…thanks to Jez for hosting Water, Water Everywhere https://mamacormier.com/2023/01/04/new-flower-january-4-2023-white-hellebores/
So far 2023 has been very wet. Lots of rain and mild temperatures. I know lots of people prefer this to colder temperatures and snow but I am not one of them. Give me a day with big fluffy snow flakes and brisk temperatures in January. Come March I will start to look forward to the weather we have now but give me some winter first.
…thanks to RDP for todays prompt of wet https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2022/09/13/rdp-tuesday-wet/
….waking up to grey skies
When I woke up the day didn’t look too promising, especially for getting out for a long walk. I quickly got dressed and headed out the door to get a few steps in before the rain started. I managed to complete a few chores in the backyard as well, like putting away the yard waste bags so they wouldn’t get drenched before garbage day, and cleaning out the wasp trap and filling the bird feeder. Here are a few photos I took on my short walk.
About mid-morning the rain started and I drove my husband to the clinic for his bi-monthly shot. On the way back we stopped at the store to replenish our milk, egg, fruit and cheese supplies. Once we got back home we made our first meal of the day.
The rain hasn’t amounted to much so far and it looks like it may have stopped for the day. I might be able to get out for another walk after all but in the meantime I have some paintings to finish. I’m starting to feel better about getting ready for my solo art show at the end of June.
… made a To Do List today and listed 12 jobs
The rain came down so heavily today that I figured it was a good day to do things around the house. One of the first things I did was go through my closet and dresser and pull out most of my summer clothes. After I removed some sweaters and long sleeved shirts from my storage bins I replaced them with the summer things.
I managed to complete 10 of the 12 jobs that I posted. Looking out my back door earlier today I noticed that there was a lot of activity on my deck and around the bird feeder. I guess squirrels and birds have to eat even in the rain.
A while back, I had stopped using my Panasonic Lumix camera because of a problem. I really thought it was toast but after discussing the issues with Cee she went to the Panasonic website and she suggested that I put all the settings back to the factory settings it came with. Success!!! That small change did the trick. The following photos were taken with the telephoto lens on the Panasonic through a glass door.
….how quickly the weather changes on Christian Island
Being on an island in a large body of water, like Georgian Bay, the weather can change very quickly. A couple of weekends ago the water was dead calm and it was great for swimming. I swam for a solid half an hour. The water had warmed up nicely over the summer but the evenings were getting cooler. The breezes coming off the lake, however, were a welcome change from the stifling heat we had experienced in August.
As the afternoon wore on we could hear the rumblings of thunder in the distance and the big fluffy cumulous clouds were starting to darken.
We managed to get back to the cottage before the skies opened up.
….thanks to Rag Tag Community  for hosting RDP Friday
The rain has certainly been working overtime these past few days. First time out for a walk for my husband since all this self isolation started and it poured.
….a wet night but that didn’t deter the trick or treaters
The weather for Hallowe’en was suppose to be so bad that there were parts of the country that were talking about postponing Hallowe’en night. Here in Toronto it was decided to leave Hallowe’en as is. We all have memories of going out on rainy and sometimes snowy nights to fill our bags with sugary treats. Back in the 50s crepe paper costumes were all the rage and I remember wearing one on a very wet night. Needless to say the costume fell apart and I was covered in dye that bled from the costume.
We never get a lot of children coming to our door. We are at the bottom of the street and many of our neighbours don’t turn on the lights or are purposely out for the evening. There are about five houses that always make an effort to decorate the yard and/or put out a Jack o Lantern. This year was no exception but it rained very heavily for most of the day and well into the evening. There were brief periods of time when the rain subsided but it kept returning and later in the evening the winds really started to kick up.
The surprise this evening was that the children and their parents came out in droves. Many carried umbrellas, some were driven from house to house but most of the children walked. At first it seemed like Hallowe’en night was going to be a bust but at about 6:45 small groups of kids of all ages started to appear at the door.
