Saturday 30 August 2008

Jewelry Making and Corn Roast

We had quite a heavy rain for about 45 minutes last evening but this morning dawned bright and sunny with a nice breeze. It knocked out the internet satellite again. The RV park really filled up yesterday and the RVs and tents are packed in just down from us. Our neighbours that we've had now for over a week had gone away but left a tent and their table and chairs so they returned yesterday as well and their site has been busy today! It's noisy here today! There are lots of boats roaring up and down the river. People are taking advantage of the nice weather.



I had a nice walk this morning and after breakfast made my Calico Beans for the corn roast/potluck tonight. I then decided to try to make a necklace by myself and I succeeded! Here's a photo of it. I gave it to my sister as she loves green and black.



We arrived at the cottage late this afternoon as the corn roast was to start at 6 p.m. The theme was Canada so there was a lot of red and white around and some pretty silly hats! There was lots to eat but unfortunately not all that much that Gordon could eat although he didn't starve. We left pretty early due to lots of smokers and although the band was live, it was loud! We were both ready to leave anyway. When the sun goes down it gets chilly!

This is one of Garth's daughters and her family.

Back Row: Garth, Betty
Between Garth & Betty: Tess
L to R sitting in front row: Duncan, Melinda, Doug, Gareth

Garth & Betty

The band and dancers

Friday 29 August 2008

Another Lazy Day

Today was a cloudy, humid day with some rain. I was tired so got up about a half hour later than usual.

For the most part it was a lazy day. I did get my run/walk in this morning as I hadn't done it in Toronto although I did do my exercises there.

After breakfast Iay down on the couch again with my book and had a nap. When I got up around lunch time, my bread was mouldy so had to throw that out and then I knew I'd have to go into town for groceries. Since this is Labour Day weekend most if not all stores will be closed on Monday. The people in the grocery stores sure reflected that today. It was a zoo! I did what I had to do and got home.

Back to the couch with my book and another nap.


I didn't take any photos today so I'm again borrowing from Gordon's pbase site. The bird is a yellow-shafted flicker and was right outside the RV window on the ground yesterday. It apparently eats ants. The water lily he took this afternoon down by the boats. You can see the water droplets on it from the rain.

The good news is that we're supposed to have fabulous weather for the long weekend!

Thursday 28 August 2008

Thursday in Toronto and Home to Lindsay

Note, I've now posted photos on yesterday's blog.

We got up around 8:00 a.m. and got stuff done around the apartment. We also managed to solve the Conde Nast Where Are You contest for September.

While I was at her condo I was taking photos of photos that she has around. All my old photos are at my stepson's house in Dayton, OH so I don't get to see them too often. Here are a few. Unfortunately taking a photo of a photo with my camera doesn't turn out very well.

Me with my doll, Sally Ann - note the hat!

This is Mom, Dad, Betty and I. Margie wasn't around yet. I'm the one with the gigantic bow in my hair.

This is a photo that Gordon had photographed, enlarged and framed for everyone in the family of our farmhouse where I lived for the first 17 years of my life.

This is one of the last photos taken professionally of Mom and Dad before Dad passed away in 1988.


She also has some really cute doll like figurines around that she's brought home from various places they've been that I thought were really cute. She has a lot of knicknacks, masks and things around her apartment that tell a story of all the travels she's been on.

Betty had a hair appointment at noon and she was dropping me at Bonnie's so we could go shopping so we arrived at her place at around 11:30 a.m. and Betty took off for the hairdresser. We took off for the Dixie Outlet Mall. First stop was for Bonnie to return something to Winners that she had bought. Second stop was for me to get some lunch. Since Bonnie had already eaten, she had an egg roll with me and I had Chinese food. I haven't had Chinese food since my Mom died in 2002. We always took her for Chinese. She loved it!

However, my main purpose was to buy some walking shoes. I got dressy shoes a couple of weeks ago in Peterborough but I can't walk in those for long period of time and soon I won't be able to wear my sandals and sneakers aren't always appropriate. The first store I went into was Naturalizer. I put on a pair and they fit like a glove and were really comfortable so we put the in a spot where someone wouldn't look for that pair of shoes and looked through the rest of the mall. I didn't see another pair that fit so well so back we went and I bought them.

Back to Betty's hairdresser and she was ready. It had started to rain when we came out of the Dixie Mall. So we said good-bye to Bonnie and started the trek home. It rained all through Toronto but once we got far enough north we had some clear periods and only light sprinkles in Lindsay. We arrived home around 4:30 p.m., again tired! I should sleep tonight!

