new salads from the Mandy's Gourmet Salads recipe book that I got for my birthday. Her recipes are simple and include some ingredients that I wouldn't have thought to add to salads.  Russell has been liking them! She also has recipes for salad additions such as chicken, salmon, nuts, crispy pita chips, etc. This one blew me away: oven baked chicken breasts with none other than Montreal steak spice. I would have never thought to use steak spice on chicken...but then again, why not! As Russell said, how does the spice know that it is not used on steak 😂  Very yummy! This week, I will try the roasted mediterranean salmon. Another good addition to salads. Variety is the spice of life...I'm all about trying new things as long as it's not complicated.

Enough about food. It's only 7:30 AM and I'm hungry. First, I have to feed the Coop. He has a good appetite these days. We're happy about that. Spicy will eat around 8:30... she likes to lounge around longer in the morning. 

That's my blog for today. Have a great week everyone and see you back here in August!

We call this look 'Pill-pill' or pill time, these two
line up like clockwork for their meds.

Spicy making her tour of the backyard.

Cooper likes to take his time
to investigate everything in the yard.

Cooper on squirrel alert!

The view from up high is better when on the 
lookout for squirrels.

Hurry up and let us in it, it's treat or pill time!

Daylilies in all their glory.

Purple coneflowers with their visitor, a 
painted lady butterfly.

Early morning sun on the purple coneflowers and 
rudbeckia.

A birthday to remember

Happy Sunday everyone! A beautiful sunny morning for us, lots of sunshine and warm temperatures on the way as we enter the last full week of July. Let's make the most of it!

Today is the day after I turned the BIG 65. I don't feel any different other than being totally grateful for my lovely husband who organized a surprise afternoon cocktail party with the family. How Russell pulled this off without my knowledge is still a mystery. Not much gets past me but this one did! 

I woke up on my birthday at the usual time, 5:15 am. I gave Cooper his first pill of the day and took him out. It was raining a bit. The Coop and I went back to bed, Spicy and Russell were still sleeping like babies. We all got up around 6 am. While sipping on coffee, I started reading the many birthday greetings that arrived during the night from my friends from across the pond. Always nice to keep in touch throughout the year, even nicer on a birthday. 

The rest of the day was going to be spent just chilling. Dinner was simple: a charcuterie board, something I like to have on my birthday every year, no cooking involved. Russell suggested that we go to the pub in Pointe-Claire Village for a drink around 3 pm. I didn't really feel like it as it meant that I had to dress up a little LOL! But I warmed up to the idea especially since by then the sun was out so it meant sitting on the terrasse.  

I was sitting on the deck, looking at all the Barbie hype on Instagram....not that I care about Barbie but I do like pink as a colour! Then at 3pm sharp, through the backyard gate, came my brother, our two nephews James and Sean, and Sean's girlfriend Julie. Cooper is the one who alerted me of their presence. I was totally floored. Russell was quite pleased with himself.  How did he manage the food? Well, he ordered canapes and tapas from a local bakery, La Premiere Moisson. He left the house at 1:30 ...he said he had to gas up the car. He managed to put everything in the fridge, I never saw a thing as I was on the deck the whole time. He had Prosecco chilling away and got amazing macarons as a birthday cake. 

It was a wonderful afternoon filled with emotions, happy tears and laughter. A birthday I will never forget. Everybody left around 6 pm. We had our charcuterie board later that evening. 

This morning, as I reflect on yesterday, I feel truly blessed. I have the most wonderful and thoughtful husband. I have the best doggies who bring sunshine to my life every single day. Our family is rather small and we do not see them often so it was special to have them with me. Thank you Russell with all my heart 💖

This is my blog for today. We will finish this birthday weekend with a bang...barbecued chicken wings and potato skins for dinner! I leave you with a few photos taken yesterday and two pre-birthday pics of me with Cooper and Spicy. The rest of the day will be spent just chilling, as I had planned to do yesterday. I will peruse the cookbook that Julie got me, Mandy's Gourmet Salads. Russell and the kids got me a new iPad Air. Russell will get it going this morning. 

