1958 is back - Kind of.
Yep - a lot of family and friends who spent time at our house in Wolseley, will have been taken to the little cafe for breakfast or lunch. Sadly, it closed a couple of months ago, but since then there have been developments!
Ross, who owned and cooked for 1958 has taken on the Bella Vista. This is a well established pub/Italian style restaurant, that also has live music playing a few times a week. Ross has now taken over the entire place, keeping the traditional look and feel but adding breakfast and brunch meals to the menu. We have already visited a couple of times, including the first afternoon when he had the new bar pumps fitted and we (I) enjoyed a particularly large pint of beer after helping Ross to get the pumps working! Hannah loves to run around causing havoc and we also got to watch Ross and Armando get their photos taken by the local paper.
Good luck Ross, we cant wait to send more time in the Bella!!
Dock Drama..
October brought a lot of rain to Manitoba and Ontario. So much that the levels of the water in Lake of the Woods rose so much the docks at the cabin were in danger of ending up underwater. Not a major problem in the short term, but if it keeps going for long the docks could be destroyed by waves and in winter, by solid ice. So a few weekend ago me, Buff. Jon and Susan were up early on Saturday morning to go on a mission to save them. A 2 hour drive, which looks so different in fall, due to the lack of leaves on trees, took us to sugar bay, where we borrowed a friends boat an took the short trip across to the island. Indeed, the boat dock was close to being submerged, so we spent the next hour or so removing 2 out or every 3 boards, to allow the waves to flow over and through the dock instead of crashing into it. Apart from a few screws that we couldn't get out and a huge spider which was unceremoniously murdered by Susan (She brushed it off Jon's back into the water and after lying there for a while it disappeared. I am sure its probably fine.) We got the job done easily. The swim dock on the south of the island had a good 16 inches clearance, so we left it as it was and enjoyed a nice picnic on a lovely fall afternoon before heading back to the city.
In Memoriam |
Good news for myself, Gareth and Chris. After just a few minutes of help, Hannah now is able to put money into the Penny Machine - and she loves it! She grabs the piece of wood that fills the gap at the bottom of the machine, plonks it on my or Buffy's lap and uses it as a seat. Then she gets some pennies, stands up, and feeds them into the machine. Mum and dad would be so pleased to see her playing with it!!
Oh, yeah - she also now enjoys kicking a football around - Future England or Canada soccer captain??
Halloween
Last year, Hannah was too little for Halloween, so she just wore a costume, but didn't go out. This year, being slightly crazy and full of energy, she got to wear two costumes and visit so many houses to get candy treats! She hasn't quite go the concept yet though as she is such a kind little girl, when someone gave her candy, she wanted to share it and give it back! She is very cheeky though as just wandered into people houses. climbing stairs and taking a good peek around. It was the best Halloween I have ever experienced. Like being in a movie, where hoards of children run amok in the street collecting treats whilst the parents wander around enjoying a coffee and chatting with their friends. We were out for about 45 minutes and visited all our favourite neighbours. It was a really fun night and Hannah loved it.
The Tot Lot
Just a block down the street from us was an old tot lot - A small playground for toddlers to play in, with old play equipment and a sandpit. But a few weeks ago, without notice, it was closed off and everyone was up in arms, scared the tot-lot was no more. All the memories of their kids playing in there would remain just that - memories. We were all really sad - But we needn't have worried, as a week or so later the builders arrived and within a few days had started to transform it. Now, about 6 or 8 weeks after the closure, the tot lot is back and they did a great job of it!! Hannah was one of the first kids to get to play in it and she absolutely loves it now. The swings and slide are perfect for a tiny person like her and the smile on her face as she throws herself backwards down the slide is wonderful! Its a pity its so cold now, as a few minutes there is enough in this weather, but you can bet come spring, we will be there every day!
Planetarium Concert
Last weekend me and Buffy got to do something quite different. There is a local band called Mariachi Ghost, who were releasing a new album on the day of the dead and the album release was marked with a concert in the Planetarium! A really cool and different concept, so we grabbed tickets and went along. The Ghost have always been a really good band to watch as well as listen to - With a wild female dancer - a bit like a Mexican female version of Bez from the Happy Mondays, and crazy costumes and face paint for all the band members - we have enjoyed seeing them at various events around town for a couple of years now.
This concert was really cool though - The band playing live, whilst the planetarium visuals were mixed with a light and video show produced especially for the occasion to go along with the music. Buffy described some of it made her feel like she was high, but we bot really enjoyed sitting back looking in to the cosmos and seeing weird and wonderful visuals pass us by. The planetarium does other music shows, where they play famous albums accompanied by the star shows - so we will definitely be returning for some of that sometime soon!
Bonfire Night
When Joel visited me Buffy and Chris in UK, it coincided with Bonfire night and the craziest 45 seconds you have ever seen. If you don't remember what happened when we put Chinese crackers in a cardboard version of the houses of parliament - here's a link to the video....
Now Joel's suggestion of a bonfire in Canada for bonfire night received a big reply of 'YES' from everyone. So on Tuesday 5th November, me Buffy, Joel and Byron headed to Adam and Alena's house armed with surprises to burn! Buffy had decided to make a Guy to put on the fire - She made a great Hannah sized Guy out of some baby clothes with a T-Shirt reading 'Its great to be me' all finished off with Boris Johnson's face! Unbeknown to us though, Joel and Byron also has a surprise. A wonderful little 'hand built from lolly sticks' version of the houses of parliament - complete with Big Ben tower and clock.
Before we burned all of this though we began the British themed evening with English beers and introducing everyone the great Manc tradition of Chip Barm and Pies! Buffy and me brought six hot pies along with soft white rolls (Barm cakes) and pre warmed chips (French Fries for you heathens) which when put together with Malt Vinegar and Ketchup, makes the greatest meal known to Man(cs)
I am not sure if everyone enjoyed it all as much as me, but they all ate well and seemed to like it!
The out into the garden on a chilly evening to start a fire, burn the Parliament, set fire the Guy and enjoy one of my favourite nights of the year. Of course in Canada, you cant have the huge burning blazes that are common in UK and Chinese crackers are actually illegal (Why!!!) But the night was great and we will definitely be revisiting the old traditions again next year.
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