More Married!

Married!

What's been going on around here?

The garden is looking pretty good these days but a lot of the flowers are finished. We had to cut most of the hydrangeas because they were turning brown and all went crispy on top from the unrelenting heat.

The Daisies finally made their appearance they are also done now so the only real colour we have in the garden right now are some orange Day Lilies and whatever we have planted in our pots. It's been a bit difficult keeping everybody happy in the extreme heat we've been experiencing, plants and people, but I think we are all learning to adapt.

A couple of weeks ago we had the strangest thunder and lightening storm that lasted for hours and hours. I forgot that I had snapped some photos of the incredible sky that evening but found the photos when I was clearing off my camera this morning.

Late last night I heard a commotion in the front yard and was treated to a view of the critters we share our property with. This is a Momma and 3 or 4 babies you can just make out in the photo. I watched them scamper around the front yard and into the back yard for about an hour last night. They didn't seem to take any notice of me. I find them fascinating! I wonder how much longer they will all be together? The babies are almost as big as their Momma. I love the way they talk to each other with little chirping noises.

Superman starts his new job tomorrow and there is less than 6 weeks until our wedding. I'll update soon and show you what I've been up to on the wedding front. Lots to do but it's coming together. I am ready to start uploading some of the details as we get closer to the date.

Stay tuned, and if you are reading this, thanks for sticking around even though I haven't had much to say lately.

Where did it go so wrong?

I haven't been here for a while due to frustration with the mechanics of my blog and little interest in actually sitting down and fixing it. In fact, reading my last post could make a person think that I had run off to be some sort of faith healer or that I had miraculously cured myself with exercise and denial. It worked for a couple of days and then all hell broke loose on my ass. Literally. Imagine every muscle in the back of your leg cramping at the same time and somehow pushing on a nerve that starts in the butt cheek and ends in the foot. The nerve trauma has caused most of my left foot and a path down the back of my leg to go numb. It feels like the dentist has been injecting my toes. It feels weird.
So far treatment has included icey/hot patches and creams, ice, hot, crying, doctor, drugs including something to help the nerve pain and Tylenol 3, a CT scan and tomorrow, a Chiropractor. I am waiting for scan results and I have a referral for Physiotherapy.
I'm coping okay now with manageable pain and a real weakness in my leg and foot. Sitting for any period of time causes nerve pain, like a deep ache, but I do have more time when it doesn't bother me now.
The main goal now is to find out what is causing it and never do it again.
Wish me luck.
All that being said, I have been busy with other things too and have not let my pains stop me from doing too much.
I was able to do a lot of singing around town this weekend and was lucky to make music with some pretty amazing people. The quality of people and musicianship in my life these days is awe inspiring. Being able to be on stage with some of my musical heroes this weekend has inspired me to do more!
The wedding invitations have finally been sent and now I get to run to the door every morning to see who sent back replies. That's pretty fun. I still have no idea how many people to expect. The planning moves on.
I've missed you blog. I'm giving you a new title for now.
Rhubarb! I've always liked that word.
I will work on making you work better.

How do you spell relief?

Spontaneous healing anyone? My back is pain free this morning! Maybe it was the aqua fit or the stretching or the Arnica gel or the Robaxacet or the way I slept, maybe all of those things together but I am not in any pain today. Thank God! This little problem of mine can get very bad, so bad that I have limited movement for a long time. Not this time though. That means I can keep working out and strengthening my core so this doesn't happen again. I have a much better understanding about what is happening physically and some tools to work through it now so it doesn't have to lay me out for weeks at a time anymore.

Last night Jessie and I played crazy eights upstairs while the boys had a band practice downstairs. It's nice to be serenaded by live music when we are just hanging out! This house couldn't be more perfect for our needs. SM and Jessie and I are all in separate bands and Jessie's son is now teaching bass, all in our downstairs studio. It's awesome to have a place to play where you don't have to set everything up every time. We have a sound system and a drum set set up all the time so we can just plug in and get to work.

