June 30 update

OK, new week, new update of to-do list:

- work on knitting project (H)
- finish putting mulch on flower beds (H)
- go to RA Centre / bike (H)
- send regrets to b'day party (H)
- practice ATM B6 presentation (July 8) (H/W)
- contact "coach" (H/W)
- when receive appointment, talk to Director re: Performance Feedback Report (W)
- continue preparing for "Workout" on July 4 - implementation plan for shared drive (W)

Happy Canada Day tomorrow!

June 21 to-dos

OK, new week, semi-new to-do list:

- work on knitting project (H)
- finish putting mulch on flower beds (H)
- go to RA Centre / bike (H)
- send regrets to b'day party (H)
- prepare for sausage party - food, clean spare bedrooma, tidy front of house, tidy back of house, tidy main floora (H)
- go to Market and buy maple syrup (H) a
- self-groom (legs, etc.) (H) a
- practice ATM B6 presentation (July 8) (H/W)
- if receive info, contact "coach" (H/W)
- if receive appointment, talk to Director re: Performance Feedback Report (W)
- finish/send note for Workout (W)

That should get me through the sausage party, then some!

To-do list and Forestry meeting

Well, I've just updated my to-do list from this week. I got quite a bit done. I'm on a bit of a roll. Gotta keep it going. Another to-do list for another week:

- work on knitting project (H) a
- finish putting mulch on flower beds (H)
- balance chequebook (again) (H) a
- go to RA Centre / bike (H)
- call Mannatech to see about exchanging order(s) (H) a
- box up and send back (H) a
- send regrets to b'day party (H)
- prepare for sausage party (H) a
- practice ATM B5 presentation (June 17) (H/W) a
- find "coach" (H/W) a
- prepare Performance Feedback Report (W) a
- finish/send note for Workout (W)
(updated June 21)

Today, I was away from the office for a while. I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Valley Section of the Canadian Institute of Forestry. It was held at the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA). This is a very new and interesting building near the Rideau River south of Ottawa.

3 guest speakers discussed various aspects of "The Green Building Movement; what will it mean for sustainable forestry". The first speaker was from the Canadian Wood Council and spoke about their program, "wood works!".

Did you know:
- that approximately 1 tonne, or the equivalent of 6 weeks household electrcity consumption, or one-half the mass of the wood is stored in a single cubic meter piece of dry wood?
- that only 10% of the world's forests are certified, but 40% of the world's certified forests are in Canada?
- that only 0.5% of Canada' forest land base is regularly harvested?

These were all tidbits of information provided by the Canadian Wood Council.

Then a speaker from Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, spoke about "Greening Building Systems and Wood". That talk was also interesting.

Finally, a speaker from the City of Ottawa spoke about policies and projects in the City of Ottawa relating to the same topic.

After lunch, we heard a talk from the architect of the RVCA, which is such a "green building". We also heard about the MEC store in Ottawa, designed by the same firm. Both of these buildings have quite unique, interesting and environmentally-friendly features and elements.

A fascinating area!

OK. A while ago I decided to use this as a place to store some photos of projects I have done. I think now I'll add a to-do list.
For this week:
- finish CNIB canvassing a
- work on knitting project a
- finish putting mulch on flower beds
- balance chequebook a
- record investments a
- tidy house a
- practice French presentation (June 10) a
- practice ATM B5 presentation (June 17)

Well, that should do for now. Perhaps I'll get started!

a Updated as of Thursday, June 12.

June 2008 Update

OK. I should have incorporated something about our lamb roast closer to the May long weekend. However, better late than never.

In October 2007, I called a number of lamb suppliers in the neighbourhood of Ottawa. One of them called me back so I said I would like to buy a lamb to roast on the May long weekend. The lamb supplier agreed to phone back May 1, 2008.

May 1, a Thursday, rolls around and no word from the lamb supplier. I finally phoned them on Sunday, May 4. Turns out that because Easter was early this year (March), they had already sold a bunch of lambs. They would call be back in a week to let me know.

As Easter was early this year, so was the May long weekend, and it was fast approaching by this time. Finally, the lamb supplier phoned back and I made arrangements to pick up the lamb on Sunday, May 18.

This was a bit of a stretch, since my husband and I were planning to head to our cottage, about 1.5 hours southwest of Ottawa. This picture was taken March 1, 2008, and was the most recently I had seen the cottage before heading there in May!

In any case, one of the other cottage owners and I headed off pretty early on Sunday, May 18, to pick up our lamb. My driving partner is actually from the Ottawa area, so we were able to navigate cross-country and find our lamb producer in Russel, Ontario.

We had intended to marinate the lamb in a big plastic container and a lovely mixture of citrus juices, garlic, rosemary, red wine, and olive oil. We took the plastic container and some sheets, but we forgot the marinade! Oops! Oh well, we figured it out about 20 minutes from the cottage and decided we'd have some time between arriving back with the lamb and finalizing the details of the spit, so we kept going.

We made good time and were at the producer's by about 10:15 a.m. The producer brought out the lamb, we wrapped it in a sheet, I paid the bill, we finished stretching our legs and hopped back in the car for the drive back to the cottage.

All this time on Sunday, May 18, the weather was quite lovely and the sun was shining. By the time we got back to the cottage, things were starting to deteriorate. Still, our friends had been busy preparing the cooking site. We popped the lamb in the marinade and prepared some sandwiches for a late lunch.

Soon after that, it was time for the spit guys to spring into action. Gardner and Steve had also spent quite a bit of time during evenings during the previous week to prepare the spit and come up with a plan. It was time to implement that plan!


I soon started to notice a lovely scent wafting around the general area. The lamb smelled really good!

OK, that should be good. time to get that baby off and start carving it up!

Well, that went pretty well, I thought. I would love to do it again, but maybe just with a few lamb roasts - as suggested by someone who did a few of these in his day, there is a bit of waste and it's a bit of work.