What a wonderful summer!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all well.  I kept my eyes on the Dalian weather reports because I was worried about the monsoon season and hurricanes.  From what I read, you received a lot of rain.

We didn't receive very much rain this summer - 3 short rain falls to be exact. That was wonderful for cottage weather but not very good for the farms or gardens.  Luckily we have a good well at the cottage and we were able to keep everything alive while enjoying the beautiful weather.

We did such a good job keeping up the gardens that the deer ended up eating almost all of my hostas (about 100), and many day lilies.

Well as upset as I was, I also understand that our drought resulted in many of the creeks and water areas drying up.

At the same time, there are not many lush plants in the woods for them to eat.

As you can see, it's difficult to stay angry for a long time when they are so beautiful.  This is a yearling deer.  I'm happy that my garden fed the wildlife.

Lazy Days on our boat...

This is my mom and I.  You can see the family resemblance.  She is 83 and it was wonderful to have her out on the lake for a boat ride.

Every year at the cottage we have a big outdoor party.  We invite many musicians and our band (called Flipside) loves to play for our friends and family.  My husband Stephen plays drums, my brother David is playing harmonica and my friends of over 20 years Randy (Lead guitar), Jeff (Basse) and Ron (guest bongo player) all join in.

  As I said - it's been a great summer.  We just hated to close up the cottage and move home for the winter.

As you probably are aware, New York City and New Jersey have been devasted by Hurricane Sandy....  We only live about 4 hours from New York City.  We in Kingston  did not get any more than a strong wind.  I am thankful for our weather here and my heart goes out to all the people who are trying to rebuild their lives after this terrible storm.

On a lighter note - Miss you all terribly and I think about you every day!

ttyl,

Love Jo

世外桃源

... this poem makes me sad.

... it makes me feel like I am the fisherman who will never finds his way back...

... I guess I'm just missing my friends from China...

Vacation in Ontario

Hello everyone!

It's been over 30 degrees for a couple of weeks and the temperature has not been this hot in Ontario in 40 years.  The nice part of that is we get to enjoy so many wonderful summer adventures.

Trillium - Ontario's Provincial Flower

I still feel blessed to have enjoyed the beauty of Dalian.  Just as you are so proud of China, I am also grateful to be living in Canada - in our province of Ontario.

In today's blog, I show you pictures of how we like to spend some of our time during these hot summers.  Like Dalian, we have four seasons so it is during the heat that we like to adventure outdoors more than usual (although our winter snow offers many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors also).

Sunset in Algonquin Park

Stephen and I went to Huntsville, Ontario (just outside of Algonquin Park).  This is about a 4 hour drive from home but it is where my father was born and raised.  Unfortunately, we were there for my father's sisters' funeral.  Algonquin Park is gorgeous and many people go to camp and hike in the outdoors.  There are numerous wildlife to be seen in their natural habitat.  They even venture near the highways as we travel through the park.

Black Bear

Woodland Elk

You have to make sure that you do not leave food out unattended because that will attract animals.  You do not want them to come too close (especially the bears) but I think they are used to humans since they get so many visitors :-)

Ottawa, our capital city is about 2 hours north.  Our oldest son lives in there.  White water rafting is popular. You can go for the afternoon, or overnight by yourself or with a group of people.

For the real adventurous, kite surfing is fun.   We have sandy beaches that are just like the ocean.  However, I'm too old for this type of action, but the kids love it.

Our speed (and enjoyment) is canoeing and kayaking.  We try to kayak every day that we're at the cottage.  Stephen was a canoe instructor when he was younger and we both did many wilderness canoe trips back then.




Well, I just thought I'd give you a flavour of our summer wilderness.  I hope you are all enjoying your summer and everything life has to offer.

I love the outdoors, and we have our health and so far ... life is good!

Missing you...  take care...

Jo

It's summer!

Hope your summer is as great as ours.

Stephen & I went strawberry picking this week.  It is an event that marks the beginning of summer.

We went out to a local fruit farm (about 10 minutes from this city.  This farm grows raspberries and strawberries.

The public comes in and "picks their own" berries at harvest time.  We did this with the kids when they were small.  The kids usually put more berries in their mouth than in the bucket.

