New Adventure | Peaches Prattlings

{January 12, 2025} Another project…complete!

We are really transforming this house into ours. I’ve shared a few things along the way, and here is the next latest and greatest!

First…do you see the floors?! The front room floor was a blond wood that seemed to have dark stripes. It was a manufactured hardwood and we loved it, well I loved it, PSM liked it, but…it was starting to show some wear and tear and we knew we were going to replace it at some point. We wish we had done it when we were renovating the kitchen, but it just wasn’t in the cards, wallet, or budget for that moment!

Well…a few months ago, it was time, so we had the same company come out, take measurements, and give us a quote. It turns out the wood that we used for the kitchen was no longer being manufactured, bummer, so we picked something that was very complimentary, and it really is almost seamless.

The other nice thing…we wouldn’t have to rip up the existing hardwoods to lay down the new floors! They could install them right on top of the current floor and there would be almost no difference in the transition. Score!

When we placed the order we were told there was be a back log and it might not be for a few months. Ok…so… a few months came and went and then it was November, they wanted to install Thanksgiving week, and since we weren’t here, we scheduled it for the first week of December.

They were there two days and it looks fabulous, like it’s always been there! What do you think?!

The next thing we did was have shelves installed. I don’t know if installed is the right word, but…these are custom shelves, JM, our fabulous carpenter/handy human being, who did a lot of work in our house custom built the shelves. He cut the wood and used our barn to prep and store the wood. By prep, I mean sand, shape, and shellac each board. I just wanted to use 3 s-words for this! ha ha.

He did an amazing job! The shelves are mounted on industrial piping, and I just bought industrial piping curtain rods, please ignore what’s there right now! I can’t tell you how many coats he put on the boards, I lost count! JM and I worked on the design, back and forth on some things and the end result is fabulous!

Then…today, we finally opened the boxes that held our books and bric-a-brac, as it were, things and books that we brought to the relationship and things and books that we bought together on many of our amazing trips. It takes work figuring out what goes where. We took a lot of time in St Louis and we took a lot of time here!

I remember someone seeing our shelves in St Louis thinking it was a Zoom background! I was flattered, who knows what people will think about these! What I love is just looking and remembering where we were when we acquired these things and all the memories they bring to the surface and I smile.

If you come visit, I’ll give you a tour!

{January 11, 2025} Seriously? A big, giant, duh! HA HA HA

Ok, so…having a moment and I cannot stop laughing!!! Let’s just say take two from my post last night!

I came up to my office to get some stuff done and I thought about the tubs of t-shirts in the wall of the closet, so I decided to figure out a way to get the shirts out, hopefully without cutting the tubs. I thought that if I get them out, I’ll just leave the tubs there.

I pull, and twist, and turn, I take the lid off, then manage to flip the tub on its side and I just pulled the shirts out, chunk by chunk. Then, just to get to the next one, I threw the shirts on the floor in a pile, knowing I would get them up when I was done.

I get the shirts from the two tubs and one was full of race shirts, road races I have done and the other was full t-shirts and pieces of t-shirts that I had already prepped to be made into a blanket. I look past the two I just emptied and it looks like there’s another! What?! Seriously?!

Then…I see another and then I see one of the snow people I put out at the holidays, then I look a little further…it is not a hole in the closet…it is one of our attics! What?! HA HA HA. Let me explain…we have one attic that is above our bedroom, you know…normal attic above the house. This attic, however, is not…I can’t remember if I took you on a tour of the house when we moved, but it’s on the same level as the 2nd story of the house, it’s basically above the living room!

You access it through a door that you pull down in the hallway and when you pull it down, those you can see into the space. It’s not big enough to walk around, but it’s not a crawl space! The door has wooden rungs or steps you walk up to get into the attic.

And there you have it…this was not a case of tubs falling out of the attic, they are still sitting in the attic! Well…now…I don’t have to go looking for those two tubs for the t-shirt quilt pieces! O M G!

