Celebration

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words. ~ Plautus

A few weeks back, I was suddenly presented with the opportunity to take a quick trip to and from my sister, Andrea's town of Port Dover, Ontario for the combined occasion of her 65th birthday, and my brother in law Bill's retirement.
My son, Alex and I were there and back within twenty-four hours for the intimate gathering and our time was filled with family, friends, food and fun. My lovely nieces, Jaime and Stephanie threw this joint part for their parents at the beautiful, old farmhouse where Steph and her partner, Jordan live. They also accommodated six of us with a place to sleep after the party.

I'm not including any people pics - just images of things which made my camera go click!


Along with lots of other goodies, these scrumptious celebration cupcakes were a huge hit.


 



A mini replica of the race car Bill and friends owned, back in the day.






My niece's home borders on a big old cornfield which spent much of the afternoon and evening illuminated by the sun.






What farm doesn't have a wheelbarrow parked on it, somewhere?






Colourful clouds gathered as the sun began its descent in the sky.






Before long, only a small strip of vibrant gold remained on the terrain.






Which was when the moon made its presence known.






That was also when the mosquitoes dictated that we take the party inside to toast the celebrating couple with champagne.

In the morning, Andrea and Bill kindly treated the family to a yummy breakfast out. As we arrived on the patio, a couple who had been enjoying their breakfast made a hasty exit. The waitress told us that the man was Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates who was in town for a charity promotion in support of Big Brothers - Big Sisters. None of us had ever watched the show, so he went unrecognized by our group. I think he saw my camera and feared getting caught up in an intrusive photo request. Little did he know that whether we recognized them or not, they would have easily finished off their breakfast uninterrupted.


After breakfast, Alex and I left for the drive back to Peterborough. Glancing out the passenger window as we crossed this bridge, I happened to see a boat doing circles in the water.





And this famous landmark greeted us as we drove along the Gardener Expressway in Toronto.






A closer, more tilted perspective of the C.N. Tower, complete with dashboard reflection.







And back home again, I happened to catch my beautiful little Zephyr's reflection in this small mirror. He was sitting to my right on my desk, when a glance to my left revealed his perfectly framed sweet face. I had to snap two shots and play with them a bit in Photoshop because there was no way I could get his face into focus along with the rest of the image.

And that ends our whirlwind trip into Port Dover. Thanks for your wonderful party hosting, Jaime and Stephanie, and your lodging hospitality, Steph and Jordan. And thanks for brekkie, Andi and Bill. Happy Birthday, my beautiful sister. And Happy Retirement, Bill.