Our Visit to the Delish Restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Continuing with my recent annual holiday in Ontario Canada, this is video of our visit to the Delish Restaurant in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Pat is moving to Hamilton next year.  He wanted to show me around his new home.  We're in the discovery mode.  

We found this wonderful restaurant owned and run by a Costa Rican immigrant named Erick Merlos.  

While the area around the restaurant has clearly seen better days, finding this restaurant was like finding a diamond in a desolate street.  

Hamilton has nowhere to go but up.  And what a delight it was to find this Delish restaurant!  

To be continued:

Canadian National Exhibition - 2016

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Ex, is an annual event that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during the 18 days leading up to and including Canadian Labour Day Monday. With approximately 1.5 million visitors each year, the CNE is Canada’s largest annual fair and the fifth largest in North America.^[2] The first Canadian National Exhibition took place in 1879, largely to promote agriculture and technology in Canada. Agriculturists, engineers, and scientists exhibited their discoveries and inventions at the CNE to showcase the work and talent of the nation. As Canada has grown as a nation, the CNE has also changed over time, reflecting the growth in diversity and innovation, though agriculture and technology remain a large part of the CNE today. To many people in the Greater Toronto Area and the surrounding communities, the CNE is an annual family tradition.

The following description of the Canadian National Exhibition I lifted from Wikipedia this morning. 

This year for the third year I visited the CNE with my Canadian pal, Pat F. 

I LOVE carnivals! I attended my first carnival in my hometown of Downingtown, Pennsylvania when I was about nine years old.  Oh sure, I know carnivals are corny and not high brow, but I have always loved them.  Must be my white trash background.  You'll never see me at a Shakespeare Festival but you will see me at carnivals like the CNE! 
 

Shakespeare - too highbrow for this half a hillbilly white trash blogger

The above video is one I strung together from several short videos that I recorded from my iPhone during our visit a few weeks ago.  Be forewarned, this is the first of several videos that I will post to this blog.  

I hope  you enjoy the experience as much as Pat and I did!

Me and Pat waiting in line at CNE

To be continued:

Finally, Quiet

Last night I slept well. Unlike Saturday night which I kept being awoken by the drone of thousands of motorcycles roaring up Route One all during the night.  Ah, quiet, how sweet it was. So nice to get a good night's sleep.  

I knew when I posted my whining on my Facebook account that I would receive blowback.  This time from my niece and her daughter who have boyfriend/husband who are cyclists. She called me a grumpy old man which I do not deny.  I proudly declare myself a GRUMPY OLD MAN.

I would expect them to defend and justify their men.  My niece even tried to justify all that noise pollution by saying "They're doing it for charity."  Oh give me a break.  They're doing it because they like to be noticed by making a LOT of noise.  I noticed, okay?

Another person left a comment on my blog about "live and let live."  Hey, I'm all for the "live and let live" but all that noise for thirty six hours straight?  

Every year they have this testosterone orgy Bike Fest. I know they make a lot of noise pollution roaring down the Coastal Highway (Route One) to their ultimate destination in Ocean City Maryland.  I'm prepared for that noise because it's mainly during the day.  But this year was different.  Instead of a horde of cyclists swarming locust like up the highway on Sunday afternoon, they started Saturday evening and continued throughout the night, spaced out.  Every time I got to sleep I was awoken a few minutes later by yet another overweight, balding rat-tailed, greasy cyclist with his well worn moll hanging onto his spare tire (and hot his motorcycle spare tire but the spare tire he carries around his waist) roaring up Route One.

I had a fitful night's sleep for the first time since they had Bike Fest Week.  Somebody changed something.  Hopefully next year they'll go back to their previous migration pattern and have their cacophony of noise on a Saturday during the day.  

Last night was so pleasant.  Quiet.  I slept like a babe.  Actually, I slept like a contented Grumpy Old Man.

Motorcycle Noise - Bike Fest Week 2016

For the past twenty-four hours I have been enduring the almost constant drone of motorbikes going up and down Route One.  

This week is Bike Fest Week at Ocean City, Maryland. 

