Slip E 21 – Bay Port Yachting Center
Midland, Ontario – 44°52’03.5″N 79°46’48.9″W

Surprise! As of July 31 we are still in Midland at the Bay Port Marina.

Here is a summary of what’s been happening over the past two weeks:

Work on the boat by the marina’s tech staff has been sporadic. They have serviced the engines and the generator. Complete oil and filter changes for both engines and the generator and all fuel filters have been changed. Oil in both engine transmissions has also also changed. That’s a load off my mind as the boat has little to no maintenance records to rely upon so I thought it best to start with a fresh slate.

Photo Above – Michael and Max get into the depth of servicing the diesel engines and generator. They are young, thin and flexible and can easily get in and out of spaces that I can only get in to – but fear that I may not be able to get out of.

The tech staff have also said they would soon begin working on installation of the new electric flush toilets in the forward and aft heads. That will be a welcome upgrade to the boat at the existing heads are old, smelly and inefficient.

After the fun of celebrating Catherine’s birthday at Rawley Lodge on July 15 we were back to our “normal” routine of cleaning the interior of the boat, taking inventory of all of the items on board, deciding what we would like to keep and what we will dispose of. The heat wave continues and that has really sapped our energy levels. We try to do a bit of work in the mornings and then seek shade and rest in the afternoons when the heat is peaking. By the time supper hour comes around we are pretty much done in and can only think about having a light supper and then off to bed. We are happy that summer is here but wish the temperatures were several degrees lower. Oh well, I keep reminding myself that it won’t be that long before February will be here and we will all be wishing for spring to come .

On July 16 the tech staff began work on the forward head. Hooray! The old toilet and waste pipe were removed and the base for the new toilet was measured up and installed. Work continued for a few hours the next day and finally on July 18 the installation was complete! Very spiffy indeed!

This is a big picture because we are flushed with pride for our new electric flush toilet.

On July 19 we worked on removing and rebedding the forward cabin windows which were in a bad state. It was hot work but went well. Several of our dock mates stopped to commiserate on the task of fixing leaky windows on a boat.

On July 20 we removed the dingy davits from the boat’s transom. They are a heavy duty set and we really have no use for them. We are not dingy fans. As nomads on the Trent-Severn and Rideau Waterways we will always have mooring spaces at the locks or we will spend a night or two in a marina. Anytime we anchor overnight we will have no need to go ashore. Perhaps in the future we might want a dingy, paddleboard  or a kayak but for now we will just enjoy access to an empty swim platform. I will put the davits up for sale on Kijiji. I expect that they will be of interest to someone.

July 22 and 23 I worked on finishing the new galley pantry drawers – fabricating and installing drawer fronts. They turned out pretty good considering they were made with the cheapest lumber I could find at Home Depot and put them together with a basic skill saw on a picnic table!  My plan is to take the drawers home this winter and rebuild them to a higher standard. We’ll see if I stick to my plan or simply get used to what we have and continue to say that’s good enough for now!

On July 24 we left Midland to spend the weekend in Ottawa. The daughter of our close friends Bruce and Barb was getting married and we were privileged to be invited to the party for out of town guests on the 25th and to the wedding on the 26th!

We drove the backcountry roads from Midland to Ottawa. We had not taken this route for many years. It was interesting to pass through towns and villages that we knew the names of but didn’t remember when we had last been there. We also had a side trip to try to find Camp Gay Venture near Minden where Cath worked as a kitchen helper in 1972. The girl’s camp had been set up in 1945 back in the day when “gay” meant “happy”. The camp ran for 45 years until 1990 but is no longer there, only part of a street name now leading to a private cottage development on Kashagawigamog Lake. (say that name 10 times in a row if you can 🙂 )

It was close to noon when we passed through Bancroft. We were getting hungry so we stopped for ice cream – and wow, did we get ice cream!. This was at a Kawartha Dairy outlet along the highway. There was a lineup of about 20-30 people waiting to be served. As we progressed through the line we quickly understood why everyone was there. The cones they were serving were massive! Three sizes were available – baby, small and huge – and huge was indeed huge! It was all we could do to polish off our “small” cones before they melted away. Gotta stop there again on the way back to Midland!

We stopped in Kanata to visit overnight with my nephew Wayne, his wife Cindy and their (now adult) children Jaden and Shea. That was a relaxing visit and great to catch up with everyone. The next morning we were headed to downtown Ottawa for a 2-night stay at the Lord Elgin Hotel.

The bride and groom had arranged for a special rate for guests attending the wedding. This was a very welcome bit of luxury compared to how we have been living for the past several weeks, which Cath likes to call “camping in a construction zone.”

On the 26th we walked around the downtown area close to the canal.

Photo Above – Catherine sitting beside a life size statue of Oscar Peterson, one of Canada’s most celebrated musicians – ranking up there with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. The statue is beside the National Arts Center where Oscar performed many times, He passed away at age 82 in 2007. He was born in Montreal and his father was a railway porter. He would have been 100 years old in 2025.

We toured the “temporary” home of Canada’s Parliament while the original House of Commons is being renovated. This temporary home will be where Parliament meets until renovations to the House of Commons are completed in 2035! This new area actually used to be a courtyard in the Parliament Buildings area. A glass roof was installed over the courtyard and the commons seating area has been built to state-of-the-art standards while still respecting the history and architecture of the rest of the Parliament Buildings complex. It was a really interesting tour and free to all. The tour guide was an enthusiastic young Asian woman who made us think about Emily in Paris! If you are visiting Ottawa this is a great place to spend a few hours.

Photo above – the temporary House of Commons.

The wedding was at 5:00 pm at a restaurant in Byward Market – a relaxed and very fun event.

We drove back to Midland on the 27th. The next morning I drove Catherine to Barrie to catch the GO train to Toronto. From there she caught the Via train back to London. She will be there for 10 days to check up on the house, tend the gardens and visit with family and friends. She will return to Midland on August 7th with our friends David and Valerie who will join us for a few days on Belisama’s inaugural voyage on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

Meanwhile, I have to hustle to get a lot of odds and ends completed before they arrive. Tops on my list of “to do” jobs include: finish installation of aft cabin head, set up BBQ box on aft deck, convert small clothes closed in main cabin into another pantry, and fix some leaky fresh water plumbing in the engine compartment. I think that work will be enough to keep me busy and out of trouble while Catherine is gone!

Cheers!