A Birthday and More Beading

First of all I'd like to wish my stepdaughter, Michelle a Happy 30 something birthday!

I was awakened in the night by rain on the roof and it was still raining this morning so no walk for me. I did do my exercises though. I took my time this morning surfing the internet and finally getting a shower. I had arranged to be at beading class around noon.

It quit raining so I went into town and picked up some groceries and grabbed a sub for lunch before heading to Cameron, ON to see Murida at T.M.G. Beads. Today I made an invisible necklace (pictured below) from ruby semi-precious stones.



I also learned to do bead wrapping. I've left it the way it is (uncut) for now so I can remember how to do it. It will be a few days before I get back into beading as we're heading back to the Ottawa area on Monday. I'll miss having Murida close by!

Laundry and Lindsay

The day started out pleasant and sunny with quite a brisk wind. The good thing about the wind was that it had dried the grass already at 8 a.m. I had a nice walk and run around the campground and did my exercises down by the beach.


After breakfast I changed the bed and got the laundry ready then hauled it down to the campground laundry. Luckily no one else was there as I needed all 4 washers and dryers. Betty had offered to let me come out there and do the laundry but with her little stackable I'd be there for two days getting it done. The main reason she wanted me to come out was today is our cousin, Ed's birthday and she wanted to call him but I'll have to make do with a 'Happy Birthday, Ed'. Ed lives in Winchester, England and is our father's nephew. Ed is so much like Dad even down to his mannerisms.

By mid morning the sun had gone and it turned cloudy. We had a few sprinkles of rain just as we were getting ready to go into town. Gordon needed a haircut and I had to pick something up that I had ordered at the health food store. After that we drove around Lindsay a bit and I took some photos.

This pretty old spreading tree was the first thing that caught my eye in this little park along the Scugog River.

There's an old wooden footbridge that spans the Scugog River and a really nice paved trail on the other side.

A view of the Scugog River from the footbridge.

We drove a little further along the street and saw this old boathouse that's slowly sinking into the river.


When I got home I called our pharmacy in Ottawa to be sure they have Gordon's antifungal medication for next week.

Trip to Port Perry

I haven't slept well the past couple of nights so I was really dragging when I got up this morning. I had to force myself to get out and run but I did it!

Betty was picking me up around 11 a.m. and we were meeting Bonnie (coming from Toronto) in Port Perry which is about 45 minutes from here on Scugog Lake. (We're on Scugog River.) Port Perry is a pretty little town with this lovely gazebo down by the water.

We had lunch at the Antrim Pub which is across the street from the park where the gazebo is and sat outside on their patio. It was pretty hot there although the thermometer in Betty's car only registered 25C (77F). There were also a lot of flies sticking to us so I guess there is rain coming! Below is a photo of the 'Ladies who Lunch'.

After lunch we walked through a few of the touristy shops on the main street. Betty bought a T-shirt with Ireland on it for Garth (he's Irish) and a magazine. Bonnie and I weren't buying anything. I was having a hard time putting one foot in front of the other I was so tired.

Bonnie left quite early for Toronto as the 401 was closed this morning due to a truck accident so the 407 which is the toll road through Toronto was really busy so she wanted to beat the rush hour traffic.

Betty and I got back to the RV around 3 p.m. and we sat outside with a cold drink and watched someone try to back in next to us. They eventually decided to go over to the waterfront where the ground is more level. The site beside us really needs to be leveled. It's way off. The guy that was here last week had 4 boards on the right side to get level.

Not much else new here. Sure hope I sleep tonight!

At the Cottage

We slept with one window open last night and it was a lovely night for it. I've just been opening one window lately at night as the cross breeze might make it too cool and I took the electric blanket off late last week due to the heat wave that was coming and it has been hot in the daytime this week.

Today was another beautiful sunny day but it seems these beautiful sunny days will be coming to an end as rain is expected tonight and again Friday and through the weekend. We're just hoping that it doesn't rain Monday when we move back to the Ottawa area.

This morning we went in to Lindsay to Tech Mobile. This is where we bought our internet satellite over three years ago when it was called 3i Communications. Last year the owner, Armand was in the campground and offered to replace our dish (it still shows 3i Communications) so we went to see if the offer was still good. Unfortunately he wasn't there so we'll have to try again although our time here in Lindsay is drawing short.

