The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

We didn't bring any shorts!

And we didn't bring any shorts with us on this trip, because we didn't expect the temperature to get up to 27C (81F). But that's what happened here in Ottawa yesterday, and when things get warm in Ottawa, there is usually fairly high humidity... so it gets muggy too.

But, we're okay with that. Still, it would have been nice to have a pair of shorts on instead of jeans!

Definitely not normal for this time of year, although it was not a record breaking day... missed it by a fraction of a degree or so.

And today is supposed to be warm as well, but comfortable, with a high of 23C (74F). We'll take it.

Yesterday morning, I spent some time cleaning the windows at Ruth's dad's place. Ruth has been going through the kitchen cupboards getting rid of stuff that is no good anymore and cleaning the cupboards themselves. Reminder to everybody... this is what happens when you don't plan for your old age... the work then gets left up to your kids! Ruth's dad was too stubborn to clean up and sell the house while he could still do it himself, and now it's Ruth and her brother's job to do just that.

And, we've also been going through the Rubbermaid storage containers that we have in the basement. When we sold our house in 2007, we had a dozen or so bins where we kept stuff that we didn't want to get rid of, but every time we come back to Ottawa we go through them and get rid of more stuff. Most of it, we wonder why we kept it to begin with!

From my grandmother.

One of the bins contained some china that had belonged to my grandmother. We don't see any point in keeping it. Nobody else in the family is interested in it either, and it's not worth any more than a hundred dollars or so, and that's only if you can find somebody willing to pay that much! It will get donated to my mother's church rummage sale.

After lunch, we drove in to Ottawa to the seniors residence where my mother lives. We were scheduled to do a 2:00pm presentation on Mexico. There were about a dozen residents who showed up, and they enjoyed the slide show I had put together. While talking about the different areas, it occurred to me that we know an awful lot about Mexico!

My mother's building is located on the Ottawa River, so when we were finished there, Ruth and I went out for our power walk. It's flat, but we kept up a good pace despite the warm weather. We did just over 4 kms (2.6 miles) in 42 minutes.

Westboro Beach.

The Ottawa River.

On the other side of the river is the province of Quebec.

The beach.

Then, back up to Ruth's dad's place where we watched the Red Sox take care of the Yankees. I do miss watching baseball, so it's good to be able to take in some of the playoff games.

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Great deal on a combo smoke detector...


And in Canada...




12 comments:

  1. You missed a beauty on the West Coast as well, I think it made 20 degrees here. I am one of those guys and am refusing to put the shorts away! We are and will be having the same dilemna with parents possesions here and it makes for some very tough decissions. Our kids want nothing from the grandparents or us so I guess it will all wind up at Salvation Army stores.

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    1. It was a beauty of a day here as well and so was yesterday. :-) We were traveling really, really light so we just took the bare minimum in clothing. Hopefully it won't be long and we will be back to wearing shorts.

      I am actually quite happy that our children don't want our stuff, if means that they aren't going to get all caught up with having too much "stuff". They are both very good at staying with the basics. And, we of course have made their lives easier when we get to that stage of life, they will have hardly anything to go through. :-)

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  2. You guys sure do know an awful lot about México! I still have yet to take my rig there.

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    1. We like to think that we do but there are still so many places that we haven't made it to yet. Just like Canada and the States, Mexico is a very big country with some fantastic scenery, history and places to see.

      So when are you going to take your rig down, and put all the Spanish that you have been learning to use?

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  3. The problem with "stuff" is that after a while it owns you. Purge!!! Enjoy the warm weather while you can.

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    1. It only owns you if you let it!

      We are enjoying the weather but it is funny that right now the temperatures are like the middle of summer but they are calling for below freezing temperatures on Friday night with the chance of snow flurries. Welcome to Canada! :-)

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  4. Happy Late Thanksgiving! Unfortunately often family has to deal with the "stuff" that others don't want to deal with. I don't really get attached to much but that is likely because Mom used to be a pack rat. After she downsized she seems to be able to get rid of things much more easily now - but it is a constant process

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    1. Thank you and we hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! :-)

      You are right, many of us are the ones having to sort through all the stuff belonging to our parents and of course we don't their "stuff". I think now that our generation is older we are starting to realize that this "stuff" just isn't as important in our lives anymore and then of course it works it's way down to the generation below us where many of them are becoming minimalists or just wanting to live their lives more simply.

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  5. I am with you on getting rid of stuff. We had to do that and in the end, nobody wanted boxes of old shoes, glass jars, plastic bags, and other b.s.

    We live in a consumer society. The more stuff the wealthier you are. Why not only buy quality built furniture and a couple of paintings for the walls? It would take time to accumulate it because of money but then there would be things of quality, value and maybe history that would make it worth passing on. I can't wait to move again, we're eliminated years of accumulated junk.

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    1. Yep, it is incredible about the amount of "stuff" we as a society have. We are really glad now that we can live a wonderful life with so little stuff!

      I remember when we were preparing to sell our house that I wasn't looking forward to going through our things, and we were really good a keeping our clutter to a minimum but there was still lots to get rid of. When I started sorting through the stuff, I remembered all of a sudden how liberating is was to start getting rid of all this "stuff". :-)

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  6. We enjoyed 3 days of summer temps as well here in Dorset Ontario! And right during the height of the fall colours. Magnificent!

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    1. We have had the same here in Ottawa but today (Saturday) it is cold but at least it is sunny. :-)

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