HOW GREAT IT WAS TO SEE TWO OF KELLY'S CHILDREN AND THREE OF HER GRANDCHILDREN TODAY

 USING THE TIMER ON SABRA'S PHONE WE ALL MANAGED TO GET INTO THE SHOT AND YA, I'M THE OLD GUY IN THE CENTER WITH THE ALMOST KNEE HIGH SOCKS:((

Friday:: Another beautiful summer's morn for a walk with the butterflies, the warming sun, the sounds of crickets along the roadside, and a soft, gentle breeze under clear blue skies to make it a perfect morning.  After my walk, I came straight home and got myself busy.  Wanting the place to look nice for my special guests today, I scurried about cleaning up this, rearranging that, and getting things all ship-shape.  Outside, the day before, I had mowed the lawn, whacked a bunch of weeds, and blown all the sunburst locust leaves and peanut shells off the front porch and deck.  I haven't been able to convince the Chipmunks not to eat their peanuts on the porch.  I also cleaned the pond pump and set out a couple more chairs for Friday.  It was around 6 p.m. when Kelly's oldest twin daughter, Sabra, youngest son Ben, his two boys, Kye and Darian; (Sp) and Kelly's granddaughter, Ella rolled in.  Readers will remember 'little' Ella from my posts over the past years.  Well, would you believe it, little Ella is 13 years old now and closing in on 6' tall.  She flew all the way from Spain to Canada all by herself around the beginning of August.  She flies back to Spain on August 29th.  She has come for summer holidays and is staying at Sabras.  Ella's mom and dad, Rebecca (Kelly's youngest daughter) and her husband Ricardo, (in Spain) arranged a special security package with the airline, whereupon airline personnel and attendants would keep an especially close eye on Ella's well-being by assisting Ella along in her long journey.  Sabra and Ella had come to Goderich earlier Thursday and booked into the Harmony Inn Motel in Goderich. Ben and his boys had arrived later and also booked into the motel.  All five of them did manage to spend some time at the beach both Thursday and Friday.  When they came here late Friday afternoon, they came bearing three large pizzas, and with the weather being nice, we all sat out on the front porch for the next couple of hours and had ourselves a great visit. The last time I had seen Sabra was a little over a year ago when she and sister Rebecca came here and spent a couple of days going through their Mom's stuff.  The last time I had seen Ben was the day of Kelly's passing at the Huron Hospice Residence west of Clinton.  And it had been well over a year since I had last seen Ella and Ben's boys, Kye and Darien.  And of course, the biggest surprise was how much Ella had grown, as well as Ben's oldest son, Darien. We all had a great time catching up on everything, and I especially enjoyed our conversation and remembrances of Kelly.  There were tears.  And then, all too soon,  it was time to say our goodbyes.  Parting is always sad, and I knew chances of seeing them again were iffy at best.  Especially Ella, with her life now in Spain.  One of the first things I said to Ella when she got out of the car was, I thought I'd never see you again, and my parting words to her were, I hope to see you again someday.  She gave me a lingering, heartfelt hug, and then they were gone..........

 IT WAS NICE WE COULD ALL SIT OUTSIDE ON THE FRONT PORCH

 THE BOYS WERE OVER AT THE FRONT YARD FROG POND

I DON'T NORMALLY FEEL AS OLD AS I AM UNTIL I AM AROUND YOUNGER PEOPLE AND KNOW IT TO BE SO

 ELLA SURE HAS GROWN BUT I THINK WE ALWAYS KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO BE TALL AND SLIM LIKE HER DAD

THANKS TO TECHY GUY DARIAN FOR HELPING TRANSFER PHOTOS BETWEEN SABRA'S IPHONE AND MINE....I COULD TELL THAT DARIAN IS MATURING INTO A WELL-MANNERED, SOFT-SPOKEN YOUNG MAN

 BEN TRIES OUT MY E-BIKE FOR SIZE WHILE KAI HAS A FEW TIPS FOR DAD ON HOW TO RIDE A BIKE....ACTUALLY BEN HAS HIS OWN BIKE AND HAS BEEN BIKING FOR YEARS

