Lazy Days in Canada

So it’s been a really nice relaxing time by the lake over the last couple of days.  Rob and I went to check out the site of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

 In the 1830s, the Reverend Josiah Henson and other abolitionists sought ways to provide refugees from slavery with the education and skills they needed to become self-sufficient in Upper Canada.  Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s cabin used Josiah Henson’s memoirs (1849) as reference material for her novel.  He did a number of trips on the Underground Railroad, which is not a railroad, nor is it underground.  They were called conductors, and showed black slaves a safe passage through to Canada, by using sympathetic people along the way to hide them.   It’s a pretty amazing story – and the place certainly had an interesting ‘feel’ to it.

We then drove over to Port Lambton which is on the St Clair river on the Canadian side.  Across the other side of the river (which looks almost like spitting distance) is the USA.  We had dinner with some old neighbours of Joan’s who were lovely people.   They served up so much food for dinner, and I ate a T-bone steak that looked bigger than my head.  It has to be one of the biggest steaks I have ever seen, over here though it is considered to be small.   After dinner some other friends popped over.  One of these people had been carjacked about a month earlier in Detroit by gunpoint,  he was selling his Jag convertible to a guy, and on the second day of negotiation the guy pulled a gun on him while driving and told him to throw his cell phone out the window, then left him on the side of the freeway.   There are a few more details to the story, but will save them to tell in person, on my return home – but it was certainly a reminder to stay smart while over here.  Everyone is so nice and polite, but like anywhere, there will be people who try to take advantage. 

Otherwise we have had a couple of lovely lunches and dinners with a variety of local people that Joan knows which has been really cool.  One guy we had dinner with last night (Gary and his wife Linda) was sidesplittingly funny.  It’s neat listening to stories and peoples accents.

So I would like to mention a few things about this part of Canada.  Its FLAT, like a pancake, the local joke around here is that there is one hill, and that’s the rubbish dump.   Which is why they talk about the ‘big sky’ in Canada.   It looks amazing, as it is not broken up by hills or anything.  It’s a strange feeling, standing in a spot and turning around, and being able to see flat land as far as the eye can see.  One guy I spoke to said your dog could run away from home, and you would see still be able to see it walking away three days later – ha ha.   Also it’s true that Canadian people are very polite.  Tonight we are going to a place called the Tunnel Bar-B-Que, which apparently has the best ribs “On the planet’ according to locals. So I am looking forward to that.

Much Love.  Miz