LIVING OFF GRID

This blog is about our travels in our solar powered "Airstream" and living off grid, in our passive solar home, near Bancroft, Ontario, Canada.

If you have any questions send us a comment; we love to hear from our readers.
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Sunday 24 October 2010

Christiana

This morning it was off to Toronto to have brunch with Leanne, Sherri and Christiana. We haven't seen Christiana for several years and it was good of her to visit while in New York city. She is always bubbly and full of new adventures. It was great to spend some time together.
Deciding what to order at "Joy Bistro" on Queen St. East

More conversation.

Sherri, getting ready to leave, but first a few words with mom.

Thanks Bill, we are glad Sherri has the perfect helmet. Looks good on her too.


And away she goes!

Be careful! We love you.


Yes it was another foggy, rainy day in Toronto.

See you tomorrow.

Saturday 23 October 2010

Family

Had a great weekend with my sisters, Annabelle & Sharon and husbands, Jack and Don. Here the "gang" is out for our morning walk around the concession. Hope we can do this for another 30 years.
Morning shadows and farmers fields! The shadows remind me of a western movie.

We met Dave on our walk. Here he explains the recent "silo" fire and the fact it has been burning since August 15th.
Road traffic here is a little different than in the city. Harvest time and the farmers are working 7 days a week.
Our visit wouldn't be complete without wandering through the local cemetery.
Thanks Annabelle, Sharon, Jack & Doug for a great time together. See you in a few weeks.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Another Moving Day

Yesterday was another moving day to Bancroft. With the trailer loaded, I was off early to drop off my stuff and get home before the rain arrived.
As you can see the clouds were rolling in but for most of the drive they just added to the beauty of the scene.


Black clouds were also on the horizon and I didn't have time to waste if I was to get everything unloaded before the rain arrived.
Soon it will be Halloween and every farm stand had pumpkins for sale. Lately, pumpkin pie has become my favourite. Enjoy the day and I will write again on Monday.

Monday 18 October 2010

Visiting

Yesterday we spent the day visiting family and friends. First we stopped by to see Paul & Olga then went for lunch with Connie & Andrew. Unfortunately the camera was left at home so no pictures. It was great to see everyone and spend some time together. Mary was saying her "good-bys" before we leave for Texas. As for me it just seems too early to be saying  good-bye.

Next it was on to Adelina's & Robert's for supper. They are our neighbours from Bulgaria and had prepared delicious traditional Bulgarian dishes for us to sample. The dish in the top right corner is called "Banitsa" (philo-pastry with feta cheese and eggs) delicious! It is always good to get together.

Here is Adelina and Mary enjoying supper.


Monday morning saw more visits. This time we were off to Toronto to see our architects, Tom & Christine and their new baby, Hamish, who is just 3 weeks old. I'm sure you will agree,  he is a cutie and Mary loved to hold him as he snuggled into her.




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Here are a few more pictures and one of Tom & Christine admiring the  baby blanket Mary made. Enjoy.


Sunday 17 October 2010

New Owners Visit

Saturday Linda dropped by to take notes on the garden. Linda is the new owner of 45 Trotters Lane, and very excited to be moving in.


She brought along "Nigel" so he too could see his new home. He was delighted! Loved all the space to run and explore and he was so well behaved even though he was very excited. Nigel was kind enough to stop for a minute and let me take his picture. Isn't he a beautiful dog?

Friday 15 October 2010

Community

Yesterday Mary & I made a quick dash up to Bancroft. Of course it was raining. Do we travel in any other type of weather? Our first stop was the "Golden Arches" for coffee, not for me then on to the 407 and up through Port Perry, to Peterborough where we dropped our trailer ts Marvin & Annie's, thanks guys.
We stopped to stretch our legs in Port Perry and before we were out of the truck for two minutes a car pulled up, the window rolled down and a very friendly couple introduced themselves. Total strangers, just wanting to say Hi & welcome to the Airstream way of travel. Now, needless to say, they made our day. How kind and thoughtful to follow us and say hi and welcome; just goes to show you that community is more than just a spot on a map.
This picture is for Casey who wanted to know about firewood. See those trees lying down to the right of the blue tarps? FIREWOOD! Just let me know when you can come and get it.

It was raining and most of the leaves were on the ground, but it still looked beautiful to us. Can't wait to have our house up and a fire burning in the wood stove.
Have a great weekend. See you Monday

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Corning Glass Museum

Since today is an unexpected stay-at-home day, I think I will focus on reporting places worth visiting. Last week we found ourselves camped in Pennsylvania near Corning, New York. Our campground, Ives Run, was built after the devastating hurricane of 1972 that completely flooded Corning with waters well above many of the buildings. Once the flooding had subsided, in came the Corp of Engineers to build flood dams and berms to protect the valley inhabitants. One by-product of this development was land suitable for recreational purposes: hiking, camping, boating, etc.

