Weekend in Guelph

We just passed the May 24 weekend, which is the traditional time to garden. Last year we attempted a little sunflower patch which was unsuccessful, and this year we're trying the exact same thing! Slightly different location, we're trying in the backyard instead of the front, and we're doing different types. Last year we did standard sunflowers, I think Lemon Queen, and this year we're trying to grow purple ones and Teddy Bears

Lemon Queen

Teddy Bear

Purple

None of these are flowers we've grown, just examples. I think I got the purple seeds for Christmas and Lee-Anne picked the Teddy Bears.

We planted flower bulbs last year and they've grown decently this year. We just got through daffodil season and now we have tulips.

For the long weekend, we went to Guelph. To be honest, not much went according to plan. We weren't able to book a room at the hotel we wanted, so we got one at a Days Inn. That was fine, it was just a little further out so it made it harder to get to my mom and brother's place.

I forgot to bring my mom's mother day/birthday present which was earlier in the month.

We went to My Kitty Cafe, where my mom and brother adopted their cat Cassidy. I think the place is in an awkward inbetween state in terms of their COVID measures. Before the pandemic, it was a proper cafe where you could eat and drink in the presence of cats without a strict time restraint. In the pandemic, only one group could go in at a time and it was restricted to 50 minutes. Now, there is still a time limit, but multiple groups can go in if the total number of people is under 10. Including us, there were three groups with a total of seven people during our timeslot. I feel like the time limit incentivizes people to go after the cats' attention as much as possible, which was okay when it was just one group at a time, but with the relaxed occupancy rules, it causes the cats to be a little over socialized, making them more reserved.

We still had a good time

They write the names of all the cats that have been adopted on the walls. Apparently Cassidy was the 886th.

It was a Pokemon Go Community Day, and both my mom and brother are super into it so it was cool that we got to play it together. Except, we only made it a little way up the street when we heard a hideous roar from the wind and a violent storm suddenly descended on us, ripping a tree branch out right in front of us. We had to run all the way home and when we got back the power was out. Apparently a bunch of branches fell on a bunch of transformers. We found a candle and lit it, and I hung up my shirt because we couldn't dry it right away with the power out. Usually I stay at the house, which would mean I'd have a spare set of clothes, but this time all my stuff was at the hotel (luckily Lee-Anne was at the mall and sheltered).

Here's a pic of some torn out tree branches.

I figured this was just a Guelph thing but apparently it hit Kitchener just as bad. In fact, if we'd been at home we would have lost power as well. The cats didn't need it though.

We were going to explore my old neighbourhood, but I found myself unexpectedly busy with school (for some reason, we had something due on a Sunday over a long weekend). We did manage to visit the University of Guelph Campus, although not far enough to visit the Arboretum.

We did get to see the Guelph Gryphon statue