Friday, July 7, 2017

Good morning 🌞 (and my aching back,) 😳 It's a beautiful start ... Cool and calm. Chores done, Kyle came to visit before they all went to watch Gavin fly his (birthday) drone. (Apparently it flew very high, very fast!)

Mark, Kyle, Gavin and I are going to the old fire house for dinner. (Sue and Wayne are going dancing at the pub.) 

Enjoying Sultana Gold ... and dinner with Gavin and Kyle. 

Sue and Wayne joined us shortly hereafter ... no shade at the pub = no dancing tonight. 

Afterward we all played Rummy ... vetoed by Sue ... Gavin suggested Countdown Crazy Eights which was great fun. 

Kyle laughed til he was crying. 😂 Sue was the eventual winner. 

This afternoon, Robbie and BeeZee enjoyed their safety pen on the dock while Mark and Kyle fished. 

It was a great day. ❤️

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Good morning from sunny, beautiful Lake of the Woods! Happy Birthday dear Marky 🎶, Happy Birthday to yooouuuu 🎶❤️

Mark celebrated his birthday exactly as he wanted, with a fishing trip first thing this morning. Wayne's grandsons were happy to join the fun; Gavin and Kyle. If they are home by 1 o'clock, we are going to Lake of the Woods brewery for lunch. However, if fishing is terrific, we will do the luncheon tomorrow. Tonight, Sue and Wayne are cooking ribeye steaks for the birthday party! 

I tidied the cottage then baked an orange supreme cake 🎂 for dessert. The boys arrived home at 1 o'clock for lunch ... and Mark chose to finish leftovers rather than go downtown to eat. 

Arriving home in the Crestliner. 

After lunch ... swim lessons for BeeZee and a refresher for Robbie. 

Coaxing the kids in ... a favorite toy plus treats helped. 

I don't know how they'd do if they fell in, but they can dog paddle! Yay! (Swimming is not a given for Scottish Terriers.)

We had 4 o'clock cocktails on the dock and it was beautifully breezy. At six we went up the path to have dinner on the K's  porch. 

Make a wish ... we all joked that he wished his wife had bought him a birthday present. 😂 

After a delicious steak dinner with garlic rolls we got into a game of Mexican dominoes and played until 10 o'clock. Sue was the grand winner at 160. We certainly had lots of fun playing! 

Randy and Dawn phoned during the game and sang Happy Birthday ... hope you get lucky tonight. Haha. Of course Mark had them on speaker. 🙄 Pam phoned while visiting cousins in Wisconsin ... a wonderful day all 'round. 

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Good morning y'all. Chores done, we were away to the Matowski farmer's market to shop for locally produced everything. Kenora is abuzz on Wednesday's and Mark remembered saying we shouldn't come into town! 🙄 So, he dropped me to browse and searched for a place to park. (I bought homemade butter tarts for tonight's dessert!) It's our turn to cook and Mark is making baked chicken Parm and a Greek salad. Can you hear me say awesome! ❤️

Four o'clock Cornhole tourney ... Mark and Gavin won the first  round ... 

 

'Splainin' the rules. 

Nice driveway surface ... just the ding dang dong mosquitoes suck! 💥

At 5 we fed our kids and put the chicken in the oven. Plans are to eat at 6 ... then the guys are going fishing! Mark's Birthday pressie is a Canadian fishing license ... non-resident. When you get to the BIG 6-0 and there isn't much you "need" nor "want" isn't that a gift enough? If there back in time we'll go to Lake of the Woods Brewery for lunch; otherwise Sue & Wayne are grilling rib-eye steaks. 🍴😁

Dinner was delicious! Before we were even finished, the four guys were up and away fishing aboard the new Ranger. Sue and I were left with the dirty dishes. Wha waaa ... so we did the dishes and poured some wine and visited. Fun ... and tons of giggles. There's no relationship like sisters. 😜

The guys arrived home at 9 o'clock, ahead of a storm front ... no fish worth keeping, but an awesome boat ride! Tomorrow is Mark's birthday and he is going fishing in the morning, weather permitting!

Tuesday, June 4, 2017

Good morning 🌞 ... it's time to tidy up the RV for several weeks and move into Chippy's Hollow. It'll be a very busy day and a bit confusing for Robbie and BeeZee. 

Well, I was wrong ... 

 

Robbie & BeeZee settled into the recliner just fine with Mark. It took a couple hours to unpack, but all's well. Sue had everything cleaned and ready for us. 💕 Awesome! 

 

Sue took this pic of a doe with triplets ... 

 

Gorgeous! 

