Sunday, August 19, 2007

Home Again and travels with Google Earth

It's been an out-of-this-world week. D. and I went up to the family trailer on Tuesday and returned on Friday. While were in "the Bruce" the weather was fair and we did a little exploring. We went to see the Saugeen Falls and discovered that the river was so low that people were walking across and sliding down parts of the falls. Of course there are signs warning of slippery rocks but no one was reading them except older folk, like us. We also drove to Owen Sound, which is across the peninsula on the Georgian Bay side and walked the path beside the channel. It wasn't the part of the path that had been gentrified by the city,somehow we failed to locate that area, but there was a cool breeze and sunshine to enjoy.

On Thursday, we found a hidden treasure, at least that's how I've come to regard it. On the way back to Southampton we saw a small sign that said Amphitheatre and 'all welcome'. There wasn't much to see from the road, only a parking lot next to an old United Church and the location was just inside the Saugeen First Nations land. In any event, we stopped and parked because D. knew the river was close by. We found the amphitheatre and a lovely series of gardens in tiers with stone paths that led to a beautiful river outlook, there was also a nature walk which we followed until it became too steep for me. The whole place was peaceful and unspoiled by anything commercial. I assume that members of the Saugeen band tend the site and they don't ask for any donations. At the time we were both in that state of relaxation known to the family as 'camp head' and our visit to the gardens added to our spaciness. No man-made sounds disturbed our meditative state and we stayed until late afternoon.

There was food of course, and more food. Fresh picked local corn, new potatoes and strawberries from the best fruit and vegetable stand , a lemon meringue pie that somehow slipped into our cart when we were in the grocery store to pick up bottled water, milk, chicken and steaks for the BBQ. Excellent halibut fish and chips at a restaurant in Southampton. And, candied almonds D. had the foresight to bring in case we needed a snack, or two, or three.

D, had a grand time using his new digital camera and took at least 60 pictures. So we'll have green memories to enjoy when it's white and cold outside.

On the weekend we relaxed some more. I found Little Miss Sunshine on the Express DVD shelf at the library and we watched that and laughed ourselves into hiccups at the ending. I'd told D. that I'd like to visit the family cemetery which is located just outside of Highgate Ontario so he decided to see if we could find it using Google's Earth program. D. has a brand-new fast sophisticated computer and we found the area then zoomed in and zoomed in some more and then, after the fourth zoom. Poof! The computer cut out and rebooted. He tried again and the same thing happened. So I'm never going to download that program. We are reasonably certain of where the cemetery is since I have a map drawn by my mother, but it does not show up on Google earth, perhaps it is more heavenly than Earth-ly. Sometime in September we'll find out if my mother's map is correct.

Right now though, I have to begin de-relaxing (my new made-up word). It is, as D. says, time to do things.

Cheers!

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