Ocean City Bike Week

Over 100,000 bicyclists gather once a year at Ocean City to pump up their testosterone with the roar of their unmuffled motorcycles.  

Folks, I have too tell you that the (almost) constant drone of those motor cycle engines reverberating off of Route One which borders Casa Tipton-Kelly is starting to get to me.  In fact, that motorcycle roar is driving me crazy.

    One of the main reasons I moved out of center city Philadelphia was that I couldn't take the almost constant squeal of police sirens.  After years of listening to those police car sirens screaming, I just had to get away from the source.  We moved to the country, in the middle of the woods, where (we thought) there was peace and quiet.  That lasted a few years until our neighbor died and his property was sold and subdivided.  The new owners adjoining our quiet wooded oasis had four ATV's which they drove around the perimeter of their property for hours on end.  Drove me crazy.  Such a shame because we moved to the country for peace and quiet.  


Thank goodness this Bike Fest is only once a year.  But I didn't get much sleep last night because of the roar of those motor bike engines.  Even as I type this blog the motorcycles continue to roar up Route One.  

I took these videos this morning after my walk to show you all what I have been listening to for a good twenty-four hours now.  

Oh for peace and quiet. 

Have I Got Driveway Seal Coating Deal For You!

Yesterday, just as I was preparing fresh tomato soup (from garden fresh tomatoes given to me by my neighbor Bev), Bill said "Someone is coming to the door." "Oh great, what now?" I thought.

I go to the door and open it to find a middle aged man with a big smile on his face.  Ah, my friend!  This man, also named "Bill" said "My guys are in the neighborhood paving driveways and I see your driveway is breaking apart (it's not) and I can offer you a deal today."  Whoopty doo!

Folks, living in a development as we do, do you have any idea how many times we have had someone knock on our door offering us a "deal" IF we get it done today because "his guys are doing driveways in the neighborhood?"  Let's just say this wasn't the first time I've been offered this "deal." 

Bill and I moved into this neighborhood ten years ago. We've never had our driveway professionally recoated.  Bill has recoated it several times but not too well. It looks patchwork and I'm sure that's what attracts the Driveway Guys.

Our "broken up" driveway

Earlier this week our neighbor to the right side of us had his driveway recoated.  It was a single young guy who took all day to redcoat it.  It wasn't a group of men with the tank of hot tar.  Just a single guy with cans of coating which he applied with a brush. 

Both Bill and I liked the job he did so I asked our neighbor how much it cost.  She said $465.  Sounds about right to me.  I asked her for his information which she gave to me. I planned to call him to see if he could coat our driveway next spring.

Then yesterday I get this other driveway coater ringing my doorbell and offering me a "deal."  He told me he had already done several driveways in my neighborhood.  I asked him if he had done this one particular driveway which has always impressed me during my morning walks through the neighborhood.  He didn't know which one so he offered to drive me to show me.

I climbed into his huge truck and we drove to  my neighbor's driveway which I had in mind. He said "Yes", he had done that driveway.  I asked him how much he charged for that driveway.  He said $4,200.  WHAT?  When we lived in Pennsylvania I had a five hundred driveway completely put in over a gravel road for $5,000.  Granted, that was back in the 90's but prices haven't changed THAT much.

He said he would give me a "special" price since "his guys were in the neighborhood" (there we go with that phrase again) for $3,000.  I don't think so folks.

Now during all this time this guy was all smiles and acting like my best friend.  I noticed a huge diamond ring on his finger,

which occasionally blinded me as the day's sun rays were reflected off of the many faceted diamonds in his rings.  I looked at his HUGE truck.  His brand new truck.  Not that there is anything wrong with wearing diamond rings (I have several myself) or owning and driving a monster truck.  But $3,000?  Hey folks, I'm looking at a dental bill in the next few weeks that's going to cost close to $4,000 (something I haven't written about yet but I will).  

I asked him for his card and told him "I'll think about it."  Immediately his Best Friend smile dropped from his face and he wrote on the back of his card how much it would cost me

to get my driveway recoated if I didn't get it done today.  

He lost me with that reaction.  Folks, do you have any idea of how many times I've been confronted with that old tried and true salesman tactic of "If you don't get it today this is what it will cost you?"  Too many times, that's how many.  

