Perth, Ontario

We decided to take the "scenic" route to Ottawa when we went last week.  Which meant we went round the top of the lake through Orillia, onto Bancroft and stopped off at Perth.  I had seen online that Perth, Ontario was a very pretty town.  Now what we didn't take into account was the lack of bathrooms; people of a certain age need to use the toilet a bit more frequently!!!  Also driving in rain...ALL DAY was not ideal!!!

It was indeed a scenic route and we passed places we hadn't been before.  We arrived in Perth sometime after 1pm, and it was raining and cold.  Due to this Perth wasn't looking it's best.

We had lunch at a place called Gather.  It was okay; overpriced and we wouldn't rush back to there.  We had Moroccan Spiced Cauliflower soup, home made bread roll (best part of the meal) and lemon with a herb butter, and a coffee.  

There were a couple of cute stores I stopped in at.  I took this photo of the calendar tea towel, as this was a blast from the past.  We used to have these growing up in the UK.  I haven't seen one in years.

Although I didn't take any photos I also called in at The Book Nook Bookstore  A really lovely woman running that store.

Perth would be a place I would like to visit again when the weather was nicer.

Ottawa......

We spent a few days in Ottawa last week.  We normally go to the States this time of year, but with what has been coming out of Donald's mouth recently, even I couldn't justify visiting the States, sorry 😟

We have been to Ottawa before but it was probably 25+ years ago.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in downtown Ottawa.  I chose that hotel as it was reasonably priced; I booked through Expedia.  We stayed in room 530 and it was an accessible room, which although we hadn't booked turned out to be a good room to have.

The room was very clean, as was the rest of the hotel. In fact the cleanest hotel we have ever stayed at.

There were numerous grab bars in the bathroom.

The tub was lower down, which made it super easy to step into, when having a shower.

The breakfast, was included and it had a variety of items on offer, both hot and cold.  I will say this was also the best breakfast's I have had in a hotel.  There were three woman (staff) on duty replenishing and keeping everything tidy in the breakfast area.

There was underground parking, which did cost an additional $25 per night, but it was very secure, no one could get into the parking garage without a guest card.  I managed to lose our guest cards one day, so called the hotel right away and they canceled them and reissued others, with no issue and no charge.

If you can walk 20 thousand steps per day, this is the perfect hotel for you, as within a 10 to 20 minute walk you can get to Byward Market, Parliament Buildings, National Gallery of Canada,  Rideau Mall, and Notre Dame Basilica  

The History Museum was probably a 30 + minute walk and The Museum of Nature a 40+ minute walk.  We did not move our car the whole time we were there, and walked everywhere.  I will say my poor feet suffered and by night I was super tired, but the weather was superb while we were there.

Now the negative parts....LOL  The mattress needed replacing, as it was super soft.  Pillows also needed replacing, no support at all.......our own fault we should have brought our own with us.  The a/c was super loud, so we had to turn it off at night, so we could sleep.  Luckily the weather wasn't stinking hot.  All those are minor things which probably wouldn't bother some people.

The biggie though, and probably one of the things most people complained about was the actual location and/or what was located across the road from the hotel.  We followed the GPS and it took us the fastest way which happened to be on Murray Street.  Going down Murray Street you go past many homeless people, which is very off putting to say the least.  It turns out diagonally across the street from the hotel is the Homeless Shelter and numerous agencies that cater to them.  

So, the staff advise you at the hotel to avoid that street, which was easy to do and just don't interact with the homeless.  We never had an issue at all with them.  The majority were so out of it, they probably had no idea we were even close by.  I remember commenting about the homeless when we were in Savannah, and this was just the same.  

There were a lot around the mall; again you just ignored them.  In the market there were a few begging.  We only had one approach us directly and his hand was in a bad way.  I would have paid for a cab to the hospital but I knew I was wasting my money.

If you are very sensitive to be in such an environment then this hotel is not for you.  We don't go out after dark, so we didn't find it a problem for us, and I have seen it before in other big cities.

The roads surrounding the area are also pretty busy, so you do hear a little bit of traffic noise, but not enough to keep you awake; but if it has to be super quiet for you to sleep, again this hotel is not for you.

Would I stay at this hotel again; yes.  It's just unfortunate about the homeless situation, and the staff hear this all the time.  I will say again though, I have never been in such a clean and well presented hotel like this before, really nice.  There was a pool and gym also, but I didn't go to either.

I have many more photos and stories to share about Ottawa in the coming days..........

New Bird Feeder

When my mother came over in the summer, she brought over this bird feeder in the shape of a British telephone box.  The only problem with it was that it was just painted and with the winters we have, it wouldn't have survived the winter.

I finally got around to buying some clear coat to seal the painted surface, so it could with stand the winter weather; or at least last a little longer. 
Very simple to do and took only three spray coats to seal it.

I do need to replace the string  with some wire as it will be easier for me to reach the hanger with a stiff wire, rather than the twine.

Sunday.........

 

(image credit)

Hubby's birthday today, celebrating with family, so a happy day for us.  Hope it's a lovely day for you!

Sorry for the lack of interaction this past week we have been away in Ottawa. Things will be back to normal on Tuesday.

New addition to our Front Porch......

For Father's Day, our son and family, bought him an "Adirondack" chair for the front porch.  As you can see it is a Football/Soccer themed one, in honour of the 2026 world cup.  It's made of a super heavy duty plastic and weighs a ton!!!  Which doesn't make me as worried to leave it on the front porch and someone walking away with it.

As we liked it, son suggested he would buy us a matching Canada one, as our Christmas gift.  We said yes and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

I generally find these Adirondack/Muskoka chairs uncomfortable; however these ones are not as far back and the legs suit my shorter legs....LOL

They are Canadian made and very unique.

Wasp's nest............

 Can you see it?

There it is peeking in between the leaves.......

We go walking past this tree quite often and never noticed it until a couple of weeks ago.  There were plenty of wasps flying around.

I kept well back, as I am not a fan of wasps!

Handkerchief......

 Now that's a word you don't seen used very often nowadays, do you?

It used to be a standard gift for men at Christmas.  Remember getting your dad or grandad them with his initial on them?  My nana always had a cloth hankie up her sleeve or tucked into her waistband of her skirt.  She always used to spit on it, to wipe your face...icky I know!!! 🤣🤣  Now I use the dish cloth on my grand kids!!

The other day I was doing laundry and I pulled one out of the dryer.  Was surprised to see it, and it was one of hubby's.  He had tucked it into his pocket when golfing..........yes I know I didn't check his pockets before throwing his trousers in the wash!!

So as it is cloth, I had to iron it:

Honestly I didn't realize we still had cloth hankies in the house.

Is that something you use or have in your home?