Now at Lindsay in the Kawartha Lakes District in Ontario

We finally got on the road this morning around 10:30. Everything takes time from packing up to going for fuel and then going back out to put air in the truck tires. We had a little sprinkle of rain just before we left but it wasn't bad.

Our trip 4 1/2 hours, stopping twice. We had cloud, sun, rain, sun and rain and just as we were about finished setting up it started to rain more heavily. Gordon was setting up the internet satellite at the time but couldn't get it locked on as there was too much cloud so had to wait for that. We're now set up except for the TV and it's 5:20 p.m. I just got back from the office paying for our month's stay. Here are some photos of the drive.





Nearly there!


We're on one of the prettier sites. We usually choose one of the long term sites but they are all full. Daphne (owner) has two full hook up sites on the water but we can only see the water from our side window. There are trees behind us which is definitely a lot better than looking at HLS Linen Service. Now I have to get the windows washed since we have a view! Maybe tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Rain is in the forecast for the next few days. Here are some photos of the campground and our site.

The road to the campground

We're here - this is the office/recreation hall

Looking toward our site - it's at the white post just beside the little shed

Our site



View from our side window

Same view in the rain

Looking toward the back of the office from our site

Seasonal sites on the other side of us

This is the view from our front door (until someone parks beside us)


The view across the playing field from us - these are also seasonal sites


We have nothing planned for tonight. We don't like to do anything on moving days, we just eat leftovers!

Beautiful Rainbow, Restringing

Last night after dinner we had a storm and then this beautiful rainbow showed up. It was a full rainbow but unfortunately my camera's capabilities match my Photoshop capabilities therefore you only get part of the rainbow. If you want to see the whole rainbow, click here.


This morning I had to go back to the west end to pick up some corn wraps for Gordon. We've never been able to find them in the Lindsay area so we needed an extra package as this is what he uses instead of bread.

While I was there I took a necklace I've been trying to find out how to get fixed into the Sassy Bead Company which is in the same mall where I get the corn wraps. She told me I could restring it or leave it with them and they would do it for $10/hr. I told her I wanted to do it so she said to sit down and she'd get me a tray and some wire. I hadn't planned to do it there but thought if I did, I might actually get it done. So I sat down and she got me the equipment. It only took a couple of hours. I did all the restringing and she put the catch back on for me and it only cost me just under $10. Here's the necklace all back together again.

It's a nice place, good atmosphere. There were people coming in all the time picking out beads to string to make bracelets and necklaces. Lots of little girls and even one little boy arrived. His necklace had a snake on it, very cute. They have a Basic Beading course for $30 that I'd love to attend. Maybe when we get back to the area in September. If I want a course during the day I have to come up with three people to take it.

I got home just in time to take a nice nap before dinner. Around dinner time the storms started coming in although the rest of the day was quite nice.

Tomorrow is the day we're heading out of here at last - to the Kawartha Lakes district about 3 1/2 hours west of here.

Takin' Care of Business

We had heavy rain and a thunderstorm overnight. This morning I woke up to cloudy skies and again cool and humid. We also had some sun then some rain and some thunder this afternoon.

This afternoon we went out to get everything done to apply for Gordon's permanent resident card. His expires in March 09. He had to go to the bank to get a receipt as it costs $50 every 5 years, get ID photos done, fill in all sorts of forms and send copies of his passport and his original landed immigrant document and get it all mailed. That took a couple of hours but we managed to stop at Bayshore Shopping Mall to get the photos done and while we were waiting for them Gordon got to have Taco Bell for lunch. I had already eaten before we left.

After that we decided to treat ourselves to the flowers at the Ornamental Gardens but we'd only been there about 10 minutes when it started to rain. I have a few photos for you today though. This might be our last trip to the Ornamental Gardens this year as when we return from Lindsay we'll be staying at Tranquil Acres near Carleton Place, ON.

My little cottontail was there waiting for me.


Flower gardensOrange canna lily
Red canna lily
Not a particularly fun or interesting day today.

Run of the Mill Day

Today started out cloudy, cool and humid. I had opened the door of the RV and turned on the Fantastik fan when I got back from my walk but then realized it was only 21C (70F) inside so I closed the door and turned off the fan.

Gordon went out early with the truck as we've had a 'lamp out' light on this weekend so we had to have that fixed before we leave on Friday.

I had to go out to Bayshore Shopping Centre and pick up the remainder of Gordon's antifungal prescription today. I had asked him for an extra 3 or 4 days to tide us over while in Lindsay and he gave them to me for free! I ran some other errands while I was out and picked up some lottery tickets. Lotto 649 is 43 million on Saturday so wish me luck! I also got a Cash for Life. I don't know how to play that one so I'll have to read the instructions.

