A Year of Beer

OK, so it took considerably more than a year to assemble this vaunted collection of beer containers.....but The Wall of Beer in the man-garage has now officially reached 366 different bottles, cans and jugs, one for each day of the year, even covering leap years.

Next step - line up volunteers for kidney and liver donations. No reasonable offer refused.

Phase I and II

Phase III

Phase IV

Weekend o' R&R

Finally a weekend to stay home and do nothing....no travel, no commitments.

Friday night we headed into Chatham for Ribfest. Yummy.

Today we went into Tecumseh for a cinematic double bill - first "Eclipse", then a short beer and snack break at Boston Pizza, before returning to the Lakeshore for "The Last Airbender" in 3D. The free air conditioning was a bonus.

Tomorrow we are working around yard and garden, before settling in for the World Cup finale between the Netherlands and Spain. I also have homebrew to transfer from pail to carboy.

Oh Canadian, Eh?

Is there anything more intensely patriotic than spending your nation's birthday bottling homemade beer in your kitchen?

I didn't think so.

Empty bottles cleaned and sanitized

Transferring the glorious barley nectar

Full bottles awaiting caps

"45 bottles of beer in the tote, 45 bottles of beer...."

Menagerie

Nothing says "Happy Canada Day!" like some shots of nature's critters:

Hungry chipmunk at the Tillsonburg fish fry

Jean Pigeon on the back deck

Baby Swallows on the front porch

Calling for the waitress...

Waiting to Swallow the Worms

The Trews rock the Windsor Armouries!

A pleasant surprise saw The Trews announce a one-off show at the Windsor Armouries, reverting to their acoustic set that they were apparently not performing on tour any more. Mike rounded up a veritable harem of arm-candy as accompaniment, including Jane, Bridget, Dora, Louise and Julie.

Another pleasant surprise - as part of Windsor Summerfest, the show also featured booths from several local wineries!

The Trews rocked their acoustic set as usual, and even altered a few songs in honour of the current G8/G20 summits in Toronto, most notably "Paranoid Freak" and "Gun Control". The evening's encore included a particularly stirring rendition of "Highway of Heroes" within the confines of the former military Armouries building.

We even walked past singer Colin MacDonald on the street on the way into the show....

Colin sings his heart out

Amen, Brother

East Coast 2010 - Salem

We decided to come home from the East Coast through the States, being both a shorter route and some different scenery from the well-travelled Quebec-Ontario highways. Crossing at St. Stephen, NB into Calais, Maine, we wandered over to the I-95 interstate before hammering down through New Hampshire and Massachusetts to our first destination, Salem.

We arrived in time to visit the Witch Museum, and enjoy a meal and some local beer before joining a haunted historical hike of old Salem. The evening was rounded out by stocking up on other local beers (which abound in this area!) and retiring to our allegedly haunted B&B.

The next day saw us carry on through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York (including a GPS-induced detour through the Bronx to avoid traffic congestion!), New Jersey, and into Delaware. We stopped for the night in Wilmington, Delaware, and found an awesome brewpub for dinner. The Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant did not disappoint, as we sampled eight of their home-made beers, and even took a growler of Ironbound Ale to go!

Passing from the "right side of the tracks", or river in the case of Wilmington, we returned to the "wrong side" of town, where unfortunately we had booked a cheap motel. I guess we got our money's worth, because we only stayed half the night before packing up at 1:30am in mortal fear and hitting the road. Sometimes you have to trust your instincts.

Driving on through the night, we crossed into Maryland and drove through the Appalachians before pulling over near dawn at the Pennsylvania border for a one-hour nap. From there, straight on home through Ohio and Michigan.

In the end, some 5787 km in total and another fabulous road trip!

Jane's first apartment

Cool museum!

The Friendship in Salem harbour

On a haunted hike...

East Coast 2010 - Grand Manan Island

After a run through the New Brunswick mainland and a quick trip to the Halifax area, we re-traced our steps back around the Bay of Fundy. An early morning ferry ride from Blacks Harbour escorted us to Grand Manan Island, where we would spend several days cliff camping at Hole in the Wall campground, aka Heaven on Earth.

We were favoured with mostly great weather, as we whiled away four days camping on a cliff over the ocean, watching whales, porpoises, seals and eagles and enjoying reading, home cooking and pure relaxation. Several times daily the coastal ferry passed under our watchful gaze from the cliff before rounding Swallow Tail Light to dock at the harbour.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.....

Blacks Harbour, NB at low tide

North Head harbour, Grand Manan Island

Pulling lobster traps near the herring weir

Checking the traps

Grand Manan shoreline

Site 21 at Hole in the Wall Campground, Grand Manan

Our cliff site to the right with Swallow Tail Light in the background