To Make You Feel My Love

Even though Wednesday was a holiday I did not further my writing project one little bit. I did however do a lot of other stuff. So, no regrets. (Actually, I make it a policy not to regret - learn maybe, but not regret...)

Gopher Broke Farm
I had long been putting off a drive up to Collingwood to visit the Parents - as mentioned in an earlier blog they are staying at my Collingwood Shangri-La while they wait for their Toronto Condo to be ready mid September. I also dropped in to see my friends Barb and John to visit and get a progress report on the landscaping project at the GopherBrokeFarm. Barb's good friend Leslie was there also - double treat! I was able to sit and visit for an hour or two before I had to truck on back to town. I got back in town in time to watch the Canada Day fireworks from my balcony!

This year Barb and John are working on the landscaping of the spectacular home that John has built for them.

If you want to hear more about this project and what the Exterior looked like early spring go here.

They are about 1/3 finished, I would guess and it is looking like it is and will be fantastic. I present a couple pictures here to show you what they are up to.

This is going to be a pond and the plan is to build a small dock (you know, like you might hitch a boat to) from the left near the window, so you can sit on it and dangle your feet in. The picture doesn't do it justice, but there is a wooden "bridge" on the end, where you can see Johnny and Barb has found the most wonderful 2 foot high clay pottery candle sticks and she has 6 of these lining the bridge.



This is around the corner from the pond - you can see the spot I took the last photo from at the back right of this pic A nice cement sitting area, off the dining room of the house, and it will be surrounded with pea gravel.

This is the back of the house and the entrance through the back to the living room. John will be pouring cement here and there will be a pea gravel walkon either side. On the side toward the foreground of the picture will be a sand beach volley ball court.

For now, this area houses a fire pit and seating area, but in due course it will be a garden. They are thinking of a circular one, with different crops as pieces of the pie!

To Make You Feel My Love

I have been listening to the cover of this Bob Dylan song by Adele for the last many months as it gets lots of air time on CBC Radio 2. The song was first released in by Bob Dylan on his Time Out Of Mind album in 1997. The Brit pop singer released her cover in her debut album "19" last November.

This song was one of those included on the CD that my dear blog swapper Sheila sent to me. I think the Adele cover is the best I have heard and certainly tops the original version with Adele's clear and melodic voice more suited to the song.



The Lyrics are so poetic and romantic, I can close my eyes and dream of the love I am waiting for.

To Make You Feel My Love
Bob Dylan

When the rain
Is blowing in your face
And the whole world
Is on your case
I could offer you
A warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows
And the stars appear
And there is no one there
To dry your tears
I could hold you
For a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you
Haven't made
Your mind up yet
But I would never
Do you wrong
I've known it
From the moment
That we met
No doubt in my mind
Where you belong

I'd go hungry
I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling
Down the avenue
No, there's nothing
That I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging
On the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
Though winds of change
Are throwing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing
Like me yet

I could make you happy
Make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends
Of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love

Saturday in the Country

To continue my weekend story, on Saturday, after Larry and Miranda left Barb's house I got a tour of the progress that she and John had made in their landscaping. They had heavy equipment up and the ground had been leveled and a new circular driveway installed. Plans for the pond and the volleyball court were well in hand. I took photos and loaded them up on the picasa web site. You can go here if you want to see the photos.


Barb's friend Leslie arrived and the 3 of us decided to go for a walk over to visit with a rural neighbour of Barbs who lives about 5 miles away. I had met her when I visited during the Christmas Holiday and on New Years day when Barb and I had walked over to see her. It is a great time of year to go walking and in the country you see all manner of interesting things. Plants, flowers and animals as well as freshly plowed fields.







On the way we saw a herd of Buffalo and I was able to photograph two mothers and their babies. We also saw a horse with its newborn colt.


Beba is an elderly lady who lives on her own on an rural acreage. Beba (somehow short for Bernice) is 81 and she has lived on what might be called a hobby farm for 36 years. Originally, with her sister and her husband, but they have both since passed on and she lives there now alone. She is spry and as vibrant as either Barb or I. As an example, she had spent the morning stacking firewood. She still works in her shop refinishing furniture for a living.

