HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hard to believe but it is that time of year again where you think back on 2018 and remember all the Good Things you did and some of the Things that you could have done better.  The latter are the ones I will "Try Harder" at in the coming New Year.  And I have all the confidence in the world that those Things will be the Good Things at the end of 2019.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve.  Be careful - don't drink and drive or text and drive or drive high.

I will be staying home this New Year's Eve with some friends and I hope I can stay awake to see the New Year arrive...

FROM SAND DUNES TO SNOWBALLS JUST LIKE THAT

The boys are on vacation this week in Bulgaria.  Where there is snow.  The boys have never seen snow before, or been that cold as a matter of fact.  These boys were born and brought up in Abu Dhabi where there is a lot of sand.
Jodie has sent us a video of Charlie sledding down the hill and laughing and loving it.  I think they have made the transition very easily.
Tish got them their outfits in England and they tried them on back in Abu Dhabi and they loved them.
When we face timed them this morning we showed Charlie our snow (Monty was fast asleep) and he wanted to come and live with us.  Any Time!
These little boys' passports are almost full I am sure.  They are good little travellers.
They wanted to build a snowman but the snow is mostly man made so it doesn't pack very well.  But I am sure their little snow angels are beautiful...

A SHOW OF APPRECIATION TO THE LADIES WHO LUNCH

Today was the day the Ladies Who Lunch had a turkey dinner prepared for them by The Diner, a restaurant in Iron Bridge in the Village Inn Motel complex.
Each month a group of local ladies get together and have lunch at various restaurants in our area.  We have gone all the way to Blind River at the 17 Restaurant, and to the Wharncliffe Hall for our lunches.  There is usually about 20-25 of us so we are a big group.  Erla organizes it and calls ahead to "warn" the chosen restaurant of our arrival.  We have gone to the Diner in Iron Bridge a few times so to show his appreciation for our business, the owner treated us to a delicious turkey dinner with all the fixings and desert!!
So, if you are ever travelling down highway 17 and pass thru Iron Bridge and are looking for a good meal, stop at the Diner - Chhagan and Daxa will take good care of you.
We will definitely be back!!!

LADIES' LUNCHEON

The Ladies' Luncheon was held yesterday at the 17 Restaurant in Blind River and it was a full house. They always put us in our own special room at the back and it was very nicely decorated and the table was set up with Christmas decorations and place mats.  We exchanged gifts and everything went home with a special gift.  Even tho there were a lot of us, we were served our meals all together and within a very reasonable length of time.  And the regular restaurant was full when we arrived.  Excellent service.
It is always nice to get together with everyone and catch up on all the new news and the luncheon held in December is always popular with the Ladies.
We will all be getting together again next week as one of our restaurants we visit during the year is showing their appreciation by hosting a turkey dinner for the Ladies.  I bet it is well attended.  I am going for sure.

KEITH AT THE TUNNEL LAKE TRADING POST

Keith always decorates the Post for Christmas and I promised Mark I would get a picture of it for my blog.
First I got this great picture of Keith showing off his bare bummed Santa Claus.  Keith has a laugh that fills the air with joy that you have to join in.  And I don't know how he has not broken the counter tops from him hammering his fists on it when he laughs.  He is a joy to be around.

BAD ELF

I am not up to date on this Elf on a Shelf thing but kids and parents certainly are.  Jodie sent me her Elf's escapades.
The boys' pictures are not safe I see.  Altho I kind of think they look cute with some facial hair.  I give the Elf a "5"
The next picture is of the Elf causing some sh-t in the fridge.  I would be a bit freaked to open my fridge to see all my groceries staring back at me.  Little sh-t disturber.  He gets a "2" for that one
And when I first saw the last picture, I thought all the elephants and dinosaurs and giraffes and moose and horses had all ganged up on Mr. Elf and had him cornered.  But on taking a closer look, I see that the Elf is telling them all a story.  How sweet.  I give him a "10" for that one.

I bet Charlie and Monty can't wait to see what Mr. Elf has gotten himself into each day.  They believe in him.

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

Finally got the bird feeder up and going and it appears one little squirrel has discovered how to jump on it from the tree.  They usually just feed on the seeds dropped on the ground.  This apparently is not allowed and Rejean set out this morning to fix it.  You can see the squirrel on the tree in the third picture quite close to Rejean.  He was probably a little upset he had been shooed from his perch.  Rejean got the ladder out to move the feeder further from the tree so that should put an end to the feeder perch.  We shall see.
We are getting a bunch of snow today - expecting 15 cm but I am sure it will be more than that.  Looks nice  Nice day to just stay inside and do nothing.

