July Catch-Up

 So here we are at the end of July almost finished the first week of August already and it's been all go here chez Trouts recently. 

We had a couple of opportunities to go to the theatre (cue posh accent).  Science Girl wanted to see "Hamlet" because she had studied it last year in school so we got her two tickets for Christmas.  She invited me to accompany her as my Mother's Day gift.  I'm still trying to figure that one out.  It was a good production, as they usually are at Stratford, but I had forgotten a lot about the play, like the whole military, invasion sub-plot.  In June we went with the Maggots to see "The Taming of the Shrew".  It was enjoyable as well but certainly left room for interpretation and discussion.

We went camping again at Port Burwell but there are no pictures;  there are only some many times I can show you a campsite number post.  Lake Erie is getting quite sketchy however. It was churned up with sand but there was some kind of foam that washed up on shore.  Bleck.  I tend not to go in past my ankles because I like to see the bottom of what I'm swimming in. I'm never sure what's going to brush up against my legs.  While there, Himself and I celebrated, well marked our 25th wedding anniversary.  I managed to remember to take some proper wine glasses so I didn't have to use my old Tupperware plastic glasses for our wine. The weather was somewhat co-operative, not too hot and the rain that came didn't dampen the campfire.  

We endured renovations to our main bathroom, the one with the shower.  It was only a 2 week job but it was quite disruptive nevertheless and it was kind of weird having the workmen in your space for 8 or 9 hours a day.  I never knew whether to talk to him or leave him alone, offer him coffee or not. And because of Science Girl's work schedule, I was without a vehicle half the time, the week when Tom the Builder was cutting ceramic tile every 30 seconds.  My nerves were frayed. 

But the end result was certainly worth it.  The room had never been renovated, just painted.  We went from this after the tiles had been ripped out:




Note the hideous green door.  That was the colour of the entire
room including the ceiling. I don't know what I was thinking.

To this:

 

I got 2 built in niches because I was sick of the metal pole
in the corner of the tub.  I also had Tom the Builder build
in the medicine chest .

 And finally this:

 

 

 

 

We all went on a picnic to The Pinery  on beautiful Lake Huron one Saturday which is not sketchy like Erie.  We had never been there and wanted to see if we would like it for camping.  Um, no.  It's far too big, over 1200 sites on 3 separate campgrounds.  The sites are way too small and close together and if you want to go to the tuck shop, it's a 5 minute drive.  So I won't be trying to book a site there.  We also wanted to take the Mad Wee Dog to the dog beach.  She had never been in a lake and I thought she'd enjoy it.  Um, no.  

 

She was interested at first, leaping over the waves and
paddling about.  Looking like a drowned rat.

 

 

But this was the result when she was dragged coaxed into the water
a second time.  She could not dig her claws into the sand hard enough.

Almost dried off and trying to regain
her dignity.

There's been some reading.

 

 

This is the first in a series about Spanish Civil War veteran Stephen Sefton as assistant to Professor Swanton Morley as they travel the English countryside writing a history of each of the counties. They start in Norfolk, obviously, and get involved with the apparent suicide of the local vicar.  Was it suicide or is something else going on. 

 

It was an enjoyable read, funny in bits but sometimes the dialogue was like listening to an Abbott and Costello routine - funny at first but annoying after awhile.  I'll certainly be on the look-out for the second installment.

 

 

 

Seventh in the Ruth Galloway Mystery Series.  Ruth's a forensic archaeologist who's been called out to an abandoned air force base after a WWII plane has been unearthed with the pilot still inside.  But the body isn't the pilot but a local aristocrat  who was supposed to have died at sea.  A family member of the victim has a pig farm on part of the Ghost Field and human bones are found amongst the pigs.  Are the two bodies connected?  And how did the body end up in the plane?

  

 



 

Fifth in the Kate Shackleton Series sees Kate, amateur sleuth detective of independent means, at Bolton Abbey trying to find a missing Maharajah at the request of her cousin in the India Office.  The prince just happens to be in possession of a priceless diamond which has also gone missing.  Is the Maharajah's murder a result of internal Indian politics, a gold-digging mistress, vengeful wife or loony brother?

 

 

The second in the Dr. Watson series finds Dr. Watson in the English countryside helping soldiers recover from shell-shock.  But also on the vast grounds of the hospital the government is building a secret weapon which will help England win the war still raging in Europe.  But during a training test, something goes horribly wrong and seven of the eight men inside the 'land-ship' die and the eighth is rendered senseless.  Is it sabotage or a tragic accident or murder?

In other news, Lego Boy spent his first week away from home at a week-long camp also on the shores of Lake Huron.  There was kayaking and archery, high ropes and low ropes and a night in a tent on site.  He had a good time and wants to go back next year which was good news for us because we were totally unsure how it would go.

There will be more radio silence for a couple of weeks as we're off on our holidays but I leave you with pictures of what's blooming in the garden.

My Rose of Sharon with a happy little pollinator on it doing its job.

For years my lilies (don't ask me what kind) have been plagued
by some kind of beetle but after dousing it and the ground underneath
it with neem oil every year, I finally have blooms on it.