Her friend Betty was visiting and I had met Betty at Christmas also. Betty is 80 and is on her own for the 3 summer months every year as her husband preferrs to spend his time up in the Northern Ontario bush. He hunts and fishes in a community not far from where their daughter lives. I think if the truth be known, Betty enjoys the 3 months on her own as well.

I was so impressed by these two women who live very independently and who are as happy as can be. After we arrived at Beba's house we chatted over a glass of wine and then decided that we should all go back to Barb's house and have dinner together. Barb threw together a great meal and we ate and chatted the night away!

Friday Night Fun! Dinner with Friends - Old and New

As I mentioned on my Saturday blog, I had planned to stay home last weekend and do two days of the Doors Open Tour. However, I was kindly extended an invitation to go up to GopherBroke Farm and it was an offer I could not refuse. Barb’s husband John was away for the weekend.

I have to pass along a great thanks to my friend Barb for inviting me up to spend time with her friends, Larry and Miranda Hill. Although I had to abandon half my plans for the Doors Open Toronto thing, it was well worth it. Larry is a warm and friendly person and it was an interesting evening of conversation. Larry is an author (Lawrence Hill) and his latest book titled Book of Negroes, was selected as the Canada Reads book (see my earlier blog). Larry was up to speak at the annual meeting of the Collingwood Hospital and is their key note speaker at the Sunday night’s dinner.

If you want to read a CBC interview with Larry (Lawrence) go here.



I read the novel this spring after it was announced as the Canada Reads book... It is a great read - I enjoyed it immensely and you will too if you enjoy historical fiction. I had thought I had blogged about it - but cannot find the reference to the specific blog so perhaps not. In any case you can go here for more about the book.

I ended up staying Saturday night as well – more opportunities which could not be refused! I will tell you about my Saturday adventures and the splendid “Girl’s" dinner for 5 we had on the Saturday night in tomorrow’s blog.

John's Birthday Dinner

Well, it was not just another Friday night at GopherBrokeFarm. Friday was John’s 55th birthday and there was a small birthday dinner party to celebrate. Unfortunately work kept me at the office until nearly 5 and by the time I got home, got packed, got to the liquor store and the gas station it was 7:00 and that meant I didn’t get there until after 9.

The drive up was very pleasant. Very little traffic since the summer Friday night rush up to cottage country has not started yet and the weather was warm enough to drive with the window down, which suited both Bella and I. There were very interesting cloud formations to the west and I passed through storm clouds and rain on the journey, but it was mostly sunny. I was particularly awed by the clouds to the west. There was a very localized storm in that direction and the dark grey storm cloud had holes punched into it through which the sunlight blazed. From my vantage point seeing the sunlight erupting from the cloud reminded me of a religious picture. Sorry, I did not take time to stop and snap a picture.

Fortunately, Barb and John aren’t ones to be bothered too much by small things as a guest arriving for dinner well after it was underway. I had called ahead and told them to go ahead without me. Most folks had finished eating by the time I got there, but some had not. I joined just in time for the 2nd (or maybe it was the 3rd) pot of mussels to come off the stove. We ate salad and mussels with pan juices sopped up with a delicious hot bread. Soooo tasty! As we finished eating and the boys were in the living room putting together a gi-normous barbeque that had been the family gift to John.

Jason, a friend of the boys, arrived and they went out to the music house to have an evening of music. Quite a few years earlier, Rob, Bennett and Jason had been in a band called “Off the Mark”, while they were going to college. After college, Rob decided to pursue music professionally and the other boys did not.. Rob lives with his folks when he is not touring and works with his Dad in construction to make enough money to get along.

After dinner, we took the wicker chairs (a birthday gift from John’s Parents) around the side of the house that faced the moon and lit a bonfire. It was perfect for sitting out! We sat chatting and drinking wine. The fire was blazing as we sat outside enjoying the sound of the peepers and the crickets as background to the music under the stars and the moon.

