Our Message Archive

Sunday October 11
Happy Thanksgiving!

Ann and I have now moved on to Katy and Ben's in Renfrew, driving up on Wednesday via the 407, Peterborough and Bancroft. On Monday morning, Ann and I rode up the Etobicoke Creek Trail getting back in time for lunch. Nancy arrived shortly after, having driven down to Brampton from Barrie for a visit. She, Ann and Martha went apple picking at a friend of Martha's.

On Tuesday, Martha's friend Cliff arrived and he, Martha, Thom Ann and I went to the Canadian Opera Company in downtown Toronto to see Cosi Fan Tutte. Although I have seen several operas on video, I have never seen a complete opera in person other than The Hobbit by the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus back in 2004 when Ann and I billetted four of their members. This time we got rush tickets on Tuesday afternoon and sat high in the nosebleeds. Nevertheless, we could see and hear everything well and enjoyed the show.

Here in Renfrew it has been a long weekend for all with no school on Friday for a professional development day and Thanksgiving Monday off as well. On Thursday, after an afternoon ride while the kids were in school, Ann and I picked up Morgan and Julia from Ottawa, so we had a full house for Alex's fifth birthday on Friday. He got to choose the menus for all the meals: pancakes with bacon for breakfast (and presents, of course), mac and cheese with bacon for lunch, and hamburgers with bacon for dinner. In the afternoon, Katy went with Alex so he could ride his scooter along the sidewalks on Gillan Rd. while Ann and I took Andrew for a bike ride along the Algonquin Trail as far as Whitton Rd. Alex's birthday party will be next weekend.

Yesterday everyone enjoyed a relaxing day. A 1000-piece puzzle was started and I took advantage of a beautiful day to ride towards Calabogie as far as Norway Lake, taking the roads on the way down and the trail on the way back.

Today has been another relaxing day except for Ben and Katy who prepared us all a wonderful Thanksgiving turkey dinner at mid-day. Afterwards we watched the Disney movie Coco and, later on, the adults watched Project Hail Mary.

Sunday October 4

Ann and I have decamped to Brampton for a few days; we'll be heading up to Renfrew in a few days. We left home on Thursday morning making it as far as Rivière-du-Loup where we shared the Comfort Inn with a busload of French tourists who took over the restaurant across the street where we were going to have dinner, and the breakfast room the following morning. On Friday, we drove to Gananoque, bailing from the 401 onto the 1000 Islands Parkway for a more scenic route over the last few kilometres. After checking in to our hotel, we went for a cruise through the islands with City Cruises Gananoque then had a very nice dinner at Riva, the Italian restaurant next door to the hotel. Yesterday we completed the journey to Martha and Thom's arriving in time for Martha and Ann to go to downtown Toronto to see Hell's Kitchen by Alicia Keys at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre; they gave it positive reviews. Meanwhile, I took advantage of a beautiful day to stretch my legs after two and a half days in the car by riding up the Etobicoke Creek Trail which passes very close to Martha and Thom's. Today, Ann and Martha's cousins Jane and Sherry came for lunch and a prolonged gab session.

Back in Nova Scotia, the wet weather continued over the past couple of weeks so we weren't able to get out as as many rides as we would have liked. Since the forecast for last Saturday suggested that the Rambler ride would be cancelled (as, indeed, it was), we took the opportunity to ride with the Railers on Thursday from Western Shore to Mahone Bay via Indian Point, a Rambler ride that had been rained out a few weeks before. For once it was a nice day and it is a pretty ride, especially between Indian Point and Mahone Bay. We had coffee and treats at The Barn before riding back. Jocelyn met as in Western Shore and we had a late lunch at the Island View Restaurant before returning home.

Our trip required some rearranging of the Neptune shows that we had tickets to. Last Sunday, instead of the usual Thursday, we went to see Women of the Fur Trade at the Studio which turned out to be better than we expected (the plays at the Studio tend to be more experimental than at the main stage).

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