Day 14

Mileage: 99 km
Weather: Hot and sunny in the morning, with thunder storms and rain in the afternoon and then a return to sunny in the evening!

This morning, we drove to Cloverdale Links golf course in Winchester to play eighteen holes with Eric. For seventeen holes, we had beautiful and sunny weather, though there were clouds in the sky and and storms in the distance.  All three of us were hitting the ball well but John, especially, was playing great golf.  He shot a 38 on the front nine and kept the good consistent play going into the back nine.  In the middle of the fairway on the eighteenth hole, the skies opened up and it RAINED.  To call it a "colossal downpour" would not be an overstatement.  We were soaked.  Erik and I picked up but I knew that John would want to finish his round to see how well he could actually do.  So we waved him on, encouraging him to take his time and finish the round the right way.  And, in the driving rain and wind on the eighteenth green, he broke 80 for the first time in his golfing career.  And he held his hands up high in the rain and said, "I did it!"  You can read more about his round here.

We managed to get in and out of the rain by running from the eighteenth green onto a covered porch by the club house. By then, the thunder and lightning were starting to roll in and we wondered if the course was going to sound the horn to call in the golfers who were still out on the course.  The young lady who had been working the front desk came outside on to a raised porch on the deck and I heard her say something to somebody about plugging their ears.  And then, right above my head, she sounded the air horn.  I just about jumped out of my skin entirely and I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of years have been taken off my life as a result.  Not a fun moment!

One last dinner with the Nicholls tonight before the four of us head off for Toronto -- and the Blue Jays -- tomorrow!

Oh! And now we have a garden gnome!