Forest, Ontario

 Several years ago, Mardi came to Forest to help her friend Sandy and her husband with their hotel renovation.  Later, she put together a group of ladies who came to Forest Golf and Hotel for a package, all inclusive, golf holiday. Then a couples group was formed and I became part of it.

We enjoyed Forest for a few years until the course changed ownership.  The course ran down, the dining room wasn't the same, and we headed elsewhere.  A few years at Sawmill Creek near Sarnia, then, when it changed ownership and ran down, a change to Pike Lake.

After my body told me that three days of golf at Pike Lake was too much, Mardi and I tried to figure out what to do next.  We decided to try Forest once again and it was, so far, a wise decision.  We booked all inclusive, overnight, with two days of golf.

The golf course is in good shape.

Forest used to have some swans that kept the Canada Geese at bay.  Not any more.

Fortunately they weren't around the island green.  I made it!

We both got across on this hole.

Forest is an interesting course:  4,098 yards from the red tees, 4,612 from the whites, but only par 66.  In contrast, any combination of nines at MontHill from the reds is also less than 5,000 yards, but with a par of 72.

We both broke 100, but Mardi broke it better.  I'm down $1.50 after today's round.

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The dining room was equally up to the challenge.  It's been modestly renovated.

Breakfast and the staff were excellent!  And dinner (new chef) was pretty awesome as well.

Today was a great success.  We'll see how tomorrow goes.  Another 18 holes planned.

After today's round, and my usual back and right leg aches, I think that if we came for a two night, three days of golf trip, that I'd probably play 18 on day one, their shorter 9 hole course on day two, and back to 18 on day three.  Unlimited golf means that if you wanted to play more you would be welcome.

After golf we sat on the balcony, with a view of part of Elsi Dodge Conservation Park, while consuming a couple of Rye drinks.

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Followed dinner by watching the Blue Jays game.  They won.  Keep you fingers crossed!

Stay well.

Quoits Champs

 David headed to Port Perry this morning with a load of Mums and made it back to Gary's in time to park his truck and join us for lunch.  

Here is our golfer group.  You will note that half of us were able to come up with orange shirts in honour of Truth and Reconciliation Day.  I've talked to a lot of folks who wanted to buy a tribute shirt but couldn't find any.  Thanks to Yancy, I was in appropriate attire.  Hopefully, next year our native artists will be able to meet the demand.

After enjoying Gary's burgs, Sandro's salad and Calvin's pies, the tournament began.  David and I were up first in the Quoits competition.

Sandro and Ron looked formidable in the beginning, but at the end the champions were...............(drum roll please)................

.....the Craig "brothers".  Ta Da!

Many thanks to Gary and Jill for putting on such a party.  David and I are looking forward to defending our crown next year!

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Blue Jays lost tonight.  They're hanging on in the playoff chase by a thread.

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Mardi and I are heading to Forest, Ontario tomorrow.  We'll talk about that later.

Stay well.

Think About Tomorrow

 I won't have time to do anything more than water the baskets for the next three days so I'm glad the weather cooperated today.  I cut the grass at the greenhouse as planned.  Otherwise I'd be dealing with hay fields by Sunday.

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Blue Jays won a close one, 6-5 over the Yankees.  They're still alive.

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Just found out that Mardi played traffic cop yesterday.  Apparently, an 18 wheeler headed down Mountain Avenue and obviously (if you know that road) couldn't make the tight turn and reduce the height of the truck so it would fit under the bridge.  He needed to reverse up the hill, but about four cars were backed up behind him.  Mardi turned around and at the top of the hill jumped out of her car and turned traffic away.  The truck did make it back up and the off duty cop who had showed up, and the trucker, thanked her for her effort.

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This has just happened:

OTTAWA -- The Federal Court has dismissed Ottawa's attempts to appeal a pair of rulings about providing services and compensation to First Nations children.

In September 2019, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled Ottawa didn't properly fund child and family services, which resulted in it "wilfully and recklessly" discriminating against Indigenous children living on reserve.

It ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 each to about 50,000 First Nations children as well as their relatives, but the Liberal government appealed the ruling.

