Waterloo, part 1

We had a mostly fun drive from Ottawa to Waterloo -- we did have to go through Toronto, after all. It was pretty uneventful, but we did stop to have a picnic lunch at a small resort village where we feed some gulls. The place we stopped was quaint and quiet. There was an entire beach made entirely of the best skipping rocks ever. Wendy was sick or I think I would have stayed until my arm was spaghetti.

Don On The Job
The other reason to move on was the facilities. The place we ate was equipped only with a port-a-potty. Let me tell you, I don't think "Don" was on the job -- despite the assurance. I think I might have been nervous if he was there anyway.

We arrived without incident and commenced with the visiting. Anwyn was in the second day of being sick, but recovered with all speed when there was an infant to hold.
Max Gutoski (2 1/2 mos)

I was amazed at how great the girls were with their new cousin, Max. Gus and Greta's first son will soon be 3 month's old and is typically adorable. He was constantly doted upon by parents, grandparents, relatives, and general passers by. Leora and Anwyn seemed never to tire of holding him or (to my surprise) changing him. Wendy had an endless stream of babble and smiles for him and I told some rousing renditions of The Three Little Cousins (pigs).

While their yard is in somewhat of an -- ahem -- natural state, they live close to the edge of Waterloo and there were plenty of beautiful paths to walk us and their dog, Shake-y-bond-speare.


One day we were sitting around, making fools of ourselves to entertain the baby, when Greta casually mentioned Stratford. I hadn't realized that we were only an hour away from the Mecca of theatre in Canada. We quickly pumped some breast milk (that was hard work) and foisted Max into his father's hands. In a trice we were out the door.

Gus has an aunt who works at the costume warehouse for the festival and with her help we secured ourselves some fine seats for this year's production of Kiss Me Kate which, you may recall, I performed in a few years back. It was a fabulous experience. The girls were in musical heaven and I fulfilled a desire I've had since about grade 11. In case you are wondering, no, I was not allowed to take pictures in the theatre, but the camera was "yes" during our tour of the costume warehouse.

Comments

Anonymous said…
...their yard is in somewhat of an -- ahem -- natural state...

Yard snob.
8:55 am
captainorange said…
What? You don't like nature? Huh, guess I had you pegged wrong.
9:40 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greece - Kaves of Kalamata

Image
Caves Were Promised! stovetop espresso (of course) brad brought the tiny camping espresso maker that we gave him more than 20 years ago. We have used it on various hikes including in Italy. Now, in Greece :) Attempted Breakfast We tried and failed to get breakfast in Stoupa. There was only one place open (VERY local) and there was only toast on offer. Could also have been a language barrier? We got coffee and set off on an exploratory hike at the beach. Shoreside cave we spent a bunch of time carefully climbing our way out through razor sharp rock formations to the entrance of a cave. It is too cold to swim in at this time of year (without wetsuits) so we had to settle for a few photos from the outside . I amused myself by utterly exhausting my arms and shredding my hands while carefully climbing the rock formations. Another Cave? After searching for over an hour, through even more dangerous rock than this morning, and based only on a single google maps post, we managed to find a beaut...
Read more

Greece - A Castle, a Good Omen, and Olympia!

Image
The Venetian Castle of Nafpaktos On the road toward Olympia, for a strangely low price of 2 euros, we were free to wander the outdoor portions of a 15th century castle. Sadly not allowed on the battlements, but very cool, nonetheless. Bananas good Bakery As we drove, I stopped on the road to try and get a picture of a hovering hawk at the seaside. Not an amazing picture, by any means...     Hawk of Good Fortune However, while stopped we checked out this nondescript shop along the roadside.     Bakery of the Gods It looks like nothing on the outside, but has every kind of greek baked good that you can imagine. The prices were also really reasonable. I'm not sure who they were selling all of this to in the middle of nowhere, but what a lucky find. Olympia!  We are staying at Hotel Pelops, a vintage hotel that feels like it is from the era of my grandmothers youth. Old, highly polished mahogany furniture with tiny wheels on the bottom, plates on the wall, ornate sh...
Read more

Greece: Diakuw of Delphi

Image
Getting out of Athens 10:30 Travelling light with no checked baggage has several drawbacks. Everything is carefully organized and it is a bit of a pain getting it back into place each time I use anything. I don't have everything I want with me. And the few things I have for clothing need to be washed several times during the trip. Honestly, I should have been okay with just washing clothes once, but it has been so cold (for Greece) that I've been wearing all of my long sleeve shirts and sweaters, so they get dirty and I don't want to wear shorts or a T-shirt. All this to say, we found a laundry mat and had coffee while we waited (twist my arm). I also too the opportunity to find the perfect photo opportunity to show you a standard street set up for Athens. I don't know if I mentioned the traffic in my last post, but it is bad. The streets can be incredibly narrow usually two cars wide, with a row of parked cars on one or both sides. Sometimes only wide enough for 1 vehi...
Read more