CINDERELLA.....PART DEUX, and the giving up of the slipper

if you haven't read part 1, go down a post, you must!!!

Life itself, is the Most Wonderful Fairy Tale

Hans Christian Anderson

Here is the end of my fairy tale vacation

Claudie, spraying us all with a bit of fairy dust before heading out for our day.

Even the river was sparkling that day, like it should in a fairy tale.

I totally must put up a photo of Julie (Miss Juliet) who did the majority of our picture taking

it is what she does

takes classes and everything

I LOVE how she dresses so funky, she was my fashionista

One more photo from our day in Montreal

They give horse drawn carriage rides and all the girls wanted a photo on the carriage

PINK is Claudies Signature color (kinda like the movie Steel Magnolia)

I took a pass on it............HECK, I ride in horse drawn carriages

all . the. time.

horses and cowboys..........It's what I do. 

but not in a dress, and um, not pink

Julie was the only single gal of the bunch.  So it was only appropriate that she get her photo taken with the waiters from the restaurant, remember in my last post

the ones who Loved us and ended up giving each of us a rose

ahhhhhh



Here we are doing what girls ALWAYS need to do

potty

waiting in line

CC, Miss Bee, me, Claudie

Claudies sweet hubby, our personal chef the duration of most of this trip

set up an OUTSIDE MOVIE NIGHT

yup....we all grabbed a blanky, and watched a movie outside in her yard

it was like a drive in  theatre.......without the necking

well.........I didn't really check on Claudie and her hubby

We watched Gregory Peck (swooon) and Audrey Hepburn

in ROMAN VACATION

A Classic Black and White movie

Next day......we went to what is known as 1000 Islands

Part of it is in New York State.........holy freaking Big Apple (without actually being in the Big Apple)

I made it into New York State

It was an awesome place to see, as people would actually BUY an island, just a small one most of them, and build a cabin, house, whatever as their SUMMER HOME

What???... a summer home

we are talking some serious cash here

instead of 3 car garages, they had 3 boat garages as the only way to access them is by boat

It is on the Saint Lawrence River

This photo is what is called the smallest International Bridge in the world

on one side of the Bridge (where the house is) is Canada

and the other side is USA

(I wonder if the owner needs a passport to cross his bridge)

Seriously, it was amazing to see all these places built on , well, 1000 Islands............

Here is Julie and Claudie mapping out our plans for the day

or thinking.....crap, we better delete This photo

We crossed into New York State on a Ferry Boat.  We wanted to see Boldt Castle

It was amazing

Just Like a Fairy Tale

maybe like the one Cinderella visited

built in the early 1900's

Yes, it was built on an Island.  Mr. Boldt, being the Prince Charming he was in his day, built this for his wife who he Adored

but she died

(like in a classic fairy story eh)

before he had it finished, so he walked away never to return

It started to deteriorate, and NY State has been restoring it

here is a picture of one of the parlors

Like I said, he was super duper in love with his wife

and had many many things in the house built with Hearts around it

He EVEN had part of the island cut away to be somewhat in the shape of a heart

So here is me and Claudie, doing our Heart thing

in honor of their love

cause WHERE would we be without love

I wonder if I can convince Mr. Gorgeous to build me a corral in the shape of a heart??

After a full day of the Castle, we headed back on the Ferry Boat.  CC was a little pooped

Unfortunately I have NO pictures of our Italian Night that Chef Randy had waiting for us when we got back. When we got back to Claudies, he had Dean Martin music playing outside for us

and fixed us a HUGE dinner

It was, well, manufique (or however you spell it)

He spent all day preparing it for us

(I think he is in love with Claudie)

He made the bread that we dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar

while sipping the vino....and listening to Dean-o

then served up the Eggplant Parmesean

then the chicken/pasta dish

with Tiramisu for dessert

Randy (and her son Colt) were just like Gus-Gus from the

movie Cinderella.  I adore them.

