We got home this afternoon just before lunch. The flight from Boston was blue sky and clear. We flew low so we could see the trees turning colors through New England. We flew right over Niagara Falls, Welland canal and virtually right over our house. It was so neat. The prompter on the plane said snow in Calgary so when I logged onto the blog I went straight to the webcam and screamed. I feel sorry for you guys out west. I am still on Collo Lungo time, speed, warm weather and euphoria. Lets see how long this lasts.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Gillier’s. What a lovely weekend we have had! Lots of fun with family and friends.

Laura had a double feature movie, pizza/wing night with her friends on Friday. We did yard work on Saturday, grocery shopping and I made a delicious salmon meal that was inspired from a cooking show on Food network.
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Brian got his braces off today. He is thrilled and has his wonderful smile once again. He will have to wear a retainer at bedtime for awhile so that his teeth do not shift around. One more thing to get used to. Stephen’s have already shifted slightly on the bottom with his Wisdom teeth erupting.

Today I ventured to Square One to get my hair cut and styled at the famous Donato’s Salon (they win all the awards). I had reserved for the discovering new talent promotion where the new stylists offer hair cuts for 20$ trying to drum up new business. What do you think? Notice that I am no longer brown/blonde/grey. I’m ready for my trip now.

All summer we have had some suspicion that there was a critter visiting or living in our garage. The boxes had been tossed about that had been (ahem) neatly stacked. Peters hockey bag was soaking wet, paw prints on everything and the garage door gnawed on. Well this afternoon I confronted a teenaged, very shy racoon. He was rummaging around in empty buckets for what I guessed, water. So I went into the house and filled a bucket full of water and when I splashed around in it a bit with my hand, he quickly appeared and wanted some. Now does anyone have a trick to lure him out and to stay out. I heard once he is out to spray a solution of pine sol around the property and garage door entrances?

Last night we celebrated a belated Greek Olympic dinner in honour of our Canadian athletes. I arrived decked out in a toga, olive branch head wreath, a medal around my neck (it wasn’t the gold!) and delighting all with my sweet aromatic baklava. What a hoot and the weather was glorious last night, 21?C to sit out under the stars with only a pashmyna scarf to cover ones bare shoulders from the nip of the night air. The wine and Oozo also helped. We start off with a champagne bottle of Labatts beer, pressurized cap and all to celebrate our Canadian athletes. We really needed the cold beer to quench our thirst and to beat the humidity and heat of the early evening. Can you believe this Indian Summer we are having?
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This afternoon Laura and I met Irene on the terrace for a lovely pork roast meal, catered by Roesch Meats and More. We brought our appitites plus our jackets as the evening air started to chill once the sun began to get low in the sky. Irene had a good time in the outdoors and all the people. She gobbled down her meal. The tomatoes were huge, the pork shred into nice bite size pieces for Irene and the baked potatoes just right. There was a 3 foot cake and vanilla ice cream to top everything off.

Steve and Peter got a chance the other day to play in the Toronto Skydome. They both play for the Ontario Blue Jays or often referred to as the Jr Jays. Steve is a pitcher and a center fielder for the 17yr old team and Pete is a catcher for the 16 and under team. Nick took the afternoon off work as did Uncle Gig, Auntie Cindy and Meme . Family are the most loyal fans. We were so proud of them and they were thrilled to wear the uniform and walk in the footsteps of their heroes. The boys were scouted to play on this team and hopefully they will enjoy the ride.

Who said there was no hockey. Not in our household. The new season has begun and it is overlapping with the winter baseball program. Today the boys are in a tournament and they came home to air and dry out their equipment in the late afternoon sun. Their next game is tonight at 9:45pm. They better gather everything into their bags before it gets dark, otherwise they may miss something and have a surprise at the arena realizing that their jersey is still draped across the hot tub. Can you imagine this is usually what my living room looks like after each game in the winter. The smell is unbearable too.

AHHHHH! The “Gillier Pond” has an unwanted visitor! Tonight while I was outside checking the pond, a muskrat popped out of the water right at hands length as I leaned over to move a water hyacinth. It scared the bejezzes out of me. Jackie came running to see what the ruckus was about. I do not know who was scared the most? It scurring across the deck into the dark.
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