Thank God May is finally over!! It was the coldest and wettest month of May ever recorded in Canada ☹. Most days the temperature was hovering around the freezing mark and there might have been 3 days in the month that were over 14C ☹. There was not a lot of yard work being done in May - it was either too wet or too cold to do anything ☹. However, June has started off nicely – there have been a few cool nights but for the most part the temperature has been averaging 20C with a couple of days reaching 27C 😊. The grass is nice and green, the trees have fully leafed, Kelly has planted flowers and done a lot of gardening, and I have been able to tractor and mow the property a few times 😊. The home and property look amazing 😊. The fields nearby have been tilled and planted – this year for a change most of the local farmers have planted wheat but there is still plenty of corn fields to go around 😊. There have been lots of animal and bird sightings over the last couple of weeks – many deer, rabbits, squirrels, turkey vultures, red wing blackbirds, geese… and … a turtle!! Not sure where he came from but he left in a hurry… over the fence with help from a shovel 😊. In less than 2 months Kelly and I will be on our Alaskan cruise; it’s only a 7 day one but it should be fairly exciting – we have already booked our excursions and our specialty meals onboard the Konigsdam 😊. .. And 3 ½ months after that will be our 12 day cruise onboard the Zaandam to the Sea of Cortez and the Mexican Riviera, with 3 ports of call that we haven’t been to yet 😊.
The ceasefire attempts in the Ukraine / Russia war continue to be a joke. Putin continues to delay any ceasefire by pretending to accede to U.S. requests. The 3 day ceasefire over their Victory Day celebrations on May 9th saw Russia committing hundreds of violations and attacks. There have been two meetings in Istanbul to negotiate a permanent ceasefire. Both meetings were delaying tactics by Putin in order to avoid horrific tariffs imposed by the U.S. on countries doing business with Russia. Both meetings had Russia reiterating their impossible demands for peace. Trump is getting increasingly disillusioned with Putin as Putin has no intention of acceding to any ceasefire; he is just buying time to rebuild the army and making plans for the future invasion of Europe – probably by attacking the Suwalki Gap in September. Belarus has been extremely quiet the last few months – and the Russians have been staging more troops and armament there. Russia has increased the number of drone attacks against Ukraine to over 400 a day, destroying civil infrastructure and indiscriminatingly killing civilians as well as combatants. Russia’s losses of dead and injured has risen just shy of 1 million military personnel!! Putin doesn’t care how many of his own people die in order to achieve his ambitions ☹. Russians uses brute force in war – Ukrainians use their brains . Meanwhile, Ukraine has had a lot of success in destroying military targets in Russia on June 1 a Trojan Horse operation, 18 months in the planning, had 4 Russian airfields thousands of miles apart simultaneously attacked by drones hidden in trucks that resulted in over 40 Russian aircraft being destroyed or damaged – for a loss of $7 billion U.S.!! 😊 The Kerch Strait Bridge was attacked for the 3rd time in two years and was rocked by explosions that shut the bridge down for days. In the last couple of days they have attacked Moscow with drones, as well as destroying radar systems in Kursk and Crimea. Two attacks on trains resulted in over 100 armored vehicles being destroyed. Ukraine has been domestically creating their own long range missiles with the help of Germany – they are expected to be used this summer and won’t need permission to use them deep into Russia as they are produced at home. Zelensky has been invited to the Nato Summit as well as the G7 conference being held next week in Canada – it should be interesting to see the results of those meetings.
President Donald Trump continues to amaze, stupefy, and wonder about his mental stability with his antics. He has cut off all funding to Harvard University and forbidden new international students to register. He has imposed the 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. He has allowed ICE to forcibly detain and extradite foreign national to El Salvador. He has called in the California National Guard to put down protests in Los Angeles caused by the ICE arrests and deportation and threatened to arrest the governor of California Grant Newsom. In other Trump news ….. ah, forget it – it’s impossible to keep up with the idiotic antics of this clown…yes, I said it – the President of the United States is a clown ….and all he’s doing is making the lives of millions of workers miserable.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has just announced that Canada will meet the NATO goal of 2% of a nations GDP by the end of March 2026. Canada will also be incorporating the Canadian Coast Guard into it’s armed forces.
The tragedy of the war in the Middle East is still ongoing – Israeli forces have displaced 90% of the population of Gaza and have transformed more than 50% of it’s territory into a buffer zone☹. More than 55,000 people have been killed since the start of the war and over 127,000 wounded ☹.
