Julie & Mike - "Fun" Raiser

"Team Neelin" had their Cycle for Care Vietnam fun(d)raiser in beautiful downtown Merrickville last night.

And it was fun!

At the beautiful Mainstreet Family Restaurant. To help them out, go to their web page, link at upper right.

Day started by the roadies getting the band shell set up.

Okay - done.

Looks easy, of course. But with any project of this magnitude, some of the finest engineering minds on the patio were consulted regularly.

Now We're Talking!The boys breathed a sigh of relief when the truck that puts the fun in fundraiser showed up.

Careful, Careful......
Coincidentally - or not - the boys also took a sip of relief just after this.

Puddle Alley band members pondering how to actually get the equipment in the band shell.

Jack FM did a live broadcast from the event.

Here the host explains to the DJ, the veteran Wayne Cavanagh, how to conduct an on air interview.

Here Wayne is thinking, Did he just say that live?

Host is thinking, Oops, was that live?.....

All went extremely well - until the event started.

Actually the weather teased us for quite a while until it finally did come down - in buckets. Just before dinner.

People quickly retreated indoors. And the band quickly figured out this band shell is exactly worth the $62 the host paid for it.

Although at the end, only one true believer remained on the patio. Hidden behind the camera.

You think it's easy b(l)ogging?

But all was not lost.

The rain let up and Puddle Alley avoided all the puddles in the alley and made it back to the stage.

So now by clicking on the link below, you can actually sit back and enjoy the sweet, musical stylings of the one and only Puddle Alley, and feel like you were at the event yourself.

Well actually, to really get closer to that feeling, take your clothes out of the dryer while they are still damp and put them on. Then soak your shoes in a bucket of water. Finally , drink several adult beverages and yell very loud.

You're ready.

So click on "Puddle Alley"and enjoy.



Here the host is informing us that he can drink this wine in one gulp.


Actually, he is informing me that I bought it, that he was actually auctioning it off.

Oh well, blogging is thirsty work....

It's also noisy work.

As here Julie and Mike are thanking everyone for the great evening.

Thanks also to all the staff at Mainsreet and especially to Blaine for cooking the chick chick chicken and to Terri for holding this out of control tornado together!

So this morning our dynamic duo boarded the (24 hour!) flight to Vietnam. Wish them luck. And go to that link in the upper right hand corner......

Very Pretty

I don't know what it/they is/are but they is/are very nice.

Zoom in, eh.

Hey - "Shred-it" Reads My Blog!

Obviously having read my earlier rant post "It Wouldn't Be A Delivery Truck..." and being called out in the Toronto Star "And...We're Back" Shred-it have seen the evil of their ways and are now parking on side streets to shred those confidential memos, that should actually be on Wikileaks anyway.

Red circle and arrow indicates spot on Yonge St where he was the last time.

Before I learned him up!

$23?! Early Bird?

I'd expect an Early Bird parking rate to be something more like five bucks.

Not $23!

But I guess that's Calgary. It has the most expensive parking in Canada at $472/month and second in North America, behind only New York at $541.

Toronto is a real bargoon at only $332/month.

But we are all pikers compared to the rest of the world.

London leads the way at $1,083/month, with no North American even cracking the top ten.

Now, if Canada had London's rate, all sorts of people would be crying about "no affordable parking" and the government would be forced to step in and subsidize it.

Which, once parking owners know the government starts to subsidize stuff, will increase prices even more.

So then the government must kick in more. Vicious cycle...

[Ed note: Okay, get off your soap box.]

Bikes And Cars

Further to the "Pedal With A Purpose" post, our intrepid riders are having a party, a gala, okay a fundraiser at the above restaurant in Merrickville next Tuesday, September 13.

To help them - but more importantly, to help the women and girls of Vietnam - go to "Cycle for Care Vietnam 2011" and donate directly on-line.

All are invited, welcome, okay encouraged to join them for food, fun and frivolity.

And speaking of all three, your author went to the annual Merrickville Car Show a few weeks back with the owner of this very restuarant.

Now based on what I saw, I thought it was called The Antique Car Show.

And almost being one myself, I thought I should know.

However, it is not.

But you be the judge.

There was an entire row of Model A Fords.

This isn't one of them, but they were there, I tell you.

Very cool.....

Also very cool. And my first car!

A 1979 RX-7.

Okay, so this is definitely not an Antique Show. Ha ha, I wouldn't be driving an antique....ha ha....

Maybe a Classic Car Show is more like it....

But looks like age does have its privileges.

And that was enough about cars.

So off to the patios and the frivolity portion of the car show did this author and the Mainstreet owner go.

And go....

And if you come to the Tuesday Maintstreet gala, you will see more of this.

And this.

How can you say "No"?

They Look Lovely, Don't They?

Then They Had To Go And Ruin It
Knee highs?

Knee highs? What kind of name is that for a plant? Yeck!

