The Last Few Months

We arrived in Canada in early afternoon, and went directly to Bronte Creek Provincial Park.

Blue sky and a lovely large site

It is one of the parks which open before the May long weekend, but we shared it with only 4 or 5 other RV’ers. Weather was sunny but coolish, so we were glad we had the trailer and not tents!

But not too many people here yet...

We enjoyed dinner with our nephew his wife and the two children, 3 and a couple of months. The 3-yr old loves books, so I read 5 or 6 before dinner, including Jillian Jiggs!!

Then we drove straight to Sandbanks Provincial Park.

Not summer yet, so not many leaves, but a private site

Not many people here either...

beautiful purple wildflowers are out and the lake looks inviting

We were looking at homes in the area of Wellington where we had friends at Wellington on the Lake. We had checked the internet for developments to the east of Toronto which also had a place for us to store the trailer. This seemed like the ideal place. Since we now had to be in Ontario for 5 months of the year, for another 5 years, we decided that rather than pay the storage unit fees and RV site fees for those 5 months, we would put that money into a house. We met with a lawyer and with the representative of Sandbank Homes which was developing the Adult Life-style Community, looked at a few homes and plans. 

Over the next couple of weeks, living in Toronto at Rouge Valley Regional Park,

Backing on to the Rouge River

View from the bedroom window

and several weekends at Sandbanks, between doctors and dentist appointments and quick visits with family and to the storage locker, we crunched numbers, and eventually put an offer in on a house-to-be-built! We chose the Reisling model – perfect name for us right!!- So, now we own a plot of dirt, waiting for the shovel to be put in the ground.

The house behind us is in fact the same model as ours- except we will have a fireplace in the centre, with a window on wither side in the centre section. To the right is our bedroom, and to the left is the dining room.

One weekend we went on our first Airstream Rally with the Ontario Chapter of the WBCCI. This was an area of the province which we knew little about. We spent a couple of days getting to know other Ontario Airstreamers

Happy Hour- enjoyed by all!

Catered dinner Saturday night

Rows of Airstreams are beautiful sight

and walking around Paris.

Main Street in Paris

Bridge over the Grand River

View of balconies overlooking the Grand River

Our Airstream had to be taken to have its regular maintenance checkup at Can-Am. We took the opportunity to visit friends from Montreal who had moved to Tillsonburg.

Their new bungalow in Tillsonburg

We spent a delightful couple of days visiting and being driven around the area.

Newly plowed fields

Peter's favourite back road through the countryside

Port Burwell's lighthouse

Submarine at Port Burwell

Unusual wild animals in a farmyard.

A lovely park by the water

Boat Houses on a canal

Port Rowan, the Birdhouse Capital

On one of our trips to Sandbanks, we met up with our friends, had a lovely lunch in Picton at the Bean Counter, and toured the area, ending up at the Devils’ Wishbone winery. It is a unique old barn with several small tasting rooms. They also grow all their own grapes to make excellent VQA wines.

We have spent the last few weeks looking for a place where we could live in the trailer for the summer and fall. After looking at a variety, some good, some really bad, we found a site at Cedardale Seasonal Resort Community near the Murray Canal.

Murray Canal on County Road 64

Cedardale Seasonal Resort from the back gate

Although it is owned by Killam Properties, the managers take personal pride in the whole resort. We have had our granddaughter, fiancé and the 2 children for a wonderful visit. We spent a good part of the afternoon on the beach.

Wellington is a delightful small community. Everyone we have met and spoken to loves it here, and has nothing but positive comments.

The whole town turns out for events in the park

We have now decided the colours of the siding, stone, trim, garage and front doors, and choosing the cupboards for the kitchen and the fireplace for the Great Room. These are exciting times!

We have made it to the Air Show at CFB Trenton

This whole was packed with a snaking line of people waiting to go through security when we arrived

Such fun to watch...

 
and to the Craft Show in Cobourg.

one of 4 huge tents full of exhibitors

Who knew - unless you have been through this- how many small details there are, from the shape of the railing by the stairs, the type of newel post, the design of the spindles, to the grout on the floor in the bathroom, the kitchen and the back splash in the kitchen. All this after the big stuff like tiles, hardwood colour, and board width, cupboards –how high, colour, style and even colour of the inside of the drawers- the fireplace stone, and style. It certainly is fun though. I was glad we had made separate appointments on separate days to choose the kitchen, and then the interior upgrades and even where we wanted electric outlets, then outside colours for the house, and even the eaves and facets.

Well, they are all chosen and paid for! We are now looking at bedroom suites for our room and rugs for the Great Room.

A break from decisions and looking came when we drove up to Ottawa for John’s cousin’s wedding.

We sent them off in true Nautical Fashion. [The flags spell "Just Married"]

We spent a few days at the beautiful Wesley Clover Campground.

If they only had sewer hookups…. However, as it is all bedrock around here, this is not a possibility. I have been dealing with a pinched sciatic nerve for the past couple of months, so unfortunately I didn’t get much sightseeing. John fared a bit better as he rode his bike into the city.

Back to Cedardale!

Just out for a walk on a county road! She was in the middle of the road until we stopped and edged her to the side.

The pinched sciatic nerve that I have been dealing with for the past couple of months had become worse, so now I am at physio three times per week while I wait for an appointment with a specialist in September. This is only a delay in our travels around The County [Prince Edward County]. We haven’t been able to tour many wineries or go back to Montreal as I am not walking too well, nor can I tolerate a long car ride! However, this too will improve!

Meanwhile we are enjoying short drives around the county and still waiting for the first shovel to be put into the ground.