Sunday, October 23, 2011

Fall getaway

I don't know where my blogging mojo has been lately. It seems it's all I can do to keep up lately with work, reading the daily newspapers & maybe a daily scan of Facebook & a couple of posts from my Google Reader. :p Sometimes it feels like I'm brimming over with things I want to write about; other times, I draw a blank.

Year end madness has begun -- I had one day where I had back to back to back to back meetings & barely had time to wolf down half a sandwich. I did have an enjoyable time last weekend with a scrapbooking event on Saturday & visiting a friend who is a quilt appraiser and was working at a nearby quilting show on the Sunday. I don't quilt myself, which is not to say I don't appreciate the work of those who do. And I felt priviliged to be there as she examined a vintage quilt with still-vivid colours that had been painstakingly handstitched by the elderly owner's great-grandmother in the 1850s (!!).

Before the year-end madness fully hit, and just after Canadian Thanksgiving, dh & I did manage to take a week's vacation. I had earmarked that time off thinking that my parents might be coming to visit -- and when they didn't, decided to take it anyway. I insisted to dh that we needed to go somewhere to make it special, & not just hang around the house, as we often do. I had it in my head that we should head up north to a resort to enjoy the fall colours for a few days.

And that's what we wound up doing. For various reasons, we didn't go too far. We wound up going to a resort that's only just a little more than an hour's drive north of us, close to the town where one of my great-grandfathers was born, & where my great-great-great grandparents & one of their daughters are buried in the cemetery adjacent to a beautiful (and beautifully preserved) historic stone church from the 1840s. We had stayed at this resort for our 15th wedding anniversay, 11 years ago, & it was still as we remembered -- charming rooms with beautiful views (loyal as I am to the Prairies where I was born & raised, I must admit, fall in Ontario is gorgeous!!), lots of great places to go walking and exploring, excellent food and the added attraction of gorgeous fall colours. The weather was so nice the day we left that dh wore his shorts & I dug my capris back out of the closet where I had previously sent them for winter storage.

While it's a family resort (& there likely would have been children, had we been there on Thanksgiving weekend), the clientele during our stay were strictly adults, & mostly seniors at that (who else has the time & the money to spend at a place like that, especially in the middle of the week?). It was a wonderful break, & we had a lovely time. Once again, we found ourselves wondering why the heck we don't do this more often. After all, having the time & money to do things like this (particularly on short notice) is one of the "perqs" of childless/free living. As dh said, "Umm, I think we can afford to come here more than once every 10 years." ; )

Here are a few fall photos from our stay:





The entrance to the inn, decked out in seasonal splendour.



Likewise, the entrance at a nearby stone church, which dates back to the mid-1800s.



The church has an adjacent cemetery overlooking Lake Simcoe (dh looking out). What a peaceful place to spend eternity!



Dh enjoying the lake view from the private beach across from the resort where we were staying.


Dh on the resort's dock. The weather was turning cloudier & colder by then.



The entrance to (another) churchyard in the area, where my greatx3 grandparents are buried.



A view of the beautiful trees in the cemetery.



Tree outside the resort, with changing leaves.

8 comments:

  1. What beautiful photos.

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  2. That place is gorgeous. I've barely explored it, but I think I love every part of Canada. Except the snow? Haha. Glad you got a little getaway.

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  3. Beautiful! A trip north (way north) during autumn/fall has been on our "to-do" list for a long time.

    Though I admit, I am still reeling at your admission that you often STAY HOME when you have leave days. Argh! We do that on long weekends, Easter etc, but almost never waste leave days. As you've probably noticed! l

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  4. Gorgeous photos and colors. I love those displays from the inn and church. I'm a real sucker for autumn decorations of any kind, and those were particularly pretty :)

    Glad you had a restful and restorative trip!

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  5. Beautiful colours. You guys really do "fall" beautifully.
    xo

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  6. Very pretty! I envy the more intense fall colors up north. And Versailles was gorgeous, but I thought the grounds could use more red and orange leaves. ; )

    I agree, that cemetery would be a nice place to spend eternity.

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  7. Great photos, LB - and I am totally jealous - I do miss those spectacular fall colours. Stay at home? Girl, you crazy!

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  8. @ Mali/Deathstar: Sometimes taking vacation days is the only way to get stuff done around the house. :p Although if we have a week at home, we usually take at least a day or two to do some fun stuff, too, like a trip into the city to the museum or art gallery (& a few bookstores too, of course, lol). ; )

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