Hello Crackers. A belated Happy Birthday greeting to you, MITM. Still no real spring here- lots of snow in the air the past couple of days, and today, though it has not stayed on the ground. I still have not been on my bike but remain hopeful that tomorrow or the next day will be the day. In the meantime I have done well this week with spring cleaning unlike last week when I had no motivation to do any. I've been doing a lot of wall and floor washing and polishing so hope that counts as some exercise and a lot of up and down stairs to organise things and declutter.I need to keep at it as next week we have our first yard waste garbage pickup and there is a lot of work to do outside- many twigs and branches.
Perhaps news of the horrific bus crash in Humbolt, Saskatchewan is familiar to you. I checked the Guardian on-line and there was a lot about it. Briefly, a bus carrying a junior hockey team (ages 16-21) was struck by a huge truck, killing 15 people and seriously injuring 14 more. Our news has been full of the details ever since Friday. A vigil held in memory of those killed was broadcast on the CBC. Two woman in Humbolt started a Go Fund Me Campaign which has raised over $7.5 million dollars, one of the biggest amounts ever. People from all over the country and internationally have sent money. It is terrifically sad, of course, so many young lives lost but it is interesting to wonder why this particular tragedy has resonated so strongly. Humbolt is a small town of 6000 in north east Saskatchewan, not far from where my sister and her family lived. They know people directly connected with the incident. There have been some heartbreaking individual stories. One young player, turned 21 a few weeks ago and had signed his card to be a donor. Because he was still alive and died in hospital, his organs were retrieved and were to be used for six people. Another family was told their son had died but it turned out he was alive but badly hurt and another family thought he was their son but their son had died. On social media, someone posted about a neighbour who put out a hockey stick on her porch with a sign that said something like 'in case you need a stick up there.' Now many people are leaving out sticks on their front porches as a memorial gesture. There are all sorts of smaller fundraisers too. The Prime Minister attended the vigil and Trump, The Queen, and many well known people have sent condolences. It must be quite overwhelming for the people in that small town who are both grieving and unused to the media spotlight. It was interesting too to hear that the two women who started the Go Fund Me have said they will turn it all over to a committee of professionals to decide how to a lot the money to the families of the deceased and the survivors who may need years of medical rehab and special treatment. I think people have responded to the close sense of community that binds small towns, something they may not have in their lives in large urban centres. Well, I have gone on about this so hope have not bored anyone. Regards to all.

A very quick pop-in! Because of the nasty weather I am housebound and working on my income taxes- not the most enjoyable way to spend Saturday. Will do them over several sessions as I am slow but still can do them. When I started, I looked out the window and saw t droplets of ice forming on the tree outside my den. Now an hour later, after having my back to the window, I see the droplets have become a glazing along branches. Ice is so destructive of trees- and on April 14.Poor birds too.

Hello Crackers. MITM, your spring flowers sound as if they will be a truly beautiful sight. I'm sure you put a lot of work into preparing them. And those chives- what a lot you have to care for. They seem to be a hardy plant. Despite our weather my single chive plant has sprung some green shoots.
Well, after working very hard on Friday and getting all the twigs and branches ready for pickup, if you looked out my window today you would never know I had done anything! Saturday and Sunday we had a terrific ice storm in Ontario with huge winds. So my yard is once again littered with branches and twigs. But I won't be dealing with them today, nor did I yesterday, as again it has snowed and my yard is again completely white. And it is cold. I felt very sad to see the wind had blown over a birdhouse on a pole. It lies now on the ground covered with snow. I had recently seen a pair of sparrows going in and out and expect there were eggs if not young. I'll have to have it taken apart and renovated. I should not complain if that is the worst I had happen.Even on my street a neighbour had a very large tree completely
destroyed. Toronto was hit much harder and there was a lot of property damage to houses and vehicles from falling trees- not to mention the loss of these great old trees themselves.The police had to deal with over 1500 collisions on the weekend in the area because of icy roads. I have been trying to get walking more. Yesterday I took Nellie out but only managed 2500 steps because of cold. I did another 3000 walking around a couple of big box stores but I am far from the recommended 10,000 steps. I am trying to be more detailed with my diet journal and that has been going OK. The Beck workbook sounds interesting and I would be interested in hearing more about it. Regards.

