More hugs, a broken leg and some great family time

Last Sunday we drove from Calgary to Edmonton to continue with our reunions with the kids. We had planned a coffee date halfway in Red Deer with long time friend Maggie Paterson (aka Margaret Hough). I phoned to set up a place and time only to find out that Maggie had broken her leg in two places the day before and was in Red Deer already...but at the hospital waiting for surgery! So, that's where our visit took place. It was a harsh reminder to watch where your feet are at all times. Not fun.

The traffic was crazy - the road between Calgary and Edmonton is a bit like the F3 - it's a 3 hour drive and full on. Being summer holidays, there were an incredible number of huge motorhomes as well.

Finally arrived in Edmonton and had a great evening with the kids and their partners just catching up. It was wonderful. The next two days were spent in the same way - one evening Heidi had planned a welcome back BBQ which was lots of fun. She and her partner Antoine were great hosts and we also got to meet Antoine's family. Our crazy schedule meant getting up the next morning very early to get to the airport (sorry Heidi & Antoine) to catch a flight to eastern Canada (Windsor, Ontario) to visit Brian's family. Have to say I wasn't thrilled at the thought of sitting on a plane again but at least it was only 4 hours and not 14.

We were picked up from Windsor airport by nephew Tyler Thompson - dropped our bags and drove the 45 minutes out to see Brian's mum who is in a nursing home in Leamington. That has been our daily routine while we are here (about a week) to make sure we get lots of visiting in with her. Also briefly saw Jack who lives in the same place and who is a computer savvy 90 year old who had facilitated Skype sessions with himself and Brian's mum when we were still in Australia! We are staying in Brian's brother's (Gary) house in Windsor - Gary and Diane are up at their cottage in Dorset, north of Toronto. We'll head up there tomorrow (Tuesday) for a week or so. They are hard at work doing huge renovations to their cottage and so I'm sure we will be pressed into service - looking forward to seeing all of the changes.

While we are in Windsor, Gary and Diane have very kindly loaned us their very cute bright yellow BMW convertible. It's a great car and so we are privileged to be driving in style - will also drive up to the cottage in it so that will be fun. I learned today that Windsor is home to Windsor Salt - product of apparently a huge area of underground salt mines.

Nephew Tyler has been a great host. He and his girlfriend took us to a Rib Festival the other night where we enjoyed tasting from several different stalls - all in the interest of voting for the best ones! Not a hard task. Entertainment was an amazing country band and followed by a heavy metal band. We followed all of that by a walk along the riverfront to see all of the big sculptures which have recently been placed there. The city of Windsor looks directly across the Detroit River to, well, Detroit of course. The view across is really interesting and somewhat strange having a front row seat to view the United States.

I vote for a Rib Festival for the Central Coast  :)

Check out this guy's amazing balance!

One of the 30 or so sculptures.

Detroit from Windsor riverfront.

And again...

And again.

Ambassador Bridge which links Canada and the US (there is also a tunnel under the river nearby.  Approx. 10,000 trucks cross this bridge every day carrying a huge percentage of all goods coming into Canada.

Last Saturday our friends Shirley & Ken Moore drove the 3 hours here from Midland, Michigan. They were originally from Edmonton but moved here just after we first moved to Australia. I used to babysit Shirley's kids when they were pre-schoolers so we've known each other a very long time. The guys all went golfing in the afternoon while Shirley and I did a spot of shopping. Once everyone regrouped, we headed to a great restaurant on the canal and were entertained by a brilliant thunderstorm at sunset. Shirley & Ken stayed overnight and after many hours of chit chat, they headed home.

Marina on the canal which feeds out to Lake St Clair, a small lake linking Lake Erie (via Detroit River) & Lake Huron

Today is our last day in Windsor - tomorrow we endeavour to squeeze all of our luggage into the very tiny boot of the BMW - along with a few (small) purchases I made over the weekend! We also have to stop today at some of the produce stalls to pick up fresh vegetables to take up to the cottage with us. Southern Ontario is primarily a vegetable and plant growing region so everywhere you go, there are acres and acres of fields of corn etc. interspersed with huge greenhouses (which also cover many acres each) and lots of roadside stalls selling their produce. Leamington is home to Heinz because of the huge local tomato production. It's very flat   and this year we have seen the introduction of dozens of wind turbines dotted throughout the landscape - quite a change.

Next update will be from Muskoka, aka Cottage Country - an area which I absolutely love going to.