Penguins, Pot & Other Stuff

Boy oh boy, I’ve been seeing a lot of Trish lately!  We loaded up on Wednesday and went to the CNE in Toronto.  What a great day.  Fantastic food (goat roti), a nice sunny day and the scenery was superb.  I even bought some clothes-track pants (3 for $20) and a really cool pair of Christmas pants-can’t wait to wear them!

 

Liked it so much at the Ex, went again yesterday.  The Ontario March of Dimes rented a bus so I decided to go.  Took my friend’s daughter Caitlind with me.  Another great day with more roti (shrimp this time).  We were only able to walk around for 3 hours because of transportation issues but we still had a great time.

 

Check out the pictures from my 2 trips (still waiting on Caitlind to send me the pictures we took from our day-hopefully they’ll be up soon).

Went to see a Pink Floyd cover band with brother Joseph a couple of weeks ago in Niagara Falls.  The band did such a good job, going with Trish to see them again tonight.  Nothing like feeling Comfortably Numb!

I was cruising in the van with Trish the other day.  We were close to the old house on Mohawk Road.  It was so long since I last saw Mrs. Memme that I decided to pull in for a visit.

 

Thank goodness she was home.  Mrs. Memme still looks good and gets around very well.  She told me to say hello to everyone.  Next time I will let her know I’m on my way to visit so she can get some of those cookies ready for me!

While I was at the Reserve, got a lot of pictures.  I had forgotten how much Teresa likes to snap away.  When I gave her my digital, the batteries were dead within 30 minutes!

 

Check them out-I have posted some of them.

Convinced Trish to drive me to the Reserve to visit the ex and her family.  We left on Friday morning and rented a room in Napanee.  Came back late Saturday afternoon.

 

Teresa had told me her mother wasn’t doing very well.  She’s 81 years old now and has led a hard, physical life raising so many children.  Ada is working through several health matters.  She uses a scooter and has a hard time getting around.  We caught up on so many things and then headed over for the barbecue.

 

Birdie & Amzy hosted the get-together.  It was so nice to see Teresa’s sisters & brothers and their families.  I saw KB & Brenda, Edna & Chris, Charlene & Shawn, Gabrielle & Dan, Dan & Gooch and Randy.  Unfortunately Connie was not there (visiting relatives down East) neither was Dave & Cheryl (back in Waterdown).

 

And talk about kids!  Grandchildren, great-grandchildren-I guess there isn’t much to do on the Reserve!  I tried remembering all their names which wasn’t very easy; they all have Native names.  The only one I could remember belonged to this cute little guy.  And the only reason I could remember his name was that it sounded like "rye and toast"!

 

They have a great setup regarding where everyone lives.  Amzy got a huge piece of land and they all built homes there.  Kind of a "Doreen Drive"!  After the barbecue it was time for the bonfire.  Teresa got a huge one going and everyone gathered around.  A couple of the kids pulled out their guitars and provided entertainment.  Brought back a lot of memories from the fires Birdie & Amzy used to have in their backyard when they lived in Greensville.

 

It was so nice to see everyone again.  They all seem to be doing well and are certainly happy with life.  The only unpleasant part of the trip was "Lead Foot Trish" and her driving.  Even that wasn’t really bad, she is a good driver.  Trish just likes to go fast!  And Teresa, I’m apologizing now for that picture.  Brenda made me do it!

What can I say?  The same problems continue; too many penalties (always at crucial times), inexperience and a revolving door in the defensive backfield.

 

Funny thing is Toronto only has one more win.  They’re in town on Labour Day for the annual classic.  If Hamilton wins, we’re tied for third place!

This all started about 2 years ago.  My nieces were proudly showing me their "build a bear" productions.  Two beautiful stuffed animals they had put together at the "build a bear" store in Limeridge Mall.  And I told them then that if the store ever had a penguin for me to put together, we’d make a day of it.  That was Wednesday!

 

The lovely Trish drove me to their house and after we picked them up, we first headed to the movie theater on upper James.  We caught The Simpsons Movie which was actually better than I expected.  Trish did not attend, she had laundry to do!  She did pick us up however and drove us to the mall so I could begin assembly.

 

Check out the pictures I have attached of "Quack".  A cute little guy that looks like his father so much!  It’s amazing what you can do with some imagination (and a lot of money).

 

We had a great time and it was nice to be with the nieces for so long.  Now we can compare "build a bear" stories!

The boys got together last night for some good old-fashioned poker.  We played until 3 a.m.-our longest game in a long long time.  Some big winners & some big losers!  Sometimes it seems as if our friendly 25/50/75 cent games just gets tossed out the window.  I’ll have to talk to the boys about how far we want to take that!  At least the last hand we played got me from a terrible - $140 to a lovely + $100!

 

Check out the new pictures.  From the sublime to the ridiculous!

So close!  If Bauman had caught that long ball towards the end, who knows?  The boys are off this week and in Montréal next Saturday.  After that, Labour Day: Argos!

June & Herb invited me out to the Rankel pig roast held at Herb’s brother’s place in Vaughn.  Fred & Linda put out a great spread.  Loaded up with the Port Dover bunch and had a great time.  Lots of the little kids wouldn’t eat the pig!  They were either frightened or they felt sorry for it.

 

Along with roast pig there was lots of other great food.  Salads, fantastic bread, pasta & desserts.  I know my tummy was very full when I left.  Check out the pictures, Herb looks so relaxed!