 |
| Wonky Ridgetown |
A good night's sleep, despite (or maybe because of) the cold night, had me up a little later than usual and heading out for a Provincial Park shower. I've said it many times before but the facilities are excellent here and this morning's clean stall and copious hot water was a pleasure; I have to say that I lingered a bit in there. So much did I linger, in fact, that the lights went out and I had to resort to waving my arms about wildly to get the light's motion sensor control to activate.
Back at Towed Haul the sun was shining so I deployed the awning and brought the table and chairs out of the car. I fed the hound, walked her around the campground (one old Airstream, a few tents and maybe a dozen or more travel trailers to be seen) and then settled down outside with a cup of coffee and watched the world go by. I'd not been in position for more than a couple of minutes when the tell tale pitter patter of rain started up on the awning; it had been forecast but it was still early and I hoped to have a while longer in the dry. The rain soon came down more heavily so the hound and I retired inside and Mrs T and I decided that we'd go into Ridgetown to see what Pinnel's Bakery could offer us in the way of breakfast and/or lunch.
Driving over there along the edge of the lake was an autumnal experience, to be sure. The trees are in their full fall splendour but the rain was heavy, the lake was grey and the horizon loaded with piles of heavy, brooding storm clouds. The fields that had looked so nice in Friday's setting sun now just looked bleak. That aside, of course, Pinnel's was anything but bleak and we came away with a mountain of baked goodies that served us for breakfast, lunch and quite possibly will serve for Sunday's breakfast, too.
On our return to Rondeau we settled indoors to eat, to write and to read. The hound settled down and both Mrs T and I succumbed to our drowziness and managed to get some daytime sleep in. I blame the soporific effect of the gentle sound the rain was making on Towed Haul's roof; more likely it was laziness! (On my part of course, Mrs T has had a hard week at work).
The rain kept up until five in the afternoon but as soon as it cleared, we loaded the hound in the car and made our way down the peninsular to the dog beach. Those loaded clouds were still in evidence on the lake's horizon but without the rain they looked less depressing and more intruiging. The hound went into beach frenzy mode and skittered about all over the place (two poops and two pees; not a bad visit) whilst we sauntered along the water's edge, Mrs T picking up plastic bags, deflated balloons, discarded children's toys and miles of wrapping ribbon that had been used on the aforementioned ballons. We walked maybe five hundred metres in each direction and ended up with a mountain of garbage that we disposed of in the bin. I know Mrs T put an appeal out on Facebook for people to think about the implications of releasing balloons into the air, regardless of the celebration and I'd echo that here; if you'd have seen the quantity of the stuff on the beach you'd have been appalled.
On the good side, though, there were plenty of birds to be seen, including (I think) a young Osprey circling a fish carcass on the beach. It may not have been an Osprey as it looked a little small but it could have been a juvenile.
I always enjoy the drive down to the dog beach as we pass a lot of the Park's cottages. They're privately owned, although on land leased by the Park, and many date back to the 1920s and 1930s. They're holiday places, really, but there were plenty of cars in the driveways and lights in the windows, indicating that there are still more weekends available before the winter sets in. Most of the cottages will be closed up for the winter but some won't and I reckon a few hardy souls will be cottaging at Christmas. There's a movement by Ontario Parks to get rid of the cottages and return the peninsular to a more natural state; it's a policy that seems to be prevalent in North America and there are many cases where entire settlements have been removed so that a park can become "natural" again. At Rondeau I don't know that the cottages are causing any great problems, they're just there and part of the park as far as I can see. Personally I'd leave them alone but up the lease costs so that they became a real money earner for the park, which would be a positive move rather than a negative one. I don't know who'll win this debate but I don't think I'd be looking at buying one of these cottages any time soon.
As the evening drew in I decided to bring the awning in as it was beginning to blow up a bit, and we sat down to supper (Quiche part two) then a couple of movies - Keeping Mum (we'd seen before but love the blackness of it) and Little Voice. When it came time to take the hound out before bed, we stepped out under a cloudless sky that sported the brightest full moon I think I've ever seen. It was easily light enough to read by and my flashlight remained unused for the expedition. Even though it was past midnight, there were still a few people up drinking and chattering the night away; it's quite cheery to see a group of people gathered around the camp fire at that late hour. I'm not sure that the hound was that impressed, though, as the noise was getting her agitated.
So, Saturday night is our last night in Towed Haul for 2013. It's a cold one again, but I'll report on it and on Sunday's progress, when we get home. Stay tuned, folks.
