What a fun week we have had. Early in the week John’s room mate from his college days and his wife, came for a couple of days. The end of the week brought our grandson, Jack, and his two football buddies for their last weekend together before they all head off to college. Tradition in this household has been that upon graduation you get to shoot a champagne cork off the corner of the porch. It has been a few years since we have had a graduation in the family so when Jack and his pals arrived we had a handy bottle of champagne and the three of them got to fire away. Most of the champagne came out of the bottle at the same time but it really wasn’t about drinking the fizzy stuff but more about the ceremony. In Canada they were all legally allowed to drink and they certainly found time to go to the local pub and sample some of the wares there. They walked!!! It was such fun to have them here laughing and leaping off the dock and the raft, heading out to pick up burgers and fries in the boat, and generally eating and drinking the house dry. I have never seen three young men eat as much as these guys do and they don’t put on an ounce. Must be all that weight training they are doing to get in shape for football. We loved having them here and hope they will come again.

Louise Penny, Knowlton and The Abbey

We had a wonderful time with John’s college room mate Steve and his wife Kathy while they were here too. We got a long walk in one day, a boat ride with the dogs on a lovely calm day, and a day trip to Knowlton for lunch and to check out Louise Penny’s books in the local bookstore. All of us are fans of her books. For Steve and Kathy it was fun to see where each year Louise and the owners of the bookstore Brome Lake Books, Danny and Lucy, will launch her new book on August 27th. To continue in that vein, after lunch we drove over to the Saint Benoit Abbey which is on Lake Memphremagog about an hour from us. We did a short tour and then went into the store that is on the property. The monks make wonderful cheese, cider, chocolate and fruit compotes. For years our favorite cheese has been a gruyere that is made there so I bought a very large piece, you might say half a wheel. Hopefully this will last us for awhile!

Just to make sure we didn’t sit still this week at all, we threw in an overnight trip to New Hampshire, Thursday and Friday. We left after the Parkers left and we arrived home about a half an hour before the boys got here. Very efficient timing.

Walking Some but Not As Much As I Would Like

I managed to get in a few walks this week. Not as many as I would like but enough. One of my standard, basic walks is through town, along the lake road, up a hill to the golf course turn around and then I do it in reverse. On Monday I did that walk and all was fine. On Wednesday I did the same route and found this in my way. We did not have a storm or any big winds so I think the tree branch just got tired and fell off. It’s almost as if someone tried to break it off but couldn’t quite finish the job. I am sure that is not the case as it is a very large branch but I am curious as to what happened.

On one of the walks we ran into these canoes filled with little ones, some of whom are my great nieces, trying to negotiate their way around the shoreline. Not necessarily the most successful canoeing but they were certainly having fun. We could hear them chattering to each other and when I took the picture, one of the voices said “hey, they are taking our picture” to which the counselor replied, “it’s ok, they are Bry’s grandparents.” True, as my brother, who is the grandfather, was with me at the time and after all I am the great-aunt! Out of the mouths of babes.

Annual Trip to Northern Ontario

This week we depart for our annual trip to Lake Temagami. Camp is almost over for our grand daughter. We like to have a few days up there without all the hubbub that goes along with campers coming in after long trips so we go early. Camp ends on the 7th of August but we get to go out to the campsites on the 6th. We will tow our boat, behind our car this year, from Quebec to Ontario. In the past we have rented a truck to tow the boat but with the bigger car we now have with towing package, we will use our own wheels. This weekend was filled with making out shopping lists and gathering all the notes of what not to forget for next year along with finding the box with all the Temagami stuff stored in it. Of course it was in the closet with all the Christmas decorations and it was the last box at the very back of the closet. This made sense when we put it away last summer but it didn’t make sense when I went to get it out this summer. However, I did get to clean out the closet and get rid of a bunch of stuff that really needed to be eliminated.

Taking a Break

As part of my 10 days up there I am going to go off the grid. I will take a break from electronics which is a good thing. I won’t publish my blog until I return from the trip for then I will have rested, reset myself and hopefully have a story or two to tell about the trip. My favorite Sunday reading is Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper. Recently she talked about taking a break and listening to the silence. I am anxious to do that. The days fly by filled with long walks with the dogs and my brother and many friends or on my own, yoga, golf, Killer Suduko (that’s a new hobby) and seeing family and friends. Time to rest, regroup and get ready for whatever happens next. I so appreciate all who read and enjoy my ramblings. Thank you for that.