The second legal battle stems from a separate ruling in November 2020 that expanded the scope of Jordan’s Principle, which is a rule stating when there is jurisdictional disagreement over what level of government should provide a service to First Nations children, Ottawa takes on the responsibility.

Opposition parties and Indigenous leaders have criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to fight both of these rulings, saying that’s not the appropriate course of action for a government committed to reconciliation.

In June, the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion brought forward by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh asking the federal government to abandon its legal challenges against First Nations children.

Just another disgraceful move by our righteous Prime Minister, fortunately overturned by a decent court.

And a final thought:

Tomorrow is Truth and Reconciliation Day.  Please take some time to think about the children who "didn't matter".

Think about the massive recent effort to find the body of Gabby Petito.  Then try to remember if you ever heard of such an effort to find any missing Indigenous women.

Think about what it would be like to have your children taken from you when they were five or six, never to see them again.  And no explanation given.  The church didn't even have the decency to inform the family that their child had died.

The churches supposedly tried to turn the children into Christians, for a profit, but treated them like animals.  I know that many white Catholic children were also abused by the church, but how many were killed or went "missing" from their schools?

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Sorry for the lecture, but I need to vent.  Tomorrow, I will wear, with pride, the orange shirt that Yancy sent me.  Hopefully I will feel better.

Stay well.

End Of Season

 We had our last "official" league game at MontHill today.  But, we'll be continuing to golf on Tuesdays as long as the weather cooperates.

After golf we headed to the Erie Beach Hotel to celebrate our season.  Our waitress kindly took this picture of the motley crew.

On Thursday we will all convene again, this time at Gary's place for a bar-b-que and Quoits tournament.  More on that after it happens.

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Mardi and I have ordered books online.  Hers is "Steady As We Go! The Story of COVID, Chicken, and a Miracle" by Bonnie's niece Sarah VanNetten.  Her husband, Mike VanNetten, known as "Chicken", was in a coma for three months and is now slowly recovering.  The book chronicles Sarah's postings during that time and her beliefs as a result of his recovery.

My book is " 'indian' In The Cabinet: Speaking Truth To Power." by Jody Wilson-Raybould.  And it chronicles her reaction to the Prime Minister who wanted her to lie.

Inspiring reading for each of us.

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Blue Jays lost tonight.  While they still have a mathematical chance of being in the playoffs, each loss brings us closer to just accepting that this young team has exceeded expectations and will be better next year.  Keeping our fingers crossed though.

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Stay well.

Pumpkins

 First off, I'm upset that none of my Tuesday golf buddies challenged my picture yesterday of David practicing Quoits.  After all, our annual challenge match is coming up on Thursday.  I thought they would be upset - apparently they're asleep.

Secondly, after the gardening issue, Calvin asked how the pumpkins are doing.

As you can see, they are doing well.  Not 1,000 pounders, but heavier than I want to try to pick up.

The vine in the foreground has called it quits, satisfied with its two pumpkins.  The other two are still going at it, working on third gourds in each case.

These pumpkins are for decoration only.  They won't likely be sold.  

David has twelve of these cardboard bins full of pumpkins for sale.

 ..................including these ugly buggers.

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Made good progress on my gardening tasks today.  Tomorrow is golf.  Wednesday will be grass cutting.

No Blue Jays game tonight.

Stay well.

House and Garden Day

 I cut the grass on the newly contoured and sodded area.

From this..........

and this.............

To this.......

Although I prefer this view....

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Today I edged and weeded gardens.  Like this one.

And this one.  The Mums from David's first planting had done their job.  

So they were replaced by Mums from his final planting.  They have just started to open.

Tomorrow will be more of the same.

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Blue Jays won again, so they're still in the hunt.  They start a series against the Yankees on Tuesday.

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Stay well.

Proof Of Vaccination

 Here is a tip that may be useful for some of you.  The Hamilton Public Library will make a reduced copy of your vaccination certificate and laminate it.  Free service.  Don't need to be a member (although Mardi is).  Just drop in and it takes 5 or 10 minutes.

The laminated copy will fit in a purse or can be folded and kept in a wallet.

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Nice ceremony before the Twins - Jays game tonight as Minnesota inducted Canadian Justin Morneau into their Hall of Fame.

And the Jays won.  Hopefully will become a trend.

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Stay well.