It’s been a while since I posted an update - it’s been a busy stretch. I had a quick trip back to Ontario to visit with both of my families (after my work trip to Florida), and then we had a nice stretch on Galiano. Lots of fun!
An Ontario Visit
I was in Florida for a week attending a conference. I was doing a presentation at the event on one of my new products plus attending the sessions to see what’s going in with one of our key markets. There’s not really a lot to say about this part of the trip - it was hot and humid and there were torrential downpours every day. Not very exciting all around.
The view from near my hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
Yeah, the weather was great….
The great thing about the Florida trip was that the flights to Florida were through Toronto, which made it easy to make a stop and visit with family. I flew back on a Friday evening, and stayed on through the following Thursday. It was a nice visit!
Bookbinders Summer Party
When I arrived on the Friday night, I picked up a rental car and headed to Burlington to meet up with Justine at her parents. Michael and Maureen were hosting a summer party for the neighbors on the street, and the timing was such that I could crash the party!
A look around the backyard, all decked out for the big event!
I was a little bit late arriving - my flight got in around 5:30, and by the time I got bags, the rental car and did the drive, I think I arrived around 7:00 p.m. The party was in full swing and Justine had been kind enough to save me a plate of food. Good thing too - the throng had wiped out most of the good stuff.
Maureen had made her famous paella, and it was amazing! There were lots of salads and such, and of course the wine was flowing.
The amazing paella!
Dishing out the superb dinner.
Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. Maureen and Michael have done an amazing job with their backyard - it’s a well-manicured jungle, and the three of them spent a lot of time getting it ready for the party. It looked amazing. People were congregating in various areas of the backyard. I settled under the gazebo and had my dinner and chatted with a few of the neighbors. I had met some previously, but most were new, and all were super nice. It made for a fun evening.
Saturday morning we went out for a nice breakfast at a local spot, then Justine and I headed out in the early afternoon, after a very lovely visit.
Axe Throwing!
Dead center - pretty sure that was one of mine! ;-)
Saturday afternoon we were meeting my family in Barrie for a fun family outing. Lisa had organized a session at this axe throwing facility, and so we met Mom, Lisa, Ethan, Shawn, Leanne, Mackenzie and Lane there for a couple hours of entertainment.
And entertaining it was! We had three “lanes” between us, so we all had a chance to play with each other. The set-up was quite good - they have all sorts of different games that you can play - who knew there were this many different ways to throw an axe at a wall of logs? It was actually quite a lot of fun.
After the session - I think we were there for almost 2 hours - we went out for dinner and had a great meal.
It was a very fun time - great job to Lisa for organizing!
After, we headed back to Shawn and Leanne’s for a short visit. We got to see some of Shawn’s latest crazy equipment and Lane took Justine and I out on his borrowed quad bike for a rip around the property. He’s a pretty good driver for being years away from getting a driver’s license…
I’m a little surprised Justine and I survived the experience!
Sunday afternoon Mom and I took Justine to the airport, as she was heading home. The party at her parent’s had been her main reason for coming, but it was nice that she was able to come up to see my family for a bit. The rest of the week I was working from Mom’s place. It was nice to spend some time with her. We had a lovely stretch of weather and it was a nice change of scenery.
An Indigo Bunting and a Goldfinch - we just needed the hummingbird for the bird feeder trifecta!
Snuck in Some Golf…
With the long days, I managed to squeeze in a couple of rounds of golf - one on my own, and one with my Uncle Dave.
When I went out on my own, I got out on the TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. This is a course I have been playing as long as it’s been there, and may be my favourite course of all time. Especially the original 18 (there are 3 18-hole courses on the property). With the conversion to a TPC facility they are making huge investments in the place, and I am very interested to see how all the new facilities turn out.
With Uncle Dave, he picked a course about half way between us. It was great to spend some time with him as well, and he picked a great course that I had not been to previously. All around, it was a great visit and I got to see a lot of people during the trip.
Thursday I flew back home, and we turned around and headed to Galiano on Friday evening!
Mom and I had a lovely visit!
One of the amazing local gardens in our Vancouver neighborhood.
June Galiano Update
Friday evening we headed to Galiano. t had been a couple of weeks and we were keen to see how things had fared in our absence. I was sure that the garden was going crazy, the lawn was going to be overgrown, and we were unsure what the state of affairs was like with the caterpillar apocalypse. My friend (and coworker) David and his family were also going to be boating over to Galiano and were going to come up for a visit on Saturday, so there was lots going on!
Garden Update
The lawn was out of control as expected and needed a good cut. Thankfully it looked like the caterpillars had finally subsided (they were not falling from the trees at least…) and it looked like the trees had mostly survived the experience. The spray we had put on the fruit trees seemed to have done the job and they looked fine.
The gardens had gone crazy as expected! Justine’s flowers looked amazing, and my veggies were really starting to explode! We had missed a lot of the lettuces - there was more lettuce and kale and arugula than you knew what to do with.
Justine’s “Deer Garden” was looking the best it ever had!
The tomatoes are starting to really grow!
I’m not sure if this was a friend or foe, but it certainly was a cool little beetle.
And of Course, the Birds!
With it being migration and breeding season, we have lots of fun birds around. The hummingbirds in particular are crazy this time of year. We think this season’s young are fledging the nest and it makes for some antics.
One evening, heading towards sunset I was driving back up to the cottage when I saw this barred owl on the hydro lines! The photos aren’t great (all I had was my phone with me) but it was so cool to see! We know that there is one living in the area from other people, but this was the first time I had seen one.
It was nesting season and we found quite a few nests this year!
We have installed a number of bird houses around the property. Most years the wrens steal them all. For Christmas, Mom gave Justine a new red bard that we put up and the wrens seem to like it too…
We don’t see a lot of red-tailed hawks, but this one landed in the trees at the bottom of the property.
And of course, the hummingbirds are the star of the show. They were out in all their combative, entertaining forms.
This is probably my favorite shot…
On Saturday we had a great visit with David and his family. We’ve turned this into an annual visit and it was great to just hang out on the property and have a visit with everyone. It’s amazing how fast a year goes by!
There’s more to come, and it shouldn’t be quite so long before the next posts!