Good Things Gro–o-o-w . . . in Ontario

Well, I finally got my fresh Ontario strawberries!

They followed this mouth watering Prime Rib . . .

Grilled to perfection by The Cowboy along with garlic baked potatoes & onions – another of The Cowboy’s specialties. I was too busy eating to take photos but the sides of fresh asparagus and tomato/cucumber salad with Italian dressing and feta cheese were scrumptious as well!

Joining us for this summer-time meal was Nancy and her daughter, Suzanne.

Remember what I said about the camera? It’s like everybody froze – mid air!

The other pretty lady at the table is our niece Natalie.

Lots of good food, visiting and chatting with lots of laughs . . . that is until the camera comes out!

And that busy little girl in the background is Natalie’s daughter – our great niece Kiera.

As soon as dinner is over – what else is there to do in a campground?

Well it must be time to roast marshmallows.

Sounds easy right?

Well first off we need to be very patient and wait for the fire to be started:

then the perfect giant roasting stick had to be found for the giant marshmallows:

Ahhhh . . . the anticipation . . . VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Finally the tasting!

and the Sharing . . .

Now that’s what summer is all about!

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Now for a little photography fun

My everyday ‘go-to’ camera is a Lumix Panasonic that has taken literally, thousands of pictures.

 

 

It’s a mid sized camera with a 12X zoom that’s easy to grab and just point and shoot.

 

Then every once in a while I put on my big girl panties and reach for this one:

 

My Nikon D-80 DSLR with a wide angle lens as well as a zoom lens.

I haven’t taken the time to experiment much with it and the settings are still on ‘Auto’.

 

A friend of mine even gave me a couple of filters for it – I have no idea what the filters will do!

It’s a much larger camera and not as easy to carry around – especially for the type of photos that I take. I prefer candid as opposed to posed shots preferring behind the scenes rather than shooting the main event. I think you can capture the more natural side of people.

Admittedly, it’s hard to be inconspicuous when you’re lugging around a 10 pound piece of equipment

Yesterday I shot a few flowers - next to kids, my favourite subject . . .

That one is SOOC – Straight out of the camera.

Then with a little editing in Picasa, the next 3 are the same photo.

Now a simple Tiger Lily – same thing – the first one is SOOC:

Just a few more random shots:

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day out there and doing exactly what your heart desires.

Thanks to all of you who follow our blog and encouraging us to continue blogging by leaving your beautiful comments.

We Love You All!

With a little help from our friends . . .

That should actually read ‘with a WHOLE LOTTA help from our friends’ but I don’t think that’s a song title.

Ron & Carla and their two little boys were the previous residents of our current site. They purchased a large mobile home next door and are making that their summer cottage. They had this gazebo set up on this lot but have no use for it in their new space so we bought it from them.

 

The frame was already erected and here’s Ron helping us attach the netting and canvas walls.

 

 

A bit intimidating but this is what our next project looked like.

Kennedy and Elizabeth, here in the park replaced these patio stones with a nice large wooden deck on their park model. Fitting in with The Cowboy’s future plans for our site and always on the look out for a bargain we made a deal and bought all 174 of them!

 

At the very least we saved the delivery charge since the stones were already here in the park.

 

 

 

 

Well, they were here in the park but not exactly on our site so we loaded up our trusty little red pick up truck (several times) and with the help of our neighbours managed to get a few of them in place and the rest of them stacked up for future projects.

Our ‘Eveready’ friends Jim & Linda are always here to lend a helping hand.

Then there’s Nurse Nancy who is obviously no stranger to the runway. Proudly making her debut here with the very latest and trendiest style of work wear. Notice how the work gloves complement the socks and shoes? She is the epitome of Trailer Park fashion!

 

We wouldn’t normally put this much time and effort into just any site but we are really feeling that this is perhaps our permanent summer place.

If and when . . . and I’m sure a lot of our RV’er friends go through the same thought process . . . what’s next? When we are no longer able to drive the motorhome (notice I said ‘we’? – more on that later) we do have a Plan B.

 

Ideally, we would like to be set up with a place somewhere in the southern states with warmer climates where we can spend our winter months. The other 6 or 7 months would find us here in southern Ontario in our summer place.

