Elmira Maple Syrup Festival

In preparation for the upcoming Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, we spent a quiet Easter weekend at home, pausing the art prep just long enough to scarf down some turkey.

Given the distance and the very early start time, we opted to head up Friday night and get a motel in nearby Elora. We took the van, fully laden with artwork and booth setup, and elected for a nice backroad meander to the north and east. In spite of some April snow, we explored the beautiful town, and the one of us not on crutches also did a quick tour around the stunning Elora Gorge.

For dinner, we chose the Elora Brewing Company and were not disappointed - great food, beer and ambiance! After a wonderful experience, we back-tracked up the hill to the motel for an early bedtime and a 345am date with the alarm clock.

Much to our chagrin, the Elora Timmy's didn't open until 7am.....so we made the drive to Elmira in sleepy silence.We arrived at 445am, in the dark, just trying to find our way to the main street. All side roads had been blocked off, and there didn't seem to be anybody coordinating anything.

Eventually with the help of fellow vendors we found our designated booth (32 East, right in the middle of the Main Street) and started to set up - no easy task in the dark and cold (-7 C) with one person on crutches! Some coffee from a nearby Circle K made the task a little more bearable.

The crowds were huge, even on a chilly day. We huddled in the back of the booth, literally under blankets, and Jane even scored some footwarmers from a fellow vendor. The day was brisk but so were the sales, and our only chance to get a break was to lumber (or crutch) stiffly over to a nearby Mennonite church for hot coffee, warm toes and to use a real washroom. We never did get to check out other vendors. All in all, a very long and cold but successful day!

We opted to ferry everything out in a series of trips, rather than bring the van back into the chaos of the mass departure. Teardown was complete about 445pm, and we hit the road, rather than our vehicle being trapped on Main Street by all the other trucks and vans. Tired and hungry, we were luckily only going as far as the London area, to spend a fun night at John and Julie's. We also worked in a late Easter lunch the next day at Dolcetto with all the Coxeses, before finally heading for home.

Easter Dinner!

Elora Gorge

Gorge-ous!

Van Go(gh) gets a rest

Great spot for dinner!

Flight of Samplers

Setup complete....bring on the crowds! 

Main Street Elmira!

The Open Door

Home to Spring flowers

Spits Win!

The Windsor Spitfires hosted the Sarnia Sting for Game 4 of their opening round matchup in the OHL playoffs. The Sting led the series 2-1, and as the favourite, had badly outshot the Spits thus far in the series.

This was not the same Spits team which won the Memorial Cup just last year, and had traded away several of their better players in what seemed to be a rebuilding year.

Jane crutched her way around the arena, though we did our best to get seats involving minimal stairs - too bad the bar-rail spots at the restaurant are reserved for season ticket holders!

The Spitfires scored early, and then killed off a two-man disadvantage, before the Sting tied things up later in the first. The game remained 1-1 for most of the match, but Sarnia was outshooting the home team 40-12 into the third period......only the heroics of goaltender (and eventual 1st Star) Mike DiPietro kept us in the game!

The decisive moment came on a penalty kill. Sarnia's star forward Jordan Kyrou was heading up ice with the puck as the last man back - a forward playing defence on the power play - and was cleanly stripped at his own blue line by forechecker Chris Playfair, who walked in on a short breakaway and beat Fazio five hole. The home crowd went nuts!

Windsor added another goal late in the third, disputed but upheld on a high deflection, as the Spits hung on for a 3-1 victory despite being outshot 47-22 by the visitors. More importantly, they tied the series at 2-2 before the teams head back to Sarnia for a pivotal Game 5.

Final attendance for the game was apparently 4,001 - we like to think that our decision to go made the difference.....after all, it sounds WAY more supportive than 3,999 fans!

Go Spits Go!

Warm ups from the restaurant

Off the draw

Douglas with a chance!

A little rough stuff after the whistle!

A rare break for DiPietro

The Sting attack!

Defensive zone faceoff

Indoor blimp!

The home crowd erupts!

Windsor takes a 3-1 lead....once the review has been confirmed!

The game's 1st Star

At the lonely end of the rink

Spits win!

Paris....Ontario!

Jane decided to try a spring show in Paris to kick off the festival season - it was a little further than we like to go for a show, but we put the van back on the road and hit the (Talbot) Trail on Friday night. Luckily, we had a free place to crash in the relative vicinity, at the trailer.

The two-day show was well-attended, though the vendors all agreed that shoppers were picky and did more browsing than buying. Jane was still on crutches, meaning she could help little with setup and teardown.

In my downtime, I was able to look around the picturesque limestone town, located at the junction of the Nith and Grand Rivers. Given that we plan to visit the "other" Paris later this year, it only seemed fair to check this one out too!

I even had time for possibly the worst haircut of my adult life. At least it grows back fast!

We spent two evenings at the trailer, watching movies. The park is pretty quiet in March, and the only washroom open is the main clubhouse. We were also able to meet up for dinner with Jane's parents one night, as well as a great visit with friends Lori, Aaron and Austin at Stillwaters Plate & Pour.

The weekend ended with a relaxing sunset van cruise home on Sunday night, along the Lake Erie shoreline.

All set up for March Madness at the Paris Fairgrounds 

It's easy to "fall" for Paris!

The Grand River

Downtown Paris

Great dinner at Stillwaters Plate & Pour

The sun sets on another eventful weekend

Come From Away

I had a late birthday surprise in store for Jane - once I learned that broadway smash "Come From Away" was returning to a run at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, I grabbed tickets as soon as they went on sale. Unfortunately, her birthday happened to fall during opening week and demand was high....so I opted for a St. Patrick's Day surprise instead!

The play details the events of 9/11, when 38 planes were landed on emergency notice in Gander, Newfoundland, with thousands of stranded passengers being embraced by the locals.....told with typical Newfoundland humour!

I also arranged for train tickets to Union Station and a hotel nearby in downtown Toronto, to make for a relaxing trip and enjoyable weekend getaway. Jane did not know where we were headed - she only found out on the Friday night that we were going on an overnight trip - having told her we had plans for St. Patrick's Day on Saturday to keep her from booking some art show!

Saturday morning, we arrived at the train station in Chatham.....hmmm, where is he taking me????

We enjoyed a sunny and scenic rail tour of southwestern Ontario, followed by a great lunch in Toronto at the Loose Moose.

Of course, when I booked everything back in October, I could not have known that Jane would be on crutches due to knee problems! Luckily everything I arranged was within a few blocks of the train station.....our hotel even had a quiet pub in the basement (complete with elevator) to avoid having to go out on a busy St. Patrick's Day and fight for a seat.

OK - maybe the many MANY stairs up to the balcony seats were a BIT much - but excitement and adrenalin got her through it! I even managed to keep the surprise until we were less than a block from the theatre - when I turned around and saw Jane crying, I assumed it was her knee.....but no, they were apparently tears of joy.

What a wonderful and memorable weekend!!!

Where are we going?

VIA Rail 72 to Toronto

Union Station's cavernous interior

No - we are NOT staying HERE....

.....but the Strathcona was pretty nice too!

St. Paddy's Day Guinness at the Loose Moose

FU

FU 2

Great lunch at the Loose Moose

Union Station

Brookfield Place retail mall

Roy Thompson Hall and the CN Tower!

King Street West - the Entertainment District!

The Royal Alexandra Theatre - balcony view!

Warming up the instruments

What a great show!

Toronto by Night

Good thing we already had return tickets!

Where is a caboose when you need one???

Home to spring bloom!