"Rural idyll" - or - "Don't they know it's nearly Thanksgiving?" - or - "The Best Picture this year".......

OK, OK,   So I'd better explain.

Thursday, 28th September.  I decided to cut some of the meadow; the bit that has rather "rushy" grasses.  And Ali decided that it was worthy of a photograph - mind you, no naked torsos, nor rippling biceps in sight.  It's Fall, dammit!

But it is rather lovely - albeit exhausting - to be using a scythe, a grass rake (N.B. must make a "proper" one next year) and a pitch-fork to do the work!  I KNOW it's playing at it, but it's a game that I like!



Thursday, 29th September.

LATE breakfast :-(  Mind you, French toast and blueberries with Jack Daniels' maple syrup is a great way to start the day - at whatever hour!...


Various chores / projects today.  We discovered that you can take both the windows and the fly screens out of the screen room today.  So we started cleaning the windows. 

And promptly got side-tracked by putting all the tools away in the basement (me) and "checking" (filling the cracks in the logs - see three years ago!)  the inside settee wall (Ali) - and then glazing the bathroom wall and beams (me).

And cutting the lawns (me!).

So then it was time to go fishing - what else?

On the way down I met Yves in what has to be the happiest situation of the year - driving his "pepin" - his back-hoe.  He has had such a year of angst over his operation - and now, look!




The fishing was lovely - mirror smooth, "Indian (paddle) stroke", stalking the fish in places where I had been successful before; using baits I had used before....  Two fell to the lures (the pseudo-frog, the mouse), I missed several.


Bass like to lie in "obstacles" - like this fallen birch.  Casting under this tree I missed a good fish, I think.  At least, it felt like a good fish.

So, one for Karen's breakfast, one returned.  About three missed.  A lovely evening.

I shall really miss the silence and the craftiness.



 And then Ali came rushing down to meet me, worried that I had been so long.  And excited that she, too, had had her "moment of the year" (mine was Yves in his tractor!).  No less than seven turkeys had come to the ground beneath the bird feeder.  All in good colour.

 

As I said - "Don't they know it's Thankskgiving" in ten days' time?

And, talking of colour....

It's on the way!

Bringing it all together

Monday, 27th September.

Determined attack on the cedar-canvas today.  Brass stem bands on.  Irritating trip to the garage to collect the quad.  I had left it, before we went "jaunting", with the specific mention that the brakes faded after a trip.  The bill detailed fluid added, brakes checked - "OK".  They faded as I got home.  I rang the garage and then went to Gilles and Claude (they were together trying to fix a disc cutter).  I had been told that that all Polaris brakes are soft.  The brothers said that the degree of softness ( you could pull the brake lever all the way to the handle-bar to no effect) was silly,  The brakes hadn't been bled.  They needed bleeding.

Gilles kindly checked the reservoir for me - half full !!!  He topped it up and I was to go back to the garage the next day.

The evening was rainy so Burlesque waited in the screen room.


Tuesday, 28th September.



Changed over the screen windows.  We have removable / replaceable windows for the kitchen doors.  Nifty!  But the weather is chilly now so it's fare-well screens for this year.

Collected the little canoe - kayak from the waterside.  The thwart needs some work.


Went to the garage; It seems that "they all do that" relates to the softness of the Polaris brake grip.  I remonstrated that the grip came all the way back to the handle-bar.  I think I was fobbed off.  My French isn't up to this...



I got home and the brake lever was inactive again.  ****.  The foot brake for the rear wheels works. 

The sun shone and I needed cheering up.  Burlesque left the screen-room and we made our way down to Yves' for a very sotto voce launch.  No harm in that.  These are (two of the five) boats that we built or re-built.







Lovely experience - what a Canadian Canoe is all about.....

Yves has pulled his pontoon boat up for the winter; the access is muddy.  I had to wash my feet!










So, after all the excitement, Burlesque is now in the basement; I went and collected MarRon from the waterside and then went fishing in the Green Monster.  Nothing doing.

Home and the heating on - quilt on tonight I think.

Baby minding .......

Friday, 23rd September.  

Julie headed off for a much- delayed reunion with friends from Uni at lunch-time so, after the school dash in the morning:







we had two of them to look after for the day!

;-)



But the day passed, sure enough, and the kids ate a great supper of Granddad's crispy chicken! 

Saturday, 24th September.

Could we, perhaps, come with Guy and the kids just past Hamilton so that he could go skating with some friends?  Of course, it's why we're here......

Just past Hamilton!?  Almost to the US border at the Erie canal, no distance from Niagara Falls!  But a really lovely day in the Fall sunshine with gentle people and only the faintest whiff of Skunk somewhere in the background.....

