Birthday Part 2: Ipperwash Beach

Continuing the dog-themed birthday weekend I've been having so far, today we went to Ipperwash Beach (Lake Huron) with Bo to swim and have a picnic dinner. Like usual, we went a bit later in the day so John could avoid the sun, and all of us were able to avoid the crowds. It's nice to pull up to the parking lot just as families with kids are heading home.

Bo was a champ in the car. She's either interested in looking around, or she settles down right away and enjoys the ride. This bodes well for our upcoming drive to Indiana.

Like most things, the beach made her a little nervous at first. So much noise! There were boats and kids and other dogs, and she was consumed with watching the seagulls fly around.

Several people complimented us on how beautiful she is - this happens everywhere we go. Obviously.

We made sandwiches and brought chips for our picnic, and I enjoyed a peanut butter and chocolate cupcake from Hey, Cupcake! Few things are better than sitting on the beach with your dog and eating a cupcake on your almost-birthday. 

Once my stomach was full of sandwiches, chips, and cupcake, Bo and I took a walk around the beach, and then a short run in the water. It went like this; I would coax her to jump and run a bit, and she was trot for a few steps, then try to shoot past me. When she couldn't keep going, she would do this horizontal flip in the air (a characteristic greyhound feat). I'm sure it didn't seem like real running to her, but she had a great time. Once she relaxed and had her dinner, she really enjoyed the lake. And bonus, my stress fractured foot didn't hurt at all! I think we'll be able to run together a bit this fall.

Bo rarely wags her tail or even raises it to show her mood. But once we got in the water, her tail curled right up to show she was having a good time. So far she only does that when she's swimming, meeting another dog, or staring at herself in the mirror.

I tried to take a family photo before we left. 

After Pawlooza and the beach this weekend, next weekend is going to seem awfully boring.

All the running and mental stimulation of the beach really tired her out and she slept like a baby the whole way home.

Victoria Day

Fun fact: Canada doesn't do Memorial Day like we do in the U. S. Instead, they celebrate Queen Victoria's Birthday with Victoria Day, aka, "The May Two-Four," as in, May 24. It's a long weekend that signifies the start of summer, not unlike Memorial Day. John and I observed the queen's b-day with a trip to Ipperwash Beach. We waited until late in the day, since John fries like an egg in direct sunlight.  And I've wanted to watch the sunset over Lake Huron since we moved here. It didn't disappoint!

Ipperwash Beach was perfect. By 6 or so when we arrived it was practically deserted. The water was WAY too cold to swim, but I did wade into the shallow part to take some photos. The water is always so clear in Lake Huron and the shallow part extends quite a ways out, so you can wade about 30-40 feet out with water below your knees.

We packed a picnic and read books on the beach while waiting for the sunset to begin.

Once it started, I took about 500 pictures and I was too in awe to read my book. 

The water was very still as evening set in. I love the texture of the water in all these photos.

The water looks like leather. Or oil. The weather was perfect for a beautiful sunset.

Ipperwash is dog-friendly and the parking is free. We'll definitely be back again soon.

Avocado Zucchini Pasta and Blueberry Muffins

Ah, the end of the summer.

I know in the last post I went on about how summer was over, but this time I really mean it.

(Note: this is not our dog. This is a random beach dog.)

Summer is really ending. John and I went to Lake Huron for Labor Day, and everything. We decided to go to Ipperwash Beach, the site of a WWII army base that now features a dog friendly beach with free parking! Everywhere on Lake Huron takes about the same amount of time to get to, and the beach itself was lovely, so we will definitely return.

John and I completely forgot to bring our beach chairs or umbrella, so we sat in the shade beneath some beach vegetation until the sun moved too far to the west. It was still a relaxing and beautiful afternoon. I love Lake Huron. 

Tonight, John and I had what I'd like to call the Last Summer Dinner of the Year. We made two summery recipes that came up on my feed reader this week.
First: Julienned Zucchini Pasta with Avocado Sauce, from Oh She Glows.

(Also featured: random counter items, including the Centennial IPA from Founders that John and I shared while preparing dinner, in a new-to-us Apricot Brandy glass from Talize, part of a mixed group of glasses I bought for a grand total of $2.) 

Angela, who writes Oh She Glows, posted that she bought a julienne peeler. It's like a regular peeler, but with teeth. It easily juliennes things like squash, cucumbers, and carrots. You could use it for salad toppings, but, like Angela, I saw it and thought of veggie "pasta." A spiralizer would do the same thing, but the peeler is much cheaper ($7 for the peeler, vs. $25 for the spiralizer). I took her suggestion and made the easy avocado pasta sauce (avocado + basil + oil + garlic in the food processor) for this raw zucchini pasta, and it was a total success. We each ate an entire zucchini for dinner, along with half an avocado each. Lots of raw vegetables in this meal! 

 I think you could easily heat this very briefly in a pan and top it with basically any pasta sauce. It's perfect for the end of the summer when zucchini is still plentiful.

Since our pasta was really squash, we decided to have "pasta" with a side of carbs, in the form of these Blueberry Corn Muffins from Daily Garnish. These muffins only have a 1/4 cup of sugar and not much oil. Instead, they get moisture and sweetness from the blueberries and corn. I ate three and could have kept going, if it weren't for all that common sense I have.


Now that it's September and there are only a few hours of Labor left, I really am excited for fall! One more post about summer running, once I get around to writing it. After that, I'll start blogging about pumpkin scones, or the 100 sweet potatoes I plan on eating this month, or how cheap acorn squash is. You know, whatever's par for September.

Beach Day - Bayfield, ON

My parents came to Ontario to visit in July and we took them to Bayfield, ON, a beachy town we'd never visited before.


















Bayfield is on Lake Huron, just north of Grand Bend and the Pinery. The town itself was cute (though I didn't take pictures), and it seemed more parent-friendly at least for my parents than Grand Bend.



















We tried out our new beach umbrella.



















On the other side of this pier is a marina where people park their boats.

























































Bayfield's sand on the beach was really nice, but the shore was really rocky. Everyone but me kept their sandals on to go out into the water because it was painful to walk on all the rocks. Someone recently told me that the rockiness comes and goes (weird!) so it might not be that way next summer. One we were out about 30 feet or so from the beach, the sand was really soft, and still very shallow. At that distance, the water only came up to my waist. The other big thing in Bayfield's favor is that the parking was free and it has public washrooms, though they were locked for the evening before we were ready to go home, so that was kind of a bummer. I think we'll definitely go back and maybe see some more of the town next time.