Back to work :(

Yes, the day finally arrived; we had to go back to work today and it wasn't quite as bad as I had anticipated. Last week went by so fast...Lets see if I can recall it with pictures.

Monday (the holiday) was spent at the cottage, hanging out, swimming and boating. Tuesday was market day, so we took a trip downtown to buy some supplies for making dill pickles.

I tried a few macro shots while I was there:


The sun was so bright that day, it made even the oldest buildings look great. This is the old Whig Standard Building that will soon be the new home to The Keg Restaurant.

We were meeting up with a friend for lunch at Stoney's patio. It was hard not to be tempted by the beauty of City Hall while we waited.

On Wednesday, we took off in the boat after lunch and went for a cruise to the back beach. It was so humid and smoggy, it looked like this ship that was escaping from the cement plant was a 'ghost ship'.

After dinner, we went to Sue and John's for a visit. When we got there, it appeared we had arrived too late:

Here is a picture of Sue's flowers by the door. Notice how the hue of the blossoms bring out the honey colour of the logs:

On Thursday, Bill spent the afternoon making pickles (a summer-holiday ritual) while I cleaned the house. That evening, we attended a family BBQ out in Glenvale at my cousin Linda's house. It was such a beautiful evening till the food came out, then the skies opened up and poured buckets on us.

Bill took this picture of one of the kids diving into the cake, amongst the arms of the adults.

Obviously the 'vacation mode' was evident in our household this past week, as even our buddy Jethro thought he was on holidaze:)

On Friday, we brought the boat home so Bill could vacuum it and give it a good bath as there was quite a bit of green scum stuck to the bottom of her. We wanted the vessel to look good when we took out friends out for a day-trip on Saturday.
And what a beautiful day it turned out to be. Shayne and Steph had a fantastic time 'doing nothing' on the boat:) We dropped off dinner at the cottage before heading around to the back beach. The winds were minimal, so we decided to travel all along the south side of the island, for a change. After Bill discovered we had left the lunch meat and all the fixings for wraps back at the cottage, we decided to have a liquid lunch. Here is a picture of Shayne and I, yapping away, as Stephanie looks on.

This is Billy, up to his old tricks. I still don't know how he drives that boat backwards:)

We ended up at the cottage for the afternoon, and ended up staying for dinner. Our friend Jimmy was kind enough to show us his new trick. Her can pull a beer bottle out of a coffee cup. GAwd I have some amazing friends:)

By the end of the day, all the guys had bonded. Here is a picture I call the three stooges:

As the sun went down, I snapped this picture from the dock...Through the railing of Rogers boat.

On Sunday, we headed back to the cottage for the day. I cant even keep track of how many times I was in and out of the water. We stalled at leaving as we knew that our holiday had finally come to a close. Once we got back to the marina, I thought I better take one last picture with the camera I had borrowed from work for the past month. This is the view from our dock.

Next weekend we will be traveling down to Confederation Basin to see the Poker run boats. Hope the weather is as good as it was this past week.

What a beautiful week for a holiday!

I started our holiday a day before Billy and that left me with a whole friday with nothing to do. Seeing as it was a gorgeous sunny day, I took off in the car and drove out some backroads to take some rural-themed pictures. My first stop was at our friend Mike's farm. Can you tell I am envious of his property?

I cant believe how well the corn has been doing this year. Thank God for all the rain we have had in the past few weeks!

I love this building. It tells a tale of many years of use and even more of 'retirement'.

On my way back, I found a little roadway created by the demolition company who has been ripping out a large area of cedars alongside the county road, just North of the village. They are making way for a group of townhomes being developed beside the golf course. I thought it would be appropriate to take a picture overlooking the village. To the right, you can see the back of the united church where we were married 25 years ago.

On Saturday, we went over to the cottage for the day. In the afternoon, we took a ride in Roger and Roberta's boat to check out the scene at Tink's house in Amherstview. Most of the crowd had left by the time we got there as it was Puck and Ball weekend and the gang had a game to play. Isn't this an impressive place? It must be so nice to wake up to a beautiful sunrise over the lake every day.

On Sunday, we got the tube out and pulled a few people around the lake. Here is a great shot of young Robbie doing a faceplant & Christine giving us the Victory sign!

As the sun was going down, I took this shot of Shelley swimming with the ducks.

Naturally I had to snap a shot of the sun as it slipped below the horizon. This picture has not been touched up. The sky looked like it was on fire.

Monday went by in a blur...sun...water...friends. Does it get any better?