Even better…meanwhile…as I’m doing something, I turn around and what do I see, but Bee doing her circles to make herself comfortable in the new pile of t-shirts that she must think is another bed. She does that when she gets on the bed, circles it, I don’t know, 50 times, and then settles in for a nap. Just look at her!

She circled, settled in, but doesn’t she look so confused?!

And then we had to circle again!

I couldn’t not stop laughing when I was telling PSM what happened! Just proves what he always tells me…I’m not wrapped right! And who am I to argue with the man!? sigh… HA HA HA

{January 9, 2025} OneDrive Memories

Do you use OneDrive Memories? Well… do you use OneDrive, or Microsoft 365? Is that a better question? Either way, not sure if you use it, but as you can tell… I do.

One of the things that I enjoy is when it pops up on my laptop, lower right corner, and I click on it, I never know what I’m going to get. Ooh, I just thought of something! I could do a post a day of what’s in my OneDrive Memories, that would be cool. Thinking…thinking…

Well…while I decide on that one, and by the way, I had a whole different topic I was going to talk about tonight and got waylaid by my memories, ha ha, that was just funny to me. I have to file the lottery thoughts to another day. Back to OneDrive.

Two years ago today, I was flying back from a three week trip to England. I spent a week with my dad, then Paul arrived and it was the three of us for 2 days, then my sister’s family arrived and we spent a few days together, then PSM and I went off and spent a week in London/Wales/Bristol, then I was on my own, went to Liverpool for a few days, back to London to attend RuPaul’s DragCon UK and on Sunday/Monday I was flying back to the US from a whirlwind trip!

Three years ago, I was with my friend CGS, and have a pic of her four kids, wow! I just texted her with the pic, I apologized for the late text, but I couldn’t help but share the love! That’s one of the things I love to do, when some memories pop up, I take a pic with my phone and text it to the people who are in it and I get to share something special with them, makes me so very happy.

Four years ago, KFN sent a pic ‘How to spot a biker chick’ and it’s a pick of the top of a pair of Chuck Taylor ‘Converse All Stars’ with black clutch marks on the left toe…and I sent him a pic of my chucks that look exactly like that! There’s also a few pics of PSM with Bee and Ruby, awe.

2019… pics of an overcast sky with a rainbow coming through, from our lanai off the back of our house. And lastly…2016, pics of us with my sister’s family at PSM’s family’s celebrating my b-i-l, ACS’, birthday, which is tomorrow. Our nephew, JM, and nieces, EJS, and MGS were soooo little! That was just before PSM left for Hawai’i, he was starting work a week later, and I officially moved towards the end of that year, wow…

I’m sitting here, just smiling, thinking of all the random memories that pop up, taking me back, making me smile, marveling at how time flies and how good my life truly is, and it is. Who knows… maybe a memory with you will come up and I’ll text it to you, be on the lookout!

{January 7, 2025} I have the travel bug, I know it, I knew it, and I reinforced it!

You know I used to travel for work, I would share some of my exploits with you, 12 years of being a road warrior, 12 years on the road 100%, then covid hit and that changed and I rolled with the punches. I didn’t go exactly willingly, but I went, because that was the way it was going to be.

I knew I had the travel bug when PSM and I met, I was traveling, then I got on a project in Boston, I wouldn’t be too far from where he lived, and we thought, this will be great, we’ll see each other during the week, yeah…right…well that didn’t happen, traffic in Boston was against that! But…we saw each other every weekend and that was great…we went to the mountains, we did things, we explored, but I wasn’t getting on a plane, and I discovered…I needed to get on a plane every week or every other week at least. Ok, discovery…

Then…we moved to Hawai’i and I was only coming home once a month for the weekend, sometimes a week, but mostly just a weekend, that was hard, but we managed. One advantage, I was able to travel to other places, since I couldn’t fly home, they would still pay for me to fly places for the weekend. I remember landing in Chicago, after being on a 7/8 hour flight from Amsterdam, going through customs wondering where I was going next, and that spoke volumes!