Next day....into our nations capital .....Ottawa

our capital building

once again, kinda like Montreal, it had amazing architecture

We took a drive down a street known as Embassy Street.

well.....I might have made that up

cause I don't remember the name of the street but it is where all the Embassy buildings are

from other countries

see this one of Kuwait

it was pretty cool to see them

I didn't say anything terroristic as we drove by....I tried not to make eye-contact

that's what they say to do ya know

We were actually on our way to see Claudie's moms cousin

who is a Nun

by the name of Sister Lauriette

Claudie said she had been excited to think of meeting us

so we drove to the place where she lives

and took a little tour around while we waited for her

We went into the chapel area, and Miss Bee took a seat in the confessional booth

Claudie went in and told her

"Miss Bee, we just don't have that kind of time right now to listen to all your transgressions"

tee,hee......sorry Miss Bee, couldn't resist

 I think Claudie was feeling a little bad about that

so she and Julie decided to "tap into" their spiritual side

Um....Julie. are you trying not to snicker??

Finally, we hooked up with Sister Lauriette

she is 90 years old and is very witty

I loved how she referred to all of us by where we came from

when addressing us, she'd say "so....Wendy from Calgary"

or "Jeanne from North Carolina"

it was very sweet

sometimes she'd have to pause as she is French speaking

and of course she'd talk to us in English

remember the autograph books I told you about in Part 1

well, we all took our books to her so she could write in them

Claudie had previously told her about the passing of my son

and I was very moved

to tears

by what she wrote in my book

She just made us laugh

filled us with joy that day

which goes to show

you don't need to wave a magic wand to find beautiful people in your lives

CC enjoying one of her stories

 Back to Claudies

not only is she a lover of people

but she loves animals, and rescues dogs

she has SEVEN of them at her house

As is what happens in all fairy tales

there comes an ending

on our last day there, we all put on our penoirs she bought for us

and played, just like little girls do, in dress up

 which goes to show

we don't really need to ever Grow old

cause like I said in the first post, we ranged in ages from 72 to 50

 I thought I'd grab Julies camera and see if I could "capture a moment"

We had Jeanne pose as the actress Marlene Dietrich

famous from the 1930's

which was hysterical actually

She was even holding a piece of the DRIFTWOOD I brought

for each of them to smoke

Oh yeah, I had to  bring a little country to the castle

they thought I'd lost my mind, and that maybe I'd smoked a few to many pieces of wood in my day

And so it Ends

Thanks Claudie for being my Fairy Godmother

Now the time has come when the clock has to strike midnight

I have to return to my own Prince Charming

It was fun to squeeze my bunioned foot into that glass slipper for a week

And as I dust my own Rustic Castle, and hear the coyotes and the hawks call

perhaps

somewhere there'll be an echo of

Bibbity Boppity Boo

 I hope there is a fairy tale awaiting all of you someday

CINDERELLA GOT TO GO TO THE BALL

I am back. I know it has been a month, but as I mentioned on my last post, I have been celebrating life. Here is the story. I took 600 photos, and will try to spare you from all of them....YOU'RE WELCOME

Part One

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you've imagined. (anonymous)

my dream vacation

This is the lady behind it all, Claudie. She has spent nearly a year
planning her event.....called SUMMER BREEZE

AND

like Cinderella.......I was invited

Let me introduce you to the other Summer Breeze Gals

JULIE....From Vancouver, British Columbia

CC....(Catherine) from Georgia

Miss Bee....(Deborah) from North Carolina

Jeanne......also from North Carolina

all these photos were taken from my trip. I had to borrow from Jeanne for hers, but I tried to "catch" some of their personality. We promised each other to only post flattering pics.

We are all blogging pals

My FIRST time in meeting them

What an eclectic group we were.  Ranging in ages from 72 to 50, different upbringings, faiths, experiences

and YET

Joy and Sorrow.....Pain and Pleasure has sat at all of our tables

Claudies place was truly like a fairy tale.  Everything there was so fanciful, fun, colorful, and almost magical

The little cottage in the back is for guests.

This is an outdoor shower. It has a BIG pool at the back. Oh yeah, we spent time there.  Ontario is hot and humid.

