Day Two at the Cottage

The Ridge

On Saturday, Aug. 12^th Gibbs had Bill up at 5:45, he’s on work time now, Bill says. 😊 I’d slept pretty well although it is only a queen bed compared to our king and with a sprawly pup in the middle, Bill didn’t have such a good sleep. It rained quite a bit around 5 am, so they tell me, and when I opened the window at 6, I could hear it still raining. A nice steady rain by then.

A peek into the main body of the cottage
from the deck/water side.
Home built by Brian, Carol, Todd and Shelley

Looking in from the back door

I let Bill sleep as much as possible but got up at 7:45 and got washed. There is a little bathroom across the hall but the cottage is by no means ‘little’. There are 3 bedrooms. We are in Carol and Brian’s, their son and his wife have one for when they are here and it has an en suite. They is a 3^rd bedroom down the hall from ‘ours’ and it has a bunk bed with 2 double mattresses for their children.

Our weekend room

We had our coffee together and some toast and yogourt for breakfast. More than I ever eat at this time but it was good. Liz and Bruce, Bill’s other sister and her hubby, slept in the Bunky beside the cottage. It is a sweet little place to lay your head, with a small kitchenette, living area w/2 pull out couches and a nice size bathroom. They joined us for their breakfast as well. Bill and his sibs then started going through pictures gathered after their parents passed. They had fun telling childhood stories. ♥

If I'd been more on the ball, I would have
taken a picture with all the photos spread out on the
big table!
Bill didn't have many pictures of his Mom
nor of himself at a younger age so
this was a good endeavour.

We sat around indoors and I finished yesterday’s blog. I took tons of pictures so had to sort through them to decide what to include. 😊 Brian grilled burgers for lunch with fruit and snacks which we ate outside and after clean up, Carol wanted to play Double Series/Sequence together. 

Lunch on the deck

Guys against the girls and that was just a farce! The guys cards were like none of us have ever seen which goes to say that luck was on their side. We played 6 games and they whooped us every game!

We love this game!

Gibbs was in a cuddling mood
so sat between us while we played.

At 3:30, they all loaded onto the barge to take Liz and Bruce back to their car at the Marina. Bill went along to give Liz the puzzles and books I brought for her and Gibbs and I stayed behind. He was a bit upset when we walked down to the dock to see everyone else, including his Daddy, disappearing in the distance but we took a walk along the water and when we came back, he went to the bedroom for a snooze. No doubt pouting. 😔

Mad at me or Daddy but
he slept here after they left

Along the water, there were quite a few of these
little orange and red mushrooms.

Not sure what they are, couldn't find
the exact thing on Google.

They weren’t gone long and we met them at the dock. The rain held off for the rest of the day but we mostly spent it inside anyway. For supper, Carol made a dish of lasagna with garlic bread and that was the perfect cloudy day meal. 

The family returned so
we met them at the dock.

Carol said 'go for a swim, Gracie!'
So she did. She's funny.

Aah, that felt good, Mom.

After clean up it was time to settle and just watch a movie together. Coming to America with Eddie Murphy was one Bill and I had never seen and for the most part, it was enjoyable. Anything with E.M. always has some ridiculous scenes in it.

When the movie started, our little traitor
sat with Brian for a while before moving over to my lap.

It was 10 when we all said goodnight. It was another nice day at the cottage and we’re so glad we came. It is important to get together with family when we can. I've never spent any time at a cottage so this is a real treat for me. 💓

Yay for Liz!
She did have a picture of Gibbs in the kayak. 💝
Good night!

Thank you for your visit! Your comments are always appreciate and I do my best to answer them promptly.

Our Second Day of LadyFest

The Ridge

On Saturday, Sept. 17^th, we were mostly awake and up around 6 – 6:30. Don’t even ask me why or how it is that I was up so early when it was at least 11 last night when I went to bed. I think tv makes me more tired when I watch it at home and we are too busy to watch it here. We played a joint game of Scrabble, did some Crossword and Sudoku puzzles and 3 of us played our afternoon Wordle games. Well, we tried but I, for one, gave up.

