The Ridge
It was nice on Sunday, Apr. 28th
to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. We slept in until 6:30 and it was closer
to 7 when I gingerly did some stretches before getting up and dressed. Bill had
just made his coffee so I made my tea to join him. All thoughts of walking when
it is 32F/0C disappear as soon as I see the wind. The wind speeds are much less
now, blowing around the 5 to 10 mph mark but it is still darn chilly blowing in
your face.
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| My breakfast this morning |
I had things to make today for our
gathering at Rockwood Terrace. My family, as many as can come, are meeting to
celebrate our Easter and especially Mom’s 93rd birthday. Her
birthday was on the 17th and it was quiet for her so we try and do a
family get together each year. There are many things playing a part today so we
don’t know how the afternoon will go. I am baking Keto chocolate cake with
cream cheese icing as well as a dish of Glazed carrots.
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| glazed carrots |
Bill went down to the Hangar and
began to install an electrical panel , light boxes and outlets. That keeps him out my hair while I take up the
island counter space in the kitchen. By 10 things were mostly done with the
exception of icing the cake with cream cheese frosting. I had clothes that I
brought home yesterday, (surprisingly not too many! ) that needed to be put
away. Yay!
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| Keto chocolate (guilt-free) cake |
I took the equivalent to 5 bags for
donation so I was a good girl. I was very particular in the things that went
into the box. Other than swapping out a couple of jackets, I shouldn’t need to
weed too much more out. We have another spring exchange, the next one in London
at my girlfriend’s place so kept lots of things to take along from the
leftovers. How we love our clothes swaps!
When I came downstairs, the carrots
were done and I iced the cake so the prep part was done. We need to take our
own plates and utensils as well as our own drinks. That just saves a lot of
scrambling for one person. The toughest part is finding a cooler to carry
everything since we have only one extreme or the other. I have the ticket! The
box that I had clothes in will be perfect to carry everything. Clemson will
stay home to look after things here since we are only going as far as Durham
and only for 4 hours or so.
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| The temporary mailbox solution |
We are expecting overnight company
for a couple of nights. Ellen and Scott, whom we met last year from the area
and had a barbecue with, are returning home from a winter south of the border
as well. The park they will plant themselves in doesn’t open for bookings until
May 1st so they needed a stopover. Yay! It will be great to see them
again and we can even offer them 15- or 30-amp plug-ins to power. They sold
their lovely home just down the road here last fall, I think it was, so are
full-timing. We should see them around 6 this evening and get them set up.
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| A nice display of food |
When Bill had toast earlier, I wasn’t
hungry yet so at 10:30 I was ready for something. Trying to eat properly
without doing bacon and eggs (our big meal is at 1:30) this morning, I cut up
an apple with some cheddar cheese. It tasted great and along with my creamy
coffee, it will keep me satisfied until we eat. When I finished that, I slipped
my coat on and went down to see Bill before going out the lane and to the
corner for a walk.
I had some nice ‘new to me’ clothes
to wear and pretty much figured what outfit I’d wear today. An outing like this
is the perfect time to dress up a bit. That’s why so many clothes, I don’t like
the same thing over and over. Bill can tease all he wants but he never questions
“are you wearing that again?” He has no need to. 😊 After Bill’s shower, he rested a bit and we were headed into town around
12:45 to meet our family.
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| Small amount of desserts but they were very good |
We arrived first and Cathy drove in
soon after. Bill and I walked up to the door and noticed that Mom had already
gone up to her room after lunch. We really didn’t want to have her see us until
everyone had arrived and we’d had a chance to eat the first course of our meal.
She wouldn’t be hungry anyway and we wanted her state of mind to be as good as
possible, not sitting idly watching us all eat.
Today, was the smallest crowd we’ve
had at one of these Easter gatherings but we made the best of it all the same. There
was plenty of food, many different varieties of main course and just a few
desserts. At 2:30, my niece, Joanne and I went up to get Mom. I didn’t think it
started out very well when we found Mom in the hall and eventually talked her
into coming downstairs, however, once we walked in to the auditorium, all the
greeters turned her around.
