Errands in Fort Erie (Ontario)

There was some rain overnight but it was just cloudy and warm 16C (61F) when I left to walk this morning. I took my camera with me today and took some shots around the campground as you will see below.

The morning sky

Wetlands near our campsite

More of the wetlands area

Ducks in the wetlands

Late this morning I left to go into Fort Erie to run some errands. When I got our medication for our trip, I didn't get enough of one of Gordon's so I had called my pharmacy in Ottawa yesterday to see if there was any left on his prescription and if I could transfer it to Fort Erie. They responded in the affirmative to both my questions so that was my first stop this morning. I was thinking he would have to go to a doctor in the U.S. to have it prescribed there but luckily I had no problem transferring it to Fort Erie. The next thing I wanted to do was find out if we could get a flu shot so I went to the Walk In Urgent Care Clinic. They just got the flu serum in today so when I returned home, Gordon and I went back and got our shots so that's something else we don't have to get while in the U.S. Here our health insurance pays for it. I also had some items to pick up at Walmart like Gordon's favorite rice crackers and some other things. I also made a stop at the local Bulk Barn and got some Reese's pieces, Gordon's favorite candy.

We stopped again at Crystal Beach, Canada's Southern Coast (according to their sign) for a few photos. I took one that reminded me of the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

A Day for Housework

It was 9C (49F) this morning as I set out for my walk. Yesterday when we drove around the park I noticed that there was a walkway that went along the quarry so today I walked all the way around the quarry. It took about 20 minutes and was a nice walk. I like this place as it has all sorts of places that you can walk. I even saw a nature trail not far from our site this morning so maybe I'll check it out one morning.

When I got back and after breakfast I got the laundry ready and went over to the park laundromat. It's $2 to wash and $2 to dry. Quite expensive although the Ottawa Municipal Campground in Ottawa is the same price. A lot of the dryers are 'out of order' as they are closing down the park for the winter in two weeks and one lady (I use the term loosely) had taken nearly all the dryers having just finished her washing when I arrived. I said Hello to her and she ignored me! She loaded her dryers and left so when I went to put my things into the dryers there were only three available. Her dryers stopped and still she wasn't there. I waited nearly 10 minutes then emptied one of them and put my laundry in. About 5 minutes later she came back. I was sitting outside reading my book but I could her the dryer doors slamming so I walked back inside thinking she would confront me about emptying her dryer. I was ready for her but again she just ignored me. What a b****! Anyway, she left. I got my laundry finished, folded, home and put away.

I had my lunch while reading my book. After I finished the book, I made stew for dinner as it's something we haven't had in a few weeks.

Since I didn't take any photos today, here are a couple that I took yesterday.

A pretty tree at Fort Erie

Ducks at Crystal Beach

Not much else to report today! We might go in to Fort Erie for sunset this evening but I'll save that for tomorrow if it happens.

Port Colborne and Fort Erie (Ontario)

Here I am with the Buffalo, NY skyline in the background

Here's the Peace Bridge that will take us from Ontario to NY State next Thursday on our way south!

Sunrays over Lake Erie (taken from within our RV Park)

This morning after my walk and breakfast we drove to the little town of Port Colborne to get some groceries. The only interesting thing about the town as far as I could see was that the Welland Canal runs through it so we so two ocean going vessels going through. The Welland Canal takes the ships from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. We came home and unpacked the groceries. I read for a while and then the sun came out so off we went again.

This time we drove in the opposite direction to Fort Erie which is where we'll be crossing into the U.S. next Thursday. We drove around the town for a while. It seems that there's pretty much everything there that we need including a Bulk Barn! For those of you who aren't familiar with Bulk Barn, they have all sorts of product in bins. You can take what you need out of the bin and it's weighed at the cash. They have everything from candy to nuts to flours including gluten free flours to teas to spices. I really miss it when we go to the U.S.

While in Fort Erie we found the actual Fort that was built by the British in the mid 1700's. Gordon found it interesting but I'm not much for history. I did take a photo of it as you will see below.


On our way back we drove toward Lake Erie through the little town of Ridgeway and to Crystal Beach and Pleasant Beach. Then drove around inside the RV Resort when we got back. There are literally hundreds of park model homes here grouped into little communities and lots of them overlooking either Lake Erie or the Quarry. There are some nature trails around within the RV Park. Hope the weather keeps improving. I'd like to check them out!

We're at Sherkston Shores RV Resort (Ontario)

Here's our site at Sherkston Shores near Niagara Falls, Ontario

And this is the view from our back window

And the view from our side window

We left Double M RV Resort at Lindsay (Ontario) at 9:10 a.m. It was bright and sunny and about 6C (43F). Luckily it didn't get as cold last night as was forecast although the roof was icy! The traffic through Toronto was steady but not too bad. We did lose the sun traveling through Toronto and although we saw another peek of sun on our trip towards the Niagara Region on the Queen Elizabeth Way by the time we arrived at Sherkston Shores it was cloudy again although the temperature did reach 15C (59F). We made a couple of wrong turns which cost us an extra half hour otherwise we would have been here in almost exactly 3 hours. As it was, we arrived at 12:45 p.m.