Holidays and MORE Holidays:)

I cant believe I haven't had a chance to update my blog since mid July. My excuse is that I spent a week on holidays, by myself, and all I did was basically run the roads. On the first day, I spent time with my friend Mandy and her Mom in sweltering-hot Napanee. Its amazing how I very rarely see Mandy but whenever we get together, its like life has stood still for us. How blessed I am to have a friend like Amanda:) Can you believe that I didn't take any pictures AT ALL that day??? I'm telling ya...it was one HOT day!
On Tuesday, I traveled to Lansdowne to visit with Joan who was my mothers best friend when they were teenagers. Joan was here from Florida for a week, visiting with her daughters. It was so great to see her as all I ever remember of her was through the pictures I have sifted through that once belonged to my mother. We figured out that we had not seen each other since I was 3 years old. I took a bag of old black and white pictures for her to look at and see if she could tell me who some of these strangers were. What a great time we had reminiscing about my grandmother and some of the silly things my Mom did as a teenager. Joan was very helpful in answering so many of the questions I have had over the years. Thanks Mrs. Thompson for making me smile!
Seeing as I was traveling on the Parkway to Lansdowne, I stopped on the way home to take a few pictures of my favourite abandoned house:

Wednesday morning I took a trip into Value Village to do a bit of shopping. I found a few things for Billy and a book for me. As soon as I got home, the bathing suit went on and beer bottle was opened. It was lovely in the backyard...No kids screaming, a nice breeze blowing and the perfect amount of shade to enhance my reading environment.

On Thursday, I decided to go down to the farmers market for some peas. On my way over to the market, I naturally had to take a few pictures of the historic buildings in the area. I have always loved this Masonic Building on King Street.

Due to the revamping of historic market square, the farmers market has been moved over to Clarence Street. Here is a side view of the Customs House on the corner of Clarence and King Street.

That night, we went out to the Lodge for a visit. I couldn't believe it when I say Harly loading up the farmall into his friends trailer. Man I'm going to miss that tractor. At least it has only moved as far as Camden East. I would hate to think of the poor old thing spending its remaining days in a city environment!
It was funny to see the Love Shack back in Pa's driveway again. The bumper sticker that we put on it a few years ago was still there...Friends Dont Let Friends TOW Junk!

On friday, I took a trip to Picton beach. It wasn't a very nice day however I wasn't about to change plans because of a few clouds. Once there, I was amazed to see this guy land his parasail right in the middle of the crowd.

I love the beach....its so relaxing, especially when there were no screaming kids near us:

On Saturday, we went to the cottage for the day. This was after we took a sidetrip down the Napanee River. Damn I cant believe how green the water is in that area. Here is the evidence. I took this picture as the abandoned building caught my eye. You can certainly see how different the color of the water is compared to the lake water in front of the cottage.

After we got to the cottage, I couldn't wait to jump in the water and have a cold one:

A family of ducks has recently moved into the area. They love us as we feed them all constantly:

As we were having dinner that night, a deer appeared in the field:

Dont you love colourful sunsets on the water?

The next day, the girls were in the water most of the day. Here is a picture of myself, Judy & Cheryl. Dont we look like professional synchronized swimmers?

When we got home Sunday night, I noticed that my mystery plant had finally bloomed. This weird plant just appeared in my flower bed a few years ago and has since multiplied.

As well, it looks like my vine has not completely taken over the West side of my house.

Thank God I only had four days to work and then I was on holidays again. This time with Billy:)

My Holidays start in 22 hrs and I can hardly wait!

Yes, the one week for ME is coming up at 4 tomorrow night!!! Even though I have things I have to do during the week, it will still be so nice not to have to get up and take my life in my hands at 5:30am on the 401 everyday.

On Tuesday night I came home in a rain storm that evolved into a hail storm. No one was home with me so I decided to take a few pictures of the event. (in other words, i was too scared to stay inside)
My neighbours driveway was awash in pingpongball-sized hail stones. I couldn't believe how fast they were coming down:

My front lawn looked like a cooler had been dumped in the grass:

After the 25 minute storm, I went out and gathered some of the hailstones to show Billy. Then I macro'd a few of the rocks in my back yard:

This one looks like there is metal stuck to it:

And this is a pile I found by the fence:

I sent a link to my photobucket webpage to Tony Orr, who does the news on K-Rock (our local rock radio station)the next thing I know, I hear a story on the 7:30am news about a freak hailstorm that hit Bath. "A local listener, Cathy Christmas, tells us of a wild 25 min storm that hit her Village of Bath. We even have her online pictures to prove it!" heheheh My 15 mins of fame!
Moving forward, tomorrow night I am going to see The Tea Party @ Stages. Although they are not one of my favourite bands, I have to give this nikon 4800 camera a good workout at a rock and roll show! As well, I LOVE that new sound system at Stages. It is so crisp and clear...I doubt that it matters who is playing...its gonna sound GREAT!
Ok, so now its 21.5 hrs till alcoholidaze...Bring It On!