Our evening entertainment
Gayle and I did have a game of Cribbage
The victor reigns! 😁

Today, was a full day for us. We lounged in the morning, doing our own thing. Mine was finishing my blog post and by 10ish, we were out the door in the 2 vehicles driving down the street to Grape Escapes. This is an escape room that Donna found for an hour’s entertainment this morning. 😊 No, we couldn’t get out on our own but other than being frustrated at ourselves and feeling a bit ‘stupid’, (haha) we did enjoy ourselves. It is so clever how these rooms are created. Kudos!

Lunch at The Garrison House 
across from Jackson-Triggs winery

From there, we drove a little further down the street to the Garrison House and had a lovely lunch on the patio. I had the Eggplant dip with Naan bread and it was delicious! We’ve been pleased with our waitresses at each dining experience so far and this was no exception. Very personable young ladies, good at their profession. Next, we drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake and parked at the Shaw Festival.

We wandered the grounds waiting for show time

It was only 1 o’clock and our play didn’t start until 2. There was no point in wandering out of the area, so we stayed close and walked around to the back of the festival building into the park areas. 

We enjoyed the beautiful flowers and plants on the property and reminisced about the last time we were all there, together, with Mom. Great memories. ♥ Although I don’t really recall what play we saw at that time but it was something about Mothers and daughters, we think! LOL

A pose together

And one with me included!

The play was called The Importance of Being Earnest and Audrey had found us front row seating. I guess the term is ‘on the rail’, according to Wendy, who attends a lot of music concerts with Morgan. 😉 Great, great seats! I’d heard of this play/book but didn’t know anything about it. The actors and the characters they portrayed were excellent and we laughed a lot for the whole 2 hours and 40 minutes. I highly recommend it if you get the opportunity. Get the good seats!

It was excellent!
The period costumes were breathtaking

Lastly, we walked the main strip of NotL looking for places to eat. We weren’t starving so we were just getting ideas. When I saw a lady on a bench with a cockapoo, same colouring as Gibbs, I had to stop. Oh my, the heart strings! I miss the little snuggle bum! ♥ She said Fluffy was 7 years old and very spoiled. I should have asked for a picture but didn’t think of it until later.

On our search for a restaurant
we saw many beautiful things to see

We decided on Angel Inn for supper which is an old ‘haunted’ house/pub/restaurant. I ordered Fisherman’s Pie which came with a huge garden salad and although I didn’t eat a smidgeon of the salad, I loved the pie which was served like a shepherd’s pie and a creamy sauce. Yum. I also had a drink here, Bees Knees, a lemon honey and gin drink. It wasn’t the best idea simply because it filled me too quickly.

Donna suggested The Olde Angel Inn
Um, didn't see any ghosts, alive or dead!

We left there and walked back to the car at the festival. Time for home. The evening was beautiful and because of the trees, I missed the huge sun saying goodnight. We all did our own thing and had a quiet evening before calling it a night. This was an awesome day and our last one together. The weekend was short but sweet. Tomorrow, we head home.

It was a beautiful evening.
and a wonderful day
Good night!

Thank you for stopping in.

Day Two and We Still Like Each Other! 😊

Gallup, NM to Amarillo Welcome Centre,Texas

On Wednesday, Apr. 13^th we slept until 6:30 and got up before 7. Of course, that is only 5:30 Az time and it was 11:30 when we went to bed. I was so tired and since it was going down to 20F/-6C, I put our duvet back on PLUS wore my long johns to bed. 😊 I was toasty and never moved all night long. Our departure wasn’t for another hour and a half so we didn’t rush.

