Wordless Wednesday

Much fun, many memories

Our flight to Regina, via Calgary, wasn't scheduled until 6 p.m., and the rental car wasn't due back to the airport until 3:30 p.m. so we had time to visit one more attraction in Halifax on our final morning. 

After our continental breakfast, we packed up at the hotel and headed downtown around 9:30 in the morning to the Discovery Center (science center). The day prior the center offered free admission, and I was hoping that might mean it would be quiet(er). Ha! The place was buzzing with children and their parents. 

All of the floors had various interactive exhibits. On the first floor, this piece of equipment was very popular with the children including Eli. He enjoyed his opportunity to move the foam pieces to a nearby box.

I wandered off into another area of the floor...which seemed somewhat less noisy. There were a number of mind-bending puzzles, as a maze. My mind wasn't up to most of the puzzles. :) Eli followed and wandered through the maze backwards...he went in at the finish. Whatever works.

We went up to the third floor next where Eli had a lot of fun, with his mom in tow, while G'ma sat and enjoyed a cup of tea. 

However, it was on the second floor that Eli found the best thing ever, a flight simulator!!! There were several crashes but he did manage to successfully land the plane at least once.

I suspect, had there not been other children waiting to use the machine, we would still be there.

We left downtown shortly before lunch and crossed the bridge to Dartmouth. 

We ate at Boston Pizza and still had plenty of time before we needed to head for the airport. D used the Google machine again and found an indoor playground nearby, "The Kids Fun Factory". 

The place was packed with children and their parents. A warehouse style building with high ceilings, it had climbing apparatus, slides, tunnels, and a ball bit. There are no photos from that activity, I'm not certain D had her phone with her. I had tucked myself in a corner where it wasn't quite as noisy. (Do you sense a theme?) They had couches and chairs, as well as a cafe area outside the play area. 

We left there shortly before 3 p.m., and went to the nearby gas station to fill up before making our way to the airport.  Dropping the car off was simple, as was our check-in at the counter. However, in security I was taken aside; it was my own fault! I'd purchased a small knife to cut up the strawberries we'd had earlier in the trip and tucked it into a corner pocket of my backpack and forgotten all about it. I was appropriately shocked and apologetic and they took the knife and let me through to the gates.

And of course, this is when we started our hurry up and wait portion of our trip. Eventually we were on the five hour flight to Calgary, and no one slept (not even me). By the time we arrived in Calgary, I think we were all exhausted, Eli slept most of the way to Regina, I got about a 1/2 hour and D did not. We arrived at my son's house just about midnight local time, grabbed a cab to C's and after moving bags to my car, Eli and I crawled into bed, while D visited with her brother and his roommate. 

Despite the very long day at the end of the trip, it was an amazing adventure. Eli did so well throughout the entire trip despite the change in routine. I enjoyed sharing places I'd been before with my daughter and grandson, and D did a marvelous job of finding new places for us to explore. The majority of the photos I've shared were taken with her cellphone as I didn't have room for my Canon. She clearly enjoyed it too, and we're already thinking ahead to late June 2027 for our next trip! 

It never ends

Early this week I had thought of an awesome title for this post...I've forgotten it now, so who knows what it will be, if any. I'm tired.

It's been another busy week, with day camp, the library program, and swimming lessons for Eli, with mom or G'ma taxi for the assist. Household chores including laundry, vacuuming, dishes, cleaning cat litter, menu planning and meal prep for both D and I, and of course, the inevitable weeding for me. I managed a bit of knitting too.

With D and Eli off to the library (Wednesday) or swim lessons (every evening at 6:15), I've had the house to myself for a bit more than usual. The swim lessons are generally when the Blue Jays play baseball, so I can't say I've done much in those solitary moments. I did tackle my bedroom on Wednesday, as between my stuff and the cat's (Saku) stuff, it was feeling a bit cluttered and untidy. 