Enjoy your Sunday. I wish you all a great week!

Making a wish....

Francois, James, Sean, Julie, Russell and the 
kids celebrating my birthday!

Cheers to another wonderful year.

Birthday treasures along with the wonderful
memories made.

Afternoon sunshine and the love
of Cooper, I love him to pieces.

Spicy is such a snuggle bug and 
I love her to bits.

A rainy morning

Happy Sunday everyone! An early start for us, as always. We woke up to a very dark sky that just opened up....we have a weather statement that is calling for thunderstorms and lots of rain. 

This past week was good. We managed to get a few walks in with the pooches. I also got the cones out and created a maze for them. It had been a while and no one missed a beat. They had fun.

On Thursday, we had a nasty storm. Lots of rain and thunder. We lost power for 24 hours, from about 3:45 in the afternoon. Our generator kicked in no problem. The following morning, with the power still out, we placed a call to have our propane tank topped up. Now we have a full tank should we need it again. Some people were still without power yesterday. It's been a bad year for power outages in the Montreal area. 

Our garden is looking good. The daylilies are beautiful, the purple coneflowers are just starting to bloom. Next will be the rudbekias...yikes, that's how I know that July is coming to an end. Our basil is looking the best it's ever looked. 

Yesterday, we got some yard work done. Russell cut down many tree branches that were hanging over our roof. Yep, he got on that ladder and did a good cleanup. I bagged everything, ready for yard waste pick up tomorrow. We also picked up the many apples that have already started to fall from those apple trees in our backyard. They make such a mess and get in the way of cutting the grass. 

Cooper and Spicy are doing well. We found them on the guest bed the other day, just chilling. I happened to have my phone with me so I captured that moment. I thought they looked so cute...but then again, they always do 💗 

Yesterday, I made a blueberry breakfast cake, super moist, made with ricotta cheese and lemon zest.  I don't bake often in the Summer but I came across this recipe and it looked too good to pass. My brother is coming for coffee this morning....it will be a nice little treat. 

That's my blog for today. A rainy day, maybe a day for doing nothing. I wish you all a great week!

A daylily in bloom in our backyard garden.

The basil looking lush and tasty.

Daylilies and shasta daisies.

Another beauty

In yard surveillance mode or is it nap time.

The BFFs snuggling on the guest bed.

The happy and ever smiling Duo.

Must be time to eat, these two are in prime 
position for crumbs or a hand out.

Birds, Blossoms and Fireflies

Happy Sunday everyone! It's 8:45 am and we all slept in until 7! But not before Russell woke us up at 5 am with a terrible spasm in his thigh. He was literally screaming, the pain was so intense. He gets those a few times a year, they only happen while in bed and they last a few minutes. So, I got up, gave him a leg massage and it eventually went away. I then gave Mr. Coop his first pill of the day and took him outside. We went back to bed and the rest is history. Of course, Ms. Spicy slept through it all!

Last night, we had our friends (and next door neighbours), Paul & Marie, over for dinner. A great time was had by all. We had some good laughs, shared great stories. We spent the whole evening on the deck, a picture perfect Summer night. Russell smoked a side of salmon on the BGE. It was delicious. 

This past week was good although very hot. We only walked on Monday...and a fun walk it was. We met up mid morning with Matisse, the lovely Polish Lowland Sheepdog, and his human mom Pauline. The pooches got along quite nicely while the humans chatted away. We also ran into Errol which was nice. We hadn't seen him for a while. 

From Tuesday on, it became too hot to do much of anything. Russell spent a few mornings mopping up the furnace room where our freezer is. The compressor went. It took a few days for it to defrost completely. We had it fixed once, not doing it again. We had no food in it, just a few ice packs. 

On Thursday, we noticed a bit more water in the furnace room, this time it was coming from the base of the furnace. We had a service call later that day. Some freon was added. For now, all is good, fingers crossed that it remains that way.

While this heat wave was happening, I watched the Montreal Canadians Development Camp. It was a three day event which ended with a scrimmage, live on YouTube. Hockey in July, during a heat wave, it doesn't get any better than that! 

