Canada U.S. bowling tournament

 We know our time down here is winding down when we have our Canada U.S. bowling tournament.

Canada won the first game and the U.S. took the second game. The plan was to play a third game to break the tie but the first two games seemed to take a long time and by then happy hour had begun so guess what we decided to do......!

I baked these at 6am before it got to hot to turn on the oven

 

Thanks for the flag Franca. It helped Nancy. She couldn't decide who to cheer for.

Waiting to begin

The U.S. cupcakes

The cheering section

The U.S. table 

Richard, the manager of the bowling lanes announcing that the tournament is about to begin

Sally, Sue and Pat

Shirley, Rita and Nancy

Guy and Chris

Team USA on the left, Team Canada on the right

Thanks for hosting another great tournament Richard

The trophies

The celebration after

Let the party begin!

Atlas 5

It was a beautiful clear evening on Tuesday when this Atlas 5 rocket launched with a record amount of cargo headed for the International Space Station.  It will arrived on Saturday just in time to bring the astronauts their Easter dinner. 

As I am sitting here looking at all the stuff we have amassed in the last four months and now have to load into our car it is difficult to say which cargo is the biggest!

Spring cleaning

While Olivier was washing Carole's car on the weekend to get ready for her trip to Myrtle Beach, this little guy came up the driveway to watch.

Maybe he was hoping for a little spring cleaning himself with some - wait for it-Turtle Wax!  

This little guy is called a Box Turtle

Hungry birds

We have learned to always hang our garbage on a metal plant hanger hook but sometimes that isn't enough to keep the hungry birds away. Our next door neighbours might have had quite a mess on their hands had we not come home when we did!

The birds were starting to line up - did someone say Alfred Hitchcock!

My Bunco 'sisters'

I've always loved Tuesday's here. We start the day by going to the Sunshine Bakery to have what Olivier calls the best morning glory muffins in the world with our friend Andy and many others who now join us from time to time. We end the day by going to Bingo, the big social event of the week, where we have once again this year come out ahead in terms of winning. 

But in the middle of the day I go for lunch with the nicest group of ladies ever  and then cross the street to The Patio to play Bunco, a fun and lively game played with dice.

My Bunco sisters!

Not everyone was smiling yesterday - I'm sure it's not because I won - again!!

Celebrate!

Lots of reasons to celebrate last night!

Two milestone birthdays and two retirements. 

This cake says it all!

Decorating all done. Just waiting for the guests of honour

Head table all full now

Olivier and Sue

Olivier and Vicky

Olivier and Mary

Pat building an M&M's tower. Don't ever try to steal chocolate from Sue. She'll catch you every time!

Love is in the air

Aligator mating season has begun. Hope this guy finds a buddy soon!

Falcon 9

Last night was the fifth attempt to launch the Falcon 9 rocket. After 4 delays due to weather and technical issues all week we didn't have much hope of it going up last night. We were at Nickel Bingo when we noticed people running out of the room towards the pool so we went too and sure enough the fifth time was the charm.

Unfortunately SpaceX was unable to land the booster on a barge in the ocean again but the communications satellite itself was sent into orbit 25,000 miles up (100 times higher than the International Space Station) and and now 22 million people in Southeast Asia have better television and Internet service. Not bad at all!

Seconds after takeoff.

It was a very clear night.

The vapour stream on the right is the booster rocket coming back.

Happy Hour(s)

 After bowling on Monday Joanne and Guy invited us over for 'happy hour' so we would have a chance to see Linda who came back to visit. This time she brought her husband Richard.
Of course 'hour' turned out to be just an expression!

Linda didn't quite make it!