Spring must be here…thoughts are turning to gardens and sunny walks.
Readers Write
And this one appears to be pretty much in tune with the way things are these days. Check ’em out. *1/ When young people tell me about their problems….I like to tell them the story about that tyme I survived without my cell phone or the Internet for over forty years!! *2/ Been pretty busy today. I was only able to check my cell phone 1400 tymes!! (by the bye, Miz. Jo and yours truly have yet to own a cell fone, hence a portable/cordless extension fone (*see below) is about as ‘exotic’ as it gets here in unit #303 at 555 Harris Place, tho we DO have her I-Pod and my Asus PC, and I’m just fine with that, thank you)
After Getting A Good Grade….
….from my doctor a week and a bit ago….sugar numbers, kidneys, liver and cetera, I rather casually mentioned that I’ve been having some ‘bowel issues’ for over a month….the D word, OK?….with a capital D….but keep it under your hat if you don’t mind as most folks find it a rather ‘sensitive problem’. So….SO….we did the ‘Q & A thing’ with him eventually deciding to suspend one of my meds for a week as ‘The Runs’ can be a ‘side-effect’ of that particular pill and after 7 days I was to call his office with the results, which I did, advising ‘sorry, but no changes’. The next day I get a call from his secretary, which I took on our extension fone (*see above) advising me of a forthcoming Colonoscopy at some clinic in Ancaster to check things out on the inside and I don’t yet know when….or where the clinic is for that matter. As to the ‘C-scope’, I’m not really thrilled as I well recall one at McKellar Hosp in Thunder Bay about 20 years ago, so I guess maybe I’m ‘due’. Anyway, stay tuned….but as I said, ‘keep it under your hat’, OK? Thanks.
Growing Veggies And Stuff
It looks like we will have a garden here after all….having tended one every growing season since forever….if for no other reason, to put it simply I ‘like to watch things grow’. Miz. Jo asked to have our names added to the ‘Interested’ list for a chunk of land set aside over at the adjacent gray building and we got a return call last Tues to go over and choose from one of two plots remaining, so we picked Plot #4. Immediately deciding that we will strive for ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’ for the 2019 growing season. You see, for the past 20 years in Nakina we had an onion patch, a potato patch, then the main garden, about 10 ft wide and fifty ft long where we grew a real variety of vegetables….but Hey!…beggars can’t be choosers, right? Actually, I’m quite pleased with what we have, as I was NOT looking forward to the prospect of Summer 2019 sliding by without a hoe, rake or cultivator in my hands. Hence, concentrating on quality, after a trip to Zehr’s Garden Centre we’ll grow some multiplier and Spanish onions, radishes, carrots, beets, green and yellow beans. We’ve surely got room on our balcony/porch for a couple of kinds of tomatoes, perhaps along with some dill, Italian parsley, and basil. We’re gonna reach almost 20C today but I have to ‘turn the soil’ and it’s too wet from all the damn rain, but it’ll get done. Interestingly, the rule of thumb we’d applied in Nakina since 2000 for planting with ‘little or no risk of frost’ came from Shirley K, the kindly keeper of Get Growing Greenhouse. I recall it like she told me yesterday….June 16th….and if y’all set plants you got from Shirley before that date, it was at your own peril! For some reason, altho Shirley’s been gone for a number of years now, I always find myself remembering my annual trips (and there were usually 3 or 4) to Get Growing when it comes planting tyme. I suppose the main difference for 2019 is that it will all be in the ground well before MAY 16th!….meaning two radish plantings and an ongoing supply of green onions. The other good news, after realizing I’d sold pretty well all of our garden tools at our Moving Out Sale last Aug is that my fellow gardeners have secured a fine collection of tools, all neatly sitting under a nearby bench….not to mention a generous application of manure that was supplied/spread evenly around by a fellow resident we met last week. Tyme to Get Growing, Brantford-style! And concentrate on quality, not quantity!!!
Janes Walks
The first word we got about Janes Walks was via an email from the EPCA….Eagle Place Community Association. Eagle Place being Brantford’s most southerly Ward, originally it was Eagle’s Nest, but more recently was/is commonly called God’s Country by those of us who live/lived there. Anyway, Janes Walks is an annual thing observed by any number of communities (*Google it up) and the EPCA had chosen to make it ‘A Historic Walk Around In Eagle Place’. There were some 15 or 16 of us and our Tour Guide had summoned one and all to meet at The Creamery Bar And Grill at 12:00 Noon. Well, dont’cha know that before Rotzy could order a pint to wet my whistle things were underway, with a couple of different men speaking to us out in the parking lot. Then we were off and running….or walking I should say….and yours truly (not being as dumb as I look, and having picked up on some of the planned itinerary) quickly realized we were in for a major trek of 3 or 4 miles. And definitely Miz. Jo and I were getting in over our heads. Aside from one gentleman who was coming on to 90, we had the most seniority in the group. It turned out that fellow was Mr Harrison, the Phys-Ed Teacher who visited ALL Btfd Public Schools….he taught us everything from tumbling to baseball and soccer to square dancing….an amazing man with an even more amazing memory and he made use of our Equinox back seat from about the halfway point, picking him up, dropping him off. In spelling out the name Rotz to him (which we do quite regularly) he casually quipped “I dated Laura Jeanne (my sister) a few tymes in high school….usually Capital Theatre Sat Matinees”. Anyway, one of the other speakers on the tour was an Art Teacher who also covered all public schools, and this chap knew area history. AND architecture!….inside and outside and all around the block!! I rather expect you’d seldom see Rotzy at these kinds of gatherings, but I can’t thank the EPCA Tour Guide enough for including us on the invite list! And enjoy your NEW Splash Pad….coming to Tutela Park Summer 2019!!! Fittingly, our tour ended at Tutela Park, the home field of the Eagle Place Eskimos football teams….BJFL Champions in 1961, ’66 and ’68….our guide took his jacket off, proudly displaying a black and gold sweater and the 1968 tattoo on his arm. For me, it was a perfect ending.
*Thought Of The Day…Folgers got it wrong. The best part of waking up is going back to bed after you pee.
