Sep 26-28 - catching up

How else could I title this blog ? It's been a long time since I have done a three-day blog ! There is a lot to report and some big news !

We got away around 6am on Friday, as planned. It was easy driving until we turned west on I26 and we hit the rain. For the next 4 hours we drove through the rain, never really heavy but messy nonetheless. Just before we got to Linda's the rain stopped but restarted once we were there. It was 5:30 at that point, a long tiring drive due to the rain. Abby was happy to get out of the car, no doubt recognizing the area since this was her third visit and delighting in being able to run free.

On the way up their driveway we disturbed a flock of wild turkeys and then saw them again the next day on the way down. I counted 23 but might have missed a couple.

The plan had been to go to the Blue Grass festival that evening but Linda easily talked us into staying home. An excellent dinner of barbecued salmon and stuffed squash; a glass of two of wine, starting with some champagne; good company -- Linda, Alec and their friend Ray ... a wonderful evening. At 9pm Alec, Ray and I went downstairs to see the presidential debate but as usual I started to doze, woke up and found that Ray had gone to bed and Alec was also staring at the inside of his eyelids. I headed to bed.

Since Ray had the downstairs "apartment", Sandy and I got the barn. This isn't just any old barn though, being a full apartment that Linda and Alec lived in during the construction. Up north we would call it a "bunkie" but in this case it's fully equipped with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, TV ... the terms "bunkie" or "barn" don't do it justice. The only thing that it's missing from the main house is Linda's cooking and the view since it is just down from the top of the hill.

We were up, had coffee and breakfast by a little after 8am, going up to the house for some more coffee with Linda, Alec and Ray then saying goodbye and thanks. A little after 9am we were on the road again.

It was another rainy drive with light to heavy drizzle all the way up I81 until Harrisburg and then about 1/2 hour of the longest torrential downpour through which I've ever driven. Many cars pulled off; I just plodded along at slow speed and eventually we drove out of it or it eased up, not sure which. When we got to Philly we sent straight to the Performance Bike store in Paoli so that I could return something, then to our hotel to check in, then to Jeffrey's, getting there around 3:30. I'd like to say that we visited with Jeffrey and Sara but really we all played with Emma since she dominates everyone's attention when she's up. Shortly after 5pm we headed over to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. I'll post some pictures later.

The big news is that Emma is going to have a sibling ... Jeffrey and Sara are going to have another baby ... we are going to have another grandchild ! Not due until sometime in May this is obviously early days. We are delighted but I have to admit we didn't see this one coming -- not quite yet -- but the timing is probably good at around 20 months apart. Emma is walking/running everywhere ... hopefully she'll be early out of diapers to ease the burden !

Jeffrey and Sara have also started thinking about houses since they are very cramped in their current rental townhouse. Of course crowded is a relative term since there are many places in this world where multiple families would live in that much space ... as a former boss used to say "if life were fair we'd all be in mud huts". They know that they'll have to live further out of the city to be able to afford anything and are currently looking in the Coatesville area which is about a 15 minute additional commute. They have many challenges ahead of them -- should I say "oh to be young again" ? ... nope ... only the young have that much energy !

Onward -- we headed back to our hotel after dinner, tired from our day even though it was "only" a six hour drive from Lexington to Exton. Up at 5am the next morning I headed to Mass at the church in downtown Downingtown which conveniently has a 6am service. It's a large church and the 6am service is well attended. The priest must know that the 6am'ers are not looking for a long service because we were out of there shortly after 6:30. 15 minutes later I was picking up Sandy and by 7am we were on the road again.

There was more rain on the drive to the Toronto area with a few dry interludes and then sunny skies once north of Buffalo. With a huge amount of stuff in the car I was not sure how we'd fare at the border but having declared the dehumidifier, pots and pans, bike parts then the guns -- the guard wrote on the yellow slip for the secondary check -- "stuff for cottage" and then the info about the guns.

I carried the guns inside along with my pre-completed CAFC forms all nicely typed into their PDF's and the guy inside was impressed. He said that I obviously knew what I was doing and there was no need to verify serial numbers ... he completed his part of the paperwork ... I paid my $25 and we hit the road again.

The car beside us looked empty at the secondary check but the guards were pulling it apart, going under the back seat, removing the bottom of the trunk -- obviously they either came across as suspicious or had lied at the primary check. The guards were having a field day with their car. Our car was full to the ceiling and then some with stuff on the roof and they did not even look in our car. We cross the border too many times to try and bring stuff across with declaring it -- I always verbally declare the big items, they sometimes ask about total value (not this time), and usually just wave us on. I don't bother with the small items, for example the tarp and the three jars of soup stock unless that is all we have with us. The only time that I remember paying anything at the border was last fall when we brought across a water filter for the cottage and the stereo for Gavin -- I guess that they were on a kick for collecting GST at the time because the Canadian dollar was so high. Yesterday the secondary checkpoint was packed with cars; we had to park in a crosswalk because all the parking spots were taken -- but they did not care about anything but the guns.

The questions about the guns at the primary check were funny -- he had a sense of humour -- q - purpose? -- a - hunting -- q - not self protection against the Canadians ? -- a - nope !

We spent a total of 40 minutes at the border, half of that in queue for the primary check and the rest at the secondary. We got to Stef's a little after 3pm and went straight to the grocery store to stock up, knowing that Stef & Aaron were out for a short while. Back at Stef's we unloaded their stuff and then we all headed over to see the new house.

The house is great with a finished basement and lots of storage space. There are three bedrooms upstairs and a bedroom in the basement. Rooms are not huge because space costs a lot in Toronto, but it is well laid out with space where you need it. The two-car garage is detached in the carriage house style, which also means that they have a long driveway -- could probably park 7 or 8 cars although getting the first car out would be a pain! I did not see the inside of the garage because it was locked and the current owners had not left a garage door opener. They have a small backyard with some grass to cut and a good sized patio with a reasonable amount of privacy. There is enough room for Mya but they'll have to put a fence across the driveway to completely enclose the backyard.

We left there around 5:30 and headed north. Southbound traffic was busy but not slow; northbound was less so ... but this was not the deserted drive that we would see in January ! We stopped in Parry Sound at Swiss Chalet so that Sandy could get her chicken fix, arriving at the cottage shortly after 9pm. The back door and kitchen lights were on thanks to Mike Davies who knew that we were due. That was a welcome surprise. Mike and his friend were just about to leave and came over for a minute to say hello.

It was 67F in the house so we did not even bother putting on a fire (but there's one on now). It took a while to unload the car but the dog kennel and now-empty bike box are still on the roof. I'll take care of those items later today. I moved the dehumidifier into the garage with the hand-truck and I'll wheel that down to the basement door once it's light outside and get started on installation. No point in letting any grass grow under that !

It's 48F outside now and supposed to get up to 60+F today. Later on this week the temperature drops to freezing overnight with temperatures in the 40's during the day. Welcome to the north ! Good bye Florida ! I'll try and get out for a bike ride tomorrow since we will be travelling down to Hemingford and Lake George starting on Wednesday. I suspect that I won't run out of fingers counting the outside bike rides that I'll do between now and mid-November and our return to Florida.

That's it ... time for breakfast for me and Abby !