Family visits, exciting news, arrived at Buttercup Ridge....

Our Location: Buttercup Ridge, Roseneath, Ontario

Woodstock was a good stop for us and we rested well there. The rain came down and we were happy we hadn’t stayed farther away. Less than 45 minutes later we arrived at Brantford but found that getting into Bradey’s driveway was not going to work. Even if I could get in, all things had to be aligned before I could get back out. Even one car in the wrong place on the street and we were stuck, so we opted for a different option. The local Catholilc Church (right across the street) wouldn’t allow us to park even for a donation, so we once again reverted to Walmart. A nice assistant manager told us we could stay for 3 nights (it’s what I ask for), knew we would be unhooking and even putting the slides out. He had no issues with it and so we stayed at the Brantford Walmart Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. We spent some money in Walmart to offset our using a piece of the parking lot. For future reference, it is an excellent place, quiet, and easy to get in/out, close to everything and a lot of stores near by. 

 

You can see the grass is starting to turn green. B & D live in this small town now.

 

We enjoyed our visits with Bradey and David very much. We spent a good deal of Sunday with them, Monday evening and part of Tuesday evening as well. They have settled into life in their new to them home, and are looking forward to the future. Held up by magnets on the fridge door are the first ultra sound pictures of the baby that will bless our lives. A first child for them, a first niece or nephew for their of the siblings (all sisters as a matter of fact, Courtney & Riley are Bradey’s sisters of course, and Nicole & Danielle are David’s sisters) and of course a first grandchild for myself and for Peter & Mary. (David’s parents). Some exciting times ahead. We wish for them a healthy baby, and the joys that children bring to a home.
 

Middle daughter, her future husband and their puppy.

 While parked in Brantford we journeyed to Hamilton for a couple of errands. First thing Monday morning had me at Dr. Bobba’s office, he’s my Rheumatologist. A few things have changed but we agreed to leave everything the same and will access again in the fall when I see him next. From there Riley and I headed for the blood labs as I was over due for blood work. Long story short, we couldn’t get in to either location we tried and eventually ended up back at the first one later in the day. Our next stop was the storage unit on Barton Street. We had a few things to remove from there and distribute to their rightful owners. Took us a while to find them but we managed to get everything packed into the Dogsled and storage unit locked back up before heading off for a quick stop at Timmie’s for a drink. A quick phone call to find that the meeting I thought I would have on Tuesday wasn’t necessary. Yeah, now Tuesday would be pretty clear for us.
 

David, Riley and Bradey.

 From that fun filled morning we stopped again at the blood lab, bingo, in and out in less than 20 minutes and we were off to our last errand in the city. The dentist and our friend MaryAnne to catch up and have some dental work accomplished. Cleaning for me, cleaning and some fillings for Riley, a nice long chat with MaryAnne and we were off by 3:30 pm heading back to Brantford. Riley and I had a very late lunch after which we had a visit with Bradey & David before calling it a night.
 

That is the Hamilton skyline in the distance.

 

Tuesday was a day to stock up on a few things that we needed and just to sort of relax a bit. We like those days without too much planned. Warmer but still damp and cold outside. An evening visit with B & D topped off the day.

 

Moving toward Toronto, close to the airport.

  Wednesday morning at 9:30 am found us getting on the road to head further east along the 401. A slow down on the Ancaster Hill in Hamilton pretty much set the tone for the first half of the drive. Stop and go from Ancaster to about the middle of Toronto before traffic picked up and moved along. Toronto is always busy now, and I doubt there is ever a fast trip to or thru the city these days. Like all major cities around the world the amount of people, vehicles and businesses just make it ‘rush hour’ all the time. Ironically, not much construction along the way, only in a couple of spots. 

 

Riley liked the ball atop of that cement piece. Of course this is Toronto.

  

We arrived at Buttercup Ridge (Janet & Dennis’ farm) before 1:30 pm. The driveway is long and very rough as the winter has been a tough one. Thaw, freeze, thaw, freeze, snow, ice, water, rain, sleet, thaw, freeze, and repeat. You know what that does for a gravel driveway. Closer to the house and the barn the ground turned soft and I was worried about getting stuck but we managed to get ourselves backed into the far driveway and get leveled up before 2:30 pm. Sounds like a long time but it wasn’t. I’ll take some photos to show you in another post. A call to dad, a text to Janet, we had lunch and just kind of fell into our chairs. We are closer to home but not quite there yet. A couple of weeks should see us arriving on the Island to hopefully warmer weather. 

Welcome to Toronto.

 

Today I had a quick chat with Mike (he rents the barn here at Buttercup Ridge), says they had a long winter here in Southern Ontario as well. Lots of snow, lots of cold and overcast days were the norm. Like everyone else he’s in a hurry to see spring arrive. We can see it coming though, flowers are poking up from the beds, trees are taking on new shades of red, yellow and green. The grass is losing its brown to a tiny hint of green. Birds are chirping and singing everywhere, water is open and not frozen, and of course everywhere you look Robins are busy gathering nesting material. Spring is coming soon. 

Of course Toronto is a sprawling city on the northern shores of Lake Ontario.

 

A belated Happy Birthday mention (I called on the actual day) to my older brother Rick. We won’t discuss how old he actually is but he’s older than I am. April 16 found him another year older, wiser and more handsome than the last year. Hope you had a great day Rick.
 

Here we are heading north of Cobourg on Hwy 45 toward the town of Roseneath.

 

So there you have it, a catch up of the last number of days. I’ll be catching up on the reading and commenting as well over the next couple of days. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

 

One day we'll get some BBQ from this spot.

 

Until next time.. take care, be safe,

Deb