Winter Takes a Knee!

A green New Year's Eve gave way to a sprinkling of snow to ring in 2020. The dusting did not last long, and rain followed for a week while most of the rest of the province got hammered with another round of snow.

Then came the news - Jane's second knee replacement surgery, scheduled for mid-February, was moved up a month on short notice. We had asked for this in the event of cancellations, to get it over with sooner and be that much more healed come springtime art season. Even so, it meant a bit of a scramble to get everything in place.

We booked a hotel near the hospital in Windsor for the night before surgery - partly for convenience, but also partly unsure what kind of weather we might get for the one hour drive, with some freezing rain in the forecast. As it turned out, we ended up under a boil-water advisory at home for the few days beforehand, meaning the clean hotel water made for a much more sanitary pre-surgical shower!

She had her surgery on a Wednesday, and spent two nights in the hospital. A rough overnight (consistently late pain meds!) had Friday morning looking unlikely for discharge.....but by Friday afternoon the day nurses had her pain back under control, and she rallied to push through the physio requirements and earn her freedom.

The next few weeks consisted of me working from home while she recuperated, interspersed with trips to physio and a return to the hospital for staple removal. Beyond the constant presence of the walker, the cryo-cuff ice machine, and a plethora of meds, she also had the constant companionship of a caring and cuddly Pennywise.

I, on the other hand, had just about every other cat in the house in MY lap.....

New Year's Day 2020

A mild winter thus far.....

Willow Lake in January!

The View from Above (the hospital parking garage) By Day.....

....and By Night!

Still Nug-Piling After All These Years

A whole new meaning to Cat-Sitting

Farewell 2019

We headed out on December 19th for the annual holiday fun run across Ontario. We left green grass behind and hit the 401 with fingers crossed, not knowing year to year where winter might begin. This year, it began around Milton. We opted for the 407 as thing started to get dicey, and took a much-needed lunch break along the 400 north of Vaughan after finding out that our lunch date in Barrie with Kevin was cancelled due to illness.

As we left Vaughan, they closed the 400 between Bradford and Innisfil due to what turned out to be a 50-car pileup amidst sketchy winter weather. We detoured up Highway 11 and passed through one of my old haunts - literally - in Churchill, before regaining the 400 at Barrie and carrying on northward.

We spent a few days in the Barrie/Orillia area and visited with a number of friends and family, staying two nights at my dad's place and a third at a nice Airbnb in Orillia. In spite of plenty of snow on the ground, a few days of sunshine meant we set out on dry roads for eastern Ontario, taking advantage of the favourable weather and the the more scenic route along Highway 7.

We spent several more days in eastern Ontario visiting more family and friends, including a great turkey dinner at my mother's and a delicious ham dinner at my sister's. The nieces have grown into young ladies with a great sense of humour. I even got to visit with two of my cousins and their families, whom I had not seen in a long while.

But for a brief fog as we departed, the good weather held out as we returned westward, following the 401 back to the London area for Coxmas. Toronto traffic was intermittently frustrating, but not so bad that we felt like paying for the 407. Coxmas itself was great as always, involving another yummy turkey dinner and much laughter.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and thanks to all who housed and fed us over the holidays. It is more appreciated than you know.

We made it home by December 29th, to eight angry cats and a lot of unpacking. Luckily, mild weather persisted and out they went while we opened windows and rounded up cat litter.

By the 31st, we were into this year's chosen TV marathon, "Random Passage" - CBC's epic story of settling a Newfoundland outport in the 1800's, accompanied by a smorgasbord of appetizers and some mulled wine. Once finished the mini-series, we decided to start re-watching Supernatural!

2019 was a challenging year for us, with Jane's knee issues, surgery and recovery all intermingled with art shows galore. With one more surgery to go early into the New Year, 2020 is shaping up to be a much better year for mobility and quality of life!

See you next year!!!

Christmas north of Barrie

Orillia already has some impressive snowpiles!

Score Pizza in Kingston!

Coxmas by the outdoor fire

Naughty or Nice?

This year's choice for New Year's

Random Passage marathon

Preparing the mulled wine

Mulling over the New Year

Pennywise Breaks the Internet!

That time Pennywise became an international sensation.....


Pennywise Breaks the Internet!

Festive Time

December came quickly, book-ended by holiday craft shows. We bid farewell to November with a 4-day show in London at the Western Fair, our biggest show yet. We even took both vehicles to ensure we had enough art to keep up in sales! It also allowed us to leave the van in a choice parking spot and use it as a mini warehouse for the weekend....while the Juke was far more fun to zip around town in!

The show was quite busy, and luckily we had a place to stay nearby rather than "commuting" - the days were long enough without adding three or four hours of driving!

I was able to duck out and make the short walk to nearby Powerhouse Brewing, for a quick beer and a few more to go. We also enjoyed some delicious food from neighbouring restaurants, though the freezing rain made even that short walk a bit dicey at times!

After helping a friend pack up on the last day, we headed for home....with no signal lights on the van! Jane followed behind in the Juke and signaled our few turns, and we trundled along in the slow lane of the 401.

