August in the USA and Ontario

The first weekend in August, the Civic long weekend was the earlier than usual date for the Senior Men's and Women's North South tournament at Pinehurst, in North Carolina. Because they were going to be hosting the US Open on course No. 2 in mid August they moved our tournament up and we weren't allowed to play No.2. Last year John caddied for me in it, this year he was going to be playing. Similar to last year I picked him up at the airport in Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon. We stayed over at the Cracker Barrel, in Fairmont, West Virgina, about 90 minutes south of the airport that night. We drove the rest of the way to Pinehurst on Saturday. Sunday we played a practice round, which was delayed by a few hours because of a strong afternoon thundershower. 

We weren't able to stay at the same place I had stayed the last two years as my friends and also their neighbors who helped us last year were going to be away, which left no one to help us get the water and power set up. I was able to get a spot at the Gilliam-McConnell Airfield, in Carthage, North Carolina, which has an expanding RV area. Roland Gilliam has quite an enterprise going there. They also have a BBQ restaurant called Pig n Poke on site, which has good enough food that people from some distance away fly in just for a meal, a gift store, museum and military memorial displays. 

John posing next to a plane formerly belonging to the Chennault's Flying Tigers,
 similar to the one Local lad Lt. Robert "Hoyle" Upchurch crashed in China during WWII.

Neither of us played very well in the 54 different hole tournament, this year played on courses No. 5, 6,& 8, but it was a nice excuse to be together for 9 days. (I hadn't realized how busy I was after the tournament when John proposed staying on until the Sunday after the tournament, whereas last year he only stayed a week and went back on Friday.) On the way back towards Pittsburgh we stopped in Max Meadows, Virginia for two nights. We stayed at Fort Chiswell RV Campground which was just off the interstate, but in rather rural country. The campground was really nice, with all the amenities you could want and reasonably priced. We availed ourselves of the propane filling station and laundry room. While out for a stroll the first night I had a bit of a chat with the farmer, who was returning to his farm and was realizing that he had a break in one of his fences, because the cows were not supposed to be co-mingling with the sheep.  

This pasture was adjacent to the campground.
I've heard of the black sheep, in this case it is a few black cows, in among the sheep.

The owner of the campground, also a golfer, was super nice and helped us get a round of golf on the nearby Wytheville Country Club, a private, equity, golf course, the following day. It gave us quite a challenge, almost as tough as Pinehurst. 

After golf I made a quick visit to the nearby West Wind Farm, Vineyard and Winery. They had some nice wines and a really amazing gift shop. 

I'm a sucker for the free wine tastings.

Our last night together on this trip was spent where we spent the first night of the trip last year, The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington, Pennsylvania. We arrived Saturday afternoon with about two live standard bread horse races left to go and enjoyed sitting outside close to the finish line taking in the action. 

The finish line.

After that John spent the evening in the off track betting parlor and hot dogs for dinner, whereas I spent some time on the casino floor playing craps and some video poker and blackjack machines and enjoyed the buffet.

Sunday morning we got up, found some breakfast and drove the rest of the way to the Pittsburgh Airport for John's return flight. I headed directly back to Dunnville. 

Monday morning, August 12th, I headed to Deer Creek Golf Course in Ajax, Ontario, east of Toronto for the annual Credit Union sponsored golf tournament. I enjoyed playing with the same group as last year, Nick Dmytruszko, John Dolby and Dave Bell. Unfortunately Dave who had an injured leg and though he could tough it out had to give up after about 4 holes, leaving us short handed for the rest of the scramble.

Nick

John

I did win ladies longest drive (prepaid visa card), but didn't do as well on the raffle as last year. The meal afterwards was great as usual. After dinner I spent some time speaking with an old work colleague I had lost touch with, Denise Downie. She is still working, so it was interesting to hear a little bit about how the company is being run these days, suffice to say, I'm glad I don't have to be there. I filled her in on some of my activities of the last seven years. We will keep in touch through Facebook & Facebook messenger. 

