He Came and Picked Us Up!

Yay......Phil didn't leave us at the groomers.   He picked us up and took us home.  Janet says we are all soft and sparkly.   Phil had to pay $10 more for me because I am bigger than Noodles.  Good thing Grooming Lady doesn't have scales as "The Chubster" with her recent weight gain may have been an additional $10 as well!

We were so happy to see Phil!  For a minute.  Then, we remembered Grooming Lady gives out cookies on departure.  Waiting, waiting for her to come around the corner with the cookies!  Hurry up, Grooming Lady; we need to get out of here!

I went shopping to buy a gift for the Bump's Mother.  It was Meg's 38th birthday on 23 April.  Janet says when she was 38 years old, Meg was 16 years old!

I didn't really get to go shopping.  This is very shocking to us, but Janet says dogs aren't welcome in all stores!  Now we have decided we would like to move to the UK, where dogs actually get to go into the pubs!  Imagine, Noodles and I, quaffing back a pint or two and perhaps having a pudding later!

Almost every Friday, Phil and his friend Peter play squash and then Peter comes to our house for a beer.  They always have edamame, which we love.

Noodles would walk through a ring of fire to get some edamame.

This is National Volunteer Week and they had a big party at Our Place for all the volunteers.  There was a guest speaker, music, tons of door prizes, food, food and more food.

What they ate this week.

Shepherd's Pie.  This is a highly unusual dish for the month of April as normally Janet would have stopped working from her "winter menu" and moved onto her "summer menu".  Our children think its beyond crazy that she won't make curry in the summer!

Chicken with Pine Nuts, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil from the Hali'imaile General Store cookbook.

It's A Really Bad Day - For Us!

Our very first clue should have been when we overheard Janet telling Phil she is tired of all the dog fur on the floor.  Odd, we thought she lived to clean!  OK, OK, perhaps she has a point.  She vacuumed yesterday afternoon and this is how much of our fur was on the floor this morning.

We are patiently waiting by the door to go for our walk.  Ignorance is such bliss!

Second clue - we are getting into the Volvo and third clue, we have arrived at the groomers.

In an effort to get out of there, Noodles is writing all kinds of cheques she can't possibly cash....she will be good (nice one, Noodles), she won't shed anymore, she will always come when called.  Noodles is kind of like North Korea...if she could get out of here now, she would instantly forget all about her promises.

She is a nice lady, but Noodles doesn't want to visit with her.

Janet went to her work on Thursday.  They made 400 sandwiches and Janet said it was really busy.  She was so exhausted she could barely enjoy her sushi lunch out.

About 120 cheese sandwiches with the remainder being bologna.  This is the second Thursday in a row they had bologna, which Janet didn't think would be popular.  She was wrong - people were excited about the bologna!

Phil and I are working on a secret project. 

Now that Janet has finished making a bunch of meals for Our Grandma and Grandpa, she is back to focusing on helping out the Bump's mother.

Short ribs with a spice rub on them.  She is going to bake them in the oven with some BBQ sauce for three hours.

Not this past Christmas, but the one before, Don and Rose came for brunch.  They brought Janet an orchid.  Look!  It's blooming again with the aid of our special Orchid Chopstick Support.

Pretty.

It Turns Out, Noodles Was Correct!

I'm still not too sure about this yarn Noodles is spinning about her ability to read, but she was dead on the money.

Janet and Phil snuck out the basement door with suitcases and Dean arrived about a couple of hours later.  Dean told us they have gone to Lethbridge for Our Grandma's 90th birthday.  Janet did a quick search online for us....we are 11 years old which is 57 years in human years.  We have a long ways to go to catch up to Our Grandma.

 Janet and Phil stayed in a hotel, as did Meg and Derek.  The rest of Our Children and their spouses were unable to attend due work commitments.  Good news, though!  Meg told Janet that next year for Our Grandpa's 90th birthday, it will likely be a smaller party (no living siblings on his side) so we will likely be able to coordinate dates for our family and Our Aunt T's family.

View from their hotel room.  The water tower in the background was turned into a Ric's Restaurant a few years ago.

 Our Aunt T ordered this beautiful cake from a bakery in Calgary.  It was located close to the airport, so Janet, Phil, Meg and Derek had Indian lunch at a close by restaurant and picked the cake up.  Janet carried it all the way to Lethbridge on her lap.  A certain "someone" also said she would carry it part way, but the space between her belly and the back of the seat in front of her was minimal.  Score one for Janet in the flatter tummy department!  Leave it to Janet to gauge her flat stomach against that of a woman who is 8 months pregnant!

Below are all of Our Grandma's siblings.  Janet says she has learned many things from these fabulous people - Harry:  how to BBQ a Prime Rib Roast and make Baked Beans; Irene and Laura: so many great recipes for baking, Henry:  beef stew made with short ribs (he also made sweetbreads, but Janet never cottoned onto them) and Bobby:  incredible sense of humour.

These are all of Our Grandmas living siblings.  From the left:  Harry,  Irene, Henry, Our Grandma, Bobby in the front and Laura at the back.

 After the restaurant, most of them went back to the house for more food and good times.
Our Aunt T made this delicious roast.  They had it on buns with cheese platters and veggie platters.  Janet said it was delicious.

