Early one morning Gary came bounding into our house after his walk and exclaimed, “I just saw something beautiful!”  His walk had taken him to a nearby pond where he had spotted four lovely white swans with black beaks and legs. Did you know that there are three types of swans in Ontario – Trumpeter, Tundra and Mute – and that they mate for life?  We have...

I probably have mentioned before that Gary and I are always fascinated when watching the different behaviors of numerous birds landing on our seed station just outside our kitchen window during the winter.  We particularly get a kick out of the Blue Jays.  Seconds after Gary dumps seed and peanuts on the platform about ten Jays come zooming in over his...

Honestly, I think we have had enough snow thus far this winter, wouldn’t you agree?  Two large snowstorms have caused interruptions to our agendas due to added snow shovelling.  Thankfully, our neighbour has shown his kindness to us with his snowplow; although, I don’t feel sorry for him as he loves cleaning out the street end of our driveway along with...

So how many photo albums have you collected on your book-shelves pre-cell phone days?  I have been looking at over 20.  That must mean that Gary and I are very old with all the memories we have accumulated over our lives together and before.  I decided this fall that it was time to dismantle them and cull what we don’t want to keep e.g. pictures of people we have no...

This month Gary and I vacationed in Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.  One of the most interesting stops we made was at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  In the 1920s both my parents landed there as immigrants from Finland.  These immigrants would then disperse throughout various parts of the country to try and find...

Do you know what a Canna Lily looks like?  It is a flowering plant with huge burgundy leaves and a red flower at its height of about 8 feet tall.  It is a wonderful plant for large garden displays.  A friend gave me some tubers/roots last summer which I planted near the end of our front porch.  It flourished wonderfully throughout August to...

“Oh dear! One more project to fix!”  I complained to Gary while standing outside at the front of our house and looking down at our broken wooden mailbox laying on the ground.  When we were away on vacation for a few days, someone had backed into it leaving damage behind.  That was bad.  Maybe they slipped into it during the ice storm at the...