Thinking of sunny days...on New Years Eve

An abstract painting of a day at the beach.

It once again is feeling like winter outside. Really Cold! We have had some really nice and warm days this December....at least warm for this time of year. I thought I would share some warm wishes and thoughts with you all.....Have a Happy New Year.....George

A holiday star made from antique buttons.

Christmas Concert

This was the young ones singing one of two songs. Grace is barely visible, back row middle.

Our oldest grandchild participated in her first Christmas Concert this past week. I think she spent most of the first song trying to find us in the crowd. Boy does this bring back memories to when our own children participated in these great traditions....George

Grace found us as she points our way.

Pasadena, California

Having been to California a few times now, from time to time I look up locations throughout the state I would like to visit. One such is Pasadena which many of you relate to as the City of Roses with the upcoming parade. Here are some interesting things I found out about this city.

A city of 139,700 is known for its birds, a large wild parrot's population which is traced back to a 60's pet store fire. A year round happy hour is found city-wide with more than 35 bars participating. You might have heard of the Rose Bowl Flea Market but the city is home to two great markets. The other is held the first Sunday of the month, called the Pasadena City College flea market and is known as a pickers dream.....see you there....George

VIA Rail to Toronto

The menu. We had the Boston bluefish.

Yesterday I celebrated my 60th birthday with a trip to Toronto with Susanne. As I have a long service pass for VIA Rail it was on them. The main reason we go to down town Toronto these days is to visit the St. Lawrence Market not far from Union Station. We also love to have lunch at one of the many booths. This trip it was fish and lots of it. It is hard to believe in downtown Toronto one can get a great fish meal that one can not eat all of for $10. Well at the market one can.

We spent part of the afternoon walking Yonge St. and can back through the Eatons Center (not sure if it is still call that since Eatons is now gone) and the underground walkway to Union Station

On another note Susanne sure seemed to be on a shopping spree in Toronto...hey I thought it was my birthday?  With the 60th mark one gets their Canada Pension early and yesterday Susanne was sure working hard at making sure it goes to good use....George

My order had 4 pieces of fish, onion rings and a good helping of home made coleslaw hidden underneath.

Buster's fish at St. Lawrence Market. Great place to get a fish dinner.

For some reason Susanne felt like she should spend my first Canada Pension check in Toronto.

Last Weeks Wind Storm

Although the wind has settled down the water it still high. Note a portion of the pier has washed away and the fence is gone. It must have been quite a storm.

Last Tuesday Susanne and I were up in Goderich visiting with our friends Brad and Jill. On the way up we stopped by to check on the boat cover as there was quite a blow a couple of days earlier. All was OK. We also took a ride down to the lakefront basin. I noted as we drove over to the pier the water was way up in the basin....about a foot below the all time high mark. We got a surprise when we got out at the pier. A lot of the gravel walkway was gone which leads to the pier. The fence that keep people off it had also been washed away. The beach is all underwater with a good portion of the berm and dunes gone. It will be interesting to see what the spring brings. I talked to the crew still working raising docks once again this fall. On our way home we stopped in at Grand Bend and noted the north pier light had been changed out....George

As one can see the beach is well underwater with a lot of the bank gone.

Vermont Cheese

I took this photo to record the cheese we purchased in Vermont this fall. Good to have a reference post of what we liked to look back at when up that way again. Blogs posts can be good to refer back to.

I took this photo of all the Vermont cheese and butter we brought home during mid October. Well we have been really busy eating our way through it all and I think we need to take another trip pretty soon...George

Display one's Driftwood

Driftwood on display.

Over the last couple of years Susanne and I have collected a good amount of interesting small pieces of driftwood along the beach in Bayfield. What to do with it.....well just display it in a glass cylinder or vase.....George

Dunkin'

Got to love your Dunkin' Donuts....George

Meet Boyan Slat

I always wondered about the mess our generation is leaving behind on this planet and if future generations will be able to stop and change our mistakes. Well it looks like they just might.

 19 year old Boyan Slat a high school student from Delft, Holland for his final thesis spent six months figuring out how to rid the ocean of its plastic pollution. The aspiring engineer has figured it out and with 1,500 e-mail a day of support and funds collected in the first month of $1.46 million...that is a good start. Boyan figured why move through the ocean when the ocean can move through you. Slat`s ocean cleanup system of floating arms harnesses the seas natural current, guiding  plastic trash to a solar sorting platform.....it actually does work. Read more at theoceancleanup.com.....George

The Past Weekend

We meet up with our load of reindeer's at Mohawk Raceway parking lot just off the 401.

This past weekend we did a couple of road trips. Friday we made a trip to Grand Bend and Bayfield for their Christmas kick-off. It was a windy and snowy day there. I could not believe how high the water level was in the Bend. If the water rises much more the pier will be underwater. In the river the docks one need ladders to board boats are not needed at the moment. At Bayfield I had to check out our basin. The docks along the wall had been raised about a foot or so in September. They currently are all in the water or under it. The crew was in the process of raising them once again. Have not seen the water this high in decades. And by the way there is a sailboat still in the water at our basin.

