Category Archives: Travelling

The iPad or my Laptop?

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…… which do I take with me on my trip?

Some of you may have noticed that there were a few days where I didn’t post anything. One reason for this was that I misplaced my power cord for the laptop. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to practise on the iPad. Unfortunately I experienced a few glitches.

One of the difficulties that I had occurred when I tried to tried to put photos into my post. I had a lot of photos to choose from but for some reason many of the photos had changed when they went through the ‘cloud’. Multitudes of them only showed an enlarged area of concrete or the corner of a building. I really didn’t know what I was looking at.

The other problem that occurred was that the photos that appeared to be okay just wouldn’t let me place them where I wanted them or they changed sizes on me. Sometimes the text feature would freeze and I couldn’t type anything. Are these problems related to WordPress. Heaven forbid!

I’m not sure that I want to use the iPad as my main photographic device but I don’t know how to get my photos from my camera onto the iPad without putting them into my laptop first. I really don’t want to take both my laptop and the iPad. I think I may be able to use the camera’s cable to upload photos but I haven’t tried that yet.

Does anyone have experience with an iPad? Have you ever had any of these problems? I would really appreciate some input from my followers. I’ll keep playing with it. It would certainly weigh less than my laptop and be much easier to carry on the plane. If all else fails I can try making an appointment at the Genius Bar at Apple.

So that’s why I hadn’t written in a few days. I tried but to no avail. The last few days have been hectic and when I’d get home in the evenings, I was exhausted. I actually started this post last night but fell asleep near the beginning of it. I can finally say “SCHOOL’S OUT“.

The Month of June in Photos

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Saturday, June 1st – Fun Fair

Saturday, June 8th – High School Reunion

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Sunday, June 9th – Girls on the Run 5k 

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Wed, June 12th – West Conference Girls’ Soccer Finals

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Thursday, June 13th – Forest of Reading Celebration

Saturday, June 15th – Opening the Cottage

Wednesday, June 19th – Spring Concert

The report cards were printed, proofread, reprinted, copied, signed and sent home today. The grade 5s had their farewell ceremony yesterday and today were away for their fun activity day. Today the rest of the school had their Fun Day and a colleague and I spent the morning clearing out the computer lab so that construction crews can come during the summer to remove the wall and enlarge the library.

I’ve returned 90% of all the artwork that students produced in my art classes and students have returned most of the books that they took out of the library. I’ve started removing the books from the shelves that will be moved during construction. Only one more day with the children and then the staff party, followed by one more day of meetings and closing down our classrooms for the summer.

…….busy,busy and only a few things left on my to do list. Phew it’s almost over and then I can start planning for our trip to Ireland.

Ireland, here we come!

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…..we bought our tickets yesterday

We’re really hoping that our son will be able to meet the Irish side of the family. Maybe we should have checked with the family before we booked our flight but we had to coordinate our time in Ireland with our son’s conference in Dublin. Well actually it’s his girlfriend’s conference but that’s neither here nor there. They will be arriving on the 14th of July and leaving the 21st and 22nd. Our son is staying one extra day to spend a little more time with us.

We will land in Dublin on the 12th and will be leaving on the 25th. We’re not sure where we’re staying but our son and his girlfriend have booked a room at a hotel. We don’t want to burden anyone so we’re in the process of checking out AirBnB.

We’re hoping to take in some art galleries. Maybe some of my Irish followers can suggest a gallery or two. We’re definitely going to check out the Royal Hibernian Academy, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Museum of Natural History and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

It doesn’t look like we’re going to get over to Germany on this trip. Sorry Philipp. My family will have to wait until next year before we can visit. We’re looking forward to catching up with the Irish cousins. Hopefully some of them will be in town when we’re there.

Cheers!

The Cheltenham Badlands

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… actually created as a result of poor farming practices

I came across the ‘Badlands’ purely by accident a few years ago. It was a warm sunny weekend and the area was packed with visitors. When we went looking for it last week my husband and I had a hard time finding it. It’s not well advertised and probably for good reason.

Here is a video, created by Wolfmann that explains the history and layout of the land better than I could.

When my husband and I finally found the area the area was pretty muddy with red clay and there was still quite a bit of snow left on the ground. My photographs show a sightly different perspective of the Badlands than what you see in the video.

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If you have a chance to see the Cheltenham Badlands, remember to respect this sensitive environment. There is no one there to keep you off the rolling hills, only signs of what you can and cannot do. It’s up to you, however, whether you choose follow these simple suggestions.

Cheers!

