Monday morning at 10 am Theresa and I tumbled into our travelling van amid golf clubs, food for a supper, some wine and a whole lot of looking forward to We leave Doris in control of our garden and home. She will do well as she has plenty of experience. As we scoot along the 401 we realize that the real Ontario lies somewhere north of there so we grabbed the next exit and arrive in a new world.
Acres of rich green farmland framed by tall trees meet us at every turn. The old farmhouses and board barns bring you back to our roots. Our roots are in the soil and in the farming business at the family level. We see chickens scratching in the ground around the barns and houses as free as a bird if you excuse the pun. It is another world and I like it. We manage to get to a turnoff at highway 7 which has the name of Balderson cheese factory. One of our friends Joan got us interested in this cheese for its fine quality so we turned and drove the 7 kms.
We bought some for each of our friends and some for ourselves. It felt good to share. We managed to get partially lost on some back concession lines but with the help of a truck driver with a cargo of horses , arrived at Flat Rapids on the MADAWASKA RIVER . Pat and Doug have been friends for over forty years and it feels good to be together again. We hardly arrive when we are herded to a new boat my friend bought to accommodate his family. For two hours we are transfixed by the scenery with majestic pines and craggy rock formations bordering the spectacular river. Here we do not hear traffic or noise but only the sound of loons and song birds.
These visits are not not reunions but part of a continuum because we feel together even when we are apart. We stay up to midnight and never run out of topics to talk about but morning will come early and we do have a golf match to settle who will have bragging rights until the rematch in September.
The game of golf was secondary to the fun we had with the stories and lies told. There was a climatic ending with a chip from about 80 feet which settled the game but not the controversy as the loser tried to say I hit the wrong ball. It was fun.
Our next stop was Pembroke where Theresa realized she needed a new belt so we shopped at the local Wall mart called Giant Tiger. There I ran into my close friend June. Theresa caught us kissing but was not annoyed when she saw who it was. In the middle of the sale section in ladies wear we carried on a lively and animated talk for a long time. We found a belt and moved on to our next visit on Melton street. Here we ate goodies and drank cool drinks until supper which was excellent. Joan always sets a great table and her cooking style gave us true Valley cuisine. Baked salmon and all the trimmings led us to the next session of hand and foot.
This is a game of cards which challenges reason and makes women and men challenge the other to become champs at this game. This time we allowed the women to win because it was their turn. Actually we were defeated and graciously congratulated the winners.
Next day we moved on to Petawawa where we had a great visit with my sister. Several hours of laughter and sharing of stories was ended too soon but we had to return to the lady who held fort in our home. That was Doris and she is in her ninety second year. We have to rest up for next year.
Acres of rich green farmland framed by tall trees meet us at every turn. The old farmhouses and board barns bring you back to our roots. Our roots are in the soil and in the farming business at the family level. We see chickens scratching in the ground around the barns and houses as free as a bird if you excuse the pun. It is another world and I like it. We manage to get to a turnoff at highway 7 which has the name of Balderson cheese factory. One of our friends Joan got us interested in this cheese for its fine quality so we turned and drove the 7 kms.
We bought some for each of our friends and some for ourselves. It felt good to share. We managed to get partially lost on some back concession lines but with the help of a truck driver with a cargo of horses , arrived at Flat Rapids on the MADAWASKA RIVER . Pat and Doug have been friends for over forty years and it feels good to be together again. We hardly arrive when we are herded to a new boat my friend bought to accommodate his family. For two hours we are transfixed by the scenery with majestic pines and craggy rock formations bordering the spectacular river. Here we do not hear traffic or noise but only the sound of loons and song birds.
These visits are not not reunions but part of a continuum because we feel together even when we are apart. We stay up to midnight and never run out of topics to talk about but morning will come early and we do have a golf match to settle who will have bragging rights until the rematch in September.
The game of golf was secondary to the fun we had with the stories and lies told. There was a climatic ending with a chip from about 80 feet which settled the game but not the controversy as the loser tried to say I hit the wrong ball. It was fun.
Our next stop was Pembroke where Theresa realized she needed a new belt so we shopped at the local Wall mart called Giant Tiger. There I ran into my close friend June. Theresa caught us kissing but was not annoyed when she saw who it was. In the middle of the sale section in ladies wear we carried on a lively and animated talk for a long time. We found a belt and moved on to our next visit on Melton street. Here we ate goodies and drank cool drinks until supper which was excellent. Joan always sets a great table and her cooking style gave us true Valley cuisine. Baked salmon and all the trimmings led us to the next session of hand and foot.
This is a game of cards which challenges reason and makes women and men challenge the other to become champs at this game. This time we allowed the women to win because it was their turn. Actually we were defeated and graciously congratulated the winners.
Next day we moved on to Petawawa where we had a great visit with my sister. Several hours of laughter and sharing of stories was ended too soon but we had to return to the lady who held fort in our home. That was Doris and she is in her ninety second year. We have to rest up for next year.
Sounds like you had a great time!
ReplyDelete"Actually we were defeated and graciously congratulated the winners." -- glad you admitted that. Haha. I'm sure you'll beat the ladies next year. ;)