Harvest Time

I think this is my first post in August - on the last day.  And I've been home most of the month but just busy in the garden.  It's been a good year for doing projects because I'm not doing much other volunteer work.  Off to the Food Hub this pm to donate the potatoes we grew at the Community Garden.   I need to bring in the rest of the onions and beets from my plot because our fence project is scheduled to begin in mid-September.  This year, the peaches have been the item that has done well in our garden and we've canned 14 quarts and I've frozen 3 large bags full.  We'll see how well we like the frozen peaches (first attempt) but we've really enjoyed the peaches baked and I think that will work well with frozen peaches.   We don't peel our peaches when canning any longer and they really do turn out quite well.  I wish I'd known that 30 years ago!  

Camping at Champion Lakes

One of my favourite BC provincial parks is Champion Lakes, near Fruitvale.  It's far enough away from the highway to get away from traffic noise, there's always wildlife to view and the lake is refreshingly cool, but not so frigid that is painful to go swimming.  Last week I spent a couple of days there with Andrea and boys.  We discovered there is a big rock out in Third Lake which acts like a barrier reef and is home and space to some rather plain looking fish.  But it's fish and our boys like fish right now.   We'd heard that there was a mother moose with 2 young in the Second Lake area; alas we did not see them.  But we had a loon calling and calling during our entire time there.  Swimming, biking, hiking and eating marshmallows were favourite activities.  The boys are also enjoying some of the Hardy Boy mysteries; the picture below shows them listening with attention.

I really lucked into the campsites.  It had the FULL sign at the highway but I went up anyway and someone had left early so I got the site - it had a lovely lookout over Second Lake where we could really hear the loon well.  The next day we had to move sites but lucked in again to one site which could not be reserved because of some internet glitch.  And even the mosquitoes weren't too bothersome!   I'm happy to see our parks being used.  It may get people a little more in touch with nature.  

Lupines and Gallardia

It's past the middle of July and I'm finally posting.  We took a wee trip to the west and spent a bit of time on the KVR - the Kettle Valley Rail Trails.  It began with a bike ride from Coalmont towards Princeton which was a very scenic bit of territory.  I'd highly recommend it.  We also biked, later in the day, from Princeton toward Coalmont so pretty much covered that section of trail.  We had planned a bit of a bike ride north of Otter Lake but the provincial campground was full and we ended up biking along Otter Lake and a bit north of it.  Not the nicest trail in terms of a busy lake in summer.  Also the dirt bikes and ATVs frequent the trail.   Here's Dave at the bridge where we turned around north of Princeton.  

Why this title?  The next day I did a bike from a place on the map called Jura downhill towards Princeton.  It was a very fine ride, all downhill, through farming country with good views of the Similkameen Valley and some rocky peaks in the Cascades.  The best part was the wild flowers, however, which speaks for the title.  My picture didn't really work out that well.  Take this trail in the early part of May and you'll enjoy balsalm root blossoming all over the hillsides.                            

State of the Garden 4

Maintaining 3 gardens is pretty time consuming and I've never taken a picture of the garden in Trail. We're harvesting pea pods and I think it will be a couple of more weeks before we can pick raspberries.  There's lots of them out there but they aren't very big or at all red.  You can see the corn on the right hand side of the picture.  There's actually a guy in Trail who has corn that is heading out at the moment.  Go figure.   I've had a couple of days here and it's been good to garden.  I'm not really ready to take a picture of the front yet - I'm doing a lot of what I had done in Saskatoon with a perennial border.  Here it's planned as an orchard on one side and a perennial border with pathways on the other.  Things just aren't grown up enough for a good picture.  One thing that I do love about Trail - the sandy soil is so easy to dig!  Too bad it has lead dust in it!  But the plants do seem to thrive on that combination.                                                                                                                                 

Nakusp: Could I Live There?

Since coming to Kaslo I realize that I live somewhat off the beaten track.  After getting a home in Trail, I realize that it is much easier to get places from Trail than it is in Kaslo.  We went to Nakusp for Campout 3 and it is even more remote.  Nakusp is located on Arrow Lake and is a 30 minute drive from a 30 minute ferry ride plus another 30 minute drive to Revelstoke.  OR it is a 2.5 hour drive to Nelson.  

