Visitors

   I was up bright and early this morning to turn on the pool heater as I was expecting the grandkids for the morning. They arrived around 8:30 and settled in with books, toys and exploring my basement (Natalie has converted one of the areas into a home away from home with all her special stuff ) while I watched a tennis match from the UK.

    Later we took a stroll down to Tim Horton's - a pleasant visit as they chose their treats with a minimum of fuss while I drank my coffee. Even James was quick with his choice - a Blue Jays doughnut!  On the way home we stopped at the park for a little while, played on the splash pad (James), climbed the "mountain" (Natalie and Elliot) and watched from a bench (me). It was a beautiful morning, sunny but with a fresh breeze.

    Home again and I got Elliot set up to clean the pool. He did a reasonable job of it and got right in the water after his hard work. The other two followed shortly after and stayed in for almost an hour. By then it was getting close to lunch time so I got them dried off and back into their clothes while I started on lunch, egg and salmon sandwiches and soup.

   Judy came to pick them up around 2:00 and since then I have been waiting for the furnace guy to come for my annual checkup. However, he has not appeared and I am afraid we may have been in the back yard when he called and didn't hear him. I guess I will have to reschedule.

   I made my favourite chicken dish for dinner tonight (and tomorrow night and probably Sunday too, if I'm not bored with it by then). I call it Tuscan chicken as it is from a book about Tuscany. The chicken gets cooked in a pot with artichokes, sun-dried tomato pieces and chickpeas. It calls for red wine but I used marsala which is a very tasty alternative. I overcooked it a bit (too busy playing bridge on the computer) but it was still good.

Looking good, James! Isn't he a cutie!!