A Long way home; the kids as good a gold.

 

Sunday, 25th September.





Thank you , Lila, for the hugs.  Sad to say bye-bye; see you before too long.



We had a lovely stay - and BIG thanks to G & J for giving up their bed.  "Over and Above" I call that!

Happy Families:

On the trail of the Langford Canoe company

Wednesday, 21st September.

Again, no choice at breakfast, but a very tasty platter of French toast ("eggy bread") and fruit, with plenty of good coffee.  A long, rambling chat with our hosts and were were away by 11.30.




We were on the trail of the Langford Canoe company and my previous, distant efforts had suggested that we contact Jack Hurley, canoe-builder.





So we made our way to his address, to find his very pleasant and chatty co-worker, Brian Cook (another high-flying graduate, a molecular biologist this time, who had decided that the stresses and strains of  USA laboratory were no match, despite the high salary, for the tranquillity of  Muskoga and the delight of sanding and staining a piece of cedar.  So he'd come home, to build, repair and maintain canoes.

Brian was a delight to talk to and it was so good to chat with someone who understood - but was also expert in - all the difficulties and stages that I had faced.

Jack was away in Stratford for the Shakespeare.  Another time.....

But Brian suggested that we might have luck in Dorset, East around the lake.







The first lead drew a blank, so we turned in to the settlement and there was the Dorset Heritage Museum.

The lovely folk on duty there could not have been more helpful, pouring out names of folks who had been associated with the company in the past.  Of course, I was reluctant to contact any of these good folks "unannounced" as it might be but they were insistent that I at least stopped by the general store - almost in sight down the road we were going to take anyway - to speak to Ruth.

So we did; and there she was, right at the check-out in this busy "sells all" store.  She was a lovely, welcoming lady, the daughter of Langford himself, whom I shall contact in due course.  She told us where the old factory had been - in fact, it had had at least four workshops down the years - and this dock may just be alongside that place.  But it's at least in the right area.


And then it was a long drive down the 400 to Toronto - right down to Jane Street and to Guy and Julie.







A warm evening, doors open to the soft evening light. Hmmm :-)















Thursday, 22nd September.






We're supposed to look after James for part of today.  He has two, working parents after all!  Don't need asking twice - this is Roncesvalles!  We went for a looooong walk! - and lunch; and a beer with Guy :-)

Rest - and not rest!

Monday, 19th September,

Very quiet.  Correspondence catch-up; Ali cut Ann's back lawn; I cleaned the swimming pool; we had a very jolly supper in the screen room.  Bed.

Tuesday, 20th September.

We left Ann's house rather later than we hoped, and then reprised our route through PEC, picking up bottles on the way. We started with Cider from Bergeron, just off the County.  Not good cider but about the only one we found readily for sale.  Then we crossed the ferry again and turned up to the "Lake on the Mountain".  This is just extraordinary.  Google Earth put the ferry ramp at 76m above sea level.  The lake - 0.14km away - is at 127m.  And there was no lack of water in the lake, despite such a hot and dry summer!

From the web-site:


" Lake on the Mountain is located nearly 62 metres above the Bay of Quinte.  This unusual lake has a constant flow of clean, fresh water and defies all known geographical and geological theory.
Stories of volcanoes, meteorites and massive glacial whirlpools abound and the most generally accepted theory holds that it is a collapsed doline, an odd feature found in areas with limestone rock foundations.
Lake on the Mountain has no visible water source.  The lake’s outlet stream flows northward through a shallow bedrock channel, eventually tumbling over the Prince Edward Escarpment to the Bay of Quinte below.  No gas powered motor boats are allowed on the lake.
The mystery of the lake has played a prominent role in the cultural history of the land.  The Mohawks called it Onokenoga, or Lake of the Gods, and believed that spirits dwelled within its deep waters.  Each spring they offered gifts to the spirits to ensure a successful crop in the coming year. "

This is the ferry from the car park at Lake of the Mountain;












And this is the car park from the lake!  You can just see Lake Ontario in the background.

A light and pleasant lunch here in hot sun and then we pretty much re-traced our route through the County, picking up favourites as we went.










The only one missing here is a jug of Apple cider (juice; "our" cider is "Hard Cider" here) since much of it got drunk then or later!








And then a very long drive indeed from Trenton to Grassmere, up above Huntsville, near Algonquin.  Late arriving at the B and B, a stylish room.  Bought in supper and quiet.

About 7 - 8 hours driving today I think!

.... and back to the beginning.

Saturday, 17th September.


