Today Daddy and I made another trip to Port Huron, Michigan. This one was to set in motion the process of exporting his car from the United States to Canada.
We had done a lot of reading about it on-line and Daddy had talked to the Border Services people as well as Transport Canada several times, so we knew that we had to tell the U. S. Border Patrol 72 hours ahead of time that we were exporting his vehicle. We figured that the best way to do that was to take the car across the border into the U. S. and tell them that this was the car we hoped to export.
The first place we went, the guard looked at me incredulously and said, "You can't take the car into Canada now and then come back in 72 hours, take it across the border into the U. S. and take it back immediately! You aren't exporting it if it is already in Canada!" I talked at length to him about it, trying not to get upset. Finally he said, "I'm not an export agent, so it would probably be best if you go around to the other side of this building and talk to an export agent who will be able to tell you what to do."
So off we went to the other side of the building where a lot of people were also waiting to be interviewed by border agents. The line was almost out the door, so that gives you an idea of how busy it was. Finally one of the agents asked if there were people standing in line who "just" wanted to export a vehicle. Three groups of people raised their hands, Daddy and I among them.
The first man in the new line wasn't importing one vehicle, he was importing SIX vehicles! Rather than risk getting the vehicles mixed up, the agent only worked with that man first. Eventually it was our turn and I explained that my father was in the process of immigrating to Canada and that his car was going back and forth across the U. S. - Canada border at least once a month and that we had not applied for the 72-hour waiting period yet. "That's not a problem," he said. "We'll go over your documents now, copy them, stamp them and in 72-hours you'll be ready." How easy was that?
So, any time after the 72 hours are up, we can go to Sarnia (Ontario) and start the process of importing the car into Canada. (I don't know whether we have to go back into the States with it before we do that or not, but you can be sure I will make a phone call or two to make sure we do it in the proper order!) Once we get the "O. K." from the Canada Border Services, he can take the car to the Ford dealer in Thamesville (Ontario) and have the necessary changes made - like changing the speedometer and odometer to metric, changing the headlights so that they are on during the day (daytime running lights) and have an emissions test run on it. After all of that is completed, he can take it to the licensing bureau and get the license plates for it.
It seems like a convoluted way to do things, so we will be really happy when everything is completed and people won't say to me when I'm driving his Pennsylvania-licensed car, "Wow! You sure are a long way from home!"
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The Case of the Missing Remote Control
Before my tale begins, you need to know a bit about the routines that have been established since my dad moved to Ridgetown in July of this year. He comes for lunch around 12:30 each day and after lunch is over, he stays and reads the London Free Press newspaper. Then he goes home for a bit, returning around 6:00 for dinner. On Sundays, since we don't get home from church until around 4:00, he doesn't come till then. After we have "tea time", Arend has a nap and Daddy and I go watch TV from 5:00 to 6:00.
At 4:55 today, we went into the family room to watch our usual show (Sue Thomas F. B. Eye) but we couldn't find the remote. Arend was upstairs, but not asleep. I called up the stairs to ask if he had seen the remote control. No.
He came downstairs to help us look. We looked in the family room, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room; but we couldn't find it anywhere. When Arend had watched TV last night, he had been brushing his teeth, so he looked in the bathroom to see if he had taken the remote in there. No.
Seeing the cordless telephone where the remote usually is, I asked Arend if he had brought the cordless phone downstairs today. No. That made me think that probably Arend had absent- mindedly taken the remote upstairs last night and put it on the phone base instead of the actual phone. Arend went back upstairs to see if that was where it was. No.
Daddy thought it might be in my purse (of all things!), but I knew it wasn't there because I had just emptied my purse this morning before we went to church.
Where could it be?
Finally I went back into the bathroom and started opening drawers and...Voila! There it was - in the shoe polish drawer! Arend had polished his shoes in the family room and must have (absent- mindedly) picked up the remote with all the shoe polishing equipment and nicely put it away in the drawer!
Daddy and I missed the first ten minutes of the TV program, but at least the remote was found!
At 4:55 today, we went into the family room to watch our usual show (Sue Thomas F. B. Eye) but we couldn't find the remote. Arend was upstairs, but not asleep. I called up the stairs to ask if he had seen the remote control. No.
He came downstairs to help us look. We looked in the family room, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room; but we couldn't find it anywhere. When Arend had watched TV last night, he had been brushing his teeth, so he looked in the bathroom to see if he had taken the remote in there. No.
