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Published: June 25th 2017
Devin & Melissa
Not my photo- I wasn't allowed to bring my camera.Geo: 44.2315, -76.4794
We only had a short time for the wedding in Toronto. How short? Well DH, in her role of Godmother was supposed to sit down with Devin (her Godson) before his upcoming nuptials, with an eye to coaxing out his inner choirboy but that was going to take significantly more time than we had. We did attend the wedding (social event of the year) and were hoping that our man would make it through the day without ending up in a puddle of tears (very sensitive young man)- he actually did quite well until the father and brother started with the lip quivers and the boys all ended up in a drenched group hug. The Killer B women (including the newly adopted Melissa) all seemed to be coolly checking their watches, hoping the dishes would be cleared and the dancing would start. I don't remember weddings being like this before the new age male?
DH did make a good job of running around and visiting with old friends studiously avoiding any and all attempts at saying a final goodbye (we are moving a long way away- 41 hours of non-stop driving but most of her get-togethers seemed to end with
Boldt Castle On Heart Island
George Boldt, general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City and manager of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia launched an ambitious construction campaign for a six-story "castle" as a present to his wife. a "see you soon"😉. I didn't get invited to all of her social engagements (something to do with "a bull in a china shop"😉, but when we hooked up with the Young Fella, Mike C and his wife (and lawn ornament fanatic), Wilma, I was able to secure a literary/photography agent. To be forthright, we were drinking and I didn't actually get a copy of the agreement, but Tina B puffed up my ego by suggesting that my photos and writing should foisted on a larger audience- I suspect that, in reality, I may have signed off on a manservant agreement involving pool cleaning and lawn cutting in perpetuity at the Tina B mansion but the concept that I now have 'people' made me all warm and fuzzy.
Entirely unimpressed with my new self-anointed celebrity status, DH dispatched me daily to the storage locker where our 'stuff' has been languishing for 5 years now- we've made arrangements with Gus The Mover to drive our valuables across the country so I needed to wrap up the breakables. We gave up on trying to remember and filter the items more carefully so Kelowna will be like Christmas morning as we open up a
mountain of unidentified cardboard boxes. Unfortunately The Princess did remember that we had, for safekeeping, left a Grandmother clock with friends so we picked it up and, despite a couple of subconscious attempts on my part to leave it curbside, we added it to our stash.
With the future of our valuables (and 1 stylish Grandmother clock) now secured in bubblewrap, we fired up Billy Thunder and started the journey to our new home on the West side of the country by heading.... directly East. This didn't make a lot of GPS sense but DH, in her family Princess role, decided that we needed to see Eastern Canada before going to the other side. By Royal edict we stopped in Kingston Ontario in order to visit a castle that DH thought would help me realize that buying a Kelowna condo for her was pretty small potatoes in the game of romance. Boldt Castle sits on one of the 1800+ islands in the Thousand Islands area near Kinston, and the grandiose structure was to be a display of George Boldt's love for his wife, Louise. In 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegraphed the island and commanded the workers to immediately "stop all
construction." Louise had died suddenly and a broken hearted Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without his beloved. Boldt never returned to the island, leaving behind the structure as a monument of his love. Apparently I have to step my game up a little.
After a day of river travel we explored Kingston proper, largely by following the footsteps of it's most famous citizen (and our first Prime Minister), Sir John A MacDonald. John does stare back at us every time we pull out a purple $10 bill, but because he gets judged by today's standards, he doesn't get the respect he so rightly deserves- granted he remains the only person to have thrown up in the House of Commons after a particularly festive night. In this day of small-minded politicians who work hard to tear things apart, John A moved mountains to bring together a disparate group of British colonies and territories in order to form Canada (and yes, the $13,000 worth of champagne he took to Charlottetown to support the negotiation process probably helped). Despite a tragic personal life, John A MacDonald was undeniably the most important Father of Confederation, served as Prime Minister for 19 years (largely
sober), and drove the design and completion of the iconic Trans Canada Railway- he didn't play hockey but outside of that serious omission he really should be recognized as one of the greatest Canadians ever. Our time in Kingston really helped with some important pieces of colourful John A MacDonald history.
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Lorena
non-member comment
such great post and pictures tku for sharing. lots to catch up.. take care .. big hug.