Walking in the Rain and Waiting on a Friend

Rainy days are really not all that bad when it is warm and you are dressed properly. A gentle rain is very calming. How does that saying go? There is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.

This morning when I woke up it was (predictably) ... raining. Whats new, eh? So far in May we have had 137 mm of rain in 17 days (and 3 more days to go in the month) in a month when we usually average 73 mm over 12 days in Ontario. A rainy May for sure. But unlike last Sunday, the rain is not teaming down, it is gentle and the winds calm. A nice rainy Sunday by any rainy day standard.

This morning I went for a walk in the rain with Bella and snapped some photos on the path to the Rupert's Landing Marina. The blossoms are nearly at their peak but will be gone by the time I am back next.

As I left my place to go for the walk I noticed that the tennis players had opted to finish their game in the light rain rather than let it ruin their usual Sunday morning tourney.  All is well in Shangri-La land I feel mellow and happy.  Being here is quite a contrast to the frantic work week mental activity with my Toronto City Life.  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy both, just right now there is no balance.  I need to find a way to move into a slower lane during the work week days and not just leave my life for weekends
.

I was quite the Rolling Stones fan in my growing up years.  Still am really.  I like the mood of their hit  "Waiting on a Friend" and the video captures the mellowness of the song and warm vibe of the music very well.  The song and video convey the message that there is no need to hurry, or rush or be impatient but wait for your friends and take time to hang with them.  This song is from their 1981 album Tattoo You, which was released as the album's second single and it reached #13 on the US singles chart.  An interesting factoid about this song is that it was actually written in 1972 in Kingston, Jamaica but was without lyrics and unrecorded until it was resurrected for the Tattoo You Album.  The lyrics were written with the then new video/MTV media in mind.

According to Wiki :

The video ... featured reggae artist Peter Tosh sitting on a stoop with Jagger who is seen waiting on Keith Richards. The building is found at 96-98 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan, which is the same building featured on the album cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. The video also features Ronnie Wood ... 

The lyrics see a more mature side of singer Jagger represented. He speaks of setting aside women and vices in favor of making some sense of his life and finding the virtues inherent in true friendship:

“

Don't need a whore, I don't need no booze, don't need a virgin priest/But I need someone I can cry to, I need someone to protect.

”

The song is noted for its dreamy qualities brought on by the soft guitars, smooth rhythm, and Jagger's lilting refrain of "doo-doo-doo"'s.

So I am in feeling very mellow at Shangri-La this weekend and while I am not waiting on a friend at the moment I share the value of friendship that this video evokes.  I am sure if you listen to the song and watch the video you will feel very mellow and glad for your friends also.





Waiting On A Friend Lyrics

Watching girls go passing by
It ain't the latest thing
I'm just standing in a doorway
I'm just trying to make some sense
Out of these girls go passing by
The tales they tell of men
I'm not waiting on a lady
I'm just waiting on a friend

A smile relieves a heart that grieves
Remember what I said
I'm not waiting on a lady
I'm just waiting on a friend

I'm just waiting on a friend

Don't need a whore
I don't need no booze
Don't need a virgin priest
But I need someone I can cry to
I need someone to protect
Making love and breaking hearts
It is a game for youth
But I'm not waiting on a lady
I'm just waiting on a friend

On the Water - Yet Another Kayaking Day at my Collingwood Shangri-La

Set course for open water!

Quasi lighthouse dead ahead.  Lets see green bouys to the right and red is?

I think these three dudes are just sitting around telling fish tales.

You can see how the water changes colour as you get to the other side of the sand bar.

Finally caught the swans before they could swim off.  I was vewy vewy quiet...

Landed on the sand bar (actually it is a stone bar) to do a bit of exploring.

A nice view of the ShipYards Grain Elevators

Kumbaya and Campfire Songs

I love walking out to the end of the Sea Wall as the sun sets.  Usually the lake is a bit calmer, if not glass-flat.  At this time of year the sun sets on the horizon near the shore and this makes for a spectacular sunsets as the sun sweeps down out of view, bringing joy to someone else, perhaps at this very moment as they look to their east as the sun comes up on their horizon.

