SUMMER MONTH #2, 2016

Road Trip- somewhere in Northern Ontario

Another month, another post. I know, long time no write. Lots to write about; but first, flashback to last summer.Taking a course, I spent every single day of the summer holidays glued to my the laptop or desk top computer, working away on a Kindergarten course with very little time to do anything else.

Fast forward to this summer, today is the first day the laptop has been on since my last post on July 12. This summer has been a completely different one. We have travelled to see friends and family, we have hosted friends and family, we have fished (and now I am hooked!) and swum in lakes, hiked on roads and trails, seen parts of North America for the first time, and made memories. And here are a few highlights

Week of July 10-16
We visited three of my husband's siblings at their homes in the area, replaced the transmission in the Jeep, and celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary with a fine Korean dinner prepared my my daughter and her boyfriend.

Week of July 17-23
We spent July 20 on the road to and from Cambridge to partake in a picnic honouring our grandson's fifth birthday. The setting was a beautiful park and the characters included Son #1, Grandson #1, Grand daughter #1, Husband #1, and a few friends. The story included a lovely picnic lunch and an afternoon of hunting for crayfish in the stream. We were up to our knees in water which ended up looking at the creatures through magnifying glasses.

This boy is now five years old! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

We also spent a delightful time at my friend Mary's, where we enjoyed catching up with her and her husband in northern Lanark County. My husband toured the land in a Kubota (which was air conditioned, while I enjoyed several hours with a good friend.

July 24th
July is a month of birthdays in our family and we celebrated our daughter's a couple of days early. Dinner included my husband's butter chicken, naan bread, Sri Lankan vegetables, and my grandmother's chocolate cake.

July 25th-26th
Up bright and early we drove from Maberly to the Best Northern Motel near Wawa, Ontario. It was a gorgeous twelve hour drive up highway 17. We landed in Wawa in time for dinner and a great night's sleep.

The next morning we shopped for our fishing trip (more about that later) visited with our friend Emily and her family and spent some time hanging out at Hawk Air.

Hawk Lake

July 27th-31st
Remote Fly-In Fishing at Mozambik Lake and Trout Lake in Northern Ontario was amazing! Three solid days of sunrise to sunset sunshine, clear blue sky, fantastic fishing, beautiful boating, and a little bit of swimming brought peace to my heart and calm to my spirit. I even caught one BIG one!

Sunrise!

My pike netted by my husband. 

July 30th
After returning to Hawk Air and saying fond farewells to Kelly and his nephews, we headed west toward North Dakota. We stayed overnight in Fort Francis at the Copper River Inn. This border town was within four hours of our destination in Grand Forks, where our daughter is moving for the next two years.

Sunflower field in Minnesota

July 31st
Crossing into the USA was interesting as we had all of our fishing gear, a cooler, our dog, and a packed truck. It must have sounded strange to say we lived in Maberly, but were coming from Wawa and heading to Grand Forks to help our daughter move into her new house. After several questions and consequent answers, we were allowed in to Minnesota. The farmland there was wonderful. At around 2 pm we pulled in to a motel in Grand Forks and met our daughter, who had travelled directly to Grand Forks from Ontario. We shared a meal, and enjoyed swapping stories from the previous week.A few fish tales were told, but we had picture evidence!

These two on a new adventure in ND

August 1st
Our daughter's house purchase closed on this day and we were able to help her move in a few things. The rest of the day was spent decided what work could be done on the house in preparation for the bigger move in a week later.

Chestnut Street

August 2-4 
Our original plan to drive to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and The Badlands was replaced with helping clean the kitchen, prepare walls for painting, and taking up old carpeting in the above house. We enjoyed helping out, as each day brought new problems to solve and more coffees to drink.
.

Tim's in Grand Forks ND-
 two medium with mild + two extra large ice coffees,
to go!

August 4-5
After saving approximately 20 hours of driving (to South Dakota), we headed12 hours east from Grand Forks and spend the night in Janesville, Wisconsin. Again beautiful farmland countryside. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed to Kalamzooo, Michigan. My Uncle and Aunt moved there nine years ago, and it was the perfect reason to stop in to see them. Because they are not on email of Facebook, the trip was planned through regular old fashioned mail service and telephone calls.It was so exciting to see them after so many years. We also visited with my cousin, his wife, and met his daughter for the first time. 

