Book ~ "Little Boy Blues" (2002) Mary Jane Maffini

From Amazon ~ In the third Camilla MacPhee Mystery, Camilla's looking forward to cutting loose at Bluesfest, a huge open-air musical extravaganza, and to seeing the tail end of her annoying office assistant, Alvin, who is finally quitting. Then the news comes from the East Coast. Alvin's developmentally challenged younger brother, Jimmy, has vanished from the midst of a holiday crowd in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Is he dead? Has he been abducted?

Sleuthing irritably about Sydney on Alvin's behalf, the always ruthless Camilla manages to make the usual quota of people froth at the mouth, including Jimmy's frantic family, forlorn friends and puzzled teachers. She doesn't spare the parish priest or even the guy at the chip stand. And naturally the Cape Breton Regional Police won't be sending her any valentines. Before Camilla knows it, all roads lead back to the big city, where a killer with everything to lose waits to create havoc among the tents, guitar-pickers and happy, swaying crowds. If Camilla doesn't sort out this whole mess, how many other people are going to die?

I love mystery novels and it's fun when they are based in Canada and/or written by Canadian authors.

Though this is apparently the third in a series, I didn't have any problem catching up. I enjoyed the writing style and didn't find that it dragged. I read it in a day (today). And I liked it enough to read the books before and after it in the series. I recommend it!

What made this book all that much better was that it was partially based in Sydney, Nova Scotia, where I lived from 1977 to 1983. Plus Camilla lives in Ottawa, which I'm fairly familiar with.

One thing I didn't understand ... Camilla was happy that Alvin, her assistant, has left for another job. Yet when he discovers that his brother is missing, she drives him 1500km from Ottawa to Sydney so he can be with his family. His family is rude to her yet she still sticks around to help. I would have jumped back in the car and said "Frig you!"

Annoyingly there were a fair amount of typos in the book ... hopefully they have been corrected in future reprints.

The Keg ... then "Rock of Ages"

For our anniversary, Sister Sarah and her husband, Joey, gave us a gift certificate for The Keg. We used it tonight.

Gord started with Lobster Gratiné (oven-baked lobster meat with garlic, herbs and melted Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses).

He thought it was okay (I'm not a fan of seafood).

My entrée was prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes.

It was good and I ate it all!

Gord had Creole Chicken (grilled chicken topped with shrimp and scallops sautéed in Creole seasonings).

He thought it was good!

We mentioned to our server that we were celebrating our anniversary and he surprised us with a piece of the Billy Miner Pie (mocha ice cream on a chocolate crust with hot fudge, caramel and almonds).

We were both full so just had a couple bites.

And here we are!

We had tickets to see Rock of Ages for this evening.

In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small town girl met a big city rocker and in LA’s most famous rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs of the 80s. It’s Rock of Ages, an arena-rock love story told through the mind-blowing, face-melting hits of Journey, Night Ranger, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Asia, Whitesnake and many more. Don’t miss this awesomely good time about dreaming big, playing loud and partying on!

I had seen it in May with my pal, Shawna, and had enjoyed it so much that I wanted to see it again. We were in the fifth row, right in the middle. Great seats!

It was fabulous the second time around! If you get a chance, go see it!

Book ~ "Death on the Rocks" (1999) Eric Wright

From Amazon ~ The author tests his unseasoned detective with a couple of perplexing cases. Canadian sleuth Lucy is hired by well-to-do Greta Golden to find out more about a man who is hanging around asking questions about her. When Lucy goes undercover and meets him, she finds out he's a fellow detective and gets him to reveal that he was hired by a British law firm to investigate Greta's background, as she may be an heir to a recently deceased and wealthy man. Greta has always thought she was an only child with no living relatives so she is intrigued to learn she may have family members in England. She rehires Lucy, this time to fill in the gaps in her parents' histories. In Britain, Lucy exhumes an old story of two sisters and the man they loved, a tale of jealousy and murder. A subplot involving the odd behavior of a drugstore owner adds a riddle to this otherwise straightforward mystery.