Nakusp IS a lovely little town and the refurbishment of the water front is a total credit to the town and its designers.  The town really does have everything you need, including a bike and ski shop, a thrift store, a library, a burger joint and lots of reasonable restaurants.  The access to hiking, biking and skiing is outstanding.  I can tell that there's lots of people in Nakusp who like to garden and I could certainly be happy there.  But it is a bit far removed from other places.  If you live in Nakusp, I know my tendency would be to stay in Nakusp and I just don't know if it's my kind of town since I have never lived there.  I like its amenities and I don't need much beyond the great outdoors.  It's the access to other places and spaces that could become troublesome.  

Gardens along Nakusp waterfront

State of the Garden III

It's been a cool, late spring even here.  Our lilacs are actually still in bloom, although looking a little ragged now.  My 'June' daylily is glorious and pictured below.

I would have to say that second harvest occurred yesterday;  I picked dill that is now drying on newsprint in the greenhouse.   Next will be oregano - we have lots of it on this land and I never planted a bit of it.  The basil looks frightful - I put it out too early and it has shivered ever since.   Even the purchased plants from nurseries that fill several pots are not blooming with much encouragement.  The marigolds that I started from collected seed last fall are finally blooming - each plant has ONE open blossom.  We await the colour!  Greens are doing well, however, and yesterday I seeded some lettuce which I will call NDP lettuce, collected by our former MP, Wayne Stetski.  Carrots were also planted - plant late here to avoid carrot fly.                                                       

Mt. Abriel Biking Trails and Recreation Site

As part of Campout 3, Dave and I travelled over to Nakusp and area.  I did want to see the new bike trails that had been created and I'd only read about them in the paper.  Many of them are considered to be "adaptive" trails.  Others might use the words "all inclusive".   I am not much of a hardcore mountain biker and did find the trails a little challenging if they weren't labelled "green".  Most of the trails are really short (under 1 km) but they link together.  I did not try out anything on the "other side of the highway" which is what my daughter and her husband will bike this weekend.  

The recreation site is attractive even though it is pretty much on the edge of a clearcut.  Many of the sites are along the lake and these were all full the day we biked there - and the weather wasn't even great.  The sites are well-spaced and are pretty much all in forest.  Many of the trails connect via logging roads and there are developments continuing at the mountain.  Considering a lot of the work has been done by volunteers, it's an impressive operation.  

The strip of land that is allocated to Nakusp and Area Bikers Society (NABS) is a narrow one, between highway 6 and Arrow Lake,  10 km north of Nakusp.   The area had already been destroyed by logging and now the Society has created new trails adjacent to many of those roads.  For me, it was way easier to ride on the old logging roads.  But I'm not really trying to gain a new skill set on a bike.    It was good to see all the young families out there in a rather rainy June in the Koots.

Second Campout

I can't even provide a picture for this second campout of the summer.  I should have taken a picture when we stopped at Gilpin Grasslands Provincial Park near Grand Forks because that was the only sunshine we saw.  We decided not to take the camper van onto a rather rough road but we did stop and read the signs.  We were welcomed by several bighorn sheep.  We did discover another little provincial park across the highway - Bouswater/Okanogan Oxbow Park which is tiny,  but was full of bird life.  We saw turkey vultures very close to us.  The Kettle River was flowing quickly and we saw a lovely turtle on the road - most likely a Western Painted Turtle.  We spent our first night about 40 km north of Grand Forks at a Recreation Site on the Granby River and the next morning saw a moose cross the Granby on our way south.

I have always wanted to see Jewel Lake Provincial Park because I've been past the sign so many times - it's 15 km north of Highway 3.  The road is very driveable but I was disappointed that the campground isn't right on the lake.  Bird life there was very good, too, and we saw our first black-backed woodpecker.  If you don't fish, and it was too cold and buggy for swimming, I wouldn't recommend this park.  For a BC provincial park it was a little underwhelming.  I did discover an old Girl Guide Camp, Camp Bonnett, which was a very nice location, but I'm pretty sure has been abandoned.  It definitely had lots of damage done to the "lodge".  It was established in 1971 and I don't know how long its  managed to exist.  I know that GG and Brownies and Scouts, etc is kind of a bygone thing.  

We headed home via Trail and I had another reasonably good bird walk at Nancy Greene Lake.  The temperature was plus 5!

First Camp Out!

