Interesting stuff we've done out of the usual

went "to the beach" last week . for many years - particularly when ehbeth was still at home - the sandbanks provincial park on lake ontario was our hangout during warm summer days .
but we somehow lost interest in going . last tuesday , after we came back from the pool , i said : "let's go to the beach ! " .
we skipped breakfast , grabbed our beachchairs , i made a quick reservation for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants close to the beach and off we went .
after a really first class lunch we arrived at the park about 1:30 pm .
to our surprise , the park and the beach were packed with people .
we still remembered our favourite spot in the dunes , found a shady place under a tree and set up camp !
we didn't leave until after 6 pm and were home by 7;30 - after a relaxing ferry-ride across one of the bays along the lake .
what a great day it was !
hbg

lunch at the waring house



beach



ferry back home




i'm sure we'll do it again !

Sounds like a great weekend for the Imposters and he Hamburgers!

I've organized many events, but this week provided a special opportunity: Welcome Home Event


Very satisfying and moving.

During the last week of July I visited the lovely city of Quebec for the first time in my life. But thereby hang several tales.

I decided to drive to Quebec after spending two or three days in Montreal, anjoying the Montreal International Jazz Festival. According to the Guiness Book of World Records, it's the largest festival of its kind in the world. Something like 5,000 participating artists. Of course, if you wanted to hear, say, Woody Allen's jazz combo, the cover charge was something like $100 Canadian, so I stuck mainly to the free outdoor venues and heard some incredibly good up-and-coming performers that you've never heard of.

I predict a stellar future for a combo called the Monica Shore Quintet, a group of music students from McGill University up on the hill. After the gig, I saw Monica herself mingling with the crowd and went up to her. I told her, frankly, that if I didn't hear another concert while in Montreal my 300 mile drive would still not have been wasted. She and her group are fabulous! She has a website. I recommend Googling it.

Tuesday morning, July 1, I decided to drive to Quebec. Why? Because it is the oldest major city on the North American continent (if you don't count St. Augustine, Fla. as a major city), founded in 1608 and because I had never visited it. So I checked out of my hotel that morning, loaded the car, parked it in front of a hole-in-the-wall diner on Peel Street and went in for some breakfast. It was a perfectly legitimate parking space. No signs saying No Parking or Stationment Interdict . No reason not to leave the car there. I had a fine breakfast, paid the tab, tipped the waitress and walked out to find my car gone and three or four motorcycle cops and police cadets putting up matal barriers at curbside. I had forgotten that July 1 is Canada Day, a national holiday with parades and fireworks and the rest of it, and, apprently, a parade was about to come down Peel Street.

None of the cops spoke intelligible English and in my agitation I had quite forgotten how to say, "My car has been towed" in French. (I might have managed something like "My automobile, she is not here" or something similar in French, but I don't think I would have understood the response.) Luckily a young female police cadet could speak the Queen's tongue and told me the telephone number to call for further information. My mobile phone, of course, had been left on the charger in the vehicle. Again, luckly, I was only half a block from the central tourist information center (oops. I think, if we're speaking Canadian, I'm supposed to spell that 'centre'.) So a hied thither, called the number and waited about two minutes while the person who had answered the phone found another person who was fluent in English.

"No problem," she said. (I always get anxious when somebody says that; it usually means there's going to be a major problem.) "Just give me the license plate number and I'll bring it up on the computer."

Me: "Uh...I'm not sure what the plate number is. It's a rental car. But it has Massachusetts plates."

"Oh, Massachusetts," she said. "No problem. Can't be too many U.S.-registry cars got towed this morning."

So, while she's bringing the information up on her computer, I'm envisioning now having to find a taxi on a busy holiday, locating the lot or garage where the car had been towed and having to pay an arm and probably both legs for towing charges etc. etc. etc.

Here's the kicker: they hadn't towed the car to a lot at all. The address the woman gave me was on St. Catherine's Street, about two blocks from where I was making the call. They had just towed it around the corner to get it out of the way of the coming parade. There was a whole bunch of tickets on the windshield, of course, amounting to about $95.00 (which I haven't [aid yet) but, other than that, the woman had been right -- no problem.

I didn't stay to watch the parade. Got right on the road for Quebec.

Now, since I'd never visited Quebec before and had made no hotel reservations or anything like that, I should have known that things would not go smoothly. Nor did they. Somewhere on the approaches to the lower city (those who know Quebec will understand what I'm talking right away; for those who haven't, downtown Quebec is basically two cities -- the upper town up on a steep hill, topped by the Chateau Frontenac and the lower town on the banks of the St. Lawrence [or San Laurent, if you prefer] River) I picked up a nail, attached to a square piece of aluminium, in my left front tire and, as a result, now had a flat tire.

[I jusr re-read that last sentence. I'm rather proud of it.]

Trying to change a tire while next to the air-dispensing pump of a roadside gas station in the center of a city celebrating a holiday which includes a 400th jubilee is an adventure. Two strapping young men offered to give this superannuated Yankee codger a hand and di yeoman work in getting the jack to work properly. I tipped them handsomely and asked (1) whether they could suggest where I might get my flat fixed, since the spare turned out to be a "doughnut" on which one mustn't travel more than 90 km (60 mi. or so) and (2) whether they could recommend a hotel that wouldn't charge me a week's wages for a night's stay.