Hello Crackers. It has been some time since I've posted obviously. Spring finally arrived and we have had some lovely days. Because everything has seemed to be later, I feel as if I am constantly behind. It has not been helped but some intermittent bad weather between the spring type days. Every year I begin with yard cleanup from the winter by picking up many twigs and branches. I mentioned this in the previous post and the ice-storm that put me back to step one. That was followed by a terrific wind storm that again led to another complete cleanup of twigs and branches and other debris. It seemed to take for ever but one day we had a proper spring rain and almost over night the grass turned green and bushes sent out their leaves. At last the large trees are leafing, although not completely out. I have had some lovely spring flowers, particularly my Canadian woodland flowers-the red and white trilliums, the bloodroots with their large scalloped leaves and the may apples as well as large clumps of white, mauve and yellow violets. The fish pond is finally cleaned out and refilled but the water has been quite cold. However, I am hoping to put the fish out tomorrow. This weekend I bought some lovely hanging baskets of begonias (yellow and pink) and some pink and red geranium baskets, all of which we on special price so well worth getting now although I may have to take them into the garage a time or two before all danger of frost is past. I still have a lot of garden work to do- some hostas to divide, some planters and window boxes to plant, the vegetables to do. I am trying to tell myself to cut back on the number of planters I fill but it is hard! The birdhouse that was overturned by the windstorm was righted with the help of my brother and the bird pair almost immediately reoccupied it.
Because I did not ride my horse through the winter, he is out of condition so it is a rather slow process bringing him back to working form- not to mention the rider! I am also finding tutoring the student twice a week is quite demanding at this time of the year when there are so many other demands. I will be volunteering for the horse show as announcer again and have been to organisation meetings for that. My writing group continues without a summer break. I really enjoy it. I do quite a lot of editing for some members who love to write but who do not have as much formal background as I do. My own writing has been put aside a lot for spring jobs so must get back to that before the next meeting in early June. Spring also has several family birthdays (three recently) and a drama presentation at a niece's school that she wanted me to attend- very impressive for the ages of the students who are in their last year of elementary school, grade 9 next year.
Time to let Nellie out for a pee so off for now. Thinking of you, Crackers. Hope all all well and presume are also busy. Regards.

Morning Crackers,

I too didn't realise it had been so long since I last posted. I have been madly busy with work as my husband has a very busy season ahead with lots of weddings, so we have been working around the clock stocking up. We also had our biyearly village clear out of household items. My husband after last year fighting to keep 3 industrial sized broken coffee machines - this year he cleared the entire basement of all items that no longer worked or were broken and we removed everything from the loft we don't use or didn't want. The old settee from the kitchen downstairs has finally left the building - it was like moving house! But I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders all this useless clutter, most that wasn't even ours! What I did find and was mine, a neatly stored collection of jeans, some 20 years old! Just why I was hanging onto them I don't recall but surprisingly as is the way, fashions do eventually come back round and I can still get into them. Maybe because they were jeans from my 'slim days' I kept them as there were none from my 'fat days'! They will come in handy for gardening and painting. After the hard winter I have lots of windows that need retouching up again.

Bracken your garden as always sounds like it's looking lovely! Spring is probably when I consider my front garden beds look their best, full of clusters of tulips and tall purple alluims. I splashed out and put in lots of new bulbs last Autumn as many failed to bloom last year. But the last time I did this I realised was 7 years ago when my Mother-in-law was dying and I escaped to the garden, when the nurses made their daily visits to plant up. I don't have the names but the garden is a sea of different shades of pink, some have like crown petals and many 2 tone. They have made me very happy in a rather wet May.