This is not an easy campground to find your way around in and they don't guide you to your site as some campgrounds do. Eventually a nice gentleman in a golf cart found our site for us and after that the set up as uneventful. Although the site is blacktop with a concrete patio, it's not level so we had to put two rows of levelers on our left side. We're in a pull thru site - 100 ft long and the sites themselves are a very nice size. We have a view of the quarry out our back and side windows at least until someone comes and parks behind us. Maybe another time we'll ask for a back in on the quarry. There's a beach as you will see from the photo below. Not that it's important at this point in the year.


After we were set up we walked around a bit. The washrooms close to us are closed but there are others not that far away and they're heated! Trust me, that's nice for showering at this time of year.

We have 50 amp full hook ups for under $19/day. In the summer they run more like $80/day so this is a real bargain! So, we're here until at least October 25th when we plan to leave for Columbus.

Cold and Wet Today!

It wasn't raining this morning when I got up so I went for my walk. It was cloudy so I didn't bother with the camera. So of course I saw more blue jays. How do they know when I don't have my camera?

This morning I made a few more yo yo quilt blocks. Here's what I have done so far.

Betty stopped by on her way back to Toronto briefly, then I read for a while.

Gordon went out to get the tanks dumped in preparation for our departure tomorrow to Sherkston Shores RV Park near Niagara Falls, Ontario. While he was outside I prepared a double batch of corn bread for dinner.

Some weather sites are calling for -3C (27F) overnight so I doubt we'll get away very early tomorrow. We'll have to wait till it warms up.

More Bracelets & Dinner at the Cottage

Yesterday when I was in Lindsay I picked up some beads at the Dollar Store to make some more bracelets. These are not nearly as involved or as pretty as those made by Linda Payne of rv-dreams.com however the work isn't as fine either and it occupies me so I made a couple this morning to give to my sister as tonight is the last time we'll be seeing them for a while. We're going to the cottage for dinner tonight and tomorrow they're closing up the cottage and heading back to Toronto.


After making the bracelets this morning I also made a couple more yo yo quilt blocks while watching some morning television. We don't usually watch TV during the daytime but it was a lot colder today than it has been so it seemed like a day for TV.

I really bundled up for my walk this morning but it was sunny and bright with some beautiful clouds just at the horizon line and the rest of the sky a bright blue. By mid-afternoon it had turned mostly cloudy as predicted by the weather forecast.

Around 4:00 p.m. we headed for the cottage. Betty and Garth prepared a really lovely dinner of steak, baked potatoes, peas, cucumbers and tomatoes with Kawartha Dairy ice cream and fresh strawberries for dessert. As usual, I ate too much. Here's a photo I took of them in their "TV" chairs.

Bracelets, Reservations and Errands

This morning was bright and sunny again and the sun lasted into late afternoon before it started raining again. Here are a couple of photos I took on my walk this morning.


Today I made a reservation at Sherkston Shores RV Park near Niagara Falls from Oct14-25. We don't usually do reservations but this is about the only park in that area that is open past Oct15 so we thought we'd do it to be on the safe side. Their off season rate is very good at $119/wk. Sure hope we like the park. Regardless, we're there until we head south!

Last night I made one bracelet and this morning I made another so I now have two blue bracelets, very pretty if I do say so myself.


I had an early lunch and then went into Lindsay to pick up our travel medical insurance stuff from Sanderson Insurance and did some other errands while I was there. I got back shortly after the rain started.

We've had the electric heater a bit today. I turned it off just before I left to go into Lindsay and then turned it on when I got back as once the sun goes away, it cools off inside quite quickly!

Road Trip to Haliburton

This morning was bright and sunny. That wasn't supposed to happen. So much for weather forecasting AGAIN!!

This morning I called our travel medical insurance provider and this time spoke to his associate who managed to fix us up for $200 cheaper than was quoted to us a couple of weeks ago. I will have a $250 deductible on my policy however I can submit it through my extended health care if I need to make a claim. I would highly recommend Sanderson Travel Insurance.



The plan was that we would go to the cottage and if it was a nice day we would go north to Haliburton where we had gone a couple of weeks ago on our own but there is another road that Betty wanted to show us. As we left the RV, it started to rain and it rained all the way to the cottage. When we arrived at the cottage, since it was still fairly warm today, Garth decided to take his boat to the marina across the way to have it put away for the winter so Betty drove his car to the marina and Garth froze his butt off taking the boat across the lake. The photo to the left is Garth coming in to the marina.