We not only love our new site but we also think the location of this park is one of the best areas for our needs and wants at this time. (We know Shy and Dave feel it’s quite a drive from London but we also know that they feel the hour and a half drive is ‘soooo’ worth it.)

Among other things we are only about 10 minutes away from the greatest fishing and boating spots on Lake Erie. There will be more on the ‘great fishing’ in a later post as Bass Season opens here on Saturday.

I just hope my camera has a large enough lens to capture all the shots of The Cowboy’s catch. He’s already told me they won’t be gone long. It should only take them an hour or so to catch their limit.

Early Dad’s Day

Blue skies with lots of sunshine surrounded our day on Saturday as we celebrated an early Father’s Day.

Son-In-Law Dave did an excellent job at grilling up some burgers to go along with our baked beans and potato salad. The kids even supplied the burgers and buns.

Since Shy & Dave have been together we try and double up on the family events when we can so Dave’s Dad – Dave Senior and Lynn also joined us for the day. Puzzled as to how to refer to our son-in-law’s Dad?!? When we first met we discovered that we have a great deal in common and have become very good friends – so we just call him ‘Friend’ and he is a good one at that!  We always have a great time when we are together.

The Cowboy has plans to build a big shed on our lot so Shy crafted up a sign that seems very appropriate.

She also gave her Dad this hint . . . She has given us so many wedding decorations and Cowboy themed gifts for our upcoming nuptials – What is it with kids these days that seem to think their parents should be married? Sheesh!

And no we have not set a date yet – but when we do – trust me! I will let everyone know.

After dinner had settled a bit we enjoyed some dessert around the campfire – fresh strawberry shortcake – oh wait a minute . . . no we didn’t. My (favourite?) son-in-law Dave didn’t bring the strawberries so we had angel food cake with lemon & dream whip frosting with slivered almonds topping it off. Delicious – but would have been much better with fresh strawberries.

Why does everyone completely ignore me when I have the camera in my hand?

Well, before the end of the day I was able to find some subjects that weren’t quite so camera shy.

We were treated to some cute little tricksters. It was Halloween for the little people at Trillium Court.

I wasn’t able to get pictures of all of them but I did snag a few.

We had about 30 little visitors . . .  some a bit scary . . .

while some were just darn cute!

This little guy was dressed up as his favourite animal – a beaver. (I didn’t really notice until I inserted this photo his little beaver mouth – too cute!)

And isn’t it amazing what lengths some people will go to for a candy apple?

 

Sure makes ya wonder what else she’s got in that loot bag!

Ah well – the trailer park life

 

What happens in Trillium Court – Stays in Trillium Court!

 

 

 

As the day came to a close we did manage to sneak in a few more photos for our memory albums.

Dave Senior and Dave Junior:

The Cowboy and Shy:

The wonderful loving bond of father and daughter.

A belated wish to all of the men out there . . . whether you are a Dad, Grandfather, a wanna-be Father or play the role of a Dad . . .we hope you had a great day and spent it doing the things you wanted to do with the ones you Love!

Our New Home – Before and After

After all that work getting our first lot ready to move in we only stayed there for a couple of weeks before we were presented with the opportunity to move to a different site. The Cowboy has had his eye on this one since we moved in to this park last year. Offering much more space and a wonderful ravine setting we jumped at the chance.

It’s difficult to see in the next photo but that is our home backing up the road to it’s new location.

Since we are the only motorhome in the park it usually draws a lot of attention.

 

 

Neighbours are always surprised when The Cowboy backs in and lines it up so straight – first time. Every time.

 

 

We’ve transplanted some bushes and plants and happily accepted donations from friends – including the usual hostas and other perennials as well as some daffodils, irises, chives and lemon basil. We bought a few of our favourite annuals to add some colour.

 

We’ve hit a few yard sales – this is one of my finds for a $1.00! It’s actually upside down in this picture, while it gets a coat of paint. That $1.00 included the glass top for it as well!

 

We have a recycle/upcycle section here at the park where we scrounge for (and donate) treasures too.