The music was great. They went through a set of the their Off the Mark band tunes and after a bit, the boys started playing oldies! They played music that I remember from the first time around when I was in my teens and twenties. I was surprised at their repertoire – but I guess they have been immersed in music from a young age. John has played in a hobby band for quite some time.


The chairs were comfortable and the night was warm. Not a summer night, but definitely a warm night and a good evening celebrating John’s birthday. A great evening was had by all!

I took a "portrait" of John and Gibson as I was leaving.

Trucking Around

I had a fabulous last few days. I scooched off early from work on Friday (consequence of working through the night on Wed ) and headed up to GopherBrokeFarm, as I mentioned on my previous blog. Barb and John's home is serene and comfortable. Just the thing one needs after a hectic week. We drank wine and ate pizza (Johnny is such a good cook – he is the chief cook and anything he makes is scrumptious!) as we caught up on the goings on of the week.

Chasing Mercury

Their son Rob was home and he and his guy friends were going to have a night of jamming/practicing music in the studio house set up just for such activities. Rob is in the band Chasing Mercury and tours for part of the year, but when he is not touring he works with his Dad who is a builder/renovation contractor in the Collingwood area.






This is Robbie's Band:



The guys played all night and I slept soundly waking only the odd time to the “boom boom” of the base that traveled from the other building to the Main House. I have no problem sleeping or going back to sleep when wakened, so it was no big deal.

GopherBrokeFarm Landscaping Project

On Saturday, I played paparazzi and did a photo shoot of the exterior of the House. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, John and Barb bought 50 acres in prime land in the Niagara Escarpment/Bruce Trail area and John has built a wonderful house there. They are now in the landscaping phase of the project and have been working in the last few weeks with chain saws and bulldozers. Barb and I agreed that they now have a great blank canvas to work on. I wanted to present a few photos now and will provide updates as they progress. They have such spectacular plans I am so excited to document their progress via this blog. I put together a collage of the pictures I took of the exterior.


I thought at the same time I would throw in collage of the interior shots so you will know how comfortable their home is and understand why I go on and on about their "GopherBrokeFarm" homestead.



My Collingwood Shangri-La

After leaving Barb and John’s I trucked on over to my Shangri-La. I took a picture as I was coming down “the mountain” (note: this is not a real mountain, just an escarpment high enough to ski – but only just. You can see Georgian Bay in the distance.


Dad and I went out hot water heater shopping. The previous one was a 20 year old job, which had been rented since it was installed! Paid for in full about 10 times in that time period.

Once I got that done I took a stroll around the property and remembered why I so love the place. The stress just pours out of my body when I arrive. I will be going up less often this year because my folks are borrowing the place whilst they are between homes (their new one will be ready in Sept), *sigh* what can you do… Here are a few early spring photos of my favourite spots. I like to walk out to the end of the sea wall and sit by the Gazebo and look out into the lake.

I also put together a collage of the shots I took as Bella and I went for a walk around the property. Just discovered the piccasa collage feature - pretty neat, huh!

New Laptop, Spring Days and Good Company

My cute little new baby!

Still a bit computer challenged, but let me give you an update – nearly back in business!  I bought the cutest little netbook, an LG X110 and am now in the middle of trying to round up and load all the software I need on it and to get all my settings back to what I had.  The good news is that these little net books come pre-loaded with XP, rather than Vista, so you need less memory to get reasonable performance from them.  This is particularly good since the RAM on the little PC is not upgradeable. 

 My new baby has a 10” screen and weighs in at only 3 pounds, so I can schlep it around in purse even if need be.  A perfect little travel machine and I can use it where ever I am.  One reason it is so light is that it does not have a CD drive.  I bought an external CD, which will be just as useful, I seldom use it except to load software and purchased CDs  into the computer, and so won't always need to carry it around with me.  Also, this time I purchased maintenance on the computer from Future Shop where I bought it.  Each of the last several computers I have owned have had component failures and this insurance guarantees me no more computer expenses on this machine for 3 full years and it includes a yearly maintenance and keyboard cleaning!  A good deal I thought.