If I time it right, I arrive out at the sea wall while the sun is still above the horizon. Tonight I did not, I realized this as I made my way on the path to the lake and saw the sun bouncing off the Collingwood Ship Yards silo. Made for a pretty picture, as did the sunset. I enjoyed just the tail end of it. When I arrived it had all but disappeared from sight.

The other day I did a questionnaire online which predicts how long you will live based on the answers you provide to lifestyle questions.  It pronounced that I will  live until 104!  Wow - I had better add a few more schekles to my retirement coffers!  If you want to do the quiz go here.  Unlike some of the quizzes you find on the Internet, this one seems based on in depth study.  From the site - about the calculator:

Thomas Perls MD, MPH is the founder and director of the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians and their families in the world. More can be learned about the study at www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian.

Anyway, after discovering that at least one source gives me another 49 years to live, I decided I had time to do something that I have been wanting to start for a long while - learn to play a musical instrument.

I went out and bought - A ukulele! Isn't it cute!

I have always wanted to play a musical instrument.  A few years ago I listened to a radio documentary which was talking about a movement promoting  teaching ukulele in the schools and apparently this is taking hold in several jurisdictions across the country.  Apparently it is an ideal first instrumentt.  I certainly would have voted for my kids to learn the ukulele rather than those recorders that they all had to learn when mine were in public school.

I have now learned how to tune the thing - AECG! and I can play a C chord.  Today, I started working on the A chord!  Once I learn 3 chords I can learn a song!  I figure with 49 years to go, I just might be able to pass audition for the "Senior Seniors" band by the time I am 85!  That is what am calling those 85+ Seniors.  Someone should/will come up with a catchy name for this age group soon enough --  Senior Seniors will have to do for now.
And the campfire songs?  Well - at 104, I figure I should have a few great great grandchildren to sit around a campfire and sing those songs with - accompanied by my Ukulele!

Kayaking in Shangri-La

I have been wanting to get a kayak for some time.

My Shangri-La is nestled in at the shoreline of Georgian Bay at White's Bay, which is sheltered by a sand bar extending from the peninsula which forms part of the Collingwood Harbour area.  Sounds kind of funny, eh?  A bay on a bay.  That is because Georgian Bay is about 200 km by 100 km and it sits off and and adjoining Lake Huron  - so it is a Bay itself, but of course there are many bays on its shores.

For my foreign blog visitors whose Canadian geography is not that good go here to see where I am.
   

I have to thank my son Eric for helping me get the kayak and delivering it to me.  It easily fits on top of a smaller car without much fuss.  I suspect I could even manage to load it on top of my EOS.

So here is my new baby as  I was getting her ready for her maiden voyage.  Still thinking about a name for her.  I will spend some time stenciling it onto the hull.  But not now - time for the water!

The shallow depths of White's Bay make it ideal for a newbie like me - water as calm as glass and shallow.  In any event, if there is a mishap and I tip it is just hip deep here in the bay close to shore.  They have dredged a channel for the boats to get to deep water, but once out of the marina and channel it is not deep.   Sometimes I see fishermen out with hip waders, so no worries for me as I get comfortable with all the paddling and turning skills I need and at some point - tipping and self rescue skills I will need to master before I head out to the deep water beyond the sand bar in Georgian Bay.  I have favourited a bunch of kayaking how to videos on You Tube and will be studying up so that I can do some more adventurous journeys before too long.

Kayaks sit down so very close to the water.  Gives a unique perspective.

Sun was setting down behind the clouds in the western sky.  I am looking back at Rupert's Landing from White's Bay.  I hope to be able to be out on the water during a proper sunset next week.  Should have some fabulous pictures.  There are lots of wonderful places to explore which are close and fine for a beginner like me.  I should be able to have lots of adventures during my week of holiday next week.

