The sky is in there somewhere. Canada Day celebrations.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Canada Day - Part 1
Canada is 143 years old today.
Canada celebrates with a national holiday where we wear red and white, have barbecues, parades, festivals, music, and fireworks
Our village has a huge firework display which we will be going down to watch. During the day there are performances in the gazebo/bandstand, food stalls, activities for the kids at the oval, and a parade. We strolled down to the village to have a mooch around and to eat ice cream. I had maple walnut, my man had cherry. We sat outside the Water Lily which is a lovely gift/coffee/icecream shop and watched the world go by. Most of the world seemed to be fishing. Whole families come to Hastings for a days fishing setting up picnic tables and BBQs. The dress code varies, from full camoflage- like you need that when fishing from a concrete bridge- to summer dresses, Louis Vuitton handbags/purses and high heels.-which are of course so sensible when standing near rapidly running water.
Food was variations on dead animal between bread and covered in ketchup and mustard and for dessert something deepfried, battered, and covered in icing sugar. I can be superior here because I can't eat any of these foods as I am gluten intolerant. It all smelled delicious dammit.
The entertainment was local and enthusiastic.
A few boats were lined up along the wall, the marina has to be empty for the evening so that the Fire Department can set up for the fireworks display. Most of these boats had US flags on them.
And the history bit? Here it is.
In 1867 Canada became a country when the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada became a Federation of four provinces. The Province of Canada was made up Upper and Lower Canada which became Ontario and Quebec after confederation. Britain retained some political rights but over the years these became fewer and fewer until 1982 when the Consitution Act was passed, after this Britain had no control over any part of the Canadian Consitution. The Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II of the Uunited Kingdom. Canada now has 10 Provinces and 3 Territories. There are two official languages and 8 recognised regional languages.
Canada is the second largest country in the world with one of the lowest population densities in the world. Most of us live down south close to the USA/Canada border. The northernmost citizen is Father Christmas who lives at the North Pole. Canada has the longest coastline of any country and the most number of lakes. I have no idea who counted them all.
This evening we are off to see Elvis and then the fireworks. It's all go.
Canada celebrates with a national holiday where we wear red and white, have barbecues, parades, festivals, music, and fireworks
Our village has a huge firework display which we will be going down to watch. During the day there are performances in the gazebo/bandstand, food stalls, activities for the kids at the oval, and a parade. We strolled down to the village to have a mooch around and to eat ice cream. I had maple walnut, my man had cherry. We sat outside the Water Lily which is a lovely gift/coffee/icecream shop and watched the world go by. Most of the world seemed to be fishing. Whole families come to Hastings for a days fishing setting up picnic tables and BBQs. The dress code varies, from full camoflage- like you need that when fishing from a concrete bridge- to summer dresses, Louis Vuitton handbags/purses and high heels.-which are of course so sensible when standing near rapidly running water.
Food was variations on dead animal between bread and covered in ketchup and mustard and for dessert something deepfried, battered, and covered in icing sugar. I can be superior here because I can't eat any of these foods as I am gluten intolerant. It all smelled delicious dammit.
A few boats were lined up along the wall, the marina has to be empty for the evening so that the Fire Department can set up for the fireworks display. Most of these boats had US flags on them.
And the history bit? Here it is.
In 1867 Canada became a country when the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada became a Federation of four provinces. The Province of Canada was made up Upper and Lower Canada which became Ontario and Quebec after confederation. Britain retained some political rights but over the years these became fewer and fewer until 1982 when the Consitution Act was passed, after this Britain had no control over any part of the Canadian Consitution. The Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II of the Uunited Kingdom. Canada now has 10 Provinces and 3 Territories. There are two official languages and 8 recognised regional languages.
Canada is the second largest country in the world with one of the lowest population densities in the world. Most of us live down south close to the USA/Canada border. The northernmost citizen is Father Christmas who lives at the North Pole. Canada has the longest coastline of any country and the most number of lakes. I have no idea who counted them all.
