Hot August Nights

NOT,,,, it seems our summer has consisted of nice days during the 1st half of July and then more unpleasant weather since. The 1st half of August has not been really nice, we’ve had some nights down as low as 8 & 9C (40’s F). When we have been out geocaching lately, we have noticed the abundance of pine cones on the evergreens. I always thought that meant a cold winter coming but searching on line, Wiki Answers tells us that more pine cones this year was due to a stressed growing season last year. The only true long range forecaster is the Farmers Almanac and I’m sure you can bet heavily on that! Here is a link for 20 signs of a hard upcoming winter. I’m gonna start counting acorns! Anyway, I’ll move on with our latest adventures instead of grousing about the weather….

After we got back from our weekend at Terri & Mark’s cabin, we met up with a couple we knew in our previous working life – Bob & Sue, we used to golf and have dinners with them. It has only been 13 years since we last saw them. It was over a meal with them that we learned about the Escapees RV Club. Sue’s parent’s were members and Sue said they always had so much fun. Barb said that’s the club for us, we’re escaping with Escapees!

It was a tough afternoon, sitting under an umbrella on the patio at The Lake House, over looking the lake, catching up with friends and sipping some of Ontario’s finest. Finally the waitress suggested we order a meal before the dinner crowds push us out! What a great afternoon visiting with friends and enjoying the day.

Barb is back into the swing of sewing and working on some projects that she created during her video classes while parked at Terri’s. This 3D quilt block is quite striking. I’ve watched her create some pretty amazing stuff with her fabrics.

 

 

There is a couple that moved into a site across the street from us that we have become friends with – you probably have seen Randy & Norma in previous posts. We are a little more social since they arrived, happy hours, game nights and just kibitzing back and forth. They have introduced Barb & I to Fast Track, a card and board game similar to Pegs & Jokers. It is fun and as the name implies, fast!

 

We did some more geocaching and were more successful than in the past. Some cachers find some interesting and sneaky hiding places for their caches. Here, the instructions were to walk around the crops to the cache location but once we got there, we could not locate the dang gum thing. We left it unfound and went back to the truck. We arrived back, we decided to give it another try but this time, we walked up the gully instead of on top of the gully bank where the crops were and very soon, we found it, part way down the bank right where we were 20 minutes before on the top of the bank!

 

 

Our next fun event was Barb’s birthday. I played it low key all week so she wouldn’t think I had planned anything. We took a river cruise with lunch on the Grand River. When we arrived, we were entertained in their auditorium by the Blazing Fiddles, had refreshments and then escorted to our dining table onboard the Grand River Belle. Once underway, lunch and beverages were soon served. I can’t think of any other relaxing way to spend an afternoon with my best friend and lover! It was good value and I recommend it to anyone.

After, Terri wanted to meet us somewhere for dinner. They were at the cabin and as Barb & I were approaching the Gown and Gavel in Hess Village, we get a text saying they are delayed by 90 minutes at the border coming back into Canada. Oh what to do? Well, we are in Hamilton after all so why not go down to the Fabric & Textile district and browse through Barb’s latest favourite fabric shop? Ooppps, all the shops were closed so lets go back and wait.

By the time we make our way through the traffic and construction, we only arrived back at the restaurant only a few minutes before Terri & Mark. It was a wonderful evening, again on the patio (do you recognize a theme here) having refreshments and enjoying a meal with Terri & Mark, a nice end to a terrific day.  Barb just loved her trackable bugs that they gave for her birthday.  If you are a Geocacher watch for our truck if you are in the Halton area.

 

 

Have you ever been to a Sunday wedding? We have not, but one of Terri’s best friends invited us to hers. We have known Sam forever and felt honoured to share her special day. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding at Liuna Gardens. The wedding service was beautiful overlooking the lake. Sam, of course was stunning. The reception was also held there so no one had to drive. It was a nice day.

 

 

 

Well, that’s it for now, we hope all is good where ever you are…..

Quiet Times–not

With the USA gang off, we are on our way into Toronto to do some dog sitting – yes, our 4 legged grandchild Kasey. Terri & Mark are off to Chicago for a weekend away to celebrate their 6 year wedding anniversary and we offered to dog sit – we had an ulterior motive. We wanted to wash our draperies and the roman shades in the rig, a big job that took 2 days. We were able to get them washed and thanks to dry weather, hung under their gazebo to dry.

