After being fairly to "very" busy most of the summer, I managed to sneak away from work after spending Saturday morning and early afternoon exploring some options with a couple hoping to move from their home in Brampton (now that their "nest" is empty), and find more of a "retreat" in a more rural area.
Helen, Alec and Vi (my mother-in-law) had left for our cottage earlier in the week, and had been wanting me to join them. I packed some clothes, left food and water for the cat, took my cell-phone, filled up Helen's car stopped by the office and picked up my laptop and camera, and drove the ~150 km to our cottage just off Sturgeon Lake.
The trip took a little longer than it normally does, Beeton was just clearing the road closed for their 125th Anniversary celebration, I had to detour through Bradford, which was holding their "Carrotfest" celebration of the carrot, and then another detour through Leaksdale around bridge construction.
I had decided to try to see what type of mileage we could achieve if we really tried... fyi, Helen's car EPA ratings were 8.5 l/100km city and 6.5l/100km highway.
The sky was overcast and there seemed to be a cold front passing, I was just managing to stay ahead of the rain. This allowed me to drive without the need for air conditioning, which helped me achieve a trip rating of 6.2l/100km (almost 46 mpg cdn). The best either of us have managed over 100 miles or more.
It started to rain soon after I arrived but that did not seem to dampen my son, Alec's enthusiasm about seeing me.
I brought some texts I intend to read, and am teaching Alec how to play Blokus (a board game I would recommend to anyone), Chess and the very basics of Cribbage. After playing hundreds of hours of war with Alec in the last two years (and not wanting to get into the intricacies of Holdem' yet), I felt it was time Alec learned a new card game ;-)
I will have to admit that I am not nearly as fond of cottaging as is my wife and mother-in-law (they have been coming here for ~ fifty years now), but it seems much quieter this visit. The fact that we have a very limited television package, and that the phone just isn't ringing (OK, my cell-phone still is), might have something to do with it.
After dinner, Helen mentioned to me that I already seemed to be de-stressing compared to how I have been since early July. The views, the lake and the simplicity of the cottage will do that.
I am looking forward to spending a few days doing nothing but R&R, reading, and enjoying some of the regular haunts we visit when we are here. I will try to do as little work as possible, but will log on to stay current.
Hope you all had a good weekend and will have a great week =)
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