The garden is exploding with hydrangias and the daisies are just starting to open. The sun is shinning and it's Friday.

Have a fabulous day!

Guess what?

Well, I'm still here just recovering from a bunch of stupid stuff.
We have only had intermittent internets since last Friday and the guy who came by to fix it today just did a temporary fix running a cable through my kitchen. This is truly The House of Cords, Cables and Wires. One of the joys of living in an older house. On a side note, the guy that came to fix the internets showed up when I was in the shower, luckily Superman was home to let him in. The first thing he asked was if he could use our bathroom and then tried to walk in on me when I was drying off. Eek! I grabbed my stuff and took it into the bedroom while he was outside checking the connection so when he came back in he asked to use the bathroom again. When he was done I went in to continue getting ready and it turned out that he had been busy laying some cable in there and smelled up the whole bathroom. WTF? He could have at least sprayed some air freshener in there. Ugh. I was rather appalled but SM said I should give the guy a break, how long should he have to hold it? Just a bit longer would have been nice.
My camera is on the fritz and I had a root canal today. I also have searing sciatic pain that started on Monday and seems to be getting worse. I have been working out anyway, doing aqua fit and it doesn't hurt at all when I'm in the water. I wish I could be in the water all the time.
Superman got laid off from his job about a month ago and is doing all he can to find another. That's a bit stressful.
So , there you have it. That's what's happening here.
One more thing, I'm thinking of starting a whole new blog. This account has never shown my updates to my subscribers and I think it's ready for a name/style change. I just can't seem to fix it. Hopefully I can transfer all the content of this blog onto a new one and start fresh. I tried to change my background colour and lost my entire blog roll, among other things.
There you have it. This could be better but they could definitely be worse too. I am trying to be grateful for what I have and work towards what I need.
I'll try to come here more.
xox

Can you take more garden pictures?

Well another perfect weekend has come and gone. The weather has been so amazing. I heard we have had 18 days of continuous sun here in rainy Vancouver and it feels more like mid summer than spring. On Friday I did a show at a country fair with Superman's band and on Saturday I just camped out in the sunny yard and enjoyed myself. Later in the afternoon my dear friend Robin popped in with refreshments and her usual good humour. We lazed in the sun sipping cocktails and reminiscing about our trip to Mexico last year. Later, the boys showed up and we played some bocche ball and badminton and ordered in some yummy Greek food for dinner. A day well spent and in bed by 11. Poor Superman now has the horrible cold that Jessie and I had so we are giving him lots of sympathy. He likes that.

Today was another sun day. Jessie and I had all kinds of plans for gardening but after we pruned the Mock Orange tree(thanks to Robin for identifying it) and filled some vases we just had to sit and admire our work. Yes, I took pictures.

Jessie made SM and I the best Indian dinner this evening with homemade chutney and riata, butter chicken, basmati rice and poppadoms. Super delicious!! While she was preparing our dinner I made a rhubarb and strawberry pie using rhubarb from her brothers garden. Yummy summer flavour and we are all just so stuffed with goodness.

I took this picture of the Mock Orange from inside the garage.

Here she is against the blue, blue sky.

So pretty!

The Hydrangeas have even started blooming. This is the first flower from the largest bush in the yard. I sure hope there are still lots of flowers left for the wedding in September.

Here's the wall of roses and there are so many more blooming every minute. I can't even describe how amazing the yard smells.

Here is a little bouquet of mock orange flowers on the dining room table and a huge bunch that is on the mantle. Ummm, I hope these aren't the reason Superman keeps sneezing.

How does your garden grow?

Everything is blooming like crazy and I just have to show you. It's all about the garden for me this summer and I have been blown away by the beauty that is in our back yard.

Here is the window box from Jesse and Martin. Makes me so happy every time I open the door to go outside.

Can you spot the two ladybugs?

This is our fabulous Smoke Tree! When we moved in we thought it was just a dead tree, it was completely bare. Now it is putting on an amazing display. I LOVE the Smoke Tree!

