Thanksgiving Dinner at Bridgette's

The Ridge

On Sunday, Oct. 11th, many Canadians are celebrating their Thanksgiving today. Bill and I are two of those going to a family dinner. My daughter, Bridgette and her hubby, Chris, are hosting a small get together this year. 

Good morning!
Although this little guy must've had
a hard night.

The large family gathering was a no-go, which really doesn't upset the apple (pumpkin) cart for us too much. We see who we need to see for some quality time and are quite happy with that.

After our neighbours left,
Gibbs watched them walk across
the field to their home.

Sometimes, often actually, too many people in one gathering means you don't get to converse with those who you really want to for any length of time. Today, will be a small group of 5 close family members. 💕

Our resident Blue Jay
returns every day.

That does mean and has meant a couple of weeks of hecticness, planning where to be, when and do we need a sitter for Gibbs but in the end, lives are too short and every meeting is a very special one. So, this morning, Bill went for a brief couple of hours (if that) to the flying field to say goodbye to his pilot friends.

For a nibble of food and 
a drink of water.

I put a stuffed turkey roast in the oven at 9 and Gibbs and I bided our time before the drive. He will be staying home, unfortunately, Bridgette has 2 cats who run the house so it isn't fair for them to have to move litter boxes and lock them in another room just to have a little dog sniffing around. 🤭 He would want to chase.

Entering Durham from our end,
these trees are always the
prize winner for me.

Around 11, Ann and her brother, David, from next door walked across the field to come in and see where Gibbs' 'things' are for tomorrow. Today, he'll be fine, we'll make sure we are home in good time for him. Within 6 hours he is fine and a bit longer, if necessary.

Here's a real Thanksgiving picture
as we're driving to Woodstock.

Bill was home from the field before 12 and we had a wee lunch. He snoozed for a bit, we packed the turkey and a pie and headed out around 1 pm. What an absolutely gorgeous day out there! Already at 11 am, it is 16C/61F and a blue sky with a few white fluffies. Perfect!

Entering Bridgette and Chris' homestead
(rain on the windshield headed south)
....Blue Rodeo song.

We left a few minutes before 1 pm for the hour and 45 min. drive to Bridgette and Chris' home. Patrick was already settled in a comfy chair when we were greeted. It was a very comfortable visit, sharing stories and catching up. Even some laughs about the old sitcoms we used to watch years ago and how cheesey most of them are today. 🤭

For being thrown together
almost last minute, we did
good with the meal and had a 
wonderful afternoon!

Supper was ready just before 5 and it was very good. The stuffed turkey roast, Patrick's ham and salad, Bridgette's large pot of scalloped potatoes and a strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. We were well sated. 

We had an almost 2 hour drive home and Gibbs will have his legs crossed so we gave hugs and left around 6.

I couldn't decide which picture
I liked best. Love them all!
Thank you to the Worsfold's for hosting
and Patrick for entertaining us. 

We don't like driving in the dark and it soon was upon us. It's the other car lights coming at you that seem to play tricks on our eyes. Bill did fine and in Durham, we stopped at the Mat to see if I needed to run back in to clean (tomorrow we leave at 8am) and it was fine. We picked up a few dryer sheets.

The wipers were pretty much
non-stop on the way home until
we got  through Tavistock again.

Ptooties was running almost on fumes, with just 30 km before empty so we filled her up and headed home to Gibbs. He was happy to see us and ran out for his piddle, no worse for wear. We had rain off and on once we neared Tavistock and dampness all day but at home, things appeared to be very dry.

What a tall old church on the
corner in Hickson.

What a great day! The temperature here at home was around 17.78C/64F and in Woodstock around 14.4C/58F which seems unusual since we are slightly further northeast. 🤷‍♀️ 

I was writing my blog and saw Gibbs
disappear under my quilt.

He hears me laugh so he waits.
Speaking of entertainment,
this little guy is the best at it!

                                  Good night

                                       Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you for your visit.

Mexico, Pool, Chillin’, in that Order

Yuma Lakes RV Resort

It was forecasted to be 97F/36C today so getting things done early was the plan. The whole family was up at 7 and Gibbs and I went out. Today, there was a whole lot of interest in the walk. Of course, there was! It’s a brand new park, the scents are plentiful and new. We walked the whole perimeter including checking out both dog runs. The furthest one had 2 small dogs and 1 big dog so we bypassed it today.

A brilliant morning sky

There are a lot of empty sites here right now
And a lot of new things to sniff!!

Up at the front corner, an older DRV Mobile Suite

I really like the way they keep the park nice with
these relics

At the east end of the park, are the permanents
Many are rvs with covers, really nicely done

Who wouldn't want to live there?

