Visitors from Holland

This past weekend we had visitors from Holland: Jan and Germaine van Bree. Jan was a colleague at Fokker Aircraft in Amsterdam during the 1985-1988 period. We had two dinners together and during the Sunday I was their 'tour guide' in the Niagara Region with stops in Port Colborne, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Lots of healthy laughs and a nice end of their three week trip through parts of Ontario and Quebec.

The Fall colours are starting to come in here in our region now, like at the Steve Bauer trail right next to our house. With the Welland Rotary we planted some trees along the recreational part of the Welland Canal, an event the city's arborist made a very educational occasion. And Hilary gave another speech at another wedding. She is a beautiful and intelligent young lady (but of course I have a bias....)....

October updates

My oldest sister Gerrie in Holland celebrated her 79th birthday last weekend. Here she is on the right with my other sister Hanneke (77). They both left our family home before I was 10 and spoiled me for years with gifts bought with their first earned salaries. Both married before I was 15 and started families when I was at high school and university. The oldest daughter of Ger is 51, same age as Marcy who is a sister-in-law of me here in Canada.....

Meanwhile here in Fonthill we had a dinner with Opa Vandenboom and his three kids. Joe came over from Sarnia for a day to spend some time with his Dad who is now facing early onset of old age dementia. About 10 years ago my Dad went through the same in his nineties. 

Mark and Carly will be on their way home tomorrow after having a great vacation in Portugal. They managed to get tickets for a national men's team soccer game in the city of Porto. After that they visited the Douro wine region enjoying the beautiful sceneries.

Today I attended a Welland Rotary lunch meeting where a former colleague presented about her work with the Niagara Nutrition Plan about offering healthy breakfasts and lunches at regional schools. I shared the table with Fred, a still active Rotarian at the age of 96....

Cycling instead of using the car feels good, especially amidst the current Fall colors of the trees...

Past and present

Even though I have been during the past few years a very passive user of Facebook anymore, I still check it to follow news of old and current friends. FB sends daily reminders of older posts and the other day the photo above popped up: four of the founding members of MSF Canada at a reunion in 2017. Jim, Richard and James were the leaders of a group of Canadian volunteers who I was asked (by MSF Holland) to assist in the incorporation of MSF Canada as a new formal Canadian NGO (1991).

And in the present (this week) we enjoy following the vacation travel that Mark & Carly are doing in Portugal. Starting in Lisbon, they travelled with scooters to the south during the past 5 days. A few photos they shared with us: 

Next the four of them will visit a few cities north of Lisbon...

Back from Sleeping Giant

On the drive back after our short stay in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, again the stunning views over Lake Superior as well as the Fall colors....

We had an overnight in a small motel in the town of Little Current on Manitoulin Island (to change the route back a bit from the ride to the park a few days earlier). The next morning on to South Baymouth where the ferry departs to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. While waiting for the ferry, we made a nice short walk in the town's small harbor along Lake Huron.

In the line up for the ferry behind us was a truck which had delivered young Rainbow Trout to a farm on the island. Interesting to learn how such a transport works. On the way there they can't use the ferry, but on the way back (empty) they can. A local artist had painted the tanks in which the fish was being transported.

After the ferry ride of two hours (a bit too chilly this time to sit outside on deck as I had done in June 2022), another few hours driving along Hwy 6 homewards. A nice six days away....

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

In the park we had reserved one of the cabins (or 'roofed accommodation' as they call it on the park's website). We had two nights in the cabin with one full day.

The park has about 30 walking trails categorized as easy, moderate and difficult. Also a few trails for mountain biking and during the winter for cross-country skiing. Mary and I did one of the easy trails together which led to an old cemetery of about 200 years ago. The first settlers on the peninsula were exploring a small gold mine there. 

Later I did a moderate trail on my own with some stiff uphill and downhill parts, good for a few very stiff leg muscles the next day. But the view over Lake Superior on the highest point was worth it.

Drive to north-west Ontario

Last week Mary and I made a drive to a provincial park (named Sleeping Giant). That drive takes about 18 hours, so we split it up in two days. Our first stop was just past Barrie where friends from Fonthill moved a few years ago. After lunch we continued up to Sault St Marie which is about half way. We had an overnight in a simple motel there.

Day two brought us to close to Thunder Bay where the park is located on a large peninsula in Lake Superior. That lake is one of the largest in the world and deep enough to classify as an ocean. The views while driving on Hwy 17 (which also become Canada's cross-country National Hwy 1) are spectacular and I already posted some photos in my blogs of September 2021 when I drove all the way to Vancouver and discovered the beauty of this road. I am glad that Mary has seen this part of Ontario now as well. Hereby a variety of the views we enjoyed with some early fall tree leaves coloring....

We passed several concrete production plants of LaFarge, the company Mark works for. And we also saw a few animals....

To our big surprise, we had a large moose cross the highway right in front of our car. Even though there were many road signs warning drivers for the possible crossing of moose, this mostly happens at night. But we had front seat view this time. Impressive animals! And then we visited the giant goose in Wawa (see also my photos in September 2021 when I did a wild camping overnight along Lake Wawa)...

And we had breakfast in a family restaurant in Wawa on the way to the park, as well as lunch on the way back from the park a few days later.