The walk this morning was on the outskirts of
the Walmart parking lot
How exciting! says Gibbs
Top right, we're at the far end, out of the wind

Bill had his bowl of cold cereal and after seeing that our batteries were at 12.3, I briefly heated my oatmeal and had that for breakfast. I boiled the kettle for my tea and Bill got a thermos of coffee from Gayle’s Keurig. We decided against buying more ice, Bill did the clean up in the fridge for me this morning which I dearly appreciated.

On the road again

Some store-bought ice bags were leaking so he saved the water and rebagged the ice. I heard him mutter ‘we should just throw the damn stuff out’ and I laughed at his reaction after just once messing with the ice. 😊 We are on the same page and agree on what is important. We’ll strive to save what we can. We were all on the road, with John leading, by 8:00. The temperature was 28F/-2C with clear sky.

We love the southwest, but I think New Mexico
takes the trophy for most beautiful scenery
Hey, Doug! Is this your White Lion?

It is a long stretch along I-40E with pretty good roads. Of course, there are areas of construction and some that ‘need’ construction but it is straight forward with plenty of places for fuel and stops. First stop for fuel was at Moriarty, N.M. at a TA Centre. $4.75/gal so we were happy to see it starting to come down. They had their breakfast and we pulled out in the lead at 11:30.

Albuquerque, NM
I missed seeing the huge flower pots though
We think they've been removed

One more stop at a Rest Area of which I didn’t make note where it was but still along I-40E. 😊 We stretched our legs and took care of business before hitting the pavement once more. It was Exit 76 where we got off the highway and pulled into the Amarillo Welcome Centre. We’ve stayed here before and hope Gayle and John are pleased with the choice.

Oh, I would love a stage coach and team
on The Ridge! ♥

Once we found our spots for the night, facing each other, Bill and I joined them in their Montana for a drink together. I’d had a headache a couple of times throughout the day so a tea was in order. Gayle did the same and the boys had a little harder drink. They’d done the driving. We covered about 445 miles today. It was a great day’s drive arriving at our destination at 5 o’clock CT. We lost another hour.

We missed NM's arrival sign so here it is as we leave
and I almost missed the Texas welcome!

I knew what we should be doing but I didn’t get this far in life always doing what I should. So, rather than cook and eat something from the freezer compartment, I suggested we go to Denny’s across the highway. Everyone was game for it and in the warm wind, it was an incredible 64F/18C when we took our lives in our hands and walked across the overpass. There are no sidewalks but thankfully traffic had died down at 6:30 enough for us to be safe. 😊

Zipping by Cadillac Ranch
The big truck was there to spray them all for a clean slate
Bottom left, construction workers
Bottom right, very few of the wind turbines we saw in this section

It is blurry but somewhere along the ride today, 💓

Bill and I ordered off the breakfast menu, I had a Sante Fe Skillet and I ate every delicious morsel. They were the eggs that we’ve not had for a few days.

We walked back and after taking some of our meat over to Gayle’s freezer, we settled in for the night. My end of the closet was a mess, clothes hangers had come off the bar again, so I finally remembered to heed Gayle’s suggestion of hanging them on backwards. Tomorrow will be the test. 😃

We all watched this beautiful retro trailer pull in
Two doors, one on each side made it even more unique
The plate says FS 1952

a pretty night sky

This was a great second day of travel and we’re crossing state lines each day. Tomorrow will be yet another, stay tuned!

Here we are snuggled in for the night
Good night!

Thank you for stopping in.

Missing a Snuggle Bum, Day Two of the Show, Jolly’s

I slept well last night after crawling under the covers at midnight, so obviously a different bed makes no difference for me. Bill, not as well, but we were both very tired. We'd had a late dinner and then I wrote on my blog while sitting in bed. Bill dozed off beside me, my tired sweetie. 

View from the 7th floor

When I woke, Saturday, Oct. 14th It took a wee shake of the head to recalculate where I was. You must remember that I’ve only slept away from home, our Suite, our own bed 4 times this year and then you’ll sympathize with me and that statement.  I woke up thinking of our little bum back home. I won’t say ‘he’s just a dog’ because he fills a very important role in our home life, in our hearts. 

