The last week of summer...

Yea, it happened this week...That four letter F-Word arrived. I prefer to use the A-word to describe the season we entered on Sept 22nd. Damn! I must have had too good a summertime I guess! Being able to use the boat for 5 full months was definitely a bonus, especially when we spent the extra bucks to buy a slip for the season. It was definitely money well spent.
On Saturday, we decided to make one of our last trips out in the boat. Naturally we needed gas, and the $1.37 a litre price tag was a bit hard to swallow...but what can ya do? Here is Billy looking for our next boat:

As soon as we left the marina, we swung around the breakwall to this sight...a power boat towing a blow boat. How amusing:

As I sat in the back of the boat, snapping pictures aimlessly, I felt the sun on my face and realized it had been a great season for Billy and I. The time had come for me to face the fact that I had to start wearing long pants again, and prepare for taking the boat out of the water till 2006.
Is it my imagination, or can you almost see the rays of sun descending from the top left hand corner of this picture?

As we started to head back for the marina, we rounded the point by the cottage only to see this sight:

Its not everyday that you see a house on a barge, resting on the shoreline. Apparently this structure was floated over to the island via finkle shore park a few days ago. From this point, they need to transport the house a few miles east. I guess that's one way to move a house:)
Now that the restaurant in the village has closed, we have had to fend for ourselves for the past week and a half. It awful! Anyways, we decided to go to the Red Lobster for dinner. I had a gift certificate that Bryce gave me for Christmas last year, so off we went for seafood heaven. We hadn't had lobster and steak in years so maybe that's why it tasted so good.

After we were done, we rolled out of the restaurant and back home to get ready for a 25th wedding anniversary party for our friends Mike and Johanna. This year marked both of their 50th birthdays as well as their 25th anniversary. It was kind of neat to meet their old friends that they grew up with as well as our own group of friends who attended. Here is a picture of the 'toy' that Johanna bought Mike for his golden birthday:

Nice eh? All I bought Billy was the four-wheeler he wanted for hunting!

Pearl Jam at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto !!!

On Monday morning I awoke at 5 as I was so damn excited about traveling to Toronto to see Pearl Jam again. I know that everyone thinks I am some kind of a cougar-groupie, but it is so hard to make someone understand the importance of seeing the band you love playing in 2 cities that are less than a 3 hr drive from you! Especially when they only tour every two years! I could not miss Eddie and the boys, regardless of how I got to the shows. When I bought my tickets to these two shows back in April, I originally only planned on going to the Ottawa show with my friends Louise and Mike. Last time I traveled with them to the 2003 show at the Molson Amphitheatre, I invited my co-worker Robin to escort me. This time I offered my extra ticket to my buddy Shayne. I felt bad that I couldn't get more than 2 tickets per show so Steff (Shaynes bride) to go with us. This guilt somehow provoked me to buy tickets for the Toronto show after asking Robin if he wanted to go. I had made the rule that he was going to drive as I didn't need the stress of maneuvering around in downtown Toronto. Besides, he had been to the ACC a few times, so he knew the way there and the best place to park. For me, this was a win win situation.
So off we departed from work a bit late, and off to smog-town we traveled. It was nice to score some cheap gas on the way there; under a buck a litre is a bonus now a days. Once there, we had a hell of a time finding the will call wicket to pick up our fan club tickets. After walking around in a circle a few times, we finally got the tickets and went searching for a bite to eat before the show. Now imagine this building that is attached to Union Station at rush hour. There were people everywhere, and I swear there was a security guard located on every corner. Before I hid the camera I borrowed from work, I took this picture of a tasty piece of art:

As we stood in the lineup for the pat down before entering the concert, I noticed that this time around, the security guards were actually patting down the ladies. So I had to change my course of action and had to hide the large camera in a more secure spot! After I breezed through that, I felt like screaming HURRAY, but didn't want to cause attention. There were even MORE security guys inside the ACC than there was in union Station. It gave you a feeling of some sort of impending doom. But I am sure that Ed and the boys had requested beefed up security in a city of constant violence.
What a thrill it was to find that my tickets were in almost the same spot as the Ottawa show! We were sitting next to two ardent fans from Bay City Michigan. They were both feeling no pain and an entertaining conversation was started between us and the girls from Oakland California, who were sitting in front of us. We were all trying to figure out which song they band would open with. BettiVedder from California guessed correctly with her choice of Release. Hearing the opening notes of this beautiful song made me cry and I couldn't even hold the camera up to take a picture. It was like Ed had cast a spell on the entire audience. The 6 of us were all high-fiving each other as we all sang along with the opening tune.
I will not bore any of you with a pile of my pictures from this show, but I will show you the one where Ed was looking right at me AGAIN! :)

If anyone wants to see the rest of the published pictures, please go to : http://photobucket.com/albums/v294/cchristmas/Pearl%20Jam%20Toronto/

The rest of the concert flew by in a blur, but towards the end of it I had to go back and delete a bunch of pictures to make room for the guest who appeared on stage. As the band started into Rockin in the free world, I thought I saw Uncle Neil Young take the stage, instead I was delightfully surprised to see Bono from U2. SWEET! Bono thanked Ed for opening for him the night before; and that's when Ed's opening statement started making sense. After the first few songs, he said he wanted to thank U2 for opening for them tonight. Everyone giggled at the time and no one suspected to see Bono, with a white cowboy hat slide onto the stage at the end of the night. It was a very cool sight, especially due to the fact that the lights were up and this rare scene was in plain view for all to see.

