The Travels of the Agnew Family

The weather was looking a little iffy but we decided we would drive to Kincardine to check out the beach anyway. We drove through some light rain but arrived in Kincardine to find that even though the sky was still cloudy the rain had stopped. It actually was a good day to visit the beach --- no wind so the water was still and few people as the clouds and chance of rain kept them away.


A happy dog is a dog standing in a lake with a ball in his mouth.


Zaph and Cait had a great time chasing balls and swimming. It took Cait a couple of tries but she figured out how to grab the ball in the water.


There was a lot of running on the beach carrying balls.


After a picnic lunch, Zaph and Cait went shopping. The woman in the store thought the two of the them were adorable and kept giving them treats. Zaph tried out a new dog bed and wasn't impressed. I showed Zaph a cookie and before I could react he took a great big bite. Think the dog store version of "you break it you buy it" is "you bite it you buy it". Zaph enjoyed the remainder of the cookie outside the store.


We liked the painting on the side of this building. Caity could have posed for the painting of the upper left window. The Kincardine Lighthouse.


Taking a break while the guys photographed the lighthouse.

Ed and I very excited to learn that there is a Dairy Queen closer than Sauble Beach --- a Dairy Queen opened in Kincardine about 2 weeks ago and yes we had ice cream.

John, Carol and Caity arrived today for a visit. Caity had wanted to come for Zaph's birthday but circumstances just didn't allow it so she dragged her parents here as soon as she could. Zaph was OK with it as he'll get to celebrate his birthday again with another trip to the beach.

Ed smoked ribs today and they were amazing. Think he's got the ribs figured out.

We didn't go far, in fact we didn't even move the trailer from the side yard, we just moved in for the night. Decided the first level of testing was to cook and eat in the trailer, followed by spending the evening and night in the trailer. The cooking was a bit of a disaster --- the burners ran hot (almost burned the rice), forgot to put an upside cookie sheet on the oven shelf so the sauce on the fish started to caramelize but the microwave worked well and fridge kept things cold. Should be able to cook in the trailer with out any problems. The table worked well and we could see the TV while we ate (I know that's a bad habit) and the bed was comfy. Zaph said the trailer was OK as well --- he had lots of room for sleeping --- either his bed or some cool linoleum.


The bedroom ... I know I need new pillow shams that match the bedspread.


The kitchen and dining room.


A better view of the dining room. Ed made a couple of improvements. The black sliding doors on the bench give me easy access to the storage under the back section of the bench --- great place for pots, pans, casserole dishes, etc. The black panel under the TV cupboard, give us access to that cupboard that was previously unavailable.


It's hard to take a good photo of the bathroom, so I tried one of each side. The toilet is in the space between the sink and the shower. This bathroom is probably as roomy as the bathrooms in both of our 5th wheels.

Our backyard neighbours have a croquet tournament / party each summer to which we are invited. The weather was a little iffy today --- rainy when we got up, remained cloudy for most of the day with intermittent showers. Luckily the thunderstorm held off till desert was being served.


The guests are mingling before the tournament begins.


The first group select their mallets and head for front course.


The second group ready to head out on the back course. Just need to listen to Jimmy's tirade .... oops I mean instructions.


There were five groups in the first round. Even though Ed was showing great form, neither he nor I advanced to the second round.


The women were excited this year as it's been a long time since there was a women champion. Here she is standing beside John, the host and last years winner and the tournament official, Jimmy.

As always the party was a lot of fun. This years meat was "bacon bomb explosion. Ground pork, stuffed with different vegetables, wrapped in woven bacon and barbecued. It was amazing. Definitely going to try this sometime.

It's been a month and a half since I've updated this blog. Guess it's either time to give up completely or get back on track. Think I'm going to get back on track --- hopefully there will be people who still check for updates. Over this time period I have accomplished a couple of things --- I have finally finished creating slide shows from the photos dating back to Christmas 2002 (when we purchased our first digital camera till March of 2013 (It's taken over a year but I'm finally caught up!!!). I also found boxes of coins hidden in a cupboard --- they are all sorted and rolled. I even managed to read three books.


The flowers in my gardens are doing great this year.

Back on June 13th, we finished "Explore the Bruce" for 2013 and received our t-shirts.

A spiral staircase, on the Bruce Trail, that we walked down to find one of the punches.


Ellen and I tested the canons in South Hampton. They weren't very comfortable.


Pretty rocks near Wiarton.


The harbour in Lions Head.


Fish .... I think they are trout that escaped from the fish farms on Manitoulin Island.


Enjoying the beach at Old Woman's River. Somebody was really happy to finally get in the water. As it was the last stop of the day I decided that I could share the front seat of the Miata with a wet dog.


.... make that a wet and sandy dog.


The Miata and the TR6.

