Day 3--Visiting Cuz Hansi in St Catharines, Canada

Day 3—Wed. June 16, 2010
Allegan MI to St Catharines, ONT, Canada
395 miles

Suz and I were up before our hosts who were sleeping in after an exhausting rainy ride from NYC. We brewed ourselves coffee and had a bowl of cereal on their screen porch. They are nearly on the Kalamazoo River and have a large backyard, shaded by enormous tulip trees. While eating breakfast, we spotted a red fox at the edge of their yard. Eventually it saw or heard us and slipped back into the woods.

When Paula and Ryan got up, we visited until 10:30 or so and then Ryan had to go to his clinic. He rode his bike—all duded out in a yellow rain one-piece and an ancient helmet. We spent more time with Paula, and she and Suz got caught up re their mutual daughter and son. It was noon before we left. Rained most of the day, though never heavily where we were.

I drove the whole day again, and we arrived in St Catharines about 6:30 p.m. Hansi was at chorus practice, but Rob was waiting for us. He immediately sat us down with a cold beer (me) and a glass of white wine (Suz), and he and Suz began to trade stories about mutual Canadian cities they’d lived in, books they’d read, and Rob told stories of his travels in India.

Cousin Hansi and her husband Rob before their St Catharine's house; is that an aura Hansi is sporting?

Hansi had prepared a great meal and the table was set, so with a little prodding on my part, we sat down to it—yam/apple/pecan casserole, cous cous with goat cheese and tomatoes, big green salad, cold salmon—red and white wine. YUM!

Suz was on her last legs so I excused her to Rob and she went to bed. I stayed up until 9:45 pm, ate a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie, and listened to more of Rob’s tales of India. Finally when Rob saw that I was doing more yawning than replying, I went to bed.