First Half of our Trip to PEI

We did a rush trip down because we wanted to stay ahead of the rain and wound up also doing a rush trip back because Gordon's back was acting up.

7 Sep

We left home around 7 a.m. and arrived at our hotel in Edmundston, NB around 5 p.m. It was a very long day especially getting through Montreal. Traffic was horrendous and our GPS, Miss Pinky had no clue where she was going. Montreal is forever changing their roads! So we followed the signs for the Champlain Bridge to get to the south side of the St. Lawrence River. It was mostly a beautiful sunny day with a bit of cloud thrown in for good measure. Miss Pinky got confused again trying to find our hotel in Edmundston but after some backtracking and a phone call to the hotel we found it.

We stopped about four times, probably not as much as we should have.

Neither of us slept much and we were on the road around 7 a.m. the next day as well.

8 Sep

It was foggy and misty when we left on Saturday morning. We eventually got some sun and it turned into a nice day. We stopped often, once at a cute little Tourist Information Centre that looked like a covered bridge replica. The longest covered bridge in the world is in that area.

We had a nice lunch at Skipper Jack's in Moncton then headed on for the Confederation Bridge to take us to PEI. I was a bit concerned as I'm not a bridge fan (crossing them) but it turned out to be a non event. The bridge was completed in May 1997. Before that you had to take a ferry to get to the island. It is 12.9 km (8 mi) long and it took us about 10 minutes to cross. The concrete sides are high so you really can't see how high you are above the water. Mostly it's like a causeway with a higher part for ships to go under.  We took some photos of the bridge from Tourist Information Centre before we crossed.

Anyway we arrived on the island and took more photos of the bridge from the PEI side as well as some photos of the park. We drove around the little town of Borden-Carleton a bit. They have quite an interesting shopping area there that I hope to get back to.

We stopped in Summerside to pick up some groceries not knowing what there would be for grocery shopping, especially with our food problems where we were going. We arrived at Seacow Pond around 5:30 and got set up in our little motel room complete with kitchen, living room, bedroom and full bath. We are out in the middle of nowhere but I can walk to the red sand beach from the motel and it's a short distance to North Cape lighthouse where Gordon can get both sunrise and sunset photos so we drove there last evening for sunset.

9 Sep

Happy Birthday to me! I was thinking of a Beatles song on my birthday. Wonder why. I can't believe I'm that old! After our morning walk to the beach between showers and a nap, we headed out to find some fuel for the car. No 24 hour gas stations here! Then we took a little drive and wound up in Miminegash where they have a pretty nice little harbour.

We also took a drive to Alberton with some stops along the way. We saw a lot of great blue herons and some pretty beach scenery. Lots of red side roads.

10 Sep

Woke up to rain but it moved on quickly. Needed some stuff from the grocery so went into Tignish to the Co-op. They sell pretty much everything there from hula hoops to garlic to toilet plungers. Got most of what I needed. Back to the motel to unpack groceries then took the Black Marsh hike at North Cape. Talk about Stinky Beach! Reminded me of Goose Island SP in TX except much worse. There was a backhoe bringing all the seaweed up from the beach and putting it in a pile. Yukky! I didn't mind the smell of Stinky Beach in TX but this was awful!
Quite a bit of rain on and off all day and into the night.

Went out for sunset at Skinner's Pond, home of Stompin' Tom Connors. Beautiful beach and dunes! Boy was it cold and windy though. Lucky I had on my new raincoat!

Joyce Cozens 1927-2012

Left to right - My mother, Aunt Joyce, Aunt Ruth when they were young

My Aunt Joyce, my Mother's youngest sister passed away Wednesday August 29th at the age of 85. We had just attended her birthday party two weeks before. Since moving to Smiths Falls we have been getting to know her daughter, my cousin, Ethel who is the nearest girl to me in age. Unfortunately over the years I haven't seen my aunt that much, pretty much only at funerals but I remember that we used to visit them when they lived here in Smiths Falls when I was a kid. By the time I moved here it was too late to get to know her again. Keep that in mind people. If you want to know your older relatives, do it before it's too late.

Aunt Joyce was born in Morrisburg, Ontario, the youngest of six children. She married my uncle, Lesley Cozens in 1950 and had five children. They lived in Smiths Falls area for most of their married life.

