Our Message Archive
October 2024
Sunday October 20
Andrew and Alex try out one of Alex's new toys
We spent the week before last in Renfrew with Katy, Ben, Andrew and Alex. On the Tuesday, Ann and I drove to Burnstown where we had lunch at the Neat Coffee Shop before continuing on to the Mill of Kintail Conservation Area. We had a look at the artworks in the mill, walked around one of the trails through the forest and along the river, then headed back to Renfrew via Pakenham where we stopped to have a look at the 5-arch stone bridge.
Wednesday was Alex's third birthday. He had a special birthday breakfast with present opening before going to day-care. Alex also got to choose dinner: tortellini followed by tuxedo cake.
Meanwhile, I began showing symptoms of a nasty cold which has stayed with me until now, moving from my head, to my nose, then to my chest. We had planned to visit Nick and Annette during the week but decided that it would be best to stay in Renfrew under the circumstances.
By the end of the week, people had begun arriving from Ottawa in dribs and drabs for the Thanksgiving weekend and Alex's birthday party. James returned with Ben on Thursday, Morgan, Andreanna and Clark came with Ben on Friday, and Chris and Kara arrived on Saturday.
On Thursday evening Ann, Ben, James and I drove out to the open fields along Lochwinnoch Rd to have a look at the northern lights caused by the recent coronal ejection.
Saturday was Alex's birthday party. Although he had invited a couple of his day-care friends, they couldn't come, so it was a family affair (Chris, Andreanna, Kara and Clark are considered family). The highlight was a very impressive cake made by Morgan and Katy in the shape of a construction site with several trucks and a rock-fall in the process of being repaired.
Alex's cake
On Sunday we had Thanksgiving dinner with Chris and Kara providing a turkey and a couple of pies, me providing a couple more pies (apple and pumpkin), and Ben providing a ham and vegetables. There were copious leftovers.
On Monday, Ann and I began the long trip back home. We dropped James and Morgan off in Ottawa then continued on to Montmagny where we ate once again at Bistro au Coin du Monde. We drove the rest of the way on Tuesday, arriving at around 8 pm.
I have spent some time since then trying to get the garden back in order. Some tomatoes and eggplants have been harvested, though there are still some left on the vine which may or may not survive the coming frosts. I've also cleared out the cucumbers and beets and planted garlic for next year. Today I also dug up the rest of the grass in the boulevard between the sidewalk and the street, something I started back in the spring but never got around to finishing. I've made a gravel walkway to the road using some of the pebbles that used to be under our maple tree in the back yard before we cut it down last fall.
On Friday, Ann and I went to see Symphony Nova Scotia play Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto in B♭, a piece in the standard repertoire which I have never seen played. It was followed by Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov and preceded by a more modern work, Swim, by the Canadian composer Cassandra Miller. We enjoyed them all.
Yesterday was municipal election day in Nova Scotia. Our choice for councillor, the incumbent, was returned to office fairly handily but our choice for mayor was not elected. We will see how the new mayor, Andy Fillmore, the ex-Liberal MP for Halifax, works out over the next few years.
Since it was a beautiful day, after we voted, we went for a ride with our friends Dave and Donna, and Dave and Manon. We started at Dave and Donna's place in Cole Harbour, biked along Caldwell Road to Eastern Passage, then out to Rainbow Haven Beach for lunch via the Cow Bay Moose. On the way back we stopped in at Selby's Bunker for coffee.
This morning, Ann went to Souper Sunday at the church, contributing a large pot of curried pumpkin soup. This was a fund-raiser for the Mi'kmawey Debert Cultural Centre. Meanwhile, I got a ride with Donna to attend the Kidney Walk in Bedford in support of our friend Erika who has congenital kidney disease. Several of our other Ramblers friends were there as well.
Monday October 7
Larry and Donna on Grant Road on the way to Calabogie
For the past week and a bit, Ann and I have been staying with Katy, Ben, Andrew and Alex in Renfrew so that we could lead a series of rides for our Nova Scotian bicycling club, the Ramblers. We left a week ago Wednesday, stayed in Montmagny that night, and arrived in Renfrew mid-afternoon on Thursday. We spent Friday checking the trails that we were planning to ride on to make sure that they were still in good shape, and also that our planned lunch stops were still expecting us. In the morning, we drove to Arnprior, checked in at the Mighty Fine Bakehouse, then I rode back while Ann went to Calabogie to check in with the Redneck Bistro and the Oh-el-la Café. In the afternoon, we drove to Beachburg and drove around our ride route looking for washrooms; we found plenty but they were all locked up. We then checked in at the Whitewater Brew Pub and Ann rode the trail back while I drove back to Renfrew and then rode our route around the town. We both arrived back in time for pizza dinner while watching episodes of Bluey.
On Saturday morning, Ann and I went with Katy to watch Andrew's hockey practice. His skating has improved a lot since we last saw him. In the late afternoon, Ann went out to dinner with Ingrid (who had arrived for our bike tour) while the rest of us went for a recreational skate at the arena. It was Alex's first time on real skates and he did very well: not yet able to propel himself without falling but able to support his weight and begin to shuffle forward when leaning on a wire support.