Our next show was three days at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, home of the OHL Windsor Spitfires. We also got the van's lights fixed first by our very accommodating local garage.

On the Saturday, I ran a quick few errands in Tecumseh, and made a jaunt over to historic Sandwich Towne to visit Sandwich Brewing. I may have seemed a bit eager (I was in a hurry!), but after respectfully waiting until 11:05am, I tried the door and it was still locked.....apparently they just forgot! I grabbed a growler and two cans to go, before making a stop along the riverfront for the scenery.

The choice venue meant that I could at least catch most of a hockey game on the last day of the show, before heading back to pack up. As it turned out, the show was rather quiet anyway with underwhelming attendance....so I could be spared!

The Spits were on fire and jumped out to a commanding lead, so that I even when I had to leave early, I was confident that they were in full control.....and they held on for a 6-3 victory over the rival London Knights.

With the last show of the year out of the way and the van put to bed for the winter.....we're heading back out on the road for the usual milk run of holiday visits!

Powerhouse Brewing in east London

A nice Red to break up a long day!

A Powerhouse trio!

Freezing rain made things interesting!

Back home for a beautiful sunset

December comes calling at the Ambassador Bridge

Offerings from Sandwich Brewing

Detroit skyline on a blustery morning

Almost game time

The Spitfires emerge!

Action in the London Knights' end

Early Spits goal followed immediately by the Teddy Bear Toss.....and cleanup!

The view from Section 120

Tilting at Windmills

In between art shows, we made a whirlwind tour of eastern Ontario before winter truly arrived for good. This included a visit to The Farm on a glorious fall day, to help my uncle move some wood up to the house for the winter.

With the family farm (circa 1860's) up for sale, it is also hard to know which visit will be the last visit, to a place I have been going to my entire life.

After a great round of family visits, we arrived home to a bevy of angry cats - having been locked in the house for several days in our absence - and a newly-erected windmill out the back.

Gorgeous November afternoon

Another load of wood headed to the house

Bay of Quinte from the bridge at Desoronto

Our own personal windmill....As The World Turns!

City & Colour

City & Colour came to town recently, and we made the trek to Windsor to catch their show at the casino.....and it was well worth the drive. Dallas Green is as great live as he sounds in the studio.

We opted for our usual seats in the mezzanine, and threw in a Costco run to take advantage of the trip into Windsor, where we found Caesar's rather busy for a Wednesday night. Plans were quickly put to the question when we arrived a full two hours before the main act, yet were given an estimate of an hour to an hour and a half wait for dinner at Spago.

Luckily, we got in after about 45 minutes and enjoyed a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs (Jane) and ravioli (me) along with bruschetta and salad.....plus a few beverages to wash it all down. Like their other two restaurants in Windsor, the food is SO good.

We left just in time to make the show, and they even put Jane's leftovers in the fridge for pickup afterwards. Once at our seats, Jane's knee began to ache after all the walking. She offered to get me a beer as an opportunity to stretch her legs for a bit.....but one must wonder what people thought of me, sending my hobbled partner on her crutch to fetch me a beer!

The show was a nice blend of electric songs and acoustic tunes, combining their new album and many of their past favourites. During the show, not one but TWO couples got engaged, while Dallas Green struggled to decipher their names over a raucous and supportive crowd, in order to congratulate them.

Great show - I would highly recommend checking them out if you get the chance!

Dallas Green and his angelic tones

City & Colour at Caesar's Windsor

Sarnia Show & Sale

With a van full of art, I took Friday off and we headed for Sarnia and a three-day weekend at the Big Sisters Show & Sale, held at a local high school. Friday night setup is pretty chaotic, with many MANY vendors crowding the same entry doors and narrow hallways.

This year, we opted for a long and narrow hallway booth, rather than a square booth at the back of the gymnasium. We were also closer to the front doors, and definitely saw a lot more people come through the booth. All in all, it was a successful show. We even had a soup-in-a-jar vendor beside us all weekend for some rather pleasing aromas.

Jane did find the school washrooms rather low to the ground, as she was still recovering from knee replacement, so we had to keep finding the school maintenance staff with keys to the "adult" washroom in the front office

We also tried to make a bit of a getaway out of it, and rented an Airbnb near downtown for some R&R in the evenings after long days at the show. The cozy confines played host to some HGTV marathons, accompanied by delicious local pizza (Giresi's) and local craft beer (Refined Fools).

We got home from Sarnia the night before winter came calling, decidedly early. We got about 4 inches of snow but were spared the worst of what most of the province got, and even Detroit airport registered 9 inches, by far a record for early November. Luckily, it didn't stick around for more than a few days before we returned to our regularly scheduled fall programming.

Around us, construction crews continued to frantically assemble windmills with what little time they had remaining....

 Port Huron, Michigan across the river

 Sunny Sarnia Waterfront

 Cozy Airbnb for the weekend

 Local craft beer goodness

 Working day and night to get those windmills up

 Assembling the sub-station tower

That's three dudes up there on a chilly day! 

Novermber 12th?!?!?