Mom fed us lunch and then we all had a nap…I fell sound asleep for almost 2 hours…it was lovely! Later, Mom and her sweet baboo took us out for a delicious Thai dinner at one of their favourite haunts…I had my leftovers for breakfast the next morning!
Mom and I spent a relaxing Wednesday morning drinking coffee and talking…the girls slept and sweet baboo went for his weekly ‘coffee with the guys’…in the afternoon Mom had to go to the funeral of a dear friend's hubby; the girls slept on and I went for a drive…hoping to visit a friend in Dundas…but I guess most people are working on a Wednesday afternoon in early March!
Having grown up in and around Hamilton, it was a trip down memory lane as I meandered my way into Dundas…I drove along Scenic Drive, passing by some homes of friends and acquaintances from years ago…I drove past my old school, Hillfield-Strathallan College, and on down the Queen Street hill…a steep and winding 2-lane road that makes its way up the Hamilton Escarpment…one that I travelled almost every day for many years of my life…on my way to school or to my best friend’s house…
I stopped briefly to photograph the house that I lived in for the first 9 years of my life…2 Hillcrest Avenue…the last house on a dead-end street…there is still a huge park across the street from our old home…we called it ‘The Reservoir’…there were woods and areas of tall, wild grasses, the park stepped its way up the escarpment in a number of different levels that provided wonderful tobogganing hills in the winter and rolling-down hills in the summer…I spent many wonderful hours there as a child…playing and exploring…even sharing tea with the grounds keeper…there is some kind of construction going on now at the dead-end…not sure what…it was looking a bit ‘under construction’ all around the old place…
...2 Hillcrest Avenue...
The dead-end is a tad chewed up with construction...
As are the steps up to the Res down at the corner of Hillcrest and Mountain...
I had called my friend and left a message on her answering machine at home…it turns out that she had left work early and as she was driving down the main street of Dundas – she saw me! At this point she had no idea that I was in town (she hadn’t got the message yet)…so she figured that she was seeing someone that looked like me! Then she got home later and listened to my message saying that I was there! She said it was a very bizarre feeling! So we didn’t get to see each other, but did end up with a talk on the phone…next time…
When she saw me, I had been wandering down the main street taking pictures, looking into various stores…she said that I had looked carefree and happy…it is nice to hear that you look that way when you are wandering around unsuspecting that anyone is looking at you and thinking that you look like someone they know!…much better than looking sad or sour!
Here is one of our old watering holes...it looks much the same as it always did!
The Collins Brewhouse...
Our visit with Mom was too short; as was the next visit on the trip…after lunch on Thursday we packed up and headed off to Napanee to visit my Dad. We arrived just in time for a before dinner drink! On the Friday we took the van in to Dad’s mechanic for a check-up and servicing, then Dad took us for a drive around town and we met up with Dad’s Jean at a Timmies for coffee and breakfast.
The weather, throughout the trip, except for the one storm at LT’s, was beautiful…mostly sunny…and while we were at Dad’s, it was no exception…except for the trips into town to take in and then pick up the van, we stayed out at Dad’s house on Long Reach…about 20 minutes out of Napanee…a beautiful spot overlooking the water, surrounded by farmland, woods and quiet…
I have always had a thing about fence-lines like this...the aged wood and tangle of wire, weeds and grasses makes for a beautiful arrangement...
I also love gazing up into trees...
Looking from the water-side up to Dad and Jean's house...
Here's Dad calling us in for dinner...
At one point, after having gone down to check on the dock, Dad came in with these big seed pods…from a locust tree and the girls and I went out to look at all of them…there were more pods on the ground than it seemed possible for the tree to have held…I had fun photographing them…they looked like snakey things on the grass…ok...I am easily amused!!!
They are coming...
No...they are going...
They are circling...
They are amassing...
They are dancing...
Individual pod sculptures created by nature...
On Friday afternoon my younger daughter’s beau came to pick up both girls to take them back to Ottawa a day early…he was in a hockey tournament that my daughter wanted to see and my elder wanted to get home to find one of her cats who had gone walk-about…I stayed on for a quiet last day with Dad…Jean was away at a painting workshop in town, led by an artist friend of hers, so Dad and I were on our own…I never seem to get to see family very often, so it was nice having even a little bit of time for visiting…
Saturday after lunch, I once more loaded up the van and set off on the last leg of the road trip…the trip home…while nice to visit, it is always nice to get home again too!
1 comment:
such fun pics!! i adore the pics of the seedpods and the ones looking up into the trees!!
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