The next day was Kennedy's 30th birthday, and she threw herself a party at a local brewery. Not only did she go over the top with details like this oversized printed sign welcoming all her friends, but she had her dad and I recreate a couple of the games we had made for her when she was a kid (Pin the Treestar on the Cera from her Land Before Time-loving days [made by Dave] and a pinata of the Cheetah from her Wonder Woman-loving days [made by me]). Lots of fun and lots of laughs and I can't believe I have a thirty year old!
After that it was up to Sauble Beach for a couple of weeks (always a fun and relaxing time; this picture of Dave is just one of many spectacular sunsets we enjoyed.) It was good to have Ken and Ella join us for a couple of days, and then for Kennedy, Zach, Mal, and Rudy to come up the next weekend. Sharing the spot with family is what it's all about.
In the middle of our time at the beach, I drove home to join Rudy and see Theresa Caputo live in Kitchener. I loved watching Long Island Medium when it was on TV, and with front row tickets, we reckoned we had a chance at a reading. So it was maybe disappointing that Caputo came down from the stage and worked her way from the right of us around in a circle that never quite made its way back to us (no personalised reading), but on the other hand, the readings that she did give to others - always with jaw-dropping "you could not have known that" specifics - really seemed to illustrate that she was in contact with something that survives death; and that's a comforting thought for everyone in attendance. Great night and totally worth the roundtrip.
The morning after the trip to Sauble, Conor, Cormac, and I drove down to Nova Scotia together. To explain this pic of Cormac: at some point in August, I happened upon a post online about the "Rock of Rockley" - an apparently must-see phenomenon just inside the Nova Scotia border. Having never heard of it, I poked around and saw on Google reviews that it's consistently rated five stars for its spiritual presence and "mesmerising scent". It sounded like baloney, but my nephew Conor was intrigued enough that he agreed that we should stop on the way through. And we drove 17 slow kilometres off the highway, along a twisting and rutted backroad, to arrive at...a rock. Not particularly big or special (or spiritual or scented). But having mostly expected to get punked, we laughed, took our pictures, and left our own five star Google review.
We went to Nova Scotia again (my third time this year) because my big brother Ken had invited some old friends to fly out there with him (their first time on the East Coast) and I joined them to both round out the group and to spend some time with our parents. Conor is always up for a trip to his favourite place on Earth (and with Dave on a business trip to Japan over the same week, we drove the twentyish hours so we could bring the dog.) It was gratifying that Eric and Lisa seemed to enjoy everything they saw on this trip - from PEI's Cavendish Beach to Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg - but who wouldn't enjoy spending time at the lake in Nova Scotia when the sunset looks like that top picture every night?
That's not a lot of words about a lot of interesting activities, but as we leave for a Meditteranean cruise tomorrow, here's hoping I'll have lots to say on my next post. Ciao!