Guests from Lake Tomiko

I know this doesn't compare to the huge potluck suppers at Lake Tomiko, however, we enjoyed Gary's chowder and strawberry shortcake with Grasshopper and Linda. Cathy and Linda actually picked the strawberries on their way here! Good food and great company!

Video: Baby Billy

Here is a video of our new baby goat who we have decided to call Billy.

Some exciting news from Upper Clements!

Well, believe it or not, I was going to update my blog today with no pictures and just talk about what we've been doing lately. Things such as house cleaning 7 cottages, cleaning windows (48 of them!), mowing lawns (7 1/2 hours each week to do all the lawns!), painting picnic tables, etc. getting ready for the July 1st weekend. Kind of boring, but that's what we've been up to. Then, Willow gives birth early this morning and suddenly I have some exciting news and pictures! Here is the precious baby boy, weighing in at 4 lbs 2ozs, with his proud Mama. We haven't named him yet - any ideas for cute boy goat names? Brenton is doing a video which we will post on UTube and let you know how to get to it. Our other goat, Clementine is due any day now, so we may have more news shortly on that!

Gary always says that there is nothing cuter than a baby bunny, and that may be true, but a baby goat is sure a close second!



I think it's love at first sight for Mama!

Gary's newest talent!

Gary had to chop down a crab apple tree that was not if very good condition and he decided to turn the stump into a rabbit - so when we retire, I think he can get into doing chain saw art for a living. He's gotten alot of comments and compliments on it. I think it's a great job, especially for his first attempt. Aaron just thinks it funny.

Busy long weekend!

Well, as you can tell from this picture, the weather here is crappy - but at least it is not snow (Tim)! It hasn't 'dampened' the spirits of our guests - we are full, full, full! A great way to start off the season. It's kind of fun when guest come - the happy noise of the turbo processing credit cards and dumping money into our bank account, but when they leave we'll be busy, busy, busy, cleaning - getting a taste of what summer will be like. Oh well, I shouldn't complain - we are getting very booked up for the summer already - very encouraging especially when you hear news of tourism being down all over.

Older and Wiser?

One would think that one would have gathered a little wisdom after living for 51 years. However, it would seem that this is not necessarily correct or I would not have taken a Turbo Aerobics class yesterday, the day before my birthday! I woke up this morning feeling every one of my 51 years then some and I am now aware of every muscle in my body because they are all aching! Oh well, I'm hoping that my Aqua Fit class tommorrow may work out some of the stiffness and soreness.

Brenton made a cake and did a great job decorating it - Yum!

The NBGBs dropped in for a birthday visit - here Aaron helps me unwrap the book they gave me. They also gave me a rose bush - now to protect it from the bunnies!

A birthday kiss from Aaron. The Lewises were also here for a visit. Here Karen holds Luca.

Luca and Gary did some bonding. What a cutie! Oh, Gary's cute too!

For supper we went to Pizza delight...

We wait patiently for our pizza.

After that we went for a drive to Prim Point. It was beautiful...

What a view!

It was a great birthday with lots of nice gifts, and cards (thanks Frank, from Smarty Pants!), phone calls (thanks Jay - sorry i missed your call - eating pizza!) and cake. Can't wait till next year - this getting older stuff is not so bad!

Happy Birthday Gary!

Happy Birthday Gary! You have hardly changed at all! Still so handsome! Anyone notice the resemblance between young Gary and Brenton?

So, here is young Frank and Margaret at about the same age as Kaeden and Ellia. Notice how Kaeden and GPF both have the same arm around the neck of their sisters. I thought these pics were cute as they are so close to the same pose and close to the same age.

Sad news in the Mailman family

Gary's Dad, Homer, passed away around 10:30 this morning. He was 93 years old and his health had been declining quite a bit over the past year. Cathy, can you pass this news along to Aunt Bessie as she was quite a fan of Homer. Funeral is on Wednesday. As Homer use to say, "I've had a good life"!

Our NBGB turns One!

I can't believe a year has flown by and little Luca is now a year old (yesterday)! Here he is playing with his gifts.

The proud non-biological grandparents and big brother Aaron.


I know, I know, more animals. Jason complains that all we post are animal pics; however, who really ever gets tired of seeing a baby bunnie? He looks pretty cosy in Gary's hands.


Or, who ever gets tired of seeing a full grown bunnie? This guy is digging a hole. Why? Just because. Or yard looks like warn-torn Beirut! (spelling?)

Is this spring?

I visited my NBGBs today to drop off a little Easter gift. Here is Luca (1st birthday coming up on the 21st) with his Easter chick and book.

This is supposed to be a picture of Luca and Aaron - only Aaron disappeared before the shutter clicked and then I had a 'CARD FULL' message. Jeez, I hate that!


So, I'm officially blamming Frank for this mess below. We had all this snow stuff gone and look at it now. The only consulation is that it is disappearing fast! Frank, please stop praying for snow!


There are only two good things about this storm: #1 - gave Gary another opportunity to play with his new tractor in the snow and #2 temporarily covered up all the bunny poop!

Happy 26th Birthday Jason!

