After our family outing in Wakefield we are back in Ottawa ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and more catch ups with extended family. The weather predictions are not good, rain for the next week and this does hamper the hiking outings.
Even though it is long past our anniversary we still want to visit “our park” where we got married. The fountain has been restored and despite the rain it is a special moment in time for us.
Over the days in Ottawa we visit our favourite bakery and sadly see that the downtown farmers market is no more, a casualty of COVID.
We get to spend Thanksgiving with Linda and her family a much bigger celebration than we would have back home.
We get to see some wildlife, Linda has a little chipmunk that runs through the yard regularly whom she has called Chippy, the relationship is one of testy mutual respect, Chippy knows not to push his visiting rights too much!
Clearly Linda does have a soft spot for the little squirrel family and the salt and pepper shakers are testimony to this.
We also manage a really nice visit with Suzanne’s family after they come back from the last camping weekend for the year. The kids are no longer kids but young adults, new interests and some special work related developments and projects. It’s really nice to catch up over dinner with everyone. Now it’s time to slowly make our way across to Toronto.
Firstly a visit with our very special friends in Peterborough, they have made a beautiful life for themselves in this smaller community of long established families and farming connections. Pawel has gradually converted their family home utilising the original log cabin structure and now making their own imprint on its history.
A dedicated veggie patch is now surrounded by a fence that blends in with the house and keeps the resident black bear out of the veggies. Ingrid is a passionate gladiola grower and we see some photos from this years crop. We feel totally spoilt with the most delicious bakings of apple pie, sour Cherry cheesecake and blueberry banana muffins. We have a mouth watering batch of ricotta pancakes one morning and each day starts with a beautiful serving of fresh berries. We feel like family just like we always do, our connection with these two generous and loving humans is super special.
It’s time to explore the farm and the surrounding parks and locks of Peterborough. The weather is very gracious with blue sky and sunshine.
The lock system is an ingenious engineering solution of lifting boats along the water courses from Georgian Bay and Lake Huon to Lake Ontario. There are 44 locks in total including a hydraulic lock in Peterborough. Nice parks have been created along the way with picnic areas and even some allowing camping by the river edge.
We get to visit Emily in her new home and give Jasper her cat a little hello as he prefers to keep his distance under Emily’s bed with newcomers.
It is time for a final walk around the farm, the trees have grown very much taller since our last visit and a few interesting mushrooms are tempting the squirrels to be included in the winter pantry.
Our walk is finished by a stunning fly over by a large flock of Canada geese honking their farewell.
We have an early start for our drive to Georgian Bay and a visit with our friend JoAnne. The day is crisp and interesting clouds outline some special local barns that we find quite unique in this area.
JoAnne has recently come back from her summer break in PEI to come home for further works being completed on the 150 year old house that is now home. It has brought her virtually next door to 4 grandsons and is in the perfect geography , the boys can pop in for a quick Grandma fix and cuddle and of course the odd ice cream chocolate sandwich!
There is lots to catch up on and after a nice Indian meal we tuck into the comfy bed for a snooze. It is interesting chatting about the various challenges of a major renovation in a small town through COVID, but JoAnne has created a beautiful home despite it all.
Next day is cold and drizzly we get to see many Mennonite horse and buggies heading into town for the Sunday service.
As we all believe there is no bad weather it’s just not wearing the right clothing for the weather, we head out to do some hikes.
The weather has clearly stopped some people, because even though it’s Sunday we hardly meet anyone on the trails. Leaves are sprinkling on our heads with the light rain. We are well equipped in our boots and rain gear, so we can fully enjoy this colourful nature pallet of yellows, oranges and reds.
We brave another walk on top of Old Baldy looking across Beaver valley. The colours are breathtaking.
It’s time for a good hot cup of tea and a delicious dinner of salmon and prawn fish cakes with salad.
Now we are on the very last leg visiting friends in Toronto and Vancouver. Just one more day and we start the flight back home.
We are missing Prue and Bonnie but get a good doggy fix with lots of cuddles and affectionate kisses from Zephyr . This will just have to last till we will get home.