I have not as yet loaded my office software however it came preloaded with a freeware suite called OpenOffice, which from reviews does a decent job and mimics all the Microsoft products well enough.  I will use the text writer product and upload to my blog when I get back home.   So far it seems close enough feature wise to Word and I am happy.  The keyboard is great – my old one had a few broken keys so it is good not to have to work around that disability any more!

Lunch on a Patio - At Last it is Spring!

Yesterday's weather was wonderful and my friend Yvonne, from work, and I had gone out to a patio for lunch.   We wandered up John St and browsed the string of patios that run north of Adelaide up to Queen.  We chose a nice sunny spot at the new Jack Asters.  It was great to be sitting in the sun eating lunch but the wind of the lake was quite cold, so they had lit up the gas patio heater to provide some warmth.  Yvonne, in a fit of weather optimism, had not worn a coat to work that day (reminds me of my school days), so this was a welcome act.  Lunch was fun as we caught up on stuff – it had been a while since Yvonne and I had been able to find time for a long chat.  

Friday night at GopherBrokeFarm

After work,  I hoofed it up to GopherBrokeFarm as soon as I could sneak away from work.  The drive up was spectacular – no traffic, window down, sun in my face and great jazz music from CBC Radio 2 playing loudly.   Johnny was cooking dinner as I arrived and we spent an easy evening with wine, food and chit chat.

Saturday and Visiting Parents at my Collingwood Shangri-La

Saturday turned out to be a great day also.  After a leisurely breakfast with Barb and John, and checking out their landscaping project in progress I headed up to my Collingwood place to check it out and catch up with my Parents, who arrived back from Florida on Friday.  They are staying at my Collingwood condo until their new Condo being built in Toronto is finished – now targetted for mid September.  This was also the first time I have been up to the place since the skier tenants moved out last weekend – so there was a certain amount of “putting stuff back” in order, as I had put a lot of stuff in my storage locker to make room for my ski season tenants.    Spent the afternoon busily getting the place in shape.

It was a good day, nice to see the folks and reassure myself that they were still in reasonable good heath and soundess of mind, something which folks of my generation with parents still alive deal with a lot.  All was well and they seemed in good  spirits as well.  Took them out to the local Rogers and got them fixed up with all the digital channels they wanted and arranged for a phone hookup.  Dad took us out to dinner – the local Swiss Chalet and we all had a great time.

At the end of the day I decided best to head home to Toronto that evening rather than the morning.  I recalled the last time I spent a night in my house after my parents moved in last fall.  They get up before the birds and they seemed oblivious to the fact that I was sleeping upstairs and were having a long and loud conversation.  My dog Bella, of course wanted to join them and somehow my door would not stay shut.  At 5:00 a.m. I gave up and went down to drink tea and chat with them.  It seemed best to head home on Saturday night and be able to sleep in on Sunday morning, if you call 7:30 a sleep in LOL.

Also, I wrecked my knee a few weeks ago, and while I thought it was healing, I threw it out again this week - and it was bothering me a lot.  So my Saturday night was spent with a heating pad and some tiger balm.  It is a bit better this morning but still somewhat sore.

I have had a lazy morning and now having uploaded the blog of yesterday, posted with yesterday's date, will continue to write Sunday's entry after I get my laundry started.  I am going to continue with my Vegas travel tale.  

  

I will finish with a picture of my daughter Tegan which I found on her facebook profile.  A lot of her personality shows through in this picture and she sure is turning into a beautiful young lady!

Climing Up the Mountain at Craigleith

I had a perfect weekend. I just don’t know why it had to go so quickly, but I guess that is to be expected. When you are having fun time flies.

Friday after work I headed up to spend the weekend with my dear friends Barb and John. Several weeks ago we had planned a weekend to snowshoe up the Blue Mountain with our friends Harry and Lillian. The weather couldn’t have been better and all our plans just fell in place for our day.

So the starting point for our wonderful adventure was a trout breakfast that John cooked for us all. Great way to start the day, watching someone cook a whole fish (he neatly trimmed the head and tail off before cooking.)

