Friday, June 1, 2007

Our 18th Anniversary Weekend

18 years for me and Deb (actually together a little more than 20).....boy did this weekend start with a blast.

Craig and Karen came up from TO for Wednesday night. Now that we've added the deck to the back, it's a great time to sit and talk. Unfortunately, we were not able to find a decent patio set (well..ok - I mean affordable), but it was nice to be able to look out at the lawn and the new flower beds that we've put in over the last couple of weeks. My landscaping abilities pale in comparison to Craig's, however.

Deb and I had gone on a search for some patio furniture with a specific idea of what we wanted. After looking for the low end, quick solution stuff you'd see at Walmart or Loblaws, we had to keep shopping - now at the speciality "Outdoor Living" stores. If you want to get some perspective on how the other half lives - go to Hauser....and take out an extension on your line of credit. There was another store we visited later on that Deb found a comfortable, nice looking and stylish set attracting the attention of a very nice salesman who proceeded to tell us how it was the "Cadillac" of what they sold (curse Deb's good taste - once she gets an idea on what she wants...sigh).

Criag has a lot in Toronto that is over 200ft deep, most of which is backyard. He has been working on it for years and has converted it into a small park, isolated from prying eyes. He has had to take out a pool, trees, replace shrubs, move rocks - really too much to mention. Having him up to give us some pointers on garden layout was great. We are really set to put some finishing touches on our backyard now.

A great time was had Wednesday night - a nice steak dinner and a lot of beer. In fact a suprising amount of beer. Craig brought 12 Stella and I had picked up another 12 for the weekend. The following morning, when we were packing up, we only had 4 bottles left and Deb and Karen didn't have all that much. If the Sens had won - it would have been a perfect evening.

Deb and I packed up and headed up to the lake for the weekend, hoping for nice hot weather and maybe a thunderstorm. Well, there was no disappointment there. What started as a typical thuderstorm grew into, what we worried, could have turned into a tornado (there was a warning for our area). There was a close strike that made us both jump a bit, but it was the wind that kept increasing that got us a little riled (especially after losing our big cedar last year ago with the F2 that went through). Thanks to Deb and her camera, we got the whole storm on video and have watched it twice.

Today looks like we may have a repeat performance. It's as humid as the tropics and the lake is as still as glass right now. Maybe, we can post a video link when we get home.