Breaking With Dieting This Weekend

Its that time again in the dieting cycle when I capitulate and have something which is totally not conducive to good dieting practices.
My brother called last night and invited both mother and me out for a bit of a Sundae drive and I said to him, not this was Saturday, LOL, get it SUNDAE?   I know I should have declined, but, like all people who diet, the dieting cycle gets broken from time to time, and this was my turn to deviate from my 1,438 calories a day.  It has taken me close to one whole year to lose a measly 10 lbs.  You'd think I would be more mindful of the length of time it has taken me to lose just those few pounds, but the devil made me do it!   
After driving around a part of the country I live in and in three years haven't explored and seeing the massive new houses being built in a new sub-division we stopped at the DQ!  

Ten minutes later I sat in the back seat with a caramel sundae topped with lots of nuts and began digging in.  My sister-in-law had a cherry sundae - she just loves charries!  Anything at all which contains cherries and she'll have it.  My mother, bless her heart, she indulged in a chocolate fudge sundae, and my dear brother a huge vanilla cone. 

DQ Ice cream cones are sooooo delicious!

Don't these look absolutely scrumscious?

There isn't a member of my immediate family that are not ice cream lovers and Dairy Queen has always been the favored drive to treat place.

After having finished these scrumscious treats we were on the way home which is nearly a half hours drive from home. 
The road to home is very dark and we were moving slower than normal as the deer have been spotted coming out of the forests onto the road these pat few weeks and we didn't need to meet one of them on this dark road at night.  While we didn't meet any deer last night, we did see lightning streaking across the sky, huge beautiful streaks all compliments of Mother Nature.

When we arrived home I went in to close up the windows as the wind was picking up and with seeing the lightning I believed we might be in for a storm, my mother didn't believe me and decided then and there she'd water the flower beds.  I kept saying, it's going to rain, but nope, would she believe me?  After she finished that watering task in she came, locked the door and just before her nether end could come into contact with her chair the rain burst from the sky and came down in buckets!!  Not many times do I get to be right when it comes to my mother, but by golly this time I was right.  All that water used when it wasn't necessary.  

Oh well, now the flower beds are doubly watered and should last for awhile before needing a drink again. 

I finally came into the sewing room and completed a few more 4" stretched stars for the border of that Stretched Star quilt top.  Near 1 a.m. it really was time for lights out and a bed inspection, but before that, , I thought it best to make the rounds and make certain all windows and doors were locked, while doing that I looked outside and there they were, three little kittens romping through the front flower bed.  My goodness but they are so sweet, I am so torn as to whether or not to bring them into the house and look after them (mother included) or, to leave them be and let them grow and become a stray like their mother and more possibly their papa too. 4X trouble me thinks!
TONIGHT is our local Lions Club end of year party, oh boy!  BBQ chicken dinners all around and for some of the shut in seniors in town as well.  Every year our United Church puts on a Chicken BBQ and it is a great social event as well as a much needed fundraiser for the new steeple for the church.  The steeple was in sad need of repairs and they finally had to remove it from the roof rather than have a mishap or nasty accident while fundraising for much needed repairs. Watch this video of the steeple being removed, it is quite extraordinary.

Our Lions Club holds it year end party the same date as the church BBQ and nicely donate to the church while having a delicious dinner and get together all at the same time.  Two birds with one stone so to speak!  Seeing as I live across the river from where the party is being held I will collect all of the dinners and deliver them as well as mother and myself.  Can you just smell the aroma's coming from my back seat now?  I think you might.  There will be chicken, potato egg salad, coleslaw (all homemade by the way), hot buttered buns, and a side salad, then wonderfully home backed pies...now, here I go again, breaking out of the diet mode - you'd think by now I would have said no to the ice cream sundae last night know full well about all of wonderful food I would be eating tonight!  I will be taking the camera with me and making the good effort to get lots of photos, so, if you are not already bored, stay tuned for tomorrow's post when I get to show off what tonight's party looked like.
Now, have I told you more than you wanted to know?
Have a happy weekend and be mindful on those roads and by-ways if your travelling about, apparently the wild life in those woods are being driven to distraction by all of those huge and nasty deer flies that are biting them and so pose a hazard to vehicles especially around twilight. 

Finally Online Again

One moment it was very hot and very sunny on Wednesday at 4:40 p.m., then, out of nowhere a storm ripped through our region creating havoc.  One moment the sun was in full shine and the next the sky turned a deep purple and opened itself up with high winds and rain like I haven't seen come from the heavens in many, many years.  Here is a link for The Kingston Weathernetwork where, if interested you can see many more photo's and videos.

scarey clouds 2

Posted by: Brandy // Today

Kingston, Ontario // Shot: June 8, 2011

Trees were uprooted, hydro poles no longer stood at attention but were toppled, and hydro power was lost to hundreds of thousands throughout our entire region.
Fortunately, we just needed water to drink and for flushing, because we blessedly didn't trade our propane cook stove in as we were going to for one that was electric...
To say it was unpleasant is an understatement!  Though many of us have now  learned some valuable preparedness lessons here in the Bay.  First lesson, MAKE sure you have a safe environment to wait the storm our with your children and pets should the weather exceed safe levels; second lesson, GET A GENERATOR if for no other purpose than to run your refrigerator/freezer, and heat food and liquid sustenance, and the Third lesson, make sure you find and keep containers of water for flushing and see your local fire hall for drinking water. These are the important lessons first and foremost, the other smaller issues you will have to adapt to depending on the situation. Check in on all of the shut ins and seniors in your area, make sure they're all right and have everything they might needs until power is once again restored. Check for pets to make certain your loving companions are feeling safe and not being driven crazy from the thunder and lightening.   Many Fire Departments in the Region have Drinking Water in Huge jugs to hand out if you do not have drinking water, you should check in your area to determine what measures your local government, police, ambulance and fire departments have in place should an event occur such as the one we just experienced.   I give our Fire Department HIGH KUDOS for the work they did these past few days in dealing with the situations around our Bay.  Toppled trees and hydro poles were the worst hit, but no loss of life or limb recorded in my Town, thank you Creator.
Me, what was I doing during the aftermath of this event?  I was on what I called the FLUSH patrol.  I was delivering first drinking water and then flushing water to those who couldn't get it for themselves.  We have quite a number of shut ins here who could use a little help now and then.  DO you have such people in your neighborhood, if you do, please check on them to make certain they're all doing well.
Now all I have to do is go back to collect all of the buckets and jugs I left everywhere, and, open the doors to my van and let the carpeting in the van dry out, because the water did a lot of sloshing in the back for every curve or bump I encountered.
My beautiful garden is in shambles, the beautiful snowball bush so full with plump snowballs are stripped bare, all of the petals washed away as well by the winds and the rains.  My peonies began blooming and the winds tore them all apart and what the winds left the rains managed to take care of so the peonies which are so very beautiful have taken a sad beating.  I am on my way out to the gardens now to see if I can't tie them up and give them some additional support.
I REALLY must say this about our storms on Wednesday and it is this!  What we experienced is a minor inconvenience and nothing compared to the devastation and damage storms, hurricanes and tornado's and tsunami's have done to other areas on our globe, and for this, I am extremely grateful.  I have but a fraction of the understanding of how devastated those people's in circumstances are from the aftermath of such severe weather around the globe and my prayers are ten thousand fold for them as is my desire to help others.  I hope I live up to my own expectations.