Although the weather was cold and miserable smoking and BBQing still went on: Smoked Leg of Lamb; Double Smoked Ham; Steaks; Smoked Meat Loaf; Hamburgers; and Sausages. …And the usual fare: Chicken Curries; Smoked Meat and Chicken Paninis; Sausages with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes; Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple; Yucatan Pork with Salsa Verde; Pork Pad Thai, Veracruz Fish Tortillas; Feta and Spinach Ravioli; Oven Baked Salmon with Asparagus; Beef Rendang; and many others 😊
On the Netflix front: I watched Season 1 of ‘Rotten Legacy’, a Spanish crime mystery drama starring Jose Coronado (of ‘Wrong Side of the Tracks’). It’s about a media mogul who after being absent from the business for 2 years of cancer treatment tries to rectify the problems caused by his children. It’s very similar to ‘Succession’ and even better acted and more enjoyable. We finished watching all 5 seasons of ‘You’, the show continued to explore themes of manipulation, obsession, kidnapping and murder. The final season wrapped up all the loose ends from previous seasons – it had a rather lame ending that dragged on a bit, but it was for the most part well written and acted, with lots of twists and turns along the way. We watched Season 1 of ‘The Gardener’, a Spanish murder / assassin series about a local gardener Elmer, who after a childhood accident left him void of emotions made him the perfect accomplice for his mother, China, who runs a murder-for-hire business. Elmer is able to kill people without emotion but when he unexpectedly falls in love with his next target, problems start to arise. Well acted and written with a few twists along the way, ‘The Gardener’ was truly enjoyable to watch. …And there will be a Season 2. On the lighter side we watched Season 4 of ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ a Prime series that follows Jeremy Clarkson, a motoring journalist and the host of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ in Britain, as he tries to develop a 1000 acre farm that he bought in the south of England. Many misadventures, as he knows nothing about farming, but extremely humorous with his exploits. He is also credited with bringing awareness to the public about the plight of farms and farmers in recent years. Season 4 is primarily about his efforts to restore an old bar and restaurant but also about the troubles with recent floodings in the south of England. Thoroughly enjoyable to watch we can’t wait for Season 5. We are currently watching ‘Sullivan’s Crossing’, a drama about a neurosurgeon, Maggie Sullivan, who after a medical scandal in Boston causes her to leave her professional life behind, reconnects with her small-town past in Nova Scotia. I call it Nova Scotian Telenovela, but not as corny as the Mexican ones 😊. It’s supposed to be set in ‘Sullivan’s Crossing’, a fictional campground run by Maggie’s father, Sully. They haven’t seen each other since her mother left Sully when Maggie was 15 years old and moved to Boston. A bit of a tearjerker but well acted and scripted we thoroughly enjoyed watching the series. The fictional Sullivan’s Crossing is beautifully filmed using footage from several areas in Nova Scotia – Halifax, Dartmouth, Beaverbank, and lovely aerial scenes from Lawrencetown Beach, Mahone Bay, Peggy’s Cove, and Eastern Passage. Robyn Carr, who wrote the 5 novels that Sullivan’s Crossing is based on is also the author of the 22 novels that ‘Virgin River’ is based on.
On to Sports:
On the NHL front – It’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers in a rematch from last year that the Panthers won in game 7. The first game of this series had the Oilers beating the Panthers in overtime and the second game had the Panthers winning in double overtime, and in the third game Panthers whomped the Oilers 6 – 1 – the series has Florida ahead 2-1 😊.
On the MLB front – 61 games into the regular season and the Toronto Blue Jays are 35 – 30 and tied for second place with Tampa Bay 4 1/2 games behind league leader New York Yankees. In the AL West it’s Seattle in second place 33-31, 2 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros.
On to golf … The Truist Championship in Philadelphia was held at the beginning of May – 3 Canadians were entered: Corey Connors (T11), Nick Taylor(T17) and Adam Hadwin (T60). The PGA Championship had two Canadians making the cut: Taylor Pendrith (T5 for $617K U.S.) and Corey Connors (T19 for $193K U.S.). The Charles Schwab Challenge only had two Canadians making the cut: Adam Svensson and Ben Silverman. The Memorial Tournament was held last week in Dublin, Ohio – notable Canadians were Nick Taylor (4th place for $1M U.S.) and Taylor Pendrith (T12 for $415K U.S.). This week was the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto – 23 Canadians took part, with 8 making the cut – top Canadians were Nick Taylor (T13) and Corey Connors, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith – all tied for 27th for $64K U.S. 😊. Ryan Fox of New Zealand won for $1.7M U.S. – it was his second career win in the last month 😊. The 125th U.S. Open will be played later this week in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Four Canadians will take part – Connors, Hughes, Pendrith, and Taylor 😊.
NFL news – not a lot going on until training camps begin. Oh, Aaron Rogers has finally become a Pittsburgh Steeler... but then again, who cares 😁.
Have a great and safe month … we will see you in a bit!! 😊