The main event of the day was snow shoeing up the Blue Mountain at Craigleith. Firstly, for those from BC who are reading this blog – it is part of the Niagara Escarpment and not a mountain, but is the closest that we have to a mountain in Ontario. People here ski down this hill but you would laugh at them if you are from BC. No matter.

It is a good climb up the hill with snowshoes on. We walked over to the southern most area of Craigleith Ski Club and found the path up to the top of the mountain. Donning our shoe shoes we set off for the top peak with the utmost of confidence that it would be an easy climb.

I am not sure of the distance from the bottom to the top, but I would guess it took us at least 45 minutes if not an hour to get to the top. The incline varies from about 30 degrees to at the odd points more like 45 degrees straight up. Not being the fittest of climbers we had to stop to catch a breath at frequent intervals. We lost one of our party, who turned back after about 15 minutes for easier terrain. The second loss was for the opposite reason. Lillian scooted off ahead, on her own, as she was by far the fittest of the lot and we didn’t want to hold her up – she had a massage appointment in 2 hours and didn’t want to be late.

So the 3 of us who remained soldiered on at a steady pace. We three frequently had to step aside as fitter folk whizzed by us sort of running up the hill on their shoe shoes. I can only guess that those people did this climb frequently enough to be much fitter than we were.

As we got to the crest of the hill, huffing and puffing, with much difficulty, trying to catch our breath, the feeling of triumph prevailed as we each felt the pleasure of having completed the hardest part of a challenge.

The climb was worth it with the most incredible views of Georgian Bay from the top for our eyes to feast upon. It was very windy at the top and one could hardly hear our voices above the din at the summit of the climb.

We then walked across the top over to the switchback snowshoe trail for the descent down the hill. As we went across the top of the hill we passed several ski lifts dropping off their passengers all eager for their fast run down.

The views at these points were the best as the tree cover was minimal. My friends and I made plans to come back to the top of the crest for a picnic next summer. It would be wonderful to sit, eat and drink on a hot summer day and take in the wonderful view.

The descent was much easier and quicker. There were a great many people coming up the switchback trail and at one point Harry remarked that it reminded him of Yonge Street. We laughed because he was right. Everyone was out – it was such a wonderful day.

After we finished our climb we decided to go to the Mill at Thornbury for a bowl of soup while we killed some time waiting to go to the Oyster Shucking Party. Barb’s husband John plays in a hobby band – Frankie and the Favourites - and they had been hired to play at the party at the clubhouse that night. Harry and Lillian are members so they were able to get us all tickets.

We had the most wonderful Roasted Garlic soup at the Mill and after a drink and chat and a few more stops along the way we set out for the party at the Craigleith Ski Club. The night was great and we danced, ate and drank the night away. We had, as a bold faced act, brought in a few bottles of wine and after one of our party bought a bottle from the bar (and thus acquired 6 wine glasses) the bottles were placed on the table, one by one as if we had purchased them at the bar. We proceeded to drink freely from the bottles we had spirited into the clubhouse. Given it was a private club, we were sure that it would be just fine. And it was.

After the night was over, John, Barb and I headed back to “Gopher Broke Farm” and watched a movie I brought up –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_in_the_Time_of_Cholera . It was an early night for everyone as our day outside was for sure the best sleeping pill we could have had. (The copious amounts of wine which we had drank also didn’t hurt) .., J

And this morning continued on a relaxing and easy going theme. Trout and hot pepper jack cheese omelet for breakfast and great coffee and conversation. Left Barb and John’s about noon and stopped on my way back to visit with my friend T. Home and some time for domestic chores – laundry, vacuuming and general cleaning.

This evening I went out for coffee and cake with new friend of mine. It is nice to make new friends. Going through the “get to know you” phase and so always interesting to hear new thoughts and ideas. We went to a pastry shop on the Danforth. The cake was quite tasty and we both agreed that the café au lait was better than we would have gotten at Starbucks.

Lots of great times this weekend. Hmmm, a bit less than happy about back to work tomorrow. Such is life. Another great weekend in just 5 more days.

