A TRIP BEHIND NIAGARA FALLS

We live in a small town within a couple of hours of Niagara Falls, one of hubby's favourite places. Last summer, our son moved to St Catharines, just 15 minutes from the falls, so every time we visit him, we take a quick trip see them again. This time, we happened to catch our son on his day off, so he came with us and after a fabulous dinner at the Fallsview Casino, we decided to take a trip behind the falls. They have tunnels that you can walk through, with viewing areas. I was a little disappointed at first, because all you could see was a wall of water, but then we can out on this fabulous area, right beside them. Now we understood why they gave us rain ponchos LOL! The view was fabulous!

If you ever get the chance to see them, it's worth a trip. There is lots to see besides the falls - a wonderful butterfly conservatory, a bird aviary, tons of gardens, horse and carriage rides and on and on. Just a few miles down the road, is Niagara-On-The-Lake, one of my favourite places. A quaint little village, with lots of tiny shops and boutiques. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

American Falls - Rainbow Falls

Canadian Falls - Horseshoe Falls.  You can see the tour boat, The Maid of the Mist, near the Falls!

View from the Fallsview Casino

Another closer view


View from behind the falls - water, water and more water!

Second view from right beside the Canadian Falls

The sound was very loud

Our Canadian Flag

Our very wet son, Neal


Another shot of the falls

You can feel how powerful they are!

An view from the cliff elevator

A night time shot - you can see how many tourists are there, even at night!

Three beautiful butterflies from the Butterfly Conservatory

A WONDERFUL WALK!

Yesterday, our 5 1/2 year old grandson, Corson, came for the day. It is a challenge to keep him occupied - he is one very busy little boy, so my husband asked if he would like to go for a walk on the nature trails by Lake Ontario. Now, most of my friends know I am not much of an outdoor person, especially in the heat and humidity , even though I do like birds and flowers. I also have trouble walking long distances as I have a knee problem. The last few times they have been on the nature hikes, I have opted out, preferring to stay home, but this time I decided to tag along - I grabbed my camera and off we went.

Corson, loves to take our bird book on the walks with him - it is a wonderful book that not only has great pictures but also a digital recording of all the bird songs. Corson likes to see if he can get the birds to answer him, although last time, we had to get him to stop pressing the Red Tailed Hawk button - the birds were getting upset LOL! We had one little bird follow us all the way round the trails. He seemed curious about the bird calls we were making. He literally flitted along with us and we got some great pictures. Turns out he was a Savannah Sparrow.

Corson was quite pleased with his job to find flowers for me. He called me to take pictures of every flower, bug, slug, and insect that we saw. Unfortunately the butterflies were more into flitting than landing, so we didn't get many pictures of them. When Corson asked the names of the flowers, I told him we would look them up on the internet and find out when we got home. When we finally got to the lakeshore, we found a family of mallard ducks and a family of beautiful swans! Corson picked up so many rocks at the water's edge, that he had to hold his shorts up on the way back, because the rocks were too heavy LOL! At the end of the two hour hike, even though it was hot, muggy and there were tons of bugs, we all had a wonderful time and it was a day to remember. If you have the time, take a stroll through our pictures - we'd love to share what we have learned. Enjoy!


Papa and Corson and the bird book.

Queen Anne's Lace

Indian Touch Me Not

Madame Lady Bug

Pretty Blue Chickory

Corson, the rock collector


Pastel yellow Cinquefoil

Our little friend, the Savannah Sparrow


Orange Jewel weed

The mallard duck family

Those rocks are irresistible!

The shore of Lake Ontario


The swan family

Time for a bath!

White cabbage butterfly

The rocks sure are heavy!!!

FRUSTRATION, FRUSTRATION!

A few short years ago, I was soooo in love with gardening, I really wanted to open a nursery. Looking back, am I ever glad that we didn't LOL! I'm sure we all have hobbies that wane from year to year, and gardening has certainly turned out to be one of them!

We moved to this area, three years ago, to be closer to our daughter and grandson. The weather is milder than in the Ottawa area, where we used to live. I knew I really wanted to downsize my garden, but hubby decided he wanted a rose garden - he loves roses. Don't get me wrong, I love roses, but what I didn't know, was how hard they are to look after! Between the black spot or mold, aphids and caterpillars that eat ALL of the leaves, it seems we spend more time looking after them then we do, enjoying the roses - frustrating!

My favourites are the cottage type gardens - foxglove, hollyhocks, delphiniums, echinacea, beebalm, etc. Well, this past two years, the summers have been soooo wet, it's affecting everything. The hollyhocks have some sort of fungus on half of the leaves, and the rest look like lace, as everything but the veins have been eaten! The delphiniums are so tall and heavy, most have broken off in the rain and I've only just managed to stake the last few. The bee balm already has mold on the leaves and I am just about ready to plow the entire thing under and plant grass. I did manage to get a few pictures of what is left of my garden - enjoy them before it's all gone LOL!!

A pale English rose

My favourite pale pink foxglove

A scarlet rose

A white rose

A pale purple campanella

A dwarf pink Dahlia

A tiny pink Fairy rose bush

A blue delphinium

A white delphinium

A very tall pink delphinium

A favourite lavender

A miniature blue delphinium

TWINS?

One of the things I really love about making artist bears, is that I can make whatever I choose. I do not usually take orders, but recently, a lovely customer who has become a friend, fell in love with a tiny teddy I made, Zachary, but it had already sold. I don't know if everyone has the same problem, but have you every tried to duplicate a hand made item LOL! Its easier said, than done. It would have been easier if I still had number one bear, but he had already been mailed off to his new home.

So I have spent several days, making another tiny ted for my friend, when the first one was made in an afternoon! What can I say, I'm slow. Well, finally, he was finished, and I did a photo shoot, so his potential new "mom", could put her stamp of approval on him. I am happy to say, he is now sold and will soon be on his way to his new home, and I am so relieved. What do you think - do they look alike?