I find it amazing how fast time goes by -the last seven weeks have gone by so fast. Not a lot has been going on on the home front – the usual; lots of yard work: mowing (although my tractor is broken ☹, won’t get it back until later this week), weed-whacking, gardening (Kelly’s specialty), and just general relaxing. We went to the Aylmer Fair last weekend and checked out the animals, fairground rides, and the smash up derby. Always fun to go to the fair 😊. We have booked several cruises – 3 in December / January, and 1 next August – so lots of exciting trips to look forward to!! The first 3 will be Mexico / Caribbean – next summer… Alaska!! That will be different – Kelly has never been there, and it will be 40 years ago for me the last time I was there – but that was on a navy ship, the food promises to be much better on a cruise ship 😊. The weather has been very unusual this year. We have had extremely hot summer days followed by cold and wet weather that feels more like fall or early winter. We have had a couple of tornado touchdowns within 20 miles of here (only F0 / F1 but still tornadoes) but only with a little damage to our property. But we have been fortunate here compared to the Caribbean and the southern and eastern seaboards of the U.S. – two hurricanes this past month – Debby and Ernesto – have caused intense damage and flooding in those regions. The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, so maybe the weather will finally stabilize 😊. However, I did spot around 10 leaves on one of our trees that have turned to red – so I can foresee a lot of leaf raking and bagging in my near future 😊.
President Biden announced (under a lot of pressure from his party) that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election in the next U.S. elections – that wasn’t much of a surprise as his health hasn’t been that great lately and he has had trouble with his last debates against Trump. Kamal Harris has received the Democratic Party endorsement to run as their candidate for president. In the latest polls Harris is slightly ahead of Trump – thank God! Trump being re-elected would be the greatest tragedy ever to befall on the U.S. – he appears to have designs that would eliminate any future elections, leaving him as some sort of dictator. Trump has been rambling on lately and is showing signs of instability – doing personal attacks against Harris instead of concentrating on party policy – this is the first sign that Trump might actually lose the election. And having Harris as president of the U.S. would ensure that Ukraine would continue to get support from the Americans.
The war between Hamas and Israel is still going on – about 39,677 Palestinians have been killed and about 86,000 wounded, the death toll from the October 7 attack stands at 1139 with dozens still held captive. There doesn’t appear to be any end in sight for this war either ☹.
The war in Ukraine is still ongoing – however, there is a slight glimmer of hope. On August 5 the Ukrainians made an incursion across the Russian border into the Kursk region with thousands of soldiers, tanks, and artillery. They took the defenders… mostly conscripts with little training … by surprise and have made serious inroads into the Kursk region taking many small settlements, a couple of towns, and about 1100 square kilometers of area. In the past couple of days they have blown up 3 critically located bridges that connected to an island where many Russian soldiers are now surrounded. This strategy has taken many countries… and Putin… by surprise. They appear to be solidifying their stronghold in Kursk in order to put pressure on the Russians for future peace talks 😊. They have received their first shipment of F-16s, and some have been placed on active duty. The Russians have been concentrating their attacks on the Donbas region and have had some success but the activity in Kursk has had them having to relocate some of the troops to the north. This might alleviate some of the pressure on the Ukrainian troops in the south.
A lot of cooking has been going on in the last six weeks – we have had many different pasta dishes; Steak and Chicken Salads with Blue Cheese Dressing; Beef and Pork Roasts with Roasted Veggies; Pork Lo Mein with Noodles; Chicken and Beef Curries; Beef Rendang. Pork and Turkey Pad Thais; Fresh Pasta with Bolognese Sauce; Chicken Stuffed Pineapple; Yucatan Chicken Verde; Beef and Chicken Enchiladas; lots of different type Paninis; Steaks; BBQ hamburgers and Sausages on a bun; and many other dishes .
On the Netflix and Prime front: We have found a couple new series to watch, ‘Baby Reindeer’ and ‘Bodkin’. ‘Baby Reindeer’ is a rather strange drama about a female stalker chasing after a bartender / standup comedian who has many emotional / relationship issues dealing with his sexuality. ‘Bodkin’ is an Irish comedy mystery thriller dealing with an investigative reporter being teamed up with an American podcaster investigating the disappearance of 3 people during a Samhain Festival years ago. It’s a little quirky but fun to watch. We are also rewatching all 5 seasons of ‘Breaking Bad’, probably one of the best crime dramas ever done on Netflix. I’ve watched all 5 seasons of ‘Vikings’ – an excellent Irish / Canadian series that follows the rise of the Norsemen in England and France back around 845 A.D. Well acted and beautifully filmed – an excellent historical series. I’ve also watched ‘Baby Bandito’ – a Chilean robber / cop thriller based on an actual robbery in Santiago in 2014 – 4 of the thieves and the $70M from the heist have never been found since. I started watching ‘Peaky Blinders’ – a period British drama about a Birmingham crime gang from 1919 to 1933. Excellent series with great acting by all the characters.
On the NHL front – Not a lot going on as it is golf season for hockey players 😊. However, Toronto Maple Leafs have appointed Auston Matthews as the new team captain taking over the role from John Tavares.
On to baseball –Toronto is still at the bottom of their division and 14 ½ games behind the leader, New York Yankees ☹. Seattle is in second place in their division and 2 ½ games behind Houston in first place 😊.
On to golf … the usual up-and-down showings for Canadians – they start off fast in the first two rounds and then blow it on the last day ☹. The last PGA qualifying tournament for the Fedex Playoffs was last week – The Wyndham Championship – players had to finish in the top 70 of Fedex points in order to move on to this week’s first round of the Playoffs – FedEx St. Jude Championship. The five Canadians that have made the top 70 are: Taylor Pendrith (27); Corey Connors (30); Adam Hadwin (37); Mackenzie Hughes (46); and Nick Taylor (50). The BWM Championship – top 50 players – concluded yesterday. The Canadians didn’t really fair well – they all slipped in their Fedex standings – and two did not make the top 50 and won’t be playing in the remaining two tournaments in the playoffs – Mackenzie Hughes finished 52nd and Nick Taylor finished 58th ☹.
NFL news – The Seahawks played their first pre-season game on Saturday, August 10 and beat the L.A. Chargers 16-3!! Good game, it looks like Seattle’s defence has improved a lot under the new coach’s (Mike McDonald) strategies 😊 However, in their second preseason game against Tennessee the defense slipped up at the end of the fourth quarter and allowed a last second field goal by the Titans – final score 16-15 for the Titans.
Have a great and safe month … pray for Ukraine … we will see you in a bit!! 😊