Yesterday, the BC provincial parks opened for residents of BC.  We'd been thinking of "camping close" to try out our new camper van that Dave constructed from a cargo van we purchased last September.  Things went pretty well with it  and we found it very comfortable to ride in.  One issue that needs to be addressed is the drawers sliding open on those sharp corners on BC roads!  We headed to Davis Creek campground on Kootenay lake, a 35 minute drive from our place.  The park was about half full and we enjoyed the beautiful evening and sunset last night.  Today, we walked into Lardeau to go birdwatching in that village - always a prime area for birds.   Didn't see much except a lot of tree swallows, a single merganser, and we could certainly hear hummingbirds and Stellar's jays.  Short but sweet, it was good to get out on the road again.  Many of us are "stuck at home" for the next while and it sure makes me glad that my home is British Columbia where my favourite parks have always existed.

 

Opening the Circle

Last night we had 3 people over for dinner on our deck and it's the first time that we've tried it in quite a long while.  I've gotten a little deterred from "doing dinner" over the past two years - mostly to do with my mental health I suspect.  Anyway, we had good weather and a huge storm started about 2 hours after the others left.  It's been raining heavily and we're getting evacuation alerts to be ready to leave at any time.  We live on high ground so I'm not the least bit concerned but do think of some folks that I know.  Dinner on the deck went quite well in terms of socially distancing and I didn't have to clean up the house much because I doubted if anyone would come inside.  They didn't.  And the mosquitoes didn't start to drive us crazy until nearly 8:30!  So we opened the circle of guests a tiny bit and I hope to keep doing that as the weeks unfold.  The boys return to school for 2 days next week and we'll see how that plays out.  It was lovely to pick my first bouquet of lupines on Saturday.

My Baby Is 40!

I know this is weird but I can't even post a photo of Wednesday last, May 20, the day that Andrea turned 40.  We did go up to Rossland and had a hike with the family and then lunch.  We got back from the hike (near Rossland and on one side of Red Mountain) just as the rain started to come down.  One thing about hiking in Rossland is that there's lots of bikers on the trail.  We saw at least 20 and we were only out for a couple of hours.  

I know Andrea has celebrated in many ways during this week, hopefully all at outdoor parties.  It was a rainy week and she finally got to do her desired 40 km bike ride yesterday, May 23, with a bunch of friends.  Part of our gift to her was to take Atley and Miro for a couple of days so she could have "free time".  We had lots of fun with the boys (even if it was rainy) and hiked the river trail, did our school work, walked down to Kootenay Lake, biked, and they practised lots of stunts on their scooters.

Tomorrow, my baby grandchild turns 6 and that does make me feel a bit old.  I really don't want her to get older; I didn't even see her through her entire year 5 except online.  She will get to have a birthday parade with a flower theme and the cupcakes that the family ordered from a local bakery do look charming!  She will only share those with her immediate family and her Morris Plains grandparents.    Wish we could be there!  They will take pictures which is more than I did for my 40 year old!  I never remember to drag that phone around with me.  

Avalanche Lilies

A couple of weeks ago I was out to a clearcut with a walking friend and we hiked up Strawberry Ridge.  Now it is true that clearcuts are the scourge of the environment but they sure do provide good views and early flowers can take over some areas.  This particular hike is handy.  It's an easy couple of hours walk from the town of Kaslo over some pretty terrain.  And the views of Kootenay Lake and the mountains are stunning too.  I may get some of those pictures onto this blog at a future date.  Good to have hiking season underway!

First Harvest

I sure thought that I'd have time to keep up this blog a few times per week.  I'm finding it difficult to do.  It's been busy!  Teaching is only an hour a day, but there's also planning and searching for activities.  Then there's the time change on the days when we see the Jersey Girls and need to be ready for 4 pm our time.  I really haven't had time for more than a couple of hands of bridge each week - that takes about 2 hours per round.   And the garden goes on.  Maintaining 3 gardens and acting as a volunteer at one of them is becoming a big thing in May.  And our library service is opening up for curbside pickup and I'm a library volunteer.  Is life going to just go back to being too busy???  Anyway, great to have our first harvest of stewbarb yesterday and I'd say the salad greens are ready to pick very, very soon.  So glad to have some sunshine and warmer weather!

