nova scotia - june 2001
mumsy turns 59, june 25th. - otherwise known as 'gran'
dinner at the highway man with grand daughters amanda (13) and michelle
(8).
part of her day is spent plucking petals from her dear late friend's garden.
rose jelly in the works. however i didnt get a shot of mum administering
euthanasia to a favorite but ailing chicken of her pal joans. and on your
bday mum, jeez.
and in the morning of her bday, she can be found forcing two of her beloved
daughters (frances 33, cvm 32) into 'relocating' lupines for her garden.
glad i left the shovels out of this pic, pathetic diggers were we, mum
did all the work/. we did find some pretty ones tho.
not that mum minds doing her own dirty work. quite a job keeping the garden
and dogs in order. and you havent lived til youve had mums sugar snap
peas. the shade garden is coming along nicely as well.
mumsy lives in the friendly community of new ross, and is still accepting
bday presents and useful email at:
grannyfromhell@hotmail.com.
oh that i were joking.
while i was there, me and fran and the kids spent a lovely
long weekend at http://www.fallslake.ca.
family-friendly lakeside cottages located in or about windsor. mumsy came
by at the end to pick us up for the trip to her place. its was hot as
heck, thought i left that in toronto.
michelle and her new buddy adam collected frogs and bugs to entertain
auntie and mummy. cause ya know we love to handle slimy little creatures
while trying to make lunch. i guess with the shortage of boys in the family,
michelle has had to forgo the tea parties in favour of putting her self
in physical danger and crawling around muddy places.
hey my little crapper, now you can show your friends what you caught without
having to torture the little fella by moving his home. things just work
out somehow.
this boy could catch anything. and did. you could find me up at his mums
cottage, bev sure knew how to relax and even had some vegetables for me.
of course we swam at the lake, but more importantly, fran and i took amanda
and michelle on their first canoe trip. it was starting to rain and the
water was black and choppy. there was some screaming and fighting between
mummy and me as to who was actually steering. it was an adventure. the
kids were, well, unimpressed.
so we played with blow up toys and life jackets instead!
and roasted marshmallows.
and the exausted and slightly drunk adults relaxed in the dark of night.
frances indulged her pyromaniac tendencies and i plucked the geeetar til
we ran out of tofutti icecream.
pooped!
poor angie and her two lovely gals where kind enough to invite us,
and look what became of her....
i taught the the little ones how to fish, as if i know how. nobody got
hurt and thats the thing.
no trip to nova scotia is complete without a dip in the ocean. mmmmmm.
and the water was warm, honest! queensland beach.
classic fran, cant belive she went in.
even more shocking....
floppy girl.....
auntie please leave me alone. i'm 13 fer chrissakes!
dancin' fool....
mmmmm, seaweed .
one word - 'giles'
oh my, but it gets better. we also went to visit my uncle lee and my three cousins in aylesford near wolfeville.. the last time i saw these kids, well, lets just say, i could take em in a fair fight. and now......
in order of appearance on this planet,
first there is rob (21), just as smart and sweet as i remembered him, fellow geek i might add.
and michael (almost 19), and jeez louise, how he's grown.
a hep cat with a penchant for fine food and adventure. hows that for tact.
georgina. goergina. georgina (16). why is it that when a young gal is beautiful and vivacious, it only serves to strike fear in our familial hearts? instead of make us proud and excited about what she will do with herself? i for one will try not to imagine the TROUBLE that her beauty may represent. you go girl!
my uncle lee cooked up a swell stack o pancakes with strawberries and whip cream.
we are soooooo bloody english sometimes. most tastey tho.
no matter how you try you'll never get everyone to look spiffy at the same time during a group shot. so take three eh?
our hair and make up guy, as well as the wardrobe woman were unavailable. we made do.
adopted family member donna was too shy to get in the picture,
that or we all smelled. it was bloody hot.
went for a lovely walk to the local graveyard and neighboring woods. turns out vegetarians do taste better and i was lucky i didnt get left for dead when out of the sky came these uber mosquitos the size of hummingbirds. lucky to be alive i am. i think i may be allergic, youshould see my ankles etc..........
ya know, i had a fantastic visit with my cousins, and amanda and michelle got to see their family double in one day. i like to think every generations duty is to do better than the one before it, this is done best with love and compassion, for those before and after us.
glad to be part of the family, and official photographer of mumsy2001.
lets do it again next year eh?
back to mums place. hangin with all of mother natures critters, and a
few she wont claim responsibility for. visiting old friends and new, dropping
by chrissy's lovely antique shop, hunting down new puppies and kittens.
much fun. and special thanks to tony for saving the day, you'll always
be tony to me.
i mistook michelle for one of my ribs during my visit, hot sweaty days
did not keep us apart in any way. she is learning from the master how
to be the family neon sheep. no need for me to have kids when fran has
done me the favour of having this one.
mums pal george had some bull dog puppies. i just couldnt relax with the
mummy dog looking at me like that. i was such a loser about it and the
kids could have cared less.
we put up a screened tent in mums backyard for sippin near-beer and avoiding
the bugs.
this is my amanda on mums bday, i love this gal so much. if you are ever
extremely bored or have some sin to exponge, call me and i will tell you
all about the day she was born, and the new swear words fran made up,
and how hard i cried all the time. what a delight.
one of many....
some bunny action even.
this cat has no fear, or dignity either for that matter.
sun in her eyes, love in her heart, thats my fran. during my visit we
shared a bed, as well as a two seater outhouse. now thats bonding.
anything with a heartbeat for this budding dr. doolittle. had to frisk
her on the way out to make sure we didnt have any surprises when we got
home.
jennifer mugs for the camera while i watch amanda play with mums playstation.
and big hugs from bramble. big bramble.
and then back to frans in dartmouth for some packing and goodbyes. have
a beer with danny and talk to their crazy neighbors. some even made us
pies, others just got pie-eyed with us. east coast good times.
......walkin home from the lake, just like when i was a little girl. i
was a little girl once ya know...
i will post last years visit somewhere soon. and other trips toooooo.
toodles!
info (at) kitchenink.com
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