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.
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.
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| Phil in the front. |
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| Me in the back. |
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| Water Lilly |
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.
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| Depicting the natural environment with birds, fish and plants. |
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.
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| Catfish, Corn Bread, Cole Slaw and baked beans. |
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.