Nelson, BC

Yesterday, I had an appointment in Nelson and had to do the drive to town.  I have to say that visiting Nelson in spring and fall is a joyful thing to do.  There are a lot of flowering trees in town and they look stunning!  It's a very steep place to take a walk but good exercise.  Generally, walking in spring and fall is the good thing that I have found about Nelson.

Nelson has a reputation of being a "cool" town and seems to be a sort of mecca for lots of people.  When I first moved here I thought it was a place that might be a better "fit" for me.  I don't think so.  Real estate in Nelson is very overpriced and I understand that the property taxes are pretty high although I've never investigated it.  What I would say is that real estate is "difficult" in Nelson.  Much of it is located on very steep hills and I'm not of an age where it is easy to park a car on a steep hill and have to carry my groceries into my home.  So many homes don't seem to have "parking" and outdoor adventure equipment can be found in the oddest places.  

For the past couple of years Nelson has been doing some major infrastructure work on its main route through town.  People from Kaslo make weekly trips to Nelson, although I don't think they are doing that now.  I drive through Nelson and rarely stop.  Now that the main drag is once again torn up I'm very glad to NOT be making the trip through Nelson.  I do know of an alternate route that climbs above the construction and will come out on the highway to Salmo which will be my route this summer.  In my opinion, Nelson is a beautiful town, but overrated.

Dogwood tree in bloom in Gyro Park in Nelson 

Interesting bird accommodation at a Nelson home.  

Meal Trains

I've had the opportunity to participate in a few Meal Trains in the past year.  Today was the latest one.  It's a super idea but since I no longer deal with FB, I don't know if I could ever set one up for a friend.  The way it works is very slick - all of the details are given about what foods are acceptable, who has signed up for which date and what type of meal they are preparing, when and where to drop off the meal, etc, etc.   Reminders are also included.  Today, it's a good thing that I had a good look at the unacceptable foods a week ago.  This individual has tons of dietary restrictions.  I came up with a beef and veggie stir fry served over rice (gluten free).  Here's what it looked like before I added the beef which had been double cooked.  To me, it looks good enough to eat!

Reading II

Our book club had picked the author George Orwell as one of "our authors" in February and it was so good to get reacquainted with his work.  I just re-read Animal Farm and even though it seems quite "innocent" and predictable 75 years after publication, it was important to read his "Preface to the Ukrainian edition" which was included as an appendix at the end of the online book I borrowed.  Orwell wrote about what he had lived. He  knew about poverty, hunger, and the horrid life of working in a mine for a living.  He also knew about the failure of political systems.  In his very short life of 47 years he achieved a profound understanding of humans and how they behave.  I am indebted to his brilliance.   

Online Bridge

Many of you know that I am a bridge enthusiast.  I've been resisting renewing my membership with the American Contract Bridge League (partly it's the name) because I didn't want to let myself get addicted to getting Master Points and worrying about how many I had compared to everyone else.  It didn't totally prevent bridge anxiety for me.  Well, now the only way that I can play bridge is to play online and I rather like it.  I've been playing a bit with my regular partner from Argenta - yes, the wee Quaker refuge of Argenta on the north end of Kootenay Lake actually has online bridge happening, and I've played with  my brother-in-law in Wetaskiwin, AB.  It's been a bit of a crapshoot and we haven't done well (either pairing), but it's been fun.  There's a thing called Support Your Club where part of your fee goes to your own duplicate bridge club.  It isn't enough.  They just put the fee up to $6 USD.  Today, Phil and I tried Speedball Bridge for 12 boards.  We get 48 minutes to play 12 boards.  We didn't find the time a problem at all in this match.  Our bidding was just way too conservative.  The good features of online bridge - you can play a "short game", you don't have to listen to your partner natter at you about your errors, it's quiet, and if there is time between boards, you can play a piece or two on the piano. (If you piano is conveniently located next to your computer!)

State of the Garden II

I have concerns about my sweet peas.  I've started collecting seed and kept the seeds in a cool place all winter.  Maybe it should have been in the freezer?  I soaked my sweet pea seed for a good 48 hours and the seeds did seem to swell.  I planted 4 weeks ago and I don't see anything yet.  I have netting over the seed so it isn't the birds or the deer.  I feel discouraged.  I also collected edible pod pea seed which has also not germinated, but it did swell when soaked.  Hmmm.  The Green Arrow seed that I bought has germinated and is looking good.  I do want to become a seed collector and I had fabulous production last year with the edible pod peas.  I know the seed was well dried. 