Then covid hit, grounded, everyone on my team thought this would be great! I won’t have to dress for work, I can do meetings in my jammies, well… that wasn’t for me, but the plus side… PSM and I got to find out what it was like to really live together, full time, 100% and it was great! I wanted to travel, of course, but this was quality time. Then… I got back on the road, 2022, I spent in Boston on another project, coming home every other weekend, not great, but we made it work.

I got on another project after that, it lasted a minute, not as long as it should have, I was back on the road, then not…but…it allowed me to be there for the contractors when we moved to PA and take a 3-week motorcycle trip across country, all wonderful. I’ve been on my current contract for over a year now and it’s been great. You know I love training, I really enjoy the people I am working with, but I’m remote on this contract…if I had all the money in the world, wait, I wouldn’t be working if I had all the money in the world, or at least not working for someone else, ha ha, but if I had the money, I might travel to different locations to work, because working remotely…home is where the wifi is!

But… I have digressed a lot… the point of this post…I realized I have the travel bug because while we were flying back to the mainland, a 5+ hour flight, then a second 5 hour flight, all I kept thinking was…where are we going next? When I was flying back from London in November, where am I flying next? No, I don’t want to be a flight attendant, lord love ’em, not for me, but I definitely need/want to be on the road again.

As for personal trips, that involve flying…I have one planned with SDL in April and one with PSM planned for July…it’s January, April is just around the corner and will be here before we know it, who knows what’s going to happen between now and then, but whatever is in the cards for me… I’m ready!

Up…Up…And Away!

{November 13, 2024} November 13…11:40a…A day that changed our lives!

Mid-January 2015, PSM and I exchanged our first email. And so it began…

Throughout the week, we sent each other hello and nice to meet you emails, which morphed into getting to know you, which morphed into science-y pick up lines, I knew he was a bio-chemist by trade, so I started looking for science related pick-up lines, and lord love him, he thought they were hysterical!

Now…ask me what some of them mean, and you will get a blank stare, I still don’t understand some of them! Zippers, chromosomes, “Hey, want to swap oxidation numbers?” Huh? He laughed, and that’s all that matters!

He started sending me computer pick up lines, he knew I was a software trainer. “You’ve stolen the ASCII to my heart.” HA HA HA. See what I mean!

During our email exchange we learned about each other, little things, one or two things I already knew, from the people who introduced us, but I slowly learned a little more, then he did something no guy had ever done, he came up with six ideas for a first date! What guy does that? Well, as I found out, my guy!

We decided on an Irish pub for our first date, which appealed to me immensly, I had just gotten back from Ireland recently, and if you know me, even before I went to Ireland, I have loved all things Ireland! I once stood next to a family at Disneyworld just to listen to them talk to each other! Love!

We decided on a date and January 30th, PSM picked me up for our first date. January 2015 was the year that…no one went to school, work, or got on a plane every Monday that month because it wouldn’t stop snowing!

He picked me up and we went to a local Irish pub, not far from my sister’s house, we had a lovely time, shut the place down, we did, from just talking and learning about each other!

He took me back to my sister’s house, where I was living at the time, we parted company and wanted to see each other again, so we did. About a week later, he joined my sister and brother-in-law, myself, and another couple at her synagoge for some awful mystery dinner theater, it was fabulous! He wore a suit! So cute!

After the performance, we went to an Irish pub, go figure, for a nightcap of hot tea, we were a couple of wild childs! ha ha! While we were there, we talked about another date and I asked when he was going to take me skiiing, well…funny I should ask that. And the following weekend, which…just happened to be Valentine’s Day weekend, he took me to his ski house in Lincoln, NH! Not bad for a third date!

April, he came with my family to Atlantis, in the Bahamas, that’s a huge step! October of that same year, we took a 3-week trip to Europe, we were trying to decide if we wanted to go to Malaysia or Europe. There was a half marathon in Lisbon, Potugal, so…let’s go to Europe! Why not do a half marathon the day after we land?! We traveled to Portugal, Spain, France, and Hungary. This was when we figured out we could travel well together!

