Westover Restover

 While I was enjoying myself yesterday in St. Marys, Carol Kemp was enjoying a birthday.  Sorry that I missed your big day Carol.

Today it's my daughter Jo-Ann's and niece Robin's turn.  Best wishes!

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As previously reported, David and I headed to St. Marys yesterday for a Tromper reunion.  We all met at Joe's Diner for brunch.

Then to the Westover Inn for our "Westover Restover", from which we headed out for a mini tromp.  Walked along the Thames for a while and were impressed with this feature.

This rig allows handicapped folks to get safely from a wheel chair into a kayak (and out again I hope!) and the kayak can be had free by contacting the library.  What a nice program!

That's my kid brother in the weird outfit.  He really doesn't look that bad normally.............. 

(unless he's being impolite)...........

.............which occurs fairly frequently.

We climbed up a steep hill to the rail trail bridge....

and then continued along the trail. Altogether, I lasted about three kilometres - more than I expected.

The guys in the following picture completed a couple more kilometres than David and I (he turned back to look after the old man - he could have gone a lot further).

Tromper Dave Bagshaw took a pass on the hike, having had a lot of rods, screws, chain link fence and miscellaneous hardware inserted in his back recently so he could walk again.  Nevertheless, even his showing up was appreciated, especially since he brought cold beer!  Thanks David  (he's the one in the grey shirt in the following picture, with his cane up against the tree)!

Then it was back to the Westover where Gary gave us a quiz on each of our annual events, from the Tobermory Tromp in 1984 to the Georgian Gambol in 2019.  What a lot of laughs, and it brought back treasured memories! 

In fact, we were having so much fun that we stayed out during a rain shower.

Thunderstorms overnight so we packed up and headed back to Joe's Diner for breakfast.............

..........and said our au revoirs.  Mark had to return home last night so he missed this picture. 

We're all getting too long in the tooth to participate in long hikes, or bike rides, or kayak/canoe trips, but I do hope that we make this an annual event.  We need to hang onto the dear friends that have added so much to our lives.  Thanks guys!

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In the meantime, the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Blue Jays are continuing their winning ways.  Sweet!

Stay well.