On Saturday we wanted to go out for the day but could not decide where. Then suddenly we thought of the zoo and off we went. On the way there we saw there had been an accident on the 401 on the other side of the road (eastbound) and the traffic was backed up. Little did we know that the traffic was backed up for 34 km’s. We felt really sorry for all the thousands of people who were caught up in it.

The zoo is easy to find from the 401 and cost us $23 each entrance fee as well as $10 for parking. When we got there I realized I had forgotten to put on sun lotion and it was baking hot, so I bought some there, just to be on the safe side. We also bought a hat each – another $50 spent!

Here are a few of he photos we took – more can be found in the photo album.

Emu

Flamingo

Zebra

Hippo

Tiger

I cannot make up my mind whether I agree with zoos. They do a great job in trying to protect animals and especially endangered species, but some of the areas they live in are small and you have to feel sorry for them. Toronto Zoo has loads of space, but unfortunately not all of it is allocated to the animal habitats. Tigers and polar bears are kept in very small areas for example and when you see how much space is available it is a shame they cannot allocate more space for them.

More photos can be found in the photo album

As it was Victoria Day holiday weekend, we decided to take a trip to Smiths Falls. The town has just started advertising in Muchmor Magazine and the editorial made the place sound so nice we decided to take a look for ourselves. Well, we weren’t disappointed. It is a very nice town with lots to offer, but as we were there as visitors we decided to do the touristy things. We spent a good deal of time near the canal watching the boats come and go through the locks. It is a beautiful location surrounded by parkland and is a pleasure to visit. Here a some of the many pics I took.

And of course no Canadian town is complete without a water tower.

We had a great day there and will definitely return.

Last weekend we decided at the last minute to have a couple of days in Ottawa. We really like Ottawa and for us it is extremely easy to get to and much much less hassle and stress than driving into Toronto. We usually take the scenic route via Highway 7 rather than the 401 which makes for very pleasant drive. The drive was especially nice as the tree are turning now and the colours, although not at their best were lovely.

We stopped off at Perth for the obligatory Tim’s and on route we stopped off at an outdoor shopping area, visited an outlet centre and had dinner. We then drove to our hotel which was the Hampton Inn where we have stayed a few times before. This hotel is very nice and although not in the centre of the city there is a bus which stops just along the road which takes you straight into town in about 20 mins. The fare is $3 each person each way which is cheaper than paying for all day parking in the city – and easier to navigate.

Here is a quick snap of the hotel room I took with my little pocket camera.

We stayed at the hotel that evening and didn’t really do much at all. The following day after a nice free breakfast we got the bus into town and spent the day wandering round the mall, the street and of course around the Parliament area. We also wandered around the locks and took a nice walk alongside the water. Eventually we had dinner in town and then went back to the hotel with very sore feet, then chilled.

The next morning after breakfast we made our way back home via Ikea. All in all a very nice weekend. The weather stayed lovely. It was warm and dry and since our visit we have had cold, wet weather, so good timing.

So far the June weather has been all over the place. One day it is hot and sunny, the next cool and raining. In fact rain has been a major factor so far. Lets hope with the onset of official summer soon we can look forward to more warmth and sun.

We did manage to get out geocaching on Saturday. This was our third trip and this time we managed to get seven caches which more than doubles our existing total. We even managed to go back to one we could not find on our first trip and this time found it straight away – it’s amazing how much easier things are when you know how to use the equipment properly. We are still learning the ins and outs of the GPS gadget, but we are getting there. So now we have found 13 geocaches in total – need to find more to get away from that number!

The birds and animals in the garden are all in the process of reproducing. We have seen baby grackles and starlings about. The killdeer have still not presented their young yet, but they cannot be far off now. We also have the many female squirrels who are either very pregnant or seem to have given birth. The babies won’t be around for a few weeks yet, but there seems to be a lot of nursing mothers about.

The cardinals are also out and about, so hopefully they will have young again as we had last year. Here is the male in our front garden. I always feel these birds should be in some tropical rainforest, not up here in Canada, but I am not complaining.

Next week I am going to be taking part in the Relay for Life to raise money for cancer research. This is an all night event and I hope that it doesn’t rain. Anyone who would like to sponsor me for the event please do so. I attach the link below to make a pledge. This can be used to pledge from anywhere in the world.

On Sunday we decided to go out on our first geocaching trip. As we had never done this before we chose some local caches and downloaded them to our GPS, printed off the details and off we went. We chose four caches in the County (Prince Edward County) and basically followed the GPS.

The first cache was along a country road running along side the lake which meant we had great views as we travelled. It got very exciting as we neared the spot and then pulled over to the side of the road to investigate. Because of geocaching etiquette I can not give anything away which would disclose the position of the cache. The only thing I will say is the exact co-ordinates were slightly off and hubby went off to the left to get closer to the coordinates and whilst he did I found it pretty much where we had parked. Very easy. Here is a close up pic of me with the cache. I have cropped it a lot in order to avoid giving away the position.

