Images of Christmas at Our House

It's Christmas. That hap-happiest time of the year. And I thought I'd show some shots of our house. Enjoy the glitz and glimmer, the shine and shimmer, the best of the season from our house to yours.











And, yes, although many will have a 'holiday' over this time, I'm still wishing one and all a Merry Christmas.

ROM Terracotta

ROM Terracotta. Oh, doesn't that just sound like a recipe? No salivating here; this title is about my train trip to Toronto yesterday with my friend, and our day-long visit to the Royal Ontario Museum's exhibits. The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army is the title of the ROM's starring attraction just now and we entered at 11:00, the first showing of the day.
Right off the bat I was disconcerted as the din of numerous school groups filled the exhibit hall. We tried to keep away but sometimes that was just not possible. I do like to be able to quietly find my own way through museums but had to make allowance for the kids. Okay I could do that, and, actually, it wasn't too bad. The tour guides must have been good as the kids listened attentively and only made noise when moving to their next stopping point.

Well, the warriors were the main attraction and were pretty interesting but not as great as I had hoped. I pictured many terracotta figures lined up in rows like soldiers at roll call and in the web picture above. Actually there were not many, maybe 10 or so around the main room. There were, however, excellent short videos and many other related artifacts.
Confusion rained about whether the warriors were real live people buried with the first emperor, Qin, but no, they were figures made out of terracotta. When I was in China there was no time to fly to the actual site where the terracotta warriors were found, a loss I really felt yesterday as I was standing in the museum. I had been so close to the real thing!
The rest of the day we visited other museum exhibits, got a feel for the integration of the two additions to the ROM, and just soaked it all in. Close to closing we whipped into the gem exhibit and were entranced by the stunning colours and formations filling many rows of cabinets. I saw names that I never heard of in Rocks 21 (Geology) at Western in the sixties. I guess I don't know as much as I thought about this earth of ours. This exhibit was a fitting and beautiful end to our day at the ROM.
Two other highlights were the Italian meals we had, yes, lunch and dinner, and the train ride home again. Our feet were worn out but not our voices. We talked contentedly all the way home.

Accentuate the Positive

This is the view outside our home today and while I like snow I don't like the way it sometimes makes us cocoon for days. While this picture is pretty white, we don't have much snow, not compared with London, Ontario, which reportedly has about a meter. Yes, I said a meter. That's just over three feet for non-metric types.


So I take you back to fall in the Rockies and this picture of a kayaker. It's about as close as I've come to kayaking but it is gorgeous.

Or how about this picture of my wonderful sisters and I laughing it up at a wedding reception in October? Sure is positive.

Finally, here is Grandpa making Ben giggle in Florida this past October. Just warms me up thinking about it.


I will search for positives a little more than usual today as I zip up my hoodie, and contemplate putting on my new silk longjohns for a walk in the white. Or maybe catch up on my blogging. Now, that's positively exciting. Have a good one, folks.

Bits and Pieces

Today's blog is about a number of things on my mind. The nastiness of flying is first. We just came back from a week's trip to Orlando (not my favorite place in the world but I'll go anywhere with my grandkids) so are fresh from the flying experience. This was almost the worst. We went with Spirit as they are cheap and we thought we'd give them a try. Never again. Row 9 we had, both going and coming back. Well, the seats in row 9 don't recline at all and have about 4" less leg room. My short legs almost hit the seat in front so you can guess how uncomfortable my long-legged spouse was. When the man ahead started to put his seat back my quiet, unassuming husband told him there was no room for that. Luckily the man was nice and acquiesced. I'm not sure why we ended up with this extra short space but we had it coming back, too.

And they didn't serve water even! What a cheap flight. Flying makes you dry. I can hardly believe that it's not mandated to serve a beverage of some kind. Of course the flight attendants were up and down the aisles trying to sell earphones and mixed drinks. Going down my carry-on bag was just fine but coming back we had to pay an extra $30 for it. Make sense? No, but the passenger has no recourse.

Our son told of his friend's parents who flew out of Toronto a few weeks ago. When the elderly man who rarely flies got to security, they immediately took him to an open cubicle where everyone could see what was happening and did a strip search. Now I don't know if they did a cavity search or not but still he must have been mortified. I am appalled that our flying world has become so crass.

