A few weeks ago Chris started replacing our front steps but because of the bad weather he had to stop. This week however the weather has been much nicer and so he managed to restart the project and has pretty much finished. He did a great job.
This is what it looked like originally with the broken steps of different heights.
This mid way it looked like this.
Now it looks like this.
Just need to get some flower pots to finish it off and it is done.
Last week we travelled down to Syracuse to stay overnight as a bit of a break. We travelled down on Wednesday, got our visa waivers done and then drove to the Carousel Centre for some shopping, but didn’t really see anything we wanted. We checked into our hotel which was a Homewood Suites and in the evening went to the nearby Denny’s for supper.
Next day we travelled to Waterloo Premium Outlets. Fortunately the weather was lovely as this is an outdoor mall. This time Chris managed to get some shirts and I got a dress from Calvin Klein which was half price. After a few hours there we travelled back home and encountered two traffic jams between Kingston and home. If we had know of the roadworks there we would have gone a different route!
The garden has been a hive of activity. We now have the flickers, towhees, robins, grosbeaks, sapsuckers all paying regular visits. The sapsucker is a bit unwelcome as he keeps hammering on the metal tower next to our bedroom window at 6am which is very annoying. Apparently they do this to attract a mate as if they get their hammering as loud as possible the females love it – but we don’t!
The killdeer have also had their babies and they are running round the front garden. We have seen three babies, although they usually have four, so we will have to keep an eye out on them.
I cannot believe that this weekend is when our daughter Stacey and her girlfriend Amy arrive. Time really flies. Although the weather has been great this week and it is getting warmer (22 C today) they forecast rain and cooler temps over the weekend and beginning of next week. Lets hope it is okay as there is a lot we want to do.
Well I got up early this morning to watch the Royal Wedding of William & Kate. Because of the time difference the ceremony started at 6am here. Well worth it though, very nice ceremony and they both looked lovely and happy. Lets hope they stay that way.
That is all that has been on TV, the news etc here the Royal Wedding or the election. Yes we have another election here in Canada on Monday. I think this is the third since we have been here and it has always ended in a minority conservative government. This time though it looks like the NDP are creeping up and will give Harper a run for his money.
A lot of people are saying the election is a waste of time and money and that they cannot be bothered to vote. I agree it is probably a waste but it is happening so everyone who is able to vote should. Because we are relative newcomers we are yet to get citizenship and so cannot vote yet. I find this very frustrating as I live here and pay my taxes but have no say on how my money is spent. This is why I feel that those who do have a voting option should use it. If you don’t vote you have no right to moan about the government after. There, I have had my say, end of subject.
We have both recently had reminder cards to renew our driving licences which expire in July. They are valid 5 years and we will have been here 5 years on July 7th, so have to get new ones. On the website it says renewals are $75, but mine says it will cost me $90 and Chris’s says $62.50, so no idea what that all means. No doubt we will find out when we renew.
Also up for renewal is our PR cards which again expire in July. There is a waiting list so we sent the applications off in February with all the relevant paperwork. Yesterday I got a letter saying I hadn’t included a copy of the reverse of my driving licence as requested and had sent a copy of a passport that was expired. This is very strange as my passport is brand new – I haven’t even used it yet and the driving licence was copied front and back on the same sheet of paper so if they have the front, they also have the back. I phoned to check all this but was told that I need to recopy all these and send again. Very frustrating, but not worth arguing about.
On Wednesday a big storm passed over both the eastern US and Canada including us. We were under a tornado warning as well as large hail and heavy rain warnings. The day started out lovely with blue skies and sun, but later in the afternoon it got darker and windier – then this cloud arrived.
We then had a thunder storm with rain, lightening etc. We lost electric momentarily, but thankfully not for long. We lost internet and TV and the rain hammered down and the winds were horrendous. We lost a few tree branches on some of our trees but overall came out unscathed. This morning we went into town and noticed that just along one road half a dozen houses had quite bad roof damage, many trees had been either knocked down or damaged. Our neighbours house had some of the siding blown off, so we got off very lightly it seems. In the US they suffered very badly with over 100 tornadoes and around 200 people being killed, very sad.
On a happier note: Only three weeks now till our daughter Stacey arrives with her girlfriend. We are very excited and have a lot planned whilst they are here, so we are going to be very busy.
