Bittersweet Saturday, Decisions Made, Campfire at the Acreage

The Ridge

On Saturday, Sept. 5^th we slept until almost 7:30. There was a lot of stuff going through our heads as we had an appointment this morning to look at a possible resolve to our winter ‘stayover’. I’d answered an ad online at Kijiji.ca that I found after Jamie suggested a possible ‘room for rent’ that might appeal to us.

The bluejays were plentiful again this morning
And this time, I caught them on camera

Silly bird, there is nothing in there for you

I tried to get as many as I could in one picture
but only 4 were still long enough
Love their colours and markings!

Aah, letting the cool water flow down his throat

It was in Durham, just down the street from our buddies. The price was right but also justified because it turned out to be open to a single person only. Moving on, I found a different kind of ad. One with no pictures and no price. Hmmm, odd. They were looking for a senior couple to share their large home and listed a few stipulations that were important to them. So, today we were meeting the owners.

Feeling positive on this beautiful day

Entering Paisley

The biggest drawback is the location although that wasn’t a deterrent in checking it out. It’s an hour from home but close enough for Bill to keep working and maybe me too. We met Susan and Wes at 10 and had a coffee together while we all talked about our lives for half hour or so. Then Wes led us on a tour of this fabulous century old home.  Over the 15 years they’ve lived here, in the small town of Paisley, they have renovated it while keeping as much original as possible.

A small town with everything we would need in a pinch
As a child, our family lived on a farm outside Paisley
but I don't remember coming into town

I see some nice new places to walk on a mild winter morning
Oh how I hope we'll have some of those!!

We had a choice of 2 bedrooms with ensuites and after I asked my list of questions, we discussed price. They were more than generous, not trying to gouge anyone and we shook hands immediately. I could feel a blanket of worry slipping off my shoulders. They ae a lovely couple, around our age, just trying this for the first time. That made it unique for all of us and made for a lot of laughs. After 3 hours, we took our leave. I’d say we got along. 😊

Lots of room in the driveway for both our vehicles
even with their 40' motor home parked there
Lots of room for us inside and out

The Google map view

It was after 1:30 on our way home that we stopped outside of Hanover at a Food truck for lunch. I hadn’t eaten anything and ordered a small order of poutine and water. It was delicious! We were so relieved and happy to have a plan in place but there were still a couple of decisions to make. Where would it be best to park the Suite for the winter, by now we had 3 options, and if the borders opened to the U.S. would we still go?

You've heard me mention Bill's job in Walkerton
this is the house that they renovated.
Siding, upper and lower porches and the car part
are things you can see
It's done and the owners have it up for sale

A nice little spot for a quick lunch

I enjoyed my forbidden meal
Ha!

We swapped out Ptooties for Black Beauty and drove over to the Acreage to get water and tell Donna and Gerry our news. They, too, were very happy and relieved about that being settled for us. 

This happy little painted turtle sits on a rock at the Acreage pond
We laughed at how he'd stretch his legs out 
Maybe he is doing yoga like Donna does on the dock

Their peaceful pond

Bill and I felt quite worn out, I guess stress, anxiety and excitement does that to us, so we had a relaxing rest of the afternoon. We didn’t really need supper but around 6:30. I had toasted tomato and Bill had toasted egg salad sandwiches. Just the right amount after our late lunch.

Soon, we'll have beautiful hibiscus flowers

The drive over to the Acreage for a campfire
Nice that the winds had calmed down

Gerry had invited us for a fire so after calling Marilynne to put her mind at rest, at 7:30 we joined them and Mike for a couple of hours before calling it a night. 

The sunset through the trees as we settled around the fire

The sky was clear but star-filled and coming home the huge yellow moon and Mars were lighting up the Ridge. With a cool 8C/48F for overnight, Bill turned the Blue Flame heater on low to take the chill off.

Mike was dog sitting Bentley and he was getting an ear scratch from Bill
He is a big calm doberman, beautiful personality and I don't say
that too often about big dogs

Nice campfire

This was a wonderful day! We found a place to live starting whenever we need to and ending whenever we can move back up here. The bittersweet part is that we really don’t want to stay home and miss the Arizona winters and miss the friends we’ve made. We don’t relish waking up to frosted, snow covered vehicles, putting snow tires on for safe driving BUT at the same time we know we’ll be very comfortable for however long we stay.

My poor attempt at capturing the yellow moon
and Mars

Good day everyone!
A post that I hope was worth waiting for!

Thank you for your visit and thank you to all who were concerned about what we are going to do for the winter.