On June 20, Ed and I drove our bicycles to Port Elgin and went geocaching. The bike trail was great ... a fine gravel base, easy to ride on ---- the ATV trail was not as bicycle friendly. We persevered the kilometer or two we had to ride as there were a number of geocaches along it and we had made it half when we decided that it was really terrible.


Some people have really good imaginations when it comes to creating a cache ... others just put icky stuff in them.


A pretty little bridge on the bike trail.


Some pretty flowers along the way.

I know we were busy in June but I guess we only took photos on a couple of days.

Happy Canada Day ... July 1 for any non-Canadians. Ed had spent much of the previous week helping to build a deck (it's a really big second story deck so it's going to be a lot of work), on Sunday we had company that was happy to hang out and visit, so on Monday (Canada Day) Ed, Zaph and I went geocaching. If you haven't figured it out already Ed really likes geocaching.


Zaph sporting his Canadian flag bandanna.


A very cute geocache --- extra special because I actually found it.


Can't resist taking photos of Zaph.

July 4, 2013
At long last our new trailer arrived at the dealer. We traded in our 5th wheel for a smaller travel trailer. Think we could probably travel for about six weeks in it without killing each other but don't think we can survive four months over the winter in it. No more wintering in the south for us .... at least in a trailer.


Standing at the bathroom door shooting towards the bedroom. When the slide is out the trailer is a lot roomier.


The inside length of the trailer is about 21 feet, the outside from the hitch to the back bumper is just under 26 feet --- around 10 feet shorter than the 5th wheel.

July 6, 2013
John is like a nephew to us, so we happily attended his 25th birthday celebration. The last time we saw John was in October 2011 at his wedding. After his wedding he moved to London, England for 8 months and is now residing in Alberta.


John and some of the other guests.


As John is teaching science his mother made him an appropriate cake --- the periodic table.


Zaph had a wonderful time ... he visited everyone and did a whole lot of mooching.

July 7, 2013
Ed has spent more time helping to build the deck and I felt he need a change of scene, so I invited ourselves up to our neighbors cottage in Sauble Beach for a few days. We loaded the Miata with enough stuff for a couple of days, put Zaph and myself in the passenger seat and Ed drove to the cottage. The poor Miata was stuffed full. After dropping Zaph and our stuff at the cottage, we drove to Tobermory. Rob and Ellen drove their TR6.


The harbor in Tobermory.


Always have to take photos of the Chi-cheemaun loading.


On the drive back to the cottage we did a little geocaching. We stopped at one spot with this amazing forest and Alvar (open areas of flat limestone). One of the things I like about geocaching is that it makes you stop at the places you would normal miss and drive past.


Back at the cottage, Zaph chilled out with Rob.

July 9, 2013
On Monday Ed and Rob drove the Miata down to Victor's house to work on the deck. Ellen, Zaph and I had a busy day as well --- down to the beach twice for a little swim, a walk around town and some down time on the deck reading. On Tuesday we went --- I'm sure you can guess --- geocaching. Decided to take the Rob's Rav 4 so we could enjoy air conditioning and Zaph could ride in comfort.


One of the caches took us down this back road past a couple of ponds filled with water lilies.




Another cache took us to an old graveyard where we enjoyed our picnic lunch. First time I've picnic'd in a graveyard. Yes, Zaph is sitting in the middle of the blanket --- figure he thought he could sit anywhere he liked as it was the blanket he was sitting on in the RAV.


Back at the cottage and after dinner we walked down to the beach to enjoy the Tuesday night car show and entertainment.


Tonight's entertainment were Elvis impersonators.

July 13, 2013
My dad had two sisters and one brother. Between the four of them they had twelve children. Two of the children have passed away leaving ten. Of the ten, seven us got together at my cousin's farm. My mom,the only living member of her generation was also invited. It had been a long time since I had seen three of my cousins.


Bob and Wendy bought the family farm and have modified the house a great deal. A lot of family events were held here when I was a kid.


Bottom row: Doug (cousin-in-law), Joan (cousin), Bob, (cousin), Frances, Zaph and Ed
Top row: Fred (cousin), my mom, Bob (cousin), Charmain (cousin), David (brother), Wendy (cousin-in-law)


Just the cousins with my mom.

July 20, 2013
A fellow we know owns a lot of old cars and he decided some of them needed to go for a drive. So he invited enough people to have drivers for over thirty of his cars. Tony mapped out a route including a snack break and a rest break. Everyone driving a car contributed towards fuel and car detailing as well as the snack. A few people brought their own cars, so I think there was about 40 cards in the "parade"


We were given a 1929 Oakland to drive. Every now and then the cars stopped to give everyone time to catch up.


Our friends Anne and Victor were driving this cute convertible.


The rest stop was at a farm just outside of Walkerton.