What does a mother do on her child's birthday? After wishing him a 'Happy Birthday' and doing the gift thing, that is. Well, you reminisce about the birth and about the pregnancy - or at least that's what I do. So, here goes with a little reminiscing. When I found out I was pregnant with Jason, I was thrilled!!! As some of you may remember, I had trouble getting pregnant and had many test to find out why - to no avail. Sometimes, they told us, there is no reason that they can see and some women just never get pregnant. So you can imagine how thrilled, and surprised, I was when I found out - I thought I had the flu! I had a pleasant and uneventul pregnancy up to about my 6th month when I found out I was a gestational diabetic. No problem for me, but there could be problems for the baby so I had to go in the hospital and learn how to give myself insulin shots. Fun! Let me tell you, sticking a needle in an orange is not the same as sticking it in your own flesh - that is how they teach you to give yourself a needle! Anyway, I learned to do it and I was induced on my due date, as they do with gestational diabetics. Oh, only after an amniocentisis to make sure the baby's lungs were fully developed. So I entered the Grace Maternity Hospital on April 6th for induction. My stubborn baby hung on, through induction on April 6th, and 7th, and wasn't born until 7:32 p.m on Wednesday, April 8th! A beautiful baby boy weighing 7lbs 1 oz. with a full head of black hair - he was gorgeous! Of course, Mom, was right outside the delivery room and got to see her newest grandchild right away. The sad thing was that Dad had passed away 2 months before Jason was born and he never got to see him. This much wanted, much anticipated baby boy was certainly a joy for the whole family - especially after the sad time that we had gone though with Dad's sickness and death. So again, Jay - we wish you a very 'Happy Birthday' with much love from Mom, Gary, and Brenton!

Somebody's having a birthday soon!

Jason's birthday is coming up on Sunday, April 8th! My sweet baby will be 26 on Easter Sunday! I'm thinking that this is the first time his birthday has actually fallen on Easter Sunday - is that right, Jay? Anyway everybody, don't forget to wish him a good one!

My new buffet is done!

I know - shock - two posts in one day! Anyway, I think I had a pic of Gary working on this buffet in his shop quite awhile ago (I keep distracting him with other 'little' projects) and now it's finished. When we redecorated the kitchen/dining room, I decided that I would like a long, low buffet since I need more storage space. Well, I figure if I can think it, then Gary should be able to do it and, TA DA! Here it is. I think he did a great job. It has tons of storage space.

Another view - the top has the same ceramic tiles that we used on the kitchen backsplash.



Look at all the storage room! I no longer have to store my breadmaker, baking pans, etc. in the spare/Jason bedroom. Life is good! Congrats to my hubby for a great job. This is only the second piece of furniture he's made - the first was a little night table for the bedroom. Slow but surely he is getting more tools (his planner was a must for furniture making) so I think this is just the start. Hum, what do I want him to build next?

Signs of spring - bunnies and tractors.

Gary showing off with his new tractor by lifting the poor little Bolens off the ground. Gary may love his new tractor but he also loves that Bolens - it did a pile of work on our property and I think he's a little sad to see it go. Oh well, his brother Eddie is buying it so he can visit it whenever he wants.

This picture was taken out the window of our spare/Jason bedroom. There are 17 bunnies in this one shot! We seem to be getting overrun - anyone want a few for Easter?



This litle guy, who I've named Flopsy, is the only bunnie that we have with lop ears. His grandmother was a half lop (she had one ear up and one down) and his grandfather was a full lop. Funny thing is - his grandparents and mother were white with black and brown spots so he has his fathers coloring and mothers ear genes. Ain't genetics interesting?



We're not worried about the Easter Bunny coming - these guys, and a few more, hang out on our front door step all the time. Here they are enjoying the sun. Too bad we can't train them to not poop on the door step!

Some oldish photos

I think this is the last picture I have of you, Tim. Do you remember this? We were at Mike's for MJ's christening. Jason was 9, Brenton is in my belly, and MJ is a newborn. Now Jason is almost 26 (April 8th) and Brenton is 16 and MJ will be 17 in July. Time flies, huh?

Where's your smiles Tim and Jason?

Brenton got his Beginners License today!

Brenton got his Beginners today; however, he refused to pose for a picture holding the newly acquired license - Michelle, take all the pictures you can of your little munchkins, 'cause the day will come when they shy away from the camera instead of giving big smiles for the camera. Anyway, Callie was happy to pose for a pic - snuggling on her tiger blankie!

Boys and their toys.

Gary driving the zamboni at the Bridgetown arena - he works a few shifts over the winter to help out and 'cause he loves driving the zamboni!

On Tuesday Aaron brought his wooden train set over. We had fun making this track and then Brenton thought it looked like fun and re-designed our tracks.


Brenton's design - a little fancier than Aaron's and mine! Pippin keeps an eye on things from the chair.

Gary gets a new tractor!

Boys and their toys! Click on the picture to see the big smile on Gary's face. Gary can do all our plowing in about half the time now.

It's quite a pretty tractor - as Gary says, "It matches the rest of our fleet" which consists of our Ford van and our Ford Taurus wagon - which are also red, of course.

The NBGB's arrived safetly!

A happy reunion with Aaron and 'Teddy'. This is the only pic we got with all the excitement and hugging at the airport. After a visit with the NBGB's I'm sure I'll have more to post. Aaron will need some english lessons as, naturally, he's been speaking German only for the last 4 months. On the drive home he would tell his Mama something and she would say, 'Aaron wants me to tell you' this or that. He knew I couldn't understand him. I'm sure he will have his excellent English back in a week or two.

Our Non-Biological Grandbabies come home tomorrow!

We pick our NBGB's up tomorrow, along with Mama Silvia and Papa Manfred, at Halifax International at 2:40 p.m. They've been gone 4 long months - Luca is now 10 months and Aaron is 3 years and 4 months. As you can imagine, I'm not very excited or anything . . . Below, Aaron is all packed and ready to go!

Happy Luca.