Anniversary in Mont-Tremblant

For almost a year, Tom and I have been talking about what to do for our 35th wedding anniversary. We talked about a cruise or a trip to Europe, but we couldn’t seem to make up out minds. We finally decided to go to Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. It’s only a four and a half hour drive and yet it’s another country. Close and a little bit different – the perfect combination.

We set out on Saturday and, after a long wait at the border, we were in Canada.

We arrived at out hotel and were delighted with the accommodations. We have a one bedroom suite with a living room, kitchenette, a bedroom and TWO bathrooms. There’s also a fireplace and a balcony with a table and chairs for eating al fresco.

We went to the local IGA for snacks, breakfast and lunch food and beverages. We had a lovely dinner in the hotel dining room and went for a walk around the grounds. The front desk gave us some maps of the area and we began to plan our activities.

We woke this morning to rain. Most of the activities we had decided on were outdoors – biking, hiking and kayaking – so it was time to rethink. We decided to go to Vieux Mont-Tremblant which is the village at the base of the ski slopes. It is quite charming with many shops and restaurants. We decided to have lunch at Crêperie Catherine. We watched the owner make the 4 crêpes at a time with amazing speed. The lunch was delicious.

We walked through the village admiring the buildings and thinking how much fun it would be to be there during ski seasons and step out the door to the slopes!

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to be out, so we will head out to the nearby national park.

Update on First Foray into Gardening

Finally after too many rainy days, I was able to get back into the perennial garden today. I planted the plants we bought last week and some ferns that DH brought back from our camp. I lined the garden with stones, some that we dug up while cleaning up and the remainder from camp. I raked out the remaining area and planed grass seed. It now looks like this:

On the vegetable front, things are coming along. The first crop of arugala has been eaten and I’m hoping to plant some more if DH can find the seeds while he’s shopping today.

The cucumbers have some flowers and are beginning to grow up some stakes.

There are a few small tomatoes and the plants are getting really big. I tied them up for the second time today.

The zucchini plants are growing, too, with a few zucchini which seem to be growing well.

All I can say is, so far, so good!!

Mouse Tales

I was working on my perennial garden today and I needed a spade to do some planting. DH and I went out to the shed that is attached to the chicken coop to look for an appropriate tool. As he was looking through the garden tools, I saw something scurry from under the garden tractor. I mentioned it to DH and he shook the tractor slightly and a colony of mice ran from under the hood of the tractor as if they were leaving a sinking ship. They scurried around the shed trying to find hiding places while DH made some choice comments. He had recently displaced them from a space above the chicken coop and they obviously found a place to relocate.

We pushed the tractor out of the shed and DH took it apart and found that the whole engine compartment was stuffed with grass, probably as a mousy maternity ward. After vacuuming out the grass and putting the tractor back together, DH went directly to the hardware store. He returned with all sorts of mouse prevention aids. The shed is now full of traps and sticky papers. I’m glad I left my gardening tools in the garage because I’m definitely not going into the shed tomorrow to see the results.

Perennial Garden Update

So after a morning of hard work, this


now looks like this.


I'm amazed at the transformation. It's much bigger than I imagined it would be, so we decided that we will plant grass on some the of newly uncovered earth and have a smaller perennial garden, perhaps with a radius of 6 feet.

Tomorrow we'll take a trip to Gardeners' Supply for some advice on shade perennials and some grass seed. I can't wait to see it when it's finished!

Gardening (or Something Else I'm Trying in Retirement)

DH and I belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) so we have a lot of fresh vegetables each week as you can see in the photo of this week's share.

But, I've been thinking that last year there didn’t seem to be enough cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini (yes, zucchini – I know, I know, if I wanted more I just should have left my car unlocked and some would appear!) This year I decided to start a small garden. DH built a raised bed for me for Mother’s Day and we bought some plants – just 9 tomatoes, 3 cucumbers and 2 zucchini. We also planted a row of arugala, which DH loves.

The plants were tiny when I first planted them, but they have really grown as you can see in the photo below. There are three tiny zucchini and the tomato plants have flowers. DH ate the arugala thinnings and now the plants are big enough to pick leaves each night for salad.

The next project will be a shade perennial garden.

Believe it or not, this used to be a very nice seating area before we built the deck, but after years of neglect it is so overgrown that it’s hard to picture how it will look as a garden. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Rainy Day

So it’s raining again – what else is new?? What do you do on a rainy day when you’re retired? I started on some projects that have been bugging me for ages. I organized the pantry so that I could fit all that jam into it. There were things in there with expiration dates back to 2005 – Yuck!! How does that happen? Note to self – stop buying things that you don’t actually plan to use in the very near future. That way there’ll be fewer outdated things to throw out!!

I also sorted my sock drawer. Since I’ve started making socks there’s very little room in there. I actually got rid of all the socks with holes in the toes that I just couldn’t throw out. Now, I just need to take a walk on the treadmill and then I can sit down to knit more socks!!

Making Jam (or One of the Things I’m Doing in Retirement)

DH and I went to the local berry farm and picked over 8 pounds of strawberries. The season is winding down and the berries were hard to find, but we were persistent. Many of them are small, but they are very tasty. We filled our flat in a little over an hour.

I went up to attic and found my old water bath canner. There must have been a time when I thought my canning days were over because there was a sticker on the canner that said $3. I guess it was left after a garage sale – good luck for me! I guess some decisions are not final after all.

I started on the strawberry preserves and quickly realized that I didn’t have tongs for the picking up the hot jars or a funnel for filling them. DH made a run to the hardware store in the next town and came home with a nifty little set – tongs, funnel, magnet for lifting tops, and a gauge for measuring head space – the last one on the shelf. I quickly made 7 jars of strawberry preserves. I hardly made a dent in the strawberries and I realized that I needed more sugar. DH made a second trip to pick up sugar – the market was down to only 3 five-lb bags, so I guess I’m not the only the one making jam!!! While he was there he bought some rhubarb, too. Next came 5 jars of strawberry rhubarb jam. Then back to the strawberry preserves. I made 14 jars of the preserves and 5 jars of the jam.

I cleaned up the kitchen and collapsed on the couch. I still have a lot of berries left – maybe I’ll make strawberry rhubarb pie for the family 4th of July celebration.

It's Official

I notice that the last time I updated this blog it was the first day of school. Needless to say, the school year is over and tomorrow will be the first day of my second week of retirement. I remember commenting that I didn’t think I would feel retired until school started again, but to my surprise, that is not the case. There is a different feel to this summer and I find myself doing things that I had not done in previous summers. So, I’ll use my next few entries to catch you up on what I’ve been doing. You’ll have to wait a while for the first installment, because I’m about to make strawberry jam with the 8 pounds of strawberries DH and I picked this morning.