I am unsure how many people were at the show, but the sound from the crtowd was almost deafening, even with my earplugs in. Here is a shot of a very small portion of the audience:

Once again, I was speechless on the way home. I crawled into bed sometime around 3:30 am and managed to make it to work the next day by 10am!

In between Pearl Jam concerts....

My hubby took me for a loooong boat ride over to the main ducks islands. It was a weird feeling to be out in the middle of the lake with no land in sight. We had been trying for three years to get over there and finally the winds were favourable for us to make the trip. It took a while to get there and naturally my camera was busy as soon as land was in sight!
Billy used to commercial fish with our old neighbour Gary Bell (RIP) back in the 80's. The main ducks were one of their frequent stops (to pick fish out of the nets) and Bill remembers this dock just after it was built. Apparently the ice has tipped it slightly over the years:

What a beautiful little spot this place is. The water surrounding the islands reminded me of quarry water.

After bouncing back over the waves of the open lake to Amherst Island, we stopped over in the bay at Poplar Dell for a bite to eat. Naturally the winds had died down by then and it was a beautiful time to take some 'end-of-summer' shots:

Hmmm...Well I took about 25 pictures but I will just post the one. People have told me that my photoblog has too many photos:)

Pearl Jam deserves an award!

Tell me how easy it is for a band to play a show for almost 3 hours?! That's what Ed and the boys did on Friday night at the Corel Center in Ottawa! I didn't even notice the length of the concert as I was basically in a state of love and trust all throughout the show. My friends Mike and Louise managed to get floor seats and my seats were 8 rows up from the floor, right beside the stage! What a great vantage point for pictures. Yes, I managed to sneak in my camera, that was so easy...Now I just need to borrow one from work with a stronger zoom for the concert on Monday night.
Even the crappy weather couldn't lower our spirits as we traveled up to the nations capital with my good friends Mike and Louise, with my buddy Shayne as my 'date' :) We laughed and listened to some tunes on the way up and discussed the various concerts we had experienced together. After a quick tour through Ikea, we hit Montana's for dinner. It was funny to see Shayne order off the 'little troopers' kids menu as he ordered a beer!
Off to the Corel we went. The traffic was heavy, but Mike is a highly trained professional when it comes to darting through many lanes of traffic. I'm so glad he was driving! The boys dropped us off in 6 lanes of traffic so we could go pick up our tickets. I couldn't believe how packed the inside of the building was! So many different PJ shirts were flooding the sea of bodies. I didn't have time to look at the m all.
When we got to our seats, we looked down on the floor and spotted Mike and Louise in their spot. Man, I'm so glad I wasn't on the floor as I'm short and would end up with some 6 footer standing in front of me!
Its ironic that Shayne, myself & Mike and Louise all filled our memory cards before the show was done. We all spent time going back and deleting some of the fuzzier pictures to try and take better ones before the end of the concert.
Enough of the talk, here are a few pictures of mine that actually turned out.

This one was taken as Ed was looking right at me:)




I have a few of Mike and Louises pictures as well, but wont bother posting them as I didn't take them:)
Today will be spent out on the great lake...it will probably be the last time we will be able to take the boat out for a run!
Come on MONDAY!!!!!

Pearl Jam Weekend!

Anyone who knows me, KNOWS of my intense love affair with the band Pearl Jam. It started in 1991 and continues to this day! This time tomorrow, I will be getting ready to enter the Corel Center and partake in my 6th Pearl Jam concert. Even though the tickets were purchased back in April, this upcoming weekend has been occupying a small backroom in my cranium since that time.
Like a ritual, I will be attending my first show with my buddies Mike and Weezie. My second fan club ticket was given to my friend Shayne. I think this is his first Pearl Jam concert and I'm sure that he will dig it. He is very well versed in subject of Big Venue Concerts.
Now the only thing that bugs me is the fact that I haven't known where my seats are and I really REALLY wanna sneak my camera in there and run up to the stage and take an Eddie Pic for my collection.
Speaking of pictures, I actually acquired a few pictures of my son Bryce's latest art work. Here is one I am particularly fond of:

And here is a picture of his newest housemate...Her name is Dorrie:


So everyone keep their fingers crossed for me tomorrow night...in hopes that the old Cat will be able to flash her idol, Ed Vedder!!!

