Happy Canada Day!

Here I am at Morris Island Conservation Area on the Causeway

This is the first time I’ve seen this campground full since we arrived here nearly a month ago. This morning when I walked there were five RVs lined up in the driveway. I guess they didn’t have room for them last night so let them park there overnight.

We had to dump the tanks again today so again had to pack up, go dump and put everything back together again, another two hours. We’re leaving Tuesday to go to Upper Canada Campground. Too bad it couldn’t have waited but our black tank has shown full on the gauge for the last two days.

I was sitting outside reading when Gordon came out and said he was trying to decide if he was going to the fireworks tonight or not. Then he thought he’d like to go and have a look at the Morris Island Conservation Area at Fitzroy Harbour. We left poor little Bib behind as I didn’t think he would be allowed at a Conservation Area but there was someone there walking their dog. It would be nice if they let you know on their websites if dogs are allowed or not. We walked a short way on the causeway and saw lots of dragonflies and wildflowers. It’s a very pretty area. While we were out in that part of the county, we drove through places I hadn’t been before like Galetta, MacDonald’s Corners, Kilmaurs and Dirleton. I had never heard of Dirleton or Kilmaurs. Mind you, as towns go there’s not much to them. MacDonald’s Corners is a pretty little place, kind of like a small Constance Bay. We drove to the ferry at Fitzroy as I hadn’t been there before but didn’t go on it. We arrived home about 4:45 p.m. to a hungry, happy little dog.

With the campground full it means lots of kids. Consequently Bib doesn’t want to go outside. He doesn’t like kids, bicycles and bouncing balls and there’s a lot of that going around this weekend.

Tonight we’ve decided to stay at home. We’ve been having sprinkles of rain on and off so home is the best place to be!

End of the Month

Today we didn’t do much. Gordon went to his friend, Leroy’s this morning for a while. Leroy is his supplier of Macintosh products.

This afternoon I went to Bayshore to refill prescriptions, get one of Gordon’s shoes repaired and do some other miscellaneous shopping. Other than that, it was a thoroughly boring day.

Here are our expenses for the month of June:

Campground Fees - $665.26
Groceries - $333.68
Laundry - $28.00
Wine/Spirits - $10.95
Entertainment - $31.01
Snacks - $11.72
Eating Out - $96.75
Fuel for truck - $265.45
Propane - $0.00
Dog Food/Vet etc - $0.00
Repairs RV/Truck - $0.00
Misc - $674.08
Insurance - $323.59
Internet - $195.24
Phone - $110.94
Medical/Dental - $74.67
Gifts - $180.00
Total for month - $3001.34

We ate out more this month because we had company from Ohio. Also for internet there is a yearly fee to be paid of $75.00. We paid our Emergency Road Service for the year this month so our insurance costs are higher than usual. We also had some gifts to buy for various occasions. Our misc. expenses are also higher as I bought a few items of clothing and Gordon upgraded the memory in his computer, our gold card fee comes due in June and we also paid for our internet domain for two years. So, we went over our $3000.00 per month by $1.34. Not bad!

Since I didn’t take any photos today, I borrowed one from Gordon. Can anyone guess what it is?

A Slow Thursday

Today we had an appointment with our financial advisor to sign some more papers and to go over some things. After that we stopped and picked up a few groceries, filled up with fuel, stopped at Bulk Barn so Gordon could stock up on candy, stopped at Henry’s to look at camera bags and then at WalMart where Gordon got a camera bag for about 1/10 of what they cost at Henry’s.

The weather today has been cloudy, humid, rainy with thunderstorms, sunny – the full gamit!

When we got back after lunch, I lay down on the couch, read and had a brief nap, then did some surfing. I have three books to read over the weekend as I'll have to return them to the library on Monday since we'll be leaving town.

Not much happening here today!

Today's photo is of the wildflowers in the park.

Happy Graduation Day, Danica!

Danica with her parents, Margie (my sister) & John
There's something about a cap and gown that makes you look so grown up!

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
That flat, funny hat,
Looks awesome on you!

Another very humid day. We did have some sun this afternoon though! The power had been off and on three times this morning before I got up. We can tell when it goes down as our power surge protector for the computers beeps and drives the dog crazy.

We had to meet my sisters and my sister’s husband at Lansdowne Park for 12:30 p.m. for our niece’s high school graduation from Merivale High School. The actual commencement started about 1:10 p.m. and ended around 4:15 p.m. There were a lot of graduates!

Danica graduated with a Fine Arts Music Certificate, French Immersion Certificate, highest mark in Merivale High School for the National Biology Competition, Ontario Scholar and OCDSB Silver Medal Award for 90% or over average, the Academic Achievement Award for highest mark for band, music and exercise science (anatomy and physiology) and the Faculty Award for Music. Wow! We are all extremely proud of her.

We left Lansdowne Park and came home to feed Bib and let him out and then back to the DeJong’s for a celebratory dinner.

Nicholas wasn’t working so he was there for dinner too. It seems that Nick is either working or sleeping and we don’t see him that often but have been lucky enough to be able to spend some time with him over the past few days. Only 30 days left till his big day!

