Combermere Ontario - Fry Guys Weekend Sunday

Sunday started slowly. Lots of coffee and water for Mike and I. Kim and Mike decided to take a drive through Algonquin Park. Sandy and Heather elected to remain at the cabin. The weatherman, who had promised warm and sunny all weekend, was not our favourite person as the weather slid into typical Combermere mode. Cool, overcast, periods of drizzle and rain.

I had to report to the schoolyard down the road where the traditional softball game started at noon to set up one of the kids field events to be held immediately following. Since the weekend was Harry Potter themed, I was to construct a wizard’s maze around the Jungle Jim and swing sets using a long rope. Blindfolded kids, directed by their grown partners, would supposedly navigate their way through this course. Brother Rob, architect of the games, said make it complicated. Right. The rope went up, down, around and around. Eric Avon decided that he would run the course instead of committing his young daughter to it. With his wife’s help, he survived and we immediately shortened the route for other competitors. Then we shortened it again, but it was still a challenge.

Games over, the gang adjourned back to the lodge for do it yourself ice cream sundaes. I hooked back up with Sandy and Heather here. Then we went back to the cabin, where Kim and Mike had returned from the park, for supper and more naps.

As early evening approached, I headed down to the beach to check out the fireworks preparations. They had the younger adults busy digging trenches for the rows of fireworks to be launched from the beach. Eric had gotten something new this year with racks of mortars and other devices attached to boards and fused together in sequence. He traditional solid base mortars were to be fired from the concrete dock. This is usually my job and this year Brother Dave would be working with me. Brian had come up with propane torches for lighting fuses instead of our usual molten material spewing road flares. This would prove to substantially reduce my burns frequency.

At 9:30, we had sounded the appropriate warnings and everyone had gathered behind the safety rope. Our gang, neighbors, people who drive in just to watch the show. Launchers were in position. We were ready. I don’t really know what the display looks like. I’ve never seen it because I am always setting up, firing off, knocking down and setting up again with the mortars. This goes on for over twenty minutes. The types I handle go straight up a long way and explode in a variety of shapes and colours. This year, in a new wrinkle, I had four smaller ones of the same type, designed to explode in a shower of red and green balls, blow up un the dock. That kept things interesting. We managed to hit our finale at the same time as the crew on the beach. As the show came to an end, Brian’s special secret show closer went of echoing up and down the river and taking most of the fans by surprise. Then it was all over except for the cleanup.

Afterwards, we went to the Round House for a short time and said some goodbyes. We usually leave Monday morning before the rest of the gang gets up. Then it was back to the cabin and bed.