We meandered gently down from the heights of Hillier to the flat of Carrying Place - and then turned west to the crossing of the canal.


A long slog back from there - fairly flat but a rough road and it began to rain.





 But we had coats and the road had levelled out so  on we went, along the deliciously named Power Line road ( guess what?!) and eventually, via a same-old, same-old Subway, to Trenton and our hotel for the night.


And just as we walked in, we met up with a gentleman carrying a paddle board! 
"Have you come up from the river?  From lock 1?" 
"Well, from lock 2, but that's close enough". 
"And where have you come from?"
"From Georgian Bay, eight days."


The whole of the Trent Severn in eight days, on a stand-up paddle board, self-supported.

We met up for  drinks in the bar and supper and chatted long and happily with Ken Bravo.  We hope to meet him again another time.


Sunday, 18th September.

A gentle day, with a carbohydrate-rich breakfast and a heart-stopping climb up to the Highway of Heroes before the lovely, long descent to the National Air Force Museum of Canada.

I found this a very moving visit; they have a fully restored Halifax Bomber dominating the hall - used by SOE for "moonlighting" and finally crashed in a lake in Norway after a mission supplying resistance fighters there.  It's very big, and it's very like a Lancaster.  And I have never stood up close to a Lancaster.  And I was overwhelmed.

It was a great visit, enlivened by our guide.  Canadians are unashamedly proud of their military history; so often peace-keepers; so valiant in war.






And then, via another bar-meal in Cheer'z, back across the river to Lock 1 of the Trent Severn; our junction point for the next part of our long journey from 107 to Toronto!



Our renter duly came to collect us and we made the surprisingly long journey back to Kingston, where the lovely and indefatigable Ann came down to collect us - again!



Not before we had sat, reminiscing, at a pic-nic table under street lamps in the soft, September air.  A good trip; lots of very happy memories - like lying down at night!


For the record:

Distances covered:

Rowing Club to Ahoy            - 3.7 km

Ahoy to Bath                         - 30 km

Bath – Picton                         - 37.2 km

Picton to Hiller                      - 33 km

Tasting route                          - 28.6 km

Hillier to Trenton                   - 37.6 km

Trenton Ramada to Lock 1    - 12 km

Total                                                    212.1 km

Follow the nose!

Friday, 16th September.

This spacious, spotless but rather impersonal B and B is to be home for two nights.

The first, we were lights out by 10 00 and slept until about 08.15!.  Our host made us a really tasty omelette for breakfast, no choice asked or offered but well cooked.  We spent some time with Ali planning us a circle route for the day and then we set off.  And travelled about 400 meters before our first winery.  You, dear Reader, do not want repeated descriptions of my half-baked tasting notes.  But this was probably our most pleasant taste and spit of the day.  We had a long way to go!

They had a sparkling wine in particular that had almost no  bubbles in the glass but was like sherbet on the tongue; delicious!


So, for the rest of the day, we meandered along gentle, quiet, sunny lanes, rich with flowers but devoid of birdsong, stopping at perhaps six vineyards to taste. A very French experience.



 Two of the grander ones were either busy and unwelcoming, or just un-noticing.




We tasted some very drinkable wines and some very ordinary wines.  We shall try to go back to 're-taste and buy three, perhaps four, from two vineyards.  And not the grandest ones!

These are some VERY grand vines - Jancis Robinson says so ;-)













Our legs are definitely stronger, and our 'seats' are responding to treatment!  Back before nightfall to this view from our bedroom window.  Not the prettiest, but I didn't have the Kindle with me today.

The kindness of strangers.

Wednesday, 15th  September.

A good, long night's sleep, although the main (only) road through Bath starts up at about 06.00.  Cathy made us a very tasty and elegant breakfast and then we went out to the bikes to get started; to find that my back tyre was flat.  Although it pumped up and seemed to be holding pressure, I decided that I should try to fix any puncture.  Which is when I discovered that a) the spanner (wrench) provided by the rental company was too big for the hub-nut and b) that I had a broken spoke anyway.  Which was perhaps associated with the slight eccentricity of the wheel.

Cathy rang her husband, Dave, to ask where any other wrench might be and he sent one of his staff, Ryan, down with a tool kit.

But Ryan was much more than a wrench provider.  What a fascinating young man.  Degree in Biology, big debt after college, thought about medicine but was head-hunted by a large company providing those guided audio tours around places of interest.  But, after a fairly dazzling, jet-setting time with them, the company closed that arm of its business and he took time to take stock along with his wife.

