Scribbles.co

clockwise from top left: Doug Farquharson and his wife Sue with Joan, Joan with sister Connie, Joan with girlfriends, hyper Bob Farquharson with his wife Vicki and Joan, Cathy Dick and daughter Mandy, Joan with my crazy cousin Jeanne Prince.

Have Water, Will Travel.

As you no doubt read here or saw in my daily facebook posts for the past week or two, my mother Joan recently enjoyed a visit in her hometown of Renfrew, ON. Although she spent most of her time at her sister Connie's apartment, Joan still managed to see her old friends and nieces and nephews (and their ever-growing families as well.)

Janet McParland and fluffy friend

One of the excursions was a drive to Connie's former home which is now owned by her granddaughter Janet McParland and her husband Bill (recently seen on Scribbles celebrating his birthday.)  The McParlands are sitll in the process of doing a complete reno to the old farmhouse, with the kitchen/dining areas, bedrooms for the couple and their two sons and two upstairs washrooms all complete.

Joan also tried to teach our wee pal Dylan how to blow bubbles with the gum she gave him a piece of. He didn't quite get the hang of it but as she was saying her goodbyes, Dylan said maybe next time she comes he will be able to blow big bubbles for her.

Mom returned -way past her bedtime - in the wee hours of the night via bus and Timmi and I were there to greet her and take her home.  From what she described, mom enjoyed her stay in the Ottawa Valley as expected even getting a chance to provide a sudsy therapeutic scrub to her sister, who by the sounds of it, really enjoyed the V.I.P. treatment...LOL!

Joan did mention how on the bus ride home, everyone had iphones, tablets and laptops and no one spoke a single word to one another.

This was quite different from the last time she had ventured to Renfrew on bus, which was quite some time ago. On that outing, Joan met an elderly lady and they became so chummy by the end of the trip that they exchanged phone and address info and were pen pals for many years afterwards, until the lady passed away.

Gone are those carefree days I'm afraid.

As for my adventures while house sitting at my mom's, I'm working on the story for that which includes a helluva lotta coverage of a squirrel eating peanuts and plenty of apologies to all the folks I did not get a chance to visit while I was in St. Catharines.

That and other new stories and pix will be coming soon.