Speaking of Saku, the integration with Stanley and Spencer is happening very slowly. He can tolerate being in the same room for brief periods (always supervised), but heaven help either of them if they dare enter his space (my bedroom). This cat can yowl with the best of them. He also gets annoyed if he feels one of them is between him and the nearest exit. But he has fed in close proximity a few times. Again, just briefly but without any cranky interaction. One day, he was drinking water from the cat bowl out in the front porch; Stanley was sleeping on the chair just a few feet away. They were aware of each other but neither had a reaction to the other. Poor Spencer doesn't fare as well. Saku seems to dislike her, no apparent reason, and she has once or twice expressed her displeasure as well. We're hoping that by Thanksgiving (mid-October) they'll be more tolerant towards each other. 

By the way, Wednesday's photo was indeed, a field of canola against the very smoky sky. We were under a air quality advisory and it has lasted through the week.

Friends were camping in central Saskatchewan and had to leave early, as it was worse there. The province reports there are currently 56 fires burning in the province, four considered contained, 15 not contained and 19 being investigated. Now, I don't know about you, but that only adds up to 38 fires...no reporting on the other 18 fires. Eleven communities/areas are still under evacuation orders. Our provincial government is nothing if not incompetent. In fact, they have only now agreed to have the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) provide firefighting crews to assist. Meanwhile the northern half of our province continues to burn. 

On to lesser frustrations, I pulled the pea plants this week and re-seeded. I was hoping they'd put out another set of flowers and pods but after a week, I had nothing so they're gone. Peas tend to prefer to be planted in cooler temps so I may not get anything, but I'll give it a try.  My tomatoes have been busily putting out flowers but I've found only a few tomatoes that have set. I don't know if they are simply late or just not being pollinated. So I did what some annoyed gardeners would do, I used a paint brush to hand pollinate the flowers. I should note there have been bumble bees and various flies around the plants but I think other flowers have been more attractive for whatever reason. I'll let you know if it works.

The major weeding is finally complete, and I'm on to the maintenance portion. Basically that means I'm starting all over, just with smaller weeds. :p To hopefully reduce the weeding efforts, I picked up mulch on Friday for the front flower bed and the raised bed in back. I used a push hoe to weed the vegetable garden, but was on my hands and knees again to clear the front flower bed. The hollyhocks are just starting to bloom. (Don't mind the window sills and frames that need painting - that's a next spring job). 

The heat returned on Friday; just after noon it had reached 29C/84F and by 3 p.m. it was 32C/90F

Today is supposed to be slightly cooler 26C/79F and we may get rain and thunderstorms on Sunday. I know the temperatures I've shared don't seem that hot for many of you, but it is too much for this wuss. We've been watering from the rain barrels, except for the veg garden, and they are still pretty full. Even so, it would be nice to get a refreshing rain.

With the heat, I'm only working outdoors in the morning and back indoors for the afternoons. Besides the weeding, I have a couple of other projects. The shed is a total mess, as things have been rummaged through, with tools and bags of potting soil and fertilizer simply dumped inside. There are also items that need to be moved to the garage (my other project) to be taken to the dump. A couple of mornings should see it better organized. 

Indoors with baseball and football to watch, and a knitting project, I'll be a cool and happy camper!

Have a great week ahead everyone!

P.S. Five months until Christmas...and all the weeds will be gone.

Friday Funny

 

Return to Bedford

We weren't in a hurry to get on the road to Bedford/Halifax, so lazed around a bit in the morning. After our complimentary breakfast, D and Eli went to the pool one more time, and then we packed up. Funny story, we were shuffling things in the bags when we found a television remote. Somehow it had fallen into one of our bags when we left the motel in Baddeck!  I called the motel to let them know we had it, and would drop it off on our way through that morning.

Before we left the Antigonish area, we headed to Pomquet Beach. We had planned to visit the beach when we were on our way to Baddeck, but the weather had been rainy and cool. Not so, this day, it was already quite warm and the temps would get hot later in the day.

