October is Coming and That Means Pumpkins

It may be a little early, but when Erin was over with Jake for dinner on Sunday she brought a fine pumpkin with her. She has, since she was a little girl, enjoyed carving the pumpkin into a Jack O'Lantern. She decided to do a likeness of her pet hamster. Grandma Gene enjoyed supervising the proceedure. It was a beautiful warm afternoon, so sitting outside was the order of the day.

Fanshawe Park, The War of 1812 Revisited

Click picture to enlarge

A perfect, sunny day in the mid-seventies greeted us at London's Fanshawe Pioneer Village in Fanshawe Park. This was the perfect setting for the ensuing battles because the park features a man made lake created by a flood control dam and an entire pioneer village created from authentic London buildings rescued from times gone by. There is even the actual original Labatt's Brewery moved here from Richmond Street in London.

The smithies at the forge

Donna greets us at the camp site.

The last time we saw Pete and Donna was back in April of this year in Hawaii. We have been on 3 cruises with them and always have a great time together. Pete and Donna know I've been known to tip a few gin, tonic, and soda concoctions so they even brought the ingredients. How thoughtful! We toasted the occasion and enjoyed a very pleasant day at their encampment. I only wish I had some period clothing to wear since I surely looked out of place in my shorts. Next time...

The battles portrayed are so realistic you feel that you are witnessing history in a time machine. The sounds of the muskets, the cannons, the pipers, and the music is only surpassed by the smells of open hardwood campfires, acrid gunpowder, coal burning at the blacksmith's shop and authentic stews and foods cooked over an open fire.

Pete shows Wendy how to cock the musket.

Wendy looks like 'a natural', my garb looks a little out of place to say the least.

Pete showed Wendy and I how a musket works and we even got to fire off a few rounds. What an experience!

Pete always tells a good story

Pete is in the U.S. 25th Infantry thus with the group playing "the bad guys".

Don Arscott, Pete Cooper and Drew Hodgins right.

Pete with 'brass' Tom Hurlbut.

Leaves Are Falling In The Pool

Just one more sign of Fall is the 'closing of the pool'. This depressing operation was accomplished this afternoon. My son Tim and I did the deed while Wendy attended a Doctor's appointment.

There's a Battle Brewing at Fanshawe Park This Weekend

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, there is a big battle brewing in London at the Pioneer Village at Fanshawe Park. Our good cruise friends Pete and Donna from Orillia Ontario are joining scores of others in a huge re-enactment starting on Saturday morning. Pete and Donna's group, the U.S. 25th Infantry Regiment will be bringing their authentic 1812 boat to engage in a beach battle on Fanshawe Lake. Wendy and I have been planning on attending for a long time. We have been to two of the Springtime re-enactments at Longwoods near Delaware Ontario and quite enjoyed the outings. See the May 2007 edition of this blog in the archives or click here. I'll take lots of pictures. Stay tuned.

Wendy's Mom's House SOLD!

NOTE: It might be best if no-one discussed this with Wendy's Mom, at least until the deal closes in November since her short term memory is not too good and we don't want to remind her or upset her needlessly about the sale.



It's been exactly one year to the day since Wendy's Dad Howard passed away and the homestead of 62 years has finally sold. (closing next month) It has certainly been a 'millstone' around Wendy's neck. It is a bitter sweet relief to have it ready to go. We've seen the transformation from a home back to merely a house!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Countless trips to the dump, thousands of items to sort through, endless hours of cleaning and finally a buyer.

So many memories. Christmas dinners, happy get togethers, beers on the porch, good neighbours and such young-at-heart hosts: Howard and Gene.

After all those years of looking after the old house, its time for the house to start looking after Gene. The proceeds from the sale will help fund her stay at her new home at Waverley Mansion. Goodbye old house!

Thanks Wendy for all your extreme effort and work. And thanks to my old friend John Thurman at Byron Village Realty for expediting the sale.

Down River - Summer's Over!

Sorting out 'stuff' before the 26 nautical mile run to Port Lambton 'winter storage'.

My bi-annual solo river run is always a little depressing in the Fall, for this means the Phoenix is headed to 'winter storage'. Its a time of unloading summer treasures and items we might need in the winter like our masks, fins and snorkels to take down south on our cruise next month. Wendy drives down to meet me and this time we decide to ride back on the US side to Port Huron.