Here is a shot of our wall of Wild Roses. They are breathtaking and smell so beautiful. For every bloom you see there are 10 more waiting to burst open. The blooms are so delicate that they only last about a day and then sprinkle their petals onto the grass below.

This tree just started blooming and has the most delicate snowy white flowers. Does anyone know what it's called?

The Portulaca is growing like crazy in the front planter. My Mom told me that this was my Grandmas favourite flower. I love them too!

There you go. That's the garden update. I know there are many more surprises waiting for us and we have tons of Daisies just getting ready to open. I will keep you updated.

Enjoy your day and take some time to smell the roses!

I plan?

The wedding invitations have been sent to the printers and I am all aflutter. This weekend has been full of wedding thoughts and plans. I am meeting some resistance with Superman but as he told me this morning, "Don't stop telling me about things but don''t take it the wrong way if I act weird." I actually get that. It's all a little strange and I know he's on board but when I mention things like vows and wedding cakes he gets a little jittery. I am still finding it cute at the moment but hoping he comes around. Soon.
So many details and so little time now. We are down to double digits here, last week started the 100 day countdown! Food, cake, lighting, dress, suit, rentals and Dear God let the sun shine.
Please forgive me if I act confused from time to time.
Wish me luck my friends. i might just need it.

Have you seen The Queen?

I would like to present Queen Peony!!

Please scroll down to watch her bloom.....

Isn't she beautiful?

Another wedding??

Check THIS out!

I know I'm not the only one who is upset by this. I mean, after all these years Archie is getting married and guess who he chose? That's right, he chose the raven haired rich bitch Veronica. I know that Betty and Veronica are the same face with different colour hair so we know it's not a physical thing. I guess it turns out Archie has a thing for girls who treat him and everyone else like shit, are spoiled rotten and are just not very nice. Oh yes, and she's rich too.

I am so disapointed that Archie didn't choose Betty. Don't you think that girls around the world would have felt just a little bit happier to know that being a kind and considerate person actually does pay off in the end?

That being said, I never really thought that Archie was that big of a catch anyway. He's kind of stupid, he's not that good looking and he played with Betty's affections for years.

Maybe Betty is the winner here. She can finally go find a real man (or woman) and marry so she can loose her virginity too. After all they are 16 years old.

I just can't quite figure out the message that is being given here.

I wonder who it will be?

God no, not Reggie!!

Is it time?

Lorna and I went for a pedicure the other day and randomly chose a place with lots of chairs so we could just walk in and sit together. I chose a really pretty green colour for my toes. It looked so pretty in the bottle but when it was on my toes it was just awful. It was way more iridescent than I thought and the under tone shining back was actually orange. It made my toes feel sad and kind of ill. I could barely look at them. I repainted them pink last night. Much better.

I also had a haircut yesterday. That was way, way overdue. I was trying to grow it out for the wedding but my hairdresser pointed out that hair grows about 1/2 an inch per month so in the next 4 months it will grow 2 inches. Big deal. I am wearing my hair a little longer now than I used to but I have to say, growing it out isn't really going to work for me. My hair really only works well when it's short. For everything else we have wigs.

I also had my eyebrows waxed yesterday so all in all I am feeling like the maintenance is finally caught up with and I should have one of those stickers put on me, like when you get your oil changed. Service needed again in 6 weeks or 1000 miles, whichever comes first.

Wasn't that a party?

