Down By The Bay in Huntsville

Well, actually it's not a bay but there were boats going up and down the channel as we sat outside having our dinner. Aside from the yellow jackets we were battling a couple of times, the ambiance was perfect. I took a couple of iPhone pictures. My unfamiliarity with my phone is hardly noticeable at all. Lovely shot of Ron, though.

We're here for his conference and I'm tagging along, using the time to write, revise, blog, tweet, FB, link in, go for walks and watch the leaves turn these lovely fall days.  Here is the lovely writing spot I have here.  Hard not to be inspired.

 And the leaves are turning early this year, the lady who just cleaned my room told me.  Lucky for us!

From here we're off to visit our daughter's family and that means our granddaughter, too.  Life is sweet, isn't it?

Great Lakes Helicopter and Me!

Okay so we finally used our coupons to go to Great Lakes Helicopter near Breslau last Friday evening.  I insisted on sitting beside the pilot and couldn't get the smile off my face the whole trip.  That's about 15 minutes of non-stop flying and smiling.  Ron and Donna liked it, too, but I think I get the prize for being over-the-top excited.  Here are some of the pictures.

 Our pilot, Alain Blais, looks like he is wondering if he should actually take this crazy trio up.
  Luckily, he did.  Here I am waiting to go.

 Ron was in the rear seat with Donna.

 She wasn't sure about this but did just fine and said she really enjoyed it.  Of course that was after we were safely back on terra firma!

 Who knew there was a new road and bridge going in not far from the Kitchener airport?  Now I know why the police can spot those nasty crops by doing their flyovers.

 If I knew what these dials all meant I might write about it.  I was just glad Alain was so proficient.

 The golf clubs were awesome from above.  Maybe this is Whistlebear?

 And we got many beautiful views of the Grand River, aptly named.  I was also surprised by how many beautiful trees we have.  You just don't see them from the ground.

After the ride we did dinner at Wildcraft, an excellent but pricey restaurant on King St. N. in Waterloo.  Great outing!

Five Favorite Pictures from Last Week

Okay, this first picture is shameless and gratuitous--I took it because it was lovely but can't remember where I was.  Description?  I have none. Pretty, though, isn't it?

Now this one is under the big tent at Singing Brook Farm on the final day of a week long camp.  The children present to their parents and other hangers-on, like me.  It is always a lot of fun.

This is an alpaca having a holiday at Singing Brook Farm during the summer camp season.  She is pretty and pretty friendly.  My grandson, Ben, loved feeding her fresh grass which he ripped out of the ground around her pen.

The alpaca's hair is very soft.  No wonder yarn is made from cuttings.

This little lady stands about three feet tall and keeps moving constantly.  I had quite a time getting any good photos!

Next summer the camp at Singing Brook Farm will be moving as Linda and Steve have sold their farm.  I look forward to the new venue although I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for this lovely 50 acres.  Bonne chance, Tempo!

The Forty-Five!

Yesterday was our forty-fifth wedding anniversary and we survived.  All the little age references, the relationship jokes, the snide chuckles all blew away in the instant when we remembered, just we two, our lovely life together.

With sister, Linda, and her hubby, whose day was the day before, we took off for a mini holiday.  And we visited yet another sister starring in 2 Across in Port Colborne's Showboat Theatre.

Check out my review of Donna's current show and find out why she is in such demand as an actor this year.  Lovely time away seeing two sisters and having fun.

Beaching in Victoria in February

Last week we got back from a two-week stay with our daughter and her family. Here are some of the pics from a cloudy, cool day when we were pushing the beach season. Grandpa has had many sand-castle building years to prepare for his role with his granddaughter. Here they are just getting started. Before long we had trenches winding over twenty feet. Chelsea loved them.



While they were building I turned my attention to the many others sharing the beach space that day. This couple were mixing dog-walking and coffee drinking. Looked good.


There was a sailing class in the bay, each boat doing its turns, heedless of the cloudy skies.


Yet another dog person had a thrower for tossing the balls to his two dogs. The dogs got lots of exercise. He was pretty laid back, ambling along in front of my lens.

I turned back to the builders and got this long shot.


