Trenton

National Flag Day
The Maple Leaf flag replaced the Canadian Red Ensign. The flag, designed by George Stanley, was proclaimed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, on January 28, 1965, and took effect "upon, from and after" February 15.  

Friday 12^th February a Flag Day ceremony was held at St Patrick’s School. This ceremony used to be held in the shopping mall until the mall underwent a major makeover a couple of years ago.

Service men and women, Politicians, Clergy, the Town Crier, the Fire Chief, a Mountie and flag bearers all attended the ceremony.

Road Trip

Freezing weather so we decided to spend it travelling.

We went on a road trip of 500 K’s. We set the GPS to Trenton, our overnight destination but told it not to use freeways or highways. We drove through lots of little towns. The best one was Newtonville. Yes, we had to stop and take photos with the sign. The town was really delightful, clean and organised.

We stopped in Cobourg for a picnic lunch at the harbour. As the temperature was -27° (wind chill of -38°) we ate lunch in the car whilst watching hundreds of geese sitting on the frozen lake. Even the seawall was frozen.

We made a quick stop at Cobourg beach which was also partly frozen. It was too cold to go near the water’s edge. We also found a very lonely snowman.

Driving through the back roads we came across a safari park which was closed for the winter. There was a lonely tiger pacing in its cage.

Arriving at our destination of Trenton 3 hours after leaving home we checked into the motel and walked down to the water’s edge to stretch our legs. This water mass is the Bay of Quinte which flows into Lake Ontario.  The Bay was frozen with the ice about 1 metre thick.  Newton helped out the birds by filling the birdbath up with snow.

                                                                                                                         
  He then made a snow angel.                                                                         

 

When we returned to our room it was so warm inside my glasses went white. Looked really freaky. It really is a pain wearing glasses when it is so cold, they fog up all the time. 

We had a dinner date with 3 other couples at The Garden of Eatin restaurant in Warkworth.  We were there to see Al Lerman, a blues artist who was exceptional. If you ever get the chance to see him you won’t be disappointed. He is trying to get to Perth for the Blues ‘n Roots festival.

Canadian Royal Air Force Museum

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Dapp’s Restaurant. We had the choice of this restaurant or MacDonald’s, we new our choice right as Dapp’s was really busy with people waiting for tables.

It was then onto the Royal Canadian Air Force Museum where we wandered for a couple of hours.

We had a Veteran volunteer provide us with a lot of information regarding the aircraft. Newton sat in a couple of planes – boys and their toys. The large bullet (20mm canon) shot down a Halifax bomber. The poor guys in the Halifax had no chance as they were shooting back with tiny .303’s.

Olympic Medal

Orval “Red” Gravelle joined the RCAF in 1947 as a machinist never realizing what a momentous choice this would be for his hockey career. A year later the young defenseman was recruited to the RCAF Flyers, an ice hockey team that was to represent Canada at the 1948 Winter Olympics. At age 20, he was the youngest member of the team. During the tournament he played in eight games, scored three goals and helped ensure Canada would take home the gold medal. The National Air Force Museum of Canada is proud to be the home of Gravelle’s Olympic collection including his gold medal and hockey sweater. These items have been donated by Mrs Phyllis Gravelle of Trenton, widow of Orval Gravelle.                                                                                                       http://airforcemuseum.ca

Big Apple

Our next stop was the Big Apple restaurant. They grow the apples then make them into all sort of yummy products. We tried the Mumble Crumble Apple Pie – it was scrumptious. We also purchased an apple pie and Apple and Raisin bread.  The bread is delicious. We were very good and stayed away from the chocolates and cider.

                                           

 Snow

We have had 9cm of snow this week which is really nice. It is so pretty but makes a mess of the roads.  The snow plows come around in the middle of the night to clear the roads then spread salt to keep the roads snow free but it makes such a mess. We also have to shovel the snow from our deck, it is just thrown over the railing down onto the driveway. It eventually melts away.  Snowflakes are gorgeous.

Unusual Food

Blueberry, Maple and Turkey sausages- weird combination even weirder taste. The blueberries are plentiful and the maple syrup makes them quite sweet.