A Friday Night Wedding - Very Nice!

Our daughter Erin's lifelong friend Kylene took her wedding vows with her new husband Dallas. Click the picture to see the happy couple.

When Wendy and I were first married we lived up in north London. Our neighbours two doors down the street had two infants, Jason and Kylene. Our children played with these kids for a few years until we moved away when they were in grade school. Erin and Kylene stayed in touch and remain best friends. Erin was selected to be the maid of honour and Wendy and I were honoured to be invited to Kylene and Dallas's Friday evening wedding at the Elsie Perrin Williams Estate. The weather was absolutely perfect and the magnificent mansion with it's beautiful grounds served as a spectacular venue for this happy event.

The Elsie Perrin Williams Estate

Kylene and Erin - best friends since they were babies.

Having not eaten all day, I was fortunate enough to sit beside the food buffet. Oink!
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That's me with Erin and Wendy

Yours truly kabitzing with the new bride.

Jake and me

The Maid of Honour - Erin

Erin's Jake

Of course there is bias here and all the following pictures include our daughter Erin.

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Buzzing Around Like A Blue Ass Fly

A workman shows us the new exterior stonework at Wendy's Mom's old house on our way back to Sarnia.


The place was completely gutted and started over.



We drove back to Sarnia on Friday after visiting Wendy’s mom’s old house to take some pictures of the progress. I think it will be a lovely house when it’s finished.



Friday was an excellent day to try my hand at woodworking. Working with my power tools right on the back deck of the Phoenix, I got the new plywood seat bases and both seats installed in the dinghy just in time for the upcoming weekend. The install was temporary - but soon I’ll remove the plywood, make some minor adjustments, paint the boards grey and reinstall them in the boat. I designed them in such a way that there are no holes drilled in the dinghy. They are not permanent but they seem very comfortable. The testing that I’ve done so far indicates that they work fine but one seat is rubbing on the rubber pontoon so I’ll change that. Also I bought a swivel so I’m going to try that out on one or both of the seats. A pretty classy installation if I do say so myself.

Jessica and her friend Pete reporting for duty.

We had six people arriving at around midnight on Friday which is the American Fourth of July holiday. This weekend we were hosting our cruise ship friends John and Cheryl, John’s brother Chris and his wife Deb; and Cheryl and John’s daughter Jessica and her friend Pete. A full house indeed! Wendy and I gave up the condo and slept on the boat.

The weatherman finally cooperated with a beautiful weekend. On Saturday we all hopped on the Phoenix and headed out in the lake. A cool north wind blowing across 62° F water convinced us to turn around and go down river to the beach at the south end of Stag Island. It’s about an eighteen mile run down the river and back and it’s always a good swimming beach when the lake is too cool or too rough. That’s one of the nice things about Sarnia. If the lake is rough, the river is always fine.

John cooks the steaks Sunday night before the Bon Jovi concert.
Sunday morning after a lovely homemade brunch. We packed into Chris’ huge Toyota land cruiser and did a motor tour around the Sarnia, Point Edward, and the Bright’s Grove area. Sarnia had one of the first Wal-Mart Supercenter stores in Ontario, so that was a stop on our tour while the guys went over to the Princess Auto Store and Canadian Tire. Because it was the American Fourth of July holiday the bridge looked too busy to go over to the USA. No big deal!

The weekend climax was the Bon Jovi concert which kicked off the festivities of Bayfest. Jon Bon Jovi is quite an entertainer. Many of the songs were familiar and even I had a great time. There seemed to be a good mix ages at the concert and the music was not excruciatingly loud.

Our guests left for Toronto around 11:00 PM on Sunday (work tomorrow) and I think a good time was had by all.

Our daughter Erin’s lifetime friend Kylene is getting married on Friday so it’s back to London. First, for a dentist appointment on Wednesday then get ready for the wedding. Maybe back to the condo (hopefully) on Saturday. My good friend David is already down in Leamington with his new boat. He has invited Wendy and I down but it’s getting close to his son Matt’s wedding in Leamington the following weekend so it’s unlikely we’ll make it. I had originally planned on taking the Phoenix to Leamington but it is a long way and with the price of fuel…??? $1000 - Doubt it!

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I need to get caught up

It has been a little hectic here beyond my usual laid back pace. The Canada Day weekend really began at the end of June with my good old friends David and Reenie, and Bill and Judy arriving on the Saturday around noon. Although the weather was a little cool, we always have fun and this year was no exception. Due to the cool weather and winds, we never even took the Phoenix away from the dock, but Bill and Judy slept on it as they usually do. It was a good opportunity to head over to USA for a little shopping and visit Wal-Mart to pick up some boat seats that I had ordered. We dropped the ladies at the Birchwood Mall. Everyone had a good time shopping. David purchased a fishing rod, and Reenie bought everything else.

Unfortunately since Canada Day fell on a Tuesday they were unable to attend the fireworks event since Reenie had to work on Monday and Bill Tuesday. This meant that David and Reenie left on Sunday evening and Bill and Judy departed on Monday

Tuesday Doug and Daphne and daughter Sarah came down with Daphne’s brother Robin and his wife Esther to go out on the Pearson 30 sailboat. Doug and Daphne’s son Dougie and his friend in a motor skiff joined us all out on the lake at the site of the wreck of the Sweetheart, some ten miles out from the Bluewater Bridge in Lake Huron. It was a nice, calm, hot day so everyone had a great time. Doug and Daphne own a SCUBA Dive Shop in London and work six days a week in the retail business, so it’s always nice to see them here relaxing when they get a chance.

On Tuesday night it was just Wendy and I left, so we took the dinghy over and watched the fireworks by ourselves. They always put on a good display but this year was particularly interesting because there was a gasoline freighter parked near where they usually set off the fireworks so they relocated the event to the point right at our marina.

Wednesday it was back to London to check out Wistful Vista pay a few bills, check with our son Tim, and head to Costco for supplies for the coming weekend.