Thursday, June 10, 2010

We Have Another Niece!

Aunt Heather with niece Maja.

My brother Wojtek and his wife Agnes welcomed their second child yesterday evening as Maja joined big brother Adrian. The entire family was back home healthy less than 24 hours after checking into the Grand River Hospital. Heather and I visited with the newborn for a short while today after work. Congratulations to the proud parents and grandparents!

Big brother Adrian.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Week That Was

The week did not start well for either of us. While we were babysitting Jolene last weekend, Heather and I both picked up a cold which began with a sore throat on Monday morning. I guess we're not used to overcooled places.

Then as I got to work on Monday morning I received news that one of my co-workers was involved in a fatal car accident only 14 or so hours earlier just outside of Cambridge. Needless to say our office of about 110 people was shocked to hear of this tragic news. Miraculously, though, the 22-month daughter, Emma, who was in the backseat of the car at the time of the accident, survived while suffering only minor injuries. Beginning Monday, our office will hold a two-week long fundraising campaign, comprised of various events, to benefit little Emma. What's hard to deal with because of my co-worker's loss was that she was only 32, same age as I am.

Rest in peace, Laurie Banks.

Monday evening was our soccer day which also happened to be photo day. By the time Wednesday rolled around, Heather felt too sick to make it to the game and I got drenched since we played the entire game in rain.

On Thursday, Heather left for Collingwood for a couple of nights to attend the annual General Meeting of the Association of Administrative Assistants (try saying that fast). I stayed home and found myself occupied. Or more specifically, others found ways to occupy my time. I babysat my nephew Adrian on Friday as his parents (Wojtek & Agnes) went to a stag-n-doe for Barb and Pat (Agnes' brother). I was available to babysit since I told Wojtek that I would skip the stag-n-doe because I didn't feel like going alone and I was a little under the weather. It should be noted that it was the easiest babysitting gig I've ever had since little Adrian was in bed when I started and he still hadn't made a sound as I left at 1am.

Saturday morning I got a call from my mother to keep her company while she was having an open house. Apparently, over the past couple of weeks my parents have decided to buy a hole in the ground in Breslau and it was now time to sell the house which they've called home for the past 11 years. The open house, which attracted a handful of prospective buyers, was from 11-4. Throughout that time, I generally tried to stay out of the way and cleaning the bikes was the perfect way to do it. And the motorcycles needed some good scrubbing from our Chatham adventure over three weeks ago.

There was another open house today, although the cool weather seemed to also cool the interest of prospective buyers. While that was going on, Heather was at work for 3-4 hours trying to catch up on missed work from Friday. Once she came home, we had some pizza for supper and then visited my parents' future home.

My parents' future home in Breslau.

Monday, May 24, 2010

We're Home

Today's forecast called for a high of 29C. With the heat and the usual southbound cottage traffic against us, we decided to leave as early as possible. We woke up shortly after 6am and departed the Stevenson Lodge at 7:20. The early morning was still a little cool and there was even a coat of fog over the river and the surrounding area.

Morning fog in Combermere.


We followed Jim & Sandy for the first 2km of the ride but then we split up at Highway 62 and we'd have to ride the next 405km on our own. The fog lifted as soon as we left Combermere and the sky was clear for the duration of the ride.

We made a quick stop in Bancroft for gas and then continued home. We made another quick stop along Monck Road but otherwise we didn't stop until we reached the Midhurst Coffee Shop at 10:40am for our traditional Victoria Day lunch.

At the Midhurst Coffee Shop.

Similarly, after lunch, we fueled up in Angus, made another quick stop in Grand Valley and reached home at 2pm, just under 7 hours after leaving Combermere. The focus will now turn to getting back into everyday life rhythm.


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Grand Valley,
ON

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Final Day of Our Vacation

Heather and I slept in again this morning. We got out of bed at 8:20am but not more than 30 minutes later we were out riding. The goal today was to ride some new roads and have enough gas for Monday's ride home to last us until at least Bancroft.

We rode on Highway 62 to Barry's Bay then turned onto Highway 60 and rode east. As we rode past Wilno we noticed that the local tavern was still closed on a rather cloudy Sunday morning. Our first stop was in Golden Lake to stretch out for a couple of minutes.

From Golden Lake we continued on Highway 60 to Highway 41 which we took all the way to Pembroke. There we stopped at Tim Hortons for a few minutes. Heather had a french vanilla and a honey cruller while I held off in anticipation of lunch at Mapleton House. We were to be there at 12:30pm for lunch with Jim and Sandy.

We left Pembroke and took Highway 17 towards Cobden. Whether it's a week-long trip or a one day ride around town, I tend to avoid taking the same road twice because I prefer not to enjoy the same scenery along the way, and today was no different. We stopped in Cobden for fuel and then set the GPS to guide us to Mapleton House. The GPS took us there through Cobden Road, Highway 60, Highway 41, Foymount Road, Quadeville Road, Palmer Road, Wingle Road, Cedar Grove Road, Schutt Road and finally Highway 28. Before we turned onto Wingle Road we had been followed by a red Toyota for at least 20 minutes. That car appeared again as we were on Schutt Road. I guess he didn't like the shortcut. That's also when we noticed a Gold Wing in our rearview mirrors. Talk about good timing.

At the Mapleton House, again.
We arrived at Mapleton House at exactly 12:30pm. Heather and I tried the Linda sandwich which consisted of an egg, bacon, cheese and mayo. Very tasty. We got back to our cabin via Highway 28, Boulter Road and Highway 517. We had just enough time to gather ourselves and head to the lodge for 3pm. At the lodge, we picked up a bottle of wine for finishing first in the brainteaser challenge. Some of us also indulged in cake and ice cream. The cake was part of a baby shower for Jenni and Oliver who have been coming to the rally for many years.

The evening featured the traditional fireworks display.

Tonight's fireworks lineup.

For the first time I was part of the crew and my responsibility was lighting the fireworks.


Cobden,
ON