It's bloggy time! I got grief for not posting pictures with my poem that took years off my life, so here's a 2020-ish photo dump.
Where to start?
Meet Nora! (again)
Okay, so it really has been a while... oops. This is Nora half her lifetime ago.
I don't have the first clue how to set about fully toilet training her, but I did manage to get to the point where I've changed like half a dozen poopy diapers in the last year. Not bad if I do say so myself.
Super bowl parties are food-intensive. Much more important than the game. The pic is from 2020, when we could still party with people; this year I was reduced to making fun of my football-watching friends via text. What a weird game. (Big sportsball guy right here.)
Back when life was normal, Nora and I would go to pick up Lily from school, reading while we waited. Nowadays she naps and I go alone, since Carrie is home anyway.
The large pile of dress-up clothes gets another eager user.
As do the colouring supplies.
Mud heaven....
Everything water- and beach-related is always in style.
Nora looooves books.
And she knocks out a puzzle in no time. Seriously, this kid is good.
Awww...
Oh yeah, let's not forget Lily
In the fall of 2019, we went to Niagara to visit family. There's a carousel in a St. Catharines park that costs a mere 5 cents to ride. This picture is from the last day of the season, and as far as I know it hasn't operated since, due to COVID-19.
Lily has many interests, including fashion. Here's a new take on an old t-shirt of her dad's.
And... something else...
Curlers at night...
...for bouncy hair in the morning!
Pretend injuries are fun.
So are real ones (or just losing a tooth... finally!)
A local gymnastics class. None of that going on these days.
Piano lessons kept going, via video if necessary. She's a pleasure to listen to.
Practicing running away from home.
She spent many hours creating fairy homes and setting them up in the yard. Damaging winds and rain did not deter her.
For her birthday I took her bouldering.
95 theses on a church door. Pretty sure that's an onlooker, not Luther.
Fun kid.
We all bought cross-country gear right before it became a crazy fad. Lily's not a fan, partly because her wide feet don't fit her shoes very well.
And -- bonus -- they get along!
Playing piano duets...
Enjoying Saturday movie night...
Pretend food parties...
Sunning themselves in a warm spot in April...
Heading to the moon (I think)...
Story time in the ottoman...
Way back in 2019, Carrie's parents came over for Christmas, which is about the last human contact we've had with the BC crowd. It seems so long ago...
A lot a phone booths around here, apparently.
Glow Gardens was a local light display/festival/thingy. We had a man on the inside, so got to go for free.
COVID
It was March when much of the world shut down. We took in a concert on March 12, and that was the second last day that any such public events were allowed in the province. I was reminded why live concerts are not as cool as they seem (so LOUD... and BRIGHT).
Carrie started working from home, and she appropriated my office. So I grabbed all my valuables from there and fled to the basement to set up shop there. It's been great, since I don't require sunlight!
School was out an extra week for the teachers to figure out remote learning. Schooling at home went fairly smoothly, except for the occasional hair-pulling drama when it came to getting a certain of my kids to do math homework or otherwise concentrate.
This girl literally got distracted while writing the word "distracted".
Regular classroom video chat ("googloo meep", as Nora referred to Google Meet chats). I'd bought armload of Chromebooks for the school the previous winter, which proved extremely useful when everyone had to do school from home.
Don't know. Don't care. As long as she's working.
We had to do some pandemic shopping, fortunately completed before the mad rush on stuff. Bulk smarties were considered...
But we settled on some TP instead.
I had bought a massive thing of hand sanitizer the year before, so we were set there. Amazing how many things we did or bought before it became difficult to do so. I guess the lesson is buy whatever you want, it will probably be justifiable in hindsight.
Wearing masks became normal.
My free Costco masks don't last forever, but I sure try. A strap broke last week so they gave me a black mask; it's way thicker and harder to breathe through; not cool.
Recently I didn't feel like going to Costco, so I tried their Instacart option. I placed my order online, some random stranger went shopping for me, and my yummy bread (and some less important stuff) arrived at my doorstop before lunch! Yay!
Drive-in Home Depot shopping, back when 2x4s were only $4.
Gas dipped below 60 cents a couple of times. Since we didn't drive anywhere, it didn't matter.
Had to get used to family chats.
Covid hair.
Covid haircut. Sadly, Carrie made me cut hers in return. Seriously.
Can we blame COVID? We've ordered in Chinese food waaay too many times in the past year. But it's so convenient! And a real hit with the kids.
We did get Lily signed up for city-run swimming lessons in the summer. She got the class -- and the instructor -- to herself. I had to be in the pool with her, so I got free lessons too. I'm up to tadpole now!
Camping, car drama
Well before the province decided camping wouldn't kill anyone, Carrie planned a few trips and had no trouble booking some good campsites; again, all done before the mad rush. The July long weekend was our usual trip to Driftwood Provincial Park to camp with some friends.
Nora on her throne. We bought it just before they became wildly in demand.
Story time. A riveting Scout adventure never disappoints.
The next trip was around the August long weekend. We headed out to Arrowhead Provincial Park for a week of camping. But shortly after hitting the road, the car was exhibiting weird behaviour, almost like the trailer brakes were trying to engage. Except the trailer doesn't have brakes. So I pulled over, cast an expert eye underneath the car and trailer... and by expert eye, I mean I have decades of experience using my eyes. But no, I know next to nothing about cars and such. After discovering that all the wheels were still on, I did what any determined camper would do: carry on, albeit with care. Carrie then kindly pointed out the impressive array of warning lights on the dash, which I somehow had failed to notice. I learned that revving higher seemed to make the car run smoother, so I dropped a gear and drove the four hours to the campsite. Made it! For now.
