A Drive in the Rain

Today hubby and I decided we'd go for a drive to Port Dover, get a burger and enjoy getting away from the house. Just as we were about to leave, it started to sprinkle rain. We decided to go anyway. This summer has been so wet that if you stayed home because of the rain, you'd never go anywhere. We headed out, went and got our burger and then drove further down Lake Erie.

Along the way, we saw these. They are tobacco kilns. They used to be plentiful in the area. Tobacco farming was the way to make money. Not anymore. These are testimony to days gone by.

I had hubby turn off the main road onto a country road. It was narrow, gravel and in many places the trees made a canopy over the road. It was pouring and the above photo was taken from inside the van.

The pouring rain didn't stop the produce farmers. We saw workers picking cucumbers and this man with a load of them taking them to a truck in a different field.

We ended up at Turkey Point, a small village where there are many cottages. At this time of year the crowds are usually huge. Not so today. The only crowd we saw was this crowd of seagulls.

The beach was deserted. If you notice in the right of this picture, there is a boat coming in off the lake, which was very wise. Lake Erie can be really nasty during a storm.

Then we happened across an old pioneer cemetery. I had hubby pull in beside the church. I love exploring cemeteries and this one looked interesting. I wasn't going to let a little rain stop me. People probably thought I was crazy walking through this cemetery taking pictures in the rain.

The tombstones are in disrepair and in need of a good cleaning.

These three are all from one family. The far one had extremely beautiful engravings.

Jane Douglass, wife of Levi. She died in 1846, at the age of 26 years. It made me pause and wonder why she died so young. Her daughter, Mary, is also buried here. Did she die in childbirth?

This tombstone stood out because it seemed to be all by itself. Were other plots reserved for relatives that didn't use them?

Beautiful old tombstones and behind them, newer ones. A great representation of the old and the new.

This is a beautiful spot. The engraving on the tombstone was so worn that I couldn't tell what it said. I found it most interesting that it is enclosed by a wrought iron fence and the tree is just outside the fence. Was the tree planted as a memorial?

When we left the cemetery, we drove into Simcoe to get some gas. We drove around the ponds in the center of town. In the lower portion of the photo, toward the left, is a Canada goose. This area has always had many geese, ducks and swans. When Michelle was little, I used to take her here to feed the waterfowl. Then they banned feeding.

We struck out for home and stopped at this farmer's market. We bought sweet corn, tomatoes and plums. When we got home, we weren't hungry, but later on I cooked some corn and we had tomato, cheese and cucumber sandwiches.

Even though it rained, we enjoyed getting away and doing things that we haven't done for a long time. It must be ten years or more since we've been to Turkey Point and hubby had a good laugh about me wandering around the cemetery in the rain with my camera and red and white Canada umbrella.

Fishing Fun

Last night I checked the weather for the area. It was predicted to be 73F with overcast skies. The prediction was correct. This morning it was cool, but it was a beautiful day...more like spring in this area. Just how I like it.

The boys and I had planned on going fishing this morning, but hubby decided he was going to come along. We ended up leaving about noon and heading out of town to a picturesque area where there are a lot of ponds.

We arrived and got out of the van. The scene above is what greeted us. A beautiful area.

If you look closely, you can see a pond on the other side of the path, but we took the fork to the left.

This is what we saw as we rounded a bend. Beautiful! Lots of trees, clear, clean water and a cool breeze made it about as perfect as it can get.

A different view across the pond. This village was founded years ago and many of the original buildings still stand.

There are flowers and trees. The area is well kept. I saw no litter or dirt of any kind to indicate humans had been present here.

This is where I parked my lawn chair to fish. I got a couple of bites and so did Brandon. He was fishing off a little footbridge with Jordan and Grandpa.

Jordan caught a fish...a sucker. It was a little more than a foot (30 centimeters) long and put up a bit of a fight. Though he loves to fish, he doesn't like to handle them. Grandpa took care of the dirty work for him.

A view of the main street of the village, looking across the pond. This is a lovely spot.

A grey squirrel found a plastic cup and was trying to get the last of whatever had been in it.

At one point he had it over his head, but I missed that shot. By the time I took this one, he was aware I was standing quite close. The boys thought he was pretty funny.

After a couple of hours, it clouded over and started to sprinkle rain, so we headed back to the van.

This is such a pleasant area. It's nice to just sit and relax with all this beauty around you.

Grandpa and Jordan heading back to the van. For a few minutes we thought we would get wet, but by the time we were on the road, the rain had moved on.

We saw this bank of clouds over a farmer's fields as we headed home. It was very pretty.

Though we didn't stay as long as we would have liked and Jordan was the only one that caught anything, it was a pleasant afternoon enjoying the great outdoors. We will be revisiting this area soon. Maybe if we go early in the morning, the fish will be biting a little better than they were today.

Birthday Fun for the Little Guys

My readers will know that my niece, Melissa, has two boys, Griffyn and Tarryn. Griffyn turned two at the end of July and Tarryn just turned one. She decided that for this year she would have a joint birthday party.


She invited her friend, Kathy, and her four-month old son, Liam. He felt right at home in Griffyn's swing.
Here is Kathy and Liam. They enjoyed attending the party. Melissa and Kathy don't get together too often.

The boys got some presents. My mother made them some clothes, Griffyn got a Thomas the Tank Engine dvd from Dwight and I and Tarryn got a book. They got other clothes and toys as well and their parents bought them a playground set for the backyard.

Here is Brandon, Griffyn and Dwight by the playground. Not sure what they were discussing, but Brandon looks surprised.

Michelle, Brandon, Barry and Jordan. This is their family and they were all sitting together at the time, so thought I'd get a picture.

Griffyn, saying, "Hang on Tarryn, here we go. It's going to be fun."

Tarryn can climb up that slide with no problem. Griffyn can as well. Tarryn is quite a climber for his age.

"Watch me. I can do this and I'm going to... just to prove it to you."

"I can do it again. Just watch me."

"Come on, Tarryn. Let's try it one more time."

"I wonder how Dad put this thing together. Maybe I can figure out how to take it apart."

" I like my hat, but don't want to wear it right now. Let's see how far it will go if I throw it out this way."

"Aw, they made me put it back on. Mom says I have to wear it because it's really sunny out here."

"This sandbox is much more fun when it has water in it. See how much I can splash?"

" Oh, oh, big brother. You wore your sandals in the pool. Wait till Mom sees this. You're going to be in BIG trouble."

"Ah, my backside feels much cooler now that it's in the pool."

"I wonder what will happen if I jump? Great Aunt Mary says, 'no jumping, Griffyn.' "

"Mmm! Wonder if this sippy cup will float with juice in it. Might be fun to find out."

"This stump makes a great leaning post. I can lean on this and see what is going on in the entire yard."

"Bubbles are fun."

"Tarryn, see the bubbles. See if you can catch them, but don't eat them. They taste bad."

"Mom says not to climb on the table. Can't I do anything fun?"

"Well, finally. Playing ball is lots of fun."

"See, I can even hold my own with the Big Guy."

"What's a guy have to do to get some birthday cake?"]

"Ah, finally. Didn't they realize that I was starving?"

"Hey, whatever this is, it sure tastes good. I was going to sleep in the pool, but this stuff has given me lots of energy.

We all had a great time and the boys shared their first birthday party together. It was a beautiful day and we were able to stay out in the backyard for the entire time. Thanks, Melissa, for a great afternoon.