In fact, crossing the "longest undefended border in the world" is a pain. A couple of weeks ago my friend and I went to Port Huron for a couple of days shopping. When we got to the border we were excited that there was no lineup. I waited till the car in front was done and pulled ahead. One of the attendants went from his booth over to my person's booth, frantically waving for me to stop. I did. Half way between the original stop and the booth. He left my person's booth, glared at me again and went back to his booth. I sat for a couple of minutes, unsure what to do. Finally I could see the person sitting there waiting for me so I pulled up the remaining ten feet. She jumped up from her chair and screamed at me that I was to wait till I got the signal to approach. Then she went back into her booth and sat on her chair for another two minutes before coming out again. She didn't appear to be doing anything, not even looking at her monitor. Finally she came out and gave me the third degree, yelling that I was not supposed to move ahead till given the signal. Well there is no signal but the stop sign and the green light, both of which I had obeyed. Long story short she was on a power trip. They weren't busy so she could try to frighten me. I answered her questions in monosyllables and gradually she softened up. When I pulled away I was seething. She had no reason to treat me so poorly. Power trip. That's all it was.

Well now that I've got myself reliving the anger I think it's time to get back to being positive and upbeat. Here is a picture of Grandpa teasing Ben in Florida. We had a wonderful time swimming with the little guy and playing lots of games. We babysat three different afternoons so that his parents could go off on their own and we loved it.


Everywhere we went Ben found interesting things. Here he loved using the sandwich board as a little house.

Florida is not our favorite place because of the chance of high humidity. We had five days of it this trip so came to worship the air conditioning. The last two days were cooler with fresh dry air. I was ecstatic. Nevertheless playing with our family in the pools was a highlight we'll always remember. These are the great bits of life.

Must Be Fall

It truly must be fall. Leaves have turned red, yellow, orange and have started falling by the truckload. Piles at the side of the streets of Woodstock await the snuffleupagus thingey. And Ron and I have turned to home improvements, yet again. Last Saturday we took five hours to hang about one double roll of wallpaper as a back splash in our kitchen. We love it.

The colours are not quite as you see here as there is a blue tinge and a cranberry tinge to some of the 'bricks' but the lighting for my camera didn't work perfectly. This shot of our desk cubby hole is a bit closer to the actual colour. We discovered that the fluorescent tube under cupboard lighting here is more white than the others. Now we have to go looking for new bulbs that are more white.

We really like that the cords don't show up nearly as much from across the room as they did against a cream wall. And now we're on a mission to decorate the space above the cupboards. Here is our latest acquisition from a trip to London on Sunday afternoon. I loved the red! And, no, the wallpaper is NOT yellow as it appears in this picture.

My next piece will have blue in it, I hope, as that is one of our colours. Yes, it's fall and we're cocooning once again. Mmm. Almost time to make Christmas cake.

I Adora Elora Gorge

Many years ago my husband and I were introduced to the Elora Gorge Conservation Area on a hiking day with close friends. Last weekend the two of us were there again. We paid our $10 to get into the park, left our car in the designated area right at the trail head, put on our walking shoes and struck out through the trees. Multitudes of people were there that sunny, warm day in fall making a solitary walk impossible. Nevertheless the gorge beckoned and we all shared it.

There is a huge drop down to a small meandering river and sometime many years ago this sturdy fence was built for safety. It also adds to the view. Along the trail we found a ravine and climbed down to see the gorge from the bottom. I loved the towering walls lining the serene river as hikers and adventurers dipped into the scene.

I couldn't get enough pictures.

This was really a lovely place to reconnoiter.

Of course hiking down the ravine meant hiking back up but we did it with not too much effort. Guess we're in better shape than we think. Near the village of Elora, this stone shell of an old mill (I expect) is a powdery grey-white and quite beautiful.

Another shot of the same place focuses on the gnarled old tree by the path.

My husband took this shot of me but couldn't get one without others in it as well, so busy was the trail that day. Note the bridge in the background. We were almost in the village.

Another old mill across the river has found a new life with a restaurant on the bottom floor. As we got closer we saw all the veranda tables filled. What a lovely spot to get refreshed!

And here is the river with its water rushing over worn rock towards the rapid fall a few feet away.

Some Canada geese were washing their webby feet as the sun soothed and cameras clicked. Ideal.

Heading back towards the trail we explored the abandoned mill from a different angle. I had to take a picture of Ron, framed by this solid and secure stone wall.