 I was trying to get close enough to take a picture of this swan, but she was just not cooperating with her paparazzi and kept swimming away from me.  Her paddle skills were better than mine.

And so back into shore at the Rupert's Landing marina.  When I got ashore, I sorted out my gear and made all sorts of adjustments to the seat positioning (the back support is held in place by adjustable straps) and the feet "stirrups" and then carted it back up to the kayak racks at the end of the marina parking lot.  I guess I will be getting a few muscles with the to-ing and fro-ing!

I am very happy with my new putz about boat.  At a weight of 38 pounds,  I can easily schlep it each day from the racks to the boat ramp and it is just the right size for a beginner like me.  It is a cute little kayak - only 9 feet long when most are 12-14 feet, but it is quite serviceable for a newbie and does double duty for light touring (which is what I will mostly do) "ocean" kayaking and river "white water" kayaking, which is probably what I won't do.  But I do have a standing invitation for my adult children to borrow my new "baby" so maybe they will take it out for some exciting white water adventures at some point.

Life Can't Get Much Better than this... 2008 VW EOS LUX

OK, so it could - still one or maybe 2 things missing... but in the meantime things are pretty good...

For those of you who came in response to a google search for a review of my new EOS - jump to the last section of this blog, taking time to look at the photos I have included of my car if you want the bottom line - everyone else - grab a cuppa coffee, pull your laptop with you onto a comfy chair and read on...

As mentioned in my blog from earlier in the week, I have been doing my taxes and that has been keeping me pretty busy.  Well, that is just about all done now.    My accountant has finished the first pass on my company's books for the previous year and my personal taxes are ready to mail - and on both counts things are in good shape.  So I should, in the weeks to come, have more time for blogging, well except for  one new  distraction - my new car.  I picked it up on Tuesday night and am just enjoying it so much I will have a hard time doing anything but driving it around.

I got to go on  a mini road trip this weekend as I drove up to my Collingwood Shangri-La on Friday night for the weekend.  For those of you who have not been keeping up on my blog you can read more about my getaway on the shores of Georgian Bay in previous blogs here. 
Aside from the 2 hour drive there and back and the 3 hour tour of the Georgian Triangle I took on Saturday, I got to know and love the car a lot.  It is comfortable and it practically drives itself - at the ready to perk up and zoom ahead when you tap the gas.

Backtracking, let me give you the story of my urge to be topless  and how fate dealt me the tiny push to get a new car and how I lucked into this one.  I was not planning on buying a new car this spring - so that in itself is a story worth telling.  But first - a little history.

Life After A Minivan

I have been dreaming about buying a convertible for quite a few years and when I bought my last car - a 2003 Toyota Echo, I was in very different circumstances.  I was trading down my large Sienna,  which was needed to schlep my family of 5 kids down to their father's house every other weekend, for a smaller vehicle.  At the time, my eldest was at College and living with my X in the City (easier to both get to College and also to go clubbing when you live in the City of Toronto Beaches area instead of the outer reaches of the GTA in Caledon countryside where I was) and my other teens all had lives of their own with part time jobs and close friends which meant they seldom wanted to go to their Father's house for a weekend.  They were also learning to drive and I thought a smaller newer car was just what we needed.  I was not yet re-established in my IT career at that point and was teaching part time at Sheridan College and doing what I could to make ends meet.  I did not have a big budget.

When I finally landed a full year contract at CIBC in the spring of 2004, I decided it was time to replace the Sienna with something nearly new which would do for these interim years when I would not be the only driver and my new teenage drivers would presumably be bringing me tales to explain the dents and bumps which would inevitably appear.  That was 2004 and I ended up with the most basic and no feature Echo I could have found.

Since then I have learned emulate cruise control with extra attention to my foot, lean over and wind shut the passenger side window while flying down the highway and to be patient when I lose speed as I go up the Niagara Escarpment hills on the road to Colllingwood.  A fast car the Echo was not.

