Change of Plans!

On Saturday awoke to another beautiful day here on PEI.  The sun was shining and it was going to be a warm day of about 26 degrees.  The night before, we had decided that today we would take our old coffee table and sand it down and then stain it again.  It had been a project that I had wanted to do for several years but, with working, I just never got around to doing it.  So today we would be doing that or painting the shed.  Either way, today was going to be a “fun work” day.

Then in an instant, our plans changed.  Ron opened up his morning emails to find an invitation from a couple we had met while camping last year.  They were camping at our old campground, Crystal Beach, and it was Ray’s 60^th birthday.  They asked us if we would like to come to the campground around 7:00 p.m. and join them for a piece of cake.  We thought that would be a great idea.  We had kept in contact with them over the past year and had tried to meet up at the campground a couple of times but it just didn’t work out.  It would be nice to see them again.

Then we thought … why not go camping over night there!  We called the campground to see if there were any vacancies and they remembered us from the year before.  We told them who we were meeting and they gave us a spot right next to them on the water.  It was like old times.  We quickly got the moho ready for departure and we were off by noon.  So much for redoing the coffee table!  J

When we arrived at the campground, I went in to register.  The owner was standing outside of the office talking to a couple.  He asked them where they were from and they answered BC.  I turned to them and said, “You’re from BC?  Where about in BC?”  The woman answered, “Just outside of Vancouver, about an hour away.”  I replied with a smile, “Chilliwack?”  The woman was shocked that I knew Chilliwack even existed and said “Yes!!”  I laughed then gave her the thumbs up.  I told her that’s where we just moved from.  It just goes to show you, you just never know who you will run into here on the island.

We arrived at our site to find Theresa and Ray already there and set up.  We pulled in and Theresa came out to greet us with a big hug.  While Ron was setting up our moho, I was getting caught up on things with Theresa.  It was good to see them again.

The campground organizes special events like Christmas, Halloween etc, that they don’t get to celebrate because they are closed for the season.  Well it turned out that night was the Halloween event.  Children in the campground got dressed up in costumes and at 6:00 p.m. they went on a parade around the campground.  This year there were a lot of children dressed up and on parade.  It was very cute to see.  The campground owners and the regular/seasonal campers give out Halloween candy to the children.  I was amazed that the children were packing quite a hefty bag of goodies as they walked around the park.

At 7:00 p.m. we went next door for Ray’s birthday celebration.  Their daughter had come from Ottawa, which was a surprise for Ray.  A couple of Theresa’s brothers and their wives were there as well as a couple of really cute grandchildren.  I only wished we had taken a couple of photos while there to show you how cute these kids were.  They were adorable!  The little boy was only 13 months old and he loved to whistle!  Yes … this little tot whistles!  We have never seen anyone so young whistle before.  It was so cute!! Theresa brought out some beverages and a couple of cakes and we all burst into the Happy Birthday song.  We had a great time meeting and visiting with everyone.

The next day we packed up, said our good-byes and drove home.  On the way home we talked about what we were “going to do” the day before but how things can change in an instant.  We love it when we do things spontaneously.  Somehow they end up being the most fun.  This camping trip was no different.  It was great seeing Ray and Theresa again and we made it a point to make sure a whole year doesn’t go by before seeing them again.  

You just never know what the day will bring.  I hope yours brings you lots of fun surprises, just like ours does.  As we always say … Life is good … Retirement is better!  J

Halloween Parade

Creative Costumes

Lots of kids for the Halloween Parade

Parade making it's way through the campground

Cute costume

This is the way to relax on a Sunday on Malpaque Bay

Harvest Festival Parade

Pulled pork, mashed potatoes and all the trimmings.  Yum!

Today we decided to take in the festivities of the Harvest Festival.  In the past, when we have visited PEI, we used to see the Harvest Festival advertised but always had to leave the island before it took place in order to make it back to BC before I had to go back to work.  Now that we have moved to the island, this year we were able to attend it.  J

It was a perfect day, weather wise, for the festivities.  The sun was out and there were a few fluffy white clouds floating about to make sure it didn’t get too hot.  We arrived down at the train station where all the action was happening around 11:30 a.m.  There were tables set up for vendors selling their wares, a petting zoo for kids, music playing from local entertainers and food sampling … which is my favorite!  J

There was a local chef handing out free samples of her cooking, which consisted of pulled pork, mashed potato and then you got to add your own shredded cheese, green onions, gravy, real bacon bits and sour cream.  It was really good!  There were also free samples from Mary’s Bakery of cinnamon buns, several different kinds of cookies and scones.  The milk company ADL also had samples of 3 different kinds of cheese and chocolate milk to enjoy.  I told Ron we didn’t need to eat breakfast before going!  It was really good.