The following day was the Ladies 4-Ball at Twenty Valley which I was playing with Soon. 

We looked better than we played.
 (Matching shirts from Freedom Oaks Member Guest.)

The event was very well organized and fun, but we didn't play all that well. They did have nice edible "place cards" on the tables:

and the center piece was a bottle of wine per person (the course is within a wine region). The meal was a buffet with various stations.  A first class day in every regard.

Wednesday I took a break from golf and went on a short fishing trip with Ed, in his small electrically powered fishing boat, on the Grand River upstream from the Dunnville bridge. He was a good fishing caddy as I had little interest in handling the worms to bait my hook or getting the fish off the hooks. I did have some success as indicated by these two photos. I felt a little guilty fishing without a license but if you average Ed's age and mine, neither of us would need one (over 65.)  Thankfully the fishing and game enforcement folks didn't catch up with us.

Thursday I took a break from everything. Friday I played a round at Freedom Oaks. 

Saturday, August 17th, was a practice round, which we started in the rain (but it cleared up) and welcome reception for the Inaugural Niagara Parks Women's Invitational, a scramble tournament with particular rules about the indexes of the team members. My friend Karen Vamplew was able to find me a partner who fit the bill named Maria Peplowski. We hit it off instantly at the beginning of the practice round! On tournament day we were paired with my friend Mary Jane Hall and her partner Joan Hulmston, who I knew as a member at Ladies' Golf Club of Toronto. Both teams started off well. My team did somewhat better during the middle part of the round. Towards the end my team was faltering a bit, but we gave ourselves a little pep talk and managed to finish strong enough to WIN! The meal afterwards was a very nice buffet featuring Lake Erie perch and local seasonal vegetables and some pastries for dessert. The prize giving ceremony was also very nice as it included a speech about women's golf by the hostess, Cathy Sherk, a pro friend of Mary Jane's. 

The Champions with the Vase Trophy.
(We are supposed to get smaller ones to keep, eventually.)

Wednesday August 21st was the second attempt at holding the Niagara District Wood Trophy Tournament at Port Colburne Country Club as the first attempt, which was to be on  July 17th was rained out. As our luck would have it, it rained again! The course was flooded from the day before and it was going to keep on raining. I had been particularly interested in playing this event because it would also serve as a practice round for the Niagara District Tournament of Champions to be held in September at the same course. I wanted to play it an extra time because one of my rivals in the District, Sandy Billiard is a part owner and member of the course, so has lots of experience playing it. With the rain out, the next rescheduled date, September 18th, conflicted with the Greens of Renton/Erie Beach Hotel Tournament, which we didn't want to miss, plus that put it after the Tournament of Champions, instead of before. Mother nature was sure playing havoc with my plans. 

The following day, I had a dentist appointment in Hamilton followed by lunch with my friend Enid Aaron at the location of August 8 a few blocks from the dentist. I also did some shopping for new glasses. 

After this bit of a hectic schedule things settled down for a few days as the summer is drawing to a close, with Labour Day approaching. 

Since when I was at Pinehurst, I had been shopping for new tires for the truck as I was informed at the last oil change that they were getting pretty worn, (they had about 65,000 miles them). I found a reasonably priced place that I had heard good things about in Dunnville and after getting a very competitive quote, I took Anne in to get them put on, on Wednesday, August 28th.

On the 31st Jim, Ella's brother-in-law Jim and I went over to Delhi (about an hour west of Dunnville) for a practice round for their mixed event (modified Chapman or as the Americans call it a scotch) to be held September 8th. I had seen a flyer for the event and it sounded like a really nice one. None of my other mixed partners were available to play and Jim was interested in going. On the way back we stopped at a nice bakery, which had some gluten free things for me and lots of regular things Jim and his wife like, farmers markets for fresh produce and the cemetery in Simcoe, where Ron was buried. There, I found out that the date of death had not yet been put on the stone, nearly two years after his death! His daughter Maureen was surprised to learn that as she though it was going to be done right after his internment. I guess she hasn't been there to visit the graves of her parents since her Dad's funeral. 

