What's with this weather??

Okay, I know that it is not just me who is fed up with the weather that we have had this summer. I use the word summer very loosely as we have not had a summer yet this year. Here is a video that I just took of my back deck at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, July 24, 2009. Cindy Day, our local weather person said tonight on the local news that we have had six, six, that's six, days with no rain in the month of July. Not only rain, but we have had cool temperatures. It was only 15 degrees today. Every window is down in the house and it's JULY. The chairs out back have not had cushions on them much let me tell you.

On top of the shitty weather, I have had bursitis in my hip for about three weeks now. I'm doing physio, taking anti-inflammatories and whatever but it is really getting aggravating to not be able to walk. I have to really talk myself into going to the grocery store because by the time I walk around the store and stand at the cash I am really in bad shape when I get back to the car. Oh well, enough of that, there are a lot of people suffering more than that.

Good news...Trish and Joe are coming home. They leave Whitby tomorrow and will arrive here on Sunday. I am praying that the weather gets better for them. One year from today and almost right at this moment (7:00 p.m.) San and Andrew will be standing up in front of family and friends as they exchange their marriage vows. And just think, at the wedding will be my seven month old grandchild :-) Well, must go. I have got my anger about the weather out so now can go and enjoy the rest of my evening :-)

This and That in July

So, here is my niece Donna and my sister Velvet and of course Ralph waiting to hear Paul Brandt and Reba at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival on Sunday, July 12th. The four of us descended on Flo and Fred on Friday, the 10th and we had a wonderful two days at the cottage and on the water before going to the Festival on Sunday afternoon. The weather was good which we were glad about as it has been such a bad summer so far, at least weather wise.

Looking forward to Trish being home again. She and Joe will drive down this time for their annual summer holiday. We are going to have a baby shower for her while she is here as it will be the only opportunity.

I have been suffering from a flare-up of siatica for the last week and a half. I am on an anti-inflammatory medication now so I am feeling a bit better. I start Physio next week and I hope that it helps this time.

Ralph came home last night and left again this morning. He will be home tomorrow night for the weekend. It is strange having him gone every week. It surely puts our summer plans on hold. We are going to be taking our holidays later in the year although we are going to be able to go to the Beaver Dam cottage for a long weekend in August.

Another Hump Day

Where do the weeks go? Here it is another Wednesday. Ralph is home for the night. He will go back to Debert tomorrow morning. I'm not too keen on this husband coming home for the weekends and one night through the week but what can you do.

Check out this video on YouTube. It is by a Halifax group called the Sons of Maxwell. The lead singer had one of his guitars damaged by United Airline handlers on a flight from Halifax to Nebraska and this was his way to get back at the airline when they would do nothing about the damage. It's funny and quite good. Good for them they are getting lots of hits on YouTube and they were featured on CNN. Apparently they have been contacted by United now to try to work something out :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo ( Copy and paste into your browser).

The sun did not come out again today even though the weather person promised it would. It is very cool also. Only got up to 14 today. Ralph, Donna, Velvet and I are going to P.E.I. on the weekend to attend the Cavendish Beach Music Festival on Sunday. Guess what it is going to be doing on P.E.I. on Sunday? You got it....rain. Oh well, what can you do. You can't fight Mother Nature. If this weather is what we are going to have then this is what we are going to have.
Going to leave you with a little joke.

Bar-be-que (bar*bi*q) n. You bought the groceries, washed the lettuce, chopped the tomatoes, diced the onions, marinated the meat and cleaned everything up, but, he, "made the dinner."

Some Sunday Musings

Well, since my last blog was all about my new grandchild I guess that I had better talk about other topics in this blog or you guys will get sick of hearing about the grandchild pretty quickly :-)

Another cloudy, muggy day in Nova Scotia. I have lost count of how long it has been since it didn't rain at some point through the day and even how long it has been since we saw the sun here in Halifax. So far we have had a miserable, rotten summer weather wise. I am glad that I am not one of those who has already taken their holidays.

Just got off the phone with Ralph. He came home Friday night from Debert and went back this morning. We have decided that this is the first and last time that he will do this summer camp. We have no time together to do anything and we can't have a summer vacation so it is just not worth it.

He is going to be able to go to the Island with Velvet, Donna and I this weekend...we were not sure for a while that he would be able to get the time off. We are going to be staying at Flo's and going to see Reba MacIntyre on Sunday. It is an outdoor concert at Cavendish Beach. We are praying that the weather will co-operate.

The big concert here in Halifax next weekend...Paul McCartney. We went downtown yesterday and saw them sitting up the stage. It is huge. I hope they get a good turnout but I think that it will depend on the weather.

The picture is of our new flower garden that Ralph made in the front of the house. He did all the work and I told him what to put in and where :-) Good team really :-)

I am going to be a Grandmother!!!!!

I'm sure that all of you in the family have heard by now that I am going to be a Grandmother. Oh, and Ralph is going to be a Grandfather also :-) Trish and Joe are expecting their first child on December 18th. Up to now, the best Christmas present I have ever had for sure. As you would expect I am very excited, proud and can't wait for the birth.

At the same time I am worried. Worried, you say, but why? Well, I have been talking about being a grandmother for so long, in fact some people may say that I have been whining about it. What if I don't do a good job? I don't know how to be a good grandmother. I didn't know how to be a mother either actually, I just winged it. The girls tell me I did okay but they may just be saying that. All I know that I will be able to do is love this little one unconditionally. I will be looking at baby's little face to see if I can see any resemblance to anyone in my birth family as I am sure Ralph, Irene and Bob will be doing. We don't know what he/she will look like, or act like, whether he/she will love ice cream like my Mom did or if they will love to fish like the maternal grandfather or tat like the maternal great-grandmother. Maybe he/she will get the "Smart" genes and become the next Prime Minister of Canada.

So many possibilities are open to this little one and so many people waiting to meet and love him/her.

Trish sent us an email to tell us she was pregnant. I saw the first picture of my grandchild in an email so I guess that it is only fitting that the first words that I write about this child would be on the Internet. I will keep you up to date of course on how things are going with the baby but just a few words about another important event in the Murphy's life. Ralph has officially retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after 39 years and 8 months. We had quite the party on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who was there and those who sent their best wishes.

I think that this post has gone on long enough. Hope that your weather is a lot better this summer than ours has been here in N.S.