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation also had an interactive booth set up.  Inside the bubble dome they had tv screens that told you where the money goes when you buy a lottery ticket.  Another screen showed a map of the Atlantic Provinces and had pin points of where the big winners were located.  PEI has only had $1000.00 winners, but Newfoundland has had several $100,000.00 or more winners.  Did we move to the wrong province?  Of course you have to buy a ticket in order to win so maybe that’s my problem.   The last tv screen was the winner’s screen and it took your photo with funny disguises photo shopped in.  You will see what I mean in the photo attached.

We decided to leave the train station and head over to the beach volleyball tournament.  They had blocked off some roads and piled a ton of sand on the ground and turn the street into a beach.  They had 3 different volleyball games set up at once.  There were bleachers set up for people to sit and watch which ever game you wanted.  It was a nice to sit down for a while and have a rest.

In the afternoon we had the Harvest Festival Parade.  It was a much larger parade than the ones we had seen so far.  I found out that this parade had more floats and entries because there had been a parade in Charlottetown the day before and many of the floats stayed over to be in the Kensington parade today.  We had decided to leave Bailey at home this time, just in case his little horse buddy that he attacked when we first arrived on the island, was in the parade.  It was a wise decision because Blue Boy was in the parade.  It was a really good parade and I took lots of photos for you to enjoy.

After the parade we went back to the train station and sampled some more food from the local restaurants here in Kensington.  There were little fish patties from the Family & Friends Restaurant.  There was also a sampling of potato chips topped with lots of melted cheese and pulled pork from the Island Stone Pub.  It was a little different twist from nachos that were very tasty!   After we had our fill of sampling all the goodies we decided it was time to go home. 

I think that it is important to take in the local festivities and events when they are so close to home.  It gives us an opportunity to see what a great community we have moved to.   Everyone is so friendly in a small town and you are bound to run into someone you know.  We love living in Kensington and finding new things to see and do.  This was just one more new adventure for us.  It was a very enjoyable day. 

Enjoying a free cinnamon bun

Chef Campbell preparing pulled pork with mashed potato

This was so good ... and FREE!

Closed the street for Beach Volleyball

A lot of sand for beach volleyball

Girls beach volleyball

Checking out the books

Atlantic Lottery Corporation Booth

Honoring past Fire Chiefs

Citizen of the Year

1927 Hudson Essex

Bailey's buddy Blue Boy

We live in a farming community for sure.

1937 Dodge

Flintstone Car

Shriner's Clown

Shriner's Plane

Motorized lawn chair

Shriner's Mini Cars

Parade Clown

Best Float - Sweating with Richard Simmons

Atlantic Lottery Winner's Circle

Good Friends!

It is so wonderful to have friends come and visit us from BC.  I had worked with Madonna back in BC for several years and had become good friends.  Ross and Madonna had lived in Nova Scotia for many years and have lots of family and friends who still remain there.  It had been 5 years since they had been back to the Maritimes, so everyone wanted to get some time to spend with them.  We were lucky enough to be on the “visiting list” of family and friends that Ross and Madonna had.

When I found out that they were coming to the Maritimes for a visit, I was very excited!  It was a little confusing though, through the chat messages on Facebook, as to how long a visit we were going to be able to have.  At one point it was stated that they would like to stop at our place first before going to their friends place here on the island.  To me, it sounded like it was going to be a short visit of maybe an hour or two.  I was a little disappointed but grateful to be able to have any visit time at all.  I know how popular they are and how they would want to see and visit with as many people as possible.

The night before they were to arrive, I received another message stating that they would be arriving on Monday and wanted to spend one night with us and one night with the other couple here on the island.  I was ecstatic!!  That meant that we could spend the whole day and night catching up on things.  I could hardly wait!

We awoke to a beautiful day.  It was warm outside but there was a gentle breeze to keep it from getting too hot.  We were sitting on our front deck anxiously awaiting their arrival.  When they arrived there were lots of hugs and excitement in the air.  It felt so good to see old friends again!

We quickly showed them around the place and where they would be sleeping.  Then we sat out on the side deck with a couple of wobbly pops and chatted, told stories and reminisced about the good old days.  We laughed and laughed all afternoon. 

We decided to BBQ some burgers for dinner.  I had made some potato salad the night before and we also had some real nice corn on the cob.  We topped off dinner with fresh fruit.  We could hardly move after that.

