Packing

A handy way to get more into the suitcase.
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Could This Be Happening?

It may be a bad drive to Buffalo on Wednesday. If we didn't have bad luck we'd have no luck at all!  Same thing happened on our last cruise (mid-Dec) and turned out to be one of the only big snows of the winter in Southwestern Ontario. Hopefully the storm will veer off. See you in Florida - we hope.

Weather Alerts: Erie County, New York

Winter Storm Watch

Cities of Niagara Falls, Medina, Buffalo, Batavia,
Warsaw, Jamestown, Olean, Wellsville, Orchard Park,
and Springville

...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY EVENING
THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...

* LOCATIONS...Niagara Frontier and the western Southern Tier.

* TIMING...From early Monday evening through early Wednesday
evening.

* HAZARDS...Heavy snow.

* ACCUMULATIONS...7 to 14 inches are possible.

* WINDS...North 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.

* VISIBILITIES...As low as a half mile at times.

* IMPACTS...Heavy snow and blowing snow could produce very
difficult driving conditions with very poor visibility and
deep snow cover on roads.

* FORECASTER CONFIDENCE...Medium due to the uncertainty in the
exact track of the storm system.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Winter Storm Watch means that heavy snow and/or ice
accumulations are possible. If you are within the watch area...
remain alert to rapidly changing weather conditions.

Busy Doing Nothing...

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Caribbean Boat Dealer.

The last time I was in Grenada in 2013 I took a pic of an old freighter languishing in a bay. For my "arsty" picture today I added a couple extra derelict boats and a bus and painted 2 for sale signs. Now it's a Caribbean boat brokerage. Take your pick. I think the prices are likely very low.

Is that a potential customer making a deal with the salesman on the freighter? Maybe not. Click the pic to enlarge it.
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I Told You!

They're very liberal with OUR money. Boneheads:

When the rest of the world told us windmills don't work, maybe we ought to have listened.
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Artsy Pic For Today - The Royal Hotel in Honey Harbour.

I fondly remember this beautiful old wooden hotel on Royal Island. We used to pass by in our old boat, the Sea Pig. In the early 1970's it was closing down but student staff from the Delawana Inn across the waterway were boarding there for the summer months. Neglected and abandoned, it finally burned down in the mid 1970's. Royal Island was recently up for sale for $1.8 million. With 7 severed lots it must have sold fast.

 "A rare opportunity to own the historic Royal Island in Honey Harbour. The Royal Hotel once stood overlooking the channel from 1903 to the mid 1970`s. In it`s glory years it was `The` Destination of Georgian Bay and now awaits the development of your dream retreat or your own family compound, with a total 17.75 Acres, 7 severed lots (each being approx 2.5 acres). The East side of the island is on the Small Craft Route (Honeymoon Channel) and adjacent is The Delawana Resort. The West side of the island is a protected bay. The South end has an unobstructed view of Picnic Island and the North end has a sandy beach and deep waters. Getting to the island is a short 3 min boat ride from a number of marinas. The main dwelling on the island is a solid, 800 sq ft, 2 bdrm cottage, that would make an excellent future bunkie. Just a 95 min drive from the GTA and located at the entrance way to The 30,000 Islands; North America`s premiere boating paradise."

 Here's the original old post card.

The old Royal Hotel across from the Delawana Inn. It burned down shortly after this picture was taken. Georgian Bay summers aboard the Sea Pig.  Not sure of the exact year I took this picture but you can see the girls that work at the Delawana standing on the dock. I wish I'd taken more but in those days you bought rolls of film and then you had to get them "developed". You couldn't afford to be too trigger happy. Ha ha.

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We're Booked!

Join us! Great price - great itinerary.
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My Little Birthday Song by Tim.

Here's my latest new song that I wrote and now sing for you. Please feel free to send it for anyone's birthday.


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Mullbain Lodge - A Wintery Visit.