Bill and I had our morning brew and he had his customary bowl of cereal. I almost had some too but chose to wait. I can’t find the recipe I had for my keto ‘granola-type’ oatmeal so I’m disappointed about that. It was good! I do have the recipe for Baked Keto Oatmeal though so will make up a batch this week while we’re here. 

I'm not familiar with this cactus but it's lovely

The ever familiar Beavertail cactus with blooms
ready to pop ♥

It was nice that Gibbs wanted to walk this morning

At 9 we left the Suite for Los Algodones. We couldn’t believe how full the $6 parking lot was! Seems everyone had the same idea. 😊

Just before turning into the Andrade Parking, we've been 
watching this RV Park slowly come to life
It has been closed for a long time but improvements
are being made

Our last walk into Los Algodones, Mx this trip

We found our buddy, Andy, (why didn't I get a picture?) as soon as we walked to the first corner and the surprise on his face when he saw us was a sincere one. We asked if a particular vendor was around and he directed us to Snowbird Alley and that’s exactly where we found who we were looking for. I can’t spill the beans but we were getting something personally made by Israel’s son. Israel is Marlon Brando’s ‘boss’ and takes the $$ while Marlon paints his magic. ♥

We sat at Maricosa's for a cold drink while we waited
for Mario to take care of our order

Mario said the ‘job’ would take an hour so we wandered back past all the vendors again, all anxious to sell their wares. The Purple Pharmacy is where I walked up and got my pills. 50 for $10, so I ordered 3. 😊 Now, I’ll not run out again. Bill walked to the other section of the Pharmacy and picked up his Appleton’s Rum, saving himself about 15$. We had a cold drink, not a margarita, in the little diner beside Israel and Marlon’s shop while Mario finished and we were on our way.

Another reason we enjoy this area
There is no shortage of fly overs
Bill and I both enjoy the rumble of C130's, choppers, Ospreys
and others I can't name ♥

The line up to leave wasn’t bad at all but the guards were only allowing very few inside at a time. It took us only 30 minutes to get through and out the U.S. side. 😊 That’s pretty good and with the heat, we were very happy with that. We took a drive further west to see what we could find out about Pilot Knob Resort but there wasn’t a lot to learn. I feel confident that we won’t be back there unless it is for a couple of weeks in November.

I think it's cool the way the family ranch house is right
in the middle of their field
And usually the homes are really nice looking surrounded by palms

Back home, I did a better job of frying my last 2 pizza slices and they were just as yummy. Bill had cheese and crackers and then I changed and headed to the pool. We never did make it last night, after supper isn’t a key time for me. I was the only one there for the first half hour and enjoyed floating around on a noodle in the bath-like water. We don’t get baths in our Suite so that suited me just fine! It was still refreshing but very hot to sit out in between dips.

You know who visited the pool today
It was long waited for and fulfilling

I was probably there for about an hour and a half and was cooked so walked back which got me hot all over again. LOL Inside the Suite, the a/c cooled me down right and proper. The winds have not abated at all, our weather station reported 28 mph gusts at 11 am this morning. Glad we didn’t have our awnings out when we were away. 😊 Grilled bacon cheeseburgers for supper and maybe a homemade salad – we’ll see how ambitious I am.

Gibbs has a bird's-eye view of Daddy
when he barbecues here

Turns out that I wasn’t ambitious at all. We just had burgers. These were different Sirloin burgers that we picked up at Sam’s Club and although maybe not quite as thick, they were bigger around and they tasted just as yummy. 😊 We set the dishwasher to run and spent the rest of the evening together. I could get my mixture together for the Baked Oatmeal so it can be baked in the morning but then again, will I get that ambitious? Nope, I'll do it in the morning, my book is calling my name. 😂

Loaded burgers are the best!

This was a grand day. We’ve got things to check off our list, things we want to do while here and this was a big one. It didn’t take as long as we thought but we accomplished more than we’d planned on. Plus, we were able to get goodbye hugs from Andy and Israel, not to mention an invite to Israel’s for a barbecue!  Little things make big days!♥

We are here until Saturday,
you can see what we'll be
enjoying.
Good night!

I hope you had a great day too. Thanks for your visit.

SALE DAY, THE HEAT ARRIVES, QUIET AFTERNOON

On Saturday, June 10^th Bill and I got up to the sound of the alarm once more. This time it was 5:45 am that his phoned chimed and I’m surprised it didn’t get thrown across the room! Sometimes his phone has a mind of its own and refuses to obey commands. Anyway, it worked, we were up and at ‘em. 