July in Ontario

On the way back to Dunnville from Cousins Weekend on July 2nd, I stopped for a few hours in Toronto. I visited my former home club, Ladies' Golf Club of Toronto, who were hosting a Pro Am in advance of the Canadian Women's PGA Championship. 

I got to see some of my pro friends who were playing in it, some of the other club members and staff that I know. After that I went to Earl Bales Park Amphitheater, which I have driven by many times but never visited to see my friend Raul Knoll who plays accordion and sings with a Klezmer band. 

It was a nice evening for an outdoor concert. 

After that I drove home and the next couple of weeks were pretty much my standard routine of golf and card games, with the exception of playing in a 9 hole ladies scramble for breast cancer at Freedom Oaks, on July 9th, with Anna Lorraine and one of her friends. We placed well. They had a great "penny sale" table with a wide variety of gifts on raffle. The dinner after golf was a pot luck and many of the ladies outdid themselves with their dishes. It was a fun evening for a good cause and I would happily play in it again.

We had another torrential rain storm on July 5th, road leading to my trailer and the area around my trailer got quite flooded!

                                                          

Friday July 12th my friend Phil came to Dunnville from Toronto for the Member Guest tournament at Freedom Oaks and a break from the hustle and bustle of the big city. We played the practice round in the afternoon and enjoyed the Perch dinner. Saturday afternoon was the tournament. We didn't play as well as the year before, but at least we were in a proper foursome. Dinner was BBQ ribs. Sunday morning we went to the nearby Byng Island Conservation Area, the first time for both of us, to rent a double kayak for Phil to try it for the first time. Both of us got very wet bums, but other than that it was a good row. 

Phil in the front.

Me in the back.

Water Lilly

Sunday, July 21st, I packed up the trailer and headed to Waterloo in advance of the Ontario Senior Ladies Golf Championship at Grey Silo. I began feeling a little "high" while doing it as it seemed one of my neighbors in the RV Park was burning something very smokey that smelt a lot like marijuana (not that I'm an expert) in this fire pit, while his kids, ages 1, 4 & 6, were playing nearby. I know the guy smokes weed, as he broadcast that in the spring when the park first opened for the season, and how he was so happy that it was now legal to smoke and even grow a few of your own plants, because he had been using it for his ADHD for quite some time. It got almost to the point that I was going to ask him to put the fire out until I had left, because I didn't want fall off my roof while sweeping of the slide outs or to get caught for buzzed driving.

It was a nice drive over there on mostly country roads, with little traffic. On the way I stopped at a couple of farm stands to pick up fresh vegetables. The farmers were good about letting me purchase 1/2 containers of different items, so I could have more variety seeing as I am cooking for only myself. I picked up some peaches and cream corn on the cob, green and yellow string beans, small new red and white skinned potatoes, chives, mushrooms, strawberries and peaches. As they say, "good things grow in Ontario" and this was nearly the height of the season. 

The campground I had a reservation at was called Green Acre Park which had a good mix of park models, seasonal sites and transient sites. The roads were in good condition and being a mature park there were plenty of trees and a few ponds. The offered a wagon ride throughout the park a few times a week and had some other planned activities for both children and adults. I inquired about the cost of a seasonal site, but found it to be quite a bit more expensive than Maitland Shores and had a considerably shorter season (partly due to being slightly further north), so decided to just enjoy my 5 night stay.

After checking in, setting up, on the pull-through site I had reserved and putting all my fresh produce away in the fridge I drove to the Grey Silo Golf Course to check it out and practice a bit before the official practice round day. On the way back to the trailer I stopped at the grocery store a bought a couple of steaks to grill. When I got back, I had the microwave, all three burners of my gas stove going and the BBQ grill outside. That is the most I recall having going at any one time since I got the trailer over 3 years ago. I prepared a feast that consisted of grilled steaks with sauteed mushrooms, steamed string beans, steamed corn and microwave "baked" potatoes, which was enough for two meals. For desert I made a gluten free version of strawberry shortcake. It was quite a bit of work, but resulted in an amazing meal!

