Penguins, Pot & Other Stuff

Yes, twice.  Was lucky enough to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner on two occasions this year.  Seemed like nothing was going to be happening at first so I suggested to Paulo & Jeannine we have a nice turkey dinner in honor of the occasion.  I buy the turkey and Jeannine cooks it.  She put together a lovely meal for all of us which we had on Saturday.  Poor girl was so tired but she still managed to put out a fantastic spread.  Thank you Jeanine!

 

Of course, within hours of coming up with the Saturday dinner plan, Brother Mike called to invite me to Sunday dinner with his family!  Made sure I had nothing to eat after that Saturday feast so that I could really enjoy the next one.  I wasn’t disappointed!  Along with Brother Mike’s family, Cindy’s parents were there along with her sister.  Even Cassandra’s boyfriend Trevor made an appearance.  And to top it off, after dinner there were homemade desserts from a family friend.  Delicious, simply delicious!

 

Even before the dinner though, we got together to visit Mom at the nursing home.  Brothers Mike & Joe were there along with Sisters Dianne & June.  Those 2 cute nieces, Nicole & Danielle, also graced us with their presence.  Was nice to have such a group together visiting dear Mom.  Happy Thanksgiving to all and if you have any leftovers, well, there is lots of room in my freezer!

 

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Was cruising around the other day with the lovely Trish.  Asked if she wouldn’t mind driving me out to the cemetery to visit Dad.  Hadn’t been there for a while.  Trish was good enough to trim back some of the plants that had overgrown a bit.  Was nice to see that the Malta flag sticker I put on Dad’s headstone was still there.  While we were there, Trish noticed that her friend’s mother is buried just two spots over from Dad!

 

Was nice to remember those good things involving Dad while I was there.  They are still so fresh in my mind!  May he rest in peace.

Yes, took place yesterday at a lovely banquet hall in Hamilton: Michelangelo’s.  I think this was the fifth one and I have been to all of them.  Brought Jeannine & Paulo along.  We were met there by Brother Joseph & Lady Kathryn and Sister Dianne & Jim.  A lovely table of seven-which was good for us because most tables had eight people so with that one opening, there was more food for the rest of us.  And excellent food it was!

 

Hors d’oeuvres were served before the meal.  Then, some fresh buns with creamy butter.  Antepaste (not sure of the spelling) was brought out as a premeal appetizer-cold cuts with cheese & pickled vegetables.  Then, a healthy portion of lasagna which was followed by a roast beef dinner that included vegetables & potato.  There was also enough wine to keep everyone happy.  Simply delicious!  Then came dessert: sherbet & fruit with, of course, hot coffee.  I actually skipped on the desert because I was feeling a bit chilled.  The hot coffee though helped with that.

 

As usual, it was nice to see so much of the old Maltese crowd: friends of Mom and Dad.  There are still quite a few around.  Also good to see some of the kids I grew up with.  Lots of those!  There were even a couple of bottoms I had changed & diapered as a babysitter a long time ago.  The conversation was good and everyone enjoyed dancing to the DJ.  A great evening for all!

 

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Yes, the time has come.  Blog readers will remember that Brother Mike has been dealing with some major medical issues for almost a year now.  Hasn’t been able to work in all that time.  However, some major surgery & good healing power has him back in stride!  The lucky guy goes back to work tomorrow.  And it’s not a Mickey Mouse return; 12 hour shifts-days & nights.  He couldn’t be happier!

 

Anyone who has dealt with a major medical issue knows where I am coming from.  It’s not only a physical strain but it can also really mess up your thinking.  I’m sure Brother Mike had to deal with some pretty depressing thoughts but, he did!  Way to go!!!  Off to work for you tomorrow.  I’m so happy for you.  Problem is, this will seriously cut into our fishing time!

It was kind of a last-minute thing but Sister Dianne & hubby Jim invited the family over for a BBQ yesterday.  Sort of an after-the-fact celebration of Jim’s birthday which was earlier in the week.  A good turnout although Sister June had to unfortunately cancel because of a migraine she was dealing with.  Oh well, more food for the rest of us!

 

Even though it wasn’t the best weather, everyone stayed outside for the entire afternoon.  Jim cooked up hot dogs & chicken which tasted so so good.  There were salads & buns and, of course, a delicious dessert Sister Dianne put together-blueberry surprise!  Too bad Herb wasn’t there; blueberries are his favorite.  Sister Dianne’s place is looking really good-Jim has put a lot of work into it.  So nice to spend time with so many nice people.

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It’s become an annual event.  Got an invitation from Fred (Sister June’s brother-in-law) to head on up to Vaughn for the annual Rankel pig roast.  Brother Mike picked me up and on the way there we stopped in Mississauga to pick up Sister June & Nephew Andrew.  Herb had left earlier to help Fred get things going for the day.

 

It was a great ride up there - no highway delays.  There weren’t many Aquilinas-just Mike & myself.  People get so busy over the summer.  Oh well, that meant more good food for us!  There were Rankles coming out of the bushes-literally!  Was so nice to see everyone again.  I warned Herb that because of the hot weather I would need some help keeping cool.  Presto: he ran a long extension cord out to the backyard and hooked it up to an electric fan.  That kept me very very comfortable.