January 2016 came, and PSM moved to Hawai’i for work, I started moving my things slowly, I had just signed a year’s lease for my apartment in Boston, I was traveling for work, and I would be there full time, well, my stuff would be! by the time my lease was up.

January 29th, I surprised PSM in Hawai’i for the weekend, that was awesome! He was definitely surpirsed! Then throughout the year, I traveled to Hawai’i, PSM came back to the mainland, we were definitely dating long distance!

Our next big trip came in November 2016, we did a 2 week trip, this time to Iceland, Copenhagen, and Sweden. We were hoping to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, but wouldn’t you know it… we had cloud cover and rain all week, but what an amazing trip!

Then… we go to Copenhagen and wondered what that big glowing yellow ball in the sky was… yup, you guessed it, the sun! We did some touring around, then on Sunday, November 13th, we went to the Round Tower, yes it’s called the Round Tower!

We walked up the steps, those long, wide steps that horses would walk up into the castles. PSM is not a fan of heights, so he stuck to the walls, and when we came to the top, he hung back while I went out and toured the top of the Round Tower.

I was walking the perimeter, came back to where I started, turned, and there was PSM! On one knee!! Yes! On one knee… at the top of a tower!

He said some wonderful things… you can’t expect me to remember what they were! lol, I was being proposed to! I know they were wonderful because whatever he said…I said yes, of course!

We waited a few hours, until our families were up and called them, did a conference call from Denmark! Who can say that?! Engaged at the top of a tower and made a conference call from Denmark! One amazing moment after another!

Where was he keeping the ring?! We were together the whole time, I never saw the box! Was it in his pocket the whole time? He traveled from Hawai’i to Boston to Iceland with it in his pocket! And a funny part…I had gotten a manicure before we left! I had no idea it was going to happen, but I was ready, just in case, go figure!

We spent the rest of the trip as an engaged couple! I kept staring at my hand and my…fiancé! Yes, my fiancé! Has a nice ring to it…

And then we were back in the states, it was the week of Thanksgiving, we met with different friends and family at different events and I would casually throw my left hand out, I know…way subtle JJ! And…I had something, new, fabulous, and wonderful to be thankful for this year!

And that…my friends, is the story of how I was proposed to at the top of a tower in Denmark. Not too shabby. Happy engagement anniversary PSM. I love you lots.

{November 5, 2024} Today I voted! What’s your super power?!

I know I’m no super hero, but do I have super powers? You bet I do! [And i think I may have used the same post title in the past, who cares!] And you do too! We have the power to make a change, to make a difference!

No, I am not going to tell you who I voted for, it’s honestly no one’s business but my own. Besides, I don’t want to sway you one way or the other, if we’re friends, you might know who I voted for, and if you don’t, I’m ok with that. It’s funny, I have a Facebook account, but I’m rarely on it, but…when I was on it, more actively, you could probably tell, just by some of the posts I liked, what I thought.

We got up, normal time, 6am, although, truth be told, I was up about 430am, par for the course, but we were up at 6am, got ready and headed out the door at 630am. The best part about where we live, at least for today, we hare less than a quarter mile from our voting place, loverly! When we lived in St Louis, we were less than half a mile, we’ve been lucky.

We decided to drive, just in case it was cold, one of us could sit in the truck, take turns staying warm. Luckily, there were spots in front, and when we got there, there were only about 15 people in line. Nice! As the morning progressed, well, the time between 630am, when we arrived and 7am, when they opened the doors, the line got bigger and bigger. By the time they opened the door, the line was around the building, very glad we got there when we did.

We walked in, they verified our IDs/addresses, gave us slips of paper, then we walked to the next table, got our paper ballots, and someone showed us where to sit. The setup was tables and chairs, with white trifolds creating a barrier between you and the people next to you. Each side of the barrier has an American flag and the word Vote on it, and there was a manilla folder taped to the desk/table, to ensure your pen marks would take on the ballot.

Once you completed filling in the little circles, kind of like a statewide exam from when we were in school, you take your paper to a BMD, Ballot Marking Device, a machine you slide your paper ballot into and it tracks your vote.

