We are just back from an 8-day visit north to visit family. We drove a total of 1001 miles! My mom has had some back problems but seems to be doing much better now. Last Sunday we drove north as far as Collingwood, staying over before continuing on next day to Sudbury. We came home express yesterday. There is road construction on Hwy 69 north of Parry Sound, so we opted for an alternate route north on Monday. Our return was on a Sunday and there was no construction delay.
We visited a lot of breweries and cafes, some of them new to us. Our trunk carried a fresh supply of good ales back home, now chilling in the dark basement. Munro Meadery is closed on Sundays (!??!), much to our surprise. So we moved on and made our first visit to St. Mary's, a small city north of London. Known for its rock quarries, the small downtown is thus known for its historic stone buildings. We stopped at Snapping Turtle Coffee for lunch and a pound of beans. We strolled the downtown on a quiet Sunday, with only restaurants open. A small railroad station building just outside of town serves as home base for Broken Rail Brewery. We made a quick stop before moving on towards Collingwood.
Broken Rail Brewery, St Mary's.
Collingwood is home to several breweries. We are familiar with two of them, and added a third on this trip. Side Launch Brewing is an enormous place, and their live music event this Sunday afternoon was very well patronized. They were selling plenty of beer on a magnificent day of weather. We picked up some ales before checking into the Comfort Inn, perfectly situated for our next two breweries. Endswell Beer might be our favourite Ontario pub, with real English style ales on hand pull and excellent vegan pizzas. We settled in for a late afternoon session, greatly enjoying the atmosphere (it's very small and cozy) and summer breeze from the open doors. 100 meters away is Northwinds Brewhouse. We had a flight here and left with a few cans.
Next day we headed off to North Bay, with Trestle Brewery our first stop. Here we had to decide whether to take a roundabout route to Sudbury or try our luck with road construction delays. We chose the roundabout route and scored big. Hwy 124 between Parry Sound and Sundridge is a beautiful rural drive, passing many lakes and a most impressive dam and waterfall. We joined Hwy 11 and followed it to North Bay, discovering Gateway Brewing, an-all vegan brewery. We picked up some cans of ale and pushed on towards Sudbury, following Hwy 17 (Trans-Canada Highway) west. We stopped for coffee and some sight seeing at Sturgeon Falls before arriving at the Maple Street family home. My brother Steve lives there with his wife Lynne and daughter Emma-Lee in a downstairs apartment, while Mom lives upstairs. She is very well looked after by the family. She was still in hospital rehab when we arrived, so we went next day to visit her with Emma-Lee. Mom was ready to come home and had been promised to be released on Wednesday.
Mom did come home Wednesday morning and we got to visit with her there for four days. We watched some TV with her, including two movies and a 7-part series on Netflix. We also managed to get her to play a round of Carcassonne with us, and she easily beat both me and Deb. Deb and I enjoyed daily walks, largely uphill and downhill in Sudbury, as well as coffee at Beard's Bakery (all vegan) and then downtown at Kuppajo Espresso Bar. We paid a quick visit to 46 North Brewery for some take home cans. We also had some interesting talks with Emma-Lee, who will be a high school senior next year and is trying to decide what to do with her life.
All in all it was good to get back home to Amherstburg. Of the past 6 weeks we have been away for 3 of them. Deb is in the middle of a new film and I am trying to memorize a piano program. We both need to focus for the next month at least.
We got some news from Amanda, who is moving into her own apartment for the first time. She lives in Toronto and has finally had enough of house sharing, at least for now. Wishing her the very best with all that extra room she will soon have all to herself! I would expect some book collecting might commence, among other things.
Turning finally to recently watched movies, we saw A Haunting in Venice from 2023, one of three Poirot films directed by Kenneth Branagh. He also plays the role of Poirot. Though it's a typical Agatha Christie mystery plot (choose the least likely suspects and they will turn out to be the criminals), it is very stylish with beautiful photography in Venice. Though we are promised a haunting, what we get is a pretty much down to earth murder mystery story. It's still fun, if not too memorable.
Next came the 4th Ghostbusters movie, Frozen Empire from 2024. It's not a great entry in the series, being mostly standard by now. New York is threatened by an ancient evil spirit that talks very much like most ancient evil spirits, and even acts like them, too. The city is also threatened by a mayor who wants to be rid of the Ghostbusters. I wish they had left and gone to Cleveland for awhile, leaving New York on its own to fight the great evil. Fun effects, a few snappy lines, with appearances by three of the original cast members to liven thing up even more. Not a favourite with this writer.
Showing on Prime.
Because they get Netflix and we don't, I searched and searched and searched for something to watch that wasn't 9 seasons long. I discovered Queen's Gambit from 2020, an award-winning 7 part series produced by Netflix about a female chess player. Based on a 1983 novel by Walter Tevis, the series was directed by Scott Frank. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as the female chess player out to conquer the world. We follow her progress from ground zero (9 years old and taught how to play by the janitor at the orphanage to which she is sent when her mother dies) to when she wins the world championship in Moscow. It is quite a journey. Though the actual story is somewhat realistic, her win at the end once again proving the superiority of Americans over the rest of us poor shmucks is a bit hard to swallow. Still, we both loved the series and especially the actress. Watch for her outfit near the end, as she dresses like the white chess queen. Highly recommended, even for non chess players.
Mapman Mike
