Leaving in just a few minutes for a weekend getaway with my husband. Our first one in 11 years!!! Very excited!

Enjoy, Texas Gem!

You need that more often!

Lucky you! What could be better. Hope you have a wonderful time.

The only plans I ever have is going to the flea market on Sat. Thats all there is to do around here. Go on the garden tour anyway, it may not rain and you will have wasted a day. Have a wonderful time Texas_gem!

"I sure remember when I was still working the wonderful feeling I had on Friday evenings heading home for the weekend. Now retired weekends are still nice but not as special."

Hubs and I are both retired, so we know what you mean. However, going anywhere on a weekend involves dealing with much larger crowds than during the week. So, what we have done is designate the middle of the week as our "new weekend" and that's when we go on short trips (one to three nights).

Texas_gem have a fantastic time!

Idon't make plans anymore because husband is working on the house from dawn till after dark. Our big outing is Kroger and Lowe's lol. I don't have anywhere to put anything so I can't really go shopping. We will be going to look at tile and cabinets soon though.

Since I was wrong about thinking Monday was Memorial Day, I am going to take this weekend to get in touch with reality. :)

Weekends are still special here because Robert isn't retired! He's counting the days, though. No special plans here, lots of garden and yard work, carting items off to a local charity store, washing down the outdoor furniture, etc.

Sunday, he's going fishing with a couple of friends and I'm hosting the little girls next door for the afternoon to give grandpa a rest. I expect that a sprinkler will be involved with the girls.

Where are you going, Texas_gem? Have a great time!

Not much going on this weekend. Getting my dd's car oil changed at noon and then going to a gf's to help her make wedding invitations for her daughter's wedding. She is making more than 250 invitations so it will take us all weekend.

Retired for multi years, so no difference to me. Did participate in water aerobics 5 days this week, and will begin again on Monday.

Last night DH and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary with a lovely dinner out.

I have a cousin who told me that she would get annoyed at a friend who always asked her "how was your weekend?" She said, "Everyday day is a weekend, I'm retired!"

For those still in the work force, there is certainly that distinction of days off. My cousin decided to change how she planned her activities to include something special on a weekend so that she is on the same page as her working friends.

I still work part-time, DH is retired technically but manages our real estate which can be doing something daily.

Enjoy your time away Texas_gem:)

This is our Victoria Day long weekend. The weather is predicted to be sunny and quite warm. It's usually terrible weather, rain or snow.

The garden centers will be busy, as are the campgrounds, they're all booked, from near to a few hours away.

We don't have anything planned at all, just a regular weekend. Going to the market to hopefully pick up some veggies to grill. I have an urge for grilled vegetable sandwiches. :-)

Well, it's the May long weekend here in Alberta and while he had above normal and and extremely dry winter, it's freezing, raining and in some parts closer to the mountains: snowing! I have the long weekend off. Figures. My son left to go camping. I'm glad they have a motorhome with a good furnace. They're going to really need it. I am presently cleaning my oven (so thankful for that self clean button) and going to Walmart later to find my grandson a dump truck. He's been asking all week. Tomorrow is probably a "I'm not getting dressed and I'm going to sit and binge watch the rest of Dr Who all day" day. And Monday we are going to my sister in laws to go through my husbands mothers photos. She died almost 2 years ago and my husband has wanted to collect some memories. We think it's going to take all day. Her closet is literally loaded with boxes of pictures along with about 100 photo albums. This should be fun. My husbands cousins started a FB group dedicated to his family history and there is a LOT of history, which is archived in the Glenbow Museum here in Calgary. My husbands great grandfather was chief of the T'su Tina Reserve here. His aunts were princesses. I'm learning a lot through this page. This link will take you to a website that talks about my husbands family history. In the main photo is a picture of my husbands great grandfather holding his grandmother when she was a baby. Lots of interesting reading, if you're interested.

Debby, I saw yesterday that the weather update went from rain for Ft. Mac, to none. How sad, I'm really hoping that they get rain or snow soon!!! Edmonton and area has snow.

Saturday is half off @ the ARC thrift stores. We've been going for so many years I recognize people, we chat, laugh....a meeting of old friends. Scotty trains dogs for a living. Today he told us a joke: What do you get if you cross a pitbull and a collie? A dog that will bite you then go for help! He's currently training a German Shepherd. Another lady showed me a fluffy bath towel she was buying for $6....I thought that was a lot...then she explained she can make 16 pot holders out of it. OH! Then to the pull n' pay junkyard, DH needed an "A" frame bolt the dealer wanted $45 and wouldn't be in until next Tuesday. Paid .58cents and met a really nice man from Belize. Islanders are always homesick so DH talked him up since we've been there. He is a vehicle rock climber, a sport not everyone does. He was driving a beautiful Volvo SUV and I loved his accent.