The beach is on the Northumberland Strait, which is part of the Atlantic ocean. D had wanted to be able to put her toes in the ocean the entire trip, and Bras D'Or lake was close, but this was the real thing. The beach is 3 km. (about 2 miles) long, a mix of sand and rock. We didn't go swimming but satisfied ourselves with a walk along the beach front.

We looked for shells and pretty rocks as we walked. There was no one on the beach when we first arrived but a young woman and her toddler came soon after. They were clearly prepared to stay the day, with a small tent for shade, a mat, and toys in a wagon. 

Looking at this photo, I'm certain this beach rivals many I've had to privilege to visit in the Caribbean. 

Back in the car, we made a short stop in the community of Pomquet at the Sainte Croix cemetery.

D and I wandered around a bit looking for the oldest marker...there were many. The photo below is just a small portion of the cemetery. It extends beyond the church and quite a distance in the other direction. It is clearly well-maintained, and a very peaceful place.

I should note, we had hoped to visit Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, to see the Titanic memorial. However, though we tried, we never found the appropriate gates and it is located in traffic heavy area.

Back on the road, we stopped and picked up fast food in New Glasgow and went on to Trenton to the aptly named Trenton Park.

The park has playground equipment, a splash pad and a pool. As he had eaten his lunch in the car, Eli made use of the first two while D and I found a spot to sit and watch him play.

The splash pad was popular, as it was getting very hot. We stayed about a half hour, and noticed it was getting very busy. It turned out the community was gathering for their Canada Day celebration. We decided it was time to head back to the highway and our hotel

When we arrived back in Bedford, we decided to check out deWolf Park, where Canada Day activities were in full swing. It was just a few blocks from our hotel (the same Comfort Inn we'd stayed at earlier in the trip). After a slow, slow drive through the park, we weren't able to find parking so turned around and made our way back to Bedford Highway to the hotel. It was a good afternoon to go for a dip in the unheated pool. I went too!

We had thought about getting pizza for dinner, but I vetoed the idea because there would be leftovers and we were flying out the next day. I found a place called Boomburger COWS ice cream not far away. It reminded me of Five Guys burgers here in Saskatchewan, where your food is prepared in front of you and the fries are tossed into a bag. I treated myself to a beer, the first I'd had during the entire trip. (I promise I didn't drink it until I got back to the hotel.)

There were planned activities in the basin in the evening, but late afternoon the fog came rolling in. We could not see the bridge across the basin and it was pea soup in front of the hotel. As a result the boat parade and the fireworks were postponed, to a later date to be determined, so instead of propping our eyelids open, we turned in early.

Our flight the next day wasn't scheduled until 6 p.m. so we had another half day or so left to enjoy the area. I can assure you we did! More on that in the next post.

Wordless Wednesday (late in the day)

 

Sydney in the morning, Antigonish in the afternoon

Before leaving Sydney, we had a few more places to visit. First up, was a trip back to Open Hearth Park for some fun in the playground for Eli. There was bit of light rain, and no other children around, so we didn't stay very long.

Then it was down to the harbour/cruise pavilion to check out the giant fiddle. I've never actually cruised into Sydney, but I've seen photos before. They don't do it justice. At 60 feet in height, it is built of steel, and is a tribute to the local Celtic community. There is clearly a sound system hooked up that plays traditional music. 

Next up was Cossit House Museum, a living museum with individuals dressed in period costumes and offering tours and information about the property. The house was built in 1787, and named for the original owner, Reverend Rana Cossit. He and his family, wife Thankful, and ten of their thirteen children lived there until 1815. 

With a final stop at a local thrift shop, where D found several books from a favorite author, we headed out on the highway toward Antigonish. (By this point, I was thinking we were going to need an additional bag.)

The clouds were low in the sky, and at points nearly obscuring the top of the hills.

