Adventures of Peapod: August 2013

On June 26^th Peapod went up on the hard for repairs at Stokes Marina in Lagoon City on Lake Simcoe. The projected time for completion, according to the ship’s log, was 5 days....haha.

As you recall from the previous post, we were rear-ended by a sleepy driver while we were driving the marina truck to get provisions. This happened the same day that we learned of Mum’s stroke and realized that we needed a major change in plan.

We rarely drink before evening hours but this day we took Lucy in the dinghy to a local waterfront restaurant for lunch. After a nice cold beer David was feeling better and we were ready for a new challenge.

We rented a car and set out for Aurora. Within a week we had my parents moved to a retirement home and began preparations for selling the house, while taking care of what seemed like an endless stream of health appointments for them both. Siblings and children helped a lot.

There were also happy times. Extra time with grandson Oscar was a huge bonus for us!

We also had a “family” reunion with old Fredericton neighbours and friends, the Dickinsons.

A lovely visit to great grandma from Adam, Isabelle and Oscar followed by time at Owl's Foot.

Meanwhile my 90 year old Mum continues to improve after her stroke and enjoys time in the warm saltwater pool at the beautiful Oak Ridges Retirement Community in Richmond Hill.

My Dad, who has Alzheimer’s Disease, did not do well after the move and thankfully was accepted into Sunnybrook Veterans where they have specialized expertise and enriched funding for dementia care. It is in a beautiful setting in Toronto and he seems to be adjusting well.

We also were fortunate and delighted to be present at both civil and the cultural ceremonies uniting my niece, Samantha with Ben, a wonderful young man who was introduced to Sam by my son Adam. The civil ceremony was held outdoors in Aurora at Sheppard’s Bush in honour of my parents/her grandparents, the Sheppards. They would have been too frail to travel to the “big party” in Niagara-on-the-Lake, so a small family ceremony was held and officiated by a dear neighbor who is a Justice of the Peace.

My sister Susan, mother of the bride with me and our parents.

Just married.

Proud mama Susan.

The family group.

A week later we drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a wonderful weekend of wedding celebrations. We checked into a lovely B&B – the Post House Inn – and had time for a soak in the hot tub before dressing for the lawn bowling party. My son, Adam, plays with the Parlour Brothers and played a set for the bride and groom. He's on slide guitar and vocals.

Of course, little Oscar was a big hit. My daughter Rachel is an adoring Auntie.

And we love his Mom, Isabelle

Needless to say I am a doting grandma.

The next day, a beautiful wedding was held at the Ravine Vineyard in nearby St. David’s. The ceremony was held amongst the vines, with the bride resplendent in a remake of her grandmother Sheppard’s ball gown from the 60’s, followed by dinner and a party under the stars.

My brother Bob and son Adam sang the gorgeous Beatles song "I Will" for the processional.

The next morning, we went to a delicious breakfast and said goodbye to family and friends old and new. One of my dearest old friends, Zena, is a cousin of the groom’s father, and we were reunited after a long absence.

Back to Aurora to finish the job on the house in time for garbage day. This was only the beginning of the pile!!

After a little scope creep on the boat repairs (new depth sounder, chart plotter, radar etc), we are finally in the water!

What we thought was our last sunset in Lagoon City!

One of the new toys that will help us say safe on the big trips ahead.

As we prepared to start out bright and early on Monday morning (August 12) we discovered that the new electronics were not working.

We spent another day at the dock waiting for repairs. The electrician arrived, fiddled around and declared that all was well.

The next morning we did a final gas up and pump out when we realized the unit was acting up again – not working…L. Well, there was no stopping us at that point, so we called our guy and arranged to meet that night at a location to be determined by our progress.

Saying goodbye to Lagoon City. There could be a lot of worse places to be stranded...:-).

We set out on Lake Simcoe and immediately found ourselves in one of the lake’s famous westerly blows and we buried our bow for the second time in the journey. It wasn’t quite as scary as Lake Huron but there was no moving around the boat and Lucy needed to be held.

Thankfully, all was quiet as we entered the Trent Canal and did 5 locks in 5 miles….great practice for us since we were a bit rusty after the long break

Lock 36 at Kirkfield was a spectacular hydraulic lift lock taking us up 49 feet in a big bucket of water. This is the second largest lock of its type in the world, after Peterborough.

From Kirkfield, we began our journey downhill to Trenton. Here the signage changes from “red right returning” and we need to have our wits about us to keep the greens to starboard.

We pushed on to Lock 35 – Rosedale – where our trusty electrician met us to further investigate our issues. He was on the phone to experts around the world, all of whom were mystified by our intermittent problems. He replaced the upper helm unit and “it worked first time, no ifs ands or buts”. However, the next morning it had quit again….argh.

The next morning dawned beautiful as always and we set off for Buckhorn where my sister and her husband live on the water.

On the way we passed through many gorgeous communities including the beautiful town of Bobcaygeon. Passing though Fenelon Falls, we were shivering in chilly conditions! We each had 4 layers on to resist the chilly wind in spite of sunny conditions.

We had a lovely reunion in Buckhorn and had so much fun we only too one picture – of the dogs…J. We had a car, a rare treat, and picked up provisions before entertaining Susan and Bear for dinner on board.

From here on we had gorgeous weather and peaceful days along the waterway with no waits.

Eagles and other birds of prey were abundant!

The next day – August 15 – we set off early and navigated 11 locks through gorgeous Kawartha cottage country!! The final one was the giant Peterborough hydraulic lift, which was breathtaking. From Peterborough we passed though Rice Lake, the second largest in the system after Simcoe. Thankfully it was calm cruising all day and we reached the idyllic lock at Healey Falls.

The giant Peterborough hydraulic lift lock.

A traditional lock....just hang on.

On to Frankford on the 17^th – another 11 lock day!! Today we dropped 188 feet! This lock had power and showers!!! David tried his hand at fishing off the boat. No catch but lots of pleasure.

The last lock was Trenton, the location of an important Canadian air base of significance to both of us given our shared military history.

The creativity and engineering in this system never ceases to amaze us. We had been lifted nearly 300 feet from Georgian Bay and lowered nearly 600 feet to Lake Ontario!

Finally we are in the Bay of Quinte!