Unusual Things to See in Ontario

Here's an interesting book I found at the library the other day:
Top 100 Unusual Things to See in Ontario by Ron Brown

(A Boston Mills Press Book - 2005)

It shows a picture and then gives a full-page written description and history of the 100 unusual things to see in Ontario. Some examples to whet your appetite: a meteor crater, Ontario's Taj Mahal, a disappearing river, a forgotten tunnel, Canada's biggest maple tree, North America's longest covered bridge, a canal that never saw water, Ontario's painted desert, a school on wheels, the world's shortest railway, the case of a missing town ...

Just looking through it is fun. Going to see some of the places would be even more fun!

Food Preferences

Before grocery shopping on Saturday morning, we were trying to decide what to bring to Sunday's church potluck. Gerard suggested blueberry cheese cake. I had Rosemary's delicious black bean salad in mind. Salads don't excite Gerard all that much. At potlucks he goes for a little bit of main course to save room for the desserts, whereas I try every salad there is and have just a little dessert. Anyway, I think you should be excited about your contribution to a potluck, so we settled on bringing both - salad and dessert, (except the blueberry cheesecake turned into cherry cheesecake when there was no blueberry topping to be found in our grocery store this week). The thing I love about potlucks, besides the socializing and trying out all kinds of new foods of course, is seeing the different choices people make from the same potluck table (same at a buffet restaurant). It varies so much from one person to another. I wonder what makes people prefer certain foods over others? Fascinating!

Family Work Day

Yesterday we spent the whole day painting and gardening at Henry & Melanie's. When they bought the house in July they had to have the wiring upgraded. Unfortunately the electricians had to break many, many holes in the walls and the ceilings to pull the new wiring through. So ever since the move they have been repairing holes, plastering and now painting. So yesterday we went to help out for the day. Somehow doing this kind of work with a group at someone's else's house seems way more fun than doing it on our own at home. Maybe I can find some people who feel the same way, to come to our house to enjoy themselves for a day:)

Weird and Wonderful

According to my annual tradition, I bought some decorative gourds and miniature pumpkins yesterday.

I think these little pumpkins are so cute and enjoy having them around as fall decorations. I always look for the ones with little curved stems on them. And then when I go to pay for them and the cashier throws them into a bag or rolls them down the check-out counter I'm thinking, " Aaaaaaa.....! Don't break the stems off!!!" I really need them to have the little curved stems.

These gourds are so wonderfully weird looking! I think they're fascinating and get lots of joy from them every year. I keep them until they spoil or until it's time for the Christmas decorations. Look at some of the wonderful shapes, designs and textures ...

A Beautiful Entrance

I work in a beautiful century home. Sitting there three days a week I get so used to my surroundings that after a while I don't even notice them anymore. Not until a visitor comes in and says, "Wow! This is a beautiful house! The woodwork is gorgeous!" And then when I go around with them to admire all the beautiful details, I can't believe that I'm often so focussed on the metal filing cabinets, the photocopier, the fax machine, the phone, the computer and printers, that I miss noticing the amazing place I'm in. So the other day I took a lot of pictures. Today I'll show you the front entrance to our house. You come in through the outside front door into a small vestibule and then you go through the door in the picture above, to get into the house. (Sorry about the way the print is going. I inserted these pictures using Picasa and so the format is pre-set, I think. I also didn't know how to manage the order of the photos so they're kind of jumbled, but you can still see what I'm trying to show. Not sure how to manage this program.)

The door knob on the inside of the door shown above.

Close-up of the window in the door shown above.

A carved little detail found on all the edges and corners.

Another view of the same inside door knob.

This is the tile mosaic floor of the front vestibule. They actually shot a movie in this house because of this tile floor. It is a typical floor of the 1890's. The house was built around 1895 and our mission bought the house in 1930. I wish I could be a fly on the wall there in the early 1900's to see how the original owners furnished it, what their clothing looked like and what their lifestyle was like.

Outside of the door. After eight and a half years of working here, I had never noticed this elaborate door knob and lock until I was looking around for fancy things to take pictures of yesterday. So this blog is serving its purpose - to help me appreciate the beauty and blessings in my daily surroundings!

It's Fall and We've Got Rain!

It's the first full day of fall and we've got rain! Well, sort of. It's drizzling a bit every now and then. After three whole weeks without a single drop of rain in the city, every drop is welcome. On Monday I was digging in the vegetable garden and flower beds doing a bit of fall clean-up for about five hours and only saw two earth worms! That's so unusual! I guess the rest of them have gone down deeper where there is more moisture. Love the rain! Hope it pours!

