Pulling my harp strings.
10:00 a.m.
Our drive to Ontari0 was extremely uneventful and dull, and we arrived at my in-laws' at around 8:30 p.m. It was raining, so they had set up sleeping accommodations in the living room (us on an air mattress which proceeded to deflate during the night, and the kids on separate couches). The next day we set up the tents in the backyard, without apprising her of the sleeping arrangements, and there was no hue and cry at all. I actually preferred sleeping outside. Our air mattress worked perfectly, but the kids had to pump theirs up (the one my MIL had provided) several times during the night, and luckily she retained the bill so she can return it.
The two birthday parties were quite a success. My brother-in-law was properly surprised to arrive home to a house full of friends and relatives. His wife's cousins from Ireland were very entertaining, except that I didn't always understand their accent. Even though I drank early in the proceedings, I stopped at a certain point so I could discharge my "designated driver" duties, becoming rather sober towards the end of the evening, when everyone else was totally blitzed. That wasn't fun. If you're going to hang around with drunks, it's best to be drunk yourself.
The triple-decker party the next day got rained on, but luckily we were able to barbecue and get most of the eating done before the heavens opened up and dumped an ample amount of moisture on us. It was an interesting weekend in that the sun would come out and it would be very hot before suddenly clouding over and thunderstorming for an hour, then repeating the cycle.
That evening we met the lovely teranika for supper, picking her up at her residence and taking her out to a pub in GueIph's ugliest building, "The Penny Whistle". It was so nice to see her and we all had a wondrous time. I hope we didn't overwhelm her, after all, it was four to one, but she seemed to hold her own. My husband has now met yet another of my internet friends and realizes that they really do exist in physical as well as cyber space.
On Monday we drove to Toronto where we had a quick visit with my mom, stored the electric guitar and amps, then took the 400 northwards to Ge0rgian Bay, driving through Canadian Shield country. I tend to get rather emotional in the presence of rock; I think it has something to do with the immense age of these things, and how we, human beings that is, are so incredibly insignificant in comparison to that monument to the Earth's past. Travelers have left their marks everywhere, building inukshuks on the rocks, some rather traditional looking, as well as new and different designs.
Yesterday was a harp day. We went to the concert where Hubby's piece was premiered in the morning (it went very well, and many people came up to him afterwards professing their love and desire to have his babies), then the kids and I wandered around for a while (Hubby went to another concert) and I met him back at the hall for a lecture on the harp and the kids returned to the B&B. There was yet another concert last night, this time featuring all six harpists in the second half, and it was a lot of fun.
We're going to one more concert en famille this evening (Hubby is going to a two-piano recital at noon), but otherwise we were hoping that today would be a hiking and beach day. However, we arose to rain, so we're just going to hang out here and wait for the sunshine which, we have been promised, should appear around noon.
And now I must bid you adieu and make a mad dash for the toilet before I burst.
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