Fall is so exceptional because out of the cool days and nippy nights suddenly comes a sun-filled warm day framed by sparkling waters and rioting trees of red, orange and yellow. This was one such glorious day.

Mountain Grandeur

Today's pictures are of our hikes with good friends and the breath taking scenery they are fortunate enough to experience year round. They live in Canmore AB except for the winter months when they snowbird off to Florida.

My traveling buddy, Ron, sits before the Bow River in Banff.


Two different days we went hiking with John and Heather. This is one of the views.



Here are John and I hamming it up, as usual, while Ron relaxes.


We thought this would be a great place to golf. Ron has his eye on the Kananaskis country for a golf trip with Kevin and Ben when Ben is 13. We have a while to wait!



This is fall in the Rockies. The yellow larch high up near the treeline are the equivalent to our fall colours here in Ontario. Very pretty.


I hiked up this seemingly endless set of steps in the hillside and turned around to take the picture.


This is a kayaking course where the brave test their skill and endurance going through various twists and turns. I was happy to be on dry land.


This fellow had a kind of a surf board, tied to his ankle so that it wouldn't get away down the rapids, and he was surfing in the fast flow of water coming through these rocks. Until he fell off, but each time he did he made his difficult way back to the notch and surfed again.


The red kayak below centred my picture nicely, don't you think?


Another of the same kayaker.


The Bow River is the centre of many a mountain shot here in Banff. I was disappointed that the famous Bow River view from the veranda of the Banff Springs Hotel has been obscured by trees which have been allowed to grow up.


On our second hiking day we took an easy trail up, up and up. I thought it was pretty hard until I saw what these fellows were doing--mountain climbing!


When we reached the top this panorama was our reward. I could have sat there all day.


And I got another shot of the same view, this time with John surveying the mountains.


John, Heather and I paused a moment for Ron to get our picture. This was my first foray with walking sticks and I found them quite helpful going up. Coming down I just carried them.


Well we're not about to move west any time soon but, my oh my, this is a beautiful part of Canada. Our friends have taken wholeheartedly to the hiking and climbing that is so spectacular around Canmore and Banff and I am a little envious. Meanwhile my husband and I have new hiking shoes and yesterday we hiked the Elora Gorge. Pretty cool there, too.

Quick Brown Fox: "My Sister’s Keeper" by Jodi Picoult, reviewed by Elaine Cougler

Please visit Quick Brown Fox for my review of a fabulous book, My Sister's Keeper.

Quick Brown Fox: "My Sister’s Keeper" by Jodi Picoult, reviewed by Elaine Cougler

Canmore Collection

Partway along the trail beside Lake Louise I took this shot as we walked towards the cut in the distance. Still the lake was glassy. Later as we returned kayaks cut into the water with very slight ripples which spread across the lake.


Here Ron posed for me before the more visible glacier which we were nearing. Taking a bad picture would be pretty difficult here.


After our lunch in the restaurant at Chateau Lake Louise where we were seated by a window looking out over the lovely lake, we made our way a few miles up to Moraine Lake. A kind passerby took our picture in front of this grizzly (I think!) and I made copies for our two grandchildren. Of course we know this is a statue but the wee ones will be wondering, I'm sure.

Moraine Lake was worth the drive even though the sun had disappeared for our visit. These mountains have so many secrets to give up that I think we could travel forever and not see everything.

I knew about Japanese internments in British Columbia during the second world war but this monument told of Alberta's camps for suspect peoples. This one was along the secondary route, not the Trans Canada, the 1A, I think. We made the stop and remembered a not so wonderful part of our Canadian history.

Back on the Trans Canada highway I made Ron stop so I could get a good picture of the crossings which have been built for wildlife to get over the highway. I had read about these before so knew what we were seeing. There are many in different stages of development along the route to Banff and beyond. Such a good idea. Notice the vegetation planted all over the trail. I would have loved to see moose, bear, mountain goats, sheep or anything using the crossover but was not so lucky.

As we drove the Trans Canada we needed our movie camera as there was never a moment when stunning sights and beautiful mountain vistas were not before our eyes. I love this country!


Horseback riding is big in the Rockies and even in Banff you can rent horses and go on a trek along the Bow River.

Elk saunter nonchalantly over the green spaces along the Bow but also on the actual golf course and wherever they want, it seems. Of the many pictures I took, this one captures the idyllic life of a Bow River elk.

I think I'll get that picture blown up and framed.