Today I share mostly pictures … just to prove I actually did have some time away.
It was a great two weeks. A whirlwind of visits, driving, and decisions. Decisions mostly about food … what to eat … where to eat … what time to eat … what kind of ice cream today?. Then, there were decisions to make about what to read (more on that Friday …) and what to do.
And always on a road trip, decisions about how to get where we were going. Turns out I am not the great navigator I used to be … especially when we lose internet (hence google maps) somewhere along the concession roads (Bruce County Number 8?…I think we just passed it …) somewhere between Southampton and Port Stanley. Obviously an area in Southern Ontario with which I am totally unfamiliar. Somehow we got to where we we needed to be. It’s a good thing my friend and I have a 30 plus year friendship to get us through the testy times.
We were rewarded with a beautiful room in a wonderful hotel right on the harbour at Port Stanley, which is a vacation destination on Lake Erie, about 15 minutes from St. Thomas where Matt and Alana live.
Here are some pictures. I will write more on Friday, when I will tell you about the summer sermon series that starts on Sunday and how I will connect it with some of the books I have been reading from the Canada Reads 2025 top five contenders.
Of the three days we spent in Southampton, only one was a certified “beach day.” But we had a great visit with my sister Mindy and her husband Robin and their two gigantic dogs, Mollie and Barkley. We had some great meals together and even got some “retail therapy” in at our favourite Southampton store.
I was also happy to get a visit in to the old cottage. My cousin Sue (pictured below in a recent picture, and one from may years ago … when I was less modest about beachwear and sunscreen was no doubt non-existent!). She graciously showed me around the cottage … don’t think I have been in it for 15 years … and we were able to catch up. Many years ago, in our early 20s, we traveled the UK and Europe together. We connected over the years and also saw each other a lot when I was in Toronto. The front porch is where I would enjoy my morning coffee every morning before the chaos of the day began.
We then got to Port Stanley, about 15 minutes from where Matt and Alana live in St. Thomas. It’s a busy vacation town. We had a beautiful hotel room, right on the waterfront and boardwalk on the harbour. We had a couple of lovely restaurant dinners, one at a beachfront bar where we could watch everyone playing volleyball and staking their place to watch the fireworks later. We went back to the patio at the hotel to watch the fireworks, where it rained a bit … but then saw a spectacular double rainbow!
Back to Toronto on Tuesday and flew home on Wednesday and for the rest of the week enjoyed the backyard sun, a few podcasts, and did some reading. Yesterday we went to Chester to have brunch with Chris and Tiffany at the Kiwi. Chris just got in this past week after 7 weeks on the fishing boat where he was north of Baffin Island. Then had a bit of beach time on the way home.