Hot, Humid & Rainy!

Today has been a hot, humid, very rainy day! I had been invited by my sister, Betty to go for lunch with her friend, Linda and herself but I declined as I needed to get some things done around the house. So this morning I got the laundry done, had a nap and did some reading and then this afternoon, I got the dress that I purchased yesterday for the wedding altered, bought my waterproof mascara also for the wedding, I have a feeling I’ll need it and then got some groceries.

It wasn’t raining when I went into the grocery store but when I came out it was pouring and didn’t show signs of stopping any time soon. A bunch of us waited outside for a while to see if it would let up but when it didn’t, I put up my umbrella, luckily I had taken it into the store with me, picked up the groceries and made a run for it. Water in the parking lot was about 3 inches deep so even with the umbrella by the time I got the groceries in the truck and myself in, I was wet from head to foot. It was still raining when I got to the RV so I only brought in the things that needed to be refrigerated and left the other things until the rain let up a bit.

Pictured above are my new, updated personal cards that we waiting for me on the table when I got home last night.

Happy Prom Night, Danica!

L to R - Larisa, Danica and Wendy

This morning I spent reading both inside and out and getting ready to go dress shopping this afternoon. Gordon dropped me at my sister, Margie’s for 12:30 p.m. My older sister, Betty was the chauffeur. Also this evening was Danica’s prom so we had to get her ready for that.

We went to Carlingwood Shopping Centre and after trying on about 20 dresses at Sears, it came down to two. I couldn’t decide which I wanted so bought them both although I’m pretty sure I know which one I’ll wear to the wedding. It was great to have feedback and I had lots of it with three females giving their opinions. At the last minute Danica decided to go with us. Margie also bought a power suit. It would be nice to be a size 2. She got it at an excellent price!

We got back to the house around 3:30 p.m., had something to eat and then Betty and Margie did Danica’s makeup. She had refused to have any at first (she never wears makeup) but she finally agreed. She looked absolutely beautiful! Betty had also bought her a corsage and the sweetheart roses really matched well with the dress. It is of note that the dress she wore was my matron of honour’s dress for her mother and father’s wedding 28 years ago. It looked great on her, a perfect colour for her complexion.

Danica, her parents, Betty and I all went down to the Westin Hotel where their graduation dinner was being held. The parents and whoever else wanted to attend were invited to come between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. to take photos. The kids all looked so great. It’s fun to see them all dressed up.

The three girls in the photo above - Danica, Larisa and Wendy have all been together since grade one. They are now going their separate ways – Danica to University of Ottawa, Larisa to Queens and Wendy to McMaster.

We left the Westin around 7:00 p.m. and returned to my sister’s house where we chatted for a bit and then Betty drove me back to the RV.

Gordon wasn’t able to go to the photo shoot for the grads tonight as he had been invited to speak on his ‘travel photography’ at the local Mac group meeting at the Sportsplex.

Happy 21st Birthday, Nick!

Mel and Janice left this morning about 8:30 a.m. to head to the Lake George, NY area.

Later this morning I called my sister’s place to see what they were up to. I had forgotten to pick up my mail when I was there yesterday and there was a letter from the medical insurance people about my claim from when I was in the hospital in the U.S. I asked her to open the letter to see what it said but it didn’t make much sense to her so I told her I’d stop by today to pick up the mail.

I also wanted to get something so that it would be easier to hook up our hose for flushing our black water tank. Trying to hook up a hose at some of the dump sites is an exercise in futility. You often wind up with skinned knuckles from the handle of the tap being so close to the tap as is the case here at Ottawa Municipal. I went to the Canadian Tire in Bells Corners and as I drove into the parking lot I saw an SUV with a Jay Feather trailer attached. Hmmm, Mel and Janice’s rig looks just like that one. So I got out of the truck and went to look and it did have Ohio plates so I went in to the Service Department and there they were. The had a flat tire just as they were getting onto the Hwy 417 ramp at Moodie Drive so not far from the campground. Their Good Sam Emergency Road Service had come and changed the tire and then showed them the way to Canadian Tire to see if their tire could be repaired. There Service tech said it could be repaired so I waited with them and saw them off on their way to Lake George again.

I didn’t get anything for our tap problem thinking that our two way faucet attachment might work.

Continued on to my sister’s, checked out the letter and it didn’t make much sense to me either but they did enclose a cheque for me to pay for the prescription I got. I called them but had to leave a message for them to call me back tomorrow. I stayed and chatted for a while and we were invited to come back for dinner. So, I left and went to a couple of stores on Merivale Road looking for a dress for my nephew’s wedding on July 28th but didn’t find anything so came home.

Today is my nephew and godson’s 21st birthday so dinner at his parent’s house was in honour of Nick’s birthday. Photo above is of Nick with the candle in his ice cream. He didn’t want a cake. It was a nice family get together as my sister, Betty from Toronto was down and Becky, Nick's fiancee was there as well. We were only missing Betty's husband, Garth.