We drove up to Wood Lake on Friday February 24. There was a total lack of snow in London so it was hard to imagine the wintery scene that awaited us.

Unlike the very green winter we were experiencing in southwestern Ontario, we noticed the snow getting deeper and deeper with each mile as we entered the Muskoka Lakes region.

I debated whether to take Wendy's car with its summer tires but was very glad we decided on the all wheel drive Rendezvous.

Even in the Great White North there was a melt going on but it proved to be short-lived. The temperature dropped overnight and the snow resumed. Really quite beautiful.

Pete and Donna came up from Orillia. Everyone brought food so it was not a thinning weekend.

We awaited a visit from Jesse and Ty with the new born baby Wyatt.

This is a picture of the kitchen/dining/living room on the main level of Mullbain Lodge.

 I brought an 11 lb. pork shoulder and my trusty rotisserie to make a pulled pork.

Games and drinks, good conversation and fun.

Great tasting food and lots of it.

Grandma checks to see when the grandchild Wyatt is coming.

 It was good to see Jesse and Ty and meet the star of the show.

Everybody wants to hold the baby of course.

Jessica is the proud mama.

Wendy hold Wyatt, Ty is the background.

With the recent thaw, the rivers were running strong with the run-off.

A shopping/browsing trip to nearby Bracebridge took us to the ReStore staffed by inmates from the local minimum security jail.

This is the largest ReStore I have seen.

Downtown Bracebridge has many trendy stores to browse through.

We departed Monday before noon for our 4 hour drive back home. We took the back roads with only memories of the snow in the north, just a few miles behind us.
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I Don't Do Sunsets!

Everyone on earth that can see, gets to view beautiful sunsets from time to time. I have so many pictures of them that I don't capture them very often anymore. But this sunset, looking west, out towards the golf course, from our back window was too hard to resist. Hope you like it. Click on it to enlarge it.
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You Lose! - My Latest Song

 So-ooo sad and romantic!



Turn on the speakers or put on your earphones. This is a real "hanky honker".
Tim

P.S. Stay tuned for my next big one, "My Little Birthday Song".
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George Washington Never Smiles.

I received an interesting picture from my friend Barrie. It depicts George Washington's teeth as they are displayed at the Smithsonian Institute. I couldn't help myself.  I created this animated GIF of George with his decrepit teeth and what he might have looked like at the dentist's office. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

George Washington

George Washington (1732-1799) suffered from problems with his teeth throughout his life, and historians have tracked his experiences in great detail. He lost his first adult tooth when he was twenty-two and had only one left by the time he became president. John Adams claims he lost them because he used them to crack Brazil nuts but modern historians suggest the mercury oxide, which he was given to treat illnesses such as smallpox and malaria, probably contributed to the loss. He had several sets of false teeth made, four of them by a dentist named John Greenwood. None of the sets, contrary to popular belief, were made from wood or contained any wood. The set made when he became president was carved from hippopotamus and elephant ivory, held together with gold springs. Prior to these, he had a set made with real human teeth,likely ones he purchased from "several unnamed 'Negroes,' presumably Mount Vernon slaves" in 1784. Washington's dental problems left him in constant pain, for which he took laudanum. This distress may be apparent in many of the portraits painted while he was still in office.

 I used a picture of my own mouth with Geo's teeth. Yuck!:

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"Artsy" Coloured Post Card from Kincardine 1906

We always loved our visits to Kincardine whether by land or sea.

Today I've posted a post card from over 110 years ago depicting some steamer activity in the harbour. Kincardine is famous for its beautiful sunsets over Lake Huron so I added a glorious, big sun to my picture.

Original card.

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The Millstone Bar - My latest Recording Ha ha!

My latest release... Speakers up!
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The Harbour At Grand Bend Over Six Decades Ago

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

This is my "artsy" picture for today. It is inspired by an old postcard from 1953.
 

Here's a view of the Grand Bend Harbour from the lighthouse webcam taken today at the Grand Bend Yacht Club.
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