My daughter's first Car Accident

The event which put the wheels in motion toward my getting a new car occurred over a month ago when my daughter Laura had a bit of a fender bender with my Echo.  My Son Eric had been home visiting and Laura was going to take him over to their father's house to spend the night.  It was rainy and she had to stop suddenly and rear ended someone else.  No one was hurt and the other car suffered no real damage, however the Echo had sheet metal damage to both front quarter panels, hood, front grill headlights and bumper.  In my mind it was a certainty that it would be written off particularly when the estimate of repair was in the $4,000 plus range (it actually cost over $6500 to fix it). 

I decided to start shopping around for my convertible. At that point my fate was sealed.  By the time the insurance company said they would fix it I had my heart set on a new one.  I decided to go ahead and buy a new car any way - heck I had had the other one for 6 years and it owed me nothing and the now (mostly) adult children were out of the house..--well except the one who had the fender bender and she is promising to go out to forage for herself again in a couple of months.

In all honesty I had been wondering if this year should be the year I would get my new car and I had been eyeing the VW EOS since the first year that model had hit the show rooms.  Let's get this straight though, I am not a car person - if you asked me what kind of a car so and so drove I might be able to tell you the colour and whether it was a car, truck or SUV but that said - I do have this dream about owning a convertible.

Why a Convertible and Why an EOS? 

Don't you just love the curved lines on that baby?  

But I digress...There was a 6 year period of my life when I hung out with a guy who drove a late model Mustang Convertible.  He had two cars and the convertible was his summer vehicle.  We had such a great time driving with the top down and I learned to love driving with the wind singing in my ears and caressing my hair.  After he and I broke up in 2001, I realized that maybe I couldn't have him but I could have a convertible car of my own some day.  I have been biding my time for nearly a decade now waiting for the stars to align so I could get my convertible. 

Jumping back even further in my life, when my children's father and I first met he was driving a CJ6 soft top Jeep.  We drove around lots with the top off both off road and on road and did a few long road trips with the jeep as well.  When I got pregnant with my first we traded the jeep in for something which would be easier for a pregnant lady to get in and out of and with a hard top to provide better winter comfort and less road noise for those long trips - not to mention making it easier to manage the baby car seat with occupant I missed driving exposed to the big outdoors and the elements.  At that time I made a promise to myself that there would be a convertible in my future at some point.

The VW EOS  caught my eye when it first came out (late 2006 model year 2007) and it seemed to offer the best of all worlds:

• the carefree top down experience of a convertible along with the practicality of a hard top roof for our Canadian winters, deployable at the push of a button
• a more affordable price that the equivalent BMW or other high end manufacturer who offers a hard top.
• a good compromise in size and form - it is sporty but it is no sports car - it will seat 4. Lacking great comfort in the back seat for a multi hour road trip but good enough for quick trip across town for the occasions I have some adult children in the car.
• from all accounts the engineering of this German vehicle was consistent with the other offerings from its family.   I had driven a Jetta years ago with a great deal of satisfaction and that experience stayed with me.

Little did I know that I would end up owning such a car, but that it would be even better than I thought.  My first thought as I drove it out of the lot - this is much, much better than a VW!

I was sold when I saw the following Video Review.

How did I come to find MY EOS?

My car search started at my local VW dealer but after trading a few emails and realizing that a new EOS would run me way more than I wanted to spend and that the sales person I was dealing with was finding it a challenge to locate a resale from the dealer network he had access to, I turned to the internet. 

After typing into google "VW EOS for sale Toronto" I found a "previously  owned car dealer" advertising one and the next morning the salesman from Parkway Autotrade called and asked if I would like to come out and test drive the one he had.  Sadly, by the time I got out there someone else had test driven it and had decided to buy it - so no test drive for me.  Truth was that after searching I concluded that there were very few on the resale market and it would be difficult for me to find one for sale in the Toronto area.

