Cottage Weekend 2011-Two Birthdays and Another One Today!

This weekend was our annual (except for last year) trip to Pleasant Point near Lindsay, Ontario. Every year, Betty and Garth host a weekend for our family.

Just before we arrived it was announced that there was blue green algae in Sturgeon Lake and although it was at the other side of the lake no one wanted to take the chance of going in as it's nasty and toxic. Luckily Betty and Garth have ultra violet light on their water system so their water was safe although we didn't use any more than we had to and they always use bottled water for drinking. So that was a bummer for people who wanted to swim and canoe. Danica had wanted to swim across the lake but decided against that as well.

This year was very different from the last number of years because there was a baby in the family. The last baby was Danica, 23 years ago. Unfortunately a lot of the photos I took inside the cottage were very dark and some blurry so I don't have a lot to post.

We arrived late Friday afternoon, unpacked and Betty, Garth, Gordon and I went into Lindsay to Swiss Chalet for dinner.

When we returned, Nick, Becky & Jack had arrived followed by Margie, John and Danica a while later.

Photos all about Jack!

Saturday is a blur. We didn't do a lot and it seems most of the weekend revolves around food. You're either preparing it, eating it or cleaning up after it, it seems. Saturday evening, Betty and Garth always prepare a big dinner, this time it was steak, baked potato and corn except for me. I had steak and broccoli since corn no longer agrees with me and gives me pain for days. Two birthdays were celebrated, Margie's which is next week and Gordon's 65th in mid September.

After dinner, Nick, Becky and Jack headed for home. It was too bad they weren't able to stay for the weekend as originally planned.

Anyway, Sunday came and packing ensued and after lunch we were on our way home arriving around 4:30 or so. We each got our own dinner and were in bed shortly after 7 p.m. Getting old is tiresome!

After tai chi this morning we accompanied our instructor to the former Rideau Regional Hospital. It was recently sold to Galipeau Construction, a local construction company and has been renamed the Gallipeau Centre. We're looking for a larger place for our tai chi and they have a huge gymnasium that would be ideal. Too bad it's out of town though.

This afternoon we had been invited by my cousin, Ethel to go to Broadview Manor where her family were having a get together for her mother, my aunt. She is my mother's youngest sister.

Little did I realize it was for Aunt Joyce's birthday. We stayed for a while and met Ethel's siblings and their spouses, some of whom I've seen at funerals but for the most part haven't seen them for years. It's always good to reconnect with family.

RIP Doug Dubrouillet (1941-2011)

Although Gordon and I are no longer card carrying members of the fulltime RVing community, we still keep in touch and read blogs of those who are.

Today we received sad news of the passing of Doug Dubrouillet. We met Doug and JoAnn at Usery Mountain in December 2008 and again at Doc Justin's RV Park in Tucson. Doug was a lovely man with a dry sense of humour, a love of food and sleep, especially sleeping in!

Over the past few months Doug had suffered a lot of pain and he and JoAnn had made the decision to come off the road and had settled in their park model in Panama City, FL. He will be greatly missed by his family, his faithful standard poodle, Fillmore, his friends, his Facebook friends, and all of the RVing community.

RIP Doug. We all mourn your passing. I know you'll be up in Heaven still creating Doug's Pro Fantasy Football team.

Doug & JoAnn (on left) at Coyote Pause, Tucson, AZ

Last Night's Sunset Photo

I sent last night's sunset photo to CTV Ottawa News and it was featured on tonight's weather. That's my 10 seconds of fame!

Tonight's Sunset

We had an interesting sunset tonight. Here are some photos. The end photos kind of looked like the state of Texas!

The Long Awaited Visit

When we were fulltime RVers we would stop in Ohio to visit Gordon's kids and the grandkids on our way south and again on our way north. The last time we saw them was April 2009 so on Sunday, Michelle (Gordon's daughter), Eric (her husband) and the three kids, Grace, Faith and Luke arrived for a visit.

