December '04 Newsletter
December '04 Newsletter |
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Happy Holidays!
We can't believe the season is already upon us. Of course, it started in the stores before Halloween again this year, so we should have had plenty of time to get used to the idea. If you find yourselves up to your eyeballs in fowl weather, remember that we have one guest room, three fireplaces, and a hot tub.
Other than our trip to Ontario to visit Bob's family, we've spent our autumn relaxing close to home. October came and went without us getting around to most of those jobs we had put off for cooler weather, so it looks like we will have a busy March and April again getting boat gear ready and working in the yard. We've had a number of substantial rainstorms and seem to be caught up on at least this year's rain. Since the drought has been going on for almost a decade, it is still not enough but we have been enjoying it. As have our plants; our tall night blooming cereus cactus has flowered four times this year and our lavenders and sages are going to town too.
Susan has been practicing her clown makeup, which comes out a little different every time. She dressed up for Halloween sporting a new red wig and red foam nose. Kids in BCC don't go door-to-door much. The merchants on our main street set up the Trick or Treat Trail every year, which draws several hundred local children and few outsiders. Susan took our candy down and hung out with her hairdresser, Antnee, and other non-merchant types passing out their goodies. After the trick or treating, the Chamber of Commerce and Volunteer Fire Dept. host a haunted house and other activities at the civic center. Several of the churches host similar gatherings. Some of the tiny kids' costumes were adorable and the teens were decked out and well behaved. Many parents dress up to take their kids around and Antnee had gourmet chocolate sticks to treat them.
Clown mum Bubblelee came up for the Veterans Day Parade again this year. The two of them took 2nd place in the "Other" category and this time there were more than 2 entries! After the parade, we had a houseful of company. Scott and Tennille came up from Tucson and spent the night. They made Indian fry bread in a Dutch oven on the patio to be served with Susan's spicy green chile. Her Sonoran potato salad was not such a big hit; when the smoke pours from your ears and your hair starts to crinkle, you get the idea that maybe there are a few too many jalapenos on your plate. Bob has been working on photography and printing photos like a madman. He is discovering new techniques with Photoshop's features every week.
For a change of pace, Susan elected not to host a Thanksgiving dinner this year. After biking on Thursday, we went up to BCC's own High Desert Park and enjoyed a fabulous turkey dinner put on by High Desert Helpers. They host a dinner every year that is free to those who can't afford to make a donation. Everyone is welcome. It seemed that they had served 60 - 70 people. The next day we traveled up to Prescott to the home of Paul and Phyllis Lupo to share another wonderful dinner with them and their extended family. We haven't been on the river with Paul in quite a few years but had the good fortune to raft the Upper Salt with his twin John and his wife Susan last spring. We baked a couple of pies, the old fashioned way with REAL crust and made a cabbage salad to take up. Even with 22 people wandering around, the dinner was relaxed and enjoyable.
In the holiday, social mood, Susan called old friends and neighbors Ron and Shari Bewsey from her Chandler Heights days. They were thrilled to hear from her and assented to join us for lunch that weekend. It was great for her to see them and for Bob and Ron to have the chance to get acquainted. It is a shame that we have an almost two hour drive between our homes but we plan to make the effort to stay in touch regardless.
We are delighted to report that Susan has recovered almost 100% of the range of motion in her wrist. A talented new physical therapist right here in town who has done an amazing job working on it. She should be almost as good as new and ready to row by springtime. It is going to take a few months to build that skinny appendage up to match its counterpart.
Haven't quite figured out our Christmas plans yet. Except that we will spend Christmas Eve in our traditional manner with our friends the Coles in the old neighborhood. We haven't seen much of them since we moved north and they put on a wonderful party.
Be reminded that the '05 rafting lotteries are here again! Get your permits in! We would like to run the Middle Fork next year!
