Knotty Ewe On the Land

On Friday we flew from Halifax to Toronto and then onwards to Germany.  Our flights were uneventful save for all the travelling families.    It seems that our flight to Toronto was the children’s shuttle as there appeared to be a 1:1 ratio of adults to children.  There isn’t much to say about our flight to Frankfurt as we tried to sleep as soon as we boarded to minimize the jet lag.

I was very sad to leave my family in Halifax and Eric in Toronto.  I already miss them very much.

At the Halifax airport

When we arrived in Frankfurt we were welcomed by a big group of Mum’s adopted family here.   We stayed with Anya and Karsten last night just outside Frankfurt.  Henny (the matriarch) and Annie were also there.  It was a lovely welcome and start to our trip.

Before flying off to Germany we enjoyed a few days visiting with my sister and her family.  It is always amazing how much my nephews grow and change each time I get to see them.  They were in Kingston in July for a visit and even in the past few weeks Nathaniel has grown and developed so much – he is almost rolling over.  And Lachlan seems to be sprouting upwards all the time.  We had a lovely time.  For me the highlights of visits if getting to participate in everyday activities like going to swimming lessons and soccer practice as well as just visiting and catching up.

It was lovely to relax and enjoy the fresh air and relaxing atmosphere at the Shore.  I tried to go for a run along the beach in the morning (for some insane reason I’m trying to get back into running during this trip).  Unfortunately the combination of resistance from the sand and distractingly lovely scenery it was more walk than run!

For lunch we enjoyed fresh local mussels.

L to R: Mum, Carol, Hart

Mum took this photo of me with my packs.  Now I’m ready for the real adventure to begin.

My big accomplishment while we were there was to finally finish the baby blanket I started in February for Nathaniel (my adorable nephew who was born in March).  I love the final results.  The yarn is a soft painted cotton in yummy pastel colours.

Nathaniel modelling his new blanket.

In the afternoon we headed on out for the 2.5 hour drive to Bedford to spend a few days with my sister.

After and early start and many thanks to Peter and Judy for their generous hospitality we headed back towards the Canadian border.

Of course before returning to Canada we made a stop at a grocery store to take advantage of cheaper US booze.  And it really is so much cheaper.  In the grocery store I found one of my favourite wines “Ménage à Trois”.  I also found it here in Halifax.  US price – $11.99, Canadian price – $19.99.

After an easy transition back to Canada through the new crossing at Calais and St Stephen, NB we hightailed it to Heather Beach on the north-eastern short of Nova Scotia. Amongst the family this is referred to as “The Shore” as my Uncle Hart (Mum’s brother) and Aunt Carol have a lovely summer place there.

It has been far too long since we have been to visit them so it was lovely to have the opportunity.

We spent today driving across most of Maine.  Parts of which were dramatically beautiful.  One of the most scenic spots was the Penobscot Narrows and this spectacular bridge spanning the water.  This was also the turn off where we could have visited Fort Knox.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

As we had some extra time we headed down to Bar Harbor to see what the big deal is.  It is a lovely little town down on the coast.  However, it is very touristy.  Apparently the core population in the winter is 8,000 but 1 million tourist travel through each summer.  This was evident by all the traffic going into and out of the town!  It was a lovely spot though for some lunch and a quick walk around by the water.

Bar Harbor, Maine

In the late afternoon we headed to Harrington, Maine just outside of Ellsworth.  It took a few detours to find.  Our target was visiting old family friends – Hannelore, Gunther, Judy and Peter.  Hannelore’s mother was a very good girlhood friend of my Oma in Germany and the families have stayed in close contact since they both immigrated in the 1950s.  It was so lovely to visit Judy and Peter’s lovely old farm house and to enjoy a dinner of mountains of fresh vegetables from their garden (note potatoes, carrots, kale – so yummy!).

L to R – Hannelore, Gunther, Peter, Judy, Mum

I just have to make mention of Judy’s talents.  I am very impressed that she still cooks on a 1902 wood stove in the winters!

This morning my mother and I departed on the second leg of this journey.  Our final target destination is Bedford, Nova Scotia to spend a few days with my sister and her crew.  However, we are taking our time (approximately 4 days) to drive there.  We are driving through New England before crossing back into Canada at New Brunswick.

Today we set of bright and early following a quick stop at Tim Hortons to grab coffee.  Because we were heading east we had no issues.  The border crossing at Cornwall was very quick – there were only 2 cars in line ahead of us.   Last weekend in Niagara the signs all said there was a 1 to 2 hour delay at that crossing.  Not so in eastern Ontario.

We took a leisurely route across New York state and down through Lake Champlain sticking to secondary roads.  Our original intent was to stop for the night in Vermont but the mountain scenery was so gorgeous we just kept driving.  By late in the afternoon we realized we were already into Maine.  So we are stopped for the night in Bethel, Maine.  This is a cute town which we drove around a bit this evening.