This weather has me all confused as to what I should be doing. After a very warm April when I cut the grass twice most unusual and the chives (all 160 bunches) were cut and frozen, it has been a very disappointing May. It turned cold and has rained at some point most days. The garden has loved the rain and the fields are full of flowers, everything has had a rapid growth spurt and yesterday when it didn't rain until the evening but was still cloudy and miserable I spent 9 hours in the garden weeding, mowing and cutting back as the moon was in the right position according to my husband!! People are only just putting up their balcony flowers due to the cold temperature. I didn't even buy mine until last Friday. I thought it too early in April and then May felt like April and then it suddenly dawned on me with June just around the corner, if I didn't buy them soon there wouldn't be any left! I am only doing 4 window double boxes and pots on the terrace. At the moment they are planted up but adjusting to the climate, sheltered under the solar terrace. It is absolutely pouring today heavy rain and if Noah and his ark made an appearance it wouldn't surprise me, so had I put my plants out they would be swimming now!

It does not help when I know that the UK is basking in glorious sunshine! However I was pleased that the weather was perfect for the Royal Wedding and the crowds. I thought Windsor Castle looked lovely, the church flower displays were exquisite, the dress very elegant (but she would look wonderful in a sack!) the tiara beautiful as was her jewellery but I do find it all very strange, that you only have 2 family members you can invite to your wedding but Harry is clearly besotted and I hope they will be very happy.

Finally I am delighted to report I am just 0.2 pounds away from my target weight again hurrah! Last seen at Christmas.... However 5 weeks of following Becks and 4.8 pounds lost.

Be good Crackers!

Evening Crackers,

Guess what? I've been busy, busy, busy painting windows once more.... It's a chore that needs to be done after the hard winter. At least I didn't let them get into the sorry state they were the first time I ever did them, so it's easier but still time consuming. Anyway that's my excuse for my absence, I can't believe how fast the days are disappearing as someone said 'one moment you're putting away the Christmas tree and the next it's the middle of June!'

My parents and my daughter are arriving in 2 weeks. I'm not sure if my Father can cope with the journey or with all the hills once he gets here, so this may well be his final visit. He is now 80. Unfortunately we live some distance, a 3 hour car journey from the airport and it's exhausting and even more so if you take the train as that takes all day long changing 3 times and hanging around waiting. Plus he can't handle big airports and 'technology' (nor me really) so my daughter will escort them through Gatwick airport. Fortunately our little local airport in the UK where customer service is still in force, will fly them out to Tenerife their destination of choice 3 times a year.

Oh getting old is not fun. Being up my mountain we are cut off and stuck in our time warp which is great until you venture out of the bubble and then you think you've walked into a different world! At least my daughter can help me out!! The daughter has decided last moment she will now spend her uni summer break at home in Austria. She has been very busy working lots of hours for her university at open days, uni fairs, academic workshops, going into schools, plus she has been tutoring 'German classes' for school students (via Skype of course!) for an organization that helps deprived students in preparation for their exams, so she no longer needs to earn money over the summer. Interestingly although she enjoyed the tutoring (as she likes grammar!) going into the local schools with the university has put her completely off teaching as a career! Although she will still teach (English) during her year out in Germany. she has also just been accepted as a voluntary translator for the Wiener Library which she is very excited about as that is where her interests really lie. Again that is online so she can do it from Austria! Technology has its good points and bad and it will be nice to have her home for 2 months. I'm pleased to report she has enjoyed her first year.

Bracken WELL DONE on your competition success - how very exciting! Have you now decided how you will celebrate? I must confess I hadn't hear of Alice Munro but I've since read up on her and now Amazon keep recommending her books to me - do you have any personal favourites? Will I be able to find your story easily or can you send it to me? You must be so proud and your writing group must be thrilled for you! I'm pleased for you!

Well I must get back to my windows.... Be good Crackers!

