Back home, and back to reality!

We have been home for several days now, and still both keep talking about the great time we had in Canada.  Interesting places - some new to us, some we had visited before - and wonderful friends, even strangers we met were friendly and helpful.  Somehow, though, I think we picked the right time to leave Ontario as the weather there has become much colder in the past week or so.  While we don't mind the cold weather we have here in winter, and the cold fall weather we had in Ontario, neither of us have the right clothing for minus 35 deg C.

Meanwhile here at home, the temperature is plus 35 deg C, which is quite warm - summer has hit with a vengeance.  This summer's forecast is for hot, hot, hot, and probably dry.

This is the Sydenham River on a cool showery misty day in Harrison Park, Owen Sound.

Makes you feel cooler just looking at it, doesn't it?

For years now Kevin and I have been joking about taking "the award winning shot" - the picture that would win first prize in a photographic exhibition - this is mine.

Now that we are home we are falling back into the usual routine.  Since coming home on Monday I have been to two Christmas/end of year functions, with more to come.  Yesterday's quilt group Christmas meeting/party was fun as our challenge quilts were revealed to much ooh-ing and aah-ing; even my Plastered Pinwheel quilt was muchly admired, to my surprise.  Some of us tend to be a little diffident about our own efforts, don't we? The worst part was the insistence of the group president that we each be photographed with our own quilts, a real challenge when one hates having one's likeness taken.  When we packed up to move here I managed to lose most of the pictures of me taken over the years I worked in school libraries.  When one doesn't take a good picture one avoids having it done.  I don't want to hear "it's such a good picture of you".....all I can think is "my gawd, do I really look like that?"

Ah well.  Not much can be done about it........

On the flight from Toronto to Vancouver I watched a Canadian movie, "Marion Bridge", which I enjoyed so much I watched it again a week later on the flight from Vancouver to Sydney.  At the end the actors portraying the three sisters sang "Song for the Mira" which I hadn't heard before and absolutely loved.  Found the words and chords on the interwebz, now to find a little guitar time.  Even brought a present home for one of my guitars, a set of strings I can't get here, and of course they travelled in the hold in my checked bag.  Can't you just imagine a set of guitar strings setting up alarms in security?

Speaking of checked and carry-on bags, have you seen the size of many of the bags people take into plane cabins these days?  We each travelled with a backpack (which went under our seats) and a small un-wheeled bag, our big bags were checked.  But some people arrive jauntily down the plane aisle with bags they can barely lift into the overhead lockers, and there is much pushing and shoving as they try to make their bag fit in with everyone else's.  It's that sense of entitlement and importance at work again, isn't it?  On our flight from Vancouver to Sydney our row was shared by a Canadian man who works in the airline industry, and he told us he always checks his bag using the logic that, if people only travel with carry-on bags, eventually airlines will decide that checked bags can not just be charged for but be done away with completely.  Imagine trying to have a six-week holiday with only a small carry-on bag for clothing and souvenirs........

"No lady will retain possession of more than her rightful seat n a crowded tram-car or railway carriage.  When others are looking for accommodations she should at once and with all cheerfulness so dispose of her baggage that the seat beside her may be occupied by anyone who desires it, no matter how agreeable it may be to retain possession of it."

When I become queen I shall spread out over as many seats as I like, to make up for being squashed all these years.

Enjoy your days!

Au Revoir, Canada!

Our last day in Canada and we are sorry to be leaving.  We've had a great time, met wonderful people and enjoyed many "firsts", but we are ready to head home.

Sunset in North Bay, Ontario

There's nothing quite like sleeping in one's own bed with one's own pillow, is there?

We are hoping that we don't have to pay a hefty excess baggage fee, we seem to be taking home more than we came with - even allowing for the fact that some of what we brought was handed over to family and friends.  The gaps that were then made in our bags seem to have been more than filled up........ah well, if we do, then we do.  It has been worth every penny.

Tonight at stupid o'clock we will be heading up into the sky while sane people are sleeping, and next time we meet this blog will be back on its home computer.

Enjoy your days!

Coming to you from the west coast of Canada

Victoria, B.C., has a totally different feel to Ontario!  The weather here has been rainy and a little cool, but no snow.  Yesterday morning's Remembrance Day commemoration took place under cloudy skies, the rain held off until later in the day.

We have been having a great time meeting up with our friends, and with friends of our house sitters.  Yesterday afternoon we visited Goldstream Provincial Park to see the salmon run, something we don't have in Australia - it was amazing, and so interesting!  Thank you, Cathy and John, for an experience we would not have had otherwise.  Our visit to the park ended up with all four of us slightly dripping, but not quite as wet as the fish.

Today we had another good day out with friends including a visit to Sidney, B.C. which, if you haven't been there, is a very pretty town; then we headed to Butchart Gardens for a visit.  Our one-and-only visit to the gardens was six years ago in mid-summer when the roses were in full bloom; now the trees are dropping their leaves and the colours are very pretty.  The gardens has fun decorations for Christmas, some are already in place - we saw swans a-swimming, geese a-laying, maids a-milking, pipers piping.........no prizes for guessing the theme!

When we left Toronto to fly to Vancouver it was very foggy, just as well the plane and the pilot knew where they were going.  Here's hoping for an uneventful flight from Vancouver.....if only it weren't so long......the flight leaves at 11.45pm which is not a good time to start a 15-hour flight.......

Next time we all meet in blogland will probably be after our arrival back in the Small Smoke (there are a couple of Big Smokes to pass through beforehand), and you will hear about the rest of our adventures then.

Enjoy your days!

We are having such a busy time........

..........that my poor blog has been neglected!  We have been to many interesting places, and met wonderful people.  A highlight of our trip was a visit to our friends in North Bay, Ontario - and you can read all about it here on Rose Marie's blog.  You can even see pictures too.  Thank you Rose Marie and Gilles, for being fabulous hosts and for being such great friends.....we appreciate your kindness more than words can say.

One night we played TV bingo (something we don't have in Australia, although I can remember bingo on the local radio station when I was a child) and I won $75, how cool is that!  We agreed beforehand that any winnings would be split and I was more than happy to fulfill my part of that bargain.

One place we visited was Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.  I knew a little about the French presence in Canadian history but didn't know about this settlement, which only existed for ten years.  While the settlement today is a re-creation, it is as close as can be ascertained to the original.  One thing we noticed inside the buildings is the lack of light, something we take for granted these days with big windows and light coloured interiors, but these were unpainted dark wood buildings which would have been illuminated by firelight and by rush lights.  It would have been good to spend more time at the museum but unfortunately was just on closing time when we had finished walking round the buildings.

The autumn colours in some areas were spectacular, while further north were nearly all gone - but bare trees have a stark beauty of their own too, with evergreens contrasting among the grey.

And we saw snow!  Not much by Canadian standards, but exciting for us.  Even driving along the highway in a light snowfall (very light) was a novelty.  Yesterday morning I stood in the snow and let the flakes fall on me, it was nice.....and cold. Quite cold.  Really really cold.

Right now we are back in the big city of Toronto until next Friday when we flap our wings once more and fly to British Columbia for a week in Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

On our last visit to Canada I fell and broke my arm, haven't done that this visit.....but I did kick my foot on a chair base a few nights ago.  It's still bruised, swollen and sore, but don't worry, I shall be back dancing the rumba in no time at all once I can get into my dancing shoes again.  That will teach me to be careful.  Small injuries can be rather painful, can't they?

Enjoy your days!