Last days of Summer

Happy Sunday everyone!  Here we are, about to start another season in just a few days.  Fall may be around the corner but the weather continues to be very nice.  What a Summer it's been.  I don't want it to end.  We try to sit on our deck every chance we get, even though we now need a little sweater towards the end of the afternoon.  The sun no longer hits our deck late in the day so it's a tad cool but who's complaining.  We're thinking that maybe we need a patio heater.....

We had a good week.  Our friend Denise visited us on Tuesday.  It was so nice to see her again after 35 years.  We spent the afternoon reminiscing about the good old days.  We had a lot of catching up to do!

On Thursday, we decided to go to Oka.  For my blog readers who don't know where Oka is, it is across from Hudson on the Lake of Two Mountains.  We took the ferry to get there.  We drove around for a little while then went to the Oka National Park.  It so happens that this park is one of three national parks in Quebec which allows dogs, as a pilot project.  We went on Le Calvaire Trail, a 4.4 km walk in the woods.  It was a nice, easy walk although the Coop must have picked up all the briars and leaves that were on the trail.  We had fun getting those out of his hair but we had a great day just the same.  We didn't buy any OKA cheese but we know that cheese very well, it is delicious!

We're getting ready to go to NYC later this month and have booked our dinners.  We look forward to a little getaway.  During that time, Coop will be vacationing at Camp Talemaker.  He can't wait.  It will be nice to see Darlah & Nathan again.  We miss them a lot.

Our landscaping is scheduled to start tomorrow. We haven't heard from them so we shall see.  We are still waiting for our basement window blinds.  They were back ordered and we are told they should arrive this week.  We shall see about that too.

Although it is still officially Summer, I started cooking some Fall meals.....Last night, I made an old favorite of Russell's, a meatloaf.  Tonight, Cottage Pie is on the menu (made with a secret ingredient that my friend Eve gave me).  Oh, and I made The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies ever yesterday, recipe courtesy of my good friend Terri. They were so yummy.  I gave some to my parents this morning.  I hope they like them.

Not much else is going on with us.  We are still discovering places to walk with Cooper.  Today, we went to the Terra Cotta park, a nice wooded park just 10 minutes from our house.  An easy walk but it was nice to be in a forest setting.  Yesterday, we took Cooper to the new Beaconsfield Dog Park. They have an area for big and small dogs.  It was something different and it gave him a chance to play with a few dogs.

That's it for this week's blog.  I wish you all a great week, enjoy the last days of Summer.

Cabin in the woods on the trail in Oka Park.

On the ferry looking toward Oka.

Anne, Russell and Cooper on the ferry to Oka...
a nice cyclist took this photo for us.

Cooper and Anne ready to leave the ferry ride.

Russell and Coop catching 40 winks on the back deck.

Denise, Anne and Cooper....a very nice visit!