(this is a continuation of previous- took me more than a few minutes away)
I was away from the computer for longer than I thought but not because I went out riding. No, once again I couldn't ride because of rain. And now I have had a discouraging look at the weather forecast- starting Friday and extending right into the end of the following weekend, it is predicted that temperatures will be above 30C every day including this Saturday's 36C without the humidity factored in! I am not happy about that. I have been trying to be consistent with walking Nellie and going for a bike ride several times a week but the heat makes it so every activity must be crammed into a short time when the temperature is bearable.
Thank you for the kind words re my competition success, MITM. It really has been exciting. My writing group made me feel as if I had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I have received my cheque (still waiting for a certificate which I will certainly frame and hang on the wall of my den!)and have made some possible plans to put it toward a weekend in Toronto at the Royal Winter Fair Horse Show. I have spoken to my friend in Kelowna, B.C and she thinks she could join me. we are talking about staying at the Royal York, one of the nicest hotels in Toronto so that would be a real treat. I think you could access my story by seeking The Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story contest winners. They should appear on the home screen, listed first to third place.
If not I can send you a copy so let me know. I hope you like it. It is the most autobiographical story I have written in that the basic story and some of the details I have drawn from an incident when I was nine on our family farm. Of course, many of the details are imagined and in fact, I did some research on spontaneous combustion for the story. I have been a huge fan of Alice Munro's writing since I discovered her many years ago when her first books of short stories came out. She does not write novels although one of her books (Lives of Girls and Women has linked short stories so reads much like a novel). I would recommend starting with her earlier writing and if interested working up- the stories in her later books are much longer than the earlier ones. I would start with her first book, Dance of the Happy Shades and in that book I would suggest starting with "Boys and Girls" , "The Peace of Utrecht", "The Time of Death," "Thanks for the Ride", "Dance of the Happy Shades" and "An Ounce of Cure." The latter is a somewhat slight but very true and funny story of an adolescent girl, her hopeless crush, and an unfortunate first drink. Some of these early stories deal well with the lives of adolescent girls though Munro creates characters of all ages so well. That is what she is known for- creating such true understandings of ordinary people- in her case, people in small towns and rural places in the Wingham area of Ontario. Even in the most sad or dramatic stories, Munro has a way of telling the story that has a kind of humour to it. If you wanted to continue with her books, I would suggest going on to "Something I Have Been Meaning To Tell You", "The Progress of Love" and "The Moons Of Jupiter."
Must off for now. Regards.

Hello Crackers. A very long absence for me due to a number of factors but here I am again. For some time I was not able to get on this site because the internet was not working. At first it would come and go intermittantly, sometimes good for one moment and gone the next. At first I thought the computer was affected by the humidity as my den is upstairs, not air-conditioned. Finally it gave up the ghost completely. At first I tried to get in touch with my friend who maintains my computer- hard as he is on summer holidays.When he couldn't resolve it, I finally called in a technician from my service provider who checked the in-coming lines and then determined I needed a new modem. So I am finally back in service. As I mentioned we have had a summer of relentless heat and humidity with no signs of abating. I understand that UK and Europe are also in a extremely hot summer. It is so sad to hear of the on-going effects of weather all over. The Canadian West is suffering from huge numbers of wild fires, over 500 in British Columbia- a state of emergency has been declared. Of course, the extreme heat has greatly compromised my riding. I was feeling my horse was finally back into good shape when this endless heat came, along with days of torrential rains.My hope now is that perhaps I can get back to riding properly in September. Meanwhile despite the heat, there have been several horse shows that I have been asked to announce at. It is busy, calling each horse and rider's name as they enter the ring, announcing the judge's placings, calling the dawdlers who are being waited on, acknowledging the show sponsor's (they like to have their names mentioned more than once!)etc. There are two rings going at once so while it isn't a three ring circus, it can feel like it! I also have to call the flat classes (flat classes are ones in which all the horses are in the ring at once, no jumps but are judged on their walk, trot, canter, the rider's equitation style. So I have to call the judge's commands for all as in "trot please, all trot" or "hand gallop" etc. Anyway, the upshot is that I literally have not got away from my microphone for more than ten minutes on any day. I come home exhausted. However, since they are held at the stable where I previously boarded my horse, I have felt I couldn't refuse. The stable owner is an old friend and older than me and still keeping these shows going- now most often tearing around the grounds on her golf cart rather than walking.The days are long- I have to be at the stable by 8 a.m. and the shows run until near 6 p.m. or later. There is one more on the 25th.
I have been tutoring my student (who also rides at my old stable) one or twice a week. It is going well. She has an excellent work ethic and tries very hard and willingly does whatever homework I assign. I try to relate a lot of the material to horses as she is horse mad. I have had her read a couple of short books I picked up at a charity shop that both are horse stories. Both books have stories that take place in England (published and written there too) and are excellent because although short (100-120 pages), the vocabulary and reading level is quite demanding. They appear to be written for 10 year olds but the are challenging for average 13/14 year old from my experience teaching such. Canadian/American books of that sort tend to be much less challenging and of course, these ones revolving around horses have been perfect. I hope I can find others similar!
I shall post this now before it disappears in case I am tempting fate and continue with a following post.

