home again in both places

It's blistering hot out today which is awesome because we are home and the water in the pool is the perfect temperature, cool but not cold. I had my first outdoor shower of the summer! Hurrah! It maybe wasn't so great for Carm as he started to tackle mowing the long grass… he got the front done, muscling the hand mower for over one and a half hours.

The last few days of the rally have melded into one reel of scattered memories. Tuesday night we joined everyone at a Bavarian restaurant for schnitzel and borscht - both were delicious. I think I skipped the campfire that night - I was mentally done! 

Wednesday morning we did the normal coffee gathering and from there I joined Candi, Fran, and Hazel for a little shopping trip to the outlet stores. It was a lot of fun! It was great having a few extra eyes to give feedback - Carm always says everything looks great - which I know is not true - so it's not the most helpful. These ladies gave awesome feedback! 

I tend to not join in to group activies… I'm not sure why, maybe slight shyness or awkwardness. Maybe slightly low self-esteem and the fear that I won't fit in. You'd think that with a childhood of moving schools every 2 years that I'd be good at developing friendships but I never learned that skill. I remember many times as a child standing at the edge of groups but being too anxious to join in. It's strange because in general I'm fairly self confident (or at least I think I am). I stepped outside my comfort zone more this trip and I'm so glad that I did. I got to know a few more people better which left me feeling that I'd missed out on knowing them all these years! It's a lesson to be learned!

I even joined the ‘games’ afternoon and had a blast! John had organized 5 games: bocci, corn hole (such a strange name!), ladder ball, ping pong into cups, and finally kicking a soccer ball through a maze. It was lots of fun even without alcohol and even though I was pathetic!

The crazy thing is, everyone is lovely and so inclusive!

Finally at the end of the day Wednesday, everyone piled into trucks for the farewell dinner at the Mandarin restaurant. It was a huge ‘Chinese’ food buffet - of course they had the regular stuff like chicken balls and fried rice (hard pass on both), but there were tons of stir fry type dishes, a decent General Tao chicken, and a myriad of shrimp dishes. There was also freshly carved roast beef. Oh, and a bit of sushi. I went up THREE times! We sat with Mark & Marilyn, and Terry & Hazel. We know Mark & Marilyn quite well but this was the first year that we'd spent much time with Terry & Hazel - they are so much fun!

Thursday we got up early and after a walk and a coffee started packing up. After our good-byes we were on the road towards Kirsten's at about 10:20, arriving there around 11:30. Carm backed the trailer into the driveway like a pro and then drove straight into our ‘spot’ hitting the exact place that puts us level! Even the satellite dish was easy. It's great to be there - it feels like home and I LOVE our coffee mornings with Kirsten! Mom, Dad, and Aunty Kristine arrived a few hours later for a visit, and then at dinner time we got together with Kirsten, Shawn, and Nissa for pizza before retiring for an early night.

Both Shawn and Carm picked up a tick somewhere on the laneway 😞 Freaked out a bit by that!

Now that we are home, it's time to get back on track with eating! We ate like crazy, and nothing particularly healthy - there was barely a vegetable to be seen!

Awesome!

“shopping with the girls”

“getting to Kirsten & Shawn's”

“seeing Aunt Kristine”

“a great slice of pizza”

“getting home”

lazy day

Today the summer sun is blazing in the sky - it's a warm high 20s - too hot for a really long afternoon walk but we did amble the lake loop, taking our time and pausing in the shade occasionally. The dogs didn't seem too bothered but I didn't want to stress them. 

We fed them early tonight as we were meeting up with everyone at a restaurant about 25 minutes from here - they’ll have a bit of time to digest and won't feel stressed by hunger while I lock them into the bedroom. They are really calming down - I think they are exhausted! But Lupa is still pretty interested in other dogs but passes some without too much excitement.