The funeral is tomorrow.

Goings On

On Saturday a couple of weeks ago there was an Olympic Homecoming for the 3 Perth area Olympians Sultana Frizell, Nick Tritton and Ian Millar at the Crystal Palace in Perth. They were led by the Piper and the Town Crier to the Crystal Palace, followed by a few words from the area Mayors and Reeves then a few words from the athletes with an autograph session to follow.

The Tay River goes through Perth. This is where it comes into downtown.

My main reason for wanting to go was to see the Town Crier. We've been wanting to see him do his stuff since we moved here. Brent McLaren is the Perth Town Crier and is also Deacon at St. Frances de Sales Church here in town.

Bagpipes announce the small parade.

The Town Crier in full dress

I did get a new refrigerator this week. The came with the house and was very old, wouldn't level properly and couldn't move it without damaging the new floor. The man and helper who delivered and took the old one to the curb spent 1 1/2 hours getting the old one out and the new one in. I had negotiated with Sears for FREE delivery (they usually charge $65).

I also went to Ottawa for a more in depth eye test for glaucoma at the opthamologist that did my cataract surgery. He will need to do tests every six months for comparison.

Other than that my younger sister Margie had a birthday and we had coffee with my cousin, Ethel and her husband, Randy one day and Jasper, my furry nephew returned for another few days visit while Margie and John and another couple went to Ocean City, MD for a few days.

We also went to Ottawa to the annual barbecue that our financial advisors put on. This year the featured performed was Rich Little. Rich was born and raised in Ottawa and has strong ties to the city. He truly is a great performer.

Rich Little does George Bush Sr.

My Aunt Joyce passed away last Wednesday. I will do a separate blog on that in a day or two.

This Week's News

On Tuesday Gordon finally got my shelves up in the corner between the closet and the window. That space was just wasted so now it has a purpose. I could use a lot more of those "purposes" in the basement.

On Wednesday we joined Aunt Joyce's family at the Broadview Nursing Home for her 85th birthday party. A couple of the kids and their spouses were missing but we were joined by another cousin, Carol and her husband, Eddie (on left closest to the camera). Carol had come to mother's funeral but I don't recall much about that day so it was good to see her again even though we didn't get to chat much.

Aunt Joyce's 85th birthday

On Thursday August 16th it was six years since Bib passed away. I still miss him. He was my sweetie puppy but we are both glad that we elected not to get another animal. We just don't want the responsibility any more.

Also on August 16th our granddaughter Iris turned 4 years old! We haven't seen her since she was about 8 months old.

Iris Olive

August 17th was my Mom's birthday. If she were alive today she'd be 94!

Our tree has now been marked for removal. You can see the big red H on it which stands for Hydro. Since the tree's branches are infringing on Hydro (electric) wires and the tree is leaning into the wires, Hydro will cut it down but they won't take the wood away. Hopefully even though it is soft wood it will be of use to someone. We have no idea when they will come to take it down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August update

I'm afraid it's been a hot, dry boring summer here in Sensational Smiths Falls! During the day it's too hot to do much of anything and the heat and humidity have left me feeling sick and tired most of the time. We have had some rain over the last few days but not enough. We're still on 20% water conservation.

On August 1st our furry nephew, Jasper came to visit us for a week while his parents were moving our human niece, Danica to Hamilton, Ontario where she will be attending medical school at McMaster University. She and her Mom had gone down earlier in the month and found her an apartment and she had her Dad had gone down for a few days to paint it.

Jasper making himself at home on my recliner

He's a real lap dog.

This morning we dropped by our old home base, Tranquil Acres. All sites but three are now seasonal. The three spots are not for transients but for friends and relatives of the seasonals to come to visit.

The office and rec room

The gates - they were always tedious as you had to get out of your vehicle to open them and then close again.

I opened and closed the gates twice today for people so they wouldn't have to get in and out of their vehicles.

We've parked in all these spots at one time or another

Froggie in the Mississippi

The Canadian Mississipi

Our 5er is still here

These are the sites for visitors. We've spent time in all of these sites too.

Hummingbird moth on the phlox

Black eyed susans

Lots of fungus on this log

Dave and Shonagh weren't around so we made ourselves at home and walked around. It was nice to be there recalling memories.