Me and my hubby and my uncle and aunt

My cousin and some of his family

August 6-13
After a great visit with extended family in Kalamazoo, we drove fourteen hours to Cambridge, ON for a visit with our son and his two darlings. Grandchildren are amazing. lovable, and engaging. We had a superb breakfast at a local diner, after which we continued our trek home! 

Upon arrival at home, we looked at the list of things we had not yet accomplished, and number one on mine was picking up my "bike" from the shop and going for a ride. After remembering the locations of the brakes, clutch and accelerator, I ventured out on the road for the four kilometre ride. The hills and curves on a sunny Sunday morning were exciting, and I made it home in one piece. I am still not totally comfortable on the bike, but the next few days will give me time to practise for next summer's anticipated and more frequent rides. 

My favourite mode of transport- besides swimming!

On Monday after our return home, my younger sister came by for a few days. After two successful battles with cancer and now in need of a hip replacement, my admiration for her courage and resilience grows each day. Her positive attitude in times of trouble is indeed an inspiration. Happily my brother from Ottawa was able to come for dinner and it was a great reunion. By the way, he is camera shy!

My little sister visits

Golds -100 Freestyle- Canadian teenager ties with American!

I was also inspired by the Olympics in Brazil this summer. A huge congratulations to all of Team Canada for your outstanding performances. Such determination and dedication is incredible. Congratulations!

Our friends' daughter- going in to grade 1! 

This past weekend we enjoyed the visit from former neighbours here on the lake. I believe it is about to become an annual tradition (similar to the fly-in fishing experience), where our sweet friends come to spend some well deserved time "back" on the lake. It is an honour to watch their young daughter growing up.

Moving forward, I am down to just four more days of holidays before heading back to the Middle East to continue my teaching. It is with mixed emotions that I write. I am thankful for a calm and restful summer holiday. I am excited to return to a steady job doing exactly what I love to do. However, I am sad that the best summer ever has almost ended, and that once again I will be away from my family for an extended period of time.

But, I have promises to keep, a contract to fulfil, and several health related goals to achieve.

Hoping to write more regularly during the 2016-17 school year, I am visualising a successful first semester and a return trip to Canada in time for Christmas holidays.

Until next time, wishing you well, and as always,

Bee Rich

PS Parting shot and thought...

When we are apart, it is good to remember this....
We all live under this same beautiful sky
with the same Sun shining down upon us.
  -Bee

Two Hundred (200!)

Finding the way around Bangalore...

I cannot believe that this is my 200th post on Blogger.  It is amazing how time flies by.
We are in Bangalore India, spending our final three days of the Dusshera holiday in our flat in Sahakar Nagar.  And yesterday was an adventure!

As our friend from Australia reminded us many times yesterday, "We are on holidays!"

We are on holidays!

So we took a cab downtown to a restaurant called Toit, pronounced To It.  It is a brewery/bar/restaurant and we whiled away many hours before finally moving on to find some shops on MG Road. 

The "boys" enjoyed several cups of holiday cheer, while I tried a sip of each of the little glasses.  It was a day for adventure.  After eating a lovely English style lunch we headed out to find the meat shop and some souvenir shops.  It was a fun time as we discovered to Metro, Bangalore's six stop light rail system, several Kashmiri shops, the meat shop and finally another English style pub.

The testers!

Needless to say, I ate too much, drank too much and spent too much, but after all, the season of celebration is upon us. 

Wherever you are, I hope you are safe, well and content.

Until next time,


Bee Rich

Weekend and Summer Holidays

     As a teacher, I often found that summer holidays were very much like weekends.  June was like Friday- as the school year (week) wound down, there was great anticipation for the summer holidays (weekend ahead) with plenty of plans for rest, relaxation, socializing, catching up on reading and projects.  Then came July, which was much like Saturday-as the month unfolded the beginning of relaxing and putting off some of the plans which were made in June.  But August, like Sunday, suddenly arrived and some anxiety about September (just like Monday mornings), would sit in the pit of the stomach.
     Now, at the end of August, many teachers are into planning mode. My neighbour, who is going back to school after a maternity leave, is busy in the garden, "putting off" the planning for a brand new school year. Yes, fellow teachers, this is good advice. Use your days off for days off. Pack everything into your school days so that you can truly enjoy your holidays and weekends. Spend time with your family and make memories. Take it from me, time goes by too quickly to waste!
     This message has popped up on my Facebook page many times in the past few weeks.  I wish I had seen it years ago.  It rings true for me and I hope it is helpful advice for you:

Happy days are ahead!  Keep smiling. 

Bee Rich