Summer Sprint

The day was ideal from the start - clear blue sky, warm sunshine, dry air and that magic feeling - nowhere to go, nothing to do! We began with a five kilometre bike ride along Country Street and back through Town on Perth Street. I hadn't gone bicycling yesterday. I was just too tired for some reason (this shamefully in spite of having lately languished in bed upwards of ten hours each night). So today I attacked the recuperative exercise with gusto! It made for an uplifting opener.

For the first time in what seems weeks we hadn't any medical or business meeting to attend to today. We therefore easily convinced ourselves that a jaunt to the St. Lawrence Seaway was in order.  Our steady pattern of commitments this summer has kept us off-line so to speak. Partly we had tired of repeated visits to Gananoque, Kingston and the Ivy Lea Club in the last couple of years. But this morning we were anxious to reignite the erstwhile appeal.  Though our initial thought was to dine at the Ivy Lea Club or somewhere in Gananoque, we subsequently resolved to go instead to Pelican restaurant in Ottawa South.  We've never been disappointed there.  In the meantime however we would as intended motor southward then double back to the City. The promise of pleasant country views was not to be diminished. Nor were we disappointed in that particular ambition either.

As a pit-stop we went to Katarina's Coffee Shop in Prescott.  There we sat outside on the patio, I in the direct sunlight to catch the rays. The espresso and cappuccino coffees were excellent as always!  We resisted the ice cream and caramel-buttered bread pudding. Katarina told us she will close shop for the season on October 6th.  Then she heads to Argentina for the winter.

The drive back to Ottawa went according to plan through the picturesque corridor that is Hwy.#416.  We had called ahead to make a dinner reservation.  The performance at the restaurant was in keeping with our normal choices - oysters on the half-shell, lobster bisque, escargots, pétoncles (scallops) and naturally crème brûlée d'érable. We puzzled at some length over the signature spice in the bisque - Allspice (notoriously similar to a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves).

We were in and out of the restaurant within about one and half hours. It was a satisfying feast to be sure! The final punctuation of a terrific day was as usual a car wash in Bells Corners after which we headed into the setting sun and eventually saw the silver crescent moon rise in the late evening sky.