That night the Perseid meteor shower was supposed to be at its peak, so we stepped outside onto the side deck to see if we could see any shooting stars.  There some clear patches of sky with millions of stars visible but then there were some light thin clouds that would pass by every so often.  However we did manage to see several shooting stars and very bright lightening strikes in the far distance that lit up the whole sky.  It was a nice way to end the evening.

In the morning we had a big breakfast before having to say good bye to our good friends. To avoid the shedding of good bye tears, we tried to make the departure as quick as possible.  To the best of my knowledge I think we both made it … although it was close.

It was a wonderful visit and it felt so good to see old friends again.  I wish it could have been longer, but I feel very lucky that I was able to get an overnight visit opposed to just an hour or two visit like some of their other friends on this trip.  Thank you Madonna and Ross for including us among your many visits while in the Maritimes.  It was great seeing you again!! 

I miss my family and friends from BC a lot.  I hope that more friends and family will be able to make it to PEI in the future.  It sure would be great to see them!

My good friend Madonna

Telling stories on the deck

Catching up on things

Having fun with my friends

Visiting while getting dinner ready

Good friends

Busy Week!

This past week or so has been really busy.  When we ordered the washer and dryer we decided not to order the pedestals as they would have been $200 each plus tax.  I thought that was too much money for pedestals … besides, I knew I had married a very smart and talented man and thought he could make me some for a lot less.  I was right.  Ron took out a pad of paper and started to design the stand for the washer and dryer. 

After Ron built the stand, I was given the task of painting it.  We decided to paint it white so it would go with the rest of the room.  The base boards and window trim were all in white with the walls being a soft yellow.  It turned out great.  Ron even made little squares with the center cut out for the feet to sit in.  This would prevent the machine from slipping off the pedestal if the machine vibrated to the point of shifting.  He did a great job.

When delivery day came, only the washer was delivered.  The dryer somehow missed the truck and isn’t going to be delivered until tomorrow.  The washing machine was put up on the pedestal and Ron arranged his little squares under the feet of the machine and screwed them into place.  That machine wasn’t going anywhere!  It looked great! Of course the first thing we did after setting the washing machine on the pedestal was a load of laundry!  J

Today was a beautiful day with a high of 26 degrees.  Ron had a great idea of going to the beach early.  Being Wednesday, we thought it would be fairly quiet.  When we arrived at our favorite beach, just 6 minutes away from our house, we were quite surprised to find … we were the only ones there!  It was around 10:00 a.m. and the parking lot was empty.  We took Bailey and walked along the shore to the end where the red cliffs were.  After taking a few photos we decided to walk back to the other end of the beach.  We started to see people arriving onto the beach.  It’s such a long stretch of beach that a few more people wouldn’t make any difference. 

As we walked to the other side we came discovered some interesting things along the way.  Somebody must have had a lobster cook out on the beach because we found the remains of the lobster shells strewn about the beach.  Why can’t people take their garbage home with them?  What I found interesting though, was the size of the lobster.  This lobster must have been huge!  It could have fed 2 or 3 people I’m sure.  I’ve never seen a lobster claw so large before.  I hope it was good.  J

We also discovered some interesting holes in the side of the cliff.  It looked as if they had sliced the side of the wall off and cut through some animal homes.  There were all different sizes of holes.  We thought they might be fox holes, rabbit holes or even rodents holes.  We stood there for a moment in case anybody was home but nobody wanted to come out and say hi to us so we carried on.

We came to a little hide-away nestled in among the red cliffs and sat for a while.  We kept looking out into the ocean and saying how lucky we are to be able to do this.  The breeze from the ocean kept the heat from the sun from getting too hot.  After about an hour or so, we decided to go back home and have some lunch.  When we stood up and started walking back, we found that the rest of the world had woken up and the beach had filled up considerably.   It was time to leave.

Today, like many others, has been a good day.  It’s like being on a permanent holiday.  I wish more people could experience PEI like we have been seeing it.  It truly is an amazing place to visit … and to retire in.  J

Painting the pedestal stand

It's so big!  What is it daddy?

Waiting for the dryer to arrive

Beautiful day to go to the ocean

At one end of the beach

Look!  I've got the whole beach to myself!

Holes along the cliff

I wonder who lives in there

Hello?  Anybody home?

Relaxing at the other end of the beach

Stairway to the rental cottages above

Beach is very quiet today

Largest lobster claw I've ever seen!

Home relaxing on the deck after a busy day at the beach.
It's been a perfect day!