Our first stop in Antigonish was the Snow Queen Diner. It was set up much like an old style diner except we were provided a pager to notify us when our lunch was ready. I went with their special of the day, a smash burger - it was delicious! 

D had hoped to visit a number of churches along Church Street, and I had my heart set on visiting St. Ninian Cathedral. Since I was driving, I got my wish. I had visited there in 2015, and remember being amazed by the church then, and that was my impression this time too.

As it turned out the other churches D thought would be interesting were not open to the public. After a brief visit to a gift shop downtown, we headed off to the hotel - a very modern Microtel Inn & Suites. There was a heated pool, and D and Eli took advantage both that evening and the following morning.

This hotel was across the highway and quite far from the center of the community. There wasn't much out there, just a few fast food restaurants, a gas station and convenience store. But it was definitely quiet and provided a continental breakfast in the morning. It also had the only heated pool in our travels.

The following day was July 1, Canada Day, and we would be heading back to Halifax for our final night. But there was at least one more place nearby we wanted to explore. Stay tuned!

The morning in Baddeck, an afternoon in Sydney

After breakfast at the nearby Tim Horton's, our first task of the morning Baddeck was finding the local laundromat. We packed for eight days, or at least I did, but D and Eli tend to change more frequently, so we had a couple of loads of laundry to complete. While the clothes were in the washing machine, we did a walk up and back the main street. It was early, around 8 a.m. so there wasn't a whole lot open as yet. 

We originally thought this building was a church, but I have learned it is actually the Gilbert H. Grosvenor Hall, built in 1887. It has gone through various iterations, including customs house and post office, library, and now houses the Bras D'Or Lakes and Watershed Interpretive Centre. I wish I'd discovered before we left Baddeck!

D took this photo of the hotel that my friends stayed at, back in 2015. It's a lovely old building, but with no pool, I didn't think it would suit our purposes on this trip. In the end, we didn't use the outdoor pool at the Cabot Trail Motel, as it was a little cool in the afternoon.

Eli had his I-Pad, D and I our phones, so kept ourselves amused while waiting for the clothes to dry. We headed back to the motel to drop off the clean laundry, and before we left, D and Eli went down to the lake.

Then it was time for the main attraction of the day, the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. A short drive from the downtown area of Baddeck, it is an very interesting museum. While Bell is known to be the inventor of the telephone, he had a hand in many other inventions, including hydrofoils, kites, aeroplanes and x-rays. I remember being fascinated on my last trip there, and this time was no different.

A wall of telephones from through the years. I can only guess what Alexander Graham Bell would think of our current cell phones!

The plane above, is a replica of the Silver Dart. The Silver Dart had it's initial flight in Canada on the ice of Bras D'or Lake on February 23, 1909. The pilot who flew the aircraft that day was J.A.D. McCurdy. It was a short flight, but the plane lifted to an elevation of 20-30 feet. A few days later, McCurdy flew again, this time at an elevation of 50-60 feet for a distance of four and one half miles. Sadly, on August 2, 1909, the Silver Dart was crashed Petawawa, Ontario, during its demonstration flights in front of Canadian military officers. The plane was demolished and McCurdy suffered a broken nose.

Eli was fascinated by the telephone switchboard, and spent some time connecting and disconnecting the lines.

This is portion of the replica of Mr. Bell's study. 

I should mention that the Bell's spent thirty years between their homes in Washington, DC and Baddeck. Their home near Baddeck is not open to visitors, though we did take a drive to see if we could find a viewpoint. After finding a sign that advised there is none, we turned around and headed back to the motel.

After packing up and loading the car, we headed off to Sydney. Here are a couple of the photos of our drive.

Brid
A view of the Seal Island Bridge, or alternatively the Great Bras D'or Crossing. 

I don't recall exactly when we arrived in Sydney, but we were early enough in the day to make our way to Fortress Louisbourg. The site is a partial reconstruction of the fortress built by France, beginning in 1719 and completed on the eve of the siege in 1745, following a declaration of war between Britain and France. The British took the fort, but their occupancy was short-lived when three years later it was returned to the French via a treaty. In 1758, another siege occurred, the British prevailed and demolished to fortress walls.

