For old time's sake, we ate a late lunch at the Swiss Chalet when we arrived in London. The chicken is damn good there though I still don't understand the dipping sauce. To me, it's got a really strange flavor. Then we headed to north London because Bill wanted to take the back way to Bob's cottage. We found a Tim Horton's and stopped because it was probably the last one we'd see before getting to the cottage. I had been teasing Bill ever since we were in Windsor about getting Dutchies from Tim Horton's. There are Tim Horton's in the States but they don't sell Dutchies there. Dutchies are Bill's favorite so it was a must-get. I figured that if we got dougnuts then we would at least have something for breakfast because we didn't know what kind of food supplies were at the cottage.

All is going well on our last leg of the drive. The back roads are peaceful and scenic. Lots of cows to see, Amish homesteads start popping up and are interesting to view. Until we are almost there and we come upon several road closings. Then Bill's brain fries. He knows one way to get there and with detours that knowledge gets all thrown out of whack. We started the circling. And we circled and we circled. We circled for a good hour or so and it got dark. I was at the point where I say we need to stop and call Bob but Bill, being the man that he is, kept going. And, true to his grit, he finally figured it out but we had to traverse a block of dug up street behind barriers to get to the road he was familiar with. I had only been there once, ten years ago, so I was no help at all.

After another mile or two, he found the narrow gravel road that led to the cottage and as we pulled up in front of the house the porch light came on. Bob had been there waiting for us. His new wife was in Cuba with her daughter so we wouldn't get to meet her for another three days. He helped us drag our stuff in and then showed us what was in the refrigerator. Ah, there were eggs. Good, we'd have doughnuts and eggs, at least. Oh, and juice. Bob visited with us briefly and then left us to settle in. We were pretty tired so as soon as we got all our gear upstairs and the air mattresses blown up we were in bed. There wasn't air conditioning at the cottage so Bill found the one fan that was there and set it in the room for us to circulate the air. Heat wasn't such a big concern there for the next several days, thankfully. In fact, it got cool enough for Bill to search out one of Bob's flannel shirts to wear during the day. The last day we were there it did get a little humid. We also had mild thunder showers and some rain for a couple of days but it dried off and was pleasant. I didn't even try to go swimming in the lake. I had forgotten my swim shoes but even with those I would have sunk in the mud at the banks way too deeply to be able to get up out of the water. The dock had a ladder but it was a straight up and down one that my poor knews could no way in hell get up. I spent most the time in the cottage, actually, because I didn't want to battle the huge mosquitos. I could have put on mosquito spray, yes, but didn't feel like being dowsed in the chemicals.

There's only one good thing about Canadian mosquitos. They are twice a big as the ones that I'm used to so they fly slower and are much easier to catch in mid-air with my hand. Bob has a great screened-in porch on the side of the cottage but the screen door had multiple gaping holes in it. As we sat there that first morning eating our scrambled eggs, old coffee and Tim Horton doughnuts, Bill said that he was going to fix the screen. Sure enough, he did the very day after we had been to town and visited the hardware store. They let me off at the grocery store so I could stock up with what I wanted us to eat for the next several days. Somehow it came down to me cooking for everyone which would also include Fiona, Bob's youngest daughter. It seemed odd but I didn't mind. Seemed foolish to drive to town to eat dinner every night. We did eat out once. At a great little Greek restaurant that Bob liked to frequent. We can't get good Greek food around here so I had put in my request to go to one while there. Virginia, Bob's new wife, was home and was able to go with us that night.

It was fun to be in a Canadian grocery store again. It wakes up my brain to see such different products on the shelves. I pieced together the ingredients for several meals--chili, homemade pizza, and bratwurst and corn plus picked up lunch supplies and more fruit. Bob had provided milk and homemade bread, which was very moist and tasty, for us before we got there. I didn't see the turkey bacon and lunch meats in the refrigerator until I was putting my supply of like stuff in the refrigerator when we back at the cottage. The only thing I had a hard time finding at the store was corn meal but I finally found it. That was so Canadian of them not to have it readily visible. Don't think Canadians are as fond of cornbread as we are in the States. Well, I know Bill isn't.

So, I cooked for two meals and sat around talking with Bob, Bill and Fiona, whom Bob had brought out with him so she could see her Uncle Bill. She went home the first night but then she stayed overnight with us the second night. We didn't mind her staying out there so she did for several nights but not on the last night we were there. I pretty much went between the screened porch, the kitchen and the living room where I lounged on the couch while reading my book and trying to get over the weariness of the last several activity-filled and exciting days. It was very relaxing at the cottage, as it should be. Right? What with the near solitude, the water placidly lying in front of you although the view to the lake was pretty much blocked by two tall birch trees, no TV, and no computer. There was a phone but who was going to call us but Bob.