I've felt below par the last couple of days so hope that goes away so I can enjoy our time in Lindsay.

The sun came out this afternoon and we reached 26C (79F) but was still humid. When I got home, I lay down to read and had a brief nap.

That about covers today!

A Very Busy Tiring Day

This morning when I got back from my walk and was doing some exercises outside Gordon came out and started getting the RV ready to wash the roof so after I had breakfast we both went out.

I was watching him more than anything as he said he'd rather do the roof than worry about me being up there so once he got the upper part of the nose done that I can't reach and was working on the roof I started washing the rest of the nose. I had just washed the bugs off it about six weeks ago but it was filthy. The only thing we can think of is that with all the rain it's washing stuff off the trees onto the RV but it was very dirty and also very hard to wash off. It took a lot of elbow grease and with the Mr. Clean sponge. That seemed to be the only thing that would work.

We're just hoping that this little venture hasn't set Gordon back physically. It's quite tiring to do even when you fell well! The photo is of Gordon on the roof of the RV washing the rear part.

Of course when you wash the roof the sides usually get dirty too so once he did what he could on the roof, I again washed the rear of the RV and some parts of the sides that we worse than others. He also moved the truck around so that I could do both sides of the nose. I stand on a ladder in the bed of the truck and with stretching, I can just reach it. I was going to do the windows but decided they could wait for another day.

This afternoon I took all the dirty rags and washed them and did a load of laundry. I also finished another book. I'm bushed!

A Visit to Tranquil Acres and Carleton Place

When I got up this morning Gordon was just heading out to the Ornamental Gardens for some photos. Since it rained last night he thought he could get some raindrops on the flowers. While he was gone I did my exercises, went for my walk and had my breakfast.

I enjoy Sunday morning as one of my favourite local singers, Dick Maloney hosts a program from 6 a.m. to noon called Sentimental Journey, songs from the 40s and 50s. His singing is very similar to Frank Sinatra who is his idol. I think I mentioned before that Dick was in an accident a couple of years ago and is now a quadriplegic. That was so tragic, he's such an excellent singer. I used to spend a lot of evenings when in my 20s going to wherever he was singing to listen to him and dance. Anyone can listen at http://oldies1310.com/. Click on Live Streaming. Dick has written a lot of songs as well. The radio station has set up an area in his room at the St. Vincent's Hospital where he has been since his accident so he can do his broadcast from there.

I was peacefully reading my book outside this afternoon when Gordon came out and asked if I wanted to go to Tranquil Acres. Tranquil Acres is the RV park that we usually stay at when in this area. We affectionately call it 'our home park' however since they weren't open yet when we arrived and we had a lot of appointments in Ottawa we were fortunate to be able to get into Rideau Heights where we've been since we arrived here.

Away we went to Tranquil Acres and were greeted almost immediately by Dave and Shonagh, the owners. We sat outside and chatted with them for a while.

Here's a photo of Gordon and Dave chatting. Shonagh had gone to help a guest but came to say good-bye. When we return from Lindsay, we'll be going there.

Here's the entrance to the park. You have to open the gate to get in.

These are a couple of the roads that I walk on.

This is one of the flowering bushes beside the office.

They have made some changes to their park, they're going more in the seasonal direction but will still have three sites for people that they know to come in. They no longer take tenters so it's getting to be more like a 55+ park. We love it! After chatting with them for a while we left to drive around Carleton Place. There have been big changes there since we left last July. There's a new SuperWalmart that is now open. It was just being built. A new Home Depot and a Rona Hardware Store. Staples was open last year but it had just been built. There is also a new Giant Tiger (Canada's only truly Canadian store that we have left) and a Dollarama, my favourite Dollar Store. It's a thriving community and one that we really like. Downtown Carleton Place is very pretty and the Mississippi River (not that Mississippi) runs through the town.

The skies were quite interesting when we started toward Carleton Place.


Yesterday when I was out I got my hair cut so today I coloured it. This is the colour my hair was when I was nine years old. I kind of like it!

Saturday - A Slow Day

Today was a slow day. It started out with me not wanting to get up, I still wanted to sleep but I got up and did my walk and exercises.