 

 

 

 

This also gave us some time to kick back and relax, Barb working on her hand embroidery, finding time to cut the lawn and me holding down a patio chair. While we were in town, we took the opportunity to help Corrie do some wiring changes in her basement. We’ll do almost anything for a free meal! Our last night at Terri’s, Kasey and us were entertained by a family of raccoons walking along their fence.

 

 

 

 

 

While we waited for the drapes to wash or dry, Barb utilized their high speed internet and took a couple of quilting courses. Always planning – she is too organized, she needed to learn to cut/sew circles for an upcoming project so that was one of the lessons she took online.

We arrived back at the campground, got set up and then were off to Terri’s cabin in Western New York for the long weekend. They were kind enough to put up with us again so soon. We asked to visit with them as this park is too noisy on the long weekends with loud music and people – not pleasant after 11PM at night. This is a family campground with a few seniors but all the activities (parties) are geared for the weekenders. We try to make ourselves scarce when the long weekends come around and Terri’s cabin is a good spot to go.

With extra hands around, Mark wanted to collect some firewood, so up their small mountain we go to cut, stack and trailer back to the cabin to stack again. Thank goodness for chainsaws, ATVs and a trailer. The first time up the small mountain was good but the second time, the mountain is bigger! As a reward to ourselves for making it back down, we played a round of golf and had a great time but did not expect to move too quickly the next morning!

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home on Monday, we stopped to pick up a few caches in Ellicottville. We picked 4 to find, hoping to give Terri & Mark a first hand experience in our new little hobby. It took us 20 minutes or so to find the first one around the town Library. We all searched high and low and were almost ready to give up but after carefully reading the clues, we scooped it up. If you were only 3 foot high, it would have been an easy find.  We continued on to the second one. We were not as lucky and did not find the second or third cache that we had picked – maybe when the foliage clears in the fall we’ll try again. The fourth was also a bit tricky but due to my watchful eye, we found it right where we were looking. The GPS took us right to the location but we could not find the cache. We all looked around the location, moved the rocks and checked all the bushes that were in a 50 foot radius but no cache. As I was walking back to the location where we had all scoured, I noticed that the orange reflector only had 1 nail holding it down. I walked up and moved the reflector aside and voila, there, in a hole drilled in the post was our elusive cache! We all had a good laugh at this. We followed Terri & Mark to the Pearl Street Grill, a brew pub in Buffalo for dinner and to wait out the long lines at the border. We didn’t wait long enough, the crossing took more than an hour due to the volume of Canadians returning home. By the time we got back to the campground, all the dust had settled from the busy weekend and all was back to our normal quietness.

We hope all is well out there with you, where ever you are.

Plantation Buds Visit

Holy quilt days, Barb’s quilting buddies are coming in for a visit – I guess the guys will find something to do! We do have fun together and I’m sure you will agree when you read our adventures over the next couple of days. Originally, Dick & Marcia wanted to come over and asked if it was possible to pay Bill & Ann a visit while here. We strung her along and contacted Bill & Ann to see if they wanted to surprise Dick & Marcia by coming over too. They were happy to help plan the surprise so emails were flying. Their drive time was a little shorter than Dick & Marcia’s so Bill suggested they arrive earlier so they could get set up and we could be sitting back with a beverage when they arrived. The event was planned.

All was on schedule, Bill & Ann arrived, we had hugs all around and then we left them to set up. Barb & I don’t like to set up with others waiting – leads to rushing and making mistakes so we try to do the same for others. Once set up, we all got our chairs and awaited the arrival of Dick & Marcia.

We were anticipating a terrific surprise but the surprise was on us. What we didn’t count on was the campground office. I had made the reservations for both but did not tell the office that it was a surprise. Yep, you guessed it, when Dick & Marcia checked in, the office informed them that the other guests had already arrived! It was still a happy re-union of our Plantation buds, hugs all around and lots of chit chat – and of course some beverages.We didn’t plan anything for their travel day, sitting under an awning was the order for the rest of the day with snacks and lots of catch up. As custom, the travellers do not make dinner, we had them back to our rig for a BBQ and stuff.