HERE, ALMOST ALL EYES ARE ON ELLA AS SHE TRIES HER HAND AT RIDING THE E-BIKE

 AND, HERE SHE COMES NOW

AND THEN, ALL TOO SOON, IT WAS TIME FOR OUR GOODBYES

LOADING UP

 THREE RAGAMUFFINS IN THE BACK SEAT

 AND, THERE THEY GO

Feeling emotional after the visit, I was soon in the car and headed out to my walking road.  I noted that the mown alfalfa field had already been cleaned up and the field fertilized.  With a weather front pushing a large cloud front in from the west, there wasn't any sunset.  Following my deep-in-thought walk, I headed into Clinton's Tim Hortons and picked up a coffee and a donut to go and slowly made my way west to my hilltop night sky spot.  Before reaching there, I watched the large incoming cloud front slowly overtake the night's nearly three-quarter moon.  I backed into my spot and turned the car off.  Knowing there were no stars or moon to see, I pulled out my phone to have a look at the photos of my visitors I had just taken an hour earlier.  And it was while looking at the pictures and doing some editing of these photos that something strange occurred.  I heard a faint sound to my right.  I had both my front windows down and music playing softly. The night was as black as could be, with no Moon or starlight visible, and I always cover up the dash lights glowing from the Subaru's entertainment screen.  I quickly determined the sound in the darkness was right beside me, and it sounded like crinkling paper.  Had something come in through the open window?  The crinkling stopped, and with nerves on edge, I slowly reached up for one of two dome lights above the front seat area.  With my head turned, looking into the blackness, fearful of what I might see on the front seat, I pressed the light switch, not knowing what might be there.  And of course there was nothing there, but yes, there was.  The empty bag that my donut had come in lay just where I had left it on the front seat.  Something, or somebody, had crinkled that bag, and I thought of Kelly right away, and knew it was her.  Readers may remember me writing about how, for the first few days, weeks, and a month or so after Kelly's passing, strange and unexplainable things had happened.  I felt at the time that they were definite signs of Kelly's presence.  And, here over a year later, it happened again.  I believe it was the direct result of Kelly's son Ben,  daughter Sabra, and three of her grandchildren visiting me today.  There is no other explanation.  Thank you, Kelly......... I miss you dearly.

 FRIDAY NIGHT'S MOON ABOUT TO BE OVERTAKEN BY THE ADVANCING CLOUD COVER

 JUST SECONDS AFTER TAKING THIS PHOTO, THE MOON WAS LOST BEHIND THE CLOUDS

Saturday:: Woke up to a cloudy morning and heard my first rumble of distant thunder at 9:25.  Minutes later, the rain came down in buckets.  It became so dark out that the night lights in the front yard came on.  Water pooled everywhere and lightning flashed.  It was kind of reminiscent of a day fifteen years ago when, on August 21st, Goderich sustained major damage from an EF3 tornado.  One man lost his life down in the harbor at the salt mine, 37 people were injured, and the damage was estimated at $130 million dollars at the time.  You can see my aftermath tornado damage photos here.....The Goderich EF3 Tornado Damage.....The rest of today remained mostly overcast, with random sun splashes traveling across the rain-sodden landscape.  I felt sorry for all the folks who had undoubtedly worked hard for the annual Zurich Bean Festival today.  I think it might have been rained out last year as well.  Zurich is the little village where we first met the Pheebs slightly over twenty-five years ago. 

 RAINING HARD  THIS MORNING AND THE CARPORT'S NIGHT LIGHT IS ON

 WATER POOLING ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE FRONT PORCH

 NIGHT LIGHTS IN THE FRONT YARD ARE ON

 EVEN THE PORCH LIGHT CAME ON....IT'S AMAZING THAT OUR POWER DID NOT GO OUT

Al's Music Box:: Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears. (one of my favs)

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Walking through Chinatown, a tourist is fascinated with all the Chinese restaurants, shops, signs and banners. He turns a corner and sees a building with the sign, "Hans Olaffsen's Laundry." "Hans Olaffsen?", he muses. "How the heck does that fit in here?" So he walks into the shop and sees an old Chinese gentleman behind the counter. The tourist asks, "How did this place get a name like "Hans Olaffsen's Laundry?" The old man answers, "Is name of owner." The tourist asks, "Well, who and where is the owner?" "Me, is right here," replies the old man. "You? How did you ever get a name like Hans Olaffsen?" "Is simple," says the old man. "Many, many year ago when come to this country, was stand in line at Documentation Center. Man in front was big blonde Swede. Lady look at him and go, "What your name?" He say, "Hans Olaffsen." Then she look at me and go, 'What your name?'" "I say, Sem Ting."

