More Sunsets and Petunias!

 Living in the West and next to an open grassy field, we are treated to some magnificent sunsets!  Here is a sampling, different days and different times of the evening!  Of course there needs to be numerous clouds to get the full affect and the reflection of colour! Notice the times on some of these photos...10:00 pm!  We have long summer days on this latitude! I love to see this at day's end!
My petunia hanging basket has been beautiful all summer.  I feed it with Shultz's plant food every time I water, deadhead often and let the sun do its part.  Because of frequent winds and dry air, it needs to be watered every day!

It is worth it, however!  Beautiful!
Can't take it South, so it will stay in Edmonton
 until frost takes over!

Huge Rig from ON

 This huge rig arrived on the 22nd, the biggest I have ever seen!  85 feet!  Towed by a matching  Peterbuilt, the fifth wheel appeared to be a modified Atlas Van Line.  It had four slides with full body paint, triple axle and it was a hauler with a huge rear door.  They parked in the pullthru 50 amp area and I am told they continually blew the 50 amp breakers.  The rear door served as a hydraulic ramp to lower a car from a raised platform or second storey and to remove two bikes stored on the first floor of the garage, and the room when empty was the entrance to the rig thru a smaller man door.  The family was  young with two young girls and had been fulltime for 2 months.

 Dad, a fire rescue worker (Fire Rescue on his T), shared that he had the rig built from the ground up in Texas...everything is bigger in Texas!!!!!  At 85 feet, there will be a lot of campgrounds that they would not fit!  Can't think of a provincial or state park that would fit them in.  I wonder what his fuel costs were, not to mention the big bucks for the rig????? WOW!  Provided some good campground entertainment in the hour it took to load and pack up!

Rea's Last Day in Edmonton

Lots of Smiles

This(Aug 23rd) is Rea's last full day in Edmonton as she flies to meet Ryan August 24th, at least she hopes this is her last day!  I have a feeling that they will both be back, but not for awhile.  We celebrated with lunch at Cafe De Ville on their tree covered patio...it was lovely and it was fun to have her share it with us.  We are going to miss them both so much!  They are not just a twenty minute drive away, nor a short distance. Skype will have to do!  Daniel will really miss his Uncle Ryan and Aunt Rea, and they will miss him too!  Love you both!  Best of luck, Ryan. at U of G!

Spruce Grove Car Show

Chrysler 300

Austin Healey Bug Eyed Sprite

1994 Oldsmobile Convertible

Spruce Grove hosted a car show August 17th; here are a few samples of classics...the Chrysler, although not old, had been completely redone with special paint, fancy wheels new upholstery and it was for sale for a reasonable $29000 or best offer.  The upgrades probably cost more that this!

Took a shot of the Bug Eyed Sprite, although the owner called it a Bug Eyed Frog...don't know why.  When I first met and dated Bill, he had a sprite just like this!  Wished we still had it!
The Oldsmobile is owned by Sharon, a gal from our park.  Larry, her husband, purchased this for her 65th birthday, albeit next year.
The story?  Sharon flew out from London ON, to meet Larry for the summer and needed wheels.  So he bought her a classic!  It is in beautiful shape and she loves it!  We do too!
Larry and Sharon are friends of Ron and Sharon Buchner, who are friends of Dwight and Elaine, our friends!  Small world!  We have met Ron ad Sharon, but don't know them well.

Our 44th Wedding Anniversary! Groceries!

Private Dining

 The highlight for the month of August was a family dinner August 16th, to celebrate our 44th Wedding Anniversary, which according to the historians in acquiring a special and significant symbol for #44 came up with Groceries, at MKT Bar and Grill Old Strathcona, the original train station, in Edmonton AB.  This was a special evening as we were all together, an event that will not happen for awhile, I fear.  You see, Ryan and Rea are poised to move to Guelph ON, and in fact their belonging are on their way.  Ryan is to leave Saturday morning August 17 with Acter, their 3 year old as of August 15th, Appenzeller.

A little dark and shadowy but the whole family nonetheless!

 We were fortunate to dine in a private room; the meal was wonderful, the conversation lively and the beer and cider flowing.  A wonderful evening, one which we will cherish for a long time!  Thank you Ryan for staying an extra day, Rea for staying an extra week, Michael and Nadine who prepared a family BBQ the night before, Kendra for taking a bus trip to Calgary to Edmonton at the end of her Calgary conference and Daniel for being the life of the party.  We love you all so very much!

Rea, Ryan with nephew, Daniel!

 Following our tearful farewells, Bill took me to Planet Organic for some gluten free groceries...can't believe there is no significant flower or gem for #44...a Gold Star would be great for perseverance!

Our three- Kendra, Ryan and Nadine

Kendra, Rea, Ryan, Nadine with Daniel, Michael

Grandma and Grandad with Daniel

Three Generations...love it!

Taste of Edmonton

 These young Asian gals were practising for their presentation on the stage which they are facing the back of, in downtown  Edmonton's Churchill Square for the Taste of Edmonton.  This festival brings in many food restaurants who feature two or three chef favourites for the public to taste.  We bought tickets for the tasting event and then visited the different "restaurant" kiosks to try what they feature.  It was a very different way to have "lunch".

 Many people wandered the area and enjoyed the food and the entertainment but it was not crowded over the lunch hour, this first day of the event, so there were very few lineups.  Bill and I visited again later in the week and it was very crowded (dinner time) and there were lineups.  Our favourite??? Zinc, who provided bread pudding with a butterscotch sauce topped with banana slices carmelized in brown sugar....yummy!!!!

 Small patio type tables were scattered around the shady area where patrons could sit and enjoy their samples and watch the crowds or listen to the entertainment.  A beautiful day, not too hot, sunny with a breeze, so very enjoyable.

Daniel's favourite was this lava mousse explosion, made of chocolate and dressed like a mouse with a chocolate tail.  He loved it...we each had a taste and I can see why he enjoyed it so much!  Not just appealing to the eye, but the delicious taste made it his # 1 favourite.
Following this, Bill and I went back to Nadine's( we babtsat while Daniel napped) and began preparing the soil in her walkway garden for the planting of perennial salvia and spirea bushes as well as a burning bush, all of which except for the salvia, were her birthday gift.  I will post pictures of the finished gardens in the next post.  Stella D'Oro lilies and blue fescue grasses were also planted in her window box garden which crosses in front of her picture window.  Looks lovely and quite an improvement!

Daniel's Swimming Lessons

Daniel has begun his first set of swimming lessons and he loves the pool.  Mommy and Daddy take turns in the pool with him.  He has learned to blow bubbles, play the Hokey Pokey, kick his feet and lay on his back.  Extra pool toys are added with little games to help reinforce the skills, but for the most part it is just fun for him.  He leaves the pool extremely hungry and very tired.  August's sessions, Daniel will be in the pool by himself, so we shall see how that goes.  Go Daniel!  Love you!