Seeing the cordless telephone where the remote usually is, I asked Arend if he had brought the cordless phone downstairs today. No. That made me think that probably Arend had absent- mindedly taken the remote upstairs last night and put it on the phone base instead of the actual phone. Arend went back upstairs to see if that was where it was. No.
Daddy thought it might be in my purse (of all things!), but I knew it wasn't there because I had just emptied my purse this morning before we went to church.
Where could it be?
Finally I went back into the bathroom and started opening drawers and...Voila! There it was - in the shoe polish drawer! Arend had polished his shoes in the family room and must have (absent- mindedly) picked up the remote with all the shoe polishing equipment and nicely put it away in the drawer!
Daddy and I missed the first ten minutes of the TV program, but at least the remote was found!
Friday, November 9, 2007
To Go or Not to Go to Hamilton
Today I was supposed to go to Hamilton for a Board of Directors meeting at the Teachers College. All day I felt a bit under the weather, so I finally called Arend and said that I had decided not to go. Then I called Daddy and told him that we weren't going and that he could eat supper here instead of having to go out somewhere.
I called the College and talked to Allard Gunnink, explaining that I wasn't feeling 100%. I asked him to tell Christine van Halen that I wasn't going to be there tonight.
Immediately after I made those phone calls I started feeling better and by supper time I was almost giddy. It's almost as if I was not supposed to go. It has given me a bit of an eerie feeling. Now I am going to be watching the news to see if there were any bad wrecks on the 401 or 403 around the time we would have been traveling those roads. I'll also watch the weather reports to see if there was freezing rain anywhere.
I'm not superstitious, but I know there is no such thing as coincidence. God is always in control.
I called the College and talked to Allard Gunnink, explaining that I wasn't feeling 100%. I asked him to tell Christine van Halen that I wasn't going to be there tonight.
Immediately after I made those phone calls I started feeling better and by supper time I was almost giddy. It's almost as if I was not supposed to go. It has given me a bit of an eerie feeling. Now I am going to be watching the news to see if there were any bad wrecks on the 401 or 403 around the time we would have been traveling those roads. I'll also watch the weather reports to see if there was freezing rain anywhere.
I'm not superstitious, but I know there is no such thing as coincidence. God is always in control.
Thanksgiving in Canada
October 8, 2007
Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving. It is rather quiet here since no one was able to come for the holiday. That's okay, though. We know that it is difficult to get to visit with all of your family members when there are so many people wanting you to spend time with them. We have always been content to see our children whenever they are able to visit, whether or not it is on a particular holiday.
Yesterday we were able to spend most of the day in Strathroy with Maynard (Arend's brother) and Susan and their family. It has become a tradition for us to go to Strathroy for Thanksgiving. It all started when all of our children were small and has continued into the next generation. Everyone brings a part of the meal, but Susan cooks the meat (turkey and ham this year), the potatoes and gravy, vegetables and apple sauce. The rest of us supply salads, desserts and sweets for coffee and tea times. Usually I take pecan pie and a seven layer vegetable salad. As usual we were completed sated by the end of the meal since there is ever so much food available! You certainly don't leave there hungry!
After dinner the 20 people present each stated what he or she was thankful for this year. It was quite interesting to hear what each person had to say. Perhaps the nicest one was what my dad said...that he was thankful that I had married into such a nice family. He is not the only one! I am always thankful for the Smids; they have treated me like one of them from the moment I first met Maynard and Susan on December 31, 1971 - six months before Arend and I married.
The one disappointment yesterday was that John, Nadia and Noah couldn't be with us. They had started out on their way to Strathroy, but realized about 45 minutes into the trip that Noah was too sick for any of them to really enjoy themselves. As a result, they called and said that they were going back home. When I talked to John later on in the afternoon, I could hearing Noah fussing in the background and could tell that he wasn't feeling 100%. Poor little guy.
Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving. It is rather quiet here since no one was able to come for the holiday. That's okay, though. We know that it is difficult to get to visit with all of your family members when there are so many people wanting you to spend time with them. We have always been content to see our children whenever they are able to visit, whether or not it is on a particular holiday.
Yesterday we were able to spend most of the day in Strathroy with Maynard (Arend's brother) and Susan and their family. It has become a tradition for us to go to Strathroy for Thanksgiving. It all started when all of our children were small and has continued into the next generation. Everyone brings a part of the meal, but Susan cooks the meat (turkey and ham this year), the potatoes and gravy, vegetables and apple sauce. The rest of us supply salads, desserts and sweets for coffee and tea times. Usually I take pecan pie and a seven layer vegetable salad. As usual we were completed sated by the end of the meal since there is ever so much food available! You certainly don't leave there hungry!
