WATERLOO! Day 1

To start our second day on the road we walked a few feet from our sweet accommodations at the Village Inn in Wellington, Ontario to the shore of Lake Ontario and savored the scent of these beautiful apple blossoms. It seemed too soon to be saying good-bye to Wellington, but we were expected at sister, Margaret's house in Waterloo for the afternoon. 

Before we left Wellington, though, we stopped in the center of their lovely old village to have breakfast at The Tall Poppy.  We LOVED this place and enjoyed the ambiance in this lovingly restored brick-front store, as much as we savored every morsel of fresh/local and delicious food.  I had the best oatmeal I have ever eaten!  All served by such friendly staff. It was a step back in time and the perfect way to start off our second day on the road, and one that would end with the sisters being reunited.

More of the lilac way as we zipped through beautiful wine country.

We take great delight in finding old barns, and this yellow beauty was sitting pretty in a field of wild mustard as we headed west toward Toronto.

The big city - one of the few times we were on a major highway on this trip.  This is the 401 - trans-Canada highway and so, so busy. It was not far before we were in stop and go traffic for awhile.

Finally, we arrived in Waterloo and received a royal greeting from Margaret, her husband, Jerry and their lovely daughters, Emily and Ellie.  This quilt hangs in their living room and is a treasured gift given to Margaret several years ago as she was recovering from surgery.  All hand made and designed by members of her quilting group, the Sew 'n Sews.

Margaret and LM visiting at the kitchen table and LM showing off a gift for Ms G that he had acquired at a little farm stand as we left Wellington earlier that morning. It is a solar (and battery) powered dragon fly in flight.  Guess who is having a lot of fun with this??

Emmy prepared a lovely fish dinner for us that night and set out a delicious appetizer of preserved cherries over camembert and some delicious raisin toasts.

LM shows off a gift from Margaret.

Margaret loved the gift I had  made to commemorate the reunion. The light is reflecting off the glass here, but it is a quilt block with a hand appliqued heart made from fabric that matches our mother's good china pattern....the heart block is surrounded by lilac fabric.  Each of the sisters and nieces received the same gift as a momento. 

Margaret's family plus moi before dinner.

Much later, after dinner, we were off to the tiny local airport to meet the rest of the party.  It took forever as their flights had been delayed repeatedly, and we thought they would never come through the doors. Sisters, El and Bebo, were most surprised when they were met in Chicago by my daughter, Anne (FL), a surprise guest! 

One by one the remaining guests began to emerge from customs...El greeting Emmy.

Finally, Anne came through the doors....a very welcome, beautiful sight.

I think we all got to bed around 2 am.....long day for everyone.

DAY 2 - the next morning we all began to gather at Margaret's.....Jerry and LM waking up slowly.

LM had brought along the fish quilt I had made him for the previous Christmas and he showed it off to all the sisters.

Here we are - all together, at last. L-R - Bebo (CO), Moi, El (WA), Margaret, our host in Canada.

On to the most important business - a trip to Conestogo to visit Sittler's Mennonite Bakery!! Looking closely, you can see a Mennonite buggy on the road ahead of us. The countryside just outside Waterloo is dotted with beautiful Mennonite farms.

These beautiful pots of flowers adorned the front lawn at the bakery.

"Vases" of lilacs for sale....so beautiful! The green in the bouquets is actually the flower from rhubarb plants.

Delicious rhubarb cut from the gardens right behind the bakery.

Here we all are on the front porch after making some long-awaited purchases.

On the way back to Waterloo we crossed a pretty river over this narrow bridge.

Beautiful Mennonite farms ahead.

Next stop was City Bakery for lunch....very yummy.  Payment for food is all on the honor system. Everything is homemade and delicious

Some went back to their rooms to rest - after all acquiring and eating food is exhausting!  Several of us resisted the urge to rest and visited Vincenzo's gourmet emporium to admire all the beautiful food offerings available. This lovely arrangements was right outside their door. Johnny-jump-ups shining their pretty faces toward the sun.  Some gourmet coffee was enjoyed by a few, and I reluctantly passed up some home made hazelnut gelato and regret it to this very minute.

Anne visited the wine store......

That evening we all collaborated on dinner - Emmy cutting mangoes

Ellie worked on some avocadoes, and we came up with a delicious meal of mussels steamed in white wine with tomatoes, herbs and garlic, a salad of shrimp, avocado and mango with a lime dressing.

LOVED by all!

 

 

Emmy and Ellie had made special gifts for us all....mugs with a sisters' reunion heart inscribed with the date and filled with Godiva chocolates, and Ellie had made each of us a special collage card - she is such an accomplished artist!  We were thrilled by these artistically wrapped and thoughtful gifts.

A lovely end to our first full day together...In between all the eating there was wonderful conversation filled with memories of our lives growing up on the farm. We are so blessed. I do believe there was some "kyn" talk, too.....the strange language used to talk to and describe cats, that we inherited from our mother....too weird to elaborate further, but we sure have fun with it!