Summer Days - camping with Anne-Marie & Co.

We had perfect weather (almost) on our camping trip to Sandbanks Provincial Park, allowing us to have 2.5 sunny and not too hot days on the sandy shores of Lake Ontario. Upon our arrival some went to the beach while others stayed at the campsite and read.

On the first full day I awoke and noticed there wasn't a cloud in the sky. After a hearty camp breakfast we went to the beach where we swam, tossed frisbees, played badminton, ate lunch, read books, relaxed and put lots of sunscreen on. (for some of us a little too late). Afterwards, we grabbed supper, complete with vegetables, BBQ steak (for the carnivores in the group) and then sang songs around the campfire - led by six year old Autumn. I remember going to bed thinking it was a perfect day.

The second full day was pretty much a repeat, except that for supper. Austin made Spaghetti with an incredible tasting sauce. For dessert we had smores.... yummm. Oh, I also caught a thief (see pic below) stealing our bread.

On our last day we had planned to have a leisurely breakfast of pancakes before packing our stuff and stopping at the beach on our way out ..... but that never happened.

When we awoke, we could hear the roar of distant thunder. Austin and I were the first awake so we eventually decided to pack up. While we were getting the cars in order the skies opened and we had torrential rain that came down so quickly that the ground looked like it had a white aura (caused by the splashing of the raindrops hitting the wet and watery ground). Needless to say all our tents, gear and selves got totally drenched!! (Photo below taken just after the torrential rain had waned a bit)


We hightailed it out of the park and regrouped at a doughnut shop about 10 kms away. Over toasted bagels, coffee and hot chocolate we dried off a bit and then hit the highway towards home. En route, we had a beautiful sunny lunch on a outside patio at an English Pub in the lovely quaint town of Port Hope. This little town reminded me of Cheddar, England. After lunch we browsed the tiny shops but then noticed dark clouds approaching us so we jumped in the cars and headed for home. On the freeway the skies opened again for about 10 minutes making it very difficult to see anything, including other cars! At Anne-Marie's we unpacked the gear in the sun and then ate pizza in the warmth and comfort of her dining room while looking at more torrential rain outside. I left Anne-Marie's with my damp gear in the trunk of my car and my rain soaked tent with Anne-Marie's sister, Gisele who is taking it to Port Dover to dry off.

The entire holiday was a great success with lots of laughter and warped humour. It was lovely to spend time with these wonderful friends. It was especially a pleasure to meet fellow blogger Antoinette and her daughter Autumn, both of whom are now within my circle of friends.

Just home from Port Dover

I just got home from Port Dover where I experienced the town’s largest-ever Friday the 13^th biker rally.

Since 1981, this quaint town on the north shore of Lake Erie has hosted a festival that attracts thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts on every Friday the 13^th.

Organizers estimated that at least 100,000 and maybe as many as 150,000 bikers and spectators crammed into this town of 6,000. We walked down Main Street from Gisele’s cottage at 7:30 am to view Toronto’s top Classic Rock radio station airing its morning show. On our return to the house at 9:00 am twice the amount of parked motorcycles lined Main Street. At 11:00, the crowd on the main street grew so thick it came to a virtual stop so we could barely move.

By 2:30 p.m., organizers had sold out of souvenir shirts.

I spent most of the afternoon on Gisele's front lawn just watching the bikes fly by. There was every make and model there.

In the evening, after another tremendous meal at the house thanks to hosts Gisele and Rob we went into “downtown” again to see a much younger biker crowd cram beer tents and see musical performance, including Steppenwolf. (famous for the song Born to be Wild) and Jeff Healey.

Pictures courtesy of a friend. I broke my camera (will cost over $250 to fix). While taking a picture (perfectly sober) I stepped on some uneven pavement, stumbled and broke the shaft of my camera lens (not the lens itself) when it hit the seat of the motorcycle that caught my fall. Mores the pity, because some of the views were spectacular - literally thousands of bikes gleaming of chrome and leather!

Tomorrow I’ll be off to the camera repair shop to see whether it is worthwhile to have the camera fixed. Then on Monday its off to camp for four days!

Glad to be leaving town for awhile ….

…. Probably with my tail between my legs because today I had a double whammy of memories and regurgitated pain.

First I got an email from Barry, with whom I spent all that time in the Thousand Island area. He was telling me how wonderful life was and how he and his latest flame are really getting along. And, then, three hours later, I was walking down the street and on the other sidewalk was my last flame, Stephen, walking hand-in-hand with some woman who obviously has his “fancy”. We looked straight at each other for quite awhile and then he turned away and kept on walking. Perhaps I’m just feeling lonely, but to have some sort of contact with the two people who really broke my heart within hours is very jarring! And on the same day, when I haven’t had contact with either of them in months or years!!!!!

I’ve been joking with friends that I’m going down to Port Dover on the week-end to pick-up a biker friend. Well now maybe I just WILL! Well, either that or just cry. No, no, I won’t cry, I won’t!

I’ll just carry on and be glad that I’m not totally alone. I do have friends and I’ll be seeing a bunch of them tomorrow! Then I’ll lift my chin up, smile and maybe have the good fortune to find somebody who will like me and not leave me.

Sorry for the depressing post, but life can’t always be sunshine and smooth sailing. Actually, that would be quite boring because we wouldn’t learn as much about ourselves or others.

Have a good few upcoming days. I’ll be off-line for them (perhaps checking out the bikes and other scenery - lol).

ps: on Friday the 13th, bikers converge on the town of Port Dover, a little sleepy town that lies on the shores of Lake Erie.

Summer Reading

I am all set for the rest of the Summer with literature.

Last week at work I won a gift certificate for our largest bookstore chain and decided to buy a bunch of books with it.

After reading Val's African Ways, it took me back to a book I read in Fiji a couple of years ago called Ladies #1 Detective Agency. It's about a woman, Precious, who opens up the detective agency in Botswana. This delightful light read was written by a Alexander McCall Smith, a professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh who was born in Botswana. For awhile I knew that he has written sequels so that is what I spent my gift certificate on. There are seven books in the entire series and I bought four of them, including one titled "Morality for Beautiful Girls" (take note my blogger friends!!!)

I'm looking forward to reading them at my leisure during my holidays and lazy evenings after work.

ps: the gift certificate was for winning a quiz at work on Olympic trivia.... little did they know I used to work for the Canadian Olympic Association (hehehe)

... next blog I'll have to write about my perfect day.