From there it was reading, a brief nap and looking at how dirty the RV has gotten. I think it's because the roof is dirty but Gordon isn't up to getting up there and washing it and I'm afraid of heights. I'm wondering if I get up there if I would be okay doing it on my hands and knees with a bucket of water then he can go up and hose it down after I'm done. I'd really like to get it cleaned up and get a shine back on the nose but I don't know at this age if I can overcome it. I'm also not as steady as I used to be and my back is just starting to improve. I'm embarrassed to take it into the dealer on Friday the way it is though.

Last night after dinner since it was a lovely evening we decided to go to the Chapman Mills Conservation Area which is about 3 miles south of us. We've been there before this year but it runs along the river and it's quite pretty. There is a lot of purple strife (photo below) there now. It seems to be taking over. We walked part way along the trail and the boardwalk but didn't go to the end as thunder clouds were appearing. Here are some photos.

Path at the Conservation Area


Swampy area
Woodpecker


Large cloud building

When we got back to the truck there were some pretty clouds. We drove around a bit to try and find a place to take some photos. I took some from the truck but we decided to just come home. It's nice to go out after dinner. You can sure tell the days are getting shorter already though.

This afternoon I got to continue my nap and listen to the rain on the roof. I ate pineapple last night and it didn't agree with my reflux disease so today hasn't been one of my best.

More Errands and A Bug

This morning proceeded as normal. The skies were mostly cloudy for my morning walk. I've been doing back, waist and abs exercises daily as well as my walk/run.

The pharmacist called this morning and said that he can't get the new medication here. The doctor had suggested that we go with the original antifungal called Difluan rather than the generic. It costs twice as much as the generic but since they can't get that large a quantity here we're sticking with the generic so I went and picked that up today and did some other errands which included sending the receipts for the prescription in to the insurance. I have to pay it up front and get reimbursed. They didn't have enough of the prescription so I have to go back on Tuesday to get the rest.

I picked up a few items on my list however I did forget to buy a lottery ticket. I was going to get a 'Cash for Life' ticket. If you win they usually pay you $1000/wk for life however it's doubled right now so it's $2000/wk for life. I can dream can't I? Someone has to win it and it's for sure you won't win if you don't buy a ticket. That would be so great!

I also stopped to see my sister and her husband and pick up the mail. Her holidays are winding down. She goes back to work on Tuesday. It's nice to drop by during the day and she's at home. When I was working she was at home and now we have role reversal. While I was there, my niece, Danica came home so got to see her as well.

I arrived back at the RV park around 4 p.m. having left at around 10:30 a.m.

We were supposed to get rain and thunderstorms today however this afternoon it turned sunny but hot and humid although the thermometer is only registering 26C (79F).

This weekend is a long weekend here in Ontario. It's called a Civic holiday so all the working folks get Monday off. Just another day for us!

I don't have a photo today so I'm posting the Cicada that the campground manager brought to me yesterday to see if I knew what it was. Thanks to Dee of Tumbleweed for identifying it for me. I also put it on Bugguide.net and have had a couple of people identify it there as well.

A reader asked me if we use gas or diesel as he thought the price we paid for it yesterday was too low for diesel and too high for gas. It is diesel and the station, Foster Motors is at Merivale and Cleopatra in Nepean.

End of July Expenses and Our Thursday

July Expenses

Considering we had double insurance payments for both the truck and the RV this month as well as a final bill from our previous insurer, we did very well. The grocery category is too high especially since Gordon is not drinking wine while he's on the medication for Valley Fever so we haven't bought any of that since we've been in Canada. But I did clean out the freezer and start from scratch on buying meat. We also traveled further this month so our fuel bill is quite a bit higher than last month. All in all, not a bad total.

We had an early doctor's appointment for Gordon this morning so I was up early. She's changing his medication again. Then we went to the chiropractor for me. From there we stopped at Remic Rapids on the Ottawa River Parkway and took photos of the rock sculptures. They weren't up the last time we were there. There is a sign that says not to touch them as they are all balanced. Here are some photos.

A closeup of a few of them


Ducks swimming around the rocks


Two other stops on the way home, one to pick up some milk and to fill up the truck (1.32/litre).

I sat outside and had my lunch then noticed our neighbours, John and Jan were outside so I sat and chatted with them for most of the afternoon while Gordon had a nap. He came over and got me when he got up and it was nearly 4 p.m. by then.

Today was fairly nice. We had a lot of cloud and quite a bit of sun with a nice breeze and 27C (80F).

My Wednesday

We had some sun this morning but by just after noon the rain started. Luckily I got all my work accomplished early.