Wednesday 27 August 2008

To Toronto!

I had put the electric blanket back on the bed yesterday, thank goodness. After Gordon got up in the wee hours of the morning, I got chilly so turned on my blanket and I was toasty! I got up early as Betty was picking me up shortly after 10 a.m. We got away about 10:15 a.m.

We arrived in Toronto around noon and got some errands run, then to the condo and dropped our stuff off.

Then to Bonnie's place to see her house that she's spent the better part of a year renovating and it is beautiful, a real showplace.

Here's Betty and Bonnie in Bonnie's new living room.

Then we headed out for an early dinner at a restaurant that Bonnie likes called "Eden Trattoria". It's in a pretty locationWe got to Bonnie's house shortly after 5 p.m. and I got a tour of the house. She spent the better right across the road from the water which overlooks the downtown area. You can see the CN Tower in the background.


I'll have to post pictures tomorrow night as I forgot to bring my card reader so can't download photos from my camera. I didn't bring the camera cable either. Oh well!

After dinner Bonnie took us on a little drive around the area and we made it back to Betty's condo shortly after 8 p.m. Tired!

The photo below was taken after dinner across from the restaurant.

Tuesday 26 August 2008

Mostly a Lazy Day

It was 7C (45F) when I got up this morning. I got my gloves out to go for my walk. The good news is that it was bright and sunny and remained so for the remainder of the day and it warmed up and was very pleasant.

I puttered around this morning getting little things done. I'm going to Toronto tomorrow with my sister for one night at her condo. I hate packing! I'm not sure if I'll have internet access tomorrow night so there might not be a blog.

After my puttering I lay down to read and fell into a deep sleep. I was groggy when I woke up but needed to go into town for some groceries so I got my act together and went in but hurried back, started to read and again fell asleep. Probably won't sleep tonight!

That was about the extent of my day. No photos were taken so I've borrowed this one from my husband's pbase gallery. It's colourful, simple and beautiful, in my opinion anyway.

Monday 25 August 2008

Drive Around Rice Lake

Betty picked me up this morning just after 10 a.m. to start our drive around Rice Lake. Rice Lake's claim to fame is that the song 'What A Friend We Have in Jesus' was written near there. All in all we covered 18 little towns today which tops our day covering little towns to the west and north of us last year. I think the towns west and north are prettier than those we saw today for the most part but it was an interesting day and we went places that I hadn't been to before.

I didn't take that many photos today. Even though we went around the lake there weren't that many views of it.

This is Betty in front of the gardens at the Elmhirst Resort where we stopped to have a drink.

Pretty view in the village of Trent River



We were gone till nearly 5 p.m. Garth went to Toronto today so I invited Betty to stay for dinner after which we solved the Conde Nast Where Are You Contest for August (we hope) and then tried to find Betty and Garth a condo to rent in Fort Lauderdale for the months of February and March 2009.

We had fun though!

Sunday 24 August 2008

Road Trip

It was hot and humid again today. When I got up it was cloudy for my walk but I still did my exercises down by the river then came in to do back exercises.

The sun did come out during the day and as of this posting we haven't had the rain or thunderstorm that was forecast for the area. It did reach 28C (83F) but I think there's a cold front that's supposed to go through so that tomorrow will be cooler and the humidity will hopefully be gone!

I finished my book by Joy Fielding entitled "Lost" this morning. It was pretty good. Joy Fielding is a Canadian author and the book takes place in Toronto.

This afternoon we got ready and went into Lindsay as Gordon wanted some arch supports for his duck boots and some crocs. We got the arch supports but no crocs that fit him. I also picked up some groceries so he decided we should go to Peterborough which is about 1/2 hour or so east. We dropped the groceries off and set out. The plan had been to go to Walmart to look for crocs and then to go to the zoo. Peterborough has a free zoo. On the way we stopped at the Omemee Municipal Park.

We did manage to find crocs at Walmart then drove to the Peterborough Lift Locks as it was Sunday and Gordon decided the zoo would be a 'zoo' with kids.

Lift locks are pretty rare and they're interesting. Here's a series of photos to show how they work. We were lucky enough to get there just as the locks were about to start moving and there were boats in both bays.






After that it was back home to get a shower after the humidity of the day. Thank goodness we left the air conditioner on in the RV!