Claudie even went to extraordinary efforts to  make our rooms just "perfect" for us.  She took the bedspreads off the hotel beds and put on some lovely ones from her own home.  She tried to decorate every ones room according to their personalities, styles, and likes.

Being the country girl I am, I had a country patchwork quilt on my bed.  She knows I love ladybugs, so she had these lights put around the mirror. The little picture on the desk was from her.

She made huge paper flowers and streamers that hung from the ceilings.  Since her favorite color is pink, she even put pink toilet paper in our bathrooms, along with lovely soaps. 

Not to mention the  room fridges stocked with soda, juice, cheese, chocolate

a simple hotel room was transformed

befitting Cinderella

Meet her husband Randy.  He did ALL the cooking for us and he is a chef supreme-o.

(he is opening some of the gifts we brought for him)

We all brought each other wonderful surprises, gifts. My whole carry on luggage was full of gifts

and even more full going home

Here is the bunch of us enjoying one of his breakfasts. Claudie's kitchen is like a doll house. I adored it.

Me and Claudie enjoying one of Chef Randy's meals outside.

yes, that is a river that runs along her back yard (sigh)

We did a lot of This..celebrate

and we also "danced to the music"



Since she had a pool in the back yard......she made sure we understood we would ALL be getting in, no matter if we still fit in our swimsuits. (or not)

so before getting ready for our first swim.....we had our "ah ha" meeting

get it out

tell everyone what we Hate about our bodies

but we also had to tell what we Loved about our bodies.

Guess which list was longer.

Now that they know of my still post pregnancy belly fat (youngest is 26), I guess I am ready for the Plunge

I am 5th one in

Even though I had 6 full days there, we were busy every day and still ran out of time

we went to Montreal...Oui

Old Montreal

It was like nothing I have ever seen before

Cobblestone streets, amazing architecture, shops, oh the food!! 

Julie and CC seem happy about their room

just being friends who can hold hands

and be ok

cause that's what friends do

We all had autograph books (which was one of our many gifts)

Everywhere we stopped, we tried to get people to sign our books.

We'd paste paper souvenirs in them

Here is one of our waiters signing our books

Can I just say the French men....Oooola la

Before we left, all the waiters came over

and they left us each with a red rose they bought from a street lady

Did I mention..........Ooooo la la 

We went for a walk along the pier and saw this sign.

Claudie, using her french charm

talked the owner into letting us get one for $5.00

MISTAKE

why...I'll tell ya why

Henna does not last or set like a real tattoo

and it was so hot and humid that evening

the slightest touch would rub it off

All we had them put on each of us was the words

SUMMER BREEZE

Well, I thought I'd get my sexy on, and have mine on my neck/chest area

So.....I am not really the french floozy that this photo looks like

I had to pull the shirt down so it wouldn't rub off

(that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

However, after all my efforts to protect it

by the end of the night it was a mess

It ended up looking like some broad who was getting laser treatments for a Bad Tattoo

Since it was such a muggy night, we all did a little dance in the fountain.

Sure, you're not supposed to

Whatever

(Claudie)



Not a bad photo for all us felons I guess.  Poor Julie isn't in this photo as she was our official picture taker.

That water felt dang good for all us menopausal women

We took a little detour home. Went on a ferry boat ride.  AGAIN, Claudie, using her irresistible charms, talked the captain down on the price

and

as it turned out.....he took us across 4 times just for fun

(it is only a 15 min. ride across the river)

One side of the river is Ontario, the other Quebec

(CC and Claudie)

Don't worry Jeanne, it's not that big of a river.

If you fall off, just paddle hard

Of course no trip to Canada would be complete without some POUTINE.

Eastern Canada makes the best

It is french fries covered with cheese curds and brown gravy

We only wanted one family order for our southern friends to try, but when they found out where we were all from

they gave us 2 for the price of 1

SO

instead of only 1000 calories a mouthful, we got 2000

NICE

This is where I will leave you for now.

I am sure my carriage is about to turn into a pumpkin

enjoy this sunset from Claudies back yard

along the river

"a dream is a wish your heart makes"

stay tuned for part deux

that's french talk for two