 

 

Amazing what a can of Tremclad will do . .  this particular can of ‘Springtime Green’ was on sale at Canadian Tire for $5.33. 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve added a few bird feeders . . .

and once we figure out how to keep the chipmunks and squirrels away from the feeders, life will be just fine. I don’t mind feeding the little critters but the chipmunks especially, like to fill their little cheeks then scamper away to hide it for the winter. Well, the bird seed will rot and not be edible this winter for anyone. Neighbours have suggested greasing the poles so we may try that. The other night a squirrel climbed up the tree and knocked the finch feeder off the bracket spilling the seed all over the ground. The Cowboy found the (almost empty) feeder under the motorhome the next morning. The busy little hummingbirds are keeping us amused too with their flitting about.

There’s a little creek at the bottom of the ravine at the back of our site. We are really enjoying the peace and serenity that Mother Nature delivers to us every day.

The Cowboy moved the fire pit from the back of the yard closer to the front so that it was in a more sociable location. He also moved the 8 large patio stones around it too.

He is still in pain and continues to take medication but he’s eating better and getting stronger every day. Moving to this site has kind of forced him to be more physical with all the set up and making the site ‘ours’. He tires easily but most days he’s down to one nap in the afternoon. However, it wasn’t unusual for him to nap after lunch before all of this treatment began.

Okay so now for effect, I’m showing a photo of our lot ‘before’ we moved here followed by the ‘after’ shot.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay . . . are you ready?

 

 

 

 

 

Wait for it . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drum Roll please! . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Keep scrolling . . .

 

 

 

 

 

It’s coming . . .

 

 

 

 

TAAAAA   DAAAAH!!!

The next posts will hopefully include pictures of us, our families, friends and neighbours enjoying the fire pit, eating at the new patio set on the large deck and having fun in the gazebo.

But who’s counting?

After such a long absence it’s hard to know where to start up again . . .

First and foremost, of course, is The Cowboy’ progress . . . it has been very slow. We are both surprised that it has taken this long for him to turn that corner but I think we can honestly say that he is improving. He’s not as fatigued as he was, still enjoying his afternoon nap and sometimes an early evening rest but for the most part he is up more than he is down. Mentally too, spirits are good and his sense of humor . . . well, he still laughs harder at his own jokes than the rest of us do. So I guess it’s safe to say that some things are back to normal.

It’s only been about this last week that his appetite started coming back. I’m happy to report that he has been eating much better. Almost full meals . . . in fact the last couple of days he has actually been doing some of the cooking. Yesterday, for brunch he fixed us a wonderful omelet and tonight he took over the kitchen again and treated us to a delicious stir-fry. Bean sprouts have been a favorite of his lately. Not much nutrition but they are easy for him to chew and swallow.

His throat is still very tender and he’s careful to chew everything well. He continues to take pain medication and is still making sure he drinks his protein drinks. His voice is still barely more than a whisper, some days stronger than others.

He’s not running any marathons yet but he’s slowly gaining back his strength. We stroll through the park a couple of times a day and we’ve had a few outings recently where we’ve been away from home for longer periods altho’ we’re still careful in avoiding large crowds.

There are no words to express how great it feels for us to be back among our families and friends. We’ve seen our wonderful kids, brothers, sisters but only a couple of nieces and nephews so we’ll make up for that real soon. Friends are keeping their visits short so as not to tire out The Cowboy. Everyone has been so considerate usually calling ahead to make arrangements for a good time to visit.

It also feels awesome to be welcomed back into our seasonal park with our summer friends and neighbours. Such a great community feeling!

Trillium Court Trailer Park, Port Rowan, Ontario.

Ontario chose the white trillium as its provincial flower in 1937. This white flower grows in the forest in the springtime.

It is called the trillium because it has three petals & three leaves. The “tri-“ part of trillium means three.

Last year we were parked in a temporary pull thru site waiting for a permanent site to open up. At the end of the season one became available. Even tho’ it’s a small lot we decided it was better than where we were so we convinced ourselves we could make it work for us. And so were our friends that came out to help us get it cleaned up and in shape for us.

We trimmed and pruned a lot of the overgrown bushes and trees, transplanted a few of the neglected perennials and took down a partial latticed fence which opened up the space quite a bit.

There’s lots more news but it’s too much for one post so we’ll close here for tonight. A couple of things I’ve read about blogging is that you should never apologize for not posting and to try and keep the posts around 500 words. . . I’m now at 656.

Hope all is well out there in Blog land. I’ve been trying to catch up on following everyone else’s posts but I still have a ways to go.

Take Care Everyone and God Bless All of You!