I apologize for not publishing anything for a litte while - we've been busy. We left Toronto on-time, just after 10:00 a.m. and headed for the little town of Newcastle, Ontario to visit our Merida friends - Roberto and Denice. For years I drove past this place on the way to my cottage on Rice Lake, but I never made the time to stop in - it's a nice little hamlet on Lake Ontario. After a nice but brief stop at the Phippard's we headed out for our next destination - The Nation's Capital - Ottawa.

It's been over twenty years since Deborah and I visited Ottawa and this time it was way, way warmer than our previous visit. We arrived just past 5:00 p.m. and made our way directly to Parliament Hill just in time to watch the sunset. After a brief dinner at the Fox & Fiddle just across from our hotel - The Business Inn - we decided to call it quits for the night.

Our hotel on first glimpse was a little surprising, but overall and in the light of a new day, not so bad for the price - clean and spacious and in a pretty good location for our next day's visit. We ended up walking just a little too much so a taxi cab was the order of business for the next day - we had to make sure that we could get to the ticket lineup for Parliment Hill by 08:15 a.m. just to make sure that we could get access to the FREE tickets for the 60-minute tour and elevator ride up to the top of the tower. In closing, I'd like to make sure that I send off a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY greeting to one of my best friends in the world - Jean Ann Norris - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE - I LOVE YOU.

Nighty night.