Normally we only get 15 to 25 visitors on Hallowe’en but tonight we had a record number of 62. I ran out of chips (56 bags) and only had 6 chocolate bars out of 120 left over. The only downside is that there is no candy to munch on for the next few days, especially since we don’t have any young children living at home any more. In hindsight it’s probably a good thing.
Here are a few photos of some of the decorations in the neighbourhood.
Our pumpkin this year was a happy fellow and some of the kids allowed me take their photos.
Our granddaughter is posing next to her father’s amazing pumpkin. She was suppose to dress up as Belle and that’s why the pumpkin was carved in the Beast’s likeness. As you can see Winnie had other ideas and wore her Owlette costume from last year. My theory is that because her father dressed up as Spiderman she also had to wear a super hero costume.
You can see that it also rained in Hamilton but that didn’t keep Winnie from bringing in this large haul of goodies.
….baking in the rain and still smiling
…join the fun and change your colour photos into black and white
Thanks to the Maine Paper Pusher for hosting the Black and White vs Colour photo challenge.
Which of the two do you prefer?
Standing in the rain, waiting for Santa.
…..why Niagara Falls, of course
Last week my son and daughter-in-law were visiting from London, England. It was a crazy busy week and the nine days that they were here flew by in a flash. Last Saturday we drove them back to the airport.
The first four days, Brendan and Azadeh stayed at our oldest daughter’s place and for the last five days they came to our house. Tuesday turned out to be one the nicest days we had in terms of weather. For most of the day it was warm and sunny and was the perfect day to drive to Niagara Falls. From our place in Toronto it is about an hour and a half drive.
On our way down we ran into a slow down in traffic because of construction. I made a decision and made a detour that took us through some wine country. Bonus! I wasn’t exactly sure where my decision was going to take us but when we arrived in the town of Jordon and right in front of the Cave Spring Wine outlet I knew I had made the right choice. We got out of the car and sampled a little bit of wine (it was just 12:00 noon) and bought a couple of bottles. Everyone enjoyed our little detour.
My Dad joined us for this outing. He’s seen Niagara Falls numerous times so he was more interested in going to the casino. Once we got back on the highway we had avoided the construction and quickly arrived in downtown Niagara Falls. We went straight to the casino, parked the car and dropped Dad off at Casino Niagara. From there Brendan, Azadeh and I walked over to Clifton Hill and down to the Falls.
Clifton Hill has a carnival like atmosphere. We took a few photos but didn’t go into any of the attractions. Here are a few photos of our walk down to the Falls.
The falls of course did not disappoint. Going in the middle of the week is not a bad idea if you can get away because it’s not as busy as it is on weekends. The line-ups for the boats that go right up to the Horseshoe Falls, however, were very long. Needless to say we gave this attraction a pass, especially since we had to be back at the casino to meet Dad in a couple of hours.
When we got to the top of the Canadian Falls we decided to go into the Table Rock refreshment building for a drink and a light bite to eat.
When we were done we only had 10 minutes to get back to the casino to meet Dad. We knew that it would be impossible to walk back in such a short space of time so we hailed a cab and drove back. Sure enough Dad was already waiting for us, right on time. We went back into the casino and let Dad show us his favourite machines. We all played for a little while. I was the only one who lost money.
When we got outside the skies had darkened considerably and we knew we were in for a big storm. I picked up the car and drove back to the casino entrance where everyone was waiting for me. We wanted to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake for dinner so we headed out on the Niagara Parkway. This is normally a beautiful and scenic drive but today we drove through a torrential downpour. Luckily when we got to the historic town of Niagara-on-the-Lake the skies had cleared. We went to the Old Angel Inn for dinner (apparently the oldest inn in Upper Canada). I’ve been there many times so I was pretty sure that the food would be good. It was. When we were done we decided to head back to Toronto so I don’t have any photos of this part of the trip. On the drive out of town we stopped at one more winery but it was just after 6:00 the place was already closed. Oh well, another time perhaps!
If you’ve never been to Niagara Falls you need to visit when you’re in southern Ontario. It is, after all, one of the world’s natural wonders.
Mama Cormier 