Then…once you feed your ballot to the machine, you get the coveted I Voted sticker! That sticker is now attached to my tablet cover, I voited!

No matter which way you face, lean, think, or vote, it’s important that we get out there and do just that, vote, make our voices heard. Whether the side we want wins or loses, we voted, our voices were heard, we counted, and that’s what matter, we spoke up and said something. Ever since I was old enough to vote, I made sure that I was able to, and I’m so very glad I have that opportunity.

Did you vote? I sure did, and that’s my super power. What’s yours?!

{August 17, 2024} Thank you Mt Gretna Arts Festival for making my garden grow!

That was a mouthful, yes indeed! Today, it was supposed to rain all day, and it rained in the morning, then let up in the afternoon and after talking to PSM, I decided to head to the Mt Gretna Arts Festival, turns out they were celebrating their 50th year of the festival, perfect!

I thought about taking the bike, but I wasn’t sure if the rain would hold off, so I dropped the top on Annie and headed out. I went to where the parking and shuttle buses were and decided to keep going to the festival itself. I got there, Mt Gretna is not a very big place and I didn’t have $10 for parking, nor did I wish to pay the $10 for parking, so…I turned around and went back to where the shuttle buses were, parked for free and hopped on the big yellow school bus with the rest of the folks, and back to Mt Gretna we went!

It felt like a very long ride, it was nice, through the woods, but seemed to take forever, especially when compared to coming back to the car, it was about a 5 or 7 minute drive back… they dropped us off and I was trying to find the crafter vendors, but I wasn’t sure where they were, those are the less expensive artists and creators, those that probably weren’t up for paying the more expensive booth fees to be in the festival, so I paid the $15 and went in.

Last year, we stayed outside and just walked around the crafter vendor section, this time I was on the inside and it was lovely. There were food tents, alcohol tastings and sales, the local shops were open, and the artists had their creations on display. The nice thing was, since it had rained all night and some of the morning, the temperature was very comfortable, as opposed to last year! It’s mid August, after all!

I strolled up and down the aisles, it wasn’t a huge arts festival, so I think I made it around in about an hour, maybe hour and a half, and that’s not stopping at every booth, I looked, but not everything is my jam, so I moved on from those. I was a bit peckish and happy to find the Oasis food truck with their terrific acai bowls! I remember them from last year and acai bowls make PSM and I homesick for Hawai’i, PSM even said when we go back, that’s all he’s having for breakfast every day!

If you don’t know what an acai bowl is, it’s like heaven in a dish. It’s healthy and you feel like you’re getting something bad, let me ‘splain! An acai bowl has frozen acai berries on the bottom, it’s more like in sorbet form. Then it’s topped with some goodness, traditionally it’s fruit like, well, what I had, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, granola, and honey. I also added some peanut butter. Let’s just say Y U M! The hard part is getting to the acai at first, and it’s frozen, so not easy to get into, but…once you get to it, after eating some of the fruit out of the way, you can start scooping the acai with the fruit… yeah, just yum. And filling!

Ok, back to the festival. I was eating my acai bowl, listening to Broadway musicals, walking in and out of some booths, being careful to not spill or bump into anything or anyone while I was eating! I really enjoyed myself, Mt Gretna is so pretty, I think I told you about it last year, but if not… it’s this cute area, in the woods, or at least a wooded area, the streets are narrow, the population is about 200, if that, and some of the houses are residences and a lot of them are rentals. It is so charming to just walk the area, the houses are decorated just so, there are statuary and installations in peoples yards, it definitely lends to the atmosphere for the arts festival.

There was also a band playing here and there, the No Last Call Street Band! They were so much fun! Have a listen!

