Good as New

Doesn't she look nice?

We keep putting it off, BUT this week WE got it done.......WASHING & POLISHING the RV. It took Jim, with my supervision, 14 hours over a 5 day period. But He got his own back last night when every muscle in his body was aching and I used a whole tube of muscle cream on his poor muscles.

A Night & Day at the Falls

The Falls at night


Niagara Falls.

Maid of the Mist

Niagara Falls.....what can I say amazing, mind blowing, mesmerising and magical, well that's just my opinion. We again went for the best "Theme Park" ride ever, The Maid of the Mist. No matter how many times we go on that boat, it is still as exhilarating as the first time.
We also went on a walk alongside the rapids, on the River Road between Niagara and Niagara on the Lake, which we had never done before. These rapids are classed as a class 6, the most dangerous. As a result, there is a by-law prohibiting anyone from attempting to go down them. However in the time we have been here, (3 weeks so far) there have been two rescues from the rapids, resulting in one certain death, and two men still missing, presumed drowned. Some people just cant take advice!!!!

The Rapids

Demolition Derby

What fun we had at the demolition derby. Having never been to one before we were not sure what to expect. In one race the drivers wore a bag over their heads, and blindly depended on their passengers for directions (Jim and I have been doing that for years). Then there was the school bus race, the trailer race and the car jumping thought the trailer. We saw car's on fire and car's upside down, then there was the "lets see how many times we can ROLL the car" the atmosphere was great and we had a good time.

Look Nana

Edward & Grace

To all you girls, Mum's and Nana's out there, we all love to dress up don't we?. The young girls today have so much more than we had, but I can still remember the fun I had with my mum's "snake skin" high heels and her old dresses. I can feel a dressing up day coming on when I get home, I still have my wedding dress (if I can get in to it) so keep an eye out for the photo LOL .

Nick being NICK.

"Superman" Nick, with his cousin "Princess" Grace.


We called our youngest daughter, Georgina on Wednesday. She answered the phone with "can't talk Dad, on the way to casualty with Nick, he has stuck a pencil up his nose" She promised to text us as soon as she got back. As you can imagine we were looking at the phone for the rest of the day till she did text us some time later, and we immediately rang her back. She told us all was well. HOW or WHY did he do it? I asked. Because he's a BOY, and his name is NICK!!! she said. (he will be 4 next week). As the mother of 2 girls, all I can say is my hat goes off to all you mum's with boys out there,......... We rang Nick today to see how he was, and he'd forgotten all about it already, but wee Emma was able to fill us in, on all the blood and gore, etc., both real and imaginary.

Time with Family.

Me & cousin Gail

Monday 10th September, Fonthill, Niagara. Spent the afternoon with my mum's little brother, my Uncle Charlie and Auntie Joy. We have tried to see them every year on our trip, but did not get a visit in last year. Aunty Joy did a super meal for us, and my cousin Gail came home from work, and had lunch with us.



Me, Uncle Charles & Aunty Joy

Peterborough Lift Lock


When we were staying near to Toronto, we went to Peterborough to see the 'Boat Lift lock', and it was amazing to see it work. This was to be the world's highest hydraulic lift lock, rising 19.8 m. in height. It opened in 1904. What I could not understand was when we were told that there could be a small canoe in the lift or a 10 ton boat the weight in the lift would not change. Jim tried to explain but I still don't understand. Blonde moment he said, his eye will be better in a day or two..............

Greetings from Niagara Falls

We have been here almost a week already, I can't believe how quick the time flys by. On Monday, we visited with my aunt and uncle , who live in Fonthill, about 30 miles or so from here. They served us a great lunch, and their daughter Gail, my cousin, came from work to see us. It was nice to see them all again. Hopefully we will get to see them again before we head off for Florida.
We are very close to Niagara Falls, about 20 Min's drive from Sherkston, so of course we have been to have a look. I never tire of seeing them they really are magnificent.http://www.city.niagarafalls.on.ca/
Up until yesterday, the weather here has been pretty good, quite hot and sunny, with an occasional shower. That all changed yesterday, around lunch time the wind increased, by late afternoon the rain started, and by 9pm, we brought the slide-out in, as we thought the topper would be ripped off. The light show was superb, but I really did think on a couple of occasions we were going to be blown over. This morning, the park seems to have escaped relatively unscathed, one or two branches laying on the ground, but the poor people who were living under canvass, we saw so many tents totally destroyed. Also some people have left their pop-ups on site, and visit at weekends. If they come this weekend, most will have some serious cleaning up and repair work to do. Will post some photos as soon as I can.

A few photos from the past.

We scrub up quite well for 2 Grannies.

Marlus and I getting ready for Ken & Carrie's wedding 2006. It was so nice to dress up. And yet another first for me, I danced till 5.30am. I will never forget dancing the Polka with Richard.

A DREAM come true.





This was a dream come true for me. If you had asked me 4 years ago when we started our trip what was one of my dream's, I would have answered "going on a cattle drive" and I didn't even mind getting up at 5.30am. As you can see Jim was on his best TOY the quad bike.....that's another story.......





The other Stallion in my life, Chillie & Me 2006





This is how I was met every morning, as you can see before I even done my hair. Chillie and I got to know each other in 2005 when he cut the top of his leg badly on some wire, and I offered to wash and put cream on it every day for the 6 weeks we were there. When we went back in 2006 he was there to meet me, with his new friend RED, I like to think he remembers me. That year we stayed for over 2 months so we had many happy hours together.

Irma 2006

Ruby,Marlus,Richard,Jim & me, EATING AGAIN.

How we came to meet Richard and Marlus.

Jims Granddad outside his shoe repair shop in Wimbledon, London, England.



As some of you know, Jim's dad was born in Canada in 1909, but his parents came back to England with there 5 children in 1914.
So when Jim and I started this journey of ours, one of the things we wanted to do was try and find out as much as we could about any family left in Canada. So in the summer of 2004 we visited the Church in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where Albert(Jim's dad) was baptised. We found the church easy enough, as we had his baptism certificate, this was the only paper we had, he never had a birth certificate. We were told it was too cold (never) to go out in January, the month he was born. Also he was born in a small town called Francis, about 1 hour away by car today, from Moose Jaw, where he would have to have been registered. Goodness knows how long it would have taken in January 1909, with no cars and no roads to speak of. The vicar at the church was very helpful and we spent some time there going through the very old books. Here we found out that his dads godmother named on the baptism certificate (Amelia Russell) was Jim's grandmothers sister. She stayed on in Canada and married a John James, and had two daughters, Jenny and Ruby. Ruby will be 90 years young next Febuary and she is a wounderful lady and dear friend. Are you keeping up?????? Jenny sadly passed away a year or so before our arrival. Ruby had 5 children, one of whome is Marlus who, along with her husband Rihard, drove all the way from Alberta to the Atlantic Coast and back, to see us for their 3 weeks annual holiday this year. They are also the same family who we stay with on their farm in Alberta. We were made so welcome by Ruby's and Jenny's family in Irma, Alberta.
Hope to see you all next year. Thank you again for making us FAMILY.

Grace & Edward

Grace and Edward had a happy time at the beach last week, "O" to be so young and care free. So looking forward to seeing them all next month.