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery

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…. a great little gem north of Toronto

Yesterday I told you about our road trip to the Caledon Hills north of Toronto. The highlight of our trip was our visit to Spirit Tree where we had a wonderful lunch. The first time we heard about this cidery, about three years ago, we were purchasing a bottle of their sparkling cider recommended to us by the proprietor of a local gourmet shop. The same week the Toronto Star did a feature article about Spirit Tree, highlighting all the wonderful features of the store/bakery/restaurant. The next day was Good Friday and it just so happened that they were open to the public. It’s rare for anything to be open on Good Friday in Ontario so we decided to check it out and so did hundreds of other people. It was crazy busy. It’s a weekend that the workers at Spirit Tree wouldn’t soon forget.

Anyway we have made trips since that day and the store hasn’t been nearly as crowded and yesterday was no exception. The restaurant was busy but the atmosphere was relaxed and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful.

One of the many features of the estate is how eco-friendly and green it is. The main building was constructed using straw bales. You can see from the photo with the window how thick the walls are. The breads and pizzas are all baked in the wood burning oven and the place is heated and cooled using geothermal energy. For more interesting information check the link:

Spirit Tree Cidery

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If you’re ever in the Caledon Hills, check this place out. It’s well worth the trip.

Cheers!

My Happiness File – Day 5

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…..spending the entire day with my husband brought many happy moments today

Today was my first day off the detox cleanse and I was able to enjoy my first coffee in four days. Heavenly!

P1000687My husband took the day off work today so that we could spend the day together. After our walk this morning and enjoying the first solid food I had in over three days we got into the car and went for a day trip north of the city. We had a great time checking out the Apple Factory and buying a few vegetables and some specialty items for our Irish dinner on Sunday and then we made our way to Spirit Tree where we had a nice lunch. I’ll write more about our experience in my next post.

After lunch we started driving around looking for the Cheltenham Bad Lands. K set his GPS on his new phone and off we went. We got so lost. I’m sure we drove 20 k in the wrong direction before we turned around. We did eventually find it. For the rest of the afternoon we found our surroundings pretty uninspiring. The one thing that did amaze us was how much snow was still on the ground just 30 k north of Toronto.

On our way home we decided to stop at the movie theatre and take in a show. We ended up seeing Zero Dark 30. I really liked it and I didn’t think I would. Before the show started I made K set his phone so I could play the interactive pre show on-screen game. I came in second and won a slice of pizza that I will probably never redeem. Made me happy anyway.

All in all it was a great day.

 

Spreading a Little Joy

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….I decided to save my rant for another day

One of my new followers inspired me to write about events that bring me joy or in her words ‘what delights’ me. Earlier today I started writing about political issues that I feel passionate about but after my delightful afternoon with my husband I decided to put that piece on hold and share with you some of the happier events that I’ve attended in the last two weeks.

My youngest daughter has been working with a friend to promote their blogs and businesses. Earlier in the year I wrote about the stamp making workshop that they hosted. This time around they created a workshop around creative Christmas wrapping and featured numerous ideas for creating your own ties, tags, embellishments and paper. As always they were highly organized and personable and offered their eager clients all the materials they would need to experiment with. My daughter also made some delicious shortbread to serve with a variety of teas.

DSCN0225DSCN0227DSCN0228DSCN0229DSCN0232The group enjoyed the evening so much that the owners of the art store where the event was held allowed us to stay an extra half hour to finish our projects. Some of the things people made were package toppers, tags, bows, tree ornaments and stamped paper. Unfortunately the battery in my camera gave out and I didn’t get any pictures of the finished projects.

The next day my book club had their annual Christmas dinner. Since the book we were discussing was Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts and was set in Berlin, we decided on a German theme. I was in charge of dessert so I brought a tray of German stollen and other festive cookies and chocolates. I posted a review of the book earlier in the year. In the Garden of Beasts: A Book Review On average the group gave the book a rating of 4 out of 5, much higher than what we gave his last book, Devil in the White City.

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A week later another group of friends got together for another annual Christmas dinner. We lovingly call ourselves the “Over the Hilltop’ gang because we worked together at Hilltop Middle School over 15 years ago and continue to meet three or four times a year. My friend L hosted the party and cooked the entire dinner. What a lovely gift. Again the food was amazing, the company warm and joyous and presents were exchanged.

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The Sunday before this last dinner my husband and I treated our daughter, A, and her partner to a day of wine touring and dinner. We managed to visit 6 wineries, each unique in its own way. The winery that intrigued me most was the one called Organized Crime. The owner explained to us that years ago in the area there were two orders of Mennonites, a traditional ‘old’ order and a more modern order. The traditional order didn’t like that the other order played music during their services so in the dark of night they got in their buggies and stole the organ from the modern church. Hence the name ‘Organ’ized Crime.

