Smells of Fall

The week flew by with me sitting in the church office trying to keep on top of things.  By Thursday, I was ready for a day outside.  Ron and I went on a search for apples.  We were driving by The Loyalist Trading Post and Ron wanted to stop to check it out.  The goats were pretty cute and quite friendly.  

We went in the store and had a look around and I bought some salad dressings that were made by the owners.  She was a very friendly lady.

We walked out and I stopped to chat with the chunky bunnies.  

The owner came out to send treats up to the roof and the goats headed up the ramp.  They were use to performing. It was an interesting stop.

From there we went to Spring Meadows Orchard and bought  half bushell of apples, two pie pumpkins and some acorn squashes.  

We drove back to Wyn Farms and got some apple cider and Ron got his favourite treat.

We stopped at the store on the way home and got our thanksgiving groceries.  Today our house smelled delicious…applesauce, apple pie and roasted pumpkin.

It smells like fall.

Fall Canoe Day

We have been enjoyed beautiful Fall weather.  Warm afternoons are sandwiched by cool mornings and evenings.  We had our coffee on the front porch yesterday with a blanket over my lap.  The quiet, peaceful area where we live was disturbed by the occasional burst of gunshots…it’s goose season.  We would watch the birds fly high congratulating them for getting away.

After a slow morning for us, we loaded the canoe and packed a lunch and headed North.  Ron took backroads and the trees canopied the truck in some spots.  The sun shone on the painted leaves.

We have been to a number of lakes in the area and this time the choice was Mississagon Lake.  It is a long narrow lake and the day was perfect.  The reflection off the trees added an extra beauty.  

We canoed up the one side of the lake and found a perfect spot to enjoy our lunch.  

We were impressed with a little island that we named “Double Tree.”  

We paddled along the opposite shore looking at the beautiful cottages where people must of enjoyed the hot summer. We had the lake almost to ourselves.  As we came around one island, we met up with another canoe.  We stopped and chatted.  They were from New York and were enjoying a week of holidays.  They had net been canoeing in a while and asked if we had any advice on how to get out of the canoe.  She had said that he really made it tip when he got in.  Ron told them to “stay low.”  I told her to make sure and get out first!

We continued on our little adventure and found the Mississagon Monster!  We stayed calm and canoed on.

When we arrived at the boat ramp a couple stood there looking at the lake and asked us questions about our paddle.  They said that they were camping close by and had brought their kayaks.  They told us that they weren’t from the area.  When we asked where they were from we expected that they would say from the states or another province but they were only from Campbellford.  I guess “not from the area” means different to people.  Less than one and half hours away seems like the area to us.

On the drive home I found it hard to keep my eyes open but I didn’t want to miss the amazing colours.

Another great day on the lake with my guy!

We came down the opposite side but my watch didn’t record that.

Busy Week with a Sweet Ending

This week has had my brain and eyes hurting.  I was on my own at the church office and the things that I thought I knew how to do became a mystery.   I stumbled through three long days and with the help of the last secretary, I think I accomplished something.

Today, I left my admin hat at home and put my old lady bonnet on…we were off on fall bus tour with the 50 Plus.  We met at the church and waited for the bus to arrive.  I had checked everyone off my list and still we waited.  Ron called and they were on their way and so..you guessed it…we waited.  Finally, the bus arrived and we slowly climbed in and were on our way.  It’s been a while since I’ve been on a school bus.  

They are not the most comfortable ride.  In fact, the ride was so bumpy that my watch gave me steps.  The bus driver used her GPS to get there.  It was an interesting road….but perhaps we should have read their post from their website.

We arrived and made our way into the beautiful log building.  

We sat down and took up two long tables.  The service was amazing.  Coffee was placed in front of us and then they took our orders.  

A fluffy pancake and a maple sausage was my choice with a side of maple beans….topped with maple syrup.  Very tasty!  Old friends from Napanee, that are now living in Perth, met us there.  

The visiting around the table was good and at the conclusion we all strolled out ready to check out the museums or walk the trails.  I asked the bus driver how much time we had and she said we had to go.  That was not the plan.  We thought it was going to be more of an open end kind of day.  A few quickly checked out the museum and then we climbed back on to the bus.  We took a bit of a different way home to avoid the narrow back road this time.

I think everyone enjoyed their day even though the stop was quicker than we had planned.

Enjoy the sweet moments!

Tick Bite

Well, we knew that sooner or later it would happen to one of us and why not to me?  I felt a pain under my watch and thought it was scratching me.  I unclasped it and saw a black mark.  I put on my glasses to take a closer look. It was then that I realized a very ugly little bug was trying to burrow itself under my skin.  You would be very proud to know that I did not over react.  I grabbed some tweezers and tried to pull this nasty little creature out.  When I couldn’t do it, I called Ron.  He came and I explained my situation.  He took the tweezers and on his second try had the horrible thing tightly in his grasp and away from me.  He disposed of it and then we began the googling to find out what to do next.  After a shower, we were off to church.  I went to the pharmacy and was told that I should go to Emerge.  This was not what I wanted to hear.  I was triaged rather quickly and told that they would fast track me to see a doctor.  I sat on the other side of the curtain from Triage and listened.

