Fun Fotos

Sooooo, recently a good friend of mine celebrated her 50th birthday.  Being a 

landmark birthday she decided to do it up big! She rented a car for almost

two weeks and "raised a little hell!" OK, I exaggerate just a wee bit.

First beach was in the lovely time-forgotten town of

Pt. Stanley. The external l950's facades of most stores and restaurants

remain intact and it was a very Twilight Zone type of day.

I love the fact

that the owner of a big restaurant right on the beach has real

palm trees planted every year. Then they are stored at a nursery over

the winter. Gives it a tropical vibe doesn't it?

I love to capture images of children enjoying themselves on the beach.

They don't worry about how they look and they don't worry

(too much) about getting sand in their icecream. They are

so in the moment!

Can't go to the beach and not get a standard sailboat photo! 

I'm not gonna lie - I really wanted to try this little guy's bulldozer! What

a cool toy for the beach!  (or is it a front end loader?) Sorry,

I had a girl child :) 

Hear we are enjoying the sunshine. We had great weather every day.

We are also in a drought right now - nice for days at the beach but 

not so great for farmers. 

And here we are at Pt. Pelee National Park. Yes, there were other beach visits

but I figure you see one you've seen them all! 

We were really yucking it up!

I took a LOT of photos but am including just a few...we walked on a boardwalk through

a marshy area - lots of birds and water lilies. 

A painted turtle.

Another type of water lily.

Purple martin below - I used to see a lot as a child as my dad would put up very tall

birdhouses but now my sightings are quite rare.

This beautiful fella has a lot of different sounds that he makes - around my area

he squawks but in Pt. Pelee he had the most piercing whistle!

A view of the marsh and boardwalk.

Then we hiked down to the point where the waters join - 

a magical spot.

There was another beach day followed by a day of shopping and exploring and eating

in a very quaint village south of London - called Sparta.

I found a few Christmas gifts :) :) 

For lunch we ate in the local teashop and I had a salmon and cucumber sandwich 

with a nummy salad and of course a pot of tea! 

After lunch we went to a wonderfully whimsical place in the country

called "Winter Wheat." You can walk all through the trees

on this large property and be amazed at every turn.

I took a LOT of photos as I normally do but am just sharing

a few like this wood nymph! 

Troy in one of the many little sheds and cabins nestled into the trees - we 

were ready to move in!

A strange fella playing a player piano in a little clearing.

A low hanging chandelier...

A hermit's little house - all windows!

Everything is made by hand, even the furniture. The owners take

all sorts of junk and re-use them to create sculptures and

installations.

I want to live here!!

Another sweet little hut.

Troy and I at her final blowout partay!!  I don't seem

to have any photos from our previous night of celebration

at London's Wine Bar (I think they are on my phone) - what a great place!

And what a great time we had celebrating and whooping it up big time!

I rode home on my bike at 2am through the quiet streets of London - what

a surreal experience that was!!

Starting at the End...

...of June, that is...

June was a month of ups and downs - the prices of everything went UP and my bank accounts went DOWN.

I received my first Canada Pension Plan payment and used most of it to pay for my new phone. Boo.

My dentist looked at my teeth for 15 seconds and for that I gave him $189.00! The good news is my hygienist said my oral hygiene is better than hers!! Do I really want her scraping and cleaning my teeth?

Today I received my first GST/HST payment of $105.00!!! That's a little bit of our own tax money given back to us from our government based on our income. I haven't received this little tidbit for years as my income was too high. Welcome to retirement! Oh, and I get that little boost 4 x a year! YAY! Though I'm wondering if I'll get it next year now that I have to add the CPP payment as income on my tax return. It's a nice monthly stipend of $558 (actually over $600 but I'm having 10% tax taken off at the source). Next year's tax return should be interesting.

Also paid CAA in June (geez, what DIDN'T I pay???) which came to $224 for Kazi and me. That's part of her birthday gift each year. Yippee! I tell ya, my daughter sometimes wishes I wasn't such a practical gift giver but I just can't help myself. With her car being a 2006 model and mine being a 2000 I think it's a necessity to have this extra coverage.

I spent more than usual on food in June - likely because cherries were $6.99/lb and strawberries $4.25 a quart. We ate a LOT of them :) Eventually they both went down in price. I shopped at Farmboy (more expensive!) several times because I love their pre-made salads and they sell the best freshly made turkey burgers in the city. On the flip side of that I haven't purchased gas for the truck since the beginning of June! So in June I took what was left of the gas budget ($100) and added it to the food budget ending up even Steven.

My savings went down by $2,000 as I paid for the rest of my trip to Ireland though I have replaced $500 of that. Annie's already got an idea for next year - Scotland and the Isle of Skye!!!!! Hopefully I won't drop any more phones in my coffee which will allow me to save $900 - $1,000 per month for upcoming trips. I might start taking 2 per year! We'll see how the saving goes.

June was my month of cycling 400km to raise money for children's cancer research. I reached 106% of my cycling goal and 110% of my money goal!! I reached my goals by June 21st which allowed me to spend time with my friend Troy to celebrate her 50th birthday over the course of 10 days!!! We went to 3 different beaches (Lake Huron and Lake Erie), went to Pt. Pelee National Park which is the southern most bit of Canada (had never been), went to the Wine Bar :) and had a day of shopping/exploring in the Sparta area south of London. Great time! I'll get some pictures posted in my next post - I think Lily is eating a bee so I better go check! Ick, it was a large fly....gross!!

On Holiday

Hello my loved ones. I have been helping a friend lately celebrate her 50th birthday.  She rented a car and I have accompanied her on day trips to various beaches and other interesting places. We've been to Pt. Dover and Pt. Stanley, Bayfield and yesterday we went to Pt. Pelee - the southern most point in Canada!

Today we are off again to Sparta which has a number of fabulous places to visit - tea shops, candlemakers, museums etc. I'll update when I can with photos etc. Now I need to eat breakfast and get dressed.

Talk to you again soon!