I've always maintained that the most effective form of birth control ever invented were - knee highs.....

Two Snaps Up!

As seen in a Toronto subway ad.

[For those not of a certain age, see "Men On Film" for background on the Snaps Up reference......]

Pedal With A Purpose

Just when you think my buddy Mike's harebrained bicycle trips couldn't get any more, well, harebrained, oops, he's doing it again.

So what's he been up to lately?

Well, he just finished a 12 day trip down the California coast this spring. Then a short while ago he did a gruelling 32 day adventure pedaling from Ottawa to Key West.

"So what crazy thing is he doing this time?" you ask?
"Pedalling across China? Snork, snork."

Close - Vietnam.

With his who-I-used-to-think-was-sensible daughter, Julie.


But why not have Mike tell you about it himself.




So similar to Jimmy Buffett's Parrotheads, who "Party With A Purpose", they are going to "Pedal With A Purpose".


To help them - but more importantly, to help the women and girls of Vietnam - go to "Cycle for Care Vietnam 2011" and donate directly on-line.

And who knows, maybe I'll get some updates from Mike & Julie along the way to keep all informed of their progress.

The trip runs from Sept 18 through Sept 30.

Go to "Itinerary" for more information on the trip itself - and to see that they are not just biking around Merrickville....

Good luck, guys!

Does Montreal Know About This?

Calgary has spared no expense to re-create the ambiance and feel of old Montreal.

You can tell they nailed it by how popular it is.

Home Alone - Part Deuxty Deux?

First time venue for Home Alone this year - Lake Mazinaw (Red A on map). About three hours north-east of Toronto. At a member's cottage.

Interesting geological formation.

Most of the lakes were carved east to west due to the scouring ction of the glaciers.

However, Mazinaw goes literally against the grain, north-south.

Although some say this was the result of a massive geological fault, shearing the earth, other seismic research concludes that the "deformation is most likely to have occurred as a result of the rapid melt of buried ice blocks."

Who knew? All we were doing was drinking beer and floating on it. [But not at the the same time, of course! That would be illegal.]

Beautiful start to any morning with that view.

So let's head down to the dock, shall we boys?


Where we find our newest member - between strums - valiantly (fruitlessly?) trying to snare breakfast.

Unfortunately, breakfast's Mama didn't raise no fool. So coffee all around.

Other members busy themselves with the intricacies of instructions on getting that keg going.

Hold the coffees!

Prior To It All Going Downhill
When everyone at least had a glimmer of hope to win the coveted Home Alone championship trophy.

Ha ha....

Let The Games Begin!
Our host in blue is thinking "Now what game are we playing again?"

I don't even remember playing this one.

No wonder I didn't win the trophy.

All The Comforts Of Home
If your home is an outhouse.

"Little Privacy Here"
Can't a guy have a.....never mind.

How Many Points For A Broken Neck?
Correct answer is - none!


Cowabunga, Dude!


Giving The Evil Stink Eye...when I found out no points awarded.

"You have to actually break your neck to get points." Tough crowd....

So at the end of the weekend.....(trying to) taking photos of the eventual winner (with one of the multiple runners up featured here...) was obviously left to amateurs.

Or amateur. See, using those cheap cell phone camera thingys isn't so easy....

Getting better....

Okay, there we are.

And being good guests, we let the host win the trophy. Who looks like he is trying to indicate that he is indeed Number 1.

So a good time was had by all. But we missed one member this year.

His absence surely the only reason the host won the trophy...

More Proof Canadian Health Care Is Tops

Oh What A Lucky Day It Was, It Was

Four brave souls took a three-day-turned-out-to-be-four-day trip on the mighty Lucky Day last week.

We loaded up the bikes and headed out on the waterway.

Started from Ashbridges Frenchman's Bay Marina and headed for Niagara On The Lake.

Not To Be On The Cover Of Vogue Any Time Soon
Sorry buddy.

Or an alternate title; "Ahhhhh......"

The trip across to NOTL was deluxe; sun, sounds and some suds.

But we had to postpone our trip back by a day due to driving rain.

We came across a sad, young Amish girl and gave her shelter.

This made her happy.

Eight Feet. Who's Driving?!
But on the trip back quite a bit of confusion ensued. 10-12 foot swells made us rethink our strategy. Ha ha, strategy.....

I'm not driving. You drive. Somebody's gotta drive.

Finally the spunky, little Amish girl took over and saved the day.

But here we are - alive and ready to try another harebrained adventure.

Oops! Locked Up Wrong Part Of The Bike

Hey! The French Margaritaville

"Villa Marguerite"

Tucked right in here in Grand Bend.

Looking out over Lake Huron. Not a bad place to waste away again in.

Next door was the cottage "Thistle Do Me".

Down the street, in recognition of the old "Where's The Beef" commercials, "We're The Buns". Rented by four..uhhhh...rather attractive young ladies.

Although I could have sworn the cottage name was "Get Away From Here!".