Down past The River Crab where we had Sunday Brunch last weekend
Down past dozens of beautiful big houses for sale on the American side



I arrive at the Phoenix's final port of call for 2007 - St. Clair Marina in Port Lambton Ontario.
St. Clair Marine owner Steve Coopman always meets me when I arrive. Later he'll place the Phoenix in the barn.

Day Sailing on Lake Huron in the Pearson 30

Wendy waves to condo neighbor and friend George under the Bluewater Bridge as we pass by.
Click on the picture to see a close up of George (red shirt) taking a picture of us.
Sunday, Doug drove down from Thorndale. Doug’s wife Daphne (our sister-in-law) could not come with him due to household commitments since she works all week in the Dive Shop and Sunday is her one day to get caught up. She would have enjoyed it though since the weather was perfect for a sail on the lake. Although there wasn't much wind, it was a perfect day out on the lake with Doug and Wendy

We ended the day back at the condo where Wendy fried up some fresh pickerel fillets from Purdy’s. Now we have TWO boats? What next?

Upcoming October 30th Cruise Aboard the Maasdam

We finalized some of the arrangements for our upcoming cruise. Holly has set up a great catamaran excursion for our day in Tortola. The all day sail visits Virgin Gorda for some snorkeling. “Spiced” (or spiked) rum punch caps the return trip. Since the capacity of the boat is more than our 8, we will be looking for 4 more on the cruise ship to go with us. Divided amongst 12, our cost ends up less than $70 ea. Bargoon! Holly also found us three condo suites on the Florida Key at Marathon for our 4 or 5 days after the cruise. I booked a rental car to be waiting for us when we get off the ship November 9^th.

Monday to Friday was pretty much utilitarian back in Wistful Vista. Chores to do and things to get caught up with, not to mention the various ubiquitous doctor appointments, meant the week streamed by.

Back to the condo Friday and off to the Sarnia Farmers' Market Saturday morning, we cleaned the Phoenix ready to store away for the winter next Tuesday. We have lost our great boat parking spot since Ruth (the owner of the condo connected to this dock) finally sold her unit. The weather has been so nice, the work didn't seem difficult. We finished off the day watching boats return home and a beatiful sunset from our temporary vantage point on the 'marina side' of our complex. Our dock around the other side, contains Doug's 'new' sailboat and in compliance with condo rules regarding dock usage by outsiders, I am now part owner of this cute little Pearson 30.

September is Usually a Fun Month with Lots of Good Weather Left.

Greg has a good hand I think
Saturday afternoon Patricia and Greg came to Point Edward to stay over for the Sunday Historic Homes of Port Huron Tour. I called John and Linda and they said they’d come too but would meet us here at the condo at 9:30 am Sunday.. We cooked up some ribs on the bbq that evening. A rousing game of Rumolli finished the night. (10 pm) God we’re getting old! The River Crab had good write ups, especially their Sunday Brunch. No-one ate again that day!

On Sunday John and Linda arrived as planned and we headed to Michigan. I had reservations at the River Crab near St Clair for their famous Sunday brunch. The tour of homes began at noon and included 6 homes and a furniture store. I think they must be running out of historic homes because there was only one or two that were worth showing in my opinion. The last stop, Ben’s Furniture was more interesting for its inventory than its historic significance. It was in the 1800’s, the first 3 story building in North America to be constructed from poured concrete (previously only 2 stories were done this way) hauled up by horses and steam engines. The building itself is just a big 3 story cube and not wildly interesting. Historic Homes Tour in Port Huron Michigan

The ladies Tricia, Wendy and Linda enjoyed the inventory at Ben's Furniture downtown Port Huron.
The fun of the day was the gabbing of the six of us as we went from place to place. We wound up around three and returned to Canada and sat on the Phoenix at the dock the rest of the day. Bill and Pauline joined us after passing by in their dinghy. Happy hour on the Phoenix. Look how happy they look! T'was a long day!

The final event of the day was the arrival of Wendy’s brothers Doug and Brad. They had left Leamington on Friday in Doug’s new Pearson 30 sailboat that he bought on eBay in Sandusky Ohio a few weeks ago. Bad weather and 25 knot winds drove them back on Friday but they persevered and made the trip up Lake Erie, the Detroit river to Windsor Saturday. Then they crossed Lake St Clair and up the St Clair River to arrive at the Condo by Sunday evening before sunset. They sailed as well as motored and Doug said the little Atomic 4 engine performed well.Wendy's brothers Doug and Brad in the Pearson 30, arrived right on time.

Doug, Wendy and Brad

Another good September day ends calmly at the condo.