On our way back to the RV park we stopped to take some photos of the horses. This horse decided to put on a show for us.


After an early lunch I went into town to get some photos processed and then went out to the cottage to spend the afternoon with Betty as Garth is in Toronto and will be taking off for England for a few days tonight. We sat on the dock and enjoyed the breeze. It was hot in town but beautiful out at the cottage. Here are a couple of photos from my lawn chair.


Just before I left we went for a walk. You're allowed to walk along the front between the water and the cottages. We stopped to talk to one of the ladies who is also into beading and she took us inside to show us what she's done. Now, I'm really depressed! She has made some gorgeous necklaces, bracelets and earrings. It makes my piddly little necklaces and bracelets look so amateurish! Maybe some day!

While there I took this photo of the neighbour's cat, Tiger. Gordon had taken a photo of it last year. Hard to believe it's the same cat.


This is the swamp on the other side of the road to the cottage.

This is the front of the other cottage that Garth owns. The two cottages are side by side. It looks so pretty from the front.


When I got home, Gordon went back into town to see if Armand was there as he wasn't able to get him on the phone. No luck!

Just Another Day in the Kawarthas

Today was another gorgeous day with no humidity! I went for my walk but today just walked around the park instead of on the road. I spent the remainder of the morning reading and of course, a nap just happened. I seem to be awfully tired lately!

Betty picked me up at 1 p.m. and we went into Lindsay. I needed to get some groceries and things so we spent the afternoon there and got back to the RV around 4:30 p.m.

I had asked Betty to stay for dinner so Gordon barbequed pork chops and I had picked up some potato salad, broccoli and melon for desert. It was such a beautiful night we ate outside at the picnic table. That's the first time we've done that in ages!

Gordon and I at the picnic table after dinner - and no that isn't my wine!

Betty and I down by the water

This morning everyone was gone but a couple of people have come in this afternoon.

Betty leaving in her little Mini Cooper

That's about it for today!

August Expenses and Labour Day at Home

August Expenses - a good month!

That's a pretty good total this month. We seem to do well in Lindsay, probably because my sister and her husband feed us so much! We had a final insurance bill from State Farm this month so our Fixed expenses should be a bit less next month. We also had an increase in our satellite TV but only $4 or so. Our Misc. category was pretty high with the renewal of Gordon's permanent resident card, buying some beads, my new shoes etc. We've only been driving from the campground to the cottage so the monthly total for fuel isn't half bad. Everywhere else I've been going with Betty and using her gas. Next month I'm sure will be much higher as we'll have several trips in to Ottawa from our campground in Carleton Place.

Today was a beautiful day. It was 11C (53F), bright and sunny when I got up this morning and went for my walk. By this afternoon the temperature had reached 31C (88F) but still bright and sunny and a very light breeze but not much humidity.

I spent my day reading, having a nap and making two necklaces. I made the one below to go with the T-shirt shown. I didn't put any pink in it even though there's pink in the shirt as it just didn't look right. Getting that last ring on and getting the beads tightened up is a real chore! Hopefully I'll get better at it as I go along.

This one I made to go with the celery green t-shirt that I have.

I also vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom and washed the floors. I firmed up our plans to arrive at Tranquil Acres in Carleton Place on September 8th and have an email confirmation from Dave and Shonagh saying they are expecting us. Gordon worked on getting all our photos backed up. We just had a nice day at home.

A Day at Pleasant Point

Gordon had a date with another photographer that has a cottage just four cottages down from Betty & Garth at 11 a.m. so we headed out for the cottage shortly after 10 a.m. The cottage is located at Pleasant Point north of Lindsay.

This photo is fog ahead of us and Garth said that they had some pretty thick fog this morning.


When we arrived Betty & Garth were ready to go to church, Gordon went shooting photos and I just relaxed at the cottage and read my latest book. Here's a photo of the rocking chair on their back deck. I thought it looked pretty with the red geraniums around it. I also took a photo of Betty in her going to church outfit.




Most of the afternoon we sat on the dock and read and watched Garth's daughter's family water skiing. This photo is of them coming back to the dock to tie up the boat so they could go out later.

This is the road to the cottage.


Gordon returned mid afternoon with lots of photos but very tired so he relaxed for a few hours till dinner time. We had our dinner in their gazebo on the dock. Just a nice relaxing day!

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

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 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!

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.

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.

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!

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!