Cherry Festival and Baseball

Jane was working Art in the Garden in Blenheim this past weekend, so I joined her for the day to help out, and explore Cherry Festival in some downtime. The self-proclaimed Cherry Capital of Ontario was also featuring a town-wide yard sale, so it was a busy but beautiful day in the downtown area.

Of course, the extremely scenic drive along Lake Erie from Wheatley to Blenheim (and back) is always so gorgeous and peaceful.....even in a giant blue van full of artwork! We took full advantage and made some stops to collect fresh local fruits....SOME of which actually made it home.

On Sunday, I set off with Other Mike and son Emmett to catch the tunnel bus to Detroit, where the Tigers were hosting the Blue Jays for a matinee at Comerica Park. Having split the first two games, Sunday was the rubber match....and even in the Detroit stands it seemed that nearly half the large crowd wore Blue. The Jays only visit once per season, so all the Toronto fans came out of the Windsor woodwork.

The game started with a bang, tied 3-3 after the first inning, before starting pitchers Marco Estrada and Anibal Sanchez settled things down. In spite of rain and thunderstorm warnings, we never saw a drop all afternoon.....though mercifully some cloud cover kept things bearable for the fair-haired folk.

The Tigers tied the game 5-5 in the bottom of the 8th, setting up extra innings and rapidly depleting each team's bullpen options. Ultimately, Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 11th to send the local fans home happy.

Loss aside, only a short bus ride under the river remained before we were back on Canadian soil after a memorable afternoon at the ballpark!

Blenheim's Main Drag hosting Cherry Festival

The Sign Said Long-Haired Freaky People, Need Apply

The Open Door booth

Bounty of the Lake Erie North Shore!

Comerica Park in downtown Motown

Great seats just inside the left field foul pole

Outfield and downtown beyond

Estrada deals to Nick Castellanos

Ezekiel Carrera limits a Tiger to a double into the corner

The Walk of Shame

The guy beside me caught a foul ball!

Justin Upton rounds up a Jays base hit

Shade break to grab a ballpark frank and a cold beer

Cloud cover - aka Ginger's Paradise!

Warming up in the bullpen

Justin Smoak tries to deliver a win in the 10th inning

Bottom of the 11th - Miguel Cabrera about to walk in the winning run

Kincardine Scottish Festival

We headed out in Van Go(gh) for the first official road trip, a summer run up the Lake Huron shoreline to the lovely town of Kincardine, for a four-day weekend of Scottish Festival and camping.

Besides fabulous weather, we were treated to some spectacular musical performances by The Trews, The Mudmen, Natalie McMaster and Donnell Leahy (and kids!), the Screaming Orphans (four sisters from Ireland), Albannach (primal drummers), and a number of other bands.....along with the obligatory pipe band performances and Highland dancing.

John and Julie met us at the Festival, and we even ran into one of Jane's relatives, plus an acquaintance from Wheatley. As an added bonus, the beer of choice at the Festival was Creemore!

Kincardine itself was also a worthy visit, a nice quaint town on the shores of Lake Huron, with shops, beaches, parks, some great dining options, and even a few pubs.

We got a campsite at nearby Aintree Campground, which really only served as a quiet parking spot for the van overnight with us sleeping inside. Nice place, we just didn't get to spend much time there!

We stopped in Goderich along the way back, another fine Lake Huron town, for breakfast and an art show. Voted Canada's Prettiest Town, the downtown is laid out in a circular pattern, with the spokes of the wheel (more streets) radiating out from the central courthouse.

From there, we carried on down the shore and spent a night of board gaming with John and Julie at the cottage in Grand Bend....including a rousing round of Mansions of Madness!

First van road trip = success!

It's time for a Scottish Festival!

A hundred thousand welcomes!

Lake Huron beach

Screaming Orphans from Donegal, Ireland

Frenzied fiddling from Natalie McMaster and Donnell Leahy....

....and their insanely talented kids!

Van Go(gh) with a choice parking spot

Our hotel for the weekend!

Battle of the (Pipe) Bands!

The winning Band - 78th Frasers

Sound check with The Trews

Albannach from Scotland

More Screaming Orphans

The Trews rock the Scottish Festival

Campsite 9 at Aintree Park

Goderich Courthouse

Canada 150

This year's Canada Day weekend brought added pomp and ceremony, in light of Canada's 150th Birthday. Jane was busy with Art at the Marina all weekend in Leamington, but we still found time to enjoy some of the CBC coverage from Ottawa and parts elsewhere across the nation, as well as enjoying some food and beverage on local patios at Rennie's and Freddy's.

The garden received some long overdue attention, as did the lawn and my mandolin. We also took one of the rear bench seats out of the van, to test it out for camping.....and discovered a possible new guest bedroom for visitors!

Happy Canada Day!!!

 Art at the Marina

 Gorgeous sunset

 Getting the van ready for more summer fun

The new guest bedroom!

 A selection of delectable beverages for Canada Day

 Happy Sesquicentennial from the back yard!

The main drag in Wheatley shut down for the long weekend par-tay

Shed Renovations

With the most gracious assistance of John and Julie (and their fabulous collection of tools), we picked a weekend in late June to begin the process of renovating the garden shed into Jane's Ultimate Rustic Art Studio. Having spent the weeks ahead emptying out the shed and gutting the interior in anticipation, the big weekend was finally upon us.

Beyond the cosmetics of colour and trim, much work was needed to shore up some shoddy floorboards, frame some walls inside, repair the existing and disused sliding door and build some new barn doors and grand staircase, and patch and re-shingle the "slightly" leaky roof.

We also took a break from the renovation efforts for the annual Father's Day fish fry, when Dave and Anne stopped in to visit for a few hours on the Sunday. A few barley beverages may also have been consumed along the way, on a rather hot and humid June weekend. The story was never clear. Shade breaks were also the order of the day.

A few rain delays kept us from finishing some tasks, most notably the roof, but three solid days of hard work moved the needle pretty far from the starting point.....these are the days of our lives, as a green shed turns to red!

In the beginning, there was a Green Shed.....

Shed no tears, for she is headed to a better place

The gutted interior

I tawt I taw a table saw

Off comes the old door.....

Better Shed than Red

The old "front porch" is gone!

New barn doors drying and waiting to be hung

Intermission - Battered Lake Erie yellow perch!

Tackling the roof.....being careful to shut the power off first!

A nice hot day to be up on a roof

Rain Delay

An interim fix until we can finish the roof