The reconstruction was completed in the 1960's through the 1980's, many of the buildings on the site of original foundations. Most interesting is the reconstruction encompasses only one quarter of the original town and fortifications.

We started our adventure at the Visitor' Center where our admission gave us a ticket to ride a shuttle bus to an area outside the fortress. It's a little bit of a hike from the bus stop to the main gates, and the area within the gates has a lot to see!

This building was sectioned off, with officers in one area and regular soldiers in another. There were young men in period costumes who explained the history as if it were today.

There is a lovely chapel inside the building. 

I don't imagine the pews were very comfortable.

I believe this was the bed of the commander of the Fortress. Much more comfortable looking than the beds in the jail house below.

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In addition to a garden area, there were animals to be visited too - these were Eli's favorite things in the Fortress.

Turkeys, ducks, and chickens were on display, and totally disinterested in the people eyeing them through the fence.

We walked to the bus stop, waited just a few minutes and returned to the Visitor's Center.

Both inside the park gates and just outside was evidence of Hurricane Fiona, which came ashore as a post-tropical storm in September, 2022. 

Back in Sydney we went to our hotel where D and Eli headed for the pool, and I relaxed for a bit. I recall where we picked up our dinner that night, a concession stand at a Open Hearth Park. The fellow was just about to close down when we arrived as it was cool and a bit windy. But he gladly prepped our burgers and fries, while we waited in our car. While waiting we noticed the playground and decided it would be a good place to visit the next day.

More on that in the next post!

More weeding, decluttering, and day camp

Another week with lots of weeding, interrupted by rain, trips to day camp, and some crafting.

I spent three hours on both Saturday and Sunday tackling the weeds in the area outside the side door and in the raised flower bed. The original plants in this bed are the day lilies and poppies, as well as some other plant that I didn't like and dug out last year. The bed also had the red oxalis. It was overshadowed by the larger plants and wasn't doing very well. Next spring, I plan to remove the day lilies and poppies. There are lots lilies elsewhere and I'll keep seeds of the poppy to seed later in another bed. In my mind they are in the wrong space - they should be at the back of the bed, not the front. Another project for next spring is replacing the fence. It is in rough shape and my brother braced it for us in a couple of places. So I don't want to move anything to rear of the bed until the fence replacement is complete.

Last year I added a small piece of Lamium (pink flowers) from the yard at the old house. It is a form of dead nettle, of which there was another variety here (yellow flowers). I moved a piece when we had the air conditioning unit installed. This year, I've planted tulip bulbs, gladiola bulbs, and two small rock cress in the back of the bed. I'd cleared the bed, as best I could early in the spring, but by the time I returned it was overgrown with cleavers, bindweed, thistle, and others. Our problem is the next door neighbour and their un-used dog run. By late last summer the weeds in that area were taller than the fence. D called the bylaw officer and they did cut things down, but did nothing to get rid of any of the weeds. As I was weeding, I was pulling on plants that were coming through the gaps in the fence and growing into our side. I suspect we'll continue to have issues, as the  weeds in their yard will continue to go to seed. It does look like they may be mowing that area this year.

Just in case, you are concerned about me removing the daylilies, here is the area behind the house where the lilies are almost a hedge!

Another view taken from the bottom of the stairs provide a view of my container garden. There are five tomatoes here, peppers, parsley, sage, and basil. Since this area gets a lot of sun, I've added a pot of portulaca for colour.

We had a rainy and cloudy day on Monday. It didn't rain a whole lot; the gauge held about 4 mm, just over a 10th of an inch. But it was enough for me to declare it an indoor day. Besides some housework, I did a bit of crocheting and knitting. D is planning to make sunflower pens for appreciation gifts for Eli's teachers. She'll wrap the pen with floral tape, and glue two flowers together for the head of the pen. I think they will be cute. I finished a toque I'd started some time ago, and started another. These will be added to the bag for Eli's school to provide to children who don't have the proper winter gear. 