After dinner the 20 people present each stated what he or she was thankful for this year. It was quite interesting to hear what each person had to say. Perhaps the nicest one was what my dad said...that he was thankful that I had married into such a nice family. He is not the only one! I am always thankful for the Smids; they have treated me like one of them from the moment I first met Maynard and Susan on December 31, 1971 - six months before Arend and I married.
The one disappointment yesterday was that John, Nadia and Noah couldn't be with us. They had started out on their way to Strathroy, but realized about 45 minutes into the trip that Noah was too sick for any of them to really enjoy themselves. As a result, they called and said that they were going back home. When I talked to John later on in the afternoon, I could hearing Noah fussing in the background and could tell that he wasn't feeling 100%. Poor little guy.
Travels With Charlie - Chapter 4 - Port Huron
October 3, 2007
Today Granddaddy had another doctor's appointment in Michigan. This time, though, it was in Port Huron just across the St. Clair River from Sarnia, Ontario. Granddaddy had not been too happy with the location of the doctor's office in Detroit when he went in September. That doctor's office was located in an area of the city that seemed to be somewhat poor and run-down. The doctor's office in Port Huron was in stark contrast to what we had experienced in Detroit. This doctor's office was in a nice area of the city and the office itself was incredibly well-decorated with dark wood paneling and furniture, lovely paintings on the wall, carpet on the floors and very nice examining rooms.
After Granddaddy's appointment, we went and did a little shopping for things that we aren't able to find in Canada. With the Canadian and American dollars "at par" right now, shopping is a bit easier because we can compare prices more quickly. You will be surprised to read what we bought - instant grits, refrigerated pie shells, dried beef in glass bottles, vanilla wafers and lamb's wool. Although it takes about 75 minutes to get to the border in Sarnia-Port Huron, it is still worth the effort to get things you would really like to have.
When we were coming back into Canada, we talked with the border services guard at the kiosk where we crossed over, asking her about what we needed to do to import Granddaddy's car. We already had a pretty good idea of what was required, but it is always nice to have that information reinforced. Once we get the "Recall Clearance Letter" from the Ford dealer in Lock Haven, we will be ready to move onto the actually importing of the car. Little by little we are getting Granddaddy more Canadian-ized.
Today Granddaddy had another doctor's appointment in Michigan. This time, though, it was in Port Huron just across the St. Clair River from Sarnia, Ontario. Granddaddy had not been too happy with the location of the doctor's office in Detroit when he went in September. That doctor's office was located in an area of the city that seemed to be somewhat poor and run-down. The doctor's office in Port Huron was in stark contrast to what we had experienced in Detroit. This doctor's office was in a nice area of the city and the office itself was incredibly well-decorated with dark wood paneling and furniture, lovely paintings on the wall, carpet on the floors and very nice examining rooms.
After Granddaddy's appointment, we went and did a little shopping for things that we aren't able to find in Canada. With the Canadian and American dollars "at par" right now, shopping is a bit easier because we can compare prices more quickly. You will be surprised to read what we bought - instant grits, refrigerated pie shells, dried beef in glass bottles, vanilla wafers and lamb's wool. Although it takes about 75 minutes to get to the border in Sarnia-Port Huron, it is still worth the effort to get things you would really like to have.
When we were coming back into Canada, we talked with the border services guard at the kiosk where we crossed over, asking her about what we needed to do to import Granddaddy's car. We already had a pretty good idea of what was required, but it is always nice to have that information reinforced. Once we get the "Recall Clearance Letter" from the Ford dealer in Lock Haven, we will be ready to move onto the actually importing of the car. Little by little we are getting Granddaddy more Canadian-ized.
Travels With Charlie - Chapter 3 - Granddaddy's Birthday
Ignore the date on the website. Something is really crazy here!
On October 2, 2007, Granddaddy (AKA Charlie) celebrated his 86th birthday. While this was a momentous occasion, it was even more exciting because he celebrated it for the first time in Canada.
