Home Sweet (someone else’s) Home

We had our first home exchange this weekend with a couple who live in the Thousand Islands near Gananoque. Because our homes are only an hour and a half apart, we overlapped the front end of our exchange and spent a bit of time getting to know Dan and Maureen – a lovely retired couple – before they headed off to stay in our house for a couple of nights.

Our friends Gary & Jen were driving from Ottawa to Toronto on our first day at the house, so we invited them to stop in for dinner. Gary’s initial reaction was, “wait, so you get this place and they get your house?!?” Nick joined us on Saturday and said pretty much the exact same thing when he walked in. Ray pretended to be offended by the implication but, to be fair, we had the same thought.

The house we stayed in was on six acres of secluded forest on a small bay, about 10 minutes outside of Gananoque. It was a stunning home with all the bells and whistles, including a hot tub! We reminded ourselves that we have a perfectly nice house and that, for them, it was a chance to explore a new area and have a change of scenery. They said afterwards that they loved our house and had a wonderful time.

We had a great weekend, catching up with Gary & Jen and spending time with Nick (Megan unfortunately couldn’t make it). The winds were pretty strong, so Ray only managed a shorter kayak around the protected bay and a couple of short-ish cycles. I managed several hot tub sessions.

Juno was very excited to see Nick again.

There was much banter during the game about Nick’s rules versus the “real” rules of 8 ball.
I just googled and it turns out Nick’s rules are the real rules and Ray’s rules are, well, Ray’s rules.

The weekend was chillier than anticipated, but nothing a hot tub or glass of wine by the fire table couldn’t cure.

Father’s Day brunch in Gananoque.
Nick and Ray rode their bikes into town and I met them there.

Staying in someone else’s home felt pretty normal to us as we’ve done pet sitting and airbnb rentals before, but it’s the first time we’ve had strangers stay at our place while we’re not there. I imagine some people have no desire whatsoever to travel this way, and others might like the idea of it, but wouldn’t be comfortable having others stay in their home. Our first exchange went very smoothly so I imagine we’ll try it again.

Last weekend, Brighton’s dragon boat team, the Heat Strokes, competed in Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival. Forty teams competed, some teams made up of people with little to no experience in a dragon boat (it was a fundraiser for breast cancer), and some teams who’ve been participating for many years.

Afternoon heat – they’re boat #3. Ray is the guy in the red cap behind the other guy in the red cap.

Brighton’s team won both their morning and afternoon heats. The heats were supposed to be followed by an elimination round of three back-to-back races (top 5 boats race, bottom 2 are eliminated, top 3 go straight back to the start line, 3rd place is eliminated, top 2 race for the trophy). Mother Nature disagreed with that plan. A short thunderstorm delayed the start of the finals and the radar showed another would follow, so they opted for a single winner-takes-all final.

Just as the boats reached the start line, the sky darkened and thunder rumbled in the distance. It was a fast and very close race, with the Brighton team missing out on the trophy by less than six-tenths of a second! It was a very impressive result, especially when you consider that our team is…not to put too fine a point on it…not young, and many of them are new to dragon boating this year.

Boat # 4 this time. Very close finish under quickly-darkening skies.

We made it to the car just before the skies opened up and a thunderstorm swept through.