Items priced to sell

So, we each washed and ate some cereal. Bananas on mine and cream. Yum. We arrived at Mary’s house in Durham promptly at 7 and set to work moving stuff outside to the open areas. It was a beautiful day for a garage sale. The temperature was 14C early and rose from there to an awesome 28C by 2 pm.

There were a lot of sales around town including the Durham Herb Sale at the town hall so many prospective buyers with money in the pockets. There were moments of real busy-ness and moments of quiet but by noon hour things started to quiet down.

Bill C. and his son, Justin, went to Godfather’s to get pizza while Pat and Sandra put out veggies, fruit and potato salad for lunch. Once people left for their own lunch, we dug in. It was very good, amazing how parading around, socializing and selling makes you hungry.

The men had a lot of interest outside and sold lots

By 1 or 1:30, can’t remember, things had quieted down and we enjoyed some friendly comradery among the 7 of us before Rob and Pat suggested we take the rest of the day and do our own thing. You didn’t have to tell us twice, once we sure they didn’t need us. We arrived home and surprisingly, or not, both crashed for half an hour.

June Christmas

I went outside in my lounge chair in the sun and Bill and Clemson opened windows in the bedroom to welcome the breeze on the bed. It was a gorgeous afternoon and we were happy to do next to nothing for the rest of the day. Man, we must be getting old!

Bill modelling the Ab Chair

I read a bit more of my book and decided to load my watering can and a pail of rain water onto my new wagon and give my newly transplantees a healthy drink.  The hostas and my geranium at the end of the lane way were looking a bit parched. Rob suggested I add some bleach to the pails and rain barrel when we empty it to keep it bacteria free and fresh. So, I did that when my pails were emptied.

Wait a minute! The rest of us are working and is he asleep??
No, just goofing around.
Always tons of laughs with these Aljoes

I even gave my vegetable garden some water hoping it holds over until the next rain. The forecast looks hot, humid and dry for another couple of days before any rain is expected. This is the weather we were looking for.

It was nice to see my sister, Donna, her husband, Gerry and our friend, Mike at the sale today spending a bit of pocket money. Every little bit helps. Also, our neighbor, Cheryl, up here on the Ridge stopped in and found a few things. There were lots of comments on how solid the house is and questions of the auction and the house sale. Real estate in Durham still seems to be a going concern.

Rob and Sandra

I walked down to the lane way around 5 and could only see holes all over the place. Some quite deep but in unsuitable places for laying eggs. Like right in the middle of the lane. I didn’t see one single turtle today so I was feeling a bit sad about that.

Interesting article

It is funny, after typing that, I walked out to snap some pictures and there was one right beside the car. When I picked him up to look at him and talk to him, his little head went into hiding. There is a front-page article in the Grey-Bruce This Week. Interesting! We seriously need to be looking for a Turtle Crossing sign of our own.

Taking a much needed break

Not being traditionalists, Bill and I often decide in the middle of an afternoon how we feel about a supper plan. How hungry are you? What do you feel like? Once we gauge these feelings, a decision is made. Because we had a filling breakfast and a wonderful pizza lunch, it will be chicken hearts, toast and cottage cheese for me and a peanut butter cheese sandwich with salt and vinegar chips for Bill. Yes, gourmet night!

Great looking sales people ready for business

Thank heavens for the breeze today although a few km’s less would be nicer. It sounds like we are never happy but that is not the case. We are happy, just could be happier with our awnings out to sit under occasionally. The winds were probably hovering around 35 km and gusts in the 50’s. A little much.

Strong winds

Great sky

 So, after cleaning up from supper and relaxing a bit, we drove over to The Acreage. Mike had picked out items from the sale and we had our green patio mat to give him since we weren’t using it anymore. They were all in our car so thought we'd go for some chuckles and a drink or two.

After a drink of water, I hope they perk up now

Donna likes to start a fire even when it isn’t for warmth and with the winds, the bugs I experienced from the previous night were non-existent. Sitting around the campfire in shorts is my kind of relaxing. Bill and I had sprayed ourselves well with bug spray so were not bothered by mosquitoes. We were all able to witness the ISS (International Space Station) at 10 minutes before 10 and that is always a topic of discussion. The sky was clear and the stars soon displayed their constellations.

On the right is the Space Station
On the left is Venus
They didn't collide by the way

Donna prepping the fire
Mike, Gerry, Bill and Clemson supervising?

We headed for home around 10:30 and we went straight up to bed. Hence this post was delayed until morning. What a beautiful moon again tonight again. Pictures don’t do it justice.

Sunset through Donna's trees

I hope your day was a great one too. 

Good night
No justice done here to the moon
It was gorgeous!

Thank you for reading my ‘journal’. I’m always happy to see your comments.