We headed out to Erskine after a yoghurt and a plum/apricot cross which was the size of a peach, and made our first stop at 'Glenns' (also known as 'Teapot') in Gasoline Alley where Pat had suggested we stopped for brunch before heading out to the Clarks'. We had a very enjoyable enormous breakfast of eggs + bacon + sausages + pancakes + maple syrup and English Breakfast Tea (from a 20 page menu of over 180 kinds of tea!). The man on the table next to us had a steak, scrambled egg and a fruit salad which he ate all together. Weird.
We then headed to Erskine to Peggy & Oz's farm which has been in Oz's family since somewhere around 1920. The temperature had dropped by about 15 degrees and we changed into trainers and jackets to keep warm. Oz is suffering from Parkinson's disease and looked in pretty bad shape when we arrived - he has aged a lot since we were last over here and was sitting feeding himself very slowly but he did say hi. We visited with Peggy while Oz had a nap and went for a walk round the garden and her vegetable patch (carrots much better than mine. And spinach. And potatoes. My parsnips are better because she didn't have any of them). We had a lovely chat and catch up. Just before we left Oz woke up and came to say goodbye to us and seemed much better - he gave us both a proper hug and talked a little bit and that was good to see.
After that I set the tomtom to take us to 'Hamish's gate' (set by Tom) and alarmingly it suggested 3:10 hours. Fortunately with a bit of vigorous driving this proved to be inaccurate (just under 2 hours). We were greeted by Toby (the big dog) and Polly (a tiny wee black poodle about the size of a small bunny) and had a lovely evening with Pat, Hamish & Katie, eating tasty curry and an enormous pavlova and brandy snaps, yum yum yum! Pat & Katie & Carson are all off to New York for an adventure soon. Hamish has some amazing surgery planned where they are going to go in through the bottom of his heart (I think) and insert a replacement aortic valve (looks very simple in the youtube animation...). Katie had to go back to Edmonton for work tomorrow (she's still working with the kids she did before, but is doing her nursing degree too) and mum & I stayed overnight. Polly the mini dog has taken a particular shine to mum and keeps asking to sit on her knee :-)
We then headed to Erskine to Peggy & Oz's farm which has been in Oz's family since somewhere around 1920. The temperature had dropped by about 15 degrees and we changed into trainers and jackets to keep warm. Oz is suffering from Parkinson's disease and looked in pretty bad shape when we arrived - he has aged a lot since we were last over here and was sitting feeding himself very slowly but he did say hi. We visited with Peggy while Oz had a nap and went for a walk round the garden and her vegetable patch (carrots much better than mine. And spinach. And potatoes. My parsnips are better because she didn't have any of them). We had a lovely chat and catch up. Just before we left Oz woke up and came to say goodbye to us and seemed much better - he gave us both a proper hug and talked a little bit and that was good to see.
After that I set the tomtom to take us to 'Hamish's gate' (set by Tom) and alarmingly it suggested 3:10 hours. Fortunately with a bit of vigorous driving this proved to be inaccurate (just under 2 hours). We were greeted by Toby (the big dog) and Polly (a tiny wee black poodle about the size of a small bunny) and had a lovely evening with Pat, Hamish & Katie, eating tasty curry and an enormous pavlova and brandy snaps, yum yum yum! Pat & Katie & Carson are all off to New York for an adventure soon. Hamish has some amazing surgery planned where they are going to go in through the bottom of his heart (I think) and insert a replacement aortic valve (looks very simple in the youtube animation...). Katie had to go back to Edmonton for work tomorrow (she's still working with the kids she did before, but is doing her nursing degree too) and mum & I stayed overnight. Polly the mini dog has taken a particular shine to mum and keeps asking to sit on her knee :-)
I love it :)
ReplyDeleteGood job there were no cops on the road from Erskin, it takes us 2 hour from Clarks place to ours!!
ReplyDelete