The Bag Lady visits a Canadian friend

This week I'm visiting my friend Judy who lives in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. It's a summer resort area about two hours north of Toronto - a beautiful place with lakes, rivers and beaches. Judy runs her errands in several little towns, so we get to visit each place, have lunch or a treat, and browse in the shops. Ordinarily I detest shopping for clothes, but Judy has a wonderful eye and is good counsel for me on my retail forays.

I visited Judy last year. You can read about that trip and see my pictures here. We're going to almost exactly the same places and doing the same things as last year. The only real difference is the content of our conversations. As a matter of fact, I was tempted to bail on my blog for this week and just repost last year's trip, but I felt too guilty.

I am going to Greece for a week next month to volunteer in a refugee camp in Oinofyta. It will be hot and humid and I am not good with either, so I'm looking for the coolest possible clothes. Today I found two shirts and a sundress (I haven't worn a dress in at least seven years, so we'll see).

Judy and I are both talkers. Here's an example of our discussion topics on this trip:

• The personalities, assets and limitations of our husbands! We're both married to men five years older than we are, so the guys are, well, older, and we do not yet think of ourselves that way.
• What on earth is going on between America and Donald Trump. Actually, I have gotten this question multiple times - from servers and retail clerks, who have actually gathered to hear me better. I tell them America is a very large country with very diverse opinions, and that the press is giving Trump a lot of airtime because he's such an unusual candidate. Several of them expressed unease that Trump could win. I told them what I can do is vote and that there are many, many Americans who will not be voting for him.
• The worst thing each of us ever did. Judy asked me. I said I'd have to think about it. I asked her. She said she'd have to think about it. Then I told her and she told me. We can both still live with ourselves.
• How we spend our winters. I met Judy when she and her husband Ken were our neighbors at the Voyager RV Resort, where we live in the winter. They sold their place and now go to Florida. We have a park model in Tucson and they leave their RV in Sarasota. Judy says she wants to be near the water. I said I want to be in the sun. 
• What on earth is going on at the Republican Convention.

I rarely spend this much time with a girlfriend, but so far neither of us has gotten bored. We laugh a LOT. And Judy gets up early and I don't, and I stay up late and she doesn't. So she has her time with her husband Ken when I'm elsewhere. That's good for all of us.

I fly home on Friday evening. For a week. Then I leave on another trip. More on that one later.