Actually his birthday celebration covered a much longer span than a birthday normally would. You see, it all began on Sunday evening when Matt called to say he was coming to Ridgetown to sleep since he was in southwestern Ontario taking notes of soybean development for Monsanto, his new employer. He had done exactly the same thing the week before, calling to tell us he was in the area and would like to spend the night and visit with all of us. What a nice treat it was to see him twice in seven days!
Tuesday, Granddaddy's actual birthday, was a normal day except that Arend and I took him out for dinner at Rossini's restaurant in Chatham. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and then returned to Ridgetown for cake and ice cream. Granddaddy always has room for dessert, even if he couldn't finish his main course. Hm-m-m, I guess that's were I got it!
While we were enjoying our dessert Charles and Rhonda called to wish him a happy birthday. Almost immediately after, Will called to do the same. To extend Granddaddy's birthday even more, John called on Wednesday with his good wishes.
All in all, it was a fun time.
On October 2, 2007, Granddaddy (AKA Charlie) celebrated his 86th birthday. While this was a momentous occasion, it was even more exciting because he celebrated it for the first time in Canada.
Actually his birthday celebration covered a much longer span than a birthday normally would. You see, it all began on Sunday evening when Matt called to say he was coming to Ridgetown to sleep since he was in southwestern Ontario taking notes of soybean development for Monsanto, his new employer. He had done exactly the same thing the week before, calling to tell us he was in the area and would like to spend the night and visit with all of us. What a nice treat it was to see him twice in seven days!
Tuesday, Granddaddy's actual birthday, was a normal day except that Arend and I took him out for dinner at Rossini's restaurant in Chatham. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and then returned to Ridgetown for cake and ice cream. Granddaddy always has room for dessert, even if he couldn't finish his main course. Hm-m-m, I guess that's were I got it!
While we were enjoying our dessert Charles and Rhonda called to wish him a happy birthday. Almost immediately after, Will called to do the same. To extend Granddaddy's birthday even more, John called on Wednesday with his good wishes.
All in all, it was a fun time.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Travels With Charley - Chapter 2
On August 21 we traveled to Strathroy to celebrate Uncle Maynard's 68th birthday. When we arrived we saw a silver van with a Pennsylvania license plate sitting in their driveway. That was our first indication that John and Annette and family were there. We had seen John and Annette at Charles and Rhonda's wedding, but hadn't seen their children in several years. They have really grown. Theo, the "baby", is one week shy of being two years old. The twins, Kristina and Myko are seven and Leanna is almost nine. The three oldest children swim competitively every summer. They also are multi-lingual, speaking English, Dutch and German! They live very near the Pittsburgh airport and the Beaver County line, so they are familiar with some of the places that Granddaddy and I know in the area. It was fun to talk about Pennsylvania again!
We stayed for afternoon tea and then a Little Caesar's pizza supper. It was fun.
Besides John and Annette's family, only Katrina and Jonathan were there. Eric and Rachel were camping somewhere with Bill, Kate and their family. Janine had gone with her worker, Maria, for the afternoon. Uncle Maynard says Janine is so set in her ways that apparently she "has" to go to KFC every Tuesday for "Toonie Tuesday" and she opted to do that rather than stay around to celebrate her dad's birthday. He thought it was pretty funny. When she came home, though, she was glad to see everybody, especially Uncle Arend who is one of her favourite uncles.
Marguerite is in The Netherlands on a two-week tour with her choir. Jan Arend Eibe Oudman is planning to attend one of their concerts, so she hopes to have a chance to visit with him while she is there. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Bert didn't come. I guess maybe they find the distance from the Welland-area to Strathroy just a bit too far; however, Uncle John Dykstra was there in the morning and he lives in Smithville, so maybe that wasn't it. Uncle Peter and Aunt Grace are in British Columbia visiting Janet, Jason and family, so they weren't there either.
Uncle Maynard has done a lot of landscaping around the house. He pulled up all of the reinforced cement between the house and the pool and has replaced it with brickwork and a little semi-circular garden beside the garage. In the front all of the trees close to the house have been taken out and a new walk (also brick) has been installed plus lots of plants in front of the porch (including some ivy from our backyard). It looks very nice and he is quite happy with how it turned out. I guess that is part of his creative side coming out.
When we left Maynard and Susan's, we stopped at the new Wal-Mart in Strathroy to pick up a few things then came back to Ridgetown. It wasn't as tiring a trip as our last trip with Granddaddy and was a lot of fun.
We stayed for afternoon tea and then a Little Caesar's pizza supper. It was fun.