Two tulips managed to escape the deer damage - this is the first time I've seen the tulips and I can't remember when I planted them - I've been away for so many spring bloomings that I have never seen them.  You can see that the wire is there for protection.  One little joy is the hepatica that my sister gave me years ago.  I thought that I had lost it, too, but I see it has self-seeded through the garden and tiny blooms are showing in rather obscure spots.  I gather that it doesn't like a fuss.

hepatica

Reading Material

I'm not finding that I get much extra time for reading these days.  Keeping up with the schooling schedule is actually very time consuming and when the daylight hours are available I love to be in the garden.  Monday, I finished reading American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins and I'm highly recommending this book.  It's a story of Mexican migrants trying to get into the USA and it's a "downer" in every way except one.  (No spoiler here).   It's probably not something a lot of people would want to read at a time like this one.  However, it can really put the perspective of gratitude into your life - your life is so MUCH better than what those characters experience every day.  It's a MUST READ for everyone whenever it suits. 

A word about reading on a tablet.  There's lots I like about it - the good light and the convenience.  What frustrates me is that you never know what someone is reading.  It's such a good conversation-starter.  Dave does nothing but read on a tablet so I never know what he's reading unless he actually answers my questions.  He did recommend The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson and I've just started reading it.  More on that later.  I searched the house for things I'd like to read and have found 3 books that I want to revisit or read for the first time - Orwell's Buramese Days, Daniel Martin by John Fowles and Love in the Time of Cholera.  For those of you who read American Dirt, you'll know why I want to read the Marquez. 

Easter Scavenger Hunt

I've been out of blogging for several years and many of you will not know that Dave and I purchased a home in Trail, BC near the end of 2017.  It's got a flat lot, it's an old veterans' neighbourhood (just like Montgomery) and we're right next to one of my favourite North American rivers, The Columbia.  We're working on the house - it's totally functional - built in 1949 for the original part, and it's been extended in 3 directions and we're not exactly sure when.  It's a lovely little neighbourhood with all these older homes which are very slowly being gentrified.   We bought it in order to have a place to stay when we wanted to see the grandkids - there's only so many times you want to impose on your kids and we like having our own space. The home in Kaslo is still in our principal domicile.   Since the purchase, however, "life has happened" in my extended family and I haven't spent nearly as much time here as I intended.  And now we have travel restrictions.  But we came here to plant the garden.  Trail has very hot summers and it's a great place to garden.  There's a big ugly lead smelter in town which makes real estate pretty cheap.  Andrea works in environmental clean up and the lead level testing that has shown up in vegetable produce grown here is diminishing all the time.  We're old so we don't worry too much about that.  

Yesterday we had our grandsons riding around the neighbourhood on bikes, looking for clues, to finally be rewarded with a bag full of apples (and a couple of Easter treats).  It was fun making it up and I hardly saw them on most of the hunt because they can ride way faster than me and aren't afraid of the short cuts down dirt trails.  I'm on a skinny tire bike (my Dad's old bike which I brought home from Saanichton when we closed the estate last winter) and love to stick with the pavement.  Here we are enjoying treats in the back garden on a sunny Easter Sunday!

The New to Us Camper Van

Dave has spent a good part of the time since October refitting a 2014 cargo van that we bought in Kelowna in the fall.  It's been a fun project for him and tonight we had dinner in it for the first time!  The propane isn't hooked up yet so we aren't cooking out there, but the solar-powered fridge is working well as a second fridge because we buy more groceries on the weekly shop than we used to purchase.  Items that still need to be configured - what do we do about new cushions?  Our old camper van cushions worked for today but they aren't the correct size and we need to get some made.  We're not sure how that will happen at the current time.  Anyway, we're nearly ready to roll!  We even had 3 mosquitoes join us for dinner tonight - it was truly like camping!


                                                         

Spring Birding I

My twice to thrice weekly walk goes around Mirror Lake near our neighbourhood.  It's a pleasant hour walk - the actual lake is only about half of the journey.  It's always a great place for birds and I've had a bit more time to sit around watching them. 

Today I noticed quite a few Barrow's Goldeneye - seems as if there is two gals for every guy - a small group of Ring-Necked Ducks and two male common mergansers.  

One Great Blue Heron came out of the marshy bits of the lake and, of course, the ubiquitous Canada Goose is always present! 