She's a  psychologist working at the local  penitentiary for the severely mentally disturbed, the 'worst of the worst' in society's eyes.   So, with two small children, they moved to Bath a couple of years ago where he has been restoring a 200 year old farm house, and working for Dave.

Ryan eventually drove me and the wheel half-way back to Kingston, to a bike store where we bought a spoke and a new inner tube, then back to Bath where he fitted both (I found that I had no tyre levers at this point!) .  At last, and with grateful hearts, we started off, about 2 hours later than we had planned but safe.

More of the same, more of the same; gentle countryside and aches!  But beautiful, blue cornflowers in the way side; generally wide, paved bike lanes; courteous drivers, even the lorries, giving us a wide berth.

We stopped for a late lunch to the east of the ferry to the County.  Bergeron vineyard.  Nice pizza, poor wines - even to my parched taste.  A reasonable, very dry cider but for one year only, the result of a neighbour grubbing out an orchard.

We made the 15.45 free ferry and then the slog of the last five or so kilometres.  Prince Edward County!



The hotel, unstaffed, in Picton Main Street, was blessedly made accessible by a workman leaving who helped us to solve the safe box code!

A long rest, an almost equally long shower, then to Portobella for a very happy supper.  You can tell a good restaurant if there's a queue at the door, and if the maitre d' still has everyone seated in under ten minutes.  And such busy, cheerful, attentive service.  As well as great food.  And a good white, PEC wine.

Home to bed, perchance to dream...

Thursday, 15th September.  Coffee and Ann's banana bread for breakfast, the Archers trial on the radio.  That HAS to be up for an award.

Out of Picton, pausing at a drug store to buy padding for our shorts.  Seriously. :_(

Then on to the Millennium Trail.  Which is a trail, with surface stones of 2 to 5 cm in size.  And which severely tested the new padding.  Until Ali noticed that I had a flat, back tyre - again.  Nothing for it but to push whilst she rode ahead to the bike-shop / hippy hang-out at Bloomfield http://www.bloomfieldbicycle.ca

Really kind, knowledgeable people who not only fixed my tyre (a staple this time) but also re-trued the wheel, filed downtown the spokes protruding in to the rim, gave us witty stickers for our bikes at home and sold us lycra under-shorts.  MUCH better!







On to the Drake Devonshire hotel for a late lunch / early supper.  Very smart, very welcoming, right by the edge of the lake.  A rather weird gin and cucumber cocktail (which is fine) but supposedly with tonic and juniper berries.  I have never tasted sweet, non-resinous juniper berries before!

The food had light and delicate flavours, Walleye for me, seafood stew for Ali.  Traynor Family Sauvignon Blanc 2014, very full of green fruits, lots of gooseberry both to smell and to taste.  Lovely.

Then the last 6km or so to our B & B for the next two nights.


Tired at the end but a quiet place, albeit a bit impersonal.  No food here or close so we shall shower soon and see whether they have a hot chocolate.....

Our hosts have a daughter and grandchildren in Chepstow.  Small world.

Bath, the other one....

Monday, 12th September.  Lovely, leisurely breakfast at Ann's and then in to Kingston, to Ahoy Rentals, to talk about bikes, to try our Canadian Tire panniers (they fit) and to have a little practice ride up to the Rowing Club where we put the canoe in last year to finish the Rideau trip.  Seems like yesterday and forever ago.

Back to Ann for a lovely butter chicken and dahl and a fairly long night's sleep.

Tuesday, 13th September.  To the rental by 10.00.  The manager couldn't have been more helpful.  In the end he drove to the bike shop to get us a pump, just in case.

And then we began.




There's a pretty pathway, mostly beside the river, that leads you out of Kingston.  But it is much interfered with by construction work and eventually brings you on to ..... the Bath Road!  To an accustomed cyclist, this road would count as flat.  The guide speaks of 'nothing that would count as a hills.  We have 21 gears each on the bikes; for stretches of this trip we were in 1st - the lowest.  Our only excuse, a tearing headwind and very heavy bags; the most likely reason - simply lack of fitness :-( 

At one point we just gave up and fell asleep on the grass verge. 


Sore pin-bones and general weariness have brought us to a very pretty, old house in 'the other' Bath.

It's only 17.35 as I write but we're both nodding in the comfy arm-chairs; blissfully showered and - sort of - thinking about supper.

Maybe a bit more writing later...

Well, some additional photos anyway!

On the Road again!

Saturday, 10th September.

Another rainy day.  Still, quite a lot to do to get ready for our trip.  All was going well, including putting a dish of pommes dauphinoise in the oven.  Weather forecasts on line suggested tornadoes for Ottawa and, to be fair, there were odd rumblings of thunder -and then the lights went out; and stayed out!

