Visits - Emergency & Old Friends

More rain again last night until early this morning but again it wasn’t raining when I got up so we were able to get our walks without getting soaked.

By the way, here’s the link to photos of Nick’s graduation on Gordon’s pbase site:
http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/nicks_graduation.

Here’s the link to Danica’s band concert photos also on Gordon’s pbase site:
http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/danicas_band_concert

When I got up Gordon said that his lip was red and swollen and he had been told if that happened to go to Emergency so we got ready and went back to the General and got there for 8:30 a.m. Lucky for us we got there when we did as no one was there and it started to fill up after we checked in. He was given a prescription for antibiotics and we were out of there by 9:10 a.m. We stopped at Bayshore to fill the prescription and had a coffee while waiting for it to be filled.

We got home around 10:30 a.m. and I proceeded to get ready for my afternoon with the girls.

This afternoon I met my friends, Nancy and Sandy at Nancy’s place in Stittsville. We had a good chat and a few laughs and I got home about 6:30 p.m. Both Sandy and Nancy are still part of the workforce so we can only get together on the weekend. It’s interesting to hear them talk about their trials and tribulations at work and it’s always great to hear Sandy’s stories. She has a way of telling stories that’s a real hoot.

After dinner, I think both of us fell asleep watching TV so enough of that, time for bed!

Rain, Lots and Lots of Rain!

Danica, taken last night at her High School Band Concert

Yuk! I woke up to rain on the roof this morning but luckily when I got up to walk Bib it had stopped so I got Bib’s walk and my walk without getting wet however the ground is very muddy! It’s impossible to keep the RV clean!

This morning Gordon had his appointment at the Ottawa General Hospital to get the growth on the inside of his lip removed. I went along for moral support. It required one stitch and he has to go back on June 23^rd to have it looked at and stitches removed if they haven’t dissolved by then. He actually broke down this evening and took a Tylenol #3 so it must hurt!

After lunch, I went over to Bayshore to do some errands and then to Food Basics in Kanata to pick up some groceries. I came back, unloaded and put groceries away, read a bit, and did some internet surfing.

It’s been pouring rain since shortly after I got home this afternoon. I took Bib out for a walk around 8:00 p.m. and he got soaked!

Graduation, Dinner and Concert Band

Nick and Becky after Nick's graduation ceremonies

This morning was mostly cloudy but we did see a few hints of sun. We had to pick up our nephew, Nick and his fiancée, Becky at 12:30 p.m. so other than checking out some things on the internet and getting showered and prettied up, we didn’t do much. I did sit outside with Bib for a while and read while waiting for my hair to dry. It started to get almost cold when I was sitting out as there was a good strong breeze.

We picked Nick and Becky up at 12:30 for Nick's graduation from Algonquin College as a paramedic and headed for Scotiabank Place (formerly the Corel Centre) as Nick had to be there for 1:00 p.m. to get into his gown and get lined up. There sure were a lot of graduates today! The graduation ceremonies ended around 4:00 p.m. and we waited for Nick to come out so I got a photo of Nick and Becky. Unfortunately my camera is not good enough to get photos of Nick receiving his diploma. Maybe I can steal one from Gordon when he gets his processed.

We then headed home to feed and walk Bib and were to meet Nick, Becky, Nick’s parents and Becky’s parents at Swiss Chalet for 5:30 p.m. We didn’t arrive till about 5:45 p.m. due to traffic but Becky’s parents came in right behind us. It was nice to finally meet them. Nick and Becky have been together now for nearly two years. They actually started dating after high school graduation.

After dinner we headed with Nick’s parents, my sister, Margie and her husband, John to Merivale High School where their daughter, Danica was performing with the high school band. All the bands were very good but of course, the Senior Concert Band was the best. Danica even had some solo parts. She also played in the Jazz Band and the Intermediate Concert Band. I had the same problem with taking photos of Danica on stage with my camera!

It’s been a very long day!

By the way, blogspot is giving me difficulty with uploading a photo of Danica so I'll save that for another day.

Ah! Sitting Under a Tree

Another photo of our site at Ottawa Municipal Campground

Today was another bright, sunny day but all that is supposed to change. The forecast is for cloudy conditions this afternoon and rain for the next three days but the weather forecasters are rarely right so hope they’re not right this time too.

This campground is much more conducive to walking that Rideau Heights was so I had a nice long walk around this morning. Gordon had a doctor’s appointment this morning so we went out for that and while we were out had a coffee at Bayshore Shopping Centre.

This afternoon we were torn as to what to do. Gordon talked about going to Morris Island Conservation Area at Fitzroy Harbour but it was quite hot, too hot to take the dog and leave him in the truck and also I didn’t want to put on long pants and a long sleeved shirt to keep the mosquitoes away, so I decided to stay here and sit outside and read. So out I went with Bib, but he wouldn’t stop rooting in the grass so had to put him inside. Gordon also decided he wasn’t going to go either so that was the end of that.

I did sit outside for a lot of the afternoon and it was beautiful under the tree. Bib and I went for a walk and he got to sniff around, his favourite pastime. I also realized about that time that I had either lost a filling or part of a tooth so on the phone to the dentist and set up an appointment for Monday.

After dinner, I vacuumed out the truck and cleaned the windows and seats as we’re picking up my nephew, Nick and his fiancée, Becky for Nick’s graduation tomorrow afternoon. The truck badly needed it!