Besides John and Annette's family, only Katrina and Jonathan were there. Eric and Rachel were camping somewhere with Bill, Kate and their family. Janine had gone with her worker, Maria, for the afternoon. Uncle Maynard says Janine is so set in her ways that apparently she "has" to go to KFC every Tuesday for "Toonie Tuesday" and she opted to do that rather than stay around to celebrate her dad's birthday. He thought it was pretty funny. When she came home, though, she was glad to see everybody, especially Uncle Arend who is one of her favourite uncles.
Marguerite is in The Netherlands on a two-week tour with her choir. Jan Arend Eibe Oudman is planning to attend one of their concerts, so she hopes to have a chance to visit with him while she is there. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Bert didn't come. I guess maybe they find the distance from the Welland-area to Strathroy just a bit too far; however, Uncle John Dykstra was there in the morning and he lives in Smithville, so maybe that wasn't it. Uncle Peter and Aunt Grace are in British Columbia visiting Janet, Jason and family, so they weren't there either.
Uncle Maynard has done a lot of landscaping around the house. He pulled up all of the reinforced cement between the house and the pool and has replaced it with brickwork and a little semi-circular garden beside the garage. In the front all of the trees close to the house have been taken out and a new walk (also brick) has been installed plus lots of plants in front of the porch (including some ivy from our backyard). It looks very nice and he is quite happy with how it turned out. I guess that is part of his creative side coming out.
When we left Maynard and Susan's, we stopped at the new Wal-Mart in Strathroy to pick up a few things then came back to Ridgetown. It wasn't as tiring a trip as our last trip with Granddaddy and was a lot of fun.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Confusion Reigns!
I don't know how this blogging thing is supposed to work. Charles has been patiently trying to help me "get it", but I am apparently missing some key element. So I've been trying this and that and finally lit upon something that appears to work.
If I go back in my computer's history, I can find where I logged onto blogger.com's Create a Post and go on from there. It's a little clumsy, but it appears to work; to quote Ann Landers, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
So, for now, I am going to let it be.
If I go back in my computer's history, I can find where I logged onto blogger.com's Create a Post and go on from there. It's a little clumsy, but it appears to work; to quote Ann Landers, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
So, for now, I am going to let it be.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Travels With Charley (with apologies to John Steinbeck)
While John Steinbeck catalogued his travels with his dog Charley in the early 1960's, I have decided to do the same thing with our travels with Granddaddy (Charles Meeks aka Charlie or Chuck). Although Granddaddy is 85 years old, he still enjoys traveling which is a good thing since his grandchildren and great-grandson all live two to three hours’ drive away from Ridgetown.
On Saturday (July 21) Arend, Granddaddy and I started our day with breakfast at Lynn’s Place, the restaurant at the Econo-Lodge situated just off of Highway 401 about five miles from our home. Sated by a complete breakfast, we proceeded to travel east on "the 401" to the Hamilton area for a surprise retirement party for Grace Smid held at Gary and Jackie Smid’s farm.
Grace has retired from teaching Learning Assistance at Timothy Christian School in Hamilton. She and her husband Peter (Arend’s younger brother) live on a chicken farm near Hamilton now where Peter works for Grace’s brother Tim. After many years of teaching high school students, it was a welcome change for Peter to work with chickens!
Never having been to said farm, we "Googled" its location, but also got directions from Gary. We arrived safely, just slightly before the guest of honour arrived. Also in attendance were Maynard and Susan Smid, John Dykstra, Tim and Elly Hutten and family, Grace’s mother (Mrs. Hutten), Teresa (nee Hutten) and Claude Boisvert and family and Linda (nee Hutten) and Bill Dokter and Alisha. Oh, and of course, John and Laura Smid with Bethany and "Gracie" who traveled from Erie, PA for the day, Gary and Jackie with James, Leah and Maria, Deanna, and Caleb and his girlfriend (whose name escapes me at the moment). Unfortunate, because of distance, Janet (nee Smid) and Jason Van Vliet and family weren’t able to attend.
What fun it was to see Grace’s face when she stepped out of the truck and saw all of us there! Of course, she knew something was up when they pulled into Gary and Jackie’s laneway and saw so many vehicles.
Jackie and Deanna did most of the work and the lunch was a delightful offering of sandwiches, veggies and dip, and other munchies plus punch. Later on we had cream puffs and cake with coffee.
