Last Cool & Sunny Day in Mississauga

Just reminiscing about the lovely days of mid-July in Mississauga by Lake Ontario, when the temperatures ranged from the mid 70's to low 80's, the breezes were plentiful, the sun shined, and the lake water was . . . well, refreshing.  :-)  These shots are from the last cool day we spent in Mississauga, before the heat wave set in. The record-breaking, not-supposed-to-be-this-way, high temps and humidity, which nearly made conditions almost indistinguishable from an August in NC!

Can you tell I feel a bit ripped off?  I mean, cooler summer weather was one of my major "pros" in my pros-and-cons list about this whole year-long stint in Canada!  Ah well!  What can ya' do?

Great Lakeside Park in Bronte (Part of Oakville)

Emily and I met some friends in nearby Oakville (the part that formerly was the port town of Bronte, now part of the town of Oakville - just a half-hour's drive down 403 West).  We went firstly to attend Frances Tyrrell's art showing, which was lovely and magical.  I happily looked at all the beautiful watercolors and wished I could buy some (but cannot buy anymore framed anything at the moment.)  But we couldn't deny ourselves another paper doll set.  Also, Emily was inspired to make a bunch of fairy household articles out of nut shells as soon as she got home.  I utterly failed to take any photos while there, I'm afraid. But the show was was held in the historical Sovereign House, which was an additional treat to visit as it is an exceedingly pretty situation by the lake.

After, to give the kids some running-around time, we trooped down to the sandy beach right near the Marina at Bronte Harbor; and lounged around (Well, the Mom's did a bit . . . Weeelll, actually I did most of the lounging.  Catherine had to run after Jillian, and Nikki brought out some kites for the kids.) before walking over to a local ice cream shop.  Very, very nice afternoon.

Through the trees, you can just make out the blue of the water.

Catherine & Emily (and little Jillian's back)

Harper, Delia, & Jillian

Wind was a bit undecided for Nikki's kite.

Erindale Park on the Credit River

The Credit River runs through Mississauga, and there's a really nice "greenbelt" park along it called Erindale.  We spent a nice afternoon there on Victoria Day (May 23rd), walking around exploring, making fairy houses (well, that was mainly Emily), and giving the ice cream truck some business.

It had been raining quite a bit prior to the weekend, and the river was really, really running fast.

Lots of pretty mushrooms and dewy vegetation around.

I don't know what these thistle-like plants are, but they're neat looking . . .  and very prolific at this park.

St. Jacobs Country - Rather Soggy This Time Around

Despite the weather, we took an hour's drive Westward to explore St. Jacobs (marked as "A" on the map here). St. Jacobs is a pretty little town that seems to provide a nice country village for the urbanites to visit, shop for hand-crafted things and fresh produce, maple syrups, honey, etc., produced by Mennonite farmers (We saw several of those black box-like horse-drawn buggies on the streets of the town while we were there.)

The rain held itself back a bit so we could enjoy a short walk on the Woolwich Trails along the Conestogo River, where we saw and heard a lot of singing frogs and admired an old iron bridge.

We poked around the main street of the village, enjoying the museum displays on Maple Syrup, quilts, and a fantastic model train display of St. Jacobs and the surrounding countryside back when steam trains were the primary means of long-distance travel.  Great fun.  Great shops (including a splendid Toy Shop located in a large church building).  Lovely maple sugar candy.  :-)

After that, we nipped over to the nearby Farmer's Market to get a bite to eat.  Genuine German sausages are made in that area, so we each had one on a bun.  Very delicious.  No mystery meat.  I didn't take any more photos, because it was tipping down with rain by then.  All the sheltered stalls were heaving with shoppers by then, so we decided to take our soggy selves back home.

We'll be back again when the weather improves.

Jack Darling Park (And Rattray Marsh) on Lake Ontario

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Just some photos from Mom and Evelyn's last full day with us.  We drove to nearby Jack Darling Park (between Port Credit and Oakville) and drank in some more Spring weather.

Trilliums were growing all over the Marsh!  Brilliant!

Emily and Alex making up a game?

Nothing like a Crepe filled with Nutella and Bananas, after a long walk along the Rattray Marsh Trail.

Spring (And Romance) Is In the Air

The weather got freakishly warm yesterday, after the rain finally cleared off; and so Emily and I dashed over the nearest park to enjoy some time outdoors without having to brave the elements.  When we got there, we noticed a rather large number of very vocal red-winged blackbirds were hanging out all around us.

It turns out that this demure little lady was the reason for all the trilling and hopping about with wings half outstretched and red feathers fluffed up.  You'd never guess she was the same species! 

http://birds.audubon.org/species/redbla3

Ahhhhh . . . Springtime in Mississauga!

Just last week, I was grinning my way through a sunny day, wearing short sleeves (when I was out of the wind, that is); and now this . . .

Don't expect we'll be tip-toeing through the tulips and packing away our winter skivvies quite yet.

Still, considering the twisters in North Carolina yesterday, I can take a little Springtime snow with a smile.

One thing about the weather:  It could always be worse!

View from our front porch.

view of the "shared" back yard

one of the trees in our "shared" back yard