Tuesday and Thursday were Day Camp days. Eli enjoys the camp so much. It's offered through SaskAbilities. Their mission statement is, "SaskAbilities supports people experiencing disability with program and services that enhance their lives". The Day Camp he attends offer opportunity for indoor and outdoor play, as well as field trips. Eli loves it! They offer the program during school breaks in February and at Easter break too. Thursday was exciting as they brought in a bouncy castle!

D and I took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping and a whole lot of browsing without buying. One of our stops was the Book Worm, a used book store, and picked up a pile of books for ourselves and Eli. Everything in the store was buy 1, get one free. The store owner told us she is moving the store in September to a larger pace, about twice the size of the current store. I can understand why. There are wooden shelves (appear to be homebuilt) that are at least 8 feet tall. She keeps step stools available so one can climb to find books on the upper shelves. In back, she has an curtained off where the books she hasn't room from out front are stored. She wants to sell as much as she can before she moves. Like a regular bookstore she has the books organized by genre and by author. As far as I know, she works alone, so it must be a lot of work!  She told me the books come from donations, from garage sales, and through exchange. Once we've read the books we can return them for a credit against the cost of new books. (obviously for less than what we paid). It is pretty impressive for a one woman business.

Wednesday, Eli and D went to the library for their summer program. I met them there towards the end of the day's event, and had a chat with the librarian. She's agreed to allow me to set up a Stitch and Chat group in the fall. We'll put up a poster in the library, and D will post to local FB groups later this summer. I've been here for just over a year, though not full-time, and I've yet to meet any folks my own age. There is a senior's center, but I haven't made it there, as yet. I should, but I seem to fill my time with things at home.

I also did some sorting and rearranging in my bedroom. When we bought the house (over a year ago), I asked that the nine drawer dresser in the room be left behind. I quickly filled that up, with clothing, bedding, table cloths, and personal items. I've found another space for the table cloths and some of the toiletries. We have no linen closet and our bathroom is tiny! I found a box of books that hadn't been unpacked, and I set aside half of them to be donated. Along with three bags of other items D has gathered up, we dropped them off at the thrift store on Thursday.

I was ready to get out early on Friday, and finish weeding the last area in the side yard. First, I went to the front yard and weeded between the cracks in the city and our sidewalk. When I finished there, I took the now full bag of weeds to the garbage bin, and managed to trip over a downspout landing on my knees and jamming my left wrist. I lay on the ground for a couple of minutes catching my breath before I got up and continued on. I did manage to finish half of the area before giving up and heading for the shower.

We still have the parking area behind the back fence but D bought a weed torch to work on that...and I'll let her do it. I'm hoping, once I've done the weeding in the main yard, that I'll only have to maintain - maybe a half hour each day? We'll see.

Out in the wee garden out back (Wednesday's photo) are peas, carrots, onions, lettuce, asparagus, and strawberries. The last two were here when we moved in. We did get a few misshapen berries the last two years, and I think the plants are just too old. While they are lush and green, I plan to pull them this fall. It will give me more room to get the bed fully weeded, and more space to plant vegetables. I picked the last of the peas on Friday - Eli's had three feeds off the few plants. The carrots and green onions are looking pretty small, but they still have time. The lettuce that Eli planted at school is doing well, and I've picked the first bit for a salad this weekend. I also have sweet peas planted on the trellis - it' a throwback to my mother's garden which grew (like crazy) on a lattice fence.

Today, I hope to finish off that last area of weeding, and then it will be time to go back over the areas I've already weeded to get rid of the stuff that's popped up. We're supposed to get rain starting this evening and continuing the next few days. The gardens will be happy...as will the weeds. 

Have a great week ahead everyone!