I was excited to find this mystery series that is based in Toronto.

The author is originally from England and that comes through as he talks about Toronto. No one refers to Yorkville as "Yorkville Village". And he referred to the Harbourfront streetcar route by something weird. I didn't get the feeling that he knew what he was writing about.

I didn't enjoying the writing style ... I found it frivolous. And I didn't care about the characters.

I tried to stick with it but finally gave up halfway through and skimmed to see how it ended.

Metcalfe Restaurant , Elora, ON

After our hike along the Grand River, we had supper at the Metcalfe Restaurant before we headed for home.

Here's Gord on the patio while we are waiting for our meal.

Gord ordered the crunchy chicken sandwich and onion rings.

He enjoyed it.

I felt snacky so ordered nachos. They were loaded with cheese, chili beans, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes.

It was too loaded because the chips underneath were soggy because there was so much stuff on them. Plus they had been sitting for a while because it was warm, not hot.

Elora, ON

After we left the West Montrose covered bridge, we headed to Elora. Gord and I haven't been there since 2002.

We walked over a bridge and here was our view of the Elora Mill Inn, an old mill which is now a restaurant and inn.

Here's Gord.

We walked to the Elora Mill Inn.

Here's the Elora Gorge Falls (also known as Tooth of Time) next to the Inn.

Not so calmed here.

We had a drink on the patio at the Inn (you can see it on the picture above). In the next picture, we're on the patio looking up at where the last picture was taken.

We walked along Grand River, following a path on the other side of the water across the Inn.

Here are the ruins of the Kiddie Kar Factory.

It was fun to walk through the woods along the path.

Here's how high we were ... can you see the people swimming in the water in the middle?

There are three hiking paths ... we did the yellow and the green.

We went down through the Hole in the Rock.

Heading back up, it looked like a bum!

We headed back along the trails to get to our car. One last trek was down to the water's edge. After seeing people swimming, inner tubing and kayaking, I couldn't resist walking into the water.

The water felt good but it was really rocky.

West Montrose covered bridge, Grand River

After we left St. Jacobs, Gord saw a sign for a covered bridge so we went to find it.

And there it is at the end of this road.

This is the West Montrose covered bridge ... we walked through it.

The West Montrose covered bridge is recognized as a historic site by Ontario's Archeological & Historic Sites Board. It is Ontario's last remaining covered bridge and has a 198' span across the Grand River.

Why a covered bridge? The answer to this is for safety and economic reasons. A roof over the bridge served to protect the large timbers and trusses from the elements; and this is the reason the bridge is still standing after more than 100 years. Uncovered wooden bridges have a life span of only 10 to 15 years because exposure to rain causes unprotected joints to rot in summer and freeze in the winter; the hot sun causes the wooden planks to dry and curl.

The bridge was built in 1881 and underwent major repairs in 1999. Light traffic is still crossing the bridge daily and many horse and buggies cross on Sundays. The bridge is often referred to as "The Kissing Bridge" because it is enclosed and the soft light provides a feeling of intimacy for the romantic.



This was on the lawn on a house on the other side of bridge. When you take a pop or water, you put the $$ in a locked box on the sign. Trusting or what?!

Here's inside the bridge.

Once we got back to the other side, a Mennonite family drove through ...

And went to the store not far away.

They were then joined by four kids.

St. Jacobs, Ontario

After we had lunch, Gord and I walked around downtown St. Jacobs, poking in some of the shops. If you are looking for handmade crafts and quilts, it's a good place to go.

Here I am posing by the post office.

This renovated building has lots of great stuff ...

Including a massive model railway ...

and gorgeous quilts ...

We walked along the quaint main street ...

We headed to the farmers' market, which is held on on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

There are hundred of vendors selling meat, pastries, veggies, fruit, cheese, clothes and more.

The St. Jacobs area has a large Mennonite population.

We walked outside and checked out the vendors there.

Next time we'll bring a cooler so we can buy some fresh meat and produce. I'm going to head to St. Jacobs in the fall to do some Christmas shopping.