This evening we are off to see Elvis and then the fireworks. It's all go.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
gardens update
Poison ivy isn't the only thing that's doing well in the yards/gardens. The weather has been a mix of heavy rain and hot sun so things are flourishing. The veggie gardens/plots are not cropping yet apart from the kale. Why did we plant kale? No idea at all, the stuff tastes bitter and has a very rubbery texture, beware of dark green leaves I think. It's not nice at all but it does look very pretty with its curly edges leaves. Peas, peppers, and bush beans are flowering, courgettes/zucchini are growing and almost ready to crop. There are some green tomaytoes/tomartoes on the vines too. Eggplant/aubergine is making slow progress but it did last year too.
So far the critters haven't munched anything.
I'm still not used to the short growing season we have here but somehow it makes it more exciting to see everything growing in such a short space of time.
This is where I am trying the three sisters method. Down on the left is corn, pole beans, and squash. They are apparently good friends and grow well together. The classic ingredients to a North American Thanksgiving dinner. On the right are some potatoes and further back some rhubarb.
Language notes: In British English a back yard is an area of concrete or paving with no flowers. In Canadian it's the whole area behind your house, the lawns, the flower beds etc. This in British English is the back garden. A garden in Canadian is an area of soil with flowers or vegetables in it. In British this would be a flower bed or vegetable plot.
So far the critters haven't munched anything.
I'm still not used to the short growing season we have here but somehow it makes it more exciting to see everything growing in such a short space of time.
This is where I am trying the three sisters method. Down on the left is corn, pole beans, and squash. They are apparently good friends and grow well together. The classic ingredients to a North American Thanksgiving dinner. On the right are some potatoes and further back some rhubarb.
Language notes: In British English a back yard is an area of concrete or paving with no flowers. In Canadian it's the whole area behind your house, the lawns, the flower beds etc. This in British English is the back garden. A garden in Canadian is an area of soil with flowers or vegetables in it. In British this would be a flower bed or vegetable plot.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Leaves of Three Let It Be
Poison ivy lurking under the cedar hedge. Any ideas on how to get rid of it without resorting to Hazmat suits?
Obviously we don't want to kill the cedar hedge and bearing in mind that in Ontario you can't use weedkillers that actually work- unless you are on a golf course of course, they are really important for some reason.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
House Portrait
I painted a portrait of my friend's house
I'm taking commissions on house portraits if you are interested then contact me!
I'm taking commissions on house portraits if you are interested then contact me!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Skywatch Friday Osprey
Neil's post at Light and Dark was a about an osprey so I thought I would continue the theme with this photo I took of an osprey flying over the River Trent in Hastings.
For more skywatch friday pictures visit here
For more skywatch friday pictures visit here
Earthquake and Tornado (almost)
What day yesterday was. First of all we are on storm watch with a possibility of tornadoes. Then the house wobbled. I was in the kitchen and didn't really notice it, I just felt a little odd- so nothing new there. Maybe a little dizzy but my man said he felt a wobble. The lights and some mobiles started swaying and that was it. Ooo, and there was a bit of a thud. This picture in the sunroom moved position and that was it. We were lucky.
The earthquake was graded a 5.0 and the epicentre was 300km away - just north of Ottawa.
We stayed lucky yesterday when later on we realised that were had been put back on storm watch, on a storm warning with possible tornadoes. So we ran around in the dark with the wind whipping up grabbing lawns chairs and other stuff and putting them in the garage. Fortunately we just had torrential rain and high winds around 11pm to midnight and then again later on. The blinds were being blown out from the windows, it was pitch black and in the light from the street lamps I could see the trees swaying. No tornado for us thankfully but others weren't so lucky. I looked out around 3 am and all was calm, you could see the back yard again.
This morning I found our older cat sleeping in the shower in the spare bathroom. She must have read the instructions on where to hide in case of tornados.
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