Happy Victoria Day!

The unofficial start of Canadian summer, the 3rd Monday of May, Victoria Day weekend. It's been a cool and overcast day here with the temperature struggling to make it to 10 C (50 F). We watched the 3-hour Survivor finale last night. I grudgingly give it to the winner - he played a good game. I then read until 1:00 a.m. (I'll do a post about what book I'm currently reading later this week. It's VERY good.) I biked my 21 km in the basement this morning and then went out and mowed part of our back yard (Yes, still with that gall darn with the reel mower!), as Brad slaved away in the garden he is transforming in the middle of our back yard. Then we both worked to tie up my raspberry canes so they are most standing tall and proud, but not quite so neatly arranged as Cute Boy's. My patch is 4 years old has I really haven't kept the canes in rows as such, just letting them grow willie-nillie wherever they shoot up. Brad and I agreed on a boundary today, though, and any new shoots that come up outside the boundary will be fair game for Brad to pull up or mow. Left to their own devices, the raspberries would take over the entire back yard! I'll take the "after" pic sometime this week when it's sunny. The warbbler couple that have built a nest in my raspberry patch for the past 2 years were back again today checking out the homestead. I hope we didn't put them off by tieing up the canes.

Supper tonight is the lentil salad with herbs and sundried tomatoes over basmati rice, topped with feta cheese and microwaved for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese. Will probably throw some tuna on top of that to amp up the nutritional value of the meal. More rhubarb crisp for dessert (it's even better on the second day). And I AM really curious with regard to what you all do with rhubarb. (Other than the crisp, the only other thing I do is stew it in a bit of water and lots of sugar - it's great served over ice cream or just on its own.) You can leave comments in French, Spanish, or even German - I'll figure it out :) It's what I do!

And here's a pic of mom on her 80th birthday with me and all of my siblings. Almost 9 years ago now. Wow. Where DOES the time go? I am, of course, the cute boy in the ITALIA tee-shirt! ;)