Slow Internet Leads to Outdoor Fun

7 days until we leave Mallorytown . We have been in this rural area for 9 days, but thanks to slow internet and our determination to stay active while we are here, we have managed to 7 days until we leave Mallorytown . We have been in this rural area for 9 days, but thanks to slow internet and our determination to stay active while we are here, we have managed to keep ourselves busy. Due to the length of time since my last post this one will probably be a long one. Hopefully I shall be able to keep you entertained with my tales of things to do when you are visiting the middle of no where. Our first night back home was not dull at all. We drove into the town of Brockville after dinner, which is about 20 minutes away by car. We were suppose to watch my brother try out for his high school football team, but a couple hours of teens doing drills was not our cup of tea. So The Hubby and I took a quick stroll over to the 1000's Islands Mall to do a quick window shop. The mall has changed drastically since I was growing up here. This is mainly due to the fact that Wal-mart has moved out of the mall and built a Superstore plaza up the road with a lot of well known box stores.

-We did go back to Thousand Islands Secondary School or T.I.S.S. for short, to watch the end of the try out session. I really don't understand why my brother wanted to be a T.I.S.S Pirate. He was a St. Mary's Crusader for Jr. High, our mom and myself were both Brockville Collegiate Institute's (BCI) Red Rams and I may be biased, but T.I.S.S. would not have been my first choice for secondary education. However he does want to try T.I.S.S' integrated science program and he is really sporty so maybe I am being to hard on him for his choice and maybe things have changed since I was in school and T.I.S.S maybe closer to BCI when it comes to the academic side of things.

 It was nice to be back in my old stomping grounds. The house has not changed much on the outside since I moved out eight years ago, but my folks have done a lot of home improvements on the inside. I love being able to look around and mostly see fields or forests as far as the eye can see.

 Of course Saturday night from mid-spring until mid-fall there is usually a race on at the Brockville Ontario Speedway (B.O.S.). We could not pass up a night of dust, engine noise and excitement. I think the high lights would have to be the 40 rookie car rolling 4 times and the driver being well enough to get out and give everyone a thumbs up and what I like to call karma for the hot head. There was three cars going around the fourth turn of the course and one ended up going into the wall and being knocked out of the race due to mechanical failure. The driver was so furious about it that he tried to kick one of the other cars when it came back around. Then as they were towing his car away he was seated on the driver's side window ledge when the second car in the accident came by. The hot head started yelling at the driver and gesturing wildly. It looked like he might have tried to hit the other car as well, but he lost his balance and fell from his car face first into the side of the car he was yelling at. The fans in the stands could not stop laughing and cheering at that one. Never tempt karma to teach you a lesson in humility.

 As I mentioned before we have been trying to stay active while we are here. So when we are not playing Civilization IV together to try and pass the time, we are usually out biking or walking around the country highways and side roads. The weather for the most part has been gorgeous and last Sunday night my Dad, two brothers, the Hubby and I enjoyed a roaring camp fire in the family's fire pit on our land across the road. One thing I love about visiting my family is camp fires. I sing my old guiding camp fire songs, teach the boys fire tricks like sugar will turn flames blue, copper will turn flames green etc. It is usually just a nice relaxing time at the end of the weekend.

Our next adventure was not until Wednesday when we went into Brockville to visit my Grandma. I love my Grandma dearly and will miss her when we leave Canada. I am glad I got to spend time with her during my stay here because as we both get older I know the time we spend together is only limited. It is not something that can last forever. Anyways on a happier note, her dog Snowflake is about 13 and is still the cuteness thing ever. So we were happy to visit with Snowflake as well.

We went out and around King St. which is the main street for downtown Brockville. It was nice to see the town, what had changed and what hadn't. We stopped for lunch at Bud's on the Bay because it has a patio overlooking the St Lawrence River which is just amazing.

I had a turkey and apple sandwich with a Pepsi. It was really good, I would never have thought to put apple slices on my sandwich, but the apple complimented the turkey breast, cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce nicely. It was on multi-grain bread too so I felt very grown up and healthy eating it. If you ever are in the Brockville area I would highly recommend giving Bud's a try. We ended the day by taking a stroll through Centeen Park and Block house Island. Both were really picturesque. I think the best part was the Old railway Tunnel, RCAF plane and the Statue of Con Darling.