Below is a candid shot I took of Grace at the pool.

This is also a candid shot of Luke.

 Faith pretty much posed this one!

This photo was taken this evening at Stewart Park in Perth, Ontario. It's a beautiful setting for some beautiful people!

Gordon's daughter and her husband.

Luke's ice cream is almost as big as he is!

And Faith seemed to enjoy her bubble gum ice cream!

It was a short visit but we were sure glad they could come up and see us since we won't be able to go to the U.S. any time soon!

Tomorrow they head to Niagara Falls area.

Rolling Thunder Car Show

The Smiths Falls Rolling Thunder Car Club put on the best car show of any we've ever seen. Unlike last year I didn't have a real favourite but the ones below caught my eye.

It was a beautiful day for it - sunny 23C/73F and no humidity....

If I had to choose one, this might be it! I think it was a 1937 Hudson

A Trip Down Memory Lane

This was Thursday nights's sunset at Kilmarnock

We headed out this morning around 9:30 a.m. Below are some barns we saw along the way.

Public School, Dixon's Corners, Ontario

I was getting into familiar territory here. My younger sister went to school (photo above) here. It's now closed and being used for storage.

 Monument to the McIntosh apple, Dundela, Ontario (founded by John McIntosh).

This was the largest field on our farm and the farthest away from the house

I spent a lot of time at the house shown above when I was in public school. My best friend, Carol lived there.

This used to be the one room schoolhouse (above) that I attended for 8 years. When it closed, it was purchased by my teacher's daughter, Sylvia and her husband and fixed up as a home. She still lives there, in fact, she's sweeping the porch as we drove by.

This is the house where I grew up and spent the first 17 years of my life. It's now in a state of disrepair. It was such a beautiful house!

This is where my teacher, Mabel lived just west of our place.

 My grandmother's sister's house in Williamsburg. I spent a lot of time there too.

A plaque to Dr. Mahlon W. Locke in Williamsburg. Dr. Locke was known all over the world and people would come for foot manipulation. Williamsburg was the closest town to our farm.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Williamsburg, Ontario

This church is the one I attended while I lived at home.

On to Morrisburg where we had a picnic by the St. Lawrence River.

This is the closest I can get to the U.S. without going to jail. I'm sitting on the dock at Morrisburg and the trees across the river are at Waddington, NY.

The car you see is traveling on US route 37. I took this photo from the dock at Morrisburg.

My sisters and I had this tree planted in memory of our Mom & Dad in 2002 after Mom passed away. There is also a plaque at the base of the tree.

The house above is where I was born in Morrisburg. Although it has been a funeral home for years, when I was born it was a birthing home. It used to be brick.

This is where I went to high school, good old MHS (Morrisburg High School). It closed the year I graduated and students were bussed to Iroquois about 12 miles west of Morrisburg.

The prettiest church in Morrisburg is St. James Anglican.

Mom and Dad lived here after they sold the farm. Mom lived here till about three months before she passed away.

 I used to work here for the Municipality of Morrisburg.

We stopped at the locks at Iroquois but there were no ships going through so no photos were taken. The lock there is so much bigger than the ones here as they are for freighters whereas ours here are mostly pleasure boats.

 At Carmen Galop Park, Iroquois

Fort Wellington, Prescott, Ontario.

Boathouses at Galop Canal Marina, Iroquois

Freighter and lighthouse at Prescott

And looking across from Prescott is Ogdensburg, NY

This used to be a windmill

This is the site of The Battle of the Windmill.

This lighthouse is also in Prescott but is an ice cream parlour.

The Marina is in Prescott, Ontario and the buildings across the water are in Ogdensburg, NY.

 As you can see, I grew up very close to the U.S.

There were two large suckers swimming around the marina.

Here is a map of our route today.

From Prescott, we traveled to Brockville and then home. It was a long day but fun and we had beautiful weather for it.