On the beach

Sometimes it's great to run away! And that's essentially what I did yesterday. I was the guest speaker for the Goderich Quilter's Guild. I've been to Goderich before, and it's a quaint little town right on the shores of Lake Huron. I knew I had to visit the beach before I left. 

Before I show you the photos, I wanted to say how beautiful those small Ontario towns are. The houses are so far apart - that I could swing a golf club and not hit the house next to me. Of course, that is in the older sections of town. Beautiful architecture that is unique to each house. The town is on a hill, and as I drove along the beach road, massive staircases led down to the beach. Murphy would have loved it! 

I wish I had more time as I thought I needed to get home for the girls. In the end, DH came home early -- I think he worries about them a whole lot more than I do! What a softie! He is of the mindset that everyone is ANXIOUS about physically getting back to the office, and that is not the case! He ended up there alone and so came home early. 

But isn't this a glorious view? 

The shores of Lake Huron

I could sit and watch for hours. I think I'm just a lover of nature, and there's so much to see (or not see) and just veg out. Who needs any outside stimulation when you have nature in front of you? 

Miles of water

So if I ever have to move, I'll be looking for some component of nature near to me -- the water, a forest, or something. I think I really need it. I think there was a dog park near the end of the park --- Murphy and Lexi would love it! Actually, they would love ripping up and down that beach chasing seagulls!

And I believe this is a restaurant down by the beach area. There were ships docked in that area as well. I would have stopped to take more pictures, but I wanted to get home. 

A restaurant on the beach

It was fun to get out and meet new people. The guild has been meeting on Zoom for two years, and this was their first time getting out! It was nice that I was their first speaker, and we chatted about scrap quilts. I love presenting my scrap quilts! I'll be doing it again on Wednesday night at the Hamilton Quilt Guild, but on Zoom, so I'm sure they take guests if you want to catch that lecture. 

I'm just not used to huffing around big suitcases! But I managed just fine. 

I noticed some barn quilts on the road and stopped to grab one picture. I'm guessing they grow pumpkins on this farm. 

A barn quilt block

And since it was on my way home with a slight detour, I stopped by the NEW retreat house that will open this summer. OH MY --- it's smack in the middle of farm country. If you want peace and quiet -- this would be the place to go. It's on a short road (about 3 KM) long, and the road is NOT paved, so I'm guessing that it's super quiet traffic-wise. 

But no worry about that as the house is very far back from the road. So for those that want to go for a walk, it's a fair distance to the road, with a small hill. 

A new retreat house

OH -- you can't see the house? Well, here's a close-up. I did NOT go onto the property. It didn't look like anyone was home -- it is a farm, but I'm guessing the farm was sold, and these new people will make it into a quilt retreat. This is very much dairy cow country, but I did NOT see any dairy barns on the property. I just Googled it, and it was a horse boarding/training farm! 

The new retreat house

There is the house, and it looks like some sort of building on the other side, which I believe is attached to the house. No idea what it looks like, but I'm in! I've already booked a weekend -- totally sight unseen. I'm game for anything!  It's just over 1 hour from my house, which is very doable. I can't wait. There is an open house at the end of May. They don't have their website up yet, but I'll alert you when it's up. And ONLY after I get all my bookings in!!!

When I finally got home, it was after 6 PM, making it a long day with lots of miles in the car. I listened to an audiobook -- well, I finished one and started another. I hate driving long distances. At least by myself -- I'm NOT good with just sitting -- it doesn't matter if I'm in the car or at home; sitting like that just puts me to sleep, so you can see why driving is not my thing!

I got some paperwork done, but there's more today. And I've got homework and quilts to quilt, so it will be a super busy day. But no appointments, nothing to worry about. Yeah!!!!

I think I mentioned that my neighbor's house sold on the weekend. $200K over the asking price, and she doesn't have new windows in the house, and her ceramic floor has cracked, so that are two major things that should be fixed. I would bet that I could sell my house and start with what she sold hers for and still have it go over asking. What is the world coming to? 

I was at spin class yesterday, and for the most part, everyone spaces themselves out, so no two people are sitting side by side. A younger woman who usually sits in front of me sat beside me. I need to clear my throat from time to time when exercising. The last remnant of asthma that, thankfully, disappeared years ago. She yelled at me because I didn't cover my mouth. Ooops --- I wasn't even thinking, but as I sat on the bike huffing and puffing, what is the point of covering my mouth for that little cough. OK -- I get it-- cover your mouth, but I thought it was silly given the setting. However, I used my towel or kept my throat clearing much quieter for the rest of the session. I did feel bad as I usually do cover my mouth! 

I'm off to get some paperwork done and then downstairs to focus. I'm prepping homework today, and it seems like I sew one seam and then have to rip out two more. When I was selecting blocks to sew sections together, this one block wouldn't fit. So I have to take it apart to resize it. Then I realized that I used the WRONG block last month when I had to make that one larger. Sigh................   If only I had checked that more closely last month, I wouldn't have all this extra work! No one will know what happened; just a bit of extra work. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!