This is therefore our first ever geocache find.

Next we followed our way to another cache which was in a graveyard. Clues led us to a certain spot then we had to find the cache. Once again I was the one to spot it – again I cannot reveal where – I like all this cloak and dagger stuff! Two caches down.

Next we went to another graveyard for the third cache of the day. This one however was not so easy. We had to find a certain point in the graveyard from which to find the cache. We could not find the actual point and when we used the exact coordinates given it led us outside into the road. We assumed that whoever set the coordinates did so from their car outside and not from the actual cache point. After a long time searching we gave up and put it down to our inexperience – we can try it again another time.

Next we went off to our fourth geocache of the day – another graveyard. This took a bit of searching but once we realized  where it would be I found it quite easily – yes me again. OH always says that I am not very observant and could pass him in the street and not notice. This is probably true, however I do seem to have a knack of finding small camouflaged 35mm film canisters hidden in strange places!

After all this treasure hunting we went to Montanas for dinner and then home. Hubby registered our finds on the geocaching website once home.

I definitely now have the geocaching bug and immediately went to the website to download even more caches – trouble is it has rained pretty much constantly since our first trip, so we are having to wait for the next one.

We as you will see from my last post we had a couple of days of snow. It literally snowed for two days and nights and we have a good layer on the ground. Fortunately once those two days were over it brightened up again and al the snow melted away. So we are once again snow-free. For good this time hopefully!

On Saturday we decided to go for day out to Algonquin Park. We hoped we would be able to see a moose or two but unfortunately we saw pretty much nothing. Oh, we did see a heron – which we can see anytime around where we live, but at least we saw something.

All the lakes were pretty much frozen over still and it was considerably colder “up north” than we had where we live. They still had quite a bit of snow on the ground.

Back home we are still getting the deer wandering through the garden. From past experience this will soon stop as once we get towards the end of April we see them less and less.

Lots of chipmunks about now along with the usual squirrels.

it was safe to put away our winter coats and boots it snows again. We woke up to this today and it is only 2C but with the windchill feels much colder.

We are still seeing a change in the wildlife. The deer are not around as much and we are getting hundreds of grackles, blackbirds and goldfinches. The male goldfinches are starting to change from their dowdy olive green winter colours to their vibrant yellow and black summer plumage. They look a little scruffy at the moment, but another week and they will be beautiful.

Here are some pics we took this morning of the purple finches, goldfinches and brown headed cowbirds.

We are yet to see any female blackbirds, they are obviously leaving the hard work to the males and then will join them soon – either that or we are going to have a lot of lonely males this year!

In a previous post I mentioned that it was worth shopping around for stuff to get the best price. We proved this again yesterday when we wanted to buy a new projector for our business. We knew the one we wanted and had seen it for just over $1,000, however on looking further we found it advertised on one website for just $849, however the local shop did not have it in stock so we went to Staples to see if they would price match it. They had it advertised for $1,029 and when we showed the guy the lower price he seemed a little miffed. He got the price match authorized and we go the projector from there. I also had a $20 coupon which further reduced it as well as 10% of the difference credited to the price, so in the send we paid $811 for it. It definitely pays to research pricing here.

Over the last couple of weeks we have saved a fortune – $350 off my washer, $218 off the projector and whilst we were in the US I purchased an item of clothing that was originally $100 and I paid $27 in the sale. Hubby bought two shirts originally priced at $80 each and got them in the sale for just $9.99 each. I also got $80 off a handbag, so we have really done well for bargains recently.

What I haven’t done so well with is health – we came back from the US on Sunday evening and by Monday I had a cold. This has been really bad over the last week and I have been suffering. However, it is worth noting that this is the first cold I have had since arriving in Canada nearly three years ago – I blame the Americans for this one! Sorry to those of you reading who are American – I know you are out there – but I was fine before I arrived in Rochester and within a few ours of getting back I am sneezing, coughing and had a sore throat. I can draw no other conclusion other than I have an American cold!

We decided rather suddenly to take a few days off and visit the good old US of A. We wanted to go somewhere for a couple of days only, so did not want to travel too far. After considering various options we decided on Rochester as we had never been there before and it seemed to have some good shopping options and was almost exactly opposite Belleville across Lake Ontario.

We left on Thursday morning and although the sky was overcast it looked as if it would be okay. We took the border crossing at 1000 Islands as it is always quiet there and sure enough we were the only ones waiting. We had to go to the office to get a visa waiver etc but after 15 minutes and a very nice border guard we were on our way.

The interstate was very quiet and the journey uneventful. We had to pick up a toll ticket on the I90 and half way along this road it started to rain, then it really rained heavily. We exited the toll road at Rochester and paid our $3.60 then found the hotel (Residence Inn) with the help of our very good GPS.

We checked in at around 2.30pm and were given a king suite in the tower section. This is at the rear of the hotel away from the traffic of the main road. The suite was nice and was like a small apartment. Here are some pics.

