Thursday, or Thereabouts - May 18, 2023

The first long weekend of summer sits perched on the doorstep. Traditionally (like in my childhood!) this was called the Victoria Day weekend and officially it still is. However, more often than not one will hear it called the the May TWO-FOUR weekend in Ontario with the Two-Four subliminally suggesting a case of beer not a birthdate.

This is the weekend that the winter weary break free! Garden centres, home centres, grocery, and beer stores stand ready for the onslaught of eager, perhaps even at tad frenzied customers. Even if one is not a gardener, cottager, golfer or outdoor projects person, this is still a weekend that comes with a sigh of relief and a smile or three. We made it! It's safe to come our now.

This year, the weekend will mark the one year anniversary of a devastating storm which struck on a sultry Saturday afternoon, May 21.

Described by meteorologists as a historic derecho and one of the most impactful thunderstorms in Canadian history, winds up to 190 km/h (120 mph) as well as around four tornadoes caused widespread and extensive damage along a path that extended for 1,000 kilometres (620 mi).

Here's what it looked like outside my front windows at 1:16pm:

Although we had no significant damage, neighbouring communities did not fare so well and are still recovering. Twenty-six days later another wild storm ripped through and this time we did not escape unscathed.

Looking out the kitchen windows

Another tree down

And in the back of the house, trees had snapped but got hung up and four more were semi-uprooted and leaning toward the house.

This year I'm hoping that this great first long weekend of summer is much brighter and gentler and kicks off a season of  warm days and starry nights along with enough rain to keep it all beautiful. It's a big ask I know, but the ice in the bird bath this morning has melted and the sun is bright, so I'm feeling optimistic.

Whatever your plans are this holiday weekend, be safe out there folks, especially those of you heading out on the highways and byways on your way to open up cottages. And Please, don't drink and drive.

See ya back here on Monday.

©2023 April Hoeller

Monday Meander - May 18, 2020 (Victoria Day)

Report from the blankie fort - Week 10

It's Victoria Day, a holiday Monday capping off what has traditionally been the three-day stretch of gardens, bbq's, beer, and fireworks as the folks in these parts celebrate not so much the late great grand queen, as the first long weekend of the summer season. In any other year that I've known, this is the weekend that garden centres, hardware stores, and gas companies get really excited about as winter-weary Ontarians dig out the planting gear and drive to the garden centre to buy bedding plants; haul out the lawnmower and drive to the hardware store to get parts to make it work; and/or drive up to the cottage then drive to the hardware store and garden centre to get parts and plants. Oh, and beer. There's got to be beer.

Not so this year. The siege of CoVID-19 continues and though the hardware stores and garden centres are now open, there are restrictions and in my case apprehension about rushing out there to shop. Cottage country holds the same apprehension as local authorities struggle to find a middle ground between health risk and economic ruin. It's a tough call for all of us everywhere. 

Grand displays of fireworks have been snuffed out by regulation and today's all-day rain. I know our dog will be most happy about that. She gets terribly upset with all the snap, crackle and boom. But I love fireworks and always have. Ah well, another time.

All is not lost. Saturday we were treated to amazing warmth and sunshine - just the ticket to get me up and out of the despair of virtual meetings and digital overload and into the world right outside my door. I washed the front windows removing winter's grime and improving the view immensely. I turned over two garden plots and cleaned out the rest. 

I lectured the bunny about not eating the freshest tulip blooms nor the tender just-greening Sweet William. 

Naughty Bunny!

I cheered on the visiting duck whom I have named Daffodil. She's been dropping by daily for over a week now to waddle and dabble underneath my birdfeeders and drink from the birdbath.

I scrubbed down the bbq, checked the gas cylinder and jets, then cleaned and seasoned the cast iron grills. 

Bring on the burgers and the beer! 

with a side of zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms & cheese

I'm quite content to rest today, savouring the joys of being well, well-worked, and well-fed by gardens, a bbq and some beer. Three out of four traditions for this weekend makes it a solid 75% success. SCORE!  The last word on this Victoria Day Weekend the 2020 Edition appropriately goes to the grand lady herself, Queen Victoria:

 

"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. 

They do not exist."