Moving Day

Our site at Ottawa Municipal Campground

Gordon setting up the internet satellite

Today again dawned bright and sunny and quite warm but we were just glad that the rain originally forecast for today is bothering someone else. We took our time packing up, we had to be out of Rideau Heights by 11:00 a.m. and I think we were pretty close to that by the time we left. After saying goodbye to Roger and Anne, our neighbours for this past month we headed west to the Ottawa Municipal Campground arriving at about 11:30 a.m.

The guy who had occupied our site had just left so we were able to drive in and set up right away. Check out time here is 1:00 p.m. I vacuumed which was badly needed and then we relaxed for a while.

I got my second wind and decided to go and exchange my books at the library and pick up some groceries. That done, I returned home and had a nice shower at the shower house. We have no sewer connection here so we’ll be using their shower house instead of our own. Then sat outside for a while and enjoyed the scenery and read my book.

Photos above are of our campsite.

A Trip to Morrisburg

House mover takes up both lanes of Hwy 31

Morrisburg dock on the St. Lawrence River

Path runs along St. Lawrence River at Morrisburg

Gordon White Sands Gallery slid to #3 today! He had an 8 day run as #1 so he's gotten more than his 15 minutes of fame!

Yeah! Sun! I woke up this morning to bright sun shining through the blinds in the bedroom. Seems like a long time but I guess it’s only been a couple of days.

I had planned to go out and do errands today but since most of my errands are in the west end and we’re moving to the Ottawa Municipal Campground on Corkstown Road tomorrow, I decided not to bother.

I’ve finished the 7 books that I got at the library just over two weeks ago, actually I finished 6, one I had already read so the library will definitely be one of my first stops after we’re set up tomorrow. From Wednesday on, we have a fairly busy week. Gordon has a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and then the hospital on Friday to have his lip surgery. Thursday is my nephew’s graduation from Algonquin, then out for dinner with he and his fiancée and his parents and then my niece is playing in a concert at her school on Thursday evening. On the weekend, I’m meeting up with friends, Nancy and Sandy for our get together. Next week is fairly low key. The only thing planned is a visit to my former employer on Tuesday to see all the folks. Past that, we’ll have to see!

Late this morning I asked Gordon if he wanted me to book a campsite at the Upper Canada Campground at Morrisburg. He has a pass for Upper Canada Village and he wants to do some photography there. He said we should go look at it so we jumped in the truck and headed to Morrisburg.

For those of you that don’t know, Morrisburg is my home area, not my home town as I lived all of my young years just west of Williamsburg but all my high school years were spent at Morrisburg High School. I also lived for a while after graduating high school in Morrisburg but that was another lifetime. So, the area is quite familiar to me even though I’ve been gone for some 35 or so years. My mother also lived there up until she passed away in 2002 so we were often in that area.

We first drove west of Morrisburg to Caravan Camp. It had been built years ago but I didn’t know if they accepted short term stays or not. We got there and it looks like a trailer park. The road in was so rutted and unkept that we just left and from there drove down to the Morrisburg dock as it’s quite pretty overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Then east where we stopped at a provincial campground at Riverside Heights. No one was in the booth but we drove around and it was very wet so on to Upper Canada Campground. I had emailed them last week and was told that they had a site for us with a clear view of the southern sky so we checked it out and it should work so we booked it for arrival on the 4th of July to stay for a week.

We returned to Morrisburg and drove down to the dock again and we able to pick up the Verizon signal so we could update our cell phones. When we’re in Canada most of the time we get only Extended Network so all of our calls go onto our 500 minutes during the week or 1000 evenings and weekends. When we’re in a Verizon area you can call another Verizon customer for free. So Gordon called his daughter to see how they all were and how the new baby is doing. Everything there was fine so we headed home arriving in Ottawa around 4:30 p.m.

On our way back all of a sudden vehicles were pulling off onto the shoulder of the road. No wonder! They were moving a house and it was taking up both lanes of Highway 31 – photo above. That’s the first time I’ve seen that in some years. You often see half of a modular home on a truck but that only takes up one travel lane. This was quite something!

Back to Mer Bleue

Mer Bleue Boardwalk

Evergreen tree with reddish blooms

Two turtles on a log

Marsh

Since we got some sunshine today, we decided to go back to Mer Bleue and walk the boardwalk. So shortly after lunch, away we went although there was some cloud in the sky. We took the dog as it was cooler today and decided we could leave him in the truck. I put the windshield protector up so the sun wouldn’t come in. He wasn’t happy about being left and started to howl. I said that when we came back the Humane Society would probably be there and take us away for leaving him in the truck however on we went!

The first part takes you through the marshes and eventually you wind up in the forested area. That’s where you get attacked – by mosquitoes! Needless to say when we reached that part, it didn’t take us long to get out of there. I had sprayed with Off before we left and they don’t usually bother me too much anyway but they really like Gordon’s blood! All in all, the one kilometer walk only took about half an hour complete with photography. Other than some red winged blackbirds, we saw a couple of little turtles, photo above but no other wildlife to speak of.

We did see some interesting evergreen trees with what looked like little buds on them. I don’t know if they are some sort of cone but some trees had reddish ones and others were more pinkish brown. A photo is above of the ones with the red buds. There were also lots of white birch and the smell of peat especially in the forested area.

On our way back, we stopped at Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up some Sprite which was on sale today only but they didn’t have any and Gordon didn’t want to try another store so we came home.

Not much else happening today!