So we cooked over Trangia, one course at a time, one serving at a time, by torchlight.



It was probably the best tasting fish we have ever eaten. Seriously.

At about 10.30 the power came back on.  So we had a lot to do in a short time!







Sunday, 11th September.  Up at 06.45 for the trip to St Sauveur and Morin Heights to lead worship. Lovely people, lovely reception.  We shall miss them all.

Down to Aylmer for a quick chat and cuppa.  Then on to the 416 to Kingston to stay with Ann for a couple of nights, before the not-so-big trip!  Very windy all day, less so down here.

Great supper, lovely welcome.  Thanks, Ann.

Rain - and other stuff!

Thursday, 8th September.

Torrential rain - nearly all day!

Bits and bobs, this and that...

Spent much of the day finishing off the Photo-book of Summer 2015 and bringing up to date the Summer 2016 one so that we don't have to wait so long next time...  And I even made progress on the Burlesque blog.

It was that rainy!

Went out to la Gare for supper with Lorne - Audrey was not well.  A lovely evening.  They're off back to Ecuador soon.  We shall miss them.

Friday, 9th September.

Much nicer day.  Tree-creeper on the large birch at the front of the house.

Finally took the plunge and fastened the keel on to the cedar canvas.  Messy job, sealer is very sticky indeed.  Almost there.




















One of our chipmunks summoned up the courage to take a few peanuts from me.  This is the best photo of the transaction I'm afraid....













Cut the lawns in the afternoon  - this is a BIG job, particularly since we have an electric, cabled mower better suited to a pocket-handkerchief-sized domestic lawn!  However.

Ali's grass is growing!









I found this fungus in the grass - not sure what it is; the mushroom-guide I have pretty clearly puts it in "Puff-balls and friends" but beyond that......

And, as a treat, I went fishing in the evening.  2:1 to the fish; but the 1 was a goodly-sized Bass (again!) that fell rather spectacularly to - an artificial MOUSE, fished on a fly line.


A friend asked whether this Bass fishing was hard, or (he's a non-angler so there wasn't any barb (!) in his question) was it rather like jigging for mackerel?

Well, the Bass are aggressive and keen attackers of the bait.  But you have to find them; so it's rather more like stalking than Mackerel fishing is.  And they have hard mouths so the strike is a bit elusive....  At least to me, it is!

And they fight!

Sermon in the evening, ready for Sunday!

Back home....

Tuesday, 6th September.  Another very early start.  The mist over Lake Champlain was fascinating; when I first woke - before sunrise - it was clear but then it gradually misted up.  At one point the windows completely covered in the space of about 5 minutes.  Very strange.

I bundled in to shirt, over-shirt and lumber-shirt and paddled off in to the fog.

I don't think anything touched my lure; I fairly quickly stopped, came in and drove over to the store to buy coffee and croissants - and donuts.  When in Rome.....

And then time to leave this little idyll of a place and pass gently through the Canadian Customs barrier and smoothly, with relatively little traffic, up to St Jerome to buy panniers for the bikes for next week and to St Jovite for the car wash!

As we thought we might, we met up with Karen and Denis - who have been using the cottage while we were away - in the village and so we all stopped for lunch at Giselle's.  Thanks for the lunch, Denis!


The cottage was, as you might expect, immaculate; thanks Karen!

I went fishing again; missed a large Bass, caught a less-large Bass.  Absolutely tired out; I eventually woke from the settee to go to bed at about 10.30; and woke again to find myself ON the bed, not in it, and Ali still downstairs at 04.00.

As you can imagine, Wednesday, 7th September.  Late up!

A determined attack on Burlesque.  There is a cracked rib that I hadn't spotted and it is adjacent to a slump in the keel line :-(  It is far too late to do other than add a patch in due course to support the crack but I have had to  work out a scheme to restore the keel line - which was not evident in earlier photos :-(

The expanding use of long clamps and the encircling use of  luggage straps to push up the "hogging" and hold down the keel ready for screws respectively - and off we go!

Ali came and helped me to turn the straight-jacketed boat over and I put the screws in dry.

I then spent a happy few hours bending - thank heavens for all that wire-bending in another life - the brass strips and then drilling and countersinking them!

And we should be ready to go tomorrow!



Bass for supper - with sweet-corn and asparagus tips - and then Ali felt that she'd better water the nascent lawn!

It continues to be hot and pretty dry here; 27 degrees today with a high humidity making it feel more.

But it's 9 minutes past 8 pm and it's dark.

Fall's on its way for sure - the crickets are peeping incessantly; a certain sign apparently.