Celebrating the 100th College Royal

and my husband pointed out that we’ve around for over half of them

I attended the University of Guelph from 1971-75 and I met my husband Kevin there in 1973. College Royal is the annual open house that the university hosts in March. Many of the departments open their doors with displays and interactive demonstrations that highlight some of the work that goes on in the halls of academia.

One of the more popular attractions is the farming area that bring the public and farm animals together. The University of Guelph started out as an agricultural school but quickly brought in other avenues of study, such as Family Studies, veterinary studies, economics, hotel and food administration, visual arts, sciences, just to name a few.

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The last two photos show the cow that has had a portal surgically placed in her side to remove rumen from one of her stomachs. The rumen has healthy bacteria that is needed for some sick cows to regulate their own gut bacteria. It may seem cruel but the cow doesn’t seem to feel a thing when the demonstrator went in with her arm to fetch some of her good gut bacteria.

It was a beautiful day after the snow and rain stopped and we were able to walk around the campus to take in some of the sites.

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One of our last stops before going to the dog show was checking out the community art show. I had entered four of my pieces, just for fun, and was most delighted when I found a white third place ribbon on one of my pieces.

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At the beginning of this piece I mentioned that we’ve lived through more than 50 College Royals. We certainly haven’t attended that many but over the years we participated in quite a few. When the kids were little we took them there a couple of times and we went back when Andrea our eldest daughter attended the university and now our granddaughters are studying there and we’ve shown them around on at least two occasions.

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Bridges

thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2024/01/20/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-bridge/

Ever since I started teaching the unit on Bridges from the grade 5 curriculum I’ve been somewhat obsessed with them. I love bridges but I wish I had more photos. The following bridges are from Venice, Florence, Loire Valley in France, London over the Thames, from Ontario, P.E.I., New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

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Trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens

the RBG is located in Hamilton and Burlington

Last Friday I met my sister in Hamilton. Her husband was attending a conference so they decided to make it a weekend and arranged for friends and family to look after the farm in the Chatham area. I picked her up from the hotel and we drove into downtown Hamilton, parked the car and walked to the Burnt Tongue for lunch. The restaurant specializes in homemade soup and the menu changes daily. After enjoying a bowl of soup and half a sandwich we made plans to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Luckily the gardens is only a 10 minute drive and very easy to find. The rock garden is located in Hamilton so we stopped there first. We weren’t sure if there would be a lot to see and it is all outdoors. It found the walk along the paths brisk but pleasant and the views were wonderful.

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Down the road, in Burlington is the main building. We had heard that their Christmas display was open to the public and in the evening there was a special light display. Chris and her daughter had already made plans to go Saturday evening to take in the outdoor lights but she was happy to check out the indoor displays with me. We weren’t disappointed.

One of the attractions was a beautiful train track, all built out of wood with trains running throughout. It had a very Canadian theme featuring the Parliament building in Ottawa, the grain silos from the prairies and the CN tower in Toronto. The kids loved it because the trains were characters from the Thomas and Friends series.

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We also went through the Mediterranean greenhouse, checked out the gift shop and then headed outside where there were numerous Christmas displays.

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My sister, Chris
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As the sun started to go down I took Chris back to the hotel and we said our farewells. All in all it was a lovely day and I am looking forward to seeing her again in a few weeks when she comes to Toronto to visit her kids.

Which Way Photo Challenge – August 18, 2023

thanks to Alive and Trekking for hosting the Which Way Photo Challenge https://aliveandtrekking.com/2023/08/18/which-way-photo-challenge-august-18/

The Sand Dunes at Big Sand Bay overlooking Georgian Bay and beyond.

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