There was a huge assortment of desserts as well.

Here is Meg with Our Grandma at the house party.

They went to bed assuming all would be well when they awoke the next morning.  There were reports about snow fall, but who believes the weather man?

OH NO!

They had no option but to troop it out as they needed to get to Calgary for their flights.  It was fine, although those are not the words Miss Scaredy Pants Passenger uses when she tells the story.   Below at their last Alberta meal.  Meg, Derek and Janet stopped at Joey Barlow for lunch prior to going to the airport.

 Look at Janet being a fancy pants with the boarding pass.  Meg showed her how to put it on her ipad, instead of using a printer.  She thought she was pretty cool, sashaying up to the gate.

 Dean had already left when Janet came home.  We were super excited to see her, but kind of wonder where Phil is.  Noodles must have been anxious as she finally finished off the indestructible toy.  Dean left Janet a note in case she wants to sew it back together!

Garbage!

We Can't Put Our Paw On It, But Something Is Going On

It's pretty obvious that something is goin' down.  First, Noodles, who swears up and down she can read, says she saw an email that Dean sent to Janet, saying "No Problem".  This doesn't make sense to me.   I find it hard to believe that Noodles knows how to read, and I don't.  And, Janet says people wear glasses so they can read.

Call me crazy!  Perhaps I'm wrong.  When did she learn to read and when did she get glasses?

Further clues...Janet is baking cookies.  Generally speaking she only bakes cookies for our "Saving The World One Dog At A Time" gig for the SPCA Christmas Bake Sale or if it's Christmas or they are having a party.

There are also many packages of Meals Not On Wheels in our freezer.

I'm kind of glad I can't read as it would be stressful to find stuff out ahead of time.  Noodles, however assures me that they are going somewhere.  Without.  Us.  It's somewhat comforting to know Dean is coming.  We love Dean.

Last night, Janet made Beef Enchiladas, Mexican Rice and Guacamole for supper.  They said it was super delicious.

On the weekend, Bronwyn called Janet for a facetime chat.  We were going nuts because we could hear her voice, but couldn't find her anywhere.  We ran from room to room and back and forth to the front door.  Janet had to hang up long before the conversation was over because we were barking so much.

Noodles is checking out Bronwyn and Pashy.  Pashy is so cute.  We wish she could come to Camp Canada for a visit.

Here is one of things that Little Miss Fascinating thrives on - the hostas, slowly unfolding their leaves as the come up in the spring.

We Had A Blogging Setback!

We had a bit of a setback when Meg and Derek were here.  Janet had a bunch of photos on her camera that she was going to use for our blog, but Meg beat her to it and put them on her blog!  We were left high and dry!  Now, who is shameless, sister?

To her credit, however, she did cook up a storm!  On Sunday, she made a delicious brunch from Smitten Kitchen.  Frittata, Cheddar and Bacon biscuits and some Pioneer Woman scones.

Janet was outside working in the yard when all this was unfolding.  She had said earlier that she would clean up because Meg was doing all the cooking.  When she saw all the stuff out on the counter, she lied said she wasn't feeling well and would have to lie down immediately after eating.  Odd that she's well enough to eat, don't you think?

A couple of days previous, Meg told Janet she would be delighted to make dessert for our Easter dinner.  We think by the time the brunch was done, she might have regretted being so helpful.  She wasn't cagey enough to whip out the "illness card" like Janet did.  Don't worry, Meg.  Janet says once you are a mother, you too will learn fine, subtle skills like cagey, guilt trips and much, much more!

We had our cousin Brad and his girlfriend Kim over for dinner.  Here is Meg with her pie.

Chocolate Silk Pie from Smitten Kitchen.

Bye....thanks alot for coming.  Brad is gardener extraordinaire.  He said he would help Janet with her veggie garden.  We don't think poor Brad has any clue how lame and hopeless Janet is in the veggie garden department.

The next day, Janet invited Lolo, Stevo and Frankie over for dinner. Lolo brought a delicious appy that was similar to Seven Layer Dip (delicious!) and a great dessert (also delicious).  Janet made Stuffed Pasta Shells and Bread Salad.

Bye again!

All good things must come to an end.  Meg is taking us for a last spin down to the beach.

It would appear that Meg likes to rock the stripes!

Now Noodles is in a deep depression because everyone has left and we are back to our regular routine.

 Noodles likes to think all the cats in our neighbourhood are terrified of her.  Can you see cute Ollie, in our garden tucked in behind the bird bath?  Ollie was there for about two hours taking in the view of....Noodles sleeping on the deck!

 Janet went for a bike ride yesterday from the new book Meg gave her.  When Janet left the house, it was sunny.  When she got home it was sunny.  For almost the entire bike ride, it rained!  The full route was 24KM, but Janet left too late so was only able to do about 20KM

This little baby on the bike ride has an itchy neck.

Jer is still working up north, but comes home soon for two weeks.  Banana is in Europe with Ted following some European Bike Races.  They have been riding as well.  She said this was the hardest bike ride she has ever done.

and Bronwyn had a photo published in a professional magazine "Pasadena Monthly".

Move over, Ansel Adams!