Canadian Fall (9/24/04-10/10/04):
After leaving our car at our friend Richard's place in Phoenix, we shanghaied Gretchen for a ride to Sky Harbor airport and were off for another interesting flight. The engines seemed to run well and the flight was even fairly smooth. Had the water system been working it might have been perfect but alas there was no coffee or hand washing all of the way to Detroit. We thought it was rather humorous when the flight attendant came on and announced that until they ran out, there would be a limited number of moist towelettes in each rest room for those of us who felt we MUST wash our hands. Fortunately airplane toilets don't depend on water for flushing or it could have been a real mess!
Alamo had our rental car revved up and ready, so within minutes we were off. What we had hoped would be a quick stop at the currency exchange proved to be a bit more of a challenge. It was 11 PM when we crossed the Detroit to Windsor Ambassador Bridge and there were throngs of underage Michiganians changing money to spend in the Windsor nightclubs. Neither of us realized Windsor was such a hot spot and the traffic was exactly the opposite of what Bob remembered. When he was growing up all the kids were heading for Michigan for entertainment. Shortly after crossing the bridge, we found a 24 hour grocery store where we stocked up with a couple of days camping food. A short drive took us to quiet campsite near Leamington where we tucked ourselves in for the night.
Our plan was to take a couple of days to reach Hamilton, sightseeing along the way. First stop was Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point and park in Canada. Bob had been there with family as a child and in the years between visits the park has been revamped, reveged, and renewed. It is the prime example of Ontario's Carolina deciduous forest and home to vast numbers of butterflies, birds, and amphibians, not to mention black squirrels. We spent about a half a day wandering there before continuing northeast through the small towns along the Ontario's Lake Erie coast. The leaves were just beginning to change color; Virginia creeper already in its full red glory twined around the hardwood tree trunks and branches. The fall weeds were blooming, looking like wildflowers to us desert rats. Farmers were harvesting tomatoes and corn. Tobacco was hanging in the long vented drying sheds.
Camp that night was at Rondeau Provincial Park. Though there were no campsites along the beach, access points were plentiful. The shoreline itself was lined with historical homes mostly from 1920 - 1950, interspersed with newer private homes. The next day we continued along the backroads, through flat and then rolling terrain with large, old farmhouses on 100 acre farms. There seems to have been an infill of gentleman farmers on smaller plots carved from these farms, folks who commute to cities like Chatam, Windsor, or London.
We leisurely found our way to Dundas, planning to visit Bob's 93-year-old Aunt Edna in her care center. After lunching at a small park in Ancaster we eventually found the center but unfortunately his aunt was responding badly to a new medication and was zonked out so to speak. We took a memory lane drive around Hamilton on Highway 401 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), then back through town, ending up at the recently upgraded Harborview Park for a walk. An Italian folk day was in progress so we sauntered over and spent some time listening to the music and watching the happenings before continuing on to join his cousin Sharon and her daughters for dinner. Sharon and Emma accompanied us for another visit with Aunt Edna that evening but she was still drugged out. We left late in the evening and drove down to London to get an early start the next morning.
Aunt Hazel recently lost her vision and is terribly confused regarding her whereabouts. She had heard that we were coming so when we arrived she was pacing the halls looking for us. We stayed for a couple of hours and then moved on to Barb's house for dinner with her family. A couple of miles out of Byron, Bob locked himself out of our car, with the engine running no less. This cost us 45 minutes while Alamo called Chevrolet (we were driving a Cavalier) who sent out someone from AAA to get us back in. We later learned that right after we left the care center, Bob's cousin Diane showed up to visit her mom, so she joined us at Barb's for dinner. We stayed with Barb, her husband Gary, and their teenager Mike that night.