On Sunday morning, we all went for breakfast at Stacked, a new restaurant within walking distance, where we also ran into some of our bicycling friends. The first ride was that afternoon: a 19 km excursion around town with stops by the main street, the swinging bridge, the bridge over the Bonnechere River and the Ma-te-way recreational area. We then took one of the trails a short way out of town before returning to the hotel where they were all staying. Meanwhile Ingrid, whose bike was being brought by Kim and Glen who had not yet arrived, spent the afternoon visiting with Katy and Co. After the ride we had a meet-and-greet social gathering in the sports bar in the hotel. Dave Bordian and I ended up having a vigorous game of table hockey before Ann and I returned to Katy and Ben's.
Monday was a gorgeous day and our first long ride and the first where all 15 riders were present. We met outside the hotel then rode the back roads down to Calabogie. The section along Grant Road is a bit gravelly in places so Ann took a couple of riders by an alternate route that stays on the paved road longer and then follows the trail. We regrouped again at the micro-community of Ashdad and continued down the trail to Calabogie where we stopped for lunch at the Redneck Bistro. We rode the trail all the way back to Renfrew. That evening, Ingrid took Katy and Ben out for dinner while Ann and I looked after Andrew and Alex.
On Tuesday, Ann and I walked with Katy and Alex to day-care, then headed up the the hotel for the ride to Cobden on the Algonquin Trail. We had a picnic lunch in Veterans Memorial Park before returning on the trail. The morning weather was not as nice as the previous day but it cleared in the afternoon, and the trail is in great shape, so it was another very pleasant ride. For dinner, we met Ingrid, Kim, Glen and Susan at the Manitou Bistro, a new restaurant that features indigenous cuisine.
Wednesday was a rest day which Ann and I spent by walking downtown and meeting Ingrid at the Bonnechere Bakery for lunch. In the afternoon I made some banana muffins and an eggplant stew for dinner (we brought some produce from our garden that we knew David wouldn't eat while we were away).
On Thursday, another gorgeous day, Ann and I walked Alex to day-care then met the rest of the Ramblers at the hotel for a ride along the Algonquin Trail to Arnprior where we had lunch at the Mighty Fine Bakehouse. Ann and I kept an eye on the bikes while most of the others went to explore downtown Arnprior for half an hour before heading back. On the return trip we followed the trail to about halfway, then headed south on back roads past farm fields until we met the Millennium Trail which we followed back to town. That evening we had a group dinner at the Whitewater Brew Pub in Cobden. We thought that we had a pretty large group of eighteen, but we were upstaged by a group of about 30 power workers who managed to hog the attention of most of the servers, so we had to wait a while before we got our food.
Friday was our last ride, from a park near Beachburg out along back roads to the Ottawa River, then up a road alongside the river to the small community of La Passe where we stopped for a break at a boat launch where there were nice views. Because of the dearth of washrooms mentioned above, we shortened the ride to 31 kms by heading back to Beachburg instead of continuing on to Foresters Falls. That got us back to Cobden by lunchtime and several of us met at Grounded Brew Co., a new café on the main street, before we all headed off in different directions. Ann and I, of course, returned to Renfrew where we all enjoyed take-away Chinese food for dinner along with Morgan and James who had returned with Ben from Ottawa.
All in all, our bicycle tour went very well and everyone said how much they enjoyed it. The weather couldn't have been much better and many of the participants were among our best friends within the Ramblers so we also enjoyed it a lot.
Hallys, Hartlings, Harts and Boulangers with Granny's window
After Mum died, Simon, Nick and I commissioned a stained glass window to be installed in All Saints Anglican Church in King City where Mum was part of the congregation for many years. That was completed earlier this year but a dedication of the window was planned for Sunday October 6. So, on Saturday morning, we were up early and Ann, Morgan, James and I piled into the car, stopped at Macdonalds for a quick breakfast, then drove to Huntsville where we met Simon, Linda, Nicky and Paul with their kids Leo, Louis and Lily, and Nicky and Steve and their kids Blake and Arlo at Sandhill Nursery where they were holding their Fall Festival. Katy, Ben, Andrew and Alex came in their car. We wandered around for a while admiring the displays, had lunch with Simon and Linda at the canteen, then followed them back to Bracebridge where we visited for a bit at their place. At around 3 pm we drove to the cottage which we had rented from one of Nicky's friends for the night; it is on Doe Lake just east of Gravenhurst. We relaxed there for a couple of hours, then went for dinner at Nicky and Steve's. Both Katy and Ben and Kris and Paul were staying with them along with their families so there were kids everywhere. After dinner, the kids put on a circus show on the playground in the yard; Leo even managed to extract some money out of Ben, Steve and Paul for the performance.
On Sunday morning, we drove to King City to attend the dedication service. We arrived early enough for me to take some photos of the window before most of the congregation arrived. Meanwhile Ann, Morgan and James got us some breakfast from the café across the street which we consumed in the entrance hall of the church. Nick and Annette made the journey from Sharbot Lake and Ann's sister Martha and Simon's friend Christina also attended. The service was quite nice, as church services go, and included not only the dedication of the window but also the blessing of animals (mostly dogs) and communion. Afterwards I took some group photos with Martha's help and then we all went for lunch at Jack Astor's in Newmarket. After lunch, we drove back to Ottawa where we dropped off Morgan and James, then Ann and I continued on to Renfrew.
Today has been a quite stay-at-home day to recover from all the activity.