Oh Canada

Time to get back to a posting .... I realize that we have been a little quiet lately.

We spent a week visiting with Ron's family ~ mom, sister Nancy, and brother-in-law Paul, in Erie, PA at the end of July. Nancy being quite the social butterfly, had us on the go every night. We were whisked off to my first professional baseball game, naturally partaking in the tradition of eating hot dogs, and for those of you who really know me, this is right out of character. Another evening found us square dancing ~again another first, which actually I found to be quite enjoyable with aerobic benefits. Then there was picnicking beside Lake Erie listening to a rather aged group playing a rendition of the Beatles for several hours. The horse racing track was also entertaining, Nancy having her special technique of picking the winners by the colors the jockey wore, which amazingly seemed to work ~ our week seemed to fly by.

After Erie we headed for London, Ontario to spend a few days with old Bermuda friends (Liz and Collin) whom we had not seen for about 18 years. Apart from some grey or thinning hair, a few added pounds and odd laughter lines, we had not changed one bit, and found ourselves to be the same crazy baby boomers, we SO enjoyed catching up on each others lives.

On our way to London we explored the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake .... a delightful place, not at all like the Niagara Falls attraction, and well worth a visit. During our stay in London, we took a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, Ontario, larger than the S-on-A in England, however we had a lovely lunch, walk along the river and poke around the shops.

Then it was on to Williamstown, Ontario about 400 miles away. Once again preferring to take the back roads. We found ourselves to be just enchanted with not only the beautiful scenery, and the general friendly politeness that all Canadians seem to exhibit, but there is a relaxed, gentle feeling that one experiences, a softness, and kindness, that is somehow not as evident in the US. We just LOVED our two weeks there.

We were going to spend just a few days with Mary and Walter on their mini farm in Williamstown (I have known Mary since I was 17yr. old, we did our nursing training together, plus spent some time together in Bermuda in the 70's and she was my bridesmaid, so we "go back a bit"!) but I digress ... we extended our stay to a full week where Ron acquired the title of " The Live Stock Hand" as he found himself each morning, before breakfast, attending to the chickens, cleaning out the ponies’ stall, checking the heifers, gathering the eggs, and helping to prune and tie the grapevines. Ron was most pleased to have made good use of his newly acquired wellies! There were also 3 cats, 2 very shy, preferring to hide in the barn, and a lovely golden retriever, called Ellie-May who we just fell in love with.

Then there was the garlic ... 2000 garlic bulbs, to be sorted, cleaned, tenderly peeled layer by layer with a toothbrush, before being braided in bunches of ten. We managed to assist with 500 bulbs .... not a tedious job by any means, in fact quite the opposite, it was most rewarding, peaceful and satisfying. One could truly feel the tranquility of this lifestyle seeping through ones pores, and I would say that it felt like a little bit of heaven on earth. Williamstown itself is quite historic, it was a re-settlement area for the British Loyalists troops after the Revolutionary War. Several original buildings have been restored and maintained as historical sights.

Click the photo for more.