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Did you hear about that cat who swallowed a ball of yarn? She had mittens!

Q: Where do one-legged people eat?
A: IHOP.
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The man was in no shape to drive, so he wisely left his car parked and walked home. As he was walking unsteadily along, he was stopped by a policeman. "What are you doing out here at 2 A.M.?" asked the officer.
"I'm going to a lecture." The man said.
"And who is going to give a lecture at this hour?" the cop asked. "My wife," said the man. 

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery

YES, THAT IS LITTLE ELLA THERE AT THE RIGHT

I didn't get a regular post put together tonight because I had some special company this afternoon, which I will blog about tomorrow, along with a few photos.....and yes, that is little Ella there at the right:))

I WAS INSTANTLY TURBO CHARGED FOR THE REST OF THE DAY

THIS IS THE THIRD SUMMER CUTTING FOR THIS ALFALFA FIELD

I was surprised when arriving at my walking spot this morning to see that the alfalfa field on the east side of the road had once again been cut.  That's the third cutting of that alfalfa crop this summer.  

THE LAST CUTTING OF THIS FIELD WAS BALED AND WRAPPED

Wednesday evening, with a big half Moon hanging in the southern sky, casting its glow across the darkened landscape, it wasn't a good night for stargazing, but I was still out there at my night sky spot after my walk.  I once again enjoyed listening to the Crickets, but with a sadness in my heart.  I don't know where it came from, but it just came. Fortunately, when I woke up this morning, the sadness had dissipated, and it was the beginning of a new day. Luckily, this time, I was able to locate my Giddy-Up-Go button and quickly press it.  I was instantly turbo-charged for the rest of the day and buzzed about getting all the things done that I had set aside for the previous few days.   

With our nighttime temps now dropping into the mid-fifties, I was compelled to turn on the furnace this morning for a short while to take the chill out of the air.

 THIS FIELD IS ON THE EAST SIDE OF MY WALKING ROAD AT THE LEFT

Al's Music Box:: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly performed by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. {In the video, the ukulele experts play an entertaining, skilful and unique version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It’s got a long intro as they set the scene, but allow yourself to be absorbed into the music just before they erupt into a brilliant performance} And, Al says, watch for the whistler to make a little booboo, and note his, and the audience's reaction to it:))

 I'VE HEARD IT SAID THAT AFTER THE GOLDEN ROD BLOOMS ITS YELLOW FLOWER, OUR FIRST FROST WILL BE SIX WEEKS LATER

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Sunday school teacher asked her students to draw a picture of their favorite Old Testament story. As she moved around the class, she saw there were many wonderful drawings being done. Then she came across the drawing of one little boy. He was busy drawing a man driving an old car. In the backseat were two passengers—both scantily dressed.”"It's a lovely picture,” prompted the teacher, “but which story does it tell?”The little boy seemed surprised at the question. “Well,” he exclaimed, “doesn't it say in the Bible that God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden?”

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A couple of young children are at day care one day when one of the little girls approaches Tommy and says, "Hey, Tommy, wanna play house?" "Sure! What do you want me to do?" he asks. The little girl replies, "I want you to communicate your feelings."

"Communicate my feelings?" questions a bewildered Tommy. "I have no idea what that means..."The little girl smirks and says, "Perfect. You can be the husband."

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Two bees ran into each other. The first bee asked the other how things were going.
"Really bad," said the second bee. "The weather has been really wet and damp, and there aren't any flowers or pollen, so I can't make any honey." "No problem," said the first bee. "Just fly down five blocks and turn left. Keep going until you see all the cars. A Bar Mitzvah is going on, and there are all kinds of fresh flowers and fruit."
"Thanks for the tip," said the second bee, and he flew away.  A few hours later, the two bees ran into each other again. The first bee asked, "How'd it go?""Great!" said the second bee. "It was everything you said it would be." "Uh, what's that thing on your head?" asked the first bee. "That's my yarmulke," said the second bee. "I didn't want them to think I was a wasp."

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Al's Dogggy World

LMeanings::

Al's Art Gallery