Spring Gardening I

This week we've got spring and it was so good to get up to a snow-free Kaslo Community Garden yesterday.     I planted 5 rows of  onion sets and starts. If these are successful I plan to "give a row" to our local food hub.   I hope that the water gets turned on there soon because I may need to water if the weather continues.  

On the Pine Ridge estate just south of Kaslo it looks as if the garlic are recovering from the mule deer who keeps leaping the fence.  Dave raised the wire by placing blocks of wood under it and that seems to be doing the trick.  There's a few blooms here and there but many spring bulbs have been victims of hungry deer.  We had a lot of snow this winter and it's been slow to melt so the deer are really keeping an eye out.  I've placed netting over most of the raised beds.  The lettuce, spinach, green onions, kale and peas are planted.  Now we wait!

Back to the Piano

I don't think that I've played the piano in nearly two years.  Someone asked me if I wanted to sell it a few months ago and I declined so I guess I had planned to get back at it "sometime in the future."  This has been the perfect opportunity!  I notice how crippled my fingers have become over the years and being able to move the fingers quickly enough is not a task I will be able to accomplish in my lifetime.  I try to spend about 15 minutes per day at the piano.  I play some finger exercise for a few minutes, then some short skill pieces from the Hanon book.  Some of you will be familiar with it. I try to do a scale each day and remember how to do it with the chords, etc.  I'm really going back to basics and I am trying to play pieces from Volume 2 of the Suzuki Piano School.  I like those pieces and it's about what I am capable of playing at the present time. 

Schooling!

Our local CBC station had someone on radio today talking about by next week they really hope to have something out to the students.  I can't believe how slack the province has been about the school program.  It was announced on March 17th that the schools would not be returning "indefinitely" and the teachers began a two week break on March 13th.  I realize that this was "vacation time" for the teachers and I'm sure that many of them had to cancel travels.  I did.  On March 30th I would have expected that something would be ready to send to the students over email.  I know that all of the parents have the ability to communicate with the teachers via email and vice versa.   It is now April 2nd and we are still waiting for something to be sent to them. 

I've been pretty impressed with how technology can meet so many needs during this pandemic and schooling is an obvious possibility.  I gotta stop writing:  I have an online visit with my optometrist, followed by online schooling with my grandsons, then I register for online bridge and two hours later I get to play a bridge game and enjoy every minute of it with very few distractions!

Deer Dung!

We can occasionally get manure from friends who have horses in exchange for "computer consultations".  It's a valuable resource!  Now that we can't be welcome at their estate I resorted to collecting deer dung in the forest north of us.  We've had dozens of deer and elk wandering through our neighbourhood throughout the winter so now we can take advantage of their leavings.  It will be interesting to see how this manure will compare to that of the horse!  Happy planting, everyone!

Distance Education

The BC kids are back "in school" today so Dave and I are started our distance education program with the grandsons in Rossland from our home in Kaslo.   He's doing a unit on bird watching and what to look for in the natural world (and they LOVE the natural world) and I did a lesson on time (digital only at this point) for their Math class.  It's been a while since we've done any formal teaching and it was great fun.  I didn't have to deal with discipline problems, although both of them were "late" for class today.  Technology or parents???  Hmmm.   We plan to continue with a "program" for as long as needed and I can only hope that they concentrate as well when things begin to get "boring".  Novelty is all!  I'm getting my "plans" from the JUMP Math series out of ON.  We already have one student who has math anxiety - my goal is to get him over that. 

The NJ girls are getting a regular program at home via their own emails at the school.  They have work to do every school day.  And they have two teachers, who are also working remotely, to supervise them at home.    I know they are in good hands.  I'm excited to be able to share poetry with Callie on a daily basis now.

A Time to Garden

Yes, gardening season is nearly upon us.

 When I took this amaryllis out of the cold  room  a few weeks ago, my plan was to have it bloom before we left for our 3 day hike in the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  Well, it turned out that we didn't get to go to the Canyon and now I'm enjoying its beauty.   I laughed to see that the last time I posted it was in 2019 when I promised that I would "renew" the blog.  I haven't done it yet and there's no time like today!  The snow is slowly disappearing, a wee bit of the garden are planted, and I'm playing bridge online.  Tomorrow "school" will begin with the grandsons for about an hour over the internet.  We'll see how that all shakes down!