Arista Ramblers

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Wheatley, Aug. 2-5 2013

Wow!! Our new cottage on wheels is wonderful. We had a very busy week-end and enjoyed lots of laughs and adventures. "Georgie" is the new name but our blog will remain Arista Ramblers in honour of our wonderful memories of our first RV.
The drive down to Wheatley was very smooth and comfy. We arrived, set up camp and did some unpacking and sorting of things in the motor home. We went exploring in the park for a while and then enjoyed a yummy supper before spending the rest of the evening by the campfire.
Saturday was another day full of adventure. We drove through the countryside into Leamington to do a bit of shopping and head to the Lakeside Bakery and Cafe for lunch and to pick up some amazing dessert squares for dinner with Pat & Geoff in Windsor. If you ever travel to Leamington be sure to stop at this bakery. After a short stop back at camp we headed to Windsor for a wonderful roast beef dinner and visit. We enjoyed a great evening on the patio and had the pleasure of watching a couple of hummingbirds enjoying the nectar of the flowers. We headed back to Wheatley late in the evening. I hope Pat & Geoff had as much fun as we did.
Sunday we were off to Point Pelee National Park to check out the summer sights there as we had not been there in the summer before. It was very busy at the park but we enjoyed some hiking and had an enjoyable afternoon exploring. We headed back to camp, had supper and enjoyed a quiet evening by the fire.
Monday we had a relaxing morning before packing up and heading to the lakeside for a walk on the beach and a hike through the woods. We headed home around 4 and stopped at friend's Jim & Susan's to check out the progress of their new home being built after there fire and show them our new cottage. Our week-end was full of lots of memories and firsts.

Georgie set up on our campsite at Wheatley

Bracket Fungus

Light-spored mushroom

This looks similar to a wood mushroom

but I will let you name it what you want.......

Bee on a cone flower at Pat and Geoff's

We loved watching the Hummingbirds

Swallows on the wires

A Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly

Mom and juvenile Cedar Waxwing at Point Pelee

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

Mom enjoying the berries in the tree

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

Enjoying some nector

Large pink flower at Point Pelee

We found a geocache box on our hike

We opened it up and found this inside

Water flowers from our hike at the marsh area

Mom Eastern Kingbird with a treat for the young one

Juvenile has the bee now

Mom flies off to find more food

Willow tree in the sunlight

Peter cottontail on the path in the woods

Great White Egret at the marsh at Wheatley

Female Belted Kingfisher stretching her wings

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Exciting News!

We purchased a new motor home and picked it up on Tuesday. Below are a few photo's of it in the driveway and the interior layout. I will post interior photo's next week for your viewing pleasure. We are soooo excited to take our first trip with it.

Not much room to spare between the fence and house

Duncan is amazing at parking it and avoiding everything

This is the layout on our 35 ft moving cottage

Clancy Luau, July 26-28 2013

Aloha

In the Hawaiian language aloha means affection, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say hello and goodbye.
I believe that having our first themed reunion as Hawaiian was appropriate considering the original meaning of aloha.
It was another wonderful week-end with family and lots of laughs and good times were enjoyed. Even the rain on Saturday couldn't spoil the fun. There were a number of people who arrived on Friday so we enjoyed a great evening around the campfire.
Saturday was the main event day and we were lucky enough to dodge most of the rain until late evening when the skies opened up after putting on a great light show. We enjoyed the day visiting, eating, playing games, eating some more, doing a Clancy getting to know you trivia and eating even more!!! We also did a mock wedding as our cousin Pat will be getting married this fall to Geoff so we wanted to incorporate something into the week-end festivities, A special thanks to Liz for organizing that. Matthew dressed up as the bride, Aurora was the groom and Steve dressed up as a baby to add more humour to the ceremony.
Sunday we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and went into Maryhill to get a group picture on the steps of what use to be our grandmother Clancy's house. As children we often had family photos taken on the front steps. The woman that lives there now even allowed us to tour the main floor of the house. What memories it brought back for some of us. The main comment by most of us was that it didn't seem as big now as when we were children. Some of the cousins were raised in that house and for others it was a place that we visited quite often so it was a thrill to be able to be in the house after all these years. There were a number of original parts of the house still intact. My sister Janet and I stopped at Diana's and Donny's house in Maryhill for a short visit before we headed back to Fred and Liz's to finish packing. A couple of people had the privilege of receiving new nicknames which I am sure will be with them for a long time. I hope "Bullets" and "Fur Face" had as much fun as I did this past week-end. A big thank-you to Fred and Liz for sharing their home and amazing property with all of us so we could once again enjoy such wonderful time with family.
Calling all Clancy's for next years Mexican Reunion on the week-end of July 26th 2014. Be sure to mark that date on your calendars now so you won't miss out on all the fun!!!