Actor chasing people through maze on Halloween

This farm also grows hay and corn.  In the Autumn (at Halloween), these fields are cut into mazes.

The mazes are set up as a labyrinth (迷宫,迷津). People (usually teenagers) pay to travel through the maze at Halloween.

Actors pop out from everywhere to scare you.  My children have done this but Stephen and I have not yet. As you can see from the left picture - it is very realistic and too terrifying for little children.


The day was hot but there was a nice breeze coming from the lake.  Tractors drive back and forth from the parking lot to the various picking sites.  Stephen and I managed to pick 8 quarts of strawberries.  It cost us about $18 total for two baskets.  It the store it would have probably cost the same or less, but the experience and the sweetness of fresh picked berries is worth it.

Someday we will be coming here with our grand children.  That day will not be tomorrow because we don't have grand children YET, but it will be sure to happen someday and we look forward it.

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer also.  I miss you all and think of you every day!

Take care & hugs to all,
Jo

Woodland Creatures

A couple of small Canadian animals to show you.  This is a great picture of a wild bunny rabbit.  Staring right at the camera!

Here are a couple of squirrels in love.  I took this picture at the cottage.  The weather has been really warm these days.

We have many turtles that love to sun on a log in the water in front of our cottage. These fellows were like passengers on a bus in China :-)

Unfortunately we had to go to a funeral recently.  My Aunt Elsie (my father's sister) died at the age of 85.  I met up with many of my relatives and family.  This is a picture of my cousins (the children of my father's brothers and sisters).  It was taken at my cousin's house where we gathered to remember times when we were children.  As you can see, we're getting pretty old - I'm the younger one in the front :-)

Well, my friends, I am missing you all and I hope you are well and enjoying the summer.  Please take care and know that I think of you often!

Jo-Anne

Happy Mother's Day!

Today we celebrate our mothers.  This is the day we take our mom's (and sometimes grandmothers out to dinner.  Sometimes we give gifts and sometimes we give flowers and sometimes all three.

My brother and I will be taking my mother out to dinner tonight.  She is 82.  My mother has always been sad because she never knew her own mother.  My mother was 3 weeks old when her mother died from childbirth complications.

My mother grew up never knowing anything about her mother's side of the family or even who her grandparents were.  So for Mother's Day I decided to do some research.

I was able to find out a lot information about her mom.   I was also able to find out the names of her grandparents and even information about some other relatives.  Three of her cousin's were each Premiers of the province of Quebec!  She was so happy to find out more about her family and she said it was one of the best Mother's Day presents she ever got.

There is a saying that I will share with you...   A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.


So Happy Mother's Day to all you women who have had a child or will have a child someday.  If you're a mom already - my greatest respect to you.  If you have a mom , wish her Happy Mother's Day!

Take care,

Jo-Anne

Pansies in Pots

My first garden project this year...

The pots are freestanding.  I placed a copper pipe through the holes in the bottom of each pot and tilted each pot off to the side.  Then I planted pansies in each pot.

When the weather gets warmer I'm going to bring this out to the cottage.

This time last year I was in Dalian.  I can't believe that a year has already gone by.  Hope you're all doing well.

Hugs and kisses to you all.

Jo-Anne

Wildlife outside our window.

You'd never believe it but Stephen and I live in the outer fringe of the City of Kingston.  I say you'd never believe it because we have a "forest" in our back yard and many animals wander around our yard.

This week-end we looked out the window and standing right beside our front door was this deer!

I rushed to get my camera and he turned away for my first picture.

The good news is that she stayed there long enough for me to take a few pictures.  She's molting her winter fur so she's not that pretty right yet.

The bad news is that she's EATING MY TULIPS!!!!  Yes - she was bold enough to come right up to the house and eat the plants right out of my newly emerging garden!  She's lucky I'm more thrilled to see her so close than angry at the loss of a couple of flowers... :-)

Take care and I hope your spring is as beautiful as ours.

Miss you all.

Jo-Anne

Ontario Fishing!!!!

I have to tell you all that the fish pictures below are NOT from an Ontario fisherman.  They were sent to me with the stories below, however I came across some research on the Internet and discovered that these were actually taken years ago in the Netherlands (Holland).