Our birds are happy with their feeders. They come and go all day long. Russell added a water bowl to a bird cage that we have suspended in the tree. Our little birdies have a good life. Our daisies are beautiful this year, so tall. We also have lots of fireflies. It is quite amazing to watch those littles lightning bugs at night.

Cooper and Spicy are doing well. Coop is in a good place now, all is stable. We get that his CHF is not going to get better but it seems well controlled at the moment. That's all we can ask for. We will do another echo late Fall. As for Spicy, I've been measuring her resting respiratory rate once a week. She's also in a good place. We know that this disease can progress very quickly so we are keeping a close eye on her. She will get a follow up echo sometime this Summer. 

Those are my little news for today. It's going to be a nice Sunday, warm and sunny. I'm thinking the kind of day to just chill and relax. I leave you with photos of birds and flowers and of course a few of our pooches. I weigh them every Monday morning so there is one of them just waiting to be weighed.  Have a great week everyone! 

Follow the leader, Spicy says I'd recognize
this guy anywhere.

Outside the bathroom, all lined up
for the Monday morning weigh in!

Matisse, Cooper and Spicy found
a spot in the shade under a tree
while their humans chatted.

Bird-feeders and a watering station, the gold
finch, chickadees, sparrows and cardinals are
loving this set up.

A chickadee carefully selects a safflower seed.

This male cardinal patiently waits for his turn
at the feeder, the fledglings are calling for
their breakfast.

This male gold finch is now a frequent visitor 
dining on shelled black sunflower seeds.

A daylily in all its glory.
 

Early morning sun on the shasta
daisies.

A field of dreams made of shasta daisies.

The Jackmannii clematis in full
bloom.

Strawberry season!

Good Sunday morning everyone! Hope everybody had a good Canada Day. Ours was quiet and very nice despite some rain and thunder. We can't believe that we are in July already. As our friend Pat said, where did May and June go?

This past week was good and seems like a blur to me. Sometimes, when I write my blog, I ask myself "what did we do last week" and I can't remember LOL! 

What I do remember is buying some wonderful Quebec strawberries at Le Marche de l'Ouest last Tuesday. They are sweet, juicy and simply delicious. I gave them a vinegar and water bath when I got home and stored them in the fridge. They are still good looking as of this morning. Yesterday, I made a lovely strawberry crisp for Canada Day. Yummy!

Everybody is doing fine. Cooper had some blood work done on Thursday to check his kidney function.  His electrolytes are "low end of normal" and that is likely the best it's going to be. The potassium sparing diuretic, in combination with the furosemide, is keeping things stable. We will redo the blood work every few months. Otherwise, the Coop is good and eating well. Our Spicy is doing well also. She now appears to be partially deaf in the other ear. It doesn't seem to bother her and she follows Cooper's lead when it's time to bark! Russell and I waive our arms and hands and she comes running! Spicy is happy and that's all that matters. 

One day last week, I was chatting online with another Havanese mom. She owns Tre. As we were exchanging, we found out that Tre and Cooper are related. Tre's dad (Phantom) is Cooper's dad's son....so that makes Cooper, Tre's uncle...you got all that? It's pretty cool. Russell, who loves ancestry stuff, has been looking at the genealogy of our pooches using the Havanese Pedigree website. Very interesting to see how some of the dogs are all related. 

We had a couple of walks last week. It is still hazy out there but no smell of smoke like last Sunday. 

That's my blog for this first Sunday of July. Have a great week everyone!

A bounty of Quebec strawberries, so delicious!

When you have strawberries, you make a crisp!

Pill time al fresco.

Nothing better than deck time in comfort.

Cooper has renewed interest in his
chews and playing fetch with them.

Time for a little snooze.

Spicy enjoys her nap time inside in the 
comfort of her bed and blanket.

Spicy in her favourite chair...actually
they are all her favourites.

Smoke on the water....as seen from 
Edgewater Park on our walk.

My view from the stationary bike...the snuffle
monsters at work.