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The day before the wine tour I found myself at a fantastic craft show in the city. The crafters were all local and predominately young, although there were a few people there closer to my age. The crafts were original and beautifully made and displayed. The show was held in the Great Hall and in two other stores, all in the same block on Queen St. W.. I spent hours browsing and buying.

IMGP0169 IMGP0170 IMGP0171 IMGP0172 IMGP0174 IMGP0176Today K and I attended the Toronto Christmas Market but I think I will save this experience for tomorrow’s post. Till then, cheers!

To Market, to Market…..

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…. and a few wineries to boot

Yesterday on our trip to the Niagara region our intention was to seek out a few farmers’ markets. I really wanted to purchase a large quantity of Italian plums for canning. Our first stop was in Beamsville where the market consisted of 9 vendors. It was rather overcast and everyone was afraid of being rained out.

None the less we found a few things to purchase and the vendors were very friendly and talkative. One thing I learned was that the fruit farmers in the area lost about 85% of their cherry and plum crop earlier in the spring because of frost. No plums at this market. On to the next stop.

Nothing says ‘autumn’ like a cornucopia of gourds, squash and pumpkins.

These radishes look like they’re on steroids.

Our next three stops were at wineries, Megalomaniac, Featherstone and 13th Street. All of them were very busy because we chose to drive to the Niagara Region during The Niagara Wine Festival.

The entrance to Megalomanic. An interesting place because it’s built into a hill.

A close-up of the door handles on those beautiful doors.

The tasting room was very busy today. We didn’t stay to sample but based on past experience they make an excellent white wine.

Our next stop was at a much smaller vineyard called Featherstone. This is where I posted the sign about welcoming dogs on leashes. This was a much more intimate experience and we were able to speak to the staff about the product. The owners actually own a Jack Russell Terrier that has his own doghouse made from a wine barrel.

The tasting room is inside this quaint little cottage.

Bocci is the dog’s name.

We stopped at one more winery, 13th Street. There was a Hand Made Fair going on at this  place. There were hundreds of people there. Too busy for us. We purchased a jar of Horseradish Garlic Pear condiment to serve with cheese or meat.

We made one more stop at the local cheese factory, The Upper Canada Cheese Co., purchased a smoked maple soft cheese and then drove into St. Davids to have lunch at the Old Winery Restaurant. It was already mid-afternoon and we were very hungry. We made some healthy food choices and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Before heading home I was determined to find a roadside stall where I could buy plums. As luck would have it there was a stand not too far from the restaurant and they were selling plums. I was a little shocked at the price, $12.00 for a basket, but I decided it was important to support the local farmers.

Italian plums next to peaches and grapes.

The irony of all of this is that when I got home I had to make a quick stop at Costco to pick up something for school and while I was there I saw Italian plums for $6.99 (5 pounds compared to the 4 pounds in the basket I bought). I bought them as well. Today we started preparing them for plum jam using an old German recipe (I’ll share with you tomorrow).

Eight pounds of plums soaking in sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Tomorrow the entire pan goes into the oven for 2 hours and then pureed and poured into sterilized canning jars.

All in all it was a great day. The sun eventually did come out. We bought a variety of vegetables, fruit, cheese, salami, a condiment and a few bottles of wine. We supported the local economy but more importantly I got to spend some quality time with my husband.

Cheers!

Confession is Good for the Soul

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…..and for quick results on the scale

Earlier in the week I confessed that over the weekend or at least since I’ve been back to school I regained 3 1/2 pounds. Today I’m happy to report that I’ve lost all of it.

I think sharing my ups and downs helps keep me honest and on track. Not only did I admit to the weight gain but I was able to analyze why it happened. One thing that I’ve learned about my body after all these years is that certain foods trigger my urge to eat. Pasta is a killer for me. I also love corn and pork but my digestive system doesn’t and they tend to slow down my metabolism.

Everything in moderation but when I’m trying to lose weight I know that I have to avoid some foods altogether. Years ago, Weight Watchers used to call these foods ‘red light foods’.

I’ve also gotten more sleep in the last few days. I start getting ready for bed by 11:00 and I’m in bed well before midnight. A huge improvement for me. I’m getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night and slightly more on the weekend. The benefits of course are that I’m far more rested and I have a lot more energy.

My new job at school, this week has kept me hopping as well. I’m doing “Art on a Cart” and this week it involved painting. I’ll explain more in a future post but bottom line is I’m on the move in the afternoon more than ever.

Today I made a list of things I wanted to do with my husband. We decided to check out some farmers’ markets in the Niagara region. On our way we stopped at a few wineries as well and I came across this sign. At first I thought how nice it was that they allowed dogs on the premises but I didn’t the get the humour because I only read the top portion. My husband had to direct my eyes to the signature in the bottom corner.

Sometimes choices come with limitations but as this sign points out there are reasons why!