Summer Trip Home

This July was Mom's 80th birthday, so John & I went home for about 10 days. The party, hosted at Chris & Fanny's, was great. It rained so we ended up inside, but it was still fun. John's parents came down and we went out for lunch with them, and did a small amount of shopping on Avenue Road. Pauline saw a few things that I wanted to get her for Christmas, but when I went back someone had already bought them! Poo!

Chris's family gave Mom a Pandora necklace, with a charm chosen by each of the kids to represent them. Mom & I then chose another charm to represent Molly to add to the necklace. We chose an angel, since her registered name is Special Angel. That made John cry. I think Rachel & Natalie are also going to add a charm, so the necklace will represent all the grandchildren, plus a granddog.

The funny thing about the necklace is that is it quite hard to open. Mom got a small screwdriver from the hardware store, which helped. When we were in the Pandora store we asked about it, and the sell an opener for $45!! Fortunately the saleslady also mentioned that guitar pick works just as well.  Mom had one at home, and it does the trick! So now she can get it off a lot more easily.

While we were in Toronto John & I took a couple of days to drive to Albert Station, New York, to test ride some recumbents. The Bicycleman stocks many different recumbent manufacturers, so I was able to ride a few different types. I like the Lightning Phantom, but at this point I'm not sure I'm going to get it. I can't convince myself that it's worth the money. I'll have to see how much it would be with the modifications I want to make to the bike. John test rode a recumbent tricycle, which was quite funny. Those things are really comfortable, but apparently not that fast.

Here are a few pictures I took in Alfred. Alfred is extremely small, but has both a state college & university. It is in a really lovely setting as well, in the hills of Allegany County. The university is especially beautiful, as it is set into the hills.

We also visited with Kathleen, Mark, Zach, Lexie, & Rose, which was great. We even saw Peter & Morgan, as they and John's parents drove to Toronto for lunch, then visited the Mac campus on their way home. Morgan will be starting school in Hamilton in September. She'll be living with Lisa, Paul, Adam, Michael, David, & Kora in Brantford. We also fit in a visit with them, and Tracey, Cliff, Kyle, Ben, & Maggi also came. All in all, we managed to see a lot of people, although not everyone we would have liked to visit with. It's hard to fit it all in!