Canada Day Two

 A slow day, but significant, as Cathie met up with her mother for the first time in three years. For me, of course, it was the first time ever.

We started the day slowly, then set off south at about 10am for the area of Beamsville, where Wilma lives in a retirement home. It was a grey day, not too much to see, but for a boy from the antipodes it's interesting to look at the different styles of houses. The streetscapes varied as we drove through different parts of town, but I never saw a row of houses that looked anything like you would see in New Zealand. 

Rob and Deb's house is the one above on the right.

Looking the other way.

The Canadian approach to Covid seems to be a lot more intense than it is in NZ. Although many of the restrictions have recently been removed, things are still pretty strict around public transport and medical institutions.

At the rest home we were required to go into a temporary building and have a RAT test before we could go inside. Once that was over, we went inside, to where Wilma was waiting for the reunion, which was a bit emotional and very nice. We had no trouble with conversation and an hour and a half went quickly by as we got to grips with the new family reality.

I have to say that it's been really nice to meet Cathie's brother Joe and wife Deb, with whom we're staying at the moment. As well as extraordinary hospitality, we've found that we all get along brilliantly, with pretty similar interests and outlooks (and age). Last night, Cathie and Joe's sister Mary came for dinner with her partner Jessica and that was really successful too. As we'd brought an old pit fired pot of mine over as a present and Mary had done some pottery, there was a long discussion about pottery - strange that it's still a dominant part of my life experience 30 years after I last worked with clay.

After the rest home visit, we went to a nearby brewery, The Bench, for lunch. I don't know why Joe and Deb thought it was a suitable venue when I'm such a moderate beer addict (but I have a fair idea). With a huge range of beer available, we ordered a flight between Cathie and I - that's a tray of four 4-ounce beers. We chose a lager, which confirmed that we don't really like lager, an IPA, which Cathie claimed, a Belgian IPA, which was like a nice beer with a hint of father's home brew and a luscious chocolate stout. As Cathie and I worked through a shared dish of nachos and pulled pork I had an extra 12-ounce glass of the stout. (NB - four ounces is about 120ml, so a 12-ounce glass is equivalent to about a can of beer in NZ.)

Strangely, jet lag seemed to be setting in, so both Cathie and I dozed as we drove to our next destination, Crawford Lake. 

As we drove south this morning, Niagara Falls was just over 100km away, so we'd ended up on the Niagara Escarpment. 

Here's a quote: "The Niagara Escarpment is one of the world's natural wonders - a masterpiece of living art that has been recognized as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve because the residents of this region are working to balance conservation and preservation with surrounding development."

Niagara is still on the list, but Crawford Lake was fascinating (see https://www.conservationhalton.ca/park-details?park=crawford-lake) It's a meromictic lake - which is: "A meromictic lake is a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters. The term meromictic was coined by the Austrian Ingo Findenegg in 1935, apparently based on the older word holomictic.)

As well, the lake was the site of Iroquois settlement for hundreds of years and a model village is part of the complex. The walk was relatively short - very suitable for our old jet-lagged bodies.

Here's a Relive video of our walk: https://www.relive.cc/view/vQvxnWekwB6

On the drive home I once again fell into the arms of Morpheus, but I've since woken up.

One thing I hadn't noted is that it's much colder here. During our walk both Cathie and I wore five layers of clothing. 

Now we're home, I'm typing away and sampling yet another beer from The Bench. It's called Hopsters IPA. We bought a bunch of different beers - all in 473ml cans - so we have a few treats waiting to be discovered. The eternal great hostess, Deb brought me a bowl of roasted pecans to help with the typing - it's a fairly comfortable life we're living here in Canada.

Who knows what's on the cards for tomorrow. Someone knows - there is a plan, but I'm just doing what I'm told.