A Whirlwind of activities....

We have been so busy visiting friends and family these past few days that I am so far behind in this blog.
We visited friends in Port Credit and Oakville, then off to Bobcageon where we spent some time on the water with friends Jon and Eileen. Eileen attended the CJCS luncheon in Peterborough as my guest and joined and even bought a new hat from one of our vendors.

Our hosts and Mike wearing his medal

preparing for a ride in the boat on Pigeon Lake

waterfront

we went by boat to Bobcageon - and this is the restaurant where our local CJCS chapter will apparently be hosting their next event. Looks pretty nice and I'm sorry I can't stay around and attend. 

Finally a photo of me!

Flowers are red, white and purple. Just for us?

Mike, Lynda, Eileen and Jon

Fenlon Falls - Lock 34 on the Trent Water System

Fenlon Falls

Boats at the Locks

From The Kawartha Region we headed to Lagoon City in Brechin, just outside of Orillia, Ontario

Lagoon City Marina

Brechin is the town where Lagoon City is located. It's a wonderful "retirement" area on lagoons, just off Lake Simcoe.

Our hosts, Jamie and Jennifer live in one of these townhomes on the water with their boat docked at the door below. The homes are beautiful and are on the lagoons, with access to Lake Simcoe

No, it's not Lady Driver but perhaps her twin?

Jennifer and Jamie in Lagoon City. Jamie's parents and mine were best friends and we grew up together. It was wonderful to be re-united after many years apart. 

Mike and his sister, who we visited in Barrie, Ontario

Dinner with old friends who we used to boat with every summer.
We met in Creemore, Ontario for a wonderful reunion.

It has been a whirlwind and so wonderful to see areas of Ontario I've never seen before, and re-visit areas where I once lived. So many changes.

Old Friends are The Best

Another evening spent catching up with friends, this time Elaine and Allan. Allan was the architect who built our country home in ski country and we have been friends with them I think more than 40 years because I am sure we met before Mike and I were married. Allan and Mike are "best buds" and have been through a lot together. It's always awesome to get together and reminisce.

We left at 5pm to try to get down 427 and across Gardiner Expressway for dinner at 6pm but it was almost 6:45 when we finally arrived. It used to be an easy 20 min. drive. Traffic was horrible but we later learned there was a very bad accident that had it all backed up. Jarvis St. is a street with a "variable" center lane. In rush hour there is a red or green light above the middle lane. We watched as one car drove up the middle on a red light and three cars who went into the red lane thinking it was a turning lane. Welcome to the big city.

Elaine

Allan, Elaine and Mike (still wearing the "medal" that plays the theme from "Rocky" when you touch it.

Best buddies forever

CN Tower, downtown Toronto
I was working downtown Toronto when they announced that this was to be built and we all said we'd never go up it but of course we did! 

Toronto is building up and up, up up.

Tonight will be our last night in the city and we head up to cottage country tomorrow to spend the weekend with our "NEWEST JEWEL" and her husband. My friend Eileen attended the recent luncheon at the Peterborough Golf Club and joined us and bought herself a beautiful hat from one of the vendors.

I've repacked my suitcases and now to clean out the inside of the car!

Mississauga has changed in 14 years!

We wandered over to Square One Shopping Ctr. in Mississagua - an old "haunt" of mine (that now has a "Chico's store - yes, in Canada!)  Ahead with the tower is the "new" City Hall where I went to see Prince Andrew and Fergie many years ago. You can see by the line where we kept a condo after we sold our home and moved up north to live in our country house. At the time it was the largest and only hgh-rise buildings around and you could see the CN Tower and Lake Ontario but I guess most views are gone with all this new development. Highrises everywhere! And the mall is about 4 times what it was when we lived there. A 20 km 10 minute drive took us over 45 min in the traffic yesterday afternoon.
We went to Lorne Park to visit friends we've known for 35+ years. Our children went to Nursery School together when they were 3 and now they are married, with children and closing in on 40. Time flies.

Friends Liz & Tony and Liz's sister Cathy

My husband has always had a very special place in his heart for this girl. We shared many good times, laughs, and a few tears together over the years. So thankful that we've had this opportunity to connect.

Mississauga:

It's 79F (26C) right now but of course with humidity it feels much warmer.