The story about Con Darling as I can remember it involves a gentleman who loved making kids happy. Every parade we would have in Brockville you would see Con dressed up as a hobo style clown and he would either have his invisible dog or a live chicken in a run down carriage. He was such a pitiful sight, but he would make jokes and play gags that would make all the children laugh. When Con died parades did not seem as fun as they used to. The kids at T.I.S.S. made the statue in Con's likeness and when you were baby sitting, if you took the kids to Block House Island, Con was always a great landmark to tell the kids to go to if you got separated. I think it is wonderful that even with Con Darling no longer among us children can still see him and his chicken to this day.

Thursday was a long bike ride day. We biked down to Howe Rd and back which according to Google Maps is a round trip of 18km. I was dead at the end, but really proud that I made it with only a few minor stops on the way back as I was past my exercise tolerance by a long shot. I got sun burnt and probably a bit dehydrated, so when I went to the Memorial Centre hockey rink to help hand out jerseys for the Bantam Rep. tryouts I didn't feel like I needed a sweater or coat as I was on fire. Lucky for me the pain of becoming a human lobster took my mind off the fact that it might be the last time I am in the Memorial Centre before I go across the pond. I have been Brockville Braves Jr. A hockey fan since I was eight and no matter where I am I will always have a special place for the rink in my heart. Who knows maybe one day the brother who was trying out for Rep. Will be a Jr. A player with the Braves and I will have to make a trip back to Canada to watch him play.

Friday the Hubby and I decided to keep our long activities up with a walk into Mallorytown proper. It wasn't too bad, only took us an hour to get into the village and we both still had plenty of steam. We stopped at the local grocery store, LCBO and Beer Store combined, Purcell's Freshmart.

They have always had the best subs as far as I am concerned. I think it is the fact that they use really fresh ingredients and that for the past 15 years I have been able to order an SS Club with the works and it always comes with all the things I love on it. That with a blue Powerade made up my lunch which we had at the Recreation Park to give our feet a rest.

 At this time we felt we still had some steam and decided we were going to take a different route back home then the one we took in. My dad had mentioned a back route out of the village that would bring us to a near by side road to the house. We figured if he was saying he could bike this route then we could definitely walk it. We had two bottles of water with us so we set this challenge for ourselves. Unbeknownst to us this route was twice as long as the main route into the village, but it was nice and sunny out and we had lots of time to kill. The highlight of the walk was meeting a golden lab named Roxy. She was nice and friendly, but maybe a little too friendly as she followed us for about 5 minutes. We started to get worried she would get lost or injured if we didn't take her back where she came from. When we got there the owner of the house actually told us that she lived around the corner, so we walked a bit more and once we got near her yard Roxy took off and forgot all about us. She did add an extra 10 minutes of walking to our trip though

By the time we reached the turn off for June Town Rd we were all ready exhausted. Dad had called to check up on us and when we didn't answer due to spotty cell phone reception he came driving down the road to see if we were ok. By the time we met up the Hubby and I only had 4km left in the circuit and we were determined to make it. When we finally reached the house a nice shower and a nap were in order as we felt like we had run a marathon. When we got up we checked the distance we had walked on Google Maps. The whole circuit is 19.2km, I could not believe we had walked that far in one day. 

Needless to say Saturday was rest day we mainly stayed around the house and played with Lister and my parent's Cockatil who is named Hibou.

So that about sums up what I have been up to over the last week and 2 two days. I really can't believe by this time next Monday I will be at the Ottawa Airport waiting for the first plane of our trip to England. I am really looking forward to seeing my in-laws again. It has bee over 3 years since I saw them last and we all get along well so it has been too long since we have had a proper visit. I am going to miss my family, but I think we will all be happy to have a bit of a break from each other after being together for two weeks. So if you are ever out in the country don't just stay inside hoping for the internet to get faster...get out there and get active. As always keep on dreaming ~Diligentdaydreamer