Monday morning I headed to the golf course well in advance of my practice round tee time. The registration process was easy, with no line up. The gift was a cooling cloth and a chintzy looking score card holder/folder with a gold embossed Golf Ontario Logo on it, rather disappointing. It seems Golf Ontario has gotten cheaper with their gifts. They were charging for practice balls, so I didn't bother with the range. I just putted and chipped as I had done the previous day. The first tee is down a very steep hill and long path from the clubhouse, which makes it a bit hard to control the first tee without a started down there. Part way down the first fairway there is an interesting feature, which not everyone notices. A dead tree trunk has been carved into a work of art. 

Depicting the natural environment with birds, fish and plants. 

A river runs through the golf course, but doesn't come into play on very many holes. The banks are quite overgrown, making it hard to discern where the river really is. 

I think they should really try to cut back some of the vegetation, but I guess with the wet spring, perhaps everything is more lush than usual. The course was playing quite long as most of the holes run up hill and with the recent rains the ball doesn't roll very far. My practice round went o.k. Afterwards I went back to the trailer and reheated my planed leftover steak dinner .

The first round of the tournament I played really well. I shot 77 as was in 6th! My goal for this event was top 10 so I would qualify for the Ada Mackenzie matches the next spring. I had packed a change of clothes and my computer so that I could just hang out at the club after playing and before the banquet dinner. I showered, changed and worked on this blog. The dinner was buffet style and much better than the previous year (at a different course). I found lots to eat in all but the desert department, since I am trying to avoid wheat flour as much as possible and feeling so much better for it. I had a piece of cheesecake, but left the crust behind. After the dinner my Niagara District Team mates invited me back to their hotel room for a little visit. They had the room well stocked with beverages and snacks. I enjoyed getting to know them a little better. 

The second round coincided with my 55th birthday.  I was pretty stoked to be turning 55 and finally being able to start collecting my pension. I had really been hoping that by now John would have gotten his passport and could have traveled to Ontario in order to caddie for me at this tournament, share my birthday with me and have some time together. Sadly I knew for a while that wasn't going to happen, in fact he hadn't even applied yet. I told my playing partners about my special day before we teed off. I didn't play as well as I had hoped I would. I made too many bogies and double bogies and ended the day tied for 22nd. Both my playing partners had said they would buy me drink after the round, but in fact only one did and I was left on my own for the rest of the day. I treated myself to dinner at a southern BBQ restaurant reminiscent of my time spent in New Orleans. 

Catfish, Corn Bread, Cole Slaw and baked beans. 

The third round was nothing spectacular. I finished one shot better than the previous day and was T18, most likely too far back to be asked to play on the team. I didn't bother to stay until everyone finished and for the trophy presentation. 

My friend Brad and his dog Bungy was coming over from Silver Dove Estates for a visit, dinner and a few games of cribbage. Brad brought some pork chops and I offered up my fresh produce as sides. It was nice to see them both again as this was the closest I was going to get to their neighborhood this summer, seeing as even though my team were two time defending champions of the Wardsville Ladies 27 hole scramble, we weren't informed of when registration was opening and were on the waiting list for the July 3rd event. The owners of the club didn't seem to think that not having us back was a bad thing. I got over it in the spring and not needing to be there made the logistics after cousins weekend simpler.

The next morning I packed up and took the trailer to Ruston's for some service and while they had her, I went to the dentist for a check-up and cleaning, followed by lunch with my friend Enid Aaron. We went to August 8, which I really enjoyed.

The trailer was done on time and I headed back to Maitland Shores and set it back up. 

The last weekend of July was the Club Championship at Freedom Oaks. Unfortunately Lynn was injured and not able to play, but a couple of new gals entered making it an interesting two day event. I played in the Senior division as planned and managed to win it. Ella played Amateur and prevailed in that flight, which meant we both qualified for the Niagara District Tournament of Champions in September and the Provincial Senior next spring should we wish to play in it.