Another Weekend in July!!!

On Wednesday night, we went out to my cousin Wendy's place for dinner. When we got home there was a message from my friend Grigg saying he had just returned from London England. This was a bit surprising as I knew he had gone to see the Live8 concert, but he wasn't to return till Thursday night. When I got up at 5:30 the next day the news of the day was a terrorist attack on London!!!! All I could do was thank God that Grigg got out before the ruckus started. That night, we decided to pack the cooler and take off to the back beach. There was absolutely no wind, which pumped the temperature up considerably. When we got around to the other side of the island, we jumped in for a swim. How refreshing and relaxing it was. You have to admit, it is one beautiful slice of scenery:

As we turned the boat around to leave, the clouds were starting to come in from the west. I really like the way that this picture looks like it was taken with a filter and retouched with photoshop, but it was not.

Friday night was spent at the restaurant with our friends then out to possum lodge for the unveiling of a newold tractor. Isn't it pretty? A 1948 Case:

I found this sign in Harly's garage, thought it might give someone a giggle:

On Saturday, we went over to the cottage in the rain. It was not a pleasure cruise! This past week, Jim and Brenda were busy putting up the 100 yr old tin ceiling tiles that they acquired. What a beautiful touch to the cottage it makes:

Since last week, the new hutch has acquired a new plant and an old clock:

After dinner, we slipped out to the back porch and I noticed a big black cloud creeping up from the East. Billy decided it was time to leave so we traveled back across the lake in gale force winds. Suffice to say, I was soaked!
Today will definitely be a better day. There is a bit of wind, but no sign of clouds! Sunblock, here I come!

Happy Canada Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so nice to have a long weekend to kick back and relax. The rain happened on Thursday night so it didn't ruin the weekend at all. It rained so hard & then disappeared as fast as it came. I buzzed outside top take a few pictures. You can almost smell the raindrops on the daises:

We wanted to take the boat out on Friday but it was so windy, we decided to travel to the island via ferry. It was a beautiful windy day and we all soaked up the sun-block, shade & friendship.
We had made plans for a night out on the town for Canada day but Bill decided to stay at home and I went out for a night on the town. My favourite local band Batablokka were scheduled to play at the Merchant Tap House & I wasn't about to miss the show. Little did I know that the fireworks were scheduled to be lit off of Crawford Wharf, right behind The Merchant and right beside the Holiday inns patio bar The Slip. Suffice to say, there were NO parking spots left around The Merchant. Regardless, I found a spot on King Street and made the trek down Princess Street. I remembered that my cousin Wendy mentioned that Steve Cheeseman & the Heaters were playing at the Slip, starting at 7, so I ventured over there. It was so packed that I took off after a few minutes. Here is a pic I snapped as I was running away from the crowd:

Once I got to the merchant, I felt much better as there were a few people I knew as well as some of the band members I hadn't seen in quite a few months. It had been 6 months since I had seen Betablokka play together. My friend Shayne used to be their drummer and after he left the band in December 2004, it made me think that I didn't want to see them perform again. Boy, was I wrong! A little bird reminded me that it was the music that I loved so much, not just the musicians who created it. What a fantastic night it was. I was stuck to the front of the stage for the entire time. For once I decided to take a souvenir and asked Matt (the lead singer) if I could keep the setlist.
Here is a silhouette of Matt, taken from the side stage, right beside the speakers:

And here is one of Jon (Bass Player), Zane (Guitar) & Matt.
I have so many more pictures of the band that night, but I uploaded the better ones onto my photobucket site.
On Saturday and Sunday, we managed to burn about $60 worth of gas in the boat in two days. On our travels, we happened upon the tallship Playfair. She looked pretty regal in Stella Bay.

While we were boating, we both noticed this cloud that had a rainbow-hue to it:

We ate well and spent time with our good friends for three days straight and it really put things in perspective. When we took off from the dock on Sunday evening, I took a few pictures of the beauty we take for granted everytime we go boating. Here is Jim and Brenda cleaning up after the crew has left for the weekend.

And one last shot of the sun reflecting off the water as we slid across a beautiful lake on the way back to the marina.