Summer of Weddings

This certainly was the 'summer of weddings'! We've been hit with six of them since June. Unfortunately, we have only been able to attend half that. There was the Vipond/Mackling wedding in The Pas, which I wrote about in my last blog. Then, a couple of weeks later, son Christopher was best man for Andrew Thorne who married Annie Poczyniak in a beautiful outdoor wedding at the Leo Mol Sculpture Gardens in Assiniboine Park here in the city.


Again the weather cooperated marvelously and the day was picture-perfect. It was great fun seeing old friends from the north, especially Andrew's mom and dad, Carole and Wally, who now live in Halifax.


All the guys in the wedding party came to our house to 'get ready' and, along with Caroline, Ryan, Tamsin and Kurt, the place was a madhouse for awhile that day!


It was extra-nice having Christopher home for the wedding. He came early and stayed late, leaving for home (Guelph) just a couple of days before the rest of us all headed (separately) to southern Ontario for yet another wedding! Linda flew via Air Canada at 5:00 A.M., Ryan and Caro flew via West Jet at 4:00 P.M. and I flew out on AC at 5:30. Although Chris didn't drive from Guelph to Toronto to pick up his mom early in the morning (she caught a cab to Milton), he did pick up Ryan and Caroline, take them for dinner, return to YYZ to pick me up, take us all to Milton to wait while he returned one last time to the airport to pick up his girl friend, Andria, who was flying in from Guatemala. She had been on a two-week fact-finding trip in preparation for a project she is working on for the University of Guelph. So, he put more than a few klicks on his new Honda that evening.

Next morning the five of us were heading north to Huntsville. Linda, her dad, Mike, and his wife Mary, had driven the 260 kilometres a day earlier.


Again the weather was wedding perfect! This Ontario wedding was for nephew Sean Riordon and his new bride Ana at the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville.


It certainly was great seeing all the Ontario relatives. The wedding was very well attended, with guests from England, California, Australia, Alberta and, of course, Winnipeg, to name a few. The location was quite spectacular! A very good time was had by all (at least if anyone didn't have a good time, well......). Here are a few candid shots taken during the wedding and later reception.


Next day we stopped off at Dan and Ellen (Linda's sister) Riordon's cottage, just south of Gravenhurst, on our way home with Mike and Mary. We spent an enjoyable afternoon with our kids and several wedding guests in and out of the water.


Finally it was time to "tackle" the thrilling Sunday night stop-and-go traffic south on highway 400 back to Toronto. Arrived home in Milton late and were up to Guelph having lunch with brother Bryan and sis-in-law, Sue the next day. It was then we got to meet our newest niece, Lily. What a cutie!


Ryan, Caroline and I flew home to Winnipeg that evening, while Linda stayed in Ontario for a few more days visiting.

My "contract" with CRA ended last Friday, so now I am -- once again -- retired. Woo hoo!!! I certainly hope to get a few games of golf in before we head to England next week. Linda and I drove up to Riding Mountain National Park last Sunday to meet up with Blair and Marj and enjoy a few hours of R&R. It was a gorgeous day with the temperature hitting 27. We decided to stay over at a favourite lodge of ours, Clear Lake Lodge and so were in no rush to get home that night. We walked from Wasagaming to the Clear Lake Golf Course, a distance I would estimate at nearly 6 kilometres, sat having a beer watching the golfer's on the ninth green and then walked back into town. Good practice, methinks, (walking and drinking beer!) for our upcoming trip to the Cotswolds!

My next blog should be from England. Stay tuned!