 

After turning that little piggy on the spit for about 5 hours, everyone was ready to eat.  There were many delicious salads (2 potato salads, macaroni salad, pasta salad, green bean salad) to go along with the succulent pork.  Then various desserts-pastries & a multitude of fruits along with a great cup of coffee.  The time went by so quickly but then Brother Mike & I hit the road home.  Amazingly, we made it back in 1 hour & 10 minutes-great time!  Thanks Fred & Linda for a great day.

 

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Today was the annual Malta Day Barbecue which is held at Burlington’s LaSalle Park.  The lovely Trish came over and drove me & her along with Kaleb, Paulo & Jeannine over to the festivities.  When we arrived, Brother Joseph & Lady Kathryn were already there.  I don’t know what I was thinking but I had invited Liz & Dickhead to join us.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later and the whole gang was there.  Wait, Kathryn had invited her sister Ruth who showed up 10 minutes after that.  The gang was all there!

 

I must say, a great time was had by all.  Perfect weather, great food and good company. It’s nice to see so many of the members of the Maltese community gathered for the day.  I especially like touching base with some of the old-timers from my father’s crowd.  Not many left but there are some. Brother Joseph did really well-he won the bocce tournament and also the big raffle!  I’m telling you, being an Aquilina has its benefits!  Kaleb got some swimming in.  Trish, Liz & Dickhead got to see the sights of Burlington Harbor.  We all had great food.  To top it off, Kaleb & I got to eat some goodies from the traveling ice cream truck!

 

Some great pictures (thanks Trish).  Check Them Out!

Last Sunday, Brothers Joseph & Mike and I went on our usual visit to see Mom.  A good visit; we got mom outside to enjoy the nice weather.  On the way home, we decided to stop in and visit Mrs. Memme.

 

The Memmes were our neighbors when we lived on Mohawk Road.  It was a really good situation for the kids.  I hung around with Fred, Brother Mike hung around with Anthony (and for fishing, he hung around with Robert) and Brother Joseph hung around with a cousin of theirs-Marco.  Mr. & Mrs. Memme were old-fashioned Italian.  He would have a garden going every summer and come the fall, homemade wine.  Dad really appreciated that!  Mrs. Memme was always cooking or baking something.  Her Italian pastries were from heaven!  Well, the kids are all grown up and have moved out of the house.  Mr. Memme passed away several years ago so Mrs. Memme is all by herself in that great big house.

 

She was so happy to see us!  Made a pot of tea and lucky for us, brought out a plate full of her homemade Italian cookies.  We caught up on family business and she told us what was going on in the old neighborhood.  She’s still doing very well.  80 years old and sharp as a pin.  Our time there just flew by.  So nice to see Mrs. Memme again.  We will do it again soon!

Headed out with Brother Joseph & Lady Kathryn to watch Sister Dianne play some baseball at the Dofasco Sports Complex.  When we got there, met up with Brother Mike.  You could say Sister Dianne had her own official cheering section.  All we needed were pom-poms!

 

Sister Dianne’s team was sporting their snazzy purple uniforms.  They were up against the team wearing green.  It was already 1-0 Dianne’s squad when we got there.  We got to see Sister Dianne play second base, first base & catcher.  She did really well; nothing got by her in the infield.  She drove in a run with an infield hit and was robbed of a double by a good (but lucky) catch by the Green team’s second baseman.  The teams are all made up of female players who have some kind of a connection to Dofasco.  Players of all kinds; some very very good and some, well, not quite so good!

 

It was a fun couple of hours.  After the game, Brother Joseph & Lady Kathryn & I headed out to a new ice cream parlor that’s the talk of the town in Stoney Creek.  Of more importance to me, it’s attached to a Tim Horton’s!  While Joe & Kathryn partook of the ice cream, I settled down with a coffee and a couple of wraps.  Delicious!

 

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Brother Mike & I made plans to go fishing at Valens Conservation Area today.  Thank goodness I called ahead to check out the bait situation: no fishing at Valens until bass season starts!  So, off to Caledonia instead.  On the way there, Brother Mike decided to take a special way to a spot he always catches fish.  Wrong turn!  We were on our way to Port Dover so we decided to fish at the pier there.

 

When we got to Port Dover, we headed off to the pier.  Even though it was 29°C, there was a mighty cold wind blowing in off Lake Erie.  After five minutes we both agreed enough was enough.  It was even too cold to enjoy a perch dinner at Callahan’s, my favorite Port Dover eatery.  So, off to the Arbor where Brother Mike & I each enjoyed a foot-long with some delicious french fries.  Then, back to Caledonia.

 

Brother Mike did find his spot but unfortunately it was not very wheelchair accessible.  Instead, we headed to the dam and threw in our lines.  It was simply a beautiful day; sunny, warm with a beautiful refreshing breeze blowing.  We were there for a couple of hours or so.  No luck, just a few nibbles.  Still, it was a great outing!  Nice to see Brother Mike getting out and enjoying things again.

 

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