Finally, the boat is in the water!!!!!

We took the boat down to the marina on Thursday night and finally made our maiden voyage out on the big lake on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny and calm day...The total opposite of the forecast the liars network (weather network) had predicted all week. After an early morning trip to Foodie B's, we came home, unpacked groceries, packed a cooler & a bag of necessities & ventured to the marina.
Here is a picture of our boat in its temporary slip. It's the red and white one.

This shot was taken just as we were leaving the marina. No wind = beautiful pictures!

One of our first stops was at the cottage. Jim and Brenda came down to greet us, yet there seemed to be one missing element...THE DOCK! Oh, there it is, up on the front lawn.

This was taken just west of the Amherst island ferry dock. I don't know how long this boat has been resting on the shore, but it looks like it is older than me:)

We pulled into a little bay to have lunch. I love the way the reflection from the trees made the water look green.

Black clouds were approaching, so he headed back to the marina. It was kind of amusing when we got back there, the clouds disappeared & the sun came back out. I grabbed a book & Bill started cleaning the boat. Before I knew it my cousin Wendy showed up for a visit. Here is a picture of her and Bill in our boat.

Then the dogs came to welcome us home. The brown lab is Charlie & the black lab is Poupay.

This is Chris. His boat will be moored on the same dock as ours.

Poor Dickson. He works and lives at the marina, therefore it is hard for him to sneak in a nap:)

This is Greg. He works at the marina too. I think its time he gave up his little red wagon though.

This is Sean (in blue) who is my cousin Wendy's boyfriend, hanging out with Mike, who happens to have one of the biggest boats at the marina. We happen to have the smallest one.

An impromptu dinner came together in the club house. Everyone brought something and it turned out to be a surf and turf fest. This table was acquired by a lodge on hay bay that closed last year. I am sure it would seat a dozen adults easily. The attached lazy Susan has a chart of the lake from main ducks to gananoque lacquered onto it.

Here is Sean with his dates:)

Jokes around the BBQ

The girls were telling tales, I am sure.

The man in the middle is Dave, who happens to be the owner of the marina.

Sunset on the blowboats:

Sunset facing North

It was a great day & I was exhausted when we finally made it home around midnight. The next morning we got up and went to the cottage for the day. I will save those pictures for another time though.

May 2-4 is FINALLY here.

I have been counting down to this weekend since the beginning of January. How disappointed I have been to NOT find any sunshine to bask in!
So this week could not have passed any slower. A few weeks ago I had made plans to go to the Elixir on Thursday May 19th to see Chris Koster open for the Golden Dogs. I had made a date with my friend Grigg, and due to the fact that freaky things always happen to him, I assumed I would be going alone. How delighted I was to see Grigg's smiling face that night!
So here is Chris Koster, his drummer Cloin (Colin)and his Basist Scott.

Here is Chris using his guitar as a shooting device:

And this is the Golden Dogs from Toronto. Its funny, I will never forget the first time I heard the Dogs; it was last June at the Grad Club. The stage was so small, the basist had to stand on an amp in order to play:)
Here is a picture of the ever entertaining Jessica:

My favourite Golden Dogs song YEAH!!!!

Suffice to say, Friday was a very looooong day for me. 3 hours sleep is hard on this old body, but I was fortunate enough to get off work fairly early and came home for a nap before we went for dinner.
After we ate, we visited Harly's place but he wasn't home. A bunch of the Amherstview boys were there waiting in the driveway, wondering where the garage-owner was. Due to the fact that we didn't have a key to get in, and there was work to be done on a boat motor, we asked Tony the neighbour to let us in. Of course I was the only girl there, so I had to take some pictures. Here is one of Harly's tractor with the new stickers on it.

We found out afterwards that Harly had been out depleting the comerant population & that our friend Jim had dislocated his shoulder when he fell through his garage roof earlier that day. Perhaps our plans for a weekend at Jim and Brenda's cottage was out of the picture. The phone ran around 8am on Saturday to tell us that the trip to the island was still on. Jim's arm was in a sling, however, he could still perform a few cottage-opening tasks, so the weekend was not a total loss. I believe the real reason was that the 600lb harvest table that Jim built for the dining room at the cottage had to be moved from their house to the truck and from the truck, into the cottage. I was actually surprised how quickly that whole process happened. And how well the table went with the rooms decor!!! It's a beautiful addition to place! Check it out:

naturally we had to test out the new table by playing multiple games of euchre and crib on it to see how well the cards would slide across its surface! Here is a picture of Brenda, myself and Jim's dad Bill playing crib. Suffice to say, Brenda and I beat him at both games!

