Our front yard renovation!

In the beginning of August we hired the same contractor who did our back yard to essentially slash and burn our front yard. It has needed a refresh since the late 1960s (honestly!), so starting over was the best approach.  Our plan was to remove the tired shrubbery and terribly narrow walkway, to pull out the small and decrepit trees, and to scrape away the horrible lawn.

The old walkway and shrubs

Precarious stairs

The worst lawn on the block

Work began and moved very quickly.

Trees going away

Walkway gone

Roots being dealt with

Lots of progress - rocks being prepared for installation

Since we previously had a very narrow and treacherous path to get to the front door, and that most people climbed over our old 'rock garden' instead, we decided to put in real stairs where the rock garden was, and to put a wide and gradually sloping walkway as well. Options!

We wanted the walkway to curve to the driveway rather than to have a sharp turn

Large pieces of granite separated the driveway from the front yard

Concrete was poured and pebbles (plus an addition) were pressed in to allow it to become exposed aggregate later

Walkway needed to cure for a day

The top surface was washed away to create the exposed aggregate to match our back yard

The addition to the top of the walkway was a glow in the dark chip. Essentially, the walkway is studded with glowing green/blue spots. Not particularly functional to highlight the path (unless the lighting is right), but kind of fun either way.  The following two images show what it looks like in the dark.

The new walkway with some extra soil added to the garden areas.

We got a new post lamp installed and new electrical - including an external electrical outlet on the side of the house for us to plug in Christmas lights without running extensions from the garage.

New sod was installed and some mulch to cover the garden areas.

Mulch added

The new entrance

The "after" shot

All that remains is watering the new sod and planting in the gardens. We have a gardener who helps with our back yard and she is going to provide lots of suggestions for making the new front yard look spectacular! This project took approximately one month to complete, and it will hopefully last another 50+ years.

Green snowballs, too hot, not enough heat, too cold, and hint of Group of Seven

Although not much happened this week, it was actually quite interesting. Our garden (and lawn... grrr) started to really fill out with lots of heat and rain early in the week. This is the state of the snowball tree in one corner of the yard - green, but hopefully soon to be white. 

With all the heat, we realized that our air conditioner had stopped working. It was warmer inside than outside, and we ended up having to get a new A/C. Bigger but oddly not much more expensive than the one we had installed in 2001. 

I continued to make more bread this week. My first one (blueberry+cherry bread) was a complete disaster - the old bread machine appears to be failing, as it didn't have near enough heat to fully cook it. This cheese bread, however, worked perfectly. I waited until the A/C was on before baking this one in the oven. The bread machine was tried again for the next (plain white bread) with a perfect result. The machine (or the operator) seems a little inconsistent. 

I did finally finish the custom stained glass project I have been working on (since 2014...shhh!). We took a drive and socially distance delivered the two panels (32"x10" each) to our friend's house today. The design itself started with a Group of Seven style tree, then expanded from there. It is just sitting in the final destination window, but the light coming through made them look spectacular! 

Looking outside today, that green snowball has now turned white! Of course, it was only 6C when we woke up this morning and our new A/C was definitely not needed. Somehow a white snowball seems more appropriate at that temperature, doesn't it? 

Pandemic living, excellent NEWS, and a video!

We've been keeping "pandemic busy" and have been getting out of the house for walks as the weather has cooperated. The only time I really went anywhere in the last few weeks was for a CT scan to check the tumour in my neck and to see if it has moved around anywhere. I got the results the next day but wasn't completely sure I was reading the report and the images correctly. Luckily, Wendy and I had an oncologist appointment scheduled for the next week...on the telephone... to clear things up. 

I knew it was good news, but the oncologist used the words "you are in remission"!  Did we hear that correctly? Yes, we made him say it again. 

REMISSION

Just a pretty picture... not showing anything critical!

They can't find evidence for any local recurrence in my neck. It is no longer visible on CT or MRI. 

