Happy Auntie's Day!

Well I can honestly say that I am spoiled. On Sunday we were told that there would be a surprise, I was to be ready to be picked up at 2:30pm, and I was to dress "summery". There was a follow-up email to wear a hat and sunscreen. When the Enclave pulled up, I was presented with a lovely card alerting me to the occasion of "Happy Auntie Andrea's Day", complete with a gift certificate. Wow, a whole day for me? So Rob started driving and we sat listening to Blayke's music and chatted with Gabe, and all of a sudden we turned into the parking lot of the Edmonton Queen river boat!!!! I've never been on a river boat before so this was going to be very exciting. Gabrielle packed lots of snacks and special drinks and we found a place in the shade to sit and had a lovely cruise down the North Saskatchewan, complete with the song "Pirates of the North Saskatchewan" and thankfully void of them actually showing up.

Here is Uncle Dusty and Blayke have a nice chat.

Rob and Dustin enjoy some special drinks.

The other reason why I'm so spoiled, my wonderful Dustin.

My amazing friend Gabrielle, another found sister to me.

Here is a video of Blayke and her wonderful affection towards me

Thank you so much for such a great surprise and for treating us so well.

In Memoriam: Arugula, Spring Salad Mix, Zinias

Slowly and painfully our poor little Arugula and Spring Salad Mix, surrounded by the Kale and Dill, succumbed to the holes left by slow moving Slugs and their destructive chewing. We are grateful to our good neighbour Colleen and our sister Patti for diagnosing the slugs. We ripped out our decimated plants by the roots. Here is the new crop of arugula, sprouting in 3 days after transplant.

These are the marigolds we planted to deter the slugs from remunching on our tender salad greens and to commemorate the loss of bowls of delicious salad. We'll drown the slugs in beer if we have to, but we want to avoid more death in the garden if we can.

The zinia died due to snow and cold weather, IN JUNE! They were mercilessly ripped from the pots and thrown on to the weed pile. Good bye happy little flowers.

In a victim impact statement made by the remaining Romaine, "Thank goodness it wasn't us!"

First up!

Thank you Emily for helping me figure out how to put text on top of a picture!

Here is the first plant to sprout in the garden. Is it clover? No. Hmmm, is it hmmm, clover? No, you already guessed that, so let me help you, it is ARUGULA! Yay and Yum! This peppery green is perfect for salad or on sandwiches and great in lettuce rolls and our rice wraps. Of course we planted too much of it, so we'll really need people to come by and take some home.

Also sprouting is our Spring Salad Mix and our Romaine Lettuce. We had some of our Rhubarb last night and it was delicious. Keep checking for updates!

Guess who's coming for dinner, and overnight?

EMILY!!!!!!

( I know you think it's Moofut, but come on, he lives here!)

So Uncle Dustin got the whole room ready for Em, and added lots of nice touches, but Moofut was just whining and swinging his arms because he wanted to be a part of her visit, so after ignoring the bad behaviour, once he settled down and asked nicely, he got to wait for Emily in her bed.

Wow! Good Job Dustin.

This is my Grandpa Moses' slate from grade school. We are using it as a welcome board for the visitors that stay with us.

Here is Emily and Moofut, together in the room! Thank you Emily for spending time with us! We hope you come again really soon. Thank you too for being my "Glee" buddy for the afternoon.