Best. Weekend. Ever. We had it. Our favourite friends from the island came to visit this weekend and we had such a great time! They are both fine musicians so there was much jamming and joy had by all. They got here in the early afternoon on Saturday and since it was lovely weather we sat outside in the yard all afternoon. We barbecued and had some margaritas and lots of laughs and then the party really started in earnest. Superman wanted a big jam party so I let him take care of the invites and he did a very good job. At the peak of the party we figure there was about 40 people here! This house is just right for big parties and it never felt out of control or overly crowded. In fact I feel much more confidant that 50-60 wedding guests will work out just fine for us here. I must say I feel relieved. Among our many friends that did come over were some of the best country picken' musicians in town and at one point I counted three stand up basses and dozens of guitars, at least one banjo and an acordian, it was so exciting to have so many amazing players in our home. The mood was just happy and everybody was thrilled to be outside for the first decent weekend evening of the year. Happy, happy people and they all went home by 3 or so so there were no overly drunk hangers ons either. Sunday morning we awoke to a sunny, gorgeous day and ended up back in the yard. After another BBQ the instruments came out again and much bluegrassing ensued. We just played music and sang songs all afternoon and then ordered in some amazing Thai food for dinner, then more jamming. Blissful times for all I think and I can't wait to do more of the same all summer long. I hope my neighbours like music.

Can you feel it?

I'm here. Have been taking a little break but I am fine.
The sun is shinning, it's the Friday of a long weekend and we have some dear friends coming into town this weekend! Tomorrow night we are finally going to have that house warming party we've been talking about since we moved in and I can't wait.
Jessie and I bought a bunch of flowers and did some planting last weekend. I have never really done that before and it was really fun. I picked up a gardening bible and we have been spending a good amount of time trying to learn about the plants that are already here and how to care for the ones we bought. So much to know. I found a handyman on Craigslist and he is working on fixing our bbq and the back porch light so we should be ready to rock by tomorrow. Tonight we are off to The Superstore for party goodies and yummy food and SM has a band practice here at the house. Is it too early to start drinking? I know it is but I can't wait till the end of the day.
I got pretty sick last week and I have been such a good girl, just taking it easy and trying to feel better.
It's been a long hard winter and Spring has already brought some sad times but I am so open to the joy that is coming, I think we all are.
Our wedding plans are ticking right along. I have the invitations being designed right now, the dress is also being designed and my caterer is popping by this weekend to have a look at the yard and facilities. I still have tons to do but have enlisted the help of Lorna as my Maid Of Honour to help me get it all done. I need help with all the little details for sure.
I'm looking forward. I am excited by the prospects. Bring it on.

How Blue?

Yesterday I went to see my Mom and we had an early Mother's Day. It was so nice, we started talking about wedding plans and such and I told her I wanted old glass on my tables and the next thing you know we had uncovered her fabulous blue glass collection. There is a little bit of everything there from old Bromo Seltzer bottles and perfume bottles, old Noxema jars hand blown balls and squares, birds, eggs and tall vases. I have always loved this glass and I think it will look so pretty on the tables in the yard with blooms popping out everywhere.

My Mom collects a few different kinds of glass. She has pink glass and red glass and milk glass it looks so pretty all over her house. She knows just how to group it together and it never looks cluttered and dusty. The blue glass was all tucked away though and I think it was time to dust it off and let it shine. I felt bad just leaving it all there for my Mom to figure out what to do with it all until we need it in September. She'll probably enjoy looking at it for a couple of days before she tucks it away

She also pulled up this little couple who may just have to be spruced up for another go around. They haven't done a lick of work since 1961 and they look like they are ready to party.

We also looked at her guestbook and all the cards they were given and who gave them what wedding gifts. Then looked at the original bill for her wedding invitations and napkins, 75 invitations= $14.00 and some change. All things being relative it felt like lot of money back then I think.

I need to focus on what is ahead and happier times but it's nice to remember the past and how it all started.

Thanks Mom.

So, I need to plan a wedding. It's good!

Sorrow

Yesterday Treice passed away.
She passed at 12:25 in the afternoon.
I was called shortly after and by the time I got to their house there were close friends and family starting to gather. I was able to see her again and say goodbye. It was an intense day.
There are so many details but I still don't feel like I can articulate what it was like. I can only say that in true T fashion I was made to feel like I belonged there and I was part of her family too. We all did. It was her wish that we would gather to say goodbye .
Much sadness and tears, laughter and stories, lots of hugs. We all just stayed, there was nowhere else to be and it felt right.
When they came to take her away we all stood together holding hands, watching her go including her little boy Max. We all cried and Max asked if he could look out the window to see her go.
It broke my heart.