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone.....

On my last day of work before the long 4 day weekend, we had a new client come to visit our call center. For that reason, they asked that we dress up a bit. Well the guys in our ticket logging group certainly WOW'd me, and I certainly couldn't allow them to get away without having their picture taken. SO here are my buddies, Mouse, Mark & Wavey-Davey:

The next night, after dinner at the Last Chance, we went out to the lodge for a visit. Judy asked me to take a picture of her in front of Harly's new/old tractor.

On Saturday, we took our friends Shayne and Stephanie out for a boat ride. It started off to be a great day but as we neared the gap at the foot of Amherst Island, the wind picked up and we had to head it back to the cottage STAT! As we traveled at blinding speed, I felt something hitting my skin...I was sitting alone in the bow of the boat. It was HAIL! Jebus! So we made it back to the cottage, hung out with our friends, had a bite to eat and then headed back to the marina as the sun went down. An amazing sunset was welling up in the sky and Shayne couldn't wait to start clicking at the scenery:

And here is what he was snapping:

On Sunday, we went back out on the water (after Coronation Street was done) and met up with Roger and Roberta. We convinced them to go up the Cataraqui River with us to Kingston Mills. On the way up, I took this sideways picture as Bill was speeding between the markers.

I found this sign under the 401 quite amusing:

That night, we went to Roger and Roberta's for dinner, then off to Harly's for a corn roast/bomb fire. When we got there, we were quite surprised to see a lot of out friends dressed up in Trailer Park Boys attire. Here is a picture of Brandy's T-shirt:

And Shelly's shirt:

And Christine's shirt:

Last but not least, Jim as Julian:

We didn't get home till almost 1 am and then back up again at 7 to get ready for another trip to the great lake. Due to the fact that the price of gas was so high, & there was no one at the marina to pump gas for us, we decided to boat-pool with Roger and Roberta. Their neighbour James joined us for the trip, and doubled as our captain on the trip back home. We went into the bay in Picton and actually met up with three other boats from our marina. What a beautiful spot for a day trip!
There is a lot of history in this little port, it is evident with the old structures that have been restored:

Can you believe how blue the sky was? None of these pictures have been altered:



On the way home, we almost got t-boned by this float plane that came soaring right towards us. Suffice to say, we had to speed up so they could land safely.

We took over 2 hrs to make it back to the marina, as the sun was so warm and it felt like the end of the summer was going to happen when we returned to solid ground. I think this last picture pretty well sums up the GREAT summer we had with our good friends Roger and Roberta:

My favourite month went by in a flash.

But I do have a few pictures to remember it by:) Just a few! Here is one of our friend Roger on his boat. Its funny that its in black and white as I forgot to change the setting from the barn pictures I took from the day before.

People always comment on my obsession with my camera, how I never leave the house without it! Lets put it this way, if I left my camera at home, would I be able to snap candid shots like this?

or this:

and this picture that I took last friday when gas was 'cheap'. This gas station found an inevitable way to post their price. I still cant believe we are expected to pay $1.26 a litre this labour day weekend!

Last friday night I visited Stages night club for a fund raiser to help a local photographer venture off to Africa to help build house for Habitat for Humanity. My friend Grigg came with me as he had gone to Africa in June to perform a similar task. (Grigg helped to build a school for those in need) My support goes to thbose who give so much of themselves; I only wish I wasn't so set in my life's path...Maybe I could help others in a similar fashion.
Getting back to Stages....Two of my favourite bands were playing that night, Betablokka and Chris Koster and The Lonely. A band named Mystic Caravan was opening the show. I had heard a few of their songs but had never seen them live.

Here is a picture of Chris Koster, who put on one of the most amazing live shows I have witnessed in ages:

And one of his new mic stand:

A close up of an extremely talented man:

And one last picture of Cheri Rose and Scot:

Then Betablokka took the stage and the lead singer Matt managed to break three strings on three different guitars. This is Matt with Zanes guitar:

And here is one of the whole band:

On Sunday, we hit the water and ended up with some hoodlums following us:

When we approached bush bar, I spotted a swam. Isn't it beautiful?

When we got back to the cottage we found out that Jim and Roger had already left to check out the precious gifts that awaited them at the Amherst Island dump. Here is a newly-picked COLOUR TV that actually works: (i think the plate on it said 1979)

And this beautiful 'stereo' that came from a 1953-1954 vehicle:

As the sun was preparing to drop out of the sky, I snapped this picture from the road, through the trees:

Before the sun disappeared, our friends Johanna and Mike showed up in their boat. It was so calm, as this picture proves:

As the sun dropped further, it turned this beautiful shade of orange:

Next weekend is labour day weekend, the so-called end of summer. My one hand will have a 8 mp nikon camera in it and the other one will have a beer.