Happy Birthday to Me

As was pointed out to me with a birthday greeting, I have not posted for a while. I have no excuse except work, work, work. I am currently doing 2 full time jobs in the time of one regular life. This is my 11th summer teaching SAT with Elite and guess what? It is still mentally exhausting. Fortunately I have a great group of students who got together and bought me a cake as a surprise for my birthday.

The cake was so big that even after 30 some students and staff ate, there was enough to bring him and Andrew is still working on finishing it.

After work we drove to Goderich for the weekend. Saturday was pickle day. We scrubbed a bushel of cucumbers and filled 36 jars with dill, garlic, vinegar and cucumbers and them Mom also made about 20 jars of bread and butter pickles. It is a big job, but satisfying once it was done.

First you scrub

Then you scrub some more. The ones on the counter are done...the ones on the floor are not. 3 hours later they will all be clean. Unfortunately the sink's drain will be plugged with the sand from them.

Then you carefully pack jars to get as many cucumbers in as possible.

And then when they are all filled and lidded you wait to hear the pop! pop! pop! of the seals as they cool. Now we have to wait until Thanksgiving to see if this years vintage is up to par.

Then you we got to spend the afternoon in Grandma's pool! Yippee!

Sunday started a little rainy, but it cleared up by lunch. In the afternoon we went to a Book Release Party by a tomb. Sounds strange doesn't it?

The Tomb belongs to Goderich's founder William "Tiger" Dunlop. In addition to his nickname "Tiger" he was called "The Doctor" which makes me wonder if there isn't a Tardis hanging around Goderich somewhere. Anyway, the book was an edited version of Tiger's recollections of his time as an army surgeon during the War of 1812. So if you know anyone who enjoys that sort of topic, I have a Christmas present suggestion. "Tiger" made an appearance at the book signing, although he is looking a little skinnier than any of his images. However he had the wild hair and the bottle of whiskey and a pocket full of snuff, so it must have been him.

The man in the short is the author/editor.


After the book signing it was back to the pool. Then home for steak, baked potatoes and birthday cake. 2 cakes and it wasn't even really my birthday yet.

Monday August 6 started promising, with me in a comfy chair,  a book and a pot of tea and the sounds of the birds in my parents backyard.

Andrew and I drove back to Toronto that morning, had a nap and then went out to Stout for a delicious dinner (3 great meals there -we may have broken our bad restaurant streak!)
We picked up cupcakes on the way home, watched TV and went to bed early because we both had to go to work on Tuesday.