I didn’t buy much, just a few things, can’t tell you all of them! I did buy a t-shirt from the festival, but what I did buy… we’re adding to the flower box! I bought a metal sunflower, sorry PSM, from one of the shops, and then from the artists, I bought a dragonfly made from steel with glad beaded eyes, a flower made from spoons, and a beautiful glass flower. What I love is that I’m making my garden bloom and there is no chance I’m going to kill any of these flowers… unless Mother Nature has her way and blows them down, but…I think I got them in the flower box pretty well. I hope you like what I’ve grown, I walked by in the evening and the way the sun was hitting the flowerbox, everything really…well… it makes me smile, I hope it does the same for you!

And with that…I bid you farewell, gotta pretend to go to sleep, work in the AM! The dogs are waiting to snuggle, sigh. G’night!

{July 11, 2024} What are your daily walks like?

It doesn’t happen every day, but it happens often enough! I take the dogs for a walk every morning, then, as long as it’s not blistering hot, I take them for a walk in the afternoon/evening. They are ready to go about 5p, that’s when we were taking them, just after we finished work. And when you’re working remotely, it’s easy to keep to a schedule!

Now, they don’t nudge as much if we don’t go for a walk at 5p on the dot, but… they know, after the walk, it’s either a treat or dinner! Very smart individuals! So…I take them for their walk and all is fine and dandy and all of a sudden, the play fighting/wrestling begins. The first time I saw it, it scared me, if you recall, I grew up with cats, yes, they could fight, but it didn’t sound like this! Now that I think about it, cats have their own screech and attack sounds!

Well… they start doing this and there is no stopping them! They do it in the backyard, go for it, they do it in the house, go for it! When we were living in the hotel last year while house hunting, their favorite time to do it, not just the parking lot, but as we were walking into the hotel, ‘can we please move so people can come in/get out?!’ or, my favorite, just in front of the elevators! ‘can you hold off, just until we get to the room, then you can eat each other’s heads if you want!’ sometimes that worked, sometimes I just have to say ‘Ok, STOP! Not here!’ does that work? um… what do you think?!

Now, on our walks through the neighborhood, the road we live on is a main drag and people treat it like a thoroughfare! They drive 50/60/70 miles per hour or more, it’s not a place, when it’s crazy busy, that I even like trying to get across the street to get the mail. Yup, I live in a place where the mailboxes are on one side of the road, new to me too! I do my level best to stop them when they want to do it on the main drag, when we’re on one of the other streets…like in the pics and video below…have at it! I will even let go of the leashes so they can have fun!

Check out the video, they sound vicious! Especially Ruby, but… you’ll notice that Bee is on her back, exposing her belly, she wouldn’t if she wasn’t into it and do you see her jump up and ‘attack’ Ruby to keep going?! Then the kisses at the end?!

What’s your morning walk look like?!

And her is our afternoon walk, we’re on the side road that people treat like another speedway, that’s why you can see my grip on the leashes. They really do love this!

Ruby looks so vicious when the video starts! But you can see how much they love it! Bee instigates, then Ruby instigates, then Bee, then Ruby, then…

And your afternoon walk?

These two crack me up! We got so very lucky with them, they are strange ducks, but they’re our strange ducks and we love them very much. And you know what…we wouldn’t have it or them any other way!

G’night!

{June 14, 2024} Au Revoir Nova Scotia…Bonjour New Brunswick!

Wow, we’re coming up on the last two days of our trip! How does that happen? It feels like just yesterday we were loading up the bikes, hitting the road and meeting a rainstorm in NY. Well…here we are Day 8, if we’re talking the start of the trip in Vermont/New Hampshire, or Day 9, the day we started out, well…either way, we’re still here in Tatamagouche, well, at least for breakfast!

PSM and I were up early, go figure…so, we got dressed and decided to walk…the 800 meters into town, yes, you heard right, the 800 meters into town. I am so looking forward to getting back to the states, I can do feet and miles, I’m terrible at meters and kilometers! The only conversions I can do is 5k [3.1 miles], 10k [6.2 miles], 15k [9.1 miles], and do you know why… those are all race lengths I have participated in! After that, I’m done! ha ha

Well…PSM and I took a lovely walk into town, and along the way we did see the strangest thing…a house on stilts…yup, you heard right, a house on stilts…they were raising it up from the basement. When one of the guys saw me taking a pic, he said “yeah, never thought I’d see that ever either!” interesting…It really was a lovely little walk, started off on the cooler side and very quickly heated up, yeah, we made it to the brewery in about 5 minutes and quickly turned around and went back to the hotel!