People came in for bad backs, sore knees, fear of blood clots and coughs.  Some had had their symptoms for months and others for just hours.  The questions were the same… 

• “what brings you in?”  
• “Do you have any allergies?”  
• “What medications are you on?”

Next the nurse would do their blood pressure and oxygen levels.  There would be some small talk and then they were sent to the next desk to register and WAIT.

The curtain would open and close, accepting a new patient and then sending them to the office.  I sat patiently hearing the sounds of the hospital…coughs, moans and beeps.  I tried not to listen too closely but sitting in the middle of emergency, it’s hard not to hear it all.

The best conversation came from a little old lady.  The heart specialist had been called in.  She asked her patient “Do you smoke?”  “Do you drink?”

The lady responded, “I’ve never smoked or drank and look what good it did me?  I’m here.”  The doctor laughed and said, “what about hard drugs?”  She then explained that as we get older our bodies just start to fail.

The most shocking part of the day was when I looked down at my wrist band.  How could my identification say “62 years?”

The doctor finally came and said that I didn’t need any medication even though she couldn’t guarantee that this little creature wasn’t carrying the lime disease.  I went back to the pharmacist who was surprised with that result.  She prescribed me a double dose of something and sent a message to my doctor.  She felt it was better to be safe instead of waiting for the possibility of getting sick and then go through the whole thing again.

I have discovered that the creatures that I don’t like are in abundance in Ontario…snakes, spiders and ticks.  In Alberta, all we had to worry about were bears and cougars!

Scary and Thankful

To round out my birthday week, Ron and I went on the motorcycle to Algonquin Park on Friday.  The forecast looked good but the skies were pretty cloudy.  Along the way the leaves were looking pretty nice and the temperature was good for an end of September ride.  

We arrived at the park and went to the visitor Center.  There was a new hike that we had never done and so off we went.  They had built a wooden highway through the woods with even one way signs.  

We climbed the stairs up the hill.  It was a pretty good workout for me.  My mountain climbing days have been in the history awhile.

The path was pretty with the fallen leaves making a beautiful carpet.  

When we got about half way…in the middle of the woods on a hill looking over a lake, my phone rang.

It was the school, Sarah wasn’t feeling well and they needed me to come and get her.  I was surprised that we had service and I explained that I was about three hours away.  I called a few people and it went to voicemail.  I then pressed in the number for Pam.  She dropped everything at the school and headed down to pick Sarah up.  I received another call from the school, Sarah was shaking, she had an elevated heart rate had had passed out. The response team felt an ambulance should be called.  My heart was racing now.  We stumbled through the rest of the hike and back to the motorcycle.  

We agreed that we would be careful going home because getting there safe was better than trying to get home fast.  She was in good hands with Pam.  I received texts along the way.   She was doing better and was even hungry.  We drove through heavy rain and then the skies cleared.  

Sitting on the back of the bike, I prayed for safety for us as we travelled and prayed that our girl would be okay.  I checked often to see how many more kilometres and appreciated getting updates of how things were going at the hospital.  We arrived home, changed out of wet clothes and jumped in the car to head to the hospital.  Pam came out and told us that she had never seen anyone shake so bad.  Sarah couldn’t remember some of the things that had happened.  I went in to sit with Sarah and slowly her colour started to return.  They had already done a couple ECGs and they were okay.  They did bloodwork and it seemed normal.  After about 6 hours at the hospital, they released her with instructions not to drive until her doctor’s appointment next week.  It was pretty scary.  Today, she slept a good portion of the day but was feeling better.  

We are thankful she is doing better and thankful for good friends that drop everything to help.

Happy Birthday to me!

The older you get the faster time flies.  My birthday slipped up on me.  I have been a little busier than usual with taking on the secretarial position at the church.  The last couple of weeks have included a few days of training.  This week was the administrative assistant’s last and so I spent three full days taking notes, trying things and laying awake at night wondering why I volunteered to help. So yesterday I found myself, on my birthday, trying to cram as much as I could into my brain.  

In the morning, my mom showed up at the church carrying a beautiful card and a cake to share with the staff.  

Later Chelsea, went out and brought me back a London Fog.  

The pastor then gave me a pot of mums from the ones that I will call coworkers for a while.

We had to be at the church until the evening since Sarah was helping with the kids’ program.  It was a bit of a different birthday for me but good.

The one thing that I missed the most was celebrating with Ron.  So we made today for that.  We drove to the Sheffield Conservation Area and enjoyed the view from the parking lot.

We followed the path through the woods, across rocks and around lakes.  It was a beautiful walk.  At the end of the path, I had my 10,000 steps.

My birthday celebration has been pretty good for this old girl.  People have been nice with their warm wishes in person, phone calls or by social media but the sweetest was from my granddaughter…thank you Sarah!