Kitchen area

Seating area

Bedroom

It also had a bathroom with bath, shower and toilet and a separate vanity area with closet.

Bathroom

Vanity

After getting unpacked and having a hot drink we lazed around for a while then decided we were hungry and so went out for an early meal. We saw there was an Applebee’s nearby so went there. We had a very nice meal and then went back to the hotel. We were going to have a drive round but it was really pouring with rain so we decided not to bother and start the tour of the area on Friday instead when better weather was promised.

On Friday we got up and had our complimentary breakfast which was okay. We wanted to do some clothes shopping and had found a number of malls in Rochester to visit. In all there were four in the city so we thought we would do two Friday and two on Saturday. We went to the first – Mall at Greece Ridge Center and found it to be quite large with all the usual shops. By now the weather was really nice and it was very sunny and in the early teens temp wise. The mall had a glass roof which made the sun very bright and the mall very warm. After about an hour we decided to leave and visit another mall. This time we went to the Marketplace Mall. This was smaller but still a good mall. However we spent only a hour or so there and was ready to leave. We then decided to visit one of the malls we were going to save till Saturday, the Eastview Mall. This was a nice mall, very well laid out and bright without the glaring sun and heat. Again though, we had completed the mall in a couple of hours, so decided to make a day of it and go to the fourth mall. This was Pittsford Plaza which was described as a affluent mall in a affluent area. Well we were disappointed in this one. It was an outdoor mall, which because of the great weather was not a problem, but there really wasn’t much there. We basically walked the length and were done.

So, we had a very full day of malls and were “all malled out” by the end of it. We ate at TGI Fridays which although my food was fine, hubby was not impressed with his. We also felt very rushed by the server who was asking us if we wanted dessert whilst we were still eating out main course – we said we weren’t sure yet – and then bought our bill a minute later. We decided that if we wanted dessert we would get it elsewhere and left.

On Saturday we decided that as we had done all the malls in Rochester and bought very little we would drive across to Buffalo. Again we had never been there so a new experience again. It isn’t far from Rochester, about an hour and a very easy drive. We went to the Walden Galleria Mall which was huge. This was by far the best mall we had been to and we can recommend it. We actually managed to spend several hours here and bought quite a few bits and pieces. After this mall we decided to go to the designer outlet mall we had read about in Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls, NY is only a short drive from Buffalo and we found the mall easily. This is a very large indoor designer outlet mall and we again managed to spend quite a long time here and also managed to spend some money. We ate at Applebee’s as it was the only eatery at the mall and we were starving.

After this we made our way back to the hotel and stayed in for the night.

On Sunday we packed up, had breakfast and left the hotel. On the way back we stopped off at another outlet mall but this one turned out to be an outdoor mall and it was raining, so we didn’t stop. Instead we drove to Syracuse and spent a few hours at the Carousel Mall which we had visited before. Spend a few more dollars and then drive back to the border, in the rain. Crossed the border quickly and easily and got back home to lots of unpacking.

Back the the day to day stuff now – and lots of washing and ironing!

Our black squirrels are still about, but not every day. We had one in the garden this morning and I think he is possibly the second one we saw in the front garden last week, but he could be a third new one?

We also had some redpolls in the garden, but they did not hang around long enough to photograph. I did manage to get a pic of the white breasted nuthatch who visits us quite often.

Yesterday we had a day out at the Home Show in Toronto. We took a steady drive down in the morning and managed to avoid any major traffic jams, just the usual bottleneck at the 401/DVP junction. This was the first time we had been to an event at Exhibition Place and we were quite impressed with it. It is much easier to get to and park at than the Roger Centre or Convention Centre.

We wandered round trying to get some inspiration for our family room, but really didn’t find any – well none we could afford anyway! I also saw a rather nice sink which would have looked great in our master bath but it was nearly $3k – for a sink!

After wandering around we had some fish and chips at the stand in the hall but it left a lot to be desired and cost a whopping $28.00 for the two of us with a pop each.

On the way home we stopped off at Ikea to see if they could give us any further inspiration, but that didn’t work either!

All in all, a day out but not a very fruitful one.

Yesterday we had another new visitor to the garden, another black squirrel. I have mentioned recently that we had a lovely big black squirrel visit us and he was here fore about a week and then he vanished. Yesterday another one was in the front garden. He is definitely different. He is a slightly different colour and doesn’t have the auburn flash in his tail and  frankly he is quite ugly!

After several days of no snow and lots of sun with much of the snow melting – last night we had a snow storm of sorts. By this morning we had about three inches of snow on the ground, so the grass has disappeared once again.

On a good note it looks like my aunt and uncle who live in Spain will be able to come over again this year. They really loved their visit last April and want to try to get over again this summer. Not sure of the dates and timings yet, but fingers crossed the weather will be great. Last year they bought the Spanish sun and heat with them. Really looking forward to seeing them again.