After my walk, exercise and breakfast I changed the bed and got the laundry ready. I got the washers going, then came back and put a pork roast with potatoes and carrots in the crockpot. Then the clothes went in the dryer and I did some exercises for my back and abs. It asn't time for the clothes to be ready so I went back to reading my book outside. There was a breeze blowing but it felt damp. I got the clothes folded and put away, the sheets back on the bed, had lunch and went back to my book which I finished.

Not much was accomplished this afternoon, just reading and surfing!

I didn't take any photos today so I'm featuring one that I took when we were in Tucson this winter, the pathway into the desert.

Last Night and Today

Last night after having breakfast for dinner we decided that since it was such a nice evening we should go out. So we drove to Bate Island on the Ottawa River. There were some beautiful fluffy clouds last night. We took photos along the river and also fed one of the groundhogs some of my leftover bread. Max didn't seem to be around. He's the one I took the movie of a few weeks ago but another one that I've named 'Tubbo' although a bit skittish could be coaxed out of his den for some bread as you see in the photo below. He took the bread very daintily right from my hand.


There was also a goose that was begging but I named him 'Slow and Stupid' as when I'd throw the bread even though it landed right in front of him, the seagulls snapped it up before he could get to it.

A young fellow was playing his guitar sitting by the river.

The rapids

There were a lot of people learning to canoe and also some kayakers. Behind the kayakers is a downtown view of Gatineau, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario.

Behind the canoeists is the province of Quebec.

Sun behind a cloud


On our way back home we stopped and took some photos in the Central Experimental Farm. The Experimental Farm is in the middle of west end Ottawa of which the Ornamental Gardens and the Arboretum is part. Canada is the only country that has a working farm in the heart of its capital city. It is also a National Historic Site.

Here's a photo of one of the barns in golden light with lots of shadows.

And one of the roads through the Farm.

The bike/walking path runs through the Experimental Farm as well.

Pretty clouds over the Farm

I woke up to a sunny morning, perfect for my morning exercise. I've added some waist exercises to my morning routine. We'll see how that pans out!

After breakfast I called and made a chiropractic appointment. On the way I stopped at Michael's and picked up a couple of beading needles and some red beads. I need to get back at making some bracelets. It's been a while. Then off to the chiropractor. I was going to do some more running around but decided to come home instead so I made it home in time for lunch.

This afternoon I sat outside reading. It was sunny with cloudy periods all afternoon and a temperature of 23C (74F). I got a burst of steam and did the vacuuming, cleaned the bathroom and washed the floors except for the kitchen. That will wait for another day.

Errands and Standing in Line

Today started off as being a nice day but late this afternoon we got some rain. We'd actually gone a couple of days without rain. Amazing!

I've been putting off going out for groceries and doing some errands and today I couldn't put it off any longer so left around 10 a.m. I didn't get back till nearly 2 p.m. and I didn't even stop for lunch!

I stood in line twice at Walmart to get some photos processed. They really need more machines but I'm told they don't have room for any more at that store. There were only two in line this morning but I decided to go to the grocery store to see if they had a line up. Their machine wasn't able to print 4x6 photos today so I continued on with my errands thinking I'd find somewhere else to get it done but everywhere I stopped either had to send out for the photos or didn't have a machine at all. So back to Walmart. Now there were 6 people in line and I think one guy was processing every photo that he's ever taken. I was in line for about 1/2 hour. The lady in front of me had never done it before so I helped her until it was my turn. All that and I only wanted to process two photos! Oh well, I'm retired, I've got nothing else to do, right?

At least I know now that I can upload the photo to Walmart's web site and then just go in and pick it up. Saves all that hassle!

Bruce Pit

It was a beautiful morning with clear blue skies and bright sunshine so I had a nice walk. Mid-morning I decided we needed to go out as it was supposed to turn rainy and stormy this afternoon. We hadn't been to Bruce Pit this year so that's where we went. Bruce Pit is very close to where our house was.

Bruce Pit has lots of trails but is most known as the place to walk your dog. It has areas where dogs can run off leash. Here's a photo of a really big dog that we saw today.

We walked on a trail that I hadn't been on before that goes around the Bruce Pit quarry. Here's the trail when we started out and another part of it farther along.

And here's an artist doing a painting of the trail and the trees.

We saw this beautiful dragonfly. It just kept flitting around and landing on the fence.

This was a pretty area with lots of Queen Anne's lace.

And a forest of sumacs

This pretty little bridge runs over Graham Creek.

Here is two views of Bruce Pit.


And a pretty tiger lily

Other than reading today that was about it. We didn't get any rain this afternoon although we did have some cloud but mostly it was sunny and a bit windy.