I was discouraged, but not for long.  I happened to have gone to a motor vehicle reseller who not only was registered in Ontario (a must for me to minimize risk) but one who also acted as a broker, searching and shipping in cars "found to order".  Although disappointed that I did not get to test drive the car I went to see (I got to sit in it while Vince negotiated with the purchaser) , Vince Leluzzi, who also talks about his service on the local talk radio every month went thought the service he offered as described in his web site  "We find your car.  He assured me that he could find me a low mileage, gently used EOS guaranteed accident free somewhere in North America and he could manage all the details of shipping it to Canada and getting it certified.  And he did that right in front of my eyes and for a price way less than I was led to believe by the VW dealer salesman that I would end up paying.

Three weeks later, last Tuesday, I was picking up my new car!  It had been turned in under the "lemon law" act and as a consequence of attempts to repair and finally replace the megatronic unit - an expensive major repair.  Given that it was still under factory warranty, and that the unit had been eventually replaced I would go ahead with the purchase.   I also have to note that if this car was sold in Ontario the owner would not be allowed to exchange the car for a new one given any number of warranty covered repairs.

A New Owner's Review of the 2008 VW EOS

I won't say that my life has changed now that I have my new car - but certainly the hours spent in the car are infinitely more enjoyable than they were driving the Echo.  (I know, you are thinking dah!)...

The Bottom Line:

-From a woman's point of view:

• The car I ended up buying was shipped from Florida.  It was graded a condition of 4.7 out of 5.0 - and for sure it looks, smells and seems new to me.  It only had 30,000 KM on it and as it turned out came with an extended 10 year extended factory warranty which the previous owner had purchased.
• A few of my favourite features: automatic everything - the exact opposite of the Echo!  It has automatic sensor driven window wipers, headlights that automatically turn on at dusk and swivel into the corner as you turn your steering wheel, heated leather seats which adjust 12 ways to Sunday, all sorts of great information displays, a 6 CD changer radio with Sirius satellite radio and an iPhone/iPod input for music and the list goes on.
• Best of all, the 200 hp turbo charged engine which really moves when you touch the gas.  It sure is a pleasure to drive.
• I haven't found a way for it to make my coffee - but it wouldn't surprise me that I just missed that section in the owner's manual

-From a man's point of view:

• I must admit I had the car several days before I felt the urge to look under the hood (didn't seem to be an important thing to do as I would never need to do anything there except fill the wiper fluid and check the oil).  For you guys who like to see such things I have included a photo. Pretty tidy, eh? 
• I have it from a real good authority that the rims actually contribute substantially to the look of the car.  I maintain this must be a man thing.  I have also included a picture of the rims, just in case you would like to venture a comment on the rims - apparently they are as classy (or even more classy if that is possible) than the rest of the car..  

My Collingwood Shangri-La

I have for the last year pretty much been a city girl. I do have a getaway place, which in previous years I would trek up to every weekend all summer. This year, and much of last year, that has not been possible, since I have my place "on loan" to my parents, who needed a place to bridge the time between when they had sold their country home last year while they were waiting for their Toronto condo to be built. They are getting on in age, and it was just time to be closer to family and to remove the burden of exterior home and garden maintenance.

Next Monday they move into the condo they have been waiting for all this time - and, for a brief few weeks I get my Collingwood Shangri-La back. I say a few brief weeks because I just may have lucked out with an extra 3 week fall rental from Thanksgiving through early November. I rent it out for ski season every year and that rental starts early December and runs through April. I really cannot justify having 2 places when there is just one of me, so it helps that I call it an investment and rent it out part year. So not much time for me to enjoy it this year, however next year I will be up their without fail every weekend starting in April. I am also going to get myself a kayak, so I will be out on the lake a lot as soon as it is warm enough.

I was browsing through some photos today and reminding myself what a paradise it is up there. As I drive up on a Friday evening, I can just feel the stress seep out of my bones. It is heaven. Bella and I walk out to the end of the sea wall and sit for a few minutes upon arrival as our arrival ritual every time. She and I could be very happy in retirement some day up there.