Good Evening Crackers,

How can it be September already!?!

First things first, Bracken I have had the pleasure of reading your short story and you so deserve your second prize! I really enjoyed it.

And what a busy summer you have had. But I am so sorry to hear that you have had to have further surgery on your face, I hope it has been successful and has now healed and you are out and about again. Well done for getting your bathroom papered, it sounds delightful and I'm thrilled you are super pleased with it! I love wall paper especially embossed but would never have the confidence to attempt to put it up, plus it's a total no, no in this house as none of the walls/ceilings are level so I have always had to paint the ceiling in each room the same colour as the walls which explains my many shades of cream and why everywhere was originally white!

Well it has felt at times like a long, hot, never ending summer... with a continuous flow of work orders, exhausting family staying, my own parents were a doddle in comparison! And then overnight last week, the summer weather disappeared and it rained so hard, in the morning there was snow on the mountains! The rain did not stop for days and one of our drainpipes was overflowing like a waterfall gushing from the terrace roof but was not blocked. So my husband has had to dig out the pipe which was just straight and put in a new pipe into the ground with a bend. Here in Austria in villages, I'm assuming this cannot be true of towns and cities you are responsible for the water from your roof, so for the past 50 odd years it has happily drained into the soil but last week it has decided enough is enough. As this pipe is by the garage I have no problem putting another water barrel in, if this will help as we have 2 the other side of the house as apparently the pipe layout it just the same there too but hasn't yet proved a problem. I always just assumed this water made its way down the drainpipe, onto the river. Oh life just seems to be full of never ending problems, I think I need to re-read 'the Gratitude Diaries!'

I am thankfully off to the UK on Tuesday with the daughter (an escape from the potatoes, guests and pipes) I am in need of a break, returning on the 12th. I am surprised as I have had a summer which involved a lot of entertaining and baking and not a lot of exercise, too hot for walking and the husband was too busy although I just about maintained my flower beds but I have achieved my summer goal and I'm ending the holidays back at my target weight. My aim on my return is to start exercising again daily. I have a doctor's check up middle of October and I want to be able to breath this time unlike the last appointment when he was so rude to me! Hopefully the rain will also have stopped as there is much work to be done to get the garden prepared for winter even if it is not yet officially Autumn!

Well we actually have a house guest tonight, so I must go and be sociable but I wanted to update you before I left as I won't have a chance whilst in England and this guest like the rest, just invited herself as you do!!

Be good Crackers - only 114 sleeps until Christmas what a thought!

Afternoon Crackers!

Carole welcome back! Well I'm sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with diabetes type 2, I hope you've got it under control, however it was obviously the spur you needed to lose weight. That's an impressive amount of pounds you've lost since last posting with us, what changes did you make to your lifestyle? Did you follow a diet? Has it been a struggle or do you just slip with the social eating?

Here in Austria we have recently celebrated All Saints with the family so lots of calorie goodies over several days. My immediate goal now is to get back to my target weight again before I fly to the UK in just over 2 weeks and have my own family fatten me up! I am very busy with work orders and stocking up which keeps my fingers busy and out of trouble. I am also managing to fit in some exercise, bouncing around to my dvds plus the garden I have attacked before the first snow attempting to get all the leaves swept. An extra strength session Sunday morning at 1am, the husband and I (once he returned from work) in the pitch black, our street light go off at 11pm, so the husband had a torch on his head, we were wheeling all our terrace plants to safety before the first serious frost - talk about leaving things to the very last moment....

Right I must return to my potatoes... Be good Crackers!

P.S. I am currently painting a set of old kitchen chairs I found in the attic (as you do!) in Farrow & Ball Charlotte's Locks - that's orange - goes beautifully with the Hague Blue!! Husband unaware YET!