We had planned to play in a one-day frisbee tournament on Saturday of this past weekend. During the week, a cousin of McPie's passed away (of cancer; we knew it was coming), and after some deliberation and reworking of plans, we packed up with kidlets and headed to Montreal on Saturday morning to attend the funeral.
We had been torn about whether to go or not -- McPie didn't really know his cousin, or her children and grandchildren, and we didn't want to leave our frisbee team shorthanded. But we liked the idea of only having to drive 2 hours instead of 5 to spend time with the rest of the family. McPie's mom, sisters and nephew were also attending, and we'd get to visit Aunt Olive (who's daughter was the one who had passed away).
It turned out to be a rather grand time. We booked into the same hotel as McPie's family, and had a delicious dinner all together at a cozy Italian place. The kids got to hang out with their cousin Andrew, who they adore. I cannot overstate how much the kids LOVE staying in hotels. And this one - though a relatively airport standard - was brand new and spacious. We entered the room expectantly and when Ben marched in he exclaimed "Would you look at this! It's an ORMous*!" And! there was a pool! Post-funeral, the kids spent hours of the afternoon in there, and again after supper. They slept REALLY well that night.
* Ben has some hilarious takes on English words and phrases. He's been known to say, usually after a spaghetti dinner: "Thank you for the licious supper!" A TV is a "TD"; likewise a DVD is a "DDD" -- lately in air quotes -- even though the "V" doesn't give him any trouble in other contexts.
The experience reminded us that occasions that seem tragic, like a funeral, tend to have silver linings - like bringing families together when they least expect it.
In the garden
It's been like, three whole posts since I wrote about vegetables, so I guess it's time. I've been neglecting my garden a little bit though I can't think of an excuse for this. (Luckily the backyard isn't particularly fertile, so I don't get a lot of weeds.) We stopped harvesting beans, but the carrots and chard still have potential. Since the kids have started back to school, they've been making their own lunches. Each evening, they pop out to the garden and pull a couple of carrots for their snack. Because I wasn't exactly meticulous about spacing the seeds when I planted, what comes out from under the soil is often surprising.
Sometimes the carrots are perfect, sometimes a little... mutated. (Yes, they are purple carrots. Orange on the inside. Fun huh?)
I'm on the verge of harvesting all the rest of the beautiful chard, and making a chard tart. (With a polenta crust, because I am lazy.)
Dilemma solved
I have this pet peeve that interferes with my environmentalist best intentions. I can't stand an unflushed toilet. You know that rhyme "If it's yellow, let it mellow... " Ick. Ugh. Can't do it. And of course, the rest of my household had been trained (pre-moi) to take the high road on this issue. I struggle with the guilt, I really do, but in the end, I flush every time.
Well, we have implemented a semi-solution that helps to alleviate my guilt somewhat. A dual-flush toilet. (A normal low-flush toilet flushes 6L of water. A dual-flush toilet gives you the option to flush only 3L if that's all that's... required.) And we really needed a new toilet. I've never seen a toilet die before, but ours was going the way of Findley. Poor, decrepit thing.
We decided. We got one. McPie installed it. Done and done.
Busy weekend ahead
Thursday = Disassemble the dining room.
Friday = Tear up the horrible turquoise vinyl floor
Saturday = Wine club
Sunday = Install cork floor!
To gear up, I've set aside today as a reading/knitting day again. (Tried that a couple of days ago, but it ended up being a "sleeping" day. So I'm giving it another go.)
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