LA or Bust

My baby is off on her first business trip ever on Sunday! She'll be heading to Los Angeles 4000 kms away for some training. The picture above is the only other trip she took without her family. It was when she was 19 and had just finished her first year of college. Her friend Rachel asked her to go on an adventure to BC via Greyhound 4300 kms away. H ence the "hat" which she borrowed from her dad. 4 days straight on a bus you need to have a hat! They visited Whistler where Rachel had friends and then spent a few days in Vancouver where they found cheap accomodations at the UBC residence. They actually spent more time on the bus than they did in Vancouver and Whistler. She survived that trip and she will survive this one too.

Thursday was extremely stressful for her. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong did. Someone managed to abscond with $300 out of her bank account which thankfully the bank realized was fraudulent and closed down her account before they could get anymore. But suddenly she found herself with no bank account and no money. After several trips to the bank she got it all straightened out. We also called Visa and asked if she could borrow our visa card for the trip. The young man I spoke to was very nice and assured me this was not a very good idea. He said your daughter could be detained but he assured us that if my husband the Primary cardholder called by 6 p.m. that day they could overnight her a card. Really? I couldn't believe this. Well she had the card by 10 a.m this morning which is pretty awesome. Now I won't have to worry that she has money problems this week. And I'll sleep better. I told her to look on the bright side. Thankfully this happened on Thursday when we could get it all straightened out before she left.

Have a great trip baby girl and we'll see you when you get back!!!! Please dress nicer for this trip! :)

Corn Roast

Last night, we attended a co-worker's annual corn roast held on their farm. Their was of course all the corn one could eat but their was also camping, bonfires and a live band. Their barn was a beautiful old structure that they've done a lot of work to. As another friend said, It's just a great atmosphere. Colleen told me that many of the kids have been coming since they were young and now they are teenagers. On the dance floor you could see those with white hair as well as the teenagers. The band "On Tap" was excellent. They played many old favourites like Stuck in the Middle with You, They Call it a Trap and Sundown. Even though it was quite chilly I felt quite warm and I think the sense of family and community had something to do with that. I'll leave you with a couple of shots from the night.

Hayley's Uhura

This was originally supposed to be my knitting blog which morphed into somewhat of a hodgepodge of things. Now I feel rather odd when I put something knitting related in it but I was so excited with how the Uhura tank from the Twist Collective http://twistcollective.com/2009/summer/magazinepage_031.php that I just finished for Hayley turned out. I've only done one lace scarf before so I learned a lot. The pattern is quite easy. I made the xs and was worried that it might be too small but it fits perfectly. I also didn't make the hole in the front because Hayley said she would prefer it without. The yarn is Be Sweet Bamboo which I understands stretches so I didn't want it to be too loose from the start. The yarn has such a nice deep shiny colour and is supersoft. Hayley said that it felt good. Bamboo also has an antibacterial component to it. After we left her apartment she said some friends dropped over and and asked where she bought her top and she was proud to say my mom made it for me. Then her roommate returned and he liked it too. She gave me an A+ on this one.

On a side note, we had a lovely visit with her. We had a late breakfast (afternoon) at French Toast just around the corner from her apartment. It was lovely and sunny out and we walked. She got a call from her work asking if she would be available Sunday night to work the door at one of the Tiff parties. For those who don't know TIFF is the Toronto International Film Festival. So then we had to rush back to her place to find something suitable. Since Hayley works in a warehouse environment her closet is not brimming with fancy dresses. We decided upon a plain black dress she has and headed out to find some dressy shoes to wear with it. We found these fun little flats appropriately named Pizzaz to wear with it. It will be interesting to hear if she meets anyone famous. Right now she knows very little details but she promises me a full report on Monday night.

