The first leg of the Journey is done

We were up early. Ralph did the finishing touches to the packing and we were on the road by 6:00. We met Laura anod Jay by the Duty Free store at Peace Bridge.  Everyone was excited and ready to go.  The weather is perfect for travelling. It's clear sky's all the way to North Carolina.  Suddenly the sky is starting to get quite black.   We hope that the storm won't be too bad as we still had 2 more hours of driving left to do.  Thankfully we seemed to drive around it as we only had a few sprinkles.  On the radio, we hear all about the State of Emergency that has been declared along the coastline in North Carolina.  The storm is going to hit this evening and tomorrow morning. They are warning that there may be severe flooding and wind damage.  Hopefully we will miss the worst of the it.

Finally

We've been waiting all summer and it's finally arrived.  We're leaving on vacation tomorrow for a week in the sun.  Hurricane Irene is threatening rain and high winds, but we're ready.  We have two decks of cards packed and lots of things for the girls to do if the weather doesn't behave.  I'm sure everything will be fine.

Tomorrow we leave at 6:00 a.m. and plan to meet Laura and Jay at the Border.  We're crossing at Peacebridge.  We hope to drive to Winston Salem - North Carolina and will have a short drive on Saturday.

The car is packed and we're ready to go. We rented a Kia Soul - which is similar to a Rav 4 - its a fun sporty little car.

I've got 4 books and magazines packed.  It's going to be a relaxing and fun week.

Take time and enjoy the evening

Grace, Arja and I met today for a round of golf.  It was busy at the course.  I expected that it would be given that it was such a beautiful day.  When we got there, only 1 - 9 was available and this was the West course.  There were 4 groups lined up.  Oh well, it's still nice to get out and hit some balls.  The game was slow, the pace being set by the ladies ahead of us.  Our round took just over 3 hours for 9 holes.   This gave us an opportunity to talk, laugh and simply enjoy God's beautiful creation.  We ended our round with a nice glass of wine and light dinner.  We are so blessed to be able to do this all togather. 

Osprey - The Toot

I woke up to the words..... go wake up Mommy. It seemed early to me. Why is Ralph sending Oakley to wake me up? Faithful dog that he is, Oakley came running into the bedroom and if he could I'm sure he would have jumped in bed with me. It was only 7:15, pretty early. I guess I'm not sleeping in today. Tea was made already and Ralph explained that we were going golfing. Golfing I asked? Yes, John and I talked this morning and we made plans to take you and Grace to Osprey in Alton. What about my gardening and housework? That will keep for another day. So off we went for a morning tee-off. It was a bit cool and they were calling for rain. I dressed too warmly for the day as it turned out to be very warm. The course was beautiful and very challenging! We loved it! We definately have to go back to this place. It's a Links style course with lots of fescue. If you didn't drive straight you could get into a lot of trouble.

We finished our afternoon with a snack at Millcroft Inn. On our way home we stopped and bought some field grown tomatoes. Yummy, they looked so good.

Rain, rain, go away

Drip, drip.... what is that?  I look up at the sky as I am driving into work this morning.  It can't be raining?  It's my Ladies League golf day.  Grrrr.  The skies get darker and before you know it, it is pouring out.  It doesn't stop.  At noon it was raining cats and dogs.  I groan to my peers at work, that I wish the rain would stop!  I was really looking forward to going out golfing this afternoon.

The first email arrives.  It's from Claudia, followed shortly by Melinda. They both won't be golfing today.  Arja won't be able to join because she is travelling out East to see Amy and Marcel.  Teresa checks with the course and yes, they are open, but have about 2 inches of water on the west course and only have the east front nine open.  That's ok - we're game.

I leave work today at 3:00.  Teresa and I were on the road by 3:45 and met up with Grace at the course. It's empty - I think only 8 girls showed up.  It wasn't raining, and as a matter of fact, the sun came out and it got quite warm.  We played an amazing round of golf and very quickly.  No waiting today.  Yes it was a bit wet, but that didn't hinder us at all.  As a matter of fact, we played another 7 holes and only stopped because we thought they might be waiting to close the restaurant.  We all had great scores and were quite proud of ourselves.

I'm so glad that we decided to go! It was a fun evening.

Driving the ball at Redcrest

The day didn't look promising. Are those rain clouds that we see?  No, it will blow over Ralph said with confidence. I hope so. 

It was a busy morning getting our food all together for the pot luck dinner.  I had to step out for a bit to pick up some shoes for the girls.  When I got home at 10:40 Ralph said that Teresa and Lawrence would be picking us up in 20 minutes.  Yikes!! I hadn't showered, I needed to chop up cilantra, nuts, chives and get everything together.  Will I be ready?  It's amazing what you can do when you are in a rush!

We left early with plans to go to the driving range before golfing.  We dropped off the food at Chuck and Claudia's and then hit a large bucket of balls.  Hmmm, I was a bit worried as my balls were pretty errant.  What was  I doing wrong?  Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out before my game starts.

As were were leaving Cardinal to head to Redcrest it started to rain.  Oh know, please don't let this last.  It had stopped by the time we got there.  Grace and John, Dave and Wilma, Tony and Arja were already there.  Everyone was pretty keen to get going.  Chuck and Claudia arrived and we were all set and ready to go.

We broke out into 4somes.  Ralph, Tony, Arja and I were one group, John, Lawrence, Dave and Chuck another and Teresa, Claudia, Grace and Wilma were the third group.  It was hot and muggy.  Thankfully they had a cooler full of bottled water which we could help ourselves to.

Off we went.  As we played it got warmer and warmer. I couldn't believe it.  You needed to keep yourself hydrated for sure.

We all played well and had lots of fun. 

Since we were first to finish we got a table with a good view of the 18th hole and greeted everyone coming in.  There was nice cold water with lemon waiting for everyone as well as some white wine and beer.  We needed the refreshment!

Then we headed off to Chuck and Claudia's for a very enjoyable evening together.  We all had lots of fun, amazing food (dinner was superb) and were surprised at how fast the evening went!

It was a great day!

Weekend with the girls

We spent such a nice weekend with Jordan and Hailey!  On Saturday we went to Ontario Place and enjoyed the pool and all the rides.  We visited with Opapa on Sunday and had Fred and Anna and the family over for dinner.  The girls just loved this. Monday and Tuesday was spent at the park and the hot tub!  The weather was great!