28 December 2021

Summer Doings

Our Canadian home

Peter and I spent five months in Canada this year!  A record for us since starting our Milly adventure in November, 2014.  We enjoyed every minute of our stay - motoring between the cottage on Stony Lake, Em and Gid's home in Toronto, friends in Thornbury, Orillia and Bancroft and family in Waterloo and Danford Lake, Quebec.  We gave the cottage some TLC, celebrated Tom's olympic send off and success, learned of and excitedly anticipated the birth of our first grandbabe, and gave and received a lot of hugs.  We plan on making a trek back to Ontario to enjoy the Canadian summer, at least for the foreseeable future.  

Here are a few of many pics to get you updated to October 31 (I have been very negligent.):

Arrived at YYZ and received our PCR test with great efficiency.  Then bedlam began to get on and in the shuttle bus to our quarantine hotel, complete with (comfy) uniform and (pretty good) meals in cardboard.  

Our first views of home was not beautiful.  Concrete wasteland!

Sweet Emily, from a distance, delivered our new-to-us car which she had test driven and arranged purchasing for in our absence.  She also completed a long re-provisioning list for our 8 day quarantine at the cottage.  Wonderful daughter!

The season officially opens with the raising of the flag.  Summer has begun and we are in residence!

Peace and tranquility

Emily's traditional birthday celebration...

This time with dealc champagne.  She's pregnant!!  Yay!

So nice for me to be able to bake my girl a cake again in my mum's cake mold and plate.

A sailpast celebration at RCYC to send off the Olympians.  So wonderful to be included and see our boy off to Japan.


The t-shirt says it all.  We took him to the airport...

And cheered ...

And cheered!  Our annual cottage weekend with special friends was on again after a seven year hiatus.  And they cheered too!

Peter rebuilt his many inuksuks

And I began to replant my gardens

We completed our first carpentry job, learning to level, use a table saw and plumb.  Not sure how we ever did without an outdoor shower.

We enjoyed nature....

Watching Tom relax after placing 10th! at the olympics

...and dog-sitting for our most frequent guest, Stevie Nicks.  We loved her company.

And I think she loved ours, being allowed to go where no dog had been before.

The two hungry ones watching the dinner prep.

She loved everyone and everyone loved her.  Here with Tom and his girlfriend, Fernanda, visiting from Mexico.

We visited dear friends multiple times at their country home - lucky us

And took Stevie along

She loved it as much as we did.

We took three trips to Waterloo to visit with Peter's Dad and Liz.  This one particularly special with a luxurious overnight treat at Langdon Hall in Lisa and David's company.


Me following my big bro, Tim, just like I did as a little kid, on a superb hike in the Gatineau Hills


Neal and I still going up


A grand summer at Stony

Good night

See you next summer!