Labour Day at Bon Echo

The Labour Day Weekend yielded such awesome weather. My son Mike and his fiance Yvonne were heading up for 4 days of camping relaxation on Monday. Bon Echo is just over an hour from our house and we hadn't been there for a couple of years so we decided to take a drive. When we got there around 1:30 pm the park was pretty quiet and there were more vacant sites than populated ones. Obviously a sign that summer is coming to an end. I've always loved this park with it's beautiful cliffs, clear beautiful water and trees. Enjoy a walk in the park with us.

Tree with a funky fungus! Not sure what it is but it is quite colourful.

A Stand of Red Pines Marks the Spot where the Bon Echo Inn once stood until it burned down after being hit by lightning.

Mazinaw Lake and Bon Echo Rock

Silhouette shot of Mike and Yvonne

If you were in the canoe you would be able to see the Whitman Memorial and some Pictographs.

The Coolman Canoe...seriously! Yvonne's stepdad's canoe...he has a great sense of humour.

The Happy Campers.

Maine - Grand Falls

A few weeks back I took a business trip to Maine. I stayed in the small city of Auburn. These pictures are of the Grand Falls that were located directly behind my hotel. Across the river is the city of Lewiston, Maine. The skyline shows that in the past this was a very industrial area. Most of the factories are empty or used for another purpose. Thursday night my boss and I walked across the bridge to Lewiston and ate in a restaurant in one of these old factories. I liked this shot of the church spire next to the weather vane topper...not sure if that is what they call it so I'll call it that for lack of a better word.

Here's a closer shot of the falls and one of the factories. It was nice that the Hilton had a walkway along the edge of the river so that I could take these shots.

And this is from the edge of the bridge... before we walked over to Lewiston.

It was area to visit and I spent the Friday before I returned home visiting Freeport Maine. Helloooooo LL BEAN. And Portland Maine where I managed to spend $130 on Yarn. I hit up Seaport Yarn and Knitwit. Great yarn shops if you're ever in the area.

Grass Creek Sheep Dog trials.

There was Sheep!

And of course sheep dogs!

Puppies!
Police Horses

Police Dogs

Birds of Prey!

Horses Big and Small!

Lumberjacks!

Llamas!

Dockdogs!

Well worth the $10 admission!

Summer Vacation 2009

Last week, we took off on a road trip to PEI. I rented a 2 bedroom cottage through a co-worker in the teeny tiny town of Burton. I'm not sure why it even has a town name. Nearby, is the larger towns of Bloomfield and O'Leary.

It seemed like everything was against this vacation happening. Hayley who was going to come with us was to take the via rail Friday from Toronto. Well Via went on strike. My old car has no air conditioning and even though I'm confident running around the area here with it, Toronto is about as far as I think it should go. Jeff's Jeep just isn't a long distance vehicle even though it's quite new so we decided to get our GMC Safari back on the road. It had a shimmy and that's why we took it off the road about a year and a half ago because at the time we didn't really need it and couldn't be bothered to fix it. It's a great vehicle for long trips with lots of space for carrying gear along. Unfortunately, after sitting idle for a year and a half more had gone wrong with it. Jeff was clear with the garage that the shimmy was his first priority and if they couldn't fix it he didn't want the other items fixed. Well to make a long story short we spent over $2000 and we still have the shimmy. Thursday I made the executive decision to rent a vehicle for the trip. Friday we picked it up and I headed off to Toronto in my car and Jeff headed home to pack the rental car. I scooped up Hayley, who hasn't had a real vacation since we went to Mexico for her 19th birthday. That's 4 years!!! She was in dire need of a vacation. We drove to Drummondville QC Friday night and then took the final piece of the trip on Saturday. After 6 nights in PEI, we headed back and stayed 2 nights in Quebec City.

It turned out to be a wonderful trip that we will remember forever. Here are some of our memories. Enjoy!

The Bright Blue Cottage where we stayed in Burton.

The view up the road from the cottage.

The Beach Across the Road

North Cape Wind Farm

Hayley and Jeff Enjoying a Cold one in Old Quebec

Building in D'youville Quebec

Fireworks competition at Montmorency Falls to cap off our trip.