Driving down Airport Road this morning
Passed the West Jets - Donna, your ride

Bill hopped in the shower at 8:15 and we got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. They make nice breakfasts here, that has been proven. Even supper last night was good, our first time for that. The show opens at 10 and runs to 7 pm. We followed Andy, Dan and the girls to the Congress Centre. Another long day coming up but as long as we are busy and meeting people, it goes by quick enough.

One of our highest quality travel trailers
Airstream Tommy Bahama

Lovely with wood cabinets and wall paper

Nothing unusual today, lots of chatter, lots of interest in the Mobile Suite but no sale on it. People seem to relax and sit and talk to us about their ideas and then relax even more when we say we’re not sales people, ‘just’ customers. 

Bill captures his audience with his knowledge about the Mobile Suite

They know there is no pressure but seem to appreciate the information we give them about our experiences. Hey, Bill and I are just having fun talking about ourselves too! Who doesn’t like to do that?

Our lowest priced trailer all packed up
I showed you this one opened up yesterday
For the active traveller

Katie had subs ordered for lunch and it doesn’t even matter what time you eat them. We all take our lunch break when there is a lull in the looky-loos. There were many and when we stopped to grab a bite at 3, we knew it would be enough to tie us over until dinner at 8. CanAm, you guys rock! You really look after your staff and your ‘not really staffers’ as well.

What a cool 360* camera

It must have been dry in there today, I drank so much water which naturally led me for many walks to the big black W sign. At one point around 4:30 pm I checked on Clemson to see how his day was going and received a good report. I hope he sleeps better tonight for his sitters. We are so blessed to have someone who loves him the way they do

When 7 o’clock rolled around, we all headed to the renowned Italian Restaurant on Weston Rd. for dinner. Jolly’s has been a favourite place for what, 5+ years? It was nice to see Monica walk in, she drove from London after work. We all got a laugh when Monica asked why the Fried Shrimp wasn’t on the appetizer menu. Our server told us it hasn’t been on it for 6 years. “But we order it every year!” He smiled and replied “that’s because I make it up for you every time”. What a sweet guy. Too funny!

Monica cools down with a 'phone fan'

We placed our drink orders and soon after, Appetizer Anna ordered appetizers for the group and we all ordered our entrees.

A cute picture of our Angelic Appetizer Anna
with Dan and Katie

I tried a Caribbean Breeze tonight. A pretty red drink of dark rum, banana liqueur, pineapple and lime. It was very nice. Bill had a rum and coke and the appetizers arrived. Mussels, shrimp, calamari and bruschetta. 

My tortelinni stuffed with meat in a cream cheese sauce

The plates of food were served and they were brimming with aroma and delicious varieties of pasta, meats and sauces.  My dinner tonight was Tortellini Ana Panno, meat stuffed pasta in ‘to die for’ cream cheese sauce. Bill had salmon filet with veggies and fries. Everything was wonderful. We passed on dessert although I couldn’t help noticing across the table what Anna and Katie had sitting in front of them.

Bill's Filet of Salmon
Donna, safe bet you'd probably order this one

They are smart young ladies. They started with a shared dish of lasagna. Just the right amount for each of them. Then finished with …….hmm, I’m not sure what they had. It looked like some kind of cheesecake drizzled with chocolate sauce and on the side strawberry gelato. Monica and Will shared a piece of pecan pie that also looked yummy. 

Huge chandelier overhead

Most of us were too full which indicated I should have shared a meal too. The desserts are always so great looking but we seldom have room. I did walk away with a doggie ‘box’ for perhaps Sunday dinner.

The petite gals share dessert

Andy tells a story

Thanking Kirk, yet again, (we are getting spoiled), Bill and I drove through the rain back to the hotel as did everyone else. I changed into my lounger clothes and sat and finished writing this post. It has been a wonderful day. Not sure what you were up to today, but I hope it was just as great.

The gang is all here
thank you Bill for taking this for me

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