It's taken me a lot of years to wise up to these high pressure sales tactics.  The "I'm your friend" tactic and "if you don't buy this product or service you're going to disappoint me" tactic. 

Now I don't know if this guy is one of those driveway scammer that flood the southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware homes but I do know that I don't respond to those kind of tactics.  I'm always suspicious when someone rings my doorbell and is offering me a deal with the caveat that I have to "do it today."   Nope, I won't go there.  

Now having said that, during my walk last night through the neighborhood I saw where three of my neighbors did get their driveways resealed.  So maybe this guy is legit.  Even so, $3,000 is a lot of money just to reseal a driveway.  Plus I didn't like his tactics.  However, I will check with my neighbors so see how much they paid.  

Life in the Fast Lane here folks. I definitely don't lead a dull life. 

Caregiver Ron

Today I made the transition to a new role.  I am now an official caregiver.

I've been easing into this role for a few years now. Today was the first time I accompanied Bill to a medical visit and identified myself as a caregiver.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was accepted as Bill's caregiver immediately.  

Regular blog readers know that Bill failed his driver's license test last month.  He failed the eye test.  I took him for an eye examination and they found he has cataracts.  He has to have them removed in order to get his driver's license back.

Bill is hard of hearing.  Bill also has a harder time as he has aged for retaining information he receives from his medical visits.  Too often he has come back from a visit to his doctor with confusing information.  He answer is usually to say "the hell with it."  I can't let him do that anymore.  

Bill will turn 88 years old in two weeks.  He has been in remarkably good health for the most of his life including the fifty-two years we have been together.  We have both been very lucky with our health.  However time marches on and health issues are inevitable.

Thus I sat with him today during his pre cataract surgery examination.  He was thankful and I felt good.  Bill has taken care of me for most of my adult life and now it is my turn to take care of him. I am thankful I can do this. 

Vote Early (and often)

My polling place early this morning - Henlopen High School - sun not quite up yet

Up early this morning folks to vote in the primary!  

I always vote.  Even when I don't know the candidates or their positions on issues, I vote.  When in doubt vote Democrat I say.

My polling location is the local high school.  Which is a drag because today is a school day.  That parking lot fills up fast.  Lots of the kids today have cars unlike when I went to school in the Fifties when only some of my very well off classmates were chauffeured to school.  And there were even the rare classmate who had their own car!  Sure wasn't me though.

Getting to the high school is a hassle because of the school buses and the individual cars either driven by the students or their helicopter parents dropping them off.  I decided to take the "back way".  HA!  You know how that worked out.  I took the wrong road so I had to circle around to the main road and come up to the school through Lewes.

I was pleasantly surprised to find not much traffic at 7:05 AM bong into the school parking lot.  I parked at one of the numbered slots.  I'm sure it was reserved for some privileged student whose parent bought him or her a car.  Well, I'm parking there anyway.  Deal with it.

I walked past the Usual Suspects that hang out at the entrance to the polls, including the Republican table.  I did a wide swing around THAT table. 

I entered the building and signed in.  Since this is a primary I had to vote my registration, which is Democrat (and which I am VERY proud).  I entered the curtains and perused the selections.  I voted for the candidates who claim they will increase Social Security benefits, protect LGBT rights, and who looked sincere in their smiles on their flyers that were sent to my home last week.  

I pushed the green button to register my vote, pulled the curtains apart and exited.  My civic duty done for another election.

I've been voting since 1964.  Back then I had to be 21 years old before I could vote.  Yes Virginia, I joined the Army at 18 years old and could die for my country at that age but I couldn't vote until I was 21 years of age.  Thank goodness someone finally got some common sense and changed that law although in today's climate, where the current version of the Republican party (not the Republican party I knew when I was a registered Republican) is all about surpassing the vote, would probably change the law back to being eligible to vote at 21 years of age.  No kidding folks, I'm serious.  That's what the Republicans would do today to keep young people from voting.  But I digressing to a rant again aren't I? 

I always feel good after I vote.  Of course the next vote is the BIG ONE.  And of course you know who I'm voting for.  It's not the Deplorable One.