Even though it was still raining a bit we decided to go anyway so we went north through Bobcaygeon (Ontario) and continued north toward Buckhorn turning off on Hwy 507 then to Hwy 3 which is the highway Betty wanted to show us. Unfortunately it rained all the way to Haliburton, sometimes quite heavy but we did see some pretty spots along the way. We stopped at Haliburton for lunch at "The Codfather Fish & Chip Bar'. We had a nice lunch and it agreed with Gordon, yeah! I had some really good onion rings with my fish sandwich and they weren't greasy!

Just before lunch the rain stopped. We looked around a few stores in Haliburton then went south on Hwy 3 and since it still wasn't raining and we actually had a few periods of sun, we stopped to take some photos. We then turned off and went to Kinmount (Ontario) another little town in the Kawartha Lakes area returning through Bobcaygeon again. We stopped at Settlers Village where Betty and I went for the quilt festival for my birthday so Gordon could take some photos. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy but still not raining.

Betty and I playing "Edith Ann" from the old TV show "Laugh In"

Gordon and I posing at one of the prettier places along Hwy 3 on our way back

As we got back to the cottage it was starting to rain a bit again but it was a much better day than we had thought when we started out!

Shopping Downtown Lindsay

I managed to get my walk in this morning before it started to rain, it rained and misted all morning.

Betty and I had planned to meet in Lindsay this afternoon and shop the stores along Kent Street but it was still misty and rainy when I met her so we went to the Lindsay Mall for a while and when we came out it wasn't raining and a short time later the sun came out and it was quite warm reaching 18C (65F). That's a fair bit warmer than they forecast. So we did manage to shop some of the stores on Kent Street after all. I only bought groceries and some beads to make a blue bracelet. I can never find the blue that I want in stores. If I ever get it made, I'll take a photo of it.

I had gone in early before meeting Betty as she wanted copies of some photos that I have so I went to Loblaws (a Canadian grocery store) with my flash card and made instant photos for 19 cents each. Much better than printing them out at home and lots cheaper!

I didn't take my camera with me as I didn't want it to get wet so my photo today is one that I took yesterday of a lane that runs down one end of the campground (outside of the confines of the campground itself). The gate has a 'No Trespassing' sign on it and I've always wondered what's down there.

This is Actually our Thanksgiving Day

Even though it was officially our Thanksgiving Day today, we had pork chops for dinner but we did have the stuffing that I made yesterday.

This morning I did the vacuuming and washed the floors, badly needed. Other than that I walked around the park, took some photos, read and had a nap. It was very warm today 27C (80F). In Toronto it was very hot running around 40C (104F) with the humidex but luckily it wasn't that bad here. We did have sun most of the day. When I talked to my sister tonight she said that it was cloudy most of the day at the cottage so I guess we were lucky!

Gordon also updated his webpage today at http://www.gordonwolford.com/News/News.html

Here are some of the photos I took today:

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

Betty beside her oriental pumpkin.

Betty and I went for a walk and stopped to take this photo when we were out.

This is all of us at the table, photo compliments of Mr. Tripod. Left to right Tess, Gareth, Gordon, Sandra, Betty, Garth, Melinda, Doug and Duncan.

Today after my walk and breakfast I proceeded to make gluten-free stuffing for Gordon. I had bought some rice tortillas and used them instead of bread. It tasted pretty good.

We stopped and picked up a few groceries on our way to Betty & Garth's this afternoon as tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and the stores are closed. This is typical for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter here. We arrived at the cottage around 3:00 p.m. and sat around chatting. Gordon went to visit one of the neighbors that he didn't get to see earlier due to him being sick most of the time we've been here. He is another photographer so they got to spend an hour or so together. Garth's daughter, her husband their three kids were there as well. Melinda and Doug just got back from a cruise around Baffin Island and the Arctic Ocean so it was interesting to talk to them about that. Doug actually did a back flip into the Arctic Ocean that got written up in one of the Toronto papers. He said it was easier to do it that way as when you came up you were ready to get back on the boat whereas the guys who dove off had to swim back and the water was very close to freezing.

We had a great turkey dinner as usual complete with stuffing, mashed potatoes and broccoli. Melinda had made squash with brown sugar and butter. Definitely not a low cal meal especially with the ice cream cake to celebrate Doug's birthday and the truffles that they brought. Not a low calorie meal!

Out and About

These orange chairs are outside the coffee place in Bobcaygeon. I thought they were pretty.

Last night on the weather, we found out that our beautiful weekend wasn't going to be all that beautiful. So as we headed to Granny's Cafe to meet Betty & Garth for breakfast the heavens opened and it poured! We arrived at Granny's to find Betty waiting for us and the restaurant closed. Looks like Granny and Grandpa decided to retire! So off we went to The Full Cup Cafe in Bobcaygeon where Betty took me for my birthday. We had a really nice breakfast, unfortunately it didn't work out well for Gordon so there must have been some gluten in it somewhere.