Isn't it a beautiful piece of furniture?

My friend Judy likes to pretend she is a rock star:

And finally, here is a picture of Trina and Shelley providing the evenings entertainment:


Today we are half-ass planning on putting the boat in the water...depending on the weather, of course. Keep your fingers crossed for the sun to make a guest appearance!

Over Two Weeks between posts

Whats up with that??? Oh yea, its time to be OUTSIDE!!!! And even though I have a wireless connection for my laptop, I have yet to take it out on the back patio this year. Not a lot has happened. I still try to take some sunrise shots, but now that the sun is getting up before I make it out the door, it makes it difficult. This one was taken by the old celenese plant in Millhaven...just as I was taking the picture, a pair of ducks waddled by.

I did manage to get a better pictures, through the trees:

On Thursday May 5th, I had the pleasure of getting a front row seat for a kick-ass show by The High Dillon Redemption Choir. Hugh was once in a band called The Headstones, and this new band includes an old acquaintence of mine on drums. Here he is, my own personal King of Kensington: Derek Downham! I think he lost his stix in this picture.

Here is one of the entire band:

Hugh's new CD was recorded last August at The Bath House and produced by Paul Langois, of the Tragically Hip. Here is a picture of Paul playing with HDRC.

For the encore, they played Rebel Yell. I like the way someones upright arm appeared in this picture during this Billy Idol cover.

Last Sunday, my brother and his fiancee came over for the day. It was Mother's day, so we went down to the graveyard to lay a flower on our mother's grave. Afterwards we went over to my cousin Wendy's place for a BBQ. Here is a picture of my brother with his bubbles glasses on.

So while at Wendy's, I took full advantage of their hot tub...in fact, I was the only one to take a dip.

Of course, we had to try and take a family picture before the day was through...even the dog Bailey posed for the camera!

Believe it or not, the highlight of this past weekend was my trip to Burt's Greenhouse in Wilton. It was a damp, misty day and what do I come across? This beautiful vintage Farmall Cub. Check it out!

This was taken while I was waiting to check out.

On my way back from the greenhouse, I stopped in to visit my friend Laurie. Here is a picture of her beautiful limestone house that they will be moving out of in October.

I really like this shot from the inside, looking out:

and finally, this is a picture of Laurie's barn. Hopefully, I will get inside there, before they move out. I bet there are some really great shots inside this old building!

FINALLY it is May!!!

The boat is in the driveway, it has been to the marine shop last week & has been given the thumbs up to enter the water, safely:) Last year, we were a bit too anxious & launched her the first weekend of May. There was an additional spot to put oil in the motor that was not documented in the literature for the motor & we ended up being towed home as the motor conked out on us after 45 minutes. Thank God we were just across the bay from the marina and were fortunate to call there with the cell phone & they came and rescued us! It took 2 months to repair/replace the lower unit & it was a lesson learned to never push the boating season!

This is 2 of the young guys from the marina who were kind enough to pull us in. When they pulled up beside us, the one has a smoke hangin out of his mouth & I laughed as I tossed him the rope & called him 'relic'. He didn't know what I was talking about!

Nothing much happened this week except for my trip to the roof of the building I work in. I was gazing out the windows on the 4th floor at the beautiful view of the city & wondered how to capture that beauty without getting the glare off the windows. I asked the facility guys if there was any way I could get out on the ledge someone to take some shots. They said I could get up on the roof if I liked. Well, if they hadn't said that I had to go right at that moment, it may not have happened. I didn't realize till I got up there that I am terrified of heights. Anyways, I got up there...tried to take a few panoramic shots, which didn't work out very well. I had only used the pano mode once before and this time I was shaking like a leaf. But this is how it turned out:

Perhaps I will borrow a better camera from our Nikon department and take some better pictures from up there when the leaves arrive on the trees! I'm hoping to have a bit more courage this time:)
Our Friday night routine always starts at the restaurant in Bath for dinner with our friends and then out to Possum Lodge for some garage entertainment by our friend Harly:) The sun was just going down as we arrived & I tried the panoramic setting on my camera again. This shot turned out a bit better.

Now, it was suppose to rain all day today, but the sun is out \and the clouds have disappeared, so I'm thinking I better get my very best diggin-in-the-dirt clothes on & get up close and personal with my gardens!
This coming week I have VIP passes to see The Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir @ the Elixir Night Club...I can hardly wait!!!! No doubt there will be a few pictures in my blog next week of this GREAT new band:)