Apparently these pictures have been floating around the Internet for years.

I just want you to know that I was not meaning to mislead you.

xo
============================
Hello everyone!  Hope all is well.  The weather is beautiful and summer is on it's way.  I'm a corporate trainer for our local college (St. Lawrence College) and I'm teaching Supervisor Leadership Skills.  In addition I'm developing a training program for the municipal government (City of Kingston).  I'm able to work at my own schedule so I'm loving it.

I HAD to show you these pictures to brag about fishing in Canada.

This fish (a Pike) was caught in Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario (about 4 hours north of Kingston).

It's hard to believe but the fishing line caught a 3 foot Pike and as it was being reeled in, a 56 inch, 55 pound Pike used him as bait.








Still thinking of you all!

Take care and be safe.

Quebec City - one of our oldest cities...

Last year Stephen and I took a road trip to the east coast of Canada (the Atlantic Provinces).  I thought I'd send you a few posts since I promised that I would send some pictures of Canada.

Our first stop was Quebec City.  Like Xi'an, it has a fortress wall surrounding the old inner city.  This wall separates the historic buildings from the modern buildings.

Founded in 1608, it is one of the oldest cities in North America.  The older buildings have been maintained as they were hundreds of years ago.

Quebec City viewed from the St. Lawrence River

Chateau Frontenac Hotel

The city is a popular tourist spot.   Because it is in the province of Quebec it has retained it's French heritage.  Everyone speaks French and most people speak both French and English.  We stayed at the Chateau Frontenac.  This was a treat for us because it was our second honeymoon but surprisingly it wasn't much more expensive than a regular hotel (ALL hotels are expensive in Canada!).

The Chateau was built by the rich barons of the Canadian Pacific Railway (and opened in 1893).  It is quite beautiful and at one time, only the rich and powerful stayed there.  Now (ha ha), anyone can stay for a little more than the price of a regular hotel.

Me sitting in city park

The older part of Quebec City is beautiful.  The buildings have been maintained over the centuries and you feel like you have entered an older period in history.  There are many things to do in the city.

Fellow tourists

Stephen and I took a tour in a horse drawn carriage.  It was a wonderful way to see the sites.  The tour was just under two hours.

Since the area was originally a French fortress, we were able to walk along the top of the wall that circled the city.  The walk took us about two hours to complete.  There are cannons and military installations still in place and the Canadian military still operates a base here.

Plains of Abraham

We also visited the "Plains of Abraham".  This is where the British (under General Wolfe), defeated the French (under General Montcalm) in 1759.

After three months of conflict, this battle began and only lasted 15 minutes.   This battle influenced the future of the country to become under British rule.  New France (the former name of our country) became Canada.

The city is well known for its art districts.  Artists are highly regarded and there are many stores and open markets where art is sold.  Many of the buildings in the city centre have been transformed into art. We loved our visit to Quebec City and we will visit again.

Hope you enjoy this brief tour.  Take care and Happy New Year!

Jo-Anne

A Safety Message - don't leave candles unattended!

Happy New Year to you all!  I'm sure you are busy making many plans to celebrate your upcoming holiday with both your family and friends.

As you know, our New Year celebration here only lasts 1 day... January 1st.  This year, 15 minutes into the New Year, Stephen and I had a stroke of bad luck.  We had a fire in the sun room of our house.

During New Year's Eve we had a party at our house.  I had set up a beautiful candle display for our sunroom.  Basically the candles burned to a point where the melted wax spilled onto the table and onto the floor.  Long story short, the carpet and furniture caught on fire and smoke billowed everywhere.

However no one was hurt..... we were able to put out the fire ourselves... and after 3 days of cleaning up after the smoke damage, life is pretty well back to normal.

However my lesson will last a lifetime... my love for candles will no longer entice me to light them!

On another note, we have been having quite a mild winter so far.... just a few flakes of snow occasionally and the temperature has rarely gone below zero.  However it rained last night and the temperature got cold at the same time.  The following pictures are what we woke up to this morning in our front yard!  Click on the pictures to see Canadian icicles....

Take care and hope your upcoming celebrations are safe and wonderful!

Jo-Anne