Experiencing the Tub at the B&B, and Hanging out on the Beach at the Club Muskoka

An identical miserable night last night trying to sleep on that piece of garbage our Christian proprietess calls a mattress. I was so ticked off when I got up , I threatened to my husband to report Ethyl to the Canadian B&B authorities (if they have such a thing).

But at least, I thought, we'll get to enjoy those fabulous banana beignets she bragged about yesterday. But sadly, no...breakfast was every bit as dreadful as it was yesterday.

And then Ethyl had the audacity to ask how I had slept. In a very quiet voice, I told her I hadn't slept almost at all for either of the past two nights, and when she asked why...I eventually (after breakfast, after her other 'guests' had parted) told her it was due to the extremely hard and lumpy mattress, and told her we would have to do something to ameliorate this condition.

She offered to let us move across the hall to the room with the lumpy king-size bed, and still use the bathroom in the room we were currently in. She did not offer an apology or a refund, however (the king-size bedroom was supposed to be cheaper than the god-awful room she had put us in). I thought it had to be an improvement, and the bed did seem to have more padding on it, and the room was considerably more cheerful, yet still not 'nice' like Erin's room or the room next to her. So move we did.

Then I went to take a bath or shower or...something. Trouble was, the bathtub is a bit on the short side for taking a bath, and since it's located under the eaves, it's also short height-wise, making showering something of a problem. I ended up standing up bent-over and spraying myself, soaping and spraying, shampooing and spraying, creme-rinsing and spraying. I've had worse bathing situations in third-world countries, so there's that to be thankful for.

Terry demonstrating the size problem of our tub/shower
at Eden Place Bed & Breakfast

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We eventually headed back into town for some real coffee in real coffee quantities, and then out to the chalets at Club Muskoka for a second breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup.

Then everyone who wasn't already on the beach (or sailing) headed down there on this quite gorgeous Canadian summer day. All the inflatable sailboats were in use, as well as the inflatable kayak. I was hoping for a ride on one of the boats, but had brought a book to read, some art supplies and my camera to entertain myself with in the meantime.

I chatted with Terry Luckett for awhile. She told me about life after her marriage to Vernon, HP's brother, and made me yet again so sad that I'd never gotten a chance to meet my Terry's mom, DB.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids play -- Robert is great and smart and so cute, but almost never smiles -- he's very serious, you know; his twin sister, Catherine, on the other hand, is all giggles and light and reminds me very much of Gilda Radner's little girl scout character Judy Miller, of the Judy Miller show.

We watched Jim and Dan and passengers sailing on Lake Muskoka. Jim Luckett manufactures and sells these sail kits to turn an ordinary inflatable raft into a small and very safe sailboat -- one that you can pack and take with you on your world travels, even! http://www.sailboatstogo.com/

Bob and Vivien also have one of these boats and they brought it down to the shore to get it read to sail. I won't tell you how long they stayed out, though!

Bob starting to inflate and assemble his portable sailboat.

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Dinner was sort of a disorganized affair this evening. Erin, Nancy, Libby, Terry and I decided to go into Gravenhurst and pay somebody to feed us. When we reached Gravenhurst, we discovered that only 2 or 3 restaurants were even open. We opted for the better looking of the two Chinese restaurants, and Libby ventured inside just as the clouds broke open, only to discover they were only open for take-out. So we headed down the street to the other place, and it was perfect!

It was delightful getting to know Nancy and Libby better over a leisurely, more intimate dinner. Libby told us how we are related to Tim Berners-Lee (more), inventor of the World Wide Web (he's her husband's brother-in-law). Through Libby, we are also related to Kevin McCarthy (more), the actor, and Mary McCarthy (more & MM quotes), the author (she wrote "The Group," among many others). Pretty cool!