The girls enjoyed the beach.
We rented a canoe. We often discuss buying one, but renting occasionally is much more convenient.
We stayed for a week, and had surprisingly high turnover of neighbours. I guess most people just don't stay put for very long.
After that trip, I set about figuring out the car situation. Read some OBD2 codes, did some research, got my mechanic's opinion, vetoed his expensive suggestions, told him to diagnose better, got a verdict that the ECU (primary onboard computer) was shot. Pursued my extended warranty that only idiots buy, got some surprising traction. Mechanic tried to source the part but the warranty people wanted to use a cheaper refurbished part rather than new, which couldn't be found. Finally got the okay to buy a new one, mechanic mistakenly ordered an air-conditioning control unit, somehow it fell to me to point out the error. Did some more waiting, and then finally... FINALLY... the right part was on the way. By now we were ready for our next trip, a Labour Day week to Niagara followed by some camping.
Trailer was packed; just waiting for the tow vehicle...
Well, of course nothing happened on time. We delayed the trip by a day, then another, based on the promises of when the car would be fixed. Finally I gave up; we had to leave or cancel. So I called up every car rental place nearby to see if there was anything that could fit us and a trailer's worth of camping gear (rentals can't tow). It was a tough slog, at such short notice. There may have been the odd minivan, but I have my pride. Eventually I found a place that was supposed to have something suitable being returned in a couple hours and I could have that. Sign me up! We headed over there to see if further disappointment awaited. But -- miracle of miracles -- the vehicle showed up, and we were finally good to go.
I crammed everything from the trailer (8 feet long) into the back of the Expedition (5 feet long). Don't know how, but I did it. Except a folding table; that just seemed excessive.
After spending some time with the family in Niagara and celebrating Opa's birthday, we headed to Point Farms Provincial Park. We'd been there years before, and things were a little different.
The spot on the end, the windiest and noisiest of course.
The formerly beautiful beach has kind of eroded.
Broken stairs. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.
Lily really enjoyed her bodyboard... even without waves.
It was not a warm wind, so jackets on the beach seemed appropriate.
When that trip wrapped up, we headed home to settle down for a new school year. No more home learning for a while!
As for the car, eventually the right part came in, and the mechanic had to send it to the Subaru dealer to reprogram the keys. I mean key. I mean... well, they didn't bother to tell me this needed to be done, so they had one key done. When I got the car back, the second key wouldn't work! AARRGGHHH! I eventually figured out why, and proceeded to go and get the other key reprogrammed on my own. You'd think I'd consider getting another mechanic, but... but... ours is so close to the house! Convenience wins. For now.
My last camping trip was with some young punks. We did our mostly-annual canoe trip into Algonquin Park for two nights. Fun as always.
The kids having dinner.
The view during a portage. It's not easy fumbling for the phone to take a picture from under 90 lbs of gear.
Projects
Once in 2019 Carrie was out of town for work. I found this furniture at the curb a few blocks from the house so sent her a photo. She said "take it!" so I grabbed the car, jammed everything in it, and filled our house up some more.
Well, the results were great. Here's the dresser, which we sold...
And the kids each got a new night table.
Carrie has also been collecting dining chairs. Sometimes she gets around to refinishing them.
A couple samples of the finished sets. We have over 20 chairs in the house, so some will be sold in due time.
Lily's room got a facelift.
Carrie has been experimenting with clay molds, because why not. Very fancy.
Kidney-shaped desk for Lily.
Done. The blinds need work, but six years in this house hasn't been enough time to get around to that, apparently.
This basement room is the furniture shop. Six years in this house was just enough time to get around to upgrading the terrible lighting. Ventilation (when staining, for example) is still an issue though.
One day, an ill-considered knitting needle episode sped up the demise of our washing machine. We planned to keep it limping along until we were done with cloth diapers. It died a little earlier than planned, but I was very happy to switch to disposable diapers.
And the new-to-us used pair cost a fraction of a new set.
My dust collector was taking up too much space in the garage, so I mounted it in the attic. Saved space, and it's quieter.
Four-inch pipes and tubing run down from the machine in the attic to various saws and other stations.
A blast gate at each station, wired so the machine turns on when I open one. Works like a charm!
What else? Did some more yard work, of course. Here's Lily, rototilling for me.
Nora is helpful as always.
Ah, dirt. I think that's a total of 90 extra yards of dirt in my back yard now.
"Pappy, another truck?! We ain't near done this here pile yet!" The new load was 20 yards of compost, for a change of pace.
No more grass around the gardens.
Some crushed gravel. I'd gone for half a yard; the loader operator forgot to change out the bucket and put a full yard in. My poor trailer was waaaay overloaded! Until I figured this out, I wondered why the drive home felt so weird. It certainly explained why the trailer fenders were almost rubbing and the tires were nearly flat. But hey, $20 of free crush.
The tree fort is coming along. Still needs work, but it's inhabitable.
Not much else happening. Opa & Oma came up once for a visit. We had a nice visit to Brockville on the St. Lawrence.
Fall hiking at Calabogie. Tons of people were paying money to take a lift up the "mountain". HA! We walked it.
Halloween egg hunting in the backyard. Easier than collecting covid candy in the streets.
And there's this thing. Pretty much past her expiry date. More on that some other time.
I'm impressed. Thank you
ReplyDeleteDad hasn't seen this yet
ReplyDeleteOh Andrew you crack me up!
ReplyDeleteYour life is much more exciting than ours!
ReplyDeleteAwwwww ❤️
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