When we were married we lived in Mississauga where my husband was involved in developing the land in and around "downtown" Mississauga. The first time I was ever in Mississauga, having grown up in Toronto, I saw one building, the old City Hall, and was told one day this would be a large city. That day has come. The city has tripled in size and traffic has quadrupled! Population was 250,000 in 1980 and in 2014 was estimated at 878,000. It is a suburb on the western side of Toronto. 

The white person was the the majority but is now the minority here. Everywhere you look are Indians, Muslims, blacks, etc. etc.  Although Canada is a bilingual English-French country when we lived here the 2nd language was Portuguese. I've no idea what it is today. Islam is now the 2nd faith in this area.

The new Mississauga downtown core:

When I moved here in 1977:

and today...

Toronto - My old home town

I was born here although I spent the first 3-4 years of my life living in Glat (now Cambridge) Ontario before moving to Elmira, Ontario (Mennonite country!) In grade 3 we returned to Toronto where I lived until I was married. We lived in Mississauga until about 14 years before moving north to the country 1/2 way between Barrie and Orillia where we moved to our ski house, sitting at the top of a ski hill with vistas across Georgian Bay. So now, 25 yrs later we are staying in Mississauga at an AirBnB for the week so we can visit friends and family.
Here is the kitchen of the 2-bedroom, apartment that we have rented for $60/night.

My first day here I rested and tried to catch up on CJCS work and write thank you notes to our hosts on the road trip. Tuesday, feeling better, I just had to head to Square One Shopping Mall, and what a shock that was. Being white, I was in the minority.  Much to my surprise they now have my favourite US store and so I treated myself to a few early birthday presents. Then it was time to pick Mike up at the airport. The line-ups to enter the airport are very long, no matter when you go and finding a parking space might be considered a game with people driving the wrong way in narrow lanes and few spots available. I ended up at the very back, on the roof.

Yesterday we visited with friend Bob who we have known since Mike and I first met. Bob treated us to lunch at "Snug Harbour" which was the Port Credit Yacht Club when we lived here.

then we went to Oakville to visit our friends Don and Karen who live in a beautiful home on the lake, although they spend part of the year in Ontario, part in the USA and are residents of the Bahamas. For years we spent our summers together cruising on Georgian Bay (Lake Huron)

The common denominator is the medal around my husband's neck "World's Best Grandpa" that plays the theme from "Rocky" when you push it. Two of our grandsons have asked him to wear it everywhere on our trip and I am to post photos of him wearing it with our friends. These are two very special people in the lives of our family.

There were threats of a storm and we had a sprinkling of rain at noon and extremely high winds later but most of the rain this time came while we slept!

THE WORLD'S BEST GRANDPA HAS ARRIVED

Father's Day came early and before Mike left to flt to Toronto two grandsons presented him with a Father's Day card which included a "World's Best Grandpa" award, with strict instructions that I am to take a photo of him wearing it at every stop we make as we continue this road trip.

We are all settled into an AirBnB for a few days and have a very full schedule ahead of us visiting friends and relatives before heading to "Cottage Country" on Sunday to continue visits up there. The weather has been beautiful here but there are severe storm warnings for tonight and even a tornado warning. No matter where you live in Canada, believe me when I tell you that you've not seen traffic until you've seen Toronto's. We moved west from here in 2004 and there are so many changes everywhere but the biggest is that it now takes 2 hours to do a 20 min. drive. The number of high-rises is staggering and our local mall, Square One is now about 4 times the size it was and I was one of only a few white women there this morning but the mall was really crowded (think Christmas type crowds elsewhere in Canada). I "had" to go to check out the "Chico's" store that is there. I had no idea they had any stores in Canada. Now that I bought a few outfits I will have to go home and do a major clean-out of my closet.

I mentioned the AirBnB and if you've never tried one when travelling you should check them out. We have a 2-bedroom basement apartment and it's quite lovely and only $60/night.
This is the kitchen:

Photos from Peterborough Golf Club from "Snap"

One of the many hats designed by Billie

two of the beautiful fascinators for sale

Thanks to Kelly Grant's husband Mark who made this sign for us to use in our events.

Another beautiful fascinator for sale

Founder, Lynda Millard and our newest member, Eileen Greenberg

Lynda Millard, Myrna Christensen and Eileen Greenberg

Along the trip we have asked everyone to please sign our "Thelma & Louise" shirts (our names are on the other side of the shirts)

Shopping fun