©2020 April Hoeller

Monday - NO Moaning

As foretold by the weather prophets, Saturday was pretty much a washout for outdoor plans yet the day was not without delights. The royal wedding lived up to my hopes and then some. The Duke of Edinburgh looked better than I've seen in a couple of years. Ninety-six and just a few weeks out of hip surgery? Well done, sir!

The bride's mum was the very portrait of a genuine Mother of the bride - open, authentic, real. I felt every emotion she allowed. They were the same as mine on my daughter's wedding day. Three cheers for Doria Ragland. Three cheers also for The Most Reverend Michael Curry for giving us all a lesson in love and for doing so with gusto, throwing some stodgy British Anglicans for a loop. This was no talking head intoning stained glass window words. This was a man of passionate faith speaking from the heart. Amen!

By 10am I was back to regularly scheduled programming - bread baking and kitchen clean up, followed by a trip into town to pick up a new gas BBQ. I am glad it was raining because otherwise, the man and I probably would have busied ourselves with all the outdoor chores begging for attention. The showers gave us the time to assemble the new BBQ. The project was a bit like building a boat in the basement.

Fortunately, we realized that a fully assembled unit would not fit through the door out to the deck before we got too far along. And the rain stopped in time for us to shoehorn it out onto the deck for final assembly. TaDa!

Sunday brought sunshine by noon, a harvest of fresh rhubarb - enough to make two batches of rhubarb crisp, one for the day and one for the freezer,

...a firewood stacking binge that made a significant dent on the chore,

 ...and the first BBQ of the season.

Rainbow trout and in the glass - a Malivoire 2015 Pinot Gris

Today is a kickback and relax day. Time for easy-living and gratitude.

Happy Victoria Day!

©2018 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - May 17, 2018

Victoria Day Weekend 2018

The first long weekend of summer sits perched on the doorstep. Also known as the May TWO-FOUR weekend in these parts, which refers more colloquially to a case of beer rather than a day in May honouring the birthdays of Queens Victoria and Elizabeth in Canada.













"The twenty-fourth of May is the Queen's birthday!" was the chant from my childhood days. And for Victoria that was true. Her birthday was May 24, 1819. In 1953, the Canadian Government added Elizabeth to the celebrations and set the holiday to fall on the Monday preceding May 25 (i.e somewhere between May 18 and 14). For the record, Queen Elizabeth's birthday is celebrated in June in England, even though ER II was actually born in April. It's complicated...







This year there is an added royal celebration - the wedding of  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Will I get up very early on Saturday morning to tune into the festivities? Well, I'm not setting any alarms for  4:30am! But I'll probably be up in time to tune in to the actual wedding. I'm sure it will all be grand and tickle little girl dreams of a fairytale Prince Charming falling in love with an ordinary girl, and the two newlyweds riding off in a royal carriage to live happily ever after. Nothing wrong with that. It's just not me.

I'm rather fond of our Queen and her love, the Duke of Edinburgh. I think the monarchy with its rituals and traditions connects me to our history and commends a sense of honour and respect, a civility we all would do well to reclaim. Royal wedding hoopla is not my cup of tea, especially on the May Two-Four weekend.

This is the weekend that garden centres, hardware stores and gas companies get really excited about as winter-weary Ontarians dig out the planting gear and drive to the garden centre to buy bedding plants; haul out the lawn mower and drive to the hardware store to get parts to make it work; and/or drive up to the cottage then drive to the hardware store and garden centre to get parts and plants. Oh, and beer. There's got to be beer. The Two-Four, remember? 

The weather forecast for the long weekend changes daily, but at the moment it looks like Sunday and Monday will be good days. Saturday may be a washout. On the whole, it looks good for planting! So, I'll head out the garden centre to pick up some geraniums, pansies, and impatiens along with a bag or two of composted manure to beef up our sandy soil. I'll harvest the rhubarb, make a rhubarb crisp for dessert and get a few pies into the freezer. Come Monday and the sun, I'll be ready to kick back and celebrate.

Be safe out there folks, especially those of you heading out on the highways and byways on your way to open up cottages. Please, don't drink and drive.

©2018 April Hoeller