Cool River, Warm Evening, Hot Pizza

"There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices. In the back you can see a guy tossing a triangle into the air."

-- Stephen Wright

I love weekends, I really do. And they are never long enough. Even the long weekends somehow fall short. We try to make plans in advance so we can get the most out of these precious days. But we also don't want to be such slaves to our plans that we miss out on a chance for some fun.

This past Saturday it was supposed to be very hot so we planned to do housework in the morning, errands and shopping in the early afternoon, then gardening in the cooler late afternoon, followed by a BBQ dinner outdoors and relaxing in the garden afterward. But it didn't happen. Not even close.

Even the morning was so extremely hot and humid that it was hard to summon up the energy to work. And so, we were sitting on our rather kitschy front porch (which we have dubbed 'our cottage') when my son, Daniel, called from Goderich. His older brother, Ben, wanted to take him to a Detroit Tigers' baseball game, but Daniel didn't have his passport with him.

We originally offered to drive to Grand Bend to meet them with the passport, then Mark suggested that, instead, we simply meet them at the border in Sarnia, then slip across to Michigan to do a little shopping. I thought this was a great idea as I needed a dress for an upcoming wedding, and because I enjoy grocery shopping there.

We sat under a large tree just before the bridge and waited for the guys to appear. It was very, very hot and we were extremely thirsty but there was wasn't a drop of water in sight. So, as soon as we had given Daniel his passport and headed across the bridge, we drove immediately to The Thomas Edison Inn - a charming old inn on the St. Clair River, right by the Bluewater Bridge. The lounge area was nice and cool and relaxing and we felt even better once we had got ourselves around two very cold and refreshing pints.

It was really quite late when we started shopping - about 5:00, I think. We made a lot of stops and had a great time, even though I couldn't find a suitable dress. As we left the last store we were shocked to see that it was already dark. Where had the time gone?

We were absolutely starving by then as we hadn't eaten since breakfast. And because we had just spent so much time indoors we didn't want to go to a restaurant. Fortunately, we had noticed a "Hungry Howie's" pizza place earlier. We had had their 'thin and crisp' pizza before and loved it, so we made our decision and hurried over to the shop. We ordered a mushroom, green olive, pineapple, and jalapeno pizza and then tried to calm our growling stomachs while inhaling the tantalizing aromas of the pizzeria.

Finally, it was ready, so we grabbed some napkins (very important!) and the pizza box, jumped into the car and drove over to the river. We lost no time in diving into the wonderful, tasty pizza while watching the boats on the river, as well as all of the people sitting, walking, biking, and fishing along the waterfront. It was amazing that there was so much outdoor activity so late in the evening. There was a great energy present, though - a real old-fashioned summery feel.

After we had eaten all that we could manage, we went for a stroll along the river since we just weren't ready to leave. We were delighted by the friendliness of these Michiganders - so many strangers along the waterfront were quick to smile and to say hello that we almost felt we had been transported back to a gentler time.

In the end we had to get going so we headed back to the bridge. It was nice and quiet and there were only a few cars waiting to cross. We casually pulled up behind a car, then Mark suddenly noticed that, amazingly, that in that car were none other than Ben and Daniel - heading home after the ballgame in Detroit. What a coincidence! I just love stuff like that.

In the end I'm glad that we had been willing and able to go so easily to "plan B". We helped Daniel out and allowed him to have a great baseball experience with Ben. And we also got to have a really fun day in another country, with "Hungry Howie" cooking up a delectable dinner for us. What a great way to kick off the summer....

Cheers!


Diane


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