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| Mom was fawning over the youngest granddaughter, Morgan It was cute to watch |
We learned last year that having name
tags would probably help Mom so Donna brought some along. As it turned out,
after Cathy, Bill and I set up tables and chairs, only 14 of us were in
presence. You just never know! Mom enjoyed having dessert with us and seemed to
be in good spirits. I thought it was a good time for pictures and had set up my
tripod and big camera. Mom seems to enjoy the picture moments and the whole
idea of it even though she doesn’t keep them in her room. I got a group picture
and then one of just us sisters with Mom.
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| Another cute picture of Mom and Gayle |
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| Mom by herself |
We started packing up and a couple of
us noticed that Mom was getting concerned about being left somewhere. Gayle and
Cathy stepped in and took Mom up to her room and to save some upset, we didn’t
say goodbye. Trust me, it was the best way to go at this point. The rest of us
put chairs and tables away and waited for them to return. It wasn’t easy to say
goodbye to her, apparently, and they came back with sad faces. Poor Mom. The
only consolation is that she won’t miss us for long and she will forget we were
even there. ☹
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| There were 14 of us in attendance today |
We said our goodbyes downstairs and
went our own way. Bridgette and Chris had the furthest to go, to Woodstock,
with a 2-hour drive and Bill and I were the closet. I felt that the day went
well although can’t help but wonder how long we will continue to do this. We’ll
see. Back home, we unpacked the food box and cooler before settling back in our
chairs. I read my book for a while and Bill tried to catch a few zzz’s.
While at Rockwood, we heard from our
buddies, Rob and Pat, that they have arrived at the Hunt Camp on Manitoulin.
They left this morning around 8:30. We’ll miss having them close by, me
especially later in the week, but happy that they were able to go and get some
things set up for the summer. At 5:15 there was a knock at the door and we
thought it was our friends, Ellen and Scott. Instead, it was someone we’d never
met before.
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| Mom and 5 of her 6 girls, 5 of her 7 children back: Wendy, Donna, Gayle front: Patsy, Mom, Cathy Aj is at home in Quebec, battling the flooding :( Michael is home in Alberta |
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| Wendy, Bridgette, Joanne, Chris, Morgan |
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| Mom, Donna, Gerry, Ted |
When my sister, Aj and Tom, comes for
a summer holiday and spend time with Donna and Gerry at the Acreage, since they
don’t have a trailer, they would stay at a bed and breakfast not far from here.
They really enjoyed meeting the owners, Sue and Dan. That is who showed up at
our door! Introducing themselves, we invited them in for a nice little chit
chat about our story and theirs. What a lovely couple! I need to email my
sister to let her know.
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| John, Cathy, Bill |
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| Gayle was in the kitchen cleaning up |
Ellen and Scott pulled into our lane
around 6:30 and after hugs all around, they unhooked their tow vehicle and
situated their motor home beside us. They will be staying until Wednesday
giving us an opportunity to get to know them even better. How fun! Once they
were set up, they joined us for a glass of wine and an evening of conversation.
Their winter in the Florida area and ours in the Arizona area, tips about this
and hints about that. It was a nice evening and when left they walked across the lot to
their home around 9 ish.
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| Ellen and Scott arrive from Niagara Falls tonight |
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| We hope they find it comfortable here |
This has been a 'mostly' good day from
beginning to end. It didn’t get very warm here, maybe 11C/50F. We didn’t see a
lot of family but it was great to see those that we did. We met new friends and
reacquainted with friends we just met last summer. I hope your day was a great
one as well.
Today wasn't as GREAT as I would normally say a day with family and friends would be. On the way to Rockwood this afternoon, I received a FB messenger message from a former co-worker in London. A very special friend of both Bill and I, someone very dear to my heart, lost his battle with cancer. We didn't even know anything about it.
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| I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this kind-hearted man |
Two weeks ago, while in London with Bill, I mentioned that we have to make a point to see him this summer. Mark worked with me for 30 years and Bill for 27. He retired in 2016, a month after me. He turned 55 that same month looking forward to a life in a new home he and his wife were building. I can't even comprehend how things like this happen. I will miss you in this world, my dear friend. Rest in peace.
Thank you for stopping by for a visit
with us.