August Long Weekend

We had an amazing August Long Weekend here. That's a special Civic Holiday that gave us Monday off. Canadians have such a civilized number of holidays. I'm really enjoying that part of living here!

We did a lot..shopping, sightseeing, and lots of work on the home front. Here are some photos of some of the excitement. I got my warp ends retied and the loom is up and running again. I'm working on this zigzag pattern but as I only have a spare moment here and there, it isn't going too quickly.

We went out to Folklorama pavilions on both Sunday and Monday nights. Since our Resident Student is visiting from the USA, we thought it would be a good "family" excursion and so far, we've "travelled" to Serbia and French Canadian pavilions. The latter was not all that far from home, but since I've only exposed her to a small amount of Franco-Manitobaine culture, it seemed important.

On Sunday morning, the Resident Student (RS) and I got up early to do some canning. RS is fond of pickles and wanted to know how I made ours. She was a good helper and we managed to put up 12 pints of dill cucumber pickles and 2 pints of dilly beans in about 3 hours. I was incredibly happy to know that this 20 year old actually wanted to know where her food came from and how to make it again! (Score one for the Slow Food Movement at our house!)

Meanwhile, the Professor was busy, too. The weekend was both sunny and rainy. The Professor managed to dodge thunder and rain showers outdoors and did some yardwork. He also created this marvelous tranformation. See our old porch steps (dirty grayish white peeling paint and no paint) and check out our new front porch look! The dark red matches the contrasting paint on our house and it also shows a lot less dirt. I love how it looks, I love that he did all the hard work and best yet, I love how it won't show as much dirt. It's not fun mopping the front porch.

In other news...

I've started teaching my second session of "Writing for Graduate Students." This course is 4 days a week throughout August, so it's all grad student writing, all the time around here...I'm a busy bee.

I did stop to enjoy a postcard from our small friend. She is now entering grade 2 and is working on her writing skills. She asks:

"How are Harry and Sally doing?"

Harry the dog is doing just fine. He's a mere shadow of his former self! He has been dieting this summer as he gained a bit of weight last winter. He also has been "blowing coat" (losing his heavy fur coat) and I've been grooming him nearly every day. Soon I'll have enough Harry fur to spin up some yarn for warm mitts for winter--my very own fiber-producing pet! Here he is, featured in a stunning pose on the living room rug underneath the coffee table.
Sally dog is also doing well. She does not enjoy the summer thunderstorms. She finds it comforting to hide during the scary lightning parts. Here she is, with her sheep toy on her dog bed, in the Professor's study.

Last, but not least, I got a very nice email from the International Blogging Recognition Council saying that my blog was honored with a "Recognized Blog." Apparently someone who enjoys my blog referred me to them. Whoever you are, thanks very much for this honor!