 

 

 

We gathered at Dick & Marcia’s rig for morning coffee. The weather was not co-operating so we had to adjust our plans a little. We decided due to possible rain, our outdoor excursions would be dampened so we decided to flip the days and we did a car tour of the area which included – yes, a quilt shop, a pub, Tiffany Water Falls and then into Hamilton to the ‘Garment District’ where there are lots of sewing and fabric shops. Because we made an unplanned pub stop, we couldn’t stop for a walk around. Naturally, the girls accused the guys of conspiring the change so they couldn’t shop! We continued through Dundas to the overlook of the Burlington Skyway and Dundas Valley, always inspiring.

 

 

From here, we wanted to make sure they got a flavour of Toronto’s rush hour traffic by driving into Terri & Mark’s for dinner. After a busy day and a very nice evening, we headed back to the campground but everyone was too exhausted and cramped from 6 adults – arguably – cramped into our truck for the day!

Wednesday, we took our coffees to Bill & Ann’s rig – it was coolish weather so we went inside. Oh-h-h, the smell of freshly baked scones, thanks Ann.  We had a busy day ahead so we all got going quickly from our coffees. Our first stop was Mimico Park on the waterfront for a picnic lunch. Oh look, an ice cream truck, I love it when a plan comes together. After we devour our picnic, we load back up in the truck and head on further into Toronto. We found a city bus tour on double deckers that included a boat ride through the lagoons of the Toronto Islands for less than $30 each – what a deal. We highly recommend it if you want to see some of Toronto while seated.

 

 

 

We had to wait for a couple of buses and did not get seats up top right away but soon enough to enjoy most of the tour of Toronto on a bright and sunny day. The tour guides were humorous enough while providing real information. As the bus made it’s way back to the stop at the harbour, we got off for the short walk down to the boat for the ‘Island Cruise’. Now none of our ladies can claim that we don’t take them to the islands!

 

At the end of the busy day, we made it back to one of our favourite eating spots in Waterdown, The Royal Coachman – oh look, it’s another pub! After another terrific meal and some Guinness, we made it back to Bill & Ann’s to put a dent in his Maker’s Mark he picked up at the Duty Free.

 

 

 

Well, it`s a sad time as the ‘gang’ are head’n to their respective homes in Western New York and Michigan. We hosted the usual hitch-up breakfast, we don’t want them going hungry on the trip home.  Our neighbors, Randy & Norma, joined us for the good-bye breakfast.

In short time, they start to break camp and Bill & Ann get the 5’er connected and Dick & Marcia collect all their connections and stow the necessary items in the motorhome. We all agree that we need to do this again next year and after warm hugs, they are on their way. It was a terrific 2 1/2 days.

Hot Days of Summer

It has been excruciatingly hot here as it has been all over North America these past few weeks. Makes it even more difficult for us oldies to get outside and do any biking or even walking. We tried some geocaching in LaSalle park but were not successful and did not find any caches – too hot for patience. However, we did find a nice public boat launch so we can finally get the kayak wet again. Here is an example of a cache hidy hole in a cemetery near by. It is suggested that a geocacher carries gloves etc. when reaching down into a hiding spot in case a critter has set up house.

Barb made good use of being indoors by continuing on her Dr. Who blocks and she is working with a group of ladies from the Plantation on a summer block swap for another quilt. It is a surprise for the ladies so I don’t dare show anything here or they will lynch me.

We did have some excitement here, we got rid of our 13 year old swivel recliners and bought two Lazy Boys that fit nicely into our space. They do not swivel and that is taking some getting used to but they are comfy enough to catch a little shut eye from time to time!

New neighbours have moved into the spot across from us. Friends are coming in for a visit and we reserved that spot for them so in my amicable manner, I jokingly, informed them that they will have to move their rig for a few days and our friendship began. A few happy hours and a new card game later, we have someone in the park we can kick around with.

This heat always brings other undesirable weather – thunder storms. On Friday, July 19, at about 5PM, we had a sever thunder storm hit the area, taking many gazebos with it. Randy & Norma only had their`s set up for a few days when the wind turned the frame into a pretzel. The screen walls survived but not much good without a frame to put it on.

 

 

Barb`s sewing machine is acting up so we took it into the sewing machine doctor on the Saturday. We were completely unaware of the destruction Hamilton had suffered during the storm. When we arrived at the shop, they were closed because of the lack of electricity so we had to go back on Sunday. We saw some big trees that were toppled over in the wind with many crushing any cars and trucks that were parked underneath.

Well, the heat has broken after the storms. We’re ready for Bill, Ann, Dick & Marcia to visit for a few days. Stay tuned for more on that later. Hope all is well where you are….