Chillin' with Patsy: LadyFest Begins, The Sculpture Forest

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

LadyFest Begins, The Sculpture Forest

The Ridge/Wintergreen Retreat Resort

On Monday, Sept. 8th I was awake at 6:30 when Bill & Gibbs came back in from their first outing. Again, the chilly air had me happy to be under the covers even though Bill had turned the furnace on for a cycle or two or three. 😀

Good morning!
A lovely day for a drive.

We made our brew and Bill decided to head to Varney, 20 minutes down the road, to get a jack welded for the dump trailer. I washed my hair and finished packing up my food with the supervisor keeping an eye on my every move. 🐕

The ladies arrived, were Gibbs approved
and we were on our way.

My sisters were gathering at Donna's around 9:30 and driving to the Ridge for their ride. Let the week begin! When Bill returned, he removed a tire from the Suite and took it into Durham to Impact Tire. He did that with all 4 during the day. They cleaned the rims, reinstalled the tires with a sealant on the tire bead and put in new valve stems.

Our first stop was for breakfast.

Around 10:30 Gerry brought Audrey, Gayle and Donna with their luggage and by the time we were done, Ptooties had no empty nooks. Gibbs greeted everyone, of course, and yet went inside like a good little boy when it was time for us to leave. 💞

Singhampton Sculpture Forest
Come along with us!

As we were making the turn onto the highway, we met Bill on his way home so the little guy wouldn't be alone for long. The weather seemed to be straightening itself out for us so we should have a good week. First stop was in Flesherton.

This was a fascinating walk,
enjoying another couple's
inspiration.

My mistake, but what I thought was a restaurant was take out only at Highland Grounds. It's, simply put, a Coffee Store. Since we wanted to eat before going further on today's journey, we bought a leek and mushroom quiche to share with a coffee. It was cold, they don't reheat, but it was still good and filling.

From there I took the girls to Singhampton where Marion Bartlett's Sculpture Forest 'lives'. Holy cow! This 3 1/2 acre property is a free venue at their home. You walk through a trail (or two) at your own pace and we had a blast. Such creativity her and her husband have!

We left there after visiting their gift shop/museum and drove directly to Blue Mountain to our bnb. Yes, we were too early but at least saw the condos and got a feel for where we'd end up. Check in was not for a couple of hours. So, what else to do but go shopping!

We drove the few miles into Collingwood and visited a couple of thrift stores. I found a couple of useful pieces of metal that will work for displaying some of my quilling projects IF I follow through on the Harvest-fest. 😉 I'm getting closer to committing.

Word came through that our condo was ready so we returned at 4 and checked in. It is quite lovely, spacious and pleasantly laid out. There are 3 bedrooms, 2 with queen beds and 1 with 2 twin beds. I took a queen to myself and let the girls choose amongst themselves.

Coming to the end,
time for some posing.

It is very quiet here which confirms that we are choosing a good time to come. We played an afternoon game of Scrabble (tadah, I won) and then drove a few minutes to Jozos Bar in Blue Mountains for supper.

Before we left, we visited their
Museum of art pieces

It is not food fare that would be our first choice for dining but we still enjoyed our meals. I had a Beef Dip with fries and a cup of tea. We were all quite chilly and the hot drinks and meal sated us completely.

Getting into a good family game.
Our condo from the outside.
It's quite comfortable.

Back home, winding down, Gayle and Audrey enjoyed a sauna while I worked on my blog and watched some tv with Donna. This was a great first day and wait until you see what we get into tomorrow!!