We all went home happy that we had done the first rite of summer even though the actual season is far off in Australia or some place. Certainly not in Victoria this year.

What to do in Winter

On Saturday last a number of horse people (their major hobby is horses) and a lot of horse lovers got together for the annual sleigh ride afternoon at my brother's farm. A biting wind this year kept the numbers down a bit but the effort was well worth while for those who made it.

Here Steve waits while my grandson (two years old) and his entourage climb on for the next ride:



A number of the nannies that look after my son's boy and other children in his neighborhood went along for the ride. And they loved it. Most are from the Phillipines so are not used to this cold but we gave them a taste of Ontario's winter and a wonderful thing to do out in the cold.

Back at the drive barn after the ride people ate and drank hot drinks, all provided on a bring-your-own-and-share basis. Warmth was more important than fashion that day as my sister showed with this hat which was my father's many long years ago.


Other favorite pastimes during our Canadian winter are fixing up the house, the basement or the garage or working on hobbies. Here Ron has just completed building a kit in which to store his tools and bits and pieces of fix-it things. He is a happy camper.



Of course the question is, will he keep it all neat and tidy once he is finished the new storage place? Oh, well. That brings to mind another winter job for him.

Four Girls

I have three sisters about whom I've written before in this blog. Today I was skimming pictures on my computer and came across this one taken last October at a wedding. We try to get our picture taken together at every event we can.

With the youngest, Donna, being an actor/musician, getting together is less often than we'd all like. She was in Regina for almost three months on her last gig and I missed her.

Linda--she's not sleeping, honest!--is also a musician and performs when she can take time out from her private teaching. She is also in love with their sons, their farm and their horses.

Joyce is closest to my age but still much younger although I always introduce her as my older sister. She is a nurse and the mother of four, with the youngest now in Grade Ten.

And that leaves me, the oldest and best, I tell them. My greatest success in my life is my two children but I am also happy to have been a teacher of French, English and Computers over my high school teaching career. And equally happy to be finished with that, retired and writing my historical novel.

We are all happily married and in love with life. I celebrate my times with my sisters, each of whom I can always count on. How lucky am I!

Images of Christmas at Our House

It's Christmas. That hap-happiest time of the year. And I thought I'd show some shots of our house. Enjoy the glitz and glimmer, the shine and shimmer, the best of the season from our house to yours.











And, yes, although many will have a 'holiday' over this time, I'm still wishing one and all a Merry Christmas.

Bits and Pieces

Today's blog is about a number of things on my mind. The nastiness of flying is first. We just came back from a week's trip to Orlando (not my favorite place in the world but I'll go anywhere with my grandkids) so are fresh from the flying experience. This was almost the worst. We went with Spirit as they are cheap and we thought we'd give them a try. Never again. Row 9 we had, both going and coming back. Well, the seats in row 9 don't recline at all and have about 4" less leg room. My short legs almost hit the seat in front so you can guess how uncomfortable my long-legged spouse was. When the man ahead started to put his seat back my quiet, unassuming husband told him there was no room for that. Luckily the man was nice and acquiesced. I'm not sure why we ended up with this extra short space but we had it coming back, too.

And they didn't serve water even! What a cheap flight. Flying makes you dry. I can hardly believe that it's not mandated to serve a beverage of some kind. Of course the flight attendants were up and down the aisles trying to sell earphones and mixed drinks. Going down my carry-on bag was just fine but coming back we had to pay an extra $30 for it. Make sense? No, but the passenger has no recourse.

Our son told of his friend's parents who flew out of Toronto a few weeks ago. When the elderly man who rarely flies got to security, they immediately took him to an open cubicle where everyone could see what was happening and did a strip search. Now I don't know if they did a cavity search or not but still he must have been mortified. I am appalled that our flying world has become so crass.

