A “Girls' Weeknight Away”(part 1)
When my sister,Paula, called and asked if we might get away for a wee painting trip it was perfect timing.
I have a very small window in-between my beloved children finally arriving home all summer and I decided we needed to jump at this chance.
Who knew it was going to be in the middle of the hottest heatwave I can recall? And that is actually a good thing for Paula because she doesn't have air conditioning in her home and I found us a lovely, cool suite at the Village Creek Country Inn at Pigeon Lake.
I have always loved going to diners . Not only for the yummy food but for the looks of them. I enjoy looking at all the old posters and nostalgic items on display and am attracted to the black, white, and pink colours they often use in their colour schemes.
After I picked Paula up and we packed up the car, we headed off for breakfast at “Route 99” diner which is very close to her home. She enjoyed her french toast meal and I had a poached egg with bacon breakfast. Lots of good conversation as always and then it was time to hit the road. We decided to look for photographic opportunities since we had lots of time before our room would be ready.
I was surprised to the see the pretty, yellow canola fields already in full bloom in so many places. Paula snapped a photo of a deer that ran right beside our car for a few meters before it jumped the fence. We were lucky it didn’t jump in front of our car! Every time I got outside of the air conditioned car to take a picture it felt like an oppressive blanket was thrown upon my shoulders. It was 37 degrees and rising during the day.
We drove to the little town of Calmar and ended up taking a peek in “Yesterday’s Treasures” and we soon discovered this was a neat place to shop but also ….no air conditioning. I had to stand in front of the store’s fan several times before I gave up and went back to my comfortable car with my one treasure, a small , crystal basket.
Paula and I had hoped to spend the rest of the afternoon painting and we were so happy to find out that we could get into our prepared room early that day.
The room was just perfect with two bedrooms, a lovely kitchen, bathroom, and back deck (that was unfortunately not going to be used in that heat!)
The Inn would be wonderful in the winter too because of the nice option of a wood burning fireplace and outdoor hot tub.
We set up our paints and got to work. Paula almost completed two paintings with her alcohol ink and I worked on the next page for my latest children’s book commission.
We worked for about 3 hours and then packed up to go for a delicious dinner at the Village restaurant. (We split a Clubhouse sandwich with fries).
That night we played Tile Rummy until nighttime and after a day of gabbing and laughing and because of the cool sheets, I slid into bed and had a wonderful night’s sleep.
To be continued…… ( and…… Happy Canada Day!!!!! )