With that news, I was definitely happy! We clearly did the right thing with the treatments I have had, and they did far more than the oncologists had hoped for (and I hoped for). I think I may, however, been less happy than everyone around me. This was partly the result of having a lot of pain right where they say that my tumour ISN'T. It is hard to reconcile that it is not there, yet still be able to feel it. I am clearly a bit reluctant to ride the roller coaster that I know I am on, so my tempered nature seems to be softening my responses to this very good outcome.  We have since settled that pain down with a long course of steroids, but this means that I am even more immune challenged and will need to stay at home for yet more reasons. Can't win!  

Unfortunately, we did also find multiple very small spots on my lungs in each of the lobes (there are 5 of them, look it up - I am still a professor!). Could they be metastatic cancer or some other issue? We don't know, so now we wait for the next scan in June. I can't be (and am not) worrying too much about them at this point, as this cancer typically spreads to the lungs. It frequently does this before you first find the original tumour. Either way, I'll take it as it is.

Just for the record, the picture from my CT is just for its artistic merit. I didn't include one with the suspect spots, mostly because I am doing what I can to not believe that they are real. Maybe I don't want to jinx things!

In other family news, our elder son Adam was home from North Bay and he turned 24! I baked him a red velvet cake (his request) and we had a very minimal party for him. He doesn't like his picture being taken, so this is all I have for you. He has since returned back north to keep working on his online courses (not done until later in May - they have a different term length for his program). Not sure when he will be back, but he is hoping to finish off some of the practical work for his courses before the fall. All of that is up in the air and will hopefully be more clear in the early summer. 

Unfortunately, Adam was our primary grocery purchaser and errand runner. Although we sent our younger son out to the pharmacy today, we are making do with respect to errands at the moment. We have some great friends and neighbours who have helped us out by dropping off food at our door. I even have enough yeast and flour to bake any time I want! Life truly is looking up. 

The gardens and the lawn are growing like you wouldn't believe. This is just a picture I took on a wet morning. The garden is a profusion of colour (I have to admit that I had nothing to do with it!), but it is looking good. When it is warm enough, we hope to sit out there to enjoy it more.

I had a minor milestone today - May 1st. At the end of 2019, I was given the grim prediction of having a 50/50 chance of making it through April. It was only through my completely weird turn of fate (yes, I am comfortable being weird - and I am good at it!), that I was able to reach this milestone and truly reflect on its significance. Here is what my milestone and the garden looked like this morning. 

I posted a video on YouTube today (it is just under 9 min long - sorry!). It may explain in a different way what has been going on in my life the last several weeks, so it is pasted below as a link and an image. Click whichever one works best for you! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaX3LHnX9YM

Hope you enjoy!

Graduating

After doing one shift as an umpire in the field, Parker graduated to being the home plate umpire at a T-ball game on his second shift. Even better, he did it solo!

Parker's first solo home base umpiring shift

Although a bad photo, this was as good as I could get in the sharply setting sun. Parker was supposed to be an assistant for a game on Tuesday this week, but the game was cancelled due to bad weather. The teams rescheduled to Thursday at a different field, and Parker was the only one available. He did very well on his own!

On Sunday we had a drop-in party for the three boys - Adam, Stanley, and Parker - to celebrate the end of the school year.  Parker graduates from grade 8 on Tuesday this coming week (going to high school in the fall), Stanley heads back to China for the summer on Wednesday (going into grade 12 in the fall), and Adam graduates from high school on Thursday (going to Mohawk College in the fall). Such a busy week, it was best to get the real party out of the way early. 

After Adam had constantly bugged us about getting him a good camera (he got the taste for quality cameras from borrowing Eric's), he was comforted by opening up a box with a Canon Rebel T3i (18 megapixel) SLR kit with a good zoom lens. His parents know him well.   

Adam happy to receive a real camera

He was holding back on giving a kiss to mom, but eventually relented! I think I missed catching the kiss by about 0.3 seconds (it probably lasted only 0.2 seconds...). Maybe I'll borrow his camera to get better pictures next time.