On the third day there, we got to meet Virginia. We traveled into town to her house. Bob was in the process of selling his house and had moved in with her. They had married in January. It was a lovely split level home and I could feel the love that was there. Virginia was lovely to meet and I felt an instant connection with her and she told me she felt the same back. She had an inground pool in her yard and even though I knew it would be cold I wanted to go in it. So, I asked them how long must one be socially polite before one can ask if they can go in the pool. They laughed and said any time. So, I changed into my swimsuit. You know me, I can't pass up the presence of a pool. Virginia got her suit on, too, and we both got in. I dove in and came up shivering. Wow! Talk about cold. We gravitated towards the shallow end where the steps were and began talking. Bill and Bob sat up by the house and talked. She was much more open and friendly than a lot of Canadians I had ever met. I must say that I truly enjoyed that. She had known Bob's first wife, Carol, because they all went to the same church together so it was interesting to be able to talk about her. Carol had died three years ago from cancer. I shed some new light on "the boys"--as she called them--and their background that she delighted in hearing. It was all a bit odd but refreshing. I mean in the sense of seeing Bob in a new light and reacting to a different person in his life. It was nice to see. Then that was the night that we went to the Greek restaurant. Fiona joined us there.

The next day Viginia came out with Bob and Fiona. At noon, Bob had to take Fiona to a doctor's appointment so that left us alone with Virginia to get acquainted more. It was a time that we all really enjoyed. I made homemade pizza for them all that night. Fiona helped me with the toppings. They were all much too nice to me raving about how great it tasted but it was nice for my ego. They had spent the afternoon raking lake grass away from the dock so they were all just pretty hungry.

My director's chair decided to give up the ghost while I was there. It started ripping on the side and over the next day it ripped more. I was afraid to sit in it so I put it aside and would have to squeeze my fat thighs into the small plastic patio chairs there. Bill had shown Bob the wonders of plastic wire ties so while I was in the kitchen making up some lunch or something Bob put wire ties around the fabric on my chair and the metal tube it was attached to. I thought that was pretty funny. I sat cautiously in it and it held. For a bit. I was on the alert the whole time I was sitting in it and then all of a sudden. Ri-i-i-i-i-i-p!!! I was quick enough to get myself on my feet before falling through to the floor. Virginia said I was pretty quick with my reflexes. I told her I had been anticipating that. The fabric ripped almost in the middle that time. It didn't surprise me. I had bought that chair ten years ago at Canadian Tire so it was about time it had weakened.

Then it was Thursday morning and time to go home. We got our things packed in the car quicker than when we had left. Bob was going to come out to see us off but we called him at 9:00 and said we were ready to go so he didn't have to bother coming out. It was an enjoyable stay but we were looking forward to getting back to our comfy beds and our bidet, as I explained in the first part of this trilogy. We didn't even eat breakfast. I wanted to have breakfast at Archie's in London so that's where we headed. That had become our favorite place to eat when we had had to go to London to get Bill's physical done for his Permanent Residency for the U.S. I don't remember eating there when we lived there. We enjoyed the breakfast platter immensely although the sausage links had that Canadian taste that I never did like. Next we stopped at the Canadian Tire next door to see if they had another pool mattress for our pool. They did but I was so incredibly tired that I felt sick walking through the store. Bill made one more stop to pick up a flannel shirt at Mark's Warehouse. He was in and out in a flash and had bought what he wanted. I was grateful that Bill wanted to drive because I didn't think I could stay awake to do it. I hadn't slept as well that last night for some reason.

I don't know whether it was good or bad that I had gotten my birth certificate like I did. The custom's officer in the line we got in to cross the border was a stickler. It was taking twice as long for our line to move as all the others. I kept telling Bill the guy was a stickler. When we got up there, Bill handed over his driver's license, birth certificate and PR card. The guy examined them thoroughly. Then he asked me what nationality I was and Bill told him American. They guy kept ducking down to see what we had in our car and he scrutinized me several times. I finally offered over my driver's license and the guy looked in our car again and looked at me long and hard. I finally said that I had my birth certificate, too, and he said to pass it over. He studied it and then asked where was I born. "Columbus, Ohio," I answered. He studied it some more and was quiet for a minute then he said, "This is a copy of your certificate." So I told him how I had forgotten it and had stopped at a friend's house in Gahanna and we were able to get my birth certificate faxed to me. That's why it was a copy. He thought for a few more moments and then asked "Where were you born at?" I wasn't sure at first what he meant. Gee, I was thinking, I had already told him Columbus. Then I realized that he wanted the name of the hospital and I was able to spit out, "White Cross Hospital." He held the document in his hands still and contemplated my answer as if he was sad that I had answered correctly and then asked, "Do you have anything to declare." No, we didn't. Then he handed all of our documents back to us and said we could go through. "Sheeesh, wonder what was up his butt," I said to Bill once we were safely passed. And then, "Yeh, he's a stickler."

As always when on I-75 close to Toledo, traffic slows down. This time we got stuck on the Michigan side only twenty-six miles from Toledo. It was all because of a lane reduction. That was it. It took us two hours to go four miles. I kid you not. We didn't come upon an exit for four miles but as soon as we saw one we took it and went to the nearest gas station for directions. A lot of other people had the same idea. It worked, though. I got directions down a side road and we were back on the freeway ahead of the jam.