Our Neighbours to the South

As I wake up I am watching a lovely serene scene from the window in my friend Barb's guest bedroom. The snow gently falls against a backdrop of trees, branches laden with snow, painting a pretty winter scene nicely framed by the pale yellow window frame set into the backdrop of the olive green wall. It is a picture of tranquility and peace. Many of the trees in view are sadly bent over because of the burden of snow weighing them down.

When we went snow showing yesterday, we saw that a lot of the pines were so weighed down with snow that the top most 6 or 8 feet of the tree was completely lying down, seemingly broken off and held aloft only by the tree top canopy. We guessed that these were casualties of heavy snow combined by the awful windstorm a few weeks ago. I hope that the warmth of spring and the flowing sap to come in a few months might breath new life into these trees. It would be a shame to see so many trees beheaded by mother nature.

Been watching and partaking in the contagious optimism that our southerly neighbours have been frolickng in this historic week. Not going to blog about Obama today, but will note that I feel swept up in the "love in". I am going to see a documentary about his life tonight at my Inpirational Documentary Meet Up group. Should be fodder for a future blog.

Instead I will blog on a bit about Bush, the man we are saying goodbye to. I was somewhat surprised to read one media report yesterday characterizing him as the worst US President in History - a pretty damning criticism.

My initial reaction was surprise. How could he have been that bad? My friend J thought that Tricky Dickie - a liar and a crook in almost everyone's books, should be the one to earn this distinction. But apparently not and I think I found a few reasons why (with just a few moments of thought) for those of you who might be interested.

In no particular order;

-- The US deficit went from 5 trillion to 11 trillion during his tenure
-- Government funding for scientific research was slashed (will add stats here later)
-- He said a lot of really stupid things (a new word "Bushism" has been coined and we chuckled over quite a few examples of these at dinner last night.
-- He didn't find Osama
-- He didn't find weapons of mass distruction, either
-- I think Canada - US relations were not so great. Don't remember too many chummy visits between Bush and our PM (I know this doesn't necessarily make him a bad President, but I think is noteworthy.)
-- more importantly, terrible things happened on his watch:
-> 911
-> US housing market meltdown with Lord knows how many people losing their homes
-> US Govt has to bail out financial institutions and car makers
-> the price of gas hits the roof
-> the US stock market is not considered a good place to be invested.

I am sure one could think of many more reasons but I think you get the drift.

Anyway, I smell coffee brewing out in the kitchen - I guess my hosts are up and at 'em. Time I got moving.

Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my way kool iPhone]

Out in the Country

Trying out my new blogging app on my iPhone. It is a bit limited in functionality (e.g. Only one pic can be uploaded) but it will probably work for small posts and help me keep my resolution of one blog per day. Doesn't let me write sideways with a wide keyboard though, so won't be writing a whole lot this way.

Drove up last night and the roads were great. Arrived just in time for dinner. Spent the evening drinking wine and chatting.

It is wonderful up here. Barb and John are dear high school friends I have kept in touch with over the years - in fact we spent all our high school years as friends. John is a builder and he built the home they live in. It is mostly finished at this point. It is about 20 minutes south west of Collingwood in Grey County, I'm the highlands of the Niagara Escarpment. Set well back from the quiet country road, farms across and beside the 50 acre parcel of land upon it sits.

"Gopher Broke Farm" is what they call the place. It is by far the biggest and best of the houses John has built, I think. Set in amongst the trees, it offers the senses a respite forum the business of life and immerses the soul in peace and tranquility.

There is a beaver pond at the back of the property and Barb and John have cut a trail through the bush to that pond and around the property. Great for walking in summer but even more magical for snow shoeing in winter. I will take some pictures when I am out today and add them to this post when I get back to the City and Internet tomorrow.

Add to the wonderful ambiance of this winter getaway are some great like minded friends, my dear friends, who are like family, and so I have my perfect getaway.

So I am not going to spend more time blogging today.

Will take some pics when I go out snowshoeing today and add them to the blog when I get back to the city and Internet.

Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my way kool iPhone]