I made us a nice brunch. Walked the cat. Once it clouds over we'll go running. We'll rent a movie and barbeque pork ribs out on the deck.

Week days are not like weekends for us

I am usually at home on Sat. so I sometimes bake. I am getting ready to bake a rhubarb pie and a black raspberry one. Some of the kids will be over this evening and tomorrow to do some yard and garden work here. I am getting a swing set for the grandchildren to be set up here and a place has to be made ready.

Sue

We were at the market this morning, and people were selling rhubarb for $1/stalk!!! Wow. That's something that I absolutely refuse to buy and never will. It's practically a weed, it grows so well.

I did get a bunch from my step-father earlier this week and I made a pie. We finished it in record time and I have another in the oven as I type. The rest is cut up to make a rhubarb crunch which will go in the oven when the pie comes out.

I have more rhubarb coming, so I'll put some in the freezer, and make stewed rhubarb. I love that with fresh bread, or over ice cream.

Sounds like everyone is keeping busy. I have been lazy all day and have done nothing but read and talk on the phone to some friends. Im not even dressed and it is after 2:00. I hope to do better tomorrow!

oh my, that pie looks wonderful!

We're retired so our weekends are busy with the folks who are still working and can only get together on Sat or Sun, LOL. Last weekend we were up in Sonoma County indulging in our love of good restaurants; we went up on a Thursday and our younger friends joined us for Sat & Sun. We stayed an extra day to avoid Mon a.m. rush hour. Traffic is a serious issue in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This weekend:

Sat night we have a going away dinner for a long-time neighbor. The rise in RE worked out very well for her and she sold her house so fast it shocked her. It's a big emotional adjustment for her, but her son and DIL are happy in the Phoenix area so she will be finding something to buy near them. We'll miss her but are very happy things worked out so well for her. The house sale will give her that added cushion that always helps one's peace of mind.

Sun afternoon we have a high tea scheduled at the Pardee Home Museum. The Pardees were a prominent local family in old Oakland society and they decided to leave their home as a "lifestyle museum". The last Pardee daughter died in 1981 and the home is EXACTLY as she left it.

Instead of lavish expensive objets d'art, it's a lovely but modest Italianate crammed with the collections of a family who collected what interested them. Pretty little river rocks picked up by the children are piled next to a magnificent Chinese jade carving. There's a Chinese export porcelain umbrella vase stuffed with a collection of South Pacific arrows, a samurai sword (produced for export), and a dozen men's walking sticks (an important part of a man's wardrobe at one time!).

Mrs. Pardee was possibly the one who collected teapots for a while: there is a modest but exquisite collection of 19th century Yixing clay teapots crammed into a hallway curio cabinet. Most of the cabinets aren't lighted; this is our second time around and we're bringing flashlights with us!

The Pardee volunteers do the tea and of all the teas our group has been to, theirs is the best food, hands-down. The volunteers are very competitive about what they produce, so we get to 'reap the benefits'.

This is our group's second visit. Our first was in 2012 and we were all wowed, both by the food and the museum itself. We found out that Yelp (which everyone uses out here) only listed Pardee under "Museums", so people searching for a wonderful tea never saw it.

My niece and I petitioned Yelp to add Pardee to the category of tea shops, and the museum had to start booking more than four months in advance soon after our 5-star ratings appeared! We were very happy to have brought them into public notice, although it meant that scheduling tomorrow's tea was WORK. The volunteers only work two half-days a week on administration, and it took three emails and five phone calls before I could get confirmation on a date/time!

For those who are interested, the website for the museum has a history of the family, a small photo gallery of the interior, and a few photos of their amazing teas:

http://www.pardeehome.org/

Below: a photo of one of the plates from a friend who went in 2015 to Pardee for her birthday, and came back raving about it:

Texas_Gem...Have a great time!

My husband and oldest son are off for the day taking canoeing lessons. They are going to be doing a 5 day canoe/camping trip in mid-June and figured they should learn how to canoe. My son is quite the outdoor adventurer, my husband not so much.

I have spent the day cleaning the house. It's, as mentioned, a long weekend but the weather isn't all that great. It's not raining which is the norm for a long weekend here but it isn't all that warm so it's a good time to get all those indoor cleaning chores done.