Poison Ivy

Well, well, well... Cathey did a bunch of ruthless gardening last week, just before we headed off for vacation. She tore out all kinds of old growth stuff... stuff that had been there since Tecumseh & Pontiac camped in our yard. This seemed like a great accomplishment, until 3 or 4 days later. ITCHY does not begin to describe the next few days. Toxicodendron radicans... Poison Ivy... acchh! We're now doing Prednisone, prescription-strength Benadryl and goops of Polysporin. If you look really closely at the pic from our trip, you'll see small red spots on Cathey's arm. Imagine 8,000 of them. Arrrrrggg!!

Niagara Trip

Off we went to Niagara Region. No reservations, no plans. It was better than staying home but it wasn't the best trip ever. The road trip itself was great. The geography of Highway 3, along Lake Erie, varies a lot from place to place. Some spots look arid & dusty (like Osoyoos, BC), many spots look green, lush and forested (like almost anywhere in Canada) and lots of it look like mature, rich, small-to-medium farming (like you can only see in southwestern Ontario).

One special memory was when we chanced on Holland House Restaurant in Iona Station, ON. If you're ever near there, drop in. We had an excellent lunch, in the company of hundreds of old books and antiques. It's just 5 minutes off the 401, exit 157... a little dusty, but cool.

Once in Niagara Region, it turns out that there's lots of beautiful places to see, but no where that really made us feel welcome. The beach at Crystal Beach is fenced & gated... with Pay & Display parking! The drive from Fort Erie to St Catharines is really nice, with lots of historical stops. We shopped for antiques, shopped in downtown Niagara on-the-Lake, etc.

But then we opted for something different, and went to Stratford and St Jacobs. That was cool, but after seeing Music Man and Love's Labour's Lost we just booked it for home. It's GOOD here!