I’m sad to see that Sloan’s Grocery is closed. It was such a convenient stop to pick up drinks, tickets, food and all kinds of little incidentals. People are really going to miss this store.
A new butcher shop has opened in the old Marché Grocery Store. It’s called Les Viandes Butcherboys and it opened Nov 20. The owner is Mathieu Comeau and he is going to try to expand it by selling fresh produce and dairy. Let’s not let this business disappear too. Support local. It’s the only way to keep our towns alive.
The galloping grannies were galloping again this weekend. We went to visit the kids and grandchildren in . . .
Port Carling, Ont. Before you start judging us, we took every precaution possible and only stopped to get gas. I didn’t go into the store. Barry, Ont. was the best place to buy gas at a whopping $.88 per litre. It’s a good thing that the gas was fairly cheap because I thought I remembered the way by taking this shortcut to their house from Huntsville, Ont. but of course I took a left instead of right somewhere and we ended up taking the scenic route. It was an extra half hour longer but we ended up seeing some beautiful cottages, back roads and lakes. Thankfully we are retired and have lots of time because I see now why we need more time as we get older. It’s because we get lost easier.
We went because we had to deliver Christmas presents early in case there’s a shut down between the provinces. We also wanted to check in on Carl who is just recovering from a heart attack. Just to ease your mind even more, both our grandchildren are not in school due to the pandemic and are learning at home. Carl has been off work for the last five weeks and has been housebound and so has Shelley.
We arrived Friday around 1 p.m. and the boys unloaded our car which was filled with six chairs and presents. These were metal chairs but need to be recovered so that was our project that weekend. Everyone helped out and we got the job done. I also brought my sewing machine and was able to sew material for the chairs and hem some pants the boys needed shortened.
We made 20 really large bows for the trees going up the laneway. They look really nice on either side of the road. We also took out the Christmas tree and decorated it and the mantle and put up the Christmas stockings. So we had a really productive day. Carl and Corben made us supper and they did a fantastic job as usual. The boys are turning into little chefs. They are not afraid to try new recipes.
The next night, Corben made us sushi for supper and I made a shrimp stir fry. We always have a great time when we’re there. On Saturday morning after breakfast, we started covering those six chairs and everyone pitched in and we got them all done before noon. The boys were quite happy to have these new chairs because they told me that they probably couldn’t break these ones because they’re made of solid steel. We had a great weekend and passed the time by doing all these little jobs but also had fun doing it. Now the boys know how to reupholster chairs.
On our drive back home Therese and I noticed that a lot of people were busy on the weekend putting up Christmas decorations. We were able to see some great displays. There was one yard we saw that must’ve had over 100 different displays on their lawn. It looked like Santa’s workshop. You almost had to stop to be able to take in all the themes.
It’s going to be Corben’s 18th birthday on Dec. 12. Imagine that our firstborn grandson is already going to be 18 and such a smart young man. He already put in his order for a caramel apple cheesecake for his birthday and of course we will try and deliver it in person if COVID-19 allows.
This week I’m going to start making all my Christmas cookies and goodies and wanted to let you know I am taking orders.
Happy birthday wishes go out to Charlie Frost on Dec. 1, Tim Hearty and Carla Day Paquette on Dec. 5, Lincoln Smith, Jennifer Hill and Chris Kinsley on Dec. 6, Marion Pare and Mike Kavanagh on Dec. 9.
The COVID-19 counts are going down in the Ottawa area and that’s great news. Bad news is we’re not getting the vaccine for quite a while yet and this is disturbing quite a few Canadians.
It is very hard on everyone being isolated and not able to do our normal activities.
I am writing this on Monday morning and it’s supposed to start snowing and apparently we might get up to 20 cm of snow before Wednesday so by the time the paper comes out we’ll see if they’re right or not. Hope you all have a great week and take care of one another.