Here's Betty dressed in her Thanksgiving colors outside the coffee shop in Bobcaygeon.

Betty and I left from there to attend the annual Buckhorn Craft Show. It was still raining. I can only remember once attending this craft show when it didn't rain! I didn't buy anything but Betty bought a cute jean purse for her hairdresser. We finished up early there so stopped to have coffee (and decaf tea for me) at a little coffee shop in Bobcaygeon, then on to Lindsay and stopped at several stores but only bought a few groceries. I arrived home around 5:00 p.m. and decided to make my husband a pizza for his dinner. He's been making noises lately that he'd like one. Not exactly Thanksgiving fare but what the hey!

HappyThanksgiving to all Canadians!

Today begins our Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Most people have Monday off (for those who work, ha, ha)! So Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today was another beautiful day with bright sunny, blue skies, no humidity and temperatures reaching 27C (80F). There's a possibility that today set a record in this area so I'm anxious to see what the weatherman says tonight.

We didn't do anything today, just relaxed and read. I sat outside for a while and of course, had my walk this morning.

You will note from the photos that I took this morning that even though the leaves are falling the annuals are still in bloom as we haven't had a frost here yet. I'm hoping we don't have one for a while yet!

Another Low Key Day Here at the Double M Campground

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We had a beautiful sunny day today with a high of 24C (75F). It was only 9C (49F) when I got up and went for my walk but it warmed up very quickly. Gordon went out taking photos at dawn this morning for the first time in ages and didn't get back till almost 10:00 a.m. I decided around noon to go into town to pick up some things.

There's a little second-hand store that I have seen on my way into town going the back way so I stopped there and found some books by V.C Andrews for a quarter each. I had a couple of things to drop off and managed not to buy any more clothes. After stops at the liquor store, the bank, and a couple of grocery stores I went to Canadian Tire and bought a new tank for our barbecue. The little green disposable ones are expensive and don't last long and we already had the hose so I bought a full size 20 lb tank. We had had one of the little 9 lb ones that got broken at one point and they are really expensive and sometimes hard to get filled in the U.S.

The next few days over our Thanksgiving weekend are supposed to be just like summer! I'm looking forward to it.

Another Nice Fall Day

I didn't think we'd had enough rain around here for these toadstools to be popping up but this one is right in front of where we park the truck.

The wind was quite strong this morning as you can see from the waves. You usually don't see this on the Scugog.

This is a photo that my brother-in-law took of my sister when we were at the Farmersville Exhibition in July. My niece sent it to me today.

Today was another nice day with a high of about 22C (72F). We did have some rain around noon but then it proceeded to clear up and be nice enough for me to sit outside for a while after I got back from getting the laundry done.

We are supposed to have summer like temperatures for the next couple of days. Too bad I put my shorts away for the season or at least until we get to Arizona!

Another Quiet Day

Can you find the squirrel?

Some kind of growth on an old tree that's been mostly cut down

Lilies

Betty and I were supposed to do something today but she called and has the beginnings of another cold so I don't want to be anywhere near her. We're too close to leaving to get sick again!

I went for a walk after breakfast this morning as it was sort of drizzling when I got up. I took my camera and took some photos around the park. I was also looking at some other park models that are for sale in another part of the park. Just looking!

So I finished another book and this afternoon decided I would go into town to pick up some things.

Other than that, a quiet day.

A Nice Day for This Time of Year!

Today turned out to be a beautiful day with temperatures reaching about 22C (71F). Although it was partly cloudy for most of the day, I sat outside and made some yo yo quilt blocks and read for a lot of the day. I also did my walk around the park this morning and then this afternoon I walked around and looked at some of the park models that are for sale here.

My sister returned from Toronto and dropped by on her way back to the cottage.

It was a pretty uneventful day but beautiful for the 1st of October.

The Last Day of September

Since it's the last day of the month, here are our expenses for this month:

September Expenses

Campground - $552.19 (electric for the time we’ve been here to be paid when we leave)
Groceries/Wine - $435.44
Laundry - $28.50
Entertainment/Restaurants/Parking - $119.24
Truck Fuel - $208.50
Propane - $24.00
Repairs & Misc RV/Truck - $183.49
Fixed Expenses - $313.68
Medical/Dental - $173.51
Gifts & Misc - $292.71
Total - $2332.26

Now this is a monthly total I can be happy with, especially for being in Ontario. I don’t think any of the categories need to be commented on this month other than to say that a trip to Ottawa was included.

I mentioned yesterday that the area down by the river in the campground was packed because of a rally. Here's what it looked like this morning when I went for my walk. They were really packed in!



This afternoon we decided to take a little drive and see what the trees looked like so we drove north on Hwy 35 and around a couple of little side roads but all I took a picture of was this tree.