Because a number of us had a second party to go to in various other places, the party started to break up around two o’clock. From there Arend, Granddaddy and I traveled the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), and Highways 403, 427, and 401 to Pickering, an eastern suburb of Toronto for another celebration.
This party was in honour of Grace Husband’s 65th birthday and was not a surprise. Grace is our daughter-in-law Nadia’s mother. There were so many people there that I couldn’t begin to name them all, so suffice it to say there was a BIG crowd! The weather was very cooperative so we could be outside on Louise and Andre’s deck and in their backyard all afternoon and evening. (Louise is also Grace’s daughter).
There were also lots of young children there, including our grandson Noah who is 17 months old now. Arend was in his element. He loves little children, so he spent a good chunk of time in the backyard playing with them. Of course, the children thought it was great, too.
Because Nadia’s family is a mix of Caribbean and Indian cultures, the foods were quite ethnic. Fortunately, Nadia warned me which ones were very spicy so Granddaddy and I could avoid them. We like spicy foods, but they don’t like us!
These two parties gave Granddaddy an opportunity to mingle with people that he didn’t really know all that well, but he seemed to enjoy it. Towards the end of the second party, though, we could tell he was ready to go home. He was concerned that we would be getting home around midnight which indeed was the case. I am happy to report that he suffered no problems from getting home so late, though.
And there you have the first installment of the 2007 version of "Travels With Charley"!
On Saturday (July 21) Arend, Granddaddy and I started our day with breakfast at Lynn’s Place, the restaurant at the Econo-Lodge situated just off of Highway 401 about five miles from our home. Sated by a complete breakfast, we proceeded to travel east on "the 401" to the Hamilton area for a surprise retirement party for Grace Smid held at Gary and Jackie Smid’s farm.
Grace has retired from teaching Learning Assistance at Timothy Christian School in Hamilton. She and her husband Peter (Arend’s younger brother) live on a chicken farm near Hamilton now where Peter works for Grace’s brother Tim. After many years of teaching high school students, it was a welcome change for Peter to work with chickens!
Never having been to said farm, we "Googled" its location, but also got directions from Gary. We arrived safely, just slightly before the guest of honour arrived. Also in attendance were Maynard and Susan Smid, John Dykstra, Tim and Elly Hutten and family, Grace’s mother (Mrs. Hutten), Teresa (nee Hutten) and Claude Boisvert and family and Linda (nee Hutten) and Bill Dokter and Alisha. Oh, and of course, John and Laura Smid with Bethany and "Gracie" who traveled from Erie, PA for the day, Gary and Jackie with James, Leah and Maria, Deanna, and Caleb and his girlfriend (whose name escapes me at the moment). Unfortunate, because of distance, Janet (nee Smid) and Jason Van Vliet and family weren’t able to attend.
What fun it was to see Grace’s face when she stepped out of the truck and saw all of us there! Of course, she knew something was up when they pulled into Gary and Jackie’s laneway and saw so many vehicles.
Jackie and Deanna did most of the work and the lunch was a delightful offering of sandwiches, veggies and dip, and other munchies plus punch. Later on we had cream puffs and cake with coffee.
Because a number of us had a second party to go to in various other places, the party started to break up around two o’clock. From there Arend, Granddaddy and I traveled the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), and Highways 403, 427, and 401 to Pickering, an eastern suburb of Toronto for another celebration.
This party was in honour of Grace Husband’s 65th birthday and was not a surprise. Grace is our daughter-in-law Nadia’s mother. There were so many people there that I couldn’t begin to name them all, so suffice it to say there was a BIG crowd! The weather was very cooperative so we could be outside on Louise and Andre’s deck and in their backyard all afternoon and evening. (Louise is also Grace’s daughter).
There were also lots of young children there, including our grandson Noah who is 17 months old now. Arend was in his element. He loves little children, so he spent a good chunk of time in the backyard playing with them. Of course, the children thought it was great, too.
Because Nadia’s family is a mix of Caribbean and Indian cultures, the foods were quite ethnic. Fortunately, Nadia warned me which ones were very spicy so Granddaddy and I could avoid them. We like spicy foods, but they don’t like us!
These two parties gave Granddaddy an opportunity to mingle with people that he didn’t really know all that well, but he seemed to enjoy it. Towards the end of the second party, though, we could tell he was ready to go home. He was concerned that we would be getting home around midnight which indeed was the case. I am happy to report that he suffered no problems from getting home so late, though.
And there you have the first installment of the 2007 version of "Travels With Charley"!
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