So on a rainy Tuesday, off to Corning we went. The glass museum far exceeded our expectations. I thought we would see a museum dedicated to the history and production of Corning Cook Ware, not the case. This is a quality museum dedicated to educating the visitor about the history of glass, its production methods over the centuries and how Corning Glass came to be.
Once in the parking lot we made our first surprise discovery, free bus shuttle. Not just to the museum, but the bus took you to two museums as well as the restored downtown area lined with boutiques, coffee shops and retail stores. Now why can't all cities do that for the tourist? Sure makes one want to return for a second look when you know how easy it is to get around. Oh, by the way, parking was free. Now that's my kind of frugal travelling.







My favourite part of the museum was the glass blowing demonstration. Here we watched these two professionals build a beautiful glass bowl from raw molton glass. Remarkable!

Monday 11 October 2010

New Numbers

Mary is still sick with a sore throat so we have delayed our trip to Bancroft. A few days ago, when we both had the energy, we did a few small jobs on the "Tylenol Wagon" (my name for our Airstream trailer). We joined the WBCCI this summer, which gives us access to Airstream Parks in the USA at reduced rates. As a member you are assigned  a number which must be displayed according to instructions on the front and back of the trailer. With a little patience and perseverance we managed to get the job done in a respectable manner. What do you think?

Now some of you might be wondering why I call it the "Tylenol Wagon". Most people call it the "Silver bullet" for obvious reasons, but I've never embraced the obvious. Lets consider for a moment "Tylenol". Why is it such a popular drug? Does the job, gets rid of pain, helps me sleep, etc, etc, etc.
Well our "Airstream" does all that and more. It takes us to places we've only read about, transports us in total comfort, allows us to stop and eat or rest whenever the mood strikes and we can stay away for days without needing any hook-ups. Isn't that better than drugs? It sure is for us and we plan to be drug free but trailer rich for many years to come.

So watch for #3199 going down the road and if you see us please wave. The "Airstream" community is a friendly, helpful gang and they are always there to help fellow travellers.

Need help in your campsite? Just open the hood to your truck and in a few minutes you will be surrounded by helpful "Airstreamers"

While I'm on the topic of "helpful", Yvan wrote today about needing to secure my tarps covering my Bobcat. He offered to go around and do it if we couldn't get up north. Now that's helpful and the type of community spirit we believe should exist in every community in Canada. Thanks Yvan, your help is appreciated.

See you down the road, Sherri, Sean & Leanne.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Canada and we all gathered at Margaret and Andrew's to celebrate. An added bonus this year was having Emma join us from Kingston. It was a delight to listen to all our nieces, nephews and our own children share their adventures since we last got together. In this busy world we really appreciate the times we can manage to all get together and share good food and good company. Thanks Margaret and Andrew for opening your home to us.

Mary did a fabulous job of capturing Andrew in a pensive mood with the natural light coming through the window. Sorry about the copyright on the photo Mary.










The gathering of the clan around the table. It was good to be together.






Not sure why Margaret has the fork behind Neal's head. I know she wasn't threatening him, just explaining something to her sisters further down the table.










More scenes from Thanksgiving.












Before going to Margaret and Andrew's we had to stop by and see Meaghan and Adrien's newest addition to the family. Isabella was born three weeks ago and she is just a little doll. It was a joy to hold her in our arms even for just a few minutes. Hope to see more of Meaghan and Adrien now that we know you are so close.



Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too and took time to give thanks for all your blessings.

Tomorrow we are off to Bancroft so may not post for a few days.

Take care and stay in touch.

Saturday 9 October 2010

Fixing the Trailer



Today was the perfect Fall day, sunny, cool, with a crispness in the air. Since I was feeling better we decided to replace the weatherstripping on the trailer doors. I used a metal wheel attached to a drill to remove all the old glue as well as some skin on my forearm. Always good to wear safety goggles, mask and ear plugs when doing such work. I guess I need to wear a bullet-proof shirt as well.

Once we had the glue off it was obvious the entire trailer could do with a bath, so out came the buckets, soap and water and in short order the trailer was sparkling clean.

Now it was time to attach the new weather-stripping. First run a bead of glue around the door frame, then peal back the sticky paper and apply the weatherstripping, voila! Done and a very good job if I do say so.

Take care and have a great weekend.

Friday 8 October 2010

What happened to Summer?



Well summer is a memory and fall is quickly disappearing and I haven't written a blog page since May. Our plans to build this summer were dashed when the by-law we thought would be changed wasn't. No problem, since we still had loads of trees to cut, and land to clear. By the end of August we were still waiting for the permits which I understand are now being reviewed by a committee and hopefully will be passed before the new year.







In July we took a break from cutting trees and Annie & Marvin came up to attach the "Air-Ride" hitch properly. Marvin's efforts were greatly appreciated and now we can travel safely down the highways.



Soon we will be heading south to Texas where we will meet up with Annie and Marvin and try and stay warm. I will try and do a better job of up-dating our blog page once we are on the road. I think it will become a shared job with Mary doing the writing and I will add a few pictures.

Hope all is well with you and drop us a line when you can.