One of the many things I appreciate about the Collingwood Area, is the diverse geography. The Niagara Escarpment is within sight - the Blue Mountain Ski Hills are in view from my doorstep - an enchanting sight at night in the winter when they are lit, let me tell you. The wonderful huge expanse of the blue waters of Georgian Bay are also just steps away. Collingwood has lots of great places to shop, eat and entertainment of all sort as it is a 4 (ok - 2) season resort town.

I have condo in a resort style gated community of stacked condos, well serviced with a Community Centre with all the amenities, including tennis courts and a marina on the Bay. That aside, there is one other thing which my location affords me - I am just across the road from the Georgian Trail which interconnects with all sorts of other area trails of varying terrain and difficulty for hiking. You can see by the map below, how many trails there are in the area.
Whilst going through some pictures I came across a bunch which I took while on a hike along the trails from my Shangri-La at Rupert's Landing to Sunset point. To illustrate the route better, I cropped and enlarged the above map to show the area I travelled. I trekked pretty much from the left top shoreline to the right most shoreline in the map below. It was a great day, windy but warm. Half way along it got cloudy and a storm threatened, but the bad weather held off until we got home. I shall have to get in a few fall hikes whilst I have the place in the coming weeks!



The slide show audio is from Ingrid Michaelson's tune "Far Away"... it has been a while since I have been able to spend some "quality time" at my Shangri-La, so it seems right now "Far Away"... He song makes me smile as I listen and does provide a little extra ambiance to the photo gallery.

Trucking Around

I had a fabulous last few days. I scooched off early from work on Friday (consequence of working through the night on Wed ) and headed up to GopherBrokeFarm, as I mentioned on my previous blog. Barb and John's home is serene and comfortable. Just the thing one needs after a hectic week. We drank wine and ate pizza (Johnny is such a good cook – he is the chief cook and anything he makes is scrumptious!) as we caught up on the goings on of the week.

Chasing Mercury

Their son Rob was home and he and his guy friends were going to have a night of jamming/practicing music in the studio house set up just for such activities. Rob is in the band Chasing Mercury and tours for part of the year, but when he is not touring he works with his Dad who is a builder/renovation contractor in the Collingwood area.






This is Robbie's Band:



The guys played all night and I slept soundly waking only the odd time to the “boom boom” of the base that traveled from the other building to the Main House. I have no problem sleeping or going back to sleep when wakened, so it was no big deal.

GopherBrokeFarm Landscaping Project

On Saturday, I played paparazzi and did a photo shoot of the exterior of the House. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, John and Barb bought 50 acres in prime land in the Niagara Escarpment/Bruce Trail area and John has built a wonderful house there. They are now in the landscaping phase of the project and have been working in the last few weeks with chain saws and bulldozers. Barb and I agreed that they now have a great blank canvas to work on. I wanted to present a few photos now and will provide updates as they progress. They have such spectacular plans I am so excited to document their progress via this blog. I put together a collage of the pictures I took of the exterior.


I thought at the same time I would throw in collage of the interior shots so you will know how comfortable their home is and understand why I go on and on about their "GopherBrokeFarm" homestead.



My Collingwood Shangri-La

After leaving Barb and John’s I trucked on over to my Shangri-La. I took a picture as I was coming down “the mountain” (note: this is not a real mountain, just an escarpment high enough to ski – but only just. You can see Georgian Bay in the distance.


Dad and I went out hot water heater shopping. The previous one was a 20 year old job, which had been rented since it was installed! Paid for in full about 10 times in that time period.

Once I got that done I took a stroll around the property and remembered why I so love the place. The stress just pours out of my body when I arrive. I will be going up less often this year because my folks are borrowing the place whilst they are between homes (their new one will be ready in Sept), *sigh* what can you do… Here are a few early spring photos of my favourite spots. I like to walk out to the end of the sea wall and sit by the Gazebo and look out into the lake.

I also put together a collage of the shots I took as Bella and I went for a walk around the property. Just discovered the piccasa collage feature - pretty neat, huh!