In fact, crossing the "longest undefended border in the world" is a pain. A couple of weeks ago my friend and I went to Port Huron for a couple of days shopping. When we got to the border we were excited that there was no lineup. I waited till the car in front was done and pulled ahead. One of the attendants went from his booth over to my person's booth, frantically waving for me to stop. I did. Half way between the original stop and the booth. He left my person's booth, glared at me again and went back to his booth. I sat for a couple of minutes, unsure what to do. Finally I could see the person sitting there waiting for me so I pulled up the remaining ten feet. She jumped up from her chair and screamed at me that I was to wait till I got the signal to approach. Then she went back into her booth and sat on her chair for another two minutes before coming out again. She didn't appear to be doing anything, not even looking at her monitor. Finally she came out and gave me the third degree, yelling that I was not supposed to move ahead till given the signal. Well there is no signal but the stop sign and the green light, both of which I had obeyed. Long story short she was on a power trip. They weren't busy so she could try to frighten me. I answered her questions in monosyllables and gradually she softened up. When I pulled away I was seething. She had no reason to treat me so poorly. Power trip. That's all it was.

Well now that I've got myself reliving the anger I think it's time to get back to being positive and upbeat. Here is a picture of Grandpa teasing Ben in Florida. We had a wonderful time swimming with the little guy and playing lots of games. We babysat three different afternoons so that his parents could go off on their own and we loved it.


Everywhere we went Ben found interesting things. Here he loved using the sandwich board as a little house.

Florida is not our favorite place because of the chance of high humidity. We had five days of it this trip so came to worship the air conditioning. The last two days were cooler with fresh dry air. I was ecstatic. Nevertheless playing with our family in the pools was a highlight we'll always remember. These are the great bits of life.

For today, at least, we've waved good-bye to the oppressive heat and humidity which has ground us all to a halt here in sunny southern Ontario. My husband was off to a morning breakfast before work so I got up and walked before 8 o'clock by myself . It was actually cool! I hoofed along for 35 minutes at a good pace without needing to slow down and get my breath. Guess the air quality is better, too.

Here are Beth and Chelsea discovering the kids' water playground on Vansittart Ave. We enjoyed watching Chelsea and Ben inch into the spray for the first time.


This has been such a hot summer that places like this are always busy but not too busy.

Good Times and Great Kids

While Beth and Chelsea were here we had great firsts with our lovely granddaughter. Here is a shot Beth took of Chelsea feeding the ducks corn for her first time. She loved it and I loved that she did what I told her and threw the corn as far as she could towards the ducks in Southside Park.


Here is our trooper, Ben, shoveling dirt into the wheelbarrow to help his dad. Pretty good for a 21-month-old!


And here he is just before he ran into the spraying water to our great delight. Ben is a happy boy, ready to try almost anything if his Dad is around. (He was.)

On a picnic lunch trip to Stratford, Beth and Chelsea watch the ducks and swans in the Avon River, a favorite place of ours.

There really is nothing like the joy in my heart watching my kids parent their children. It's the best and most important job in the world, so I'm happy they and their spouses are such good parents.

Buddy Holly in Charlottetown in July

Wow! We just came back from the East coast and the trip was all good. From Oshawa's Parkview, the home of Sam McLaughlin of General Motors fame, to walking along the water in downtown Kingston, the trip was great. We spent a glorious three hours in Quebec City reliving past trips there as we walked the old town section and watched the horse and carriage drivers ply their trade. This time we enjoyed the boardwalk along the St. Lawrence where we stood and looked down to the dug-out sections of history opened up for all to see.




My husband and I love a car trip. We make homemade bits 'n' bites and pack our Koolatron with pop, water bottles, a veggie tray, La Vache Qui Rit cheese, a paring knife and some fruit, which we replenish as we go along. Two kinds of crackers, some healthy bars, a couple of packages of dark chocolate covered blueberries and we're set to go for hours. Along the way we visit grocery stores and replenish as needed. And we eat at least one meal out every day. It's all good.

When we reached Prince Edward Island we found our hotel near Cavendish and the relaxed part of the trip started. It was nestled in the beautifully green countryside, a large acreage with the main hotel and individual cottages and lawns which crept down to the shore of a large lake.

After settling in we made the half hour trek to Charlottetown, picked up our tickets at the box office and settled into our great seats. The Buddy Holly Story started with a ranting preacher decrying rock and roll music from his elevated perch almost in the rafters. He was great and we chuckled, all the more so as he was played by my brother-in-law, Rick Hughes.