Surprises on the Way to and from Work Today

On my walk from the subway to the office I was surprised by this little bug (about 10 cm long) perched on a bush along the sidewalk. I chuckled to myself and of course I just had to take a picture.

Then a block further I found chestnuts! I love chestnuts!!! I love the colour and the grain on the shell. Too bad my camera doesn't take really close up pictures.

And then when I arrived home from work I was surprised by this huge hibiscus flower - the first one to open this season. The plant got a slow start this spring because I transplanted it and so it took awhile to settle in and develop a good root system before it started growing. Looks like it's going to make up for being late by giving tons of flowers! I counted 43 buds!

Around the Garden

Just Thinking...

Yesterday as we were walking home from our early morning swim at the local pool, we saw a lot of service vehicles - paving machines, a construction crew, a window installation company. Then I saw an older woman sweeping her driveway and a man raking his lawn. It got me thinking about the rhythm of the day. First thing in the morning, in all the houses and apartment building lights are switching on and people are getting up to go to work, to school, to volunteer, to visit, to shop, to clean and cook... Behind each window there is a life and a story... What is their experience? Cars are going by and people are boarding the buses. Where are they all going? Are they happy? sad? angry? excited? Dreading the day? Looking forward to it? By the time we came back from swimming the children were in school. The nannies and grandparents were walking the younger children home. The retired people were puttering around their homes and gardens. It's fun to see all these people and wonder what their life journeys are like.

And then as our own street came into view, my mind shifted - There was a paving crew busy right in front of our house! And the roofers had arrived to re-shingle our roof. Neighbours were out watching all the activity. Our quiet little street had suddenly turned into a "happening" place!

I found a box of these on our driveway and was instantly fascinated! What are they? They look like flowers (one-track gardening mind here). I took pictures of them from every angle you can imagine.

I love all the colours!

Then realized that they are rolls of nails for the roof shingles. Aren't they neat?!

As I'm posting this, the roofers are just finishing off. It feels good to know that we continue to have a water-tight roof over our heads. What a blessing to have a home... to have one that is comfortable and that meets our needs (actually much more than our needs!). As they were re-shingling our garage roof I was thinking, "I can't believe that we actually have a little house just as a parking place for our car and all kinds of 'stuff'!"

Fall is in the Air!

Look at what we saw out of the bathroom window early this morning! And out of the living room window we saw frost on the roofs of the houses across the street! Better finish getting those houseplants inside for the winter! Every year I start bringing plants in early in September, before they start hardening off from the cooler nights, and then have to go through shock again when they come inside. So this year, again, I had great intentions a few weeks ago, brought a few in, but now it's already down to 6 degrees and I still have some out there that should have been in already! I just find it hard to start dismantling the garden already, when we could possibly still enjoy the flowers outside for another month.

Baby Dedication

Last Sunday we attended the dedication of Rebecca, the little daughter of my job-share partner, Naomi. What I thought was very special was that her grandparents led the dedication. Neat to see three generations participating in the dedication.

New Varieties for Me

I saw this double cosmos flower for the first time in a garden on the Toronto Islands last week. I've only seen the single ones before. It's interesting, but I think I like the single ones better.

This is a new (for me) variety of calendula. I had only seen the plain yellow and orange ones. This kind has a different colouring. I really like them! However, in my experience this summer they seem harder to grow than the original variety.

Happy Birthday, Brother Jeff!

Redeemed My Christmas Gift Certificate!

Last Christmas I received gift certificates from our son and daughter-in-law. My digital pictures got organized and I learned how to edit them with Mark's help earlier in the year. And yesterday I redeemed my certificate for a cooking lesson. Getting certificates like this is great because I learn new things and I get to spend quality time with our adult kids!

Since Rosemary's certificate said, "for a cooking lesson on how to prepare something new", I asked her to teach me how to shop for and prepare fresh fish. My cooking experience with fish up until now has been pretty well limited to canned tuna and salmon, smoked salmon (in sushi), and frozen sole and halibut fillets. So we started out in the grocery store where I saw fish with names I've never heard of before. We settled on fresh trout and other fresh produce ingredients for a gourmet meal. Back home we picked a colander full of herbs and a flower pot half full of cherry tomatoes from the garden, cleared some space on the kitchen counter, and got to work.

After lots of chopping, stirring, and talking here are the results of my cooking lesson from Rosemary. We (Mark, Rosemary, Gerard and I) enjoyed this delicious meal with a glass of charbonet and later had ice cream with fresh blueberries for dessert! Delicious! Thank you, Rosemary! Anyone want to come over for a fish dinner?