July is good

Enjoying July. Well most of it anyway. Had to drag myself out of bed at 5:00 a.m. today when the fire pager sounded for a structure fire in the city’s north end. I didn’t feel like it, but I peeked out the bedroom window. Yup, there was a big fire, flames and smoke roaring into the sky. Thank goodness the people got out safely.

I was planning to enjoy my Sunday morning with tea and a fresh pan of apple crisp for breakfast. I made it yesterday using Granny Smith apples. I was worried it would be too tart, but the Granny Smiths are just perfect. So I will remember that. I usually use McIntosh apples, which are almost as tasty.  I had the apple crisp later this morning when I got home from the fire call.

Now last week, I made another fruity crumble dish, but this time I used rhubarb and strawberries. It was SO good. I bought the rhubarb at the grocery store, where I was surprised to see it. The only problem was the rhubarb was $6.99 a pound and the strawberries were another $4. So that is a rather expensive dessert for this old man.

I spent Canada in Timmins and really enjoyed the perfect weather. It was about 20 Celsius and sunny with a light breeze. It was the perfect day for joining the annual Canada Day flag walk with Karl Habla. Karl is an immigrant who wastes no time telling everyone in Timmins how great his adopted country is. Every year, for more than 20 years, Karl has led hundreds of citizens on a two kilometre walk from city hall to the international flag park in Schumacher. I met a lot of folks there I have seen in past years. It was very nice.

Later in the evening, I sat on my balcony here in the north end and watched a really nice display of Canada Day fireworks. How cool is that?

Last Sunday I was pleased to be invited out to dinner to help Marie and Moe Maltais celebrate their 40^th anniversary. Can you believe it? I love those people. It was a nice dinner organized by their son Zacchary, as a surprise party… and it worked. Moe gave a nice speech during dinner where he said the first rule of a great marriage is to always do whatever she asks. Well that got a good laugh. Then he said the second rule is to be the best of friends. And then he gave Marie a big smooch. A lot of people got teary-eyed when that happened.

Time for another cup of tea …