Since it was still early, we got a cup of coffee for PSM and a chai latte for me, and an oat bar and a strawberry/rhubarb bar, y u m! We relaxed a bit, then had one last stroll around the place while we waited for everyone else to get up. I really loved this hotel, so serene and peaceful!

We loaded up the bikes, headed to the Chowder House in downtown Tatamagouche, not a very long trip to get there. The place is a favorite with locals, the food was ok, what they got right, and it was open, the best part! Our bodies were fueled, then we headed out of town, stopped at the petrol station to fuel our bikes, then we were on our way!

We had a lovely ride along some wonderful long and winding roads, stopping once in a while to look at the view. Our goal for the next big stop was the Bay of Fundy. Per Google ‘The Bay of Fundy lies between Canada’s Nova Scotia and New Brunswick provinces, and touches the U.S. state of Maine. It’s known for extremely high tides, as at spots like New Brunswick’s Hopewell Rocks. These eroded “flowerpot” formations stand in water or on dry land, depending on the time of day.’

When PSM and I first met, I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday weekend, he wanted to go to The Bay of Fundy…did I know what that was? Of course not! But we were going…we took the ferry from Portland, ME to Yarmouth, NS, same place we docked this time, but the last time, we went up to Hull’s Harbor, part of the Bay of Fundy, so we could see the tidal pools and walk out on the ocean floor. Ah-Mazing!!!

This time, where we stopped…the computers all went down, so we couldn’t get in. All good, almost the entire ride we were riding along the Bay of Fundy…you just had to look to your right and it was dry where it should have been wet! Stunning!

We pulled over for petrol and to use the facilities and MMH and I were wearing short sleeves and we were loving life. Somewhere on the ride, after we crossed the province line into New Brunswick, someone turned off the heat and cranked the AC! What?! We were ffffrrrreeeezing! I had goose bumps on my goose bumps! It was crazy!

I was SO very happy to see the hotel! Never so happy! That sweatshirt came out quicker than you can say bonjour! We were now in St John, New Brunswick , Bienvenu, welcome! Merci beaucoup! We checked into the hotel, a few of us decided to go to the local Harley Davidson dealership, gotta get a t-shirt after all! We were mis-informed…it wasn’t a dealership, it was a motorcycle shop that had bikes and some gear, but not a Harley place. Back to the hotel we went!

CDH and MMH went off to meet family and that left PBP, PSM, LDL, and I. I found the Pub Down Under, it was literally down under the hotel, go figure! Away we went! It was close, we didn’t have to get back on the bikes and my sweatshirt was enough!

The place was packed, bikers and non-bikers alike, those coming off the Cabot Trail, those heading towards it. We had some food and drink, talked to other bikers, made some friends, and regaled each other with fun stories, just took it easy and talked about what time to get started in the AM, we were heading back to the U S of A.

Everyone went back to their rooms, I caught up with a few people, then I came upstairs to talk to you and now friends, I am finally warming up! I am going to get into bed and pretend to sleep, it’s time to ride home tomorrow, not sure how far we’re going to get, but we’ll be home by Sunday.

So to you I say… g’night!

{June 13, 2024} Tatamagouche… Here we come!

Baddeck, NS was fabulous, the Cabot Trail… stunning…the Cabot Trail Motel…relaxing…but it’s time to bid all that farewell…and where are we headed to? Why Tatamagouche, NS of course! Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it either, but now…love it! Come ride with us!

One last sunrise, in Baddeck, don’t get dramatic! and one last walk to the water from the Cabot Trail Motel, that view! We loaded up the bikes and headed into Baddeck for one last meal in this town.

