Sunday afternoon around 5 p.m. Vinton got hit with a severe thunderstorm. We could hear thunder, that low rumbling kind, for quite awhile and I guess it was warning us of the impending danger. The sun was out and shining brightly then all of a sudden the clouds opened up and a torrent of rain came crashing down.

Then we started hearing the hail hitting the windows and roof.  At first it was just regular pea size hail and then all hell broke loose. It started pounding at the cars, windows and my poor garden. The hail just kept getting bigger and bigger. Some were the size of ice cubes and you should have heard the noise they were making on my tin roof.  By now the thunder was so loud it shook the house and of course the wind contributed to the frenzy of the storm. 

I’m so glad my cousin Earl Mayhew and his wife Betty were visiting me so I wasn’t alone. I was really scared. I’ve never seen hail that size in my life.  We were just finishing supper when it hit and it was raining so hard that I couldn’t see across the road to Shirley’s. It knocked a few trees down and flattened a lot of my garden.

The storm kept going south and apparently did a lot of damage around Luskville/Breckonridge area. On his way back home to Aylmer,  Earl said that it looked like a little tornado went through there. At least we were spared that. 

I had a very busy weekend. Everyone who came to visit me, all have had their second covid shots and none of them grew tails and all seemed quite normal. On Saturday, Aunt Betty Mayhew and Gilbert Sparling came from Otter Lake and Cheryl Mayhew and Dennis O ‘Connor from  Manotick arrived shortly after. 

I had invited them all to come for lunch to celebrate Cheryl’s birthday. 

I made cabbage rolls but I used beet leaves instead of cabbage leaves to roll them.  That’s a great way to make them for those people that don’t like cabbage. I also made zucchini medallions with Parmesan and garlic. Earlier that morning Karen Stevenson had brought me a grocery bag full of beans because her garden produced two big roast pans full.  She knew I was getting company so she generously gave me the beans. What great friends and neighbours I have. So of course they got put on the menu. I also had baked  homemade buns that morning. 

For those of you that follow me on FB you can see that my garden is producing these massive size radishes. I pulled one Sunday that was the size of an apple and barely fit in the palm of my hand. They are not woody or wormy and have no blemishes. I have never seen anything like it before. Usually when they get big they get woody and tough. These are perfect. 

Cheryl and Dennis brought me a dozen cobs of corn fresh from the Manotick farms. But that’s for later. 

For dessert I made a Black Forest cake which is Cheryl’s favorite. She was in heaven. Later on when they were leaving I loaded them up with fresh zucchini and leftovers. I had the cake in a large Tupperware container and I told her to take the cake and container home with her and that she could keep the container. She was so happy to get it and I was happy to give it to her. 

After everyone left I got another visitor, Sharon Crawford. We went over and visited with Randy and Karen and then came home, had a snack and called it a night. Sharon had to leave early the next morning. 

My sister Norma Facetimed me and I could see the smoke outside.  She lives about an hour away from Oysoyus where the fires are quite intense. She told me that they have  lost communications through tv and Internet. Her town of Midway is being used as a refuge station now but everyone could be told to move on at any moment.  I’m so scared for her and everyone out there facing this eminent danger. 

Norma said that she has her travel van fuelled and stocked with food and can be ready to leave within the hour if need be.  All she has to do is grab her two cats Popeye and Olive, and she’s ready to go. This is her brand new home and she was just finishing all the landscaping. 

There is no sign of rain for the next week and the temperatures are in the high 30’s. Please pray for their safety. 

Later that day my cousin Earl Mayhew and his wife Betty came and spent the afternoon with me. I had picked carrots and radish that morning then I cooked the corn and yellow beans along with meatballs in gravy.  Blackberry tarts were for dessert. This is the first time I’ve seen them since the Pandemic started. Just as we were finishing supper the hailstorm started as I mentioned earlier. 

Randy and Karen had been out checking their fields when the storm hit and they parked their truck under a tree to get some sort of protection.  Karen videod  the hail hitting the truck and it was really terrifying inside the cab. They were yelling at each other so they could hear. She took  a few pictures of the hail on the bales and it looked liked snow. The sides of the roads were covered in hail and so was the hood of the truck. 

They came to check on me to see if I was ok  and they told me that there was a tree limb  from Doug’s place laying across the road that they would have to move. 

Weather is going crazy all over the world. 

Happy belated birthday wishes go out to Jessica Hill on July 11, Mavis Kluke on July 20, Julie Bertrand, Cindy Belland and Meghan Lunam on July 22, Margaret Lepack on July 23, Doug Sloan and Louise O’Brien on July  25, Derrick Hill and Cheryl Mayhew on July 26, Erin Lawn and Glenda Sloan on July 27. 

Upcoming birthdays are Jean-Guy Larriviere on July 29, Basil Belland on July 30, Marion Holland on Aug. 1, Brendan Sauriol on Aug. 2, Agnus Morin, Steve Mayhew, Sarah Ladouceur, and Leanne Vibert on Aug. 3. 

Happy anniversary wishes go out to Wendy and Lincoln Smith and Linda And Cletus Ferrigan on July 29, Min and Barry Belanger on July 30, Peggy and Ham Frost on Aug. 2, and Samantha and Patrick McCrank on Aug. 3.  

Hope you all have a great week. Please get your covid shot and prevent the fourth wave.