Fall Activities

This is my first post in quite sometime, so I'll bring you up to date.

Mary and I are well and doing our usual things. Rob is now in his second year teaching in Peel County and Mike is in his second year working for Talisman Energy in Calgary. I have some fabulous pictures of the two of them this summer climbing above the Columbia Icefield. Rob went out to visit Mike in August and they apparently had a great time. Mike also spent 10 days in Scotland in June visiting Glenquaich and Loch Rannoch and getting a feel for the homeland.

Mary and I did a week in the Caribbean on the Costa Alantica; an Italian ship that is 1000' feet long and carries 2600 passengers. It was our first experience on a truly international ship. Most passengers were Italians, French or German with about 200 english speakers (mostly Cannucks. I don't think we would do it again but it was a great experience on a very opulent ship.

In June Mary and I spent three weeks down east. After doing the Wooden Boat show in Mystic Seaport, Connecticut we drove north past Boston and into Newburyport; a place we visited on our honeymoon. It was a classic old rundown seaport then and I purchased a model ship from a man who made them right there. On our return visit in June we found a flourishing and bustling recreational seaport with all kinds of interesting sites, including the same store making the same model boats. The owner had died and his niece was running it with her son. The boat I bought for $25 is now $250--that's progress. Their main business is making models for executive retirements, etc. We spent the rest of our time visiting various seaports and finally crossed into New Brunswick at St. Stephen where we stayed in a great B&B (we find B&B's far more interesting than motels). The next day we visited St. Andrew's by the Sea and then on to Halifax where we spent three days in town and touring along the south coast down to Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. We spent a wonderful evening at the Nova Scotia International Tattoo which featured bands from Norway, Scotland, etc. Then we moved to the north coast and stayed near Wolfville and spent one afternoon watching the 34' tide at Hall's Harbour. Then on to Cape Breton for two days of gradeur in Baddeck and around the Cape Breton Trail. We ended our trip in PEI with a wonderful B&B near Montaque on the east end of the island and an interesting tour of Province House (legislature) in Charlottetown. I found Province House a highlight of the trip. After a night in Summerside we took the bridge back to the mainland and a night in Edmunston before making an all day run for home.

This our plan was to spend most weekends at the trailer/marina and do a lot of daysailing as opposed to cruising to the North Channel. Because the trailer is more like a cottage than a trailer and is on the Maitalnd River we like to spend time there. Of course the boat is only a short walk away. We enjoyed our day sails and one three day trip to Kincardine with three other boats. That included over a hundred miles of excellent sailing due to some northeasterly winds.

In September we joined our friends Gerry and Marilyn, Bob and Pat in Mount Tremblant. We had never been there before. Gerry and Marilyn had a chalet for 5 days and we spent a great time wandering around the ski village and touring the nearby village of St. Jovite. On the Saturday we spent the day in Old Montreal by ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed it. We will definitely go back again when we visit Quebec City.

The Fall has been warm and hauling the boat out was enjoyable this year. As usual the marina is storing her inside. In October I came across an Alberg 37 for sale in Toronto (we have an Alberg 30 now). As it turned out I bought her for a song. She needs some work but I have had her shipped home and will work on her next spring. She is 37 feet long and displaces 17000 lbs. which is very heavy as she is a true ocean going yacht. Her previous owner had her down to Venezuela and all over the Caribbean. Wish me luck with her.

For the winter I am still working on my Glen-L 17 which is featured in another chapter of this blog. I have almost finished installing a new mahogany deck and am starting to work on the cabin and interior. This is my main project for the winter other than some in house projects in the kitchen, etc.

Day-to-day Mary enjoys working on crosswords and I do my thing in the shop. We enjoy our friends and all the activities they bring. Mary's sister Janet is having Christmas this year and we are going to Portugal in March for three weeks. Most of the time we will put in time with friends doing coffee, pubs and getogethers. I always enjoy coffee in the morning with Zoran or lunch with Wayne or Bill and if we can persuade 'Barnacle' Bill to come in from Arkona we always get some good laughs.

I should mention that my nephew John and his wife Lorna had a brand new baby boy this year and they have named him after his paternal grandfather Finley.

That's all for now
Peter
Peter