Bob's 84-year-old Aunt Vel is still living independently in her same apartment home that she has owned since sometime in the '40's. We visited her there and took her out to the cemetery to visit and maintain some of the family graves. Then the three of us went to Tim Horton's for coffee and a sandwich. We were delighted that Aunt Vel is staying so well. She is as mobile as Bob's Mom is and on top of what is happening around her as well. Back to Barb's where we picked up Lucas, the fattest cat we have ever encountered. He was so heavy we had to take turns carrying his case from the car to Aunt Hay's room. Since she had been ill, she hadn't seen Lucas for several months. She was thrilled. Lucas was also happy to see her but not quite so thrilled to be in and out of that carrying case. He was so big he didn't have room to turn around in it. After another great visit it was back to Barb & Gary's for our last evening. Gary had been off to the deli and had a great dinner planned. We spent the evening going through old B&W pictures taken 50-80 years ago, trying to identify some of the unknown parties. Barb also had all of Uncle Dick's love letters to Aunt Hay from when he served in the European theater during WWII. An even more interesting letter was one from his Grandfather that discussed a family name change that none of the family seemed to know much about.
Up fairly early, we said our goodbyes and headed for Detroit via Sarnia. It was a relaxing drive and we found ourselves back in the states at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village by about 2:00 PM. Since the museum closed at 5:00 and we wouldn't have enough time to see it all, an understanding ticket taker let us keep ours so we could come back the next morning and complete our tour. We camped again that night and were at the door waiting for them to open.
Running a hair late, we arrived back at the airport, checked in our rental car, and hopped the bus to the terminal in a matter of minutes. Our flight was uneventful and we were as always happy to be home.
While in London we tied up some financial loose ends for Bob's mom. We spent the morning at her bank and the Canadian Old Age Pension Office (yes that is what they call it) and arranged things to our satisfaction. We had been experiencing gorgeous sunny days in the 70's-80's, which seemed like perfect picnic weather in Spring Bank Park along the Thames River. We drove though Bob's old neighborhoods, enjoying historic brick houses with dormer windows and turrets. Many flowers were still blooming and it was fun to look at something different than southwest houses and desert landscaping. That evening, we camped at Fanshawe Lake Park. Our site on the bank above the lake provided great views and while we made dinner, several two man crews sculled by. After dark, while using the pay phone, seven chubby raccoons surrounded us eating acorns. One of their buddies was up the tree shaking them loose, while the others cracked them open below. Despite the distraction we eventually contacted his cousin Barb's and made arrangements to visit his 86 year old aunt Hazel in her care center the following day.
In 8th grade Bob had taken a graduation field trip to the museum-village and had found it fascinating. Knowing how he can get lost in museums, Susan was not so sure she would share his enthusiasm but was happy to be proven wrong. Henry Ford began the village and museum in 1929, gathering dozens of buildings and millions of artifacts. We spent at least 4 hours in the museum before having lunch, and running back out to the village to finish the tour we had started the day before. He had hoped to see the Mercedes 300 SL gullwinged LeMans car of his youth but alas it was not there any more and he had to settle for a Ford GT40 LeMans car from the '60's and the world's biggest steam locomotive. Of course, we were unable to see it all but we thoroughly enjoyed what we did see and highly recommend it for anyone traveling through that area.
We met the group at the South Rim for the fall GCHBA meeting, which was to be followed by the 4.5-mile hike down the Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens. Bryan Wisher, the supervising ranger for the project came to the meeting and talked to us about food and accommodations. The bad news was that the food that Mary Simpson had prepared did not get packed down to Indian Gardens as planned and we were now going to pack it in. The good news was we would not need tents, as there was cabin space in the rangers' quarters and trail crew buildings. That was indeed good news because the forecast was for a couple of days of drizzle. After the meeting, everyone working the project met for lunch at Maswik Lodge. We then divided out the food at our cars, stuffed it into our packs, and trudged off to the Rim.
The food was fabulous. Mary baked cookies for us daily and delivered them down to the work site. Bryan made homemade pizzas one night, followed by a from scratch chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Gene, the icecream man, hiked in several half gallons of ice cream that were much appreciated. Pat made up some special recipe baked chicken one evening. On our last night together, we had a beef pot roast with all of the fixings. It was quite a change from our usual backpacking fare and we certainly didn't lose any weight.
