Hurricane Dorian

This weekend the tragic, devastating Hurricane Dorian wreaked havoc on the Bahama islands. Friends in Florida are also on high alert as this ferocious storm crawls slowly northwest.

Click the pic to enlarge it.

My "artsy" pic for today. My heart goes out to all those who were (and still may be) affected by this terrible storm.
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Lamenting the End.

That's me today, sadly contemplating the end of my Ding Dong...  whilst also lamenting the end of Summer.

On our Canada Day visit to MullBain Lodge, Cheryl gave me two bags of "Ding Dong", a Filipino snack of dried and seasoned nuts, peas and beans. So far I've only eaten one bag as I was saving the other as a special treat.

For me, the day after the Labour Day holiday, is always a let-down. For many it symbolizes the end of Summer. The weather, although in the mid seventies Fahrenheit (25C), has definitely changed from even a week ago. Tomorrow's forecast is for cooler weather in the low-to-mid sixties (19C). This will likely be the last day that I keep the pool heater at 85 F (30 C) since no one has been swimming lately so it's a bit of a waste. I don't plan to close the pool yet though. That would look too depressing. Hopefully there will still be plenty of nice days right up into October.
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Gananoque Now and Then.

Just for fun.

I found an old postcard on eBay and looked up the spot on Google Street View. Not a lot different in over 70 years. (except maybe parking meters)

Note, the American sender used USA stamps

CLICK HERE for Google Street View of this beautiful old town.
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What Mental Giant Invented Paper Leaf Bags?

As you might expect in summer in Ontario, it rains quite a bit. Add forty pounds of wet leaves to a paper bag and put it out in the rain. Duh! I wonder how the city pick up crews enjoy dealing with thousands of soaked and soggy bags.  Our genius lawmakers make laws... that's what they do!
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Rejeuvenating Erin's Old Scanned Picture Print

 It's sad to see your old prints conceding to time, but they can be brought back with a little work in Photoshop. Never throw your old memories away. Restore them, it's fun! Click the pic to enlarge it.

Our daughter Erin's picture was slipping away with time.

Or try an artsy, Photoshop enhanced black and white.
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Two Women

This "artsy" pic is actually just a close-up shot of our glass patio table. I've seen strange things in the glass before. CLICK HERE to go back to August 2017 for more weird "table art".

I Don't Know If This Will Work... It Worked!

I don't know if this will work but years ago when we left Rogers we also lost our Rogers email address. Since then I have noticed that some of my friends or associates must still have my old Rogers address in their address books.

With this in mind I sent an email to my old email address and we will see what happens. Here's what I sent:

Hello,

Many years ago I closed my account with Rogers and therefore lost this email address. (tcarroll@rogers.com)

I believe some of my friends or associates didn't change their address book and you may be receiving the messages meant for Tim and/or Wendy in error.

Most of them are likely ads or spam but some might be legitimate emails.

It would be most appreciated and I would be eternally grateful if you could forward them to me if it looks like they were meant for us.

Thanking you in advance

Tim and Wendy Carroll

London, Canada

 

 Here's the response the next day:

Terry Carroll 

To:Carroll

Aug 22 at 8:43 AM

Hi Tim,

Glad you sent me this...I have been sent emails over the years...at first I answered with the "this is not Tim's email anymore" response. Sometimes it worked and sometimes not.

I will do what I can to help you out on this...then perhaps you will be able to update those friends with your new address.

Regards,

Terry

Carroll 

To:Terry Carroll

Aug 22 at 8:50 AM

Wow Terry,

I don't know why I didn't think of contacting you ages ago. I guess I just thought the email address evaporated into oblivion when Rogers disconnected me from it.

Thanks so much!

Tim
London, Ontario
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A Fantastic Visit To Belleville To Visit Brad and Denise

Above: Denise keeps her pool sparkling. We arrived around 2:30 on Wednesday

A garden tour of the spacious lakeside grounds.

A small garden of earthly delights.

Two fledgling ospreys just learning to fly.

Wendy brought six Costco steaks just waiting for the BBQ. They were melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Rare for me, thanks Brad! He cooked them to perfection.

Above: Wendy and her brother Brad. Below: Wendy and brother Doug.

Thursday was a beautiful day for a Thousand Island Cruise out of Gananoque, about 60 miles from Brad and Denise's home.

CLICK HERE to go there!

Two large condo developments were apparent on the waterfront as rich Torontonians move in and drive up prices.

We crossed the border into New York State.

The historic old residences became more and more spectacular reflecting an age of rich New Yorkers from the past.

The Boldt Castle was the halfway point in our cruise and where we swung back into Canada for the return trip.

The statue of St Lawrence watches over his namesake river below.

The international bridge has 5 spans from island to island.

In some places the river narrowed and deepened creating challenging currents for our captain.

On the way back we stopped at the "res" for some cheap gas/diesel and gawked at the cannabis stores along the main highway.

For dinner corn on the cob, salads, shrimp and more. No one ever went hungry here!

Friday morning Brad had arranged a meeting with Tim McKinney, a local Remax agent. The plan was to explore 3 palatial homes, all waterfront on the Bay of Quinte.

 I'm not sure what Brad told this real estate man but right on time at 9:30 am we met him at the first of the home on Brad's list.

Dream House #1  $1,688,000
Favourite
1794 OLD HIGHWAY 2
Quinte West, Ontario K0K1H0

Dream House #2  $1,249,000
35 SETTLERS LANDING
Quinte West, Ontario K8N4Z2

Dream Houe #3  $1,990,000
1122 COUNTY ROAD 3 #B
Prince Edward County, Ontario K8N4Z1

We certainly appreciated the time the agent took to show us these beautiful homes. There was a predominant vote for house #1... Dream on!

Doug prepared some fall-off-the-bone ribs for a pre-dinner feast. He had pre-smoked them and marinated them in a sous-vide ready to brown up.

Wendy brought a hundred pounds or so of old coins from her mother's stash for her and her brothers to divvy up.  This activity took several hours.

A visit to a local winery with live jazz music and outdoor art exhibits kept us busy on Friday.

No wine for me! That's water, so I was the designated driver today. A rare event indeed!

Again, Doug amazed us all with his delicious smoked meat, precooked in the sous-vide and browned up on the BBQ. This time his grande finale featured very delicious beef brisket with baked potatoes.

On Saturday morning we departed back home. As usual, our visit to Belleville was delightful. Thanks to Brad and Denise and Doug and Daphne for making it a fun and enjoyable time for all.