'Kiss me right here, or no driving my car...'

Stanley also got into the festivities and was presented with a few things that he can take home to share with his parents.

Stanley at the party

Parker got a watch from us as well (so he could wear it umpiring) and his aunt and uncle got his a game controller. One of our guests (a pretty young lady also graduating from grade 12 this year) asked Parker if he coloured his hair - she hadn't seen him for a while. I had to break it to her that, actually, he just washed it.

Check out Parker's hair - it is clean!

There were a number of other fantastic gifts that the kids received for their special graduations, but they can let you know after they send out their thank you's.

This last bit is mostly for my mom - I have had trouble explaining what kinds of plants are growing in our garden, so I thought I would just take a quick visual tour so she could see it. Beware - boring 6 minutes of video if you are not into gardening...

Lots of not much happening going on

I guess I have been a bit lax about blogging lately. For not much really happening, there were a lot of things that seemed to happen. Most of it this weekend.

We have been hiking a few times in the past week or so, and have been watching closely for changes that should prove to us that spring is really here. A few small flowers have come out to demonstrate that they indeed survived the winter.

Flowers along the trail

We even took a trail that we had never been on before (it is connected to the Dundas Main Loop, but we had never thought to take it). What we discovered was a nice little pond only a few hundred feet from the main trail! We had seen glimpses of it through the trees, but never ventured that direction. A bit marshy around this quaint little lake (it isn't named on the official maps that we have seen), but what can you expect? Sadly, no sandy beach was visible.

Unnamed lake/pond

On the way down the hill to the tiny lake, we found that the trail went directly through a fallen tree.  OK, I thought it was really cool (I don't get out much). Maddy didn't even bat an eyelash as they walked through the tree. Just a normal thing for her...

Maddy and Wendy walking through a tree

The huge moss covered rocks presented a nice view, so out came the cell phone camera again! Some day I will bring my real camera and take some better images. I promise.

Moss covered rocks

Adam finally took his Skid Control School course in Oakville.  He got this all day training course as a gift for Christmas and needed to wait until he had his full G licence. He apparently did very well (his report card looked better than when Wendy did the course a few years ago), and says he had a great time. Maybe our cars will feel less trepidation when he gets gets behind the wheel from now on.

Our gardens have been coming along nicely, with many flowers blooming from the bulbs planted last fall.

Pink tulip

White/pink ground cover

A few hyacinth came up in various colours

In the front yard. The deer don't like daffodils or hyacinth.

Fallen angel

 

Orange tulip

OK, I get it. Enough of the flower pictures.

This weekend our niece, her husband, and their 1 yr-old daughter came to visit.  It has been a long time since we had a toddler in the house - it took me quite a while to figure out how to set up the baby gate. Seems like the piano was a big hit!

Play time!

The lawn has needed cutting a few times last week - Parker has that job. While shopping, Parker texted me to say he was unable to cut the lawn because he needed me to "check the lawnmower". Not understanding exactly what was up with it, I expected that he just was unable to get it started.

On arriving home, I took a look to see what the problem was. Sure enough, he was right - I did need to look at it.  On getting ready to mow the lawn yesterday, he could easily have started it. That wasn't the issue. His problem was a little bigger.... it was attached. Really attached.

Apparently, Parker put the lawnmower away after using it earlier in the week, but he did not realize that the engine was somewhat hot. This normally would not pose a significant problem, except for the fact that the mower sits right beside the shop vac that we keep in the garage. You guessed it! The shop vac melted itself into the engine. It took me a few minutes and some considerable force to extricate the poor vacuum hose from the lawnmower. In the end, most of it came off (hey, what's the problem with a little extra smoke?). The vacuum hose itself, however, is toast...err... I mean melted...

Melted vacuum on the lawnmower

At long last, on our hike yesterday, we finally saw a few blooms from the long-awaited trillium. Summer is definitely not far away!

First trillium of the season!