And Lupa does make some noise when we leave them :-(

This afternoon as we wandered down the back forty road I let myself be immersed in the moment. A breeze warmed by the sun caressed my bare arms. The smells and sounds of summer were heavy in the air. The fragrance of grass drying in the sun combined with the odd flowering shrub for a perfume that would sell millions if only it could be bottled up. Birds were lazily singing their songs of joy. I tried to soak up every ounce in the hopes that I can conjure up the experience on a day that isn't so wonderful.

In the distance was a small flock of swans - floating white dots on a sea of blue. Yesterday I saw close to a hundred out farther on the lake! The giant family of Canada Geese must have moved on to another part of the lake but the evidence of their presence was still visible on the road!

Awesome!

“huge flocks of swans"

“a leisurely morning coffee with the dogs chilling out on the grass”

“a few quiet hours in the afternoon”

“our site is booked for next year”

under stormy skies

The days here in Kingston have been passing by quickly. Saturday we went back to the outlet stores with Marilyn and Mark - I left them with Carm at the Columbia store and I deekd off to spent a sack full of money at La Vie en Rose! Everyone else came out of the various stores with bags of dresses and shirts. Happy shoppers!

Storms were threatening the evening so Marilyn and Mark brought their supper over to ‘our place’ for a sharing supper - sort of an informal pot luck! Luckily we had kept tabs on the radar so we set up the table inside - we were toasty and warm while it bucketted rain outside. After the dishes were done, we played a fun game called ‘Mexican Train’. We'd never even heard of it before but it was great fun - we'll be purchasing a game when we get home! Perhaps I thought it was fun because I won 2 out of the 3 games 😉 Winning is always fun!

Sunday morning was still a bit drizzly so we took a quick walk first thing. By mid morning it was drier so we headed out on another walk. My mind is foggy though - I know we joined the coffee group for a while in the morning. Christine and I took the dogs on a one hour walk at noon. Then at some point we gathered again. Then it was time for a pre supper walk for the dogs (so many walks as Adia hadn't pooped yet! and never did yesterday…). Then it was time to get cooking for the pot luck supper. I brought Greek potatoes which are super easy to make. I pre-make the seasoning packet so just have to cut up some baby potatoes - no peeling - toss them with the seasonings, juice of a lemon, and some stock into the instant pot. Cook for 10 minutes, release pressure. Remove potatoes, add butter and reduce. Spoon sauce over potatoes. 

The supper gathering was a far cry from years past when the picnic tables would be lined up in a long row - there must have been more than 10 tables all those years ago. Last night there were 4 tables and one of them only had 2 people at it… But even with fewer people, there was a ton of food! And everyone is such a good cook! I ate so much that I barely had room for dessert and certainly no room for a bedtime snack!

The dogs have been steadily getting better. They are nowhere near being as good as the ‘old dogs’ were, but considering the time they've spent camping I think they've handled it very well! I think walking 15,000+ steps a day is helping them be a bit more calm 😉  I even brought them over to the gathering tent this morning where they eventually settled on the blanket that I laid out for them. They remembered a bit of ‘hop it up’ from a few years ago… still, a work in progress.

Today the sun is shining - it is an absolutely glorious day - clear blue sky, not too hot, not too much wind. Perfect for walking! Carm and I did the lake loop first thing this morning, then at 1 Christine and I took the dogs through the whole park for a good hour long walk! Everyone was dragging their feet when we got back - thankfully it’s not too hot. The dogs got another pre-dinner lake loop which is about a 20 minute walk at a slowish walking pace - I think it tracked at 2500 steps on my fitbit. And then of course a shorter bedtime walk. I'm certain that they will both crash for days when we get home! As it is, the walks are getting less and less exciting for them…

Marilyn and Mark joined us for supper again tonight - this time outside under the gorgeous blue sky. It was a perfect evening… until the mosquitoes started their onslaught! Still, I braved the ‘campfire’ till past 9:30.

Awesome!

“walking with Christine”

“supper with friends”

“Adia walking past the guinea fowl without too much trouble (much better than yesterday)”

“perfect morning”

“getting a nice compliment”