You can read her story here. http://treicebacks.blogspot.com/

I will miss my friend so much but I am grateful that she can finally rest in peace.

That's all I can say about it today.

Do you know true terror?

So, THIS happened!

Jessie and I went to Canadian Tire today to do some long awaited stuff shopping for yard thinks and such. We also needed to buy a new lawnmower as the landlord had promised a new one in the lease. We decided to go to the new Canadian Tire at 7th and Cambie since the road work is pretty much done down there and you can finally get around a bit. We parked in the rooftop parking area and walked in to the store. I will admit we were pretty stupefied by all the shiny lawn furniture and assorted yard accessories. When we first walked in we saw some really nice fire pits for the yard and we kind of fantasized about how cool it would be to have one. When we got to the place that they were stacked on the shelf it looked like they might be on sale. I grabbed the big box and stuck the UPC code under one of those price check thingies and sure enough it was half price. The regular price was $99 and it was on for $49.99! Well shoot, I'd buy it.

We piled all our purchases into a couple of buggies and eventually went to check out. They have a self serve check which involved several episodes of a clerk coming over to help us continue, much lifting boxes and finding codes and other pain in the ass stuff until finally we were checked through.

We piled the stuff into the car, swung through the Wendy's drive through and headed on home. Once we got back to the yard we decided to sit in the sun and eat our lunch and then unpack all of the goodies from the car. When I grabbed the box for the outdoor fire pit (some assembly required) I noticed there was a hole in the back of the box. I took one look and recognised it right away. Only one thing makes a hole like that. Rodents.

After I started to cut the box open we could really see all of the damage, tons of chewed up styrofoam and shredded paper and plastic and to our relief, small droppings from a mouse, not a rat. We started picking the pieces of the fire pit out of the box when it happened. Mouse running around in box! I screamed like a little girl and ran the opposite way and the mouse started running towards Jessie who was kind of frozen in place but no less freaked out than me. The mouse headed straight for the stairwell towards Jessie's apartment door, luckily it was closed or it would have run straight in. So now we are just shitting ourselves trying to think of what to do.

By this time Superman had come out to see what was going on and while him and Jessie made some sort of plan I decided to call Canadian Tire and see what they had to say. The first guy I spoke to in the outdoor living department responded by saying "Holy Shit, no way! He suggested I bring it back for a refund but I told him I wasn't touching any of it, it was full of mouse shit and urine, you could see it on everything. I asked to speak to the manager and when I told him what happened he said, "Jesus Christ!" He suggested I call pest control they would be happy to pay for it. By this time I could tell the the mouse wasn't going anywhere and had wedged itself between two layers of rugs. I told him that it looked like we would be able to catch/kill it and we wouldn't need pest control so he told me to bring in the receipt and he would give me a full refund but I could keep the fireplace. So, free fireplace, that's cool.

Superman conducted some rather gruesome maneuvers involving his big Dayton boots and a garden hoe which resulted in the death by squishing for Mr. Mouse. I hid behind Jessie the whole time prancing in place like a prized pony.

This is a picture of the box with all the nest materials and delicious styrofoam, mouse shit and mouse pee. Gross.

This is where he ran and eventually lost his life to a well timed boot heel.

This is where he is now along with the two mats he was rolled up in.

This is the nasty bag of styro feces and pee pee that was left in the box.

Bottom line, Jessie and I were traumatized for a couple of hours and now we have no faith in our ability to handle any type of stress or excitement ever again. That mouse was in the box when I lifted it in the store put it through the checkout and rode home with us in the car. I'm not scared of spiders and insects but rodents do me in.

Tomorrow it's back to Canadian Tire for our refund and possibly a dry cleaning bill because Jessie may or may not have peed her pants a little.

Now excuse me while I go wash my hands again and try to recover from the adrenalin rush I just experienced.

I wonder if I should sue?