 

Chippy's Hollow with the new, enlarged deck and screened entrance! Bonus! 😎

Kyle came to visit at 5 to say pizza would be ready at 6. We talked for a few minutes then headed up with wine jugs in hand. We had lots of laughs ... then a big storm rolled in, the power went out and Wayne cooked the pies on the BBQ.  Boy, were they delicious! We all agreed it was a regular Sue's BBQ night. 💨⚡️⛈🤣

Gavin wanted to play cards and learned "free cell" which he caught onto very well. If we'd had power it might have been a dominoes challenge. At 9:30 we headed down the path to Chippy's. Fortunately, the power came on about 10:15. 

 

A hummingbird sheltering from the storm on the feeder. 👍🏻

Tomorrow morning is the farmers market, which we may attend. We shall see. Ta Ta. 

Monday, July 3, 2017

Good morning sunshine (and 54F.) It going to be a perfect 70F for a high today. Regardless, the sun feels prickly hot in this higher latitude. (Ozone?) 

The RV site we're in has been booked for summer so we're off to Kenora's downtown lakefront park known as Anishinabi. (Tuesday, we'll park the rig at K's Kamp and move into Chippy's Hollow for a few weeks R 'n R.) We haven't seen Sue and Wayne since Easter! 

This morning I'm doing 3 loads of laundry before we leave The Willows ... then just 2 loads tomorrow morning at Anicinabe to leave our rig clean for the eventual drive home in August. Mundane, but hey, it's not all fun and games. 😎 Speaking of fun and games, I was the big Rummy winner today! We'll have TV in town so that's the end of cards for a day or two. Sue and Wayne like to play Mexican Dominoes though! 👍🏻 

What a lovely afternoon and evening we had. Mark lit a fire and we sat outside from 4 til 10 ... NO BUGS! WTH? What alternative universe is this? We hope it'll be the same at Chippy's Hollow! 

 

Happy man ... "ceegar" plus wine! 😃

 

Hahaha ... Robbie's full extension on scruffing. 🤣

 

Cozy spot with a fire ring. 🔥The Scotties were mesmerized by red squirrels. Usually, we'll see 15 to 20 deer in the park but, alas, only one doe so far. 😳 

 

You can see the doe at the back of this lady's rig. 

It was a fine day. We're still sitting out enjoying the fire at 9:30 ... no one's about. Ta Ta til tomorrow. 😘

Sunday, July 2, 2017

What a gorgeous day! Yay! It was 52F this morning ... gorgeous and warm for our 4:30 appies and dinner aboard "Seabreeze"  ... Lynne & Les' 38' Mainship docked at Northern Harbour in Ontario. 

 

Mz B just HAD to see what was over the gunwale ... two dogs and a young boy swimming ... plus a duck ... two turtles ... and a loon. Robbie was in the main cabin, relaxing. 😜

 

Mz B was poking about the entire boat ... Robbie was here before; he relaxed. 😎

 

Finally, summer weather to enjoy in Canada! (There's a small houseboat drydocked up the hill that we saw a few years back ... we should haul it home for a project. 😱

 

Lynne always puts out great food ... home grown where possible! Robbie and BeeZee were happy ... Lynne had doggie treats aboard. 🐾

 

We had a laugh ... Les had to use a napkin! (Usually he and Sue don't need them, being Scorpios.) 🤣

We watched a couple of sailboats go out and come in, without a problem. Les thought maybe that should be their next boat. Ha ha. We left for home at 9 o'clock ... settled in and watched a (crummy) movie "Wolf Mountain." 

So, that was our day. Tomorrow we are going to Anicinabe for a night in downtown Kenora. Hopefully, we will see some deer in the area! Ta Ta til tomorrow. 

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Happy 150th Birthday Canada 🇨🇦 ... 

We had loads of laughs with Les and Lynn last night with our RV dinner party. Plans were to sit outside, but we were rained out. Alas, it's raining again today. There are dozens of Canada Day activities going on at the Harborfront so that's where we shall go! 

Well, we are out driving around and amazed at the hardiness of the Canadian people. 75% are wearing shorts, sleeveless tops and flip-flops like it's 90°, but, it's only 58°F. Perhaps I was like this at one time? Today, I am wearing long warm pants, T-shirt and Kenora dinner jacket. 

 

 

Anyway, we needed some parts for our barbecue and tried to get them at Walmart, no luck, but did at Canadian Tire. 

 

Harbourfront fountain and Whitecap pavilion ... downtown Kenora in background. 

TransCanada Highway through Kenora ... fun hauling the RV down these streets. 

So we sat outside, Mark smoked a cigar as we drank wine and listened to thunder in the distance. Robbie and Belize got new squeaky toys today and were happily playing. Later we watched a horribly sappy "western," allegedly a true story; but, no one could be that dumb and survive. Ha!

That's it til tomorrow. 😂