They both laughed.

Forget about a hotel in town, they said. This week, between Canada Day and the celebration of the Quebecois Quadrennial, the city was overrun with visitors and there wouldn't be even a flop-house available. )One of the young men, though obviously a Francophone, spoke quite passable English. But I had to prompt him when he couldn't recall the words "No Vacancy." However -- bless him! -- he did suggest that if I drove out west on Autoroad 138 (aka Boulevard Wildrid-Hamel), there was a row of reasonably priced motels there as well as auto-repair shops which might, possibly, be open the next day and help me with my tire problem.

I found a motel, just as he had suggested, a charming little mom-and-pop operation which still uses metal keys instead of plastic cards for unlocking a door and does not cause one to consider applying for a second mortgage. It also hapened to be, conceniently, almost right across the street from a Michelin Tire establishment. They fixed my puncture the next morning for a paltry $25 and I was free to enjoy the lovely city of Quebec for a day. Perhaps more on that later.

glad to hear the soldier is back home safely !
hbg

marry andrew :

enjoyed your quebec experience .
in may we went on a 7 day cruise from momtral to boston .
since it was our wedding anniversary , i made reservations for brunch at the chateau frontenac for our stop over in quebec city - they sure treated us nicely !!!
(the hotel is a little pricey , but just to have brunch and walk around was a treat . btw in may quebec city was already a beehive of activity - next year should be easier to find a hotel in the city) .
hbg

Hey, we're off to a great start thanks to hbg, squinney and MA. I'm now glad I started "this" thing. Chow for now.

Thanks for the 'welcome home', hbg.

The Chateau Frontenac is a fantastic place. But I think I'd need to be in a different tax bracket to stay there. Something like $500/night is the very cheapest room they've got, I think. But I have stayed at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa which appears to be a somewhat miniaturized version of the Frontenac. I understand that Her Majesty maintains an exclusive suite at the Laurier for those rare occasions when she might visit Canada. It's right next door to Parliament Hill.

What a ... a... fortunate time to see Quebec for the first time. One of those rich instant memories, Merry, and well told indeed.

Have to go back and click on Squinney's link..

Having once been confirmed myself, I'm not so taken by the unusualness of that, CI, but I'm not experienced at all with Buddhist Temples, much less Buddhist Temple bazaars. Sounded like fun.

As did the Hamburgers' beach excursion, kind of a beach renewal for you.

I woke up this morning throughly convinced I was late for school; as I was about to rip out the door, my wife frustratingly trumpets: what the hell is with all the noise?" upon which I quickly bleat "I'm late for treaching".........she asks "on Sunday?"

I slink into a spare bedroom for more snoozing.....ooops.

Wonderful stories so far! Merry Andrew I'm glad things worked out so well for you. We were fortunate to house-sit for a week in Quebec City a few years ago and loved it. It's a great city for walking and the restaurants are terrific.

hamburger, as usual you make me homesick for the Kingston area. I remember the sand dunes well -- burned my bare feet!

c.i. was your friend's daughter's party her coming-of-age? I ask because of her age (15) and surname (Gonzales). It's a really big deal from what I understand. It sounds quite interesting.

Squinney, your neighbourhood sounds lovely. Such a show of support!

squinney, That welcome home for Capt Kozak is a good reminder to all of us that we should thank a soldier in uniform when we see them.

MA, I visit to Montreal and Quebec was some years ago, but I continue to have good memories of both places. That you had some trials and tribulations during your trip didn't seem to have taken away from your enjoyment of your journey.

I'll be planning another San Francisco gathering for the summer of 2009, so please try to make it. Stick around for a few days, so I can show you more of the south bay.

Good even, Squinney, glad he's home. (Well, they are home.)

Yes, it was a "coming of age" or "coming out" celebration, but one of my friends also called it a "confirmation." I'm green concerning this ritual, because this was my very first.

My most recent oddity was when I went with my 13 year old cousin to fit her for a wig to replace the hair she'll probably lose during chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Good event, I meant.



On the confirmation, I should have caught that. We were confirmed at 12. And the Quinceanera is a big event.

This weekend is the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, but I'm not sure I want to fight the traffic and the parking lot log-jam at the festival site. My wife and I attended a few times many years ago, but have been discouraged by the traffic to Gilroy. They're projecting 100,000 attendees this weekend. The weather should be "comfortable" this weekend.

hmmmmm.....

I'd go just for the opportunity to bask in the aroma of all that garlic.

Too bad it is such a long 250-mile round trip drive from here.

If you decide to go, c.i., have some garlic ice cream for me please.

I went to the footy at the dome in melbourne last weekend.

dadpad, Great photos; thanks for sharing them with us.

Buttrflynet, We're probably going to stay close to home this weekend, and try to clear up more of our household junk that can be thrown out. We're just completing major renovations on our home, and it's now almost finished.