We drove to Buctouche to attend my aunt Marion’s 92nd birthday party just before the July 1st weekend, and enjoyed spending time with many relatives that I had not seen in years and years. From there, we continued on to Canso, Nova Scotia, where we attended the Stan Rogers Festival. The nights were cold, and we were camping; but the days were absolutely filled with music. We enjoyed Garnet Rogers, Bruce Guthro, David Myles, Valdy, J P Cormier, and many others. There were over 50 artists/groups, rotating around 7 venues for three days.
Aunt Marion is in the center
Valdy
JP Cormier
David Myles
A few weeks later, we drove to Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts, and boarded “Madness” with Dana Dornbusch and Walter Piescik. The four of us sailed across to Cutty Hunk, to Wood Hole, to Martha’s Vineyard, and on to Nantucket. To finally cruise this beautiful and richly historic area has always been my dream, and we enjoyed it fully, in perfect cruising conditions, and the best of traveling companions.
Friends, Walter and Dana on their boat "Madness"
Oak Bluff with Peter Norton's house in the background
Martha's Vineyard
Our last big trip of our time home involved us flying to London with Dawn’s mother in October, to spend time with Lorna and Brian (Dawn’s sister and her husband) and to attend as their daughter Kendra wed Steve Wojcik. A wedding with a Polish influence meant extra eating, drinking, and partying; and we had a ball.
While at home in Grand Lake, we day-sailed “Madman Across The Water”, our Hobie 21, spent time with relatives and friends, and just enjoyed one of the best summers on record, weather-wise. We also had a great visit from Maurice and Sue Black of “Strider”. The visit was also attended by Brian Cullinan and Paula Henry of “Magique”. It actually included the wildest evening of the summer!
Time at home also included a lot of home/cottage maintenance. Scraping, painting, varnishing, moving a shed, gardening and landscaping, etc, got done. Also, Dawn carried out some boat projects with her sewing machine, did the computer maintenance, and spent two days a week caring for her father, who is in a home with Alzheimers.
This summer also brought some sadness. “Stopp Knot”, John Fallon’s C&C 48, burned to a total loss in the IGY boatyard in St. Lucia. We had spent a lot of time over the years on or beside this boat, enjoying times with John in the BVIs, Grenadines, and St. Lucia. A lot of memories, and now a fair bit of sadness, especially for John. John has his eye on a boat in St. Lucia, so we may not have seen the end of him just yet!
Now, we are just putting the last of our toys away. We are going to drive from New Brunswick to London, Ontario, starting on November 10, store the car there, and fly out of Toronto on November 16. When we get to Trinidad, we’ll continue with this blog. Hopefully, our readers also built some memories in the last six months.
