Another Surprise

Gave sister Teri a subscription to the above magazine.  I thought it would be fun for her to see the wonderful photographs and stories of the north.  The magazine may have been a surprise gift for her birthday last year, but my surprise was even bigger when I saw the article below.

When I looked on page 15 the first thing I saw was the school secretary SR had at Takhini Elementary School, where he attended from Kindergarten to Grade 1. And I used to hire her husband to teach courses at the Government at the Staff Development Branch.  I looked at them for a while before shifting my gaze to the right where I saw:

my sisters and nieces!!!!!!!!  All holding copies of the magazine.  Now this was a SURPRISE!

Teri had written this explanation when she submitted the photo to the magazine.  Yes it WAS a Sibling Surprise.

Here I am when I first discovered the photo in the magazine.  Debbie and Will joined in in the laughter.

The Wee Ones

I arrived home a day later than the wee ones.  They went on a trailer trip to Fort St. John.  They rode horses, pet cows and tried to catch chickens.  They had a great time on their adventure.

Although it is only about two weeks since I last saw them, I swear they grew and their speech is more mature.  (Those little striped hoodies came from Dawson City, if you can believe that!)

Kensington Market

The first thing we came across was this car, painted and planted.  Reminded us of a similar car in Calgary many moons ago.  The owner said he made the car self sufficient - he grew food in and on it, had a bed, rigged up a shower that catches rainwater.  It had everything.  He said it was so he could go to the moon and live in it.  Funny funny.  A few weeks later we walked past his house and the car was gone.  The note in the window said "Gone to the Moon".

This is what I was looking for. Sancis.   Mom used to go to public school with Frances Sancis.  Her parents owned the Banana Store.  They sold bananas.  In fact, they were the first people to sell bananas in Ontario.  The business was successful, so they built a garage in the back of their shop.  Mom said she went into the garage and there were banana's hanging on hooks and on the floor there were many heaters to give warmth the the ripening bananas.  As far as we know, Francis is still alive and she WAS living in the garage at the back of the shop.  She would be around mom's age which is 92/93.  I was looking forward to meeting her, photographing her and having her tell me some banana stories or stories of her and mom.

This is what I found.  The son, who was running the shop, retired one year ago.  He sold the building and the present owner had been renovating for the past year.  It was only one week prior to my visit that the name Sanci had been removed from the window.  They had been in the same location for more than 91 years.  Now they are gone.  What luck!

No more chickens clucking in wooden cages, no more ice cream in cylinders wrapped in paper that they pop into a cone, some new coffee shops, and now 2nd hand clothing stores are in style (retro), but it is basically the same --  shop after shop after shop, using sidewalks to display goods and cars parked bumper to bumper along the narrow streets.

This is the other one Mom remembers...Tom's Place.  He used to sell second hand clothing when he started.  Now it is a men's suit store - and a fine one at that, so I hear.  We went in and looked around. (If you want a suit that is the place to go - boy do they have a lot!).  Tom was not there though, so we left.

Nassau Street

Met up with Merv in T.O.  (Yes, you are seeing correctly, she has blue hair - the colour was not supposed to be blue but silver with traces of lilac ... but I did love the blue colour ... - and heart shaped sunglasses).  Ever so great to see my old Bud once again.  Had her