Soon after, my sister, Donna Garner, waltzed across the stage, immediately grabbing laughs as Vi Petty. Both Rick and Donna play several parts in the show as do other characters.
Well we loved the whole thing. Jeff Giles as Buddy was a powerhouse and really brought Buddy to life. On stage so much of the time this might not have been difficult but all the other characters did the same thing. The audience totally related to this cast.

When the show was over we got to see Donna and Rick and relive the event with them. Awesome. Really. No, really, the whole night was amazing. We talked about it all the way back to our hotel. Theatre isn't always so rewarding. I remember a certain production of Othello at Stratford whose second act we didn't go back to see as the first was so bad. But this show was a lot of fun created by extremely talented actors.

The next day we lounged on the deck at our country inn with Donna and Rick, barbecued at their place that evening with John and Susan added to the group and then went to Cirque du Soleil. We sat on the grass out in the park on a lovely summer's night and watched the huge screen and stage in the dark. Very cool. I mean neat, not cold. Except for sitting on the ground for two hours. That was painful and my joints complained for one hour and fifty minutes of the time.

So the next day we took the ferry over to Nova Scotia and drove to Cape Breton. Rita McNeil's tea room was a hit--we met her son--and the food was scrumptious. The day following we toured the fortress at Louisburg, finally, after missing it on our previous trips to Nova Scotia. The little restaurant in Louisburg served up some fine clam chowder and a delicious lobster-on-a-bun which satisfied my need for Atlantic seafood. Ron had fish and chips and said it was superb. He is ever ready to let me have my crab legs or lobster tails as long as he can just have fish and chips. A keeper, that one.

At Glace Bay Marconi's four towers were intriguing to us, enough that we detoured and walked where he had walked as we learned more about his stunning achievement.

We visited my nephew and his wife, expecting their first child, at Oromocto where they live, another wonderful mix of family catch-up and tourist tripping down east. A long day's drive through Quebec and we stayed at a favorite hotel in Cornwall before heading home to Ontario. We managed to mix stops and goes pretty well, with only one day which was mostly driving. This is a marvelous country we live in and the five thousand kilometers we added to our car's odometer allowed us to see it again. O Canada! My home and native land.

Flora, Fauna and People

This photo commemorates our trip to Victoria, specifically Sidney's Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. This is an octopus and marks the first time I have ever seen this creature at all, let alone up close and personal.

The octopus filled the tube over our walkway at times or maneuvred its way from tank to beautiful tank, all for our amazement. Ron, Beth, Chelsea and I loved it. Below are more colourful examples of the aquarium's sea life.

And you have to realize that the colours are not plastic reproductions floating among the fish, but real sea creatures themselves. I could have sat there on a chair and watched all day. So calming.

In Arizona I accompanied Beth's family to the zoo one fine morning. The sea turtles were busy lumbering from place to place in their enclosure. I liked how close all of the animals were in this Phoenix zoo.

These lovebirds showed their tails for us, a jubilant splash of colour among the green leaves.

It seemed to be a day of butt pictures. Chelsea liked these camels and I did, too, although none of us were inclined to climb on. They were very smelly, a state I've been told is their natural one.

These sea otters caught my attention as they dashed in and out of the hollow logs in their enclosure. I love the soft green water accenting their wet, dark fur.

A highlight of our trip was feeding the giraffes, with the help of a knowledgeable volunteer. What a great thing for seniors to do. We all fed the hungry fellow, except Chelsea, who was more content to watch closely.

These are some kind of cows or cow relatives but I liked the red plant in the foreground. Thought it added some kick to the pic.

Javelinas! Up close and wide awake for us. Reminded me of my encounter with them on one of our walks in Tucson when visiting Aunt Nancy. These were less scary as they were penned up.

Arizona sunsets are spectacular and we saw quite a few during our three weeks there. This overlooks our timeshare from our balcony.

You'll probably notice there was no picture of shopping, which fact tells you we much prefer nature although some of the shopping areas are pretty beautiful. The best scenario is lots of nature to enjoy with my best people.