July is Nearly Over!

Saturday July 21st Lions Club Steel Band in the park at Smiths Falls. Every Saturday in the summer they have a different band. This one was pretty good and it was good to hear a steel band again although I was disappointed they didn't play Yellow Bird. We used to hear steel bands all the time on our Caribbean cruises. All musicians were under 18 years of age.

On Wednesday we had two birthdays in the family. Gordon's sister Carol in Cincinnati and my Aunt Ruth who is in Brockville. We decided to go and see Aunt Ruth since it was her 90th birthday. While I'm glad we did it wasn't a pleasant experience. It's so hard to see people you love go through dementia.

Aunt Ruth reading the card and looking at the photo that we brought.

Friday night we took a drive through Murphy's Point Provincial Park and then back through Narrows Locks. I thought we might see some deer but the only thing we saw was a partridge, so no photos, nothing new there.

Since we moved in to this house we have had a problem with an infestation of box elder bugs apparently from the Manitoba maple tree in our yard. This Manitoba maple is also responsible for our sewer problems that we recently had corrected. Last week someone came from Hydro One and said that the tree had to be cut back as it's infringing on the electrical wires. At the time we said to do a good trim but I think we'll get in touch and have them cut it down. The man said they would do that if we wanted. I will be sorry to see it go. No more long lazy afternoons on the swing under the tree. Out in the hot sun won't be fun but those bugs are really annoying! Gordon is outside about once every hour during the day spraying them with sunlight soap and water and while it does kill them, those suckers breed worse than rabbits!

I finally got all my new curtains for the dining room this week so the old blue ones came down.

And my new 'granny' curtains went up. They remind me of something you'd see in a grandmother's house but we both like them and we both really hated the blue ones.

This past Saturday we went to see another band in the park called Vine Rhymes. They had a little bit of country, folk, blues and even poetry reading.

Today was the annual Rolling Thunder Car Show. Smiths Falls has the best car show we've been to, bar none! It was pretty hot this morning but we managed to hang in long enough to walk around and see them all. The photos are just ones that caught my eye. I didn't really have a favourite this year.

We used to have a 51 Chev like this one, only blue where I grew up on the farm.

Very clean engine!

Austin Healey. These are neat cars.

While we were in the park there were two adult osprey in the nest with 2 young ones. When we came toward the nest they flew away trying to get us away from the nest. In the photo below one of the adults is just landing back in the nest.

That's my update!

July News

Last weekend was family cottage weekend at Betty & Garth's cottage on the shores of beautiful Sturgeon Lake near Lindsay, Ontario. We were short a few members of the family, namely Nick, Becky & Jack. Nick is to be best man at a wedding in Toronto this weekend so he was unable to attend.

It was good to get away and we always enjoy the cottage. This is the first time it's been held in July and it was hot, hot, hot! I think arrangements are in the works to either go back to late August, or even September. June was mentioned too.

Anyway, I took very few photos, the ones below being about it.

Betty & Garth in the living room of their cottage

Danica is playing a tune at sunset

Gordon took the paddle boat to see a nest of osprey

Sunday morning Gordon and I went over to Double M where we spent a month every summer when we were fulltiming. We had hoped to see Daphne (the owner) but she wasn't around.

Heading home on Monday we ran into a lot of construction and lost about 1/2 hour but we're retired so it doesn't matter!

Wednesday I had an appointment with the opthamologist that did my cataract surgery nearly two years ago. My eye doctor has been checking me for glaucoma and decided I needed to see the big guns as my tests had been inconclusive over the past few months. I had the test done and it was determined to be 'suspect'. I'm to return and have another test in August and then every six months so he can get a pattern of what's happening. I also have developed cloudiness in my vision (not really noticeable to me yet). He had told me it would probably happen so I have to have laser surgery in both eyes in October. It's apparently pain free and easy but I do have to go to the Riverside Hospital on two different days for it.

We haven't had much rain this summer and right now we're on 20% less usage and according to the paper we will probably go to 30% this coming week. There is rain in the forecast for next week so let's hope it comes to pass. The grass is yellow and crunchy and the flowers are looking quite starved for water. I do give them a sprinkling with my watering can every few days but it's not enough.

That about wraps it up for what's happening here in Sensational Smiths Falls!