Serenity NOW!

If you are a Seinfeld fan, then you will probably recognize that phrase.... George's father was famous for screaming it at the top of his lungs, when ever he needed some peace.... ironic that!

So as I type this, I'm sitting in a cute little coffee shop in the Muskoka's ...... with free WiFi ....

sounds quaint doesn't it? don't let that fool you....

it is 4:07 .... and the place just emptied out .... it was full of kids... two moms and what seemed like a dozen kids... in reality... it was only 4 kids...... one new born, and three kindergarten aged kids...

while I was having a coffee and my lunch ( i know... 4 pm is late for lunch... pfff ) anyway... I'm minding my own business, trying hard to concentrate on my emails and trying unsuccessfully to log into the network at work.... but in the end being frazzled to the point of total frustration....

those four kids and the two "should-be" moms have everybody in here on edge...

the funny part of all that is , as it usually is, that one kid was the ring leader.....

stirring up the others..... hiding around the corner scaring people, running back and forth.....completely out of control!!

As her mother screamed at her incessantly and without any effect what so ever, I smirked at the irony of the whole thing...... for this child... the ring leader and disturber.......

is aptly named "Serenity".......

and now you know the rest of the story!

Finally some sun in Gravenhurst

was overcast and rainy for 3 days almost... was starting to feel like the sun had gone south for the winter!!

dangling......

For whatever reason.. this struck me funny..... you can't swim from the bridge... that'd be DANGLING.... you must jump IN to the water... pffffff

i know... i spend too much time alone! Weird things amuse me!

Fall

I love fall.... took this today ... it was very overcast.. i brightened up the photo a little bit.... the colours were brilliant .... but the photos turned out gloomy cause of the clouds...

The rain made the colours even more brilliant...

sigh... I guess you had to be there!

Arachnophobia......

I'm not normally afraid of spiders.... but this guy gave me the heeby jeebies ....

I was inspecting a cottage on Rice Lake today.... and couldn't get to the front door because of thissssssssssssssssssssssssss :

Groggggggggg

Early to bed
early to rise
makes a man healthy
wealthy and wise....


so said my mom.....


my take on that is this:

Late late to bed
early to rise
makes a man grumpy
with blur in his eyes

I'm just sayin........

Am I the only one that finds this funny???

Gravenhurst

I am in Gravenhurst tonight... inspected my way here today, and am heading North tomorrow... Saw some pretty sights at the wharf tonight....

This boat was owned ( and commissioned ) by Mrs Timothy Eaton ..... way cool boat.... Click here to see a description

I'm BACKKKKKK

It's been so long since I blogged, I don't even know where to begin!

Last Wednesday, at the last minute, I decided to go to the Quartet Convention....

I left Bracebridge around 4:30 pm.... Drove to Niagara on the Lake, picked up my buddy Steve, and left for Kentucky....

We got as fas as Ashland, Ohio, which is about an hour from Columbus... it was getting on towards 2 am... .I was yawning lots, and steve was getting plenty nervous!! So we stopped!

The next day we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and got into Louisville at about 2:30 ....

We stayed 3 nights at a Holiday Inn... in Indiana ( about 9 miles north of the Fair and Expo Grounds, where the NQC was ..... ) ... the motels there were almost $50 cheaper per night than the Hotels near the airport/Fair grounds...

The convention was incredible.... I have lots and lots of photos on facebook, which you can see here :


Album 1 - The Trip

Album 2 - Thursday Night Concert

Album 3 - Touring downtown Louisville

Album 4 - Celebrity Sightings

Album 5 - Friday Concert

Mom and Dad were not able to go this year.... It felt weird not having them there....I took a lot of photos so they could experience at least some of it...

and then I remembered that they had subscribed to the online web feed and watched more of the 6 days worth of concerts than I DID!

it was a wonderful trip... Steve and I have vowed to do more road trips...

if for no other reason, to enjoy the cinnamon buns at Holiday Inn !!!

Kentucky Bound

Honk.............

so I'm on my way north on Thickson Road today... heading to Orillia....

and this blue van pulls up in the turn lane beside me....

I'd been in la la land, as per usual ...Music playing, cruise control on, and the sun roof open....

When the light went red, I thought...." I have 30 seconds for a nap" .....and I was about to ...when the guy in the blue van honks on the horn.....

WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!

and I looked over.... and it was David .....my sister's husband...

He smiled the prettiest smile... he must think I have his name for Christmas!!!

While we caught up on family news, the light changed.....

The guy behind him , however, wasn't quite as patient as most... and laid on the horn...

David immediately turned right and drove away...

the guy behind him pulled up and as he past me gave me a nasty glare!

so..............I smiled.... and blew him a kiss....

hey... you never know.. that guy might have MY name for Christmas!!!

GPS

my GPS had a stroke today.... while i was inspecting.... it went completely screwy......

and just so you know... I tried to follow the map below..... and got lost !!

The Long and the Short of it....

While I was inspecting near Marmora on Monday, I saw this way cool oversized tricycle used to pedal in the water.... I've seen pictures but never one up close.....

At the very next next inspection, I saw this undersized Snowmobile....

In marmora.... Size matters......

it's just that they got the wires backwards!

A Clean Desk ....

is a sign of a sick mind....... that was what I was always told, anyway!!

Last night, I spent the night at my folks in Belleville... I got to visit with my Uncle Robert and Aunt Marie.. who I've not seen in a couple of years..

I also had a visit with Isaac and Eva ( my nephew and niece )....
Isaac is 5 and Eva is 3 .......

The 3 of us got banished to the basement cause we were playing upstairs and it got pretty noisy....

I brought them to the basement and set up my laptop... thinking I would work while they were watching a Winnie the Pooh movie...

right..... good plan...

....didn't work!


They found too many little treasures to play with on the desk ..... the flashlight on my key chain and the swiss army scissors were of particular interest to Eva.... who thought it would be fun to make little cuts in her jean shorts... Sorry Tanya!!

the favourite thing on the desk though... was the Bostitch box of staples...... full sleeves of staples... which they dumped and proceeded to break in tiny little pieces...
To quote Eva.... " I LIKE THISSSSSSSSSSSS"
sigh!!

After soaking up the time with them, and loving every second of it... I looked over at them and said..

" know what guys??"

They looked up and I said... " I LOVE YOU"

and with a puzzled look, Eva said... " you love US????"

it was sooooooooooooo cute!!

sigh..... Yes Eva ( and Isaac ) .... we love YOU!

My Uncle's Farm

This is the farm where my mom grew up in Quebec....


This is Uncle Mac .... mom's younger brother.....




This is the first view we always had of the barn as we entered the laneway.... my kids LOVE that barn!

This is Jonathon, my cousin and Uncle Mac
The view of the barns.... fromUncle Mac's new house on the hill....


My cousin Cindy posted these on her facebook... brought back a lot of wonderful memories of the "farm" .....

sigh

A Truck Load of Antiques....

When I was on the 401 on my way home to Brantford Friday night, this truck passed me......... I was quite fascinated with all of the stuff on his truck... if you click on the picture, you can check out some of the stuff.....a little red wagon, what looked like old church windows, a horse, some sort of boot thing.... a cool old sign and some neat ginger bread.....
I changed lanes to get behind him so I could get better pictures....
I was having such a good time watching him through my camera viewfinder.... that I was shocked to find that all of a sudden everything in the view finder was much much closer.....

Thinking I'd zoomed in without realizing it, I pushed the camera away from my face... only to realize the guy had changed lanes and was in front of me...



Guess I"ll quit taking picture while I'm driving, for a while anyway!!