MOONLIGHT MADNESS IN BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN THESSALON

First off dinner at the Thessalon Legion.  The last Friday of each month (except December, July and August) the Legion holds their fish fry.  All you can eat  pickles, buns, cole slaw, baked potato and delicious fish and a vanilla ice cream sundae with your choice of strawberry or butterscotch topping - and you put it on yourself so you can put a lot on!!!  As expected, it was very busy.  Al always provides a table for us in the basement right by the bar.  We have our very own white plastic table cloth and salt and pepper shakers.  We sit downstairs until one of us goes up the stairs and checks where the line up is.  If it is too long, we stay downstairs and drink until someone goes up again to check out the line up.  We decided to get in line because it wasn't going down any.  It is part of the process - standing in line and socializing and people watching.  It makes the line up go faster.  The guys usually stay downstairs and some of us get them a plate when we get ours.  I admit I have done it a few times and I did it that nite too.  He owes me big time!!!
The food is always delicious and always the same thing each month.  But the fish fry closest to Christmas the lady who does the ice cream scooping provides sprinkles for the ice cream sundaes.  I put some of everything on mine - it was very very good.
The first picture is of John and our favourite Christmas elf Lynn who always volunteers at the fish fry.
Next picture is of the line up at it's longest - right to the door!!
Next is of the kitchen staff who do such a great job with the fish and keeping the supply coming to keep those lineups moving.
Next is Diane and her faux fur vest that she got from Linda who got it from "My Sister's Closet" and it really was from her sister's closet.  Looked great on Diane and kept her warm too.
Next is of the fish being distributed to all the patient customers.  It comes right from the deep fryer to the line up and you get 4 generous pieces but it is all you can eat so you can come back as many times as you want.
Next is my plate - I know - ketchup on fish - but I like it.  I ate my bun while I was standing in line and there were no pickles left and I didn't want a baked potato.
Next is the Ice Cream Lady with all her sprinkles set up.  The cherries were the first to go but lots of the other stuff - broken up oreos, chocolate and butterscotch chips, smashed smarties and sprinkles.  Yum Yum.
Next was the camp fire set up along main street manned by the Thessalon Fire Fighters
And a busy nite at Beggs Funeral Home where a few tables were set up for arts and crafts.  I bought a neat fishing lure and a little owl necklace.
It was a very busy nite in downtown Thessalon.  We met the guys at the Sinton having a beer and left from there.  It is always a fun nite.

NAILED IT

Looks like Monty Moo will be the artist in the family.
Jodie says it looks exactly like her - I haven't seen her in a few months so...maybe...

ST PETE BEACH FUN

Well it is over for another year - our annual Sisters' trip to St Pete Beach Florida.  The weather was fabulous for the two weeks except for the last two days that were a bit chilly but we made the most of it.  We had our Tuesday shopping day.  We rent a car and hit all our favourite stores.  Tuesdays are Senior Days at a few of them and do we get the bargains!!!  For the rest of the time, we bought weekly Trolley passes and rode the Trolleys to our destinations.  You meet the most interesting people on the Trolleys.
We had Bloody Marys at Hurricane's one morning for breakfast.  They were delicious!!  We watched some amazing sunsets with our wine glasses.  We tried some new restaurants this time and also visited some of our old favourites.
We only walked the beach once this year and didn't go sit by the water.  There is the Red Tide going on right now and we could feel the effects in our burning eyes and coughing at times.  But we always enjoyed the view from the Bon Aire loungers.
Being on vacation with Susan and Joanne is always something I look forward to.  And this year was no exception.  The time spent with them is time I treasure.  Nothing in life is guaranteed and when you get opportunities to spend time with loved ones, take it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

They do celebrate Halloween in Abu Dhabi as you can see from these two little Spider Men.

I wonder if Dave will be joining them in his costume.

Trick or Treat!!

JUST NOT MEANT TO BE

First picture is of our recent snowfall - always a special day when that happens!!  We had been waiting for good weather to try and get up to Hinckler and we finally decided to leave Wednesday and come home on Friday or Saturday.  The weather looked like it would co-operate.  We got a nice run in on Wednesday and got 5 birds.  It was chilly!!!
We returned to the trailer for dinner and a movie and finally all got to bed about 10pm - the furnace was working fine.  It had been acting up before.  At 1:30 in the morning Rick realized there was no heat.  We got a small heater out and survived til morning.  After our run in the morning and breakfast, we packed up and headed home.  Oh and I might add the furnace worked fine when we returned for breakfast!!!  Go figure.
It was disappointing but at least we got a total of 6 birds and had a lot of fun out on the trails.
We will for sure get that stupid furnace fixed!!!!!

STUFF GOING ON

It is always a sad day when you have to put the boat away.  But the long range weather shows no good day to get it out again so away she goes.  Rejean MacGyvered
 the bucket on the tractor to receive the trailer hitch on the boat trailer - much easier backing it into the storage shed and it just fit inside the shed.  We had to move the riding lawn mower to the other garage to make room for the boat - talk about shuffling stuff.

With all this rain we have been having there were wash outs and sink holes up Highway 129.  They were up by Chapeau and Hinckler Road - nothing around our area.  But there are no detours once you get past certain spots so they close the road.  The Ministry Road Patrol got a logging truck that tried to slip past the sign.  It is a good thing as he could have caused more damage plus be stranded until they get the road repaired.  I got home via Iron Bridge Road.  No signs there of the closed highway - besides, I was only going home.

Jason and Steve were up for a week of rain.  They said they had a good time and I believe them.  We did have a fun ride and they managed to stay busy.  We visited with them on their last night here.  The top picture is of Steve's view of our lake - I think it may be the best view.  The next picture is of Stacey and Andrew's cabin and ours is to the right of theirs barely visible.  And finally the guys gathered on Steve's front porch in front of his bunkie.
And you can see there are still brilliant colours to be seen right now.

And this is coming up....