On Sunday Susanne and I drove to Milton to pick up a trunk load of reindeer's for our family. I had only room for 6 in the car. We found a guy that make these nice looking log reindeer's. He had our order done and a parking lot meet near the 401 was arranged. Now to deliver them all to the kids......George

Hard to believe we fit 6 reindeer's in our PT cruiser. One is out and being delivered at this time.

Susanne got her mom a smaller version of the others we have.

Driftwood Tables

A couple of stumps found on the beach now reside in our backyard.

On our back patio Susanne used some similar weathered stumps as seen in a previous post.....as she says WE carried up from Bayfield beach.....and no she did not help....George

Another use for wood logs

Susanne had me drag of a few small logs from the beach this summer to use as a table on our patio at home...here is a good idea for some better looking ones inside your home....George

Anchors Away

I have seen these anchor hooks in may shops that Susanne and I visit but I never knew what I could use them for....this is a great  idea if you have a beach home...George

Days till Summer...only 231 to go!

Was watching City Line this week  the home designers were discussing how they get ready for the fall-winter season. The common theme was that they change the wine stock from white to red. It was funny that they also were counting how many more days it was till Summer....231 as of today. There is a web site dedicated to this count...gives you hours, minutes and seconds also......George

How many days until Summer?

Halloween

Grace, Owen and Danielle head out to collect some goodies.

Last night some of our gang showed up to go trick-or-treating in their old neighborhood. It was a night with a bit of drizzle from time to time, but they seemed to stay out long enough to fill a bag.....George

Jessica and Declan follow behind. Jamie, Kingson and Christy showed up a few minutes later and catch up to the gang. Susanne tagged along also while I stayed behind in the dry spot handing out candies.

To our surprise the bus stopped outside our house as the kids headed out....it was Grace and Owen's dad (Kyle) who was on the run through Byron that night. Talk about timing.

Susanne and I had a busy day cutting out pumpkins through the afternoon. Three of them are cheese hole pumpkins....one group of three not seen was done as a snowman.

Kingston's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe the size of the cake Christy baked for Kingston's birthday. There was three trays of cupcakes to go along with this.

With King's birthday the day before Halloween the party was held the Sunday before. A good size gathering at our Son's home for our grandson's second birthday......the photos tell the story.....George

With the birthday so close to Halloween guess what the theme is.

Granddaughter Grace is into the cupcakes early....especially the ones Grandma made.

I'm not sure why there is a pumpkin keg at a 2 year old birthday party, but I do know the longer the beer sits in there the more it tastes like pumpkin.

Our son Jamie was the BBQ king this day.

The main course was Jamies famous Big Mac's.....but if you wanted a hot dog there was plenty. I looked after the deep fryer and the fries.

Even the little guys finished off these huge burgers.

Grandson Owen has a black pickup like his dad's for a moment.

Eric and Susanne chat it up.

Jamie set up his big air filled fun house through the gate in the next doors yard for the kits to play in. Interesting.....having a kids party and send them all to play next door....good idea.

Sea Side Pumpkins

Thought I would share some shore line pumpkin images that I might try this year...you might want to try them out also....George

Palm trees anyone.

Concrete Halloween

The girls filled a kids plastic trick or treat bucket from Target with cement.....using it as a mold.

Susanne and her sister Laura got together one afternoon to make some concrete Halloween decorations....here is what they came up with....George

The left over cement went into plastic gloves which became hands.....just peel the gloves back once dry.

Here we see Susanne planting her hands in our daughter's (Jessica's) garden.

Friday Roadtrip

A pumpkin patch along Guelph Line near Campbellville, Ont.

On Friday Susanne and I headed out to Ikea in Burlington, Ont. and Whole Food in Oakville. It was a really nice sunny day so we decided to head out into the rural areas of Burlington, Milton and Campbellville on our way back up to the 401. The views are from our stops along the way......a lot nicer than freeway all the way home......George

Springridge Farm just off Derry Line. We have not been here in a decade.

We followed a pickup truck load of raindeer's into Springridge. The gentleman who makes there is from Acton.

Our car along the roadway next to a pumpkin patch in rural Milton.

There might be leftover this season.

Stormy Days at Bayfield

Compare this view with the one before the storm. The fire pit and log benchs are all gone...along with most of the firewood. There used to be a wooden walkway built into the sand bank which also had solar lights attached...they are all gone also.

A couple of weeks ago a good blow went through Bayfield. Luckily I had my boat out already when it came through. I did show up the day after to put my cover on. I posted a photo by my friend Brad a couple of weeks ago of the water up to the high marks. I was suprised to see the amount of the beach and berm that had been washed away...the power of water...George.

I took this photo on the Labour day weekend of the firewood pile. One can see the firepit and log benches. All is gone including the firewood.

The sand bank that once sloped to the beach is now a cliff about 6 feet high. Some of the firewood washed down the beach a bit.