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”

enchantless

Our property is no longer enchanted, at least where ticks are involved :-(

With shorter and warmer winters the ticks have been slowly moving into the area - at Kirsten's, just an hour away, the ticks are thick and it's not a surprise to pick one off a dog even though they have tick protection. Here at home though… I've seen one in all our years of living here… until a few days ago… Carm got in from cutting the grass with a little bugger just latching onto his leg. I got it off him right away so no chance to spread Lyme (we hope), but I've got it saved in a bag just in case.

And now we are fully in tick land… we arrived at the Ti Rally just before 1pm yesterday after an uneventful drive. Even the 401 was okay with hardly any traffic. I stretched the preparations out over a week so there was no stressful last push, in fact, even the last minute fridge stuff was loaded on Wednesday so it was an easy morning with just the tires to check before we hitched up. Oh sure, there were little odds and sods, but there was enough time to relax with coffee and have a good breakfast.

The dogs were excited and a bit energetic on their leashes for the first walk around the lake loop, the second time out was better, this morning was great, and this afternoon in the heat was even better. However we didn't pass any other dogs this morning - that is our challenge with Lupa! She did stand around with another dog yesterday without making a fuss so I take that as a win! Neither dog has had any training or even leash work since last summer at Kirsten's and I don't feel that walking down their road is much of a challenge - there are rarely other dogs.

Of course it's great to be here after pretty much missing two years! The crowd has thinned noticably and there are only 2 titaniums so far - there used to be close to 40! Most people have traded in - some for class-B’s (easier for travelling), some for giant new trailers, and some for smaller more mobile units. The last year titaniums were built was 2010 (which is when ours was built) so they have pretty much aged out. Ours is still in pretty good shape but we do have some delamination (a leak in the wall) and it needs a really good cleaning. I hope it will be our villetta for many years yet!

We took a chance this morning and left the dogs locked in the bedroom while we ventured out for some retail therapy! Carm scored a nice summer shirt and another golf shirt. Oh, and some badly needed sandals. I got a totally unneeded bathing suit! Well, not totally unneeded 😉 I'll wear it on our November DR vacation! We might have to make one more trip to the outlet centre to check out the Laura store :-)

Last night everyone went to Raxx for ribs - I stayed behind as I wasn't sure about leaving the dogs just yet. Tonight I joined everyone at Raxx (again!) for their banger steak special! It seems to me that they have an excellent wing night on another night…. who knows, maybe all the food I packed will stay uneaten!

Awesome!

“getting here in one piece!”

“spending time in the villetta”

“visiting with everyone”

“a beautiful morning walk”

“giant flock of Canada Geese with dozens of little babies”