Damn, I didn’t phone Sandra when I got in to tell her I was safe, what a jackass. Oh well, she knows how easily entranced/distracted/daydreamy I am. At some point I will have to thank Clem for the princely gift he made me upon my arrival. I actually have thank you cards packed away someplace. Anyways Chipper thanks for the tip about route 8, I’m sure you were right when you said it would shave at least half an hour off the elapsed time.
Jim and Deb made me a very wonderful welcome, and I got to meet Winnie the Wonderdog, who is just as charming and lovable as a pitbull can be (as advertised & she is one of the prettiest dogs ever and very expressive) and also Zoomer, who, at 11, is a sober and friendly individual. Winnie just had her first birthday. She got CAKE at the doggie park, the lucky little canine.
Dinner (of COURSE I have to talk about dinner) was yummy pasta shells with home made sauce with sliced chicken draped over it, plus mixed veg, plus PERFECTLY cooked garlic bread and strawberry rhubarb pie a la mode. Jim presided over the concoction of this savory collation…
Then we sat about and chewed the fat until we realized we were all tuckered out (and Jim had to get up at hours ungodly) so after getting the key to the wireless and extracting a promise from Jim to bang on my door so I can join the folks for bird seed (what we call Red River Cereal) and coffee at six tomorrow morning, I am now doing up my daily report prior to unconsciousness.
Driving through the rolling hills of Eastern Ontario while the sun dances in and out from behind the clouds and the hills sing with colour and then the trees shake golden coins into the air and I chase the shadow along the road while all the trees lose the light and become… something different, less lively somehow… it made me feel very wonderful. I figured out how to use the cruise control, so my back is fine. I was within five minutes of my predicted arrival time of 5:30 so I am very pleased with myself.
Deb and Jim have a house full of lovely pictures of family and many pictures of Jenn. She is such a beautiful young women; one can always say that about the children of friends, but there really is something special about her. There’s a picture of her with her dog Nolan, another pit bull rescue, that makes me smile every time I think of it, Nolan with her immense scary mouth gaping open and Jenn laughing. I really like the house, the colours and the layout feels so relaxed and comfy… Deb says, “Just don’t look in the basement.” Which makes me laugh, because that’s how I feel, too, what with all my boxes still strewn about and unpacked.
I thank everyone for their hospitality so far and feel so contented. When I think how I agonized about getting her and how incredibly anxious I was about the travelling, I am inclined to poke a great deal of fun at myself. Sooner or later I have to quit worrying about things. Worrying never helps. Planning does!
Very cold and windy today… got blown all over the show by great gusts of wind. The Rent-a-wreck Impala dances around like a Westphalia when it gusts.