Tomorrow – more driving!

Today brought another sad good bye.  This time I was parting with a relatively new friend – my trusty car.  Though I’m not a big car person, my Honda Civic has been a partner and party to many fun adventures this past year and so I am sad to part with a good friend.

As part of the plan to divest myself of most of my worldly possessions my mother is kindly giving it a good home.  The process to do this is surprisingly involved.  It’s not simply a matter of handing over the keys.  In order for a daughter to gift a vehicle to her mother in Ontario you have to:

• Get insurance on the car in the new owners name
• Get the car “Safety Standards Certified”
• Fill out forms and find all your current paper work
• Then present it all at Service Ontario.

Of course it helps if you know all the parts and you have all the pieces of paper ready.  Unfortunately, I conveniently forgot I needed to pay off the car loan first which caused some running around.  Then we didn’t know about the Safety Standards Certificate so had to find a garage that could do this on the spot (this is apparently not needed when the car is transferred between spouses!).

Anyway, after a few hours of running around we got it all sorted out and my mother is now the proud owner of a new car.

After all this hard work we rewarded ourselves with a pint and some yummy food at the Brew Pub.  Since they had Pooh’s Brew (which brings back lovely memories of student days) on tap this just added to the relaxation and enjoyment.

Yesterday I bid a sad good bye to Eric as I departed Toronto on the first leg of my journey.  After last minute packing activities and loading the car I drove to Kingston in the afternoon.

It was very hard to leave everything that is familiar and that means “home” behind.  The farther I drove, the more it hit me that this wasn’t just another weekend in Kingston and that I couldn’t easily go back if I forgot something or that I wouldn’t be able to get the world’s best hugs in a couple of days.

In preparation for my departure on Wednesday I packed up my bags on Tuesday night.  The challenge was how to fit everything I am taking with me into my bags.

I’m taking one large bag (a Gregory Deva 70L women’s pack) and one day pack (a Deuter Trans Alpine 26L pack).

Here is all the stuff that had to go in:

After an initial attempt to put it all in failed, some minor paring got it all in.  I know I have too much “just in case” stuff (mostly in the form of medications and other first aid materials) but you just never know!  Also because of the reduced carrying capacity I (hopefully) will be less tempted to buy too much!

For our final weekend together we spent a lovely couple of days in the Niagara region.  We had absolutely perfect weather which added to our enjoyment.  It was an fantastic weekend that will be very hard to top!

After a leisurely start to our day on Saturday we headed out on the scenic drive (thanks to traffic on the QEW we opted for side routes).  Saturday after noon we went to a wine and cheese tasting at the Ravine Vineyard.   It is a lovely vineyard which has only been open for a few years.  The house is a historic building from the area which has been beautifully restored.   The house has the tasting rooms.  The attached “packing shed” is a wonderful restaurant (more on that later).

Sitting on the patio we enjoyed three lovely wines (a Chardonnay, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Riesling) which our pallet guide paired with three Canadian artisan cheeses.   My favourite of the cheese was an aged farmhouse from Natural Pastures in BC.  I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of blue cheese so even the lovely Riesling it was paired with couldn’t save it in my mind.  My companion thought otherwise though!

We returned to the vineyard in the evening to enjoy one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  The food was absolutely wonderful and the setting was beautiful.  We got to sit outside at the bar which runs around the pizza oven so that we could enjoy the sunshine and the view of the vines.

I could add pictures of all the wonderful dishes, but this isn’t really a foodie blog!  Highlight though were the white sangria with local peach slices, a chacuterie board with house cured meats, a scrumptious duck leg with lentil salad, and steaks done to perfection (I’m taking Eric’s word on the last one).

We stayed at the cozy South Landing Inn in Queenston (sorry no pictures) so on Sunday morning we cycled into Niagara-on-the-Lake and explored around the area a bit.  After a lovely lunch with members of Eric’s family at Caroline’s Cellar we had an enjoyable visit with them.

Sunday evening was definitely a highlight as we went to see Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde and staring Marla McLean, Tara Rosling, and Martin Happer at the Shaw Festival Theatre.  It was very enjoyable.  The play was great, the staging and lighting used to interesting effect – it all combined in a fantastic way.  I can’t wait to see more plays in the future!

Monday we had an early start with the hope of beating the traffic back into the city.  On our way out of town though we stopped for a quick visit with my cousin Sylvia who drives one of the NOTL Transit buses.

We had one more stop on our way out of town and that was at the Palatine Hills winery.  We enjoyed a yummy Merlot at dinner the night before and were determined to have some.  After bidding a sad farewell to Niagara we headed back into the city.