We went to another place on my list, the High Wheeler Cafe & Bakery, it wasn’t open early enough yesterday…resort towns, I tell ya! What a charming and tasty place to have breakfast! Good bagels, made in house, and being from NYC, I am a bit of a bagel snob, I’m ok admitting it! I had a very good chai tea latte and also ordered some of their specialty cookies, oat cakes with peanut butter, covered in chocolate…someone in the line raved about them, so of course, we needed some! We had a lovely breakfast, good conversation, route discussions, looking at photos from the day before and then…it’s time to hit the road.

We ride for a bit on the Cabot Trail and then we are on other roads. It’s a beautiful day, we’ve got some sun, warmth, cool breezes, it feels great. After a few hundred miles, we are in Tatamagouche! Ok, now it’s toasty! but we are at our destination, the Tatamagouche Brewing Company, perfect! It’s an open space, very dog friendly, they have tables made from barrels from Glenora Distillery, how cool is that. They have drinks, food, stickers, and magnets, what more do you want?! We chat with other bikers hanging at the brewery and then it’s time to get back on the bikes for the very long 3 minute trek to the hotel!

We are staying at the Train Station Inn, rooms available May through October, it was meant to be! The 5th most unique hotel in the world really is! It was built in 1887, in 1950 it was a bustling hub, in 1974 Jimmie LeFresne saved the train station from demolition, he had loved the station as a kid, worked there when he got older and bought it in 1974, in 1989 the Train Station Inn opened and it’s still running today!

This place transports you when you roll onto the property, you’re at a train station, and we get to stay here?! I would say all the little touches, and there are, but it’s the bones that make it. The 9 train cars, the lounge car, and the dining car, the greenery, the garden, the signposts, every detail!

There are nine train cars you can stay in, some sleep 2, some sleep 4, some sleep 8, the options are endless! We were in Caboose #10, we had a living room with a fold-out sofa, a kitchenette, a loft area with a table, a decent sized bathroom, and an enormous bedroom with a king sized bed, I think it was actually California King! We rolled and rolled and rolled and never touched each other! ha ha, the bed was huge! I can’t wait to sleep in it tonight!

But it’s not time to get in bed, there is exploring to do! The cafe with breakfast, lunch, baked goods, and beverages, the gift shop, the train memorabilia, the outdoor bar and seating area, play area for the kids, everywhere you look there is a trinket or treat to grab your attention!

We met in the lounge/conservatory car, chatted for a bit about the day and the hotel, and tried our peanut butter-oat cake-chocolate goodness, they had melted in the saddle bag, go figure, but I had put them in the freezer so they were a treat! We also shared them with some kids who were in the lounge with us.

We were able to go into the dining car a little earlier than our reservation, and settled in for a treat! Drinks, starters, a wonderful salad with goat cheese and edible flowers for me, dessert, and great conversation with us and then the people sitting behind us, who were celebrating their friend getting married. It’s nice to talk to someone in your same age group who’s getting married, we don’t meet that many people in that situation, it was fun!

We left the dining car, everyone else went to the bar to get some drinks while it was still open, I went to the cafe and got myself an evening chai latte, and PBP went to get his tin of Left-Right-Center, we were in for a fun evening!

LCR, I know it’s Left-Right-Center, but when you abbreviate, it seems to work better for LCR! PSM and I learned to play last year on the bike trip, we haven’t played since, it’s a lot of fun! It’s a dice game, we played with $3 for each person, you roll the dice and follow what the outcome is. L > give the person on your left $1, R > give the person on your right $1, C > put $1 in the center pot and if you get a dot…you don’t have to do anything. Now… you might have nothing left and someone rolls the die and you end up with something!

We were having a great time! PSM and I both said we’ve never won and guess what… PSM won a round and O M G! I won 4 rounds! I couldn’t believe it! It was fun, when I won one round, if someone needed the $3 to start, I gave them the $3, then each round was like that, it was so goofy and when it was over, I won the pot! We can’t say we never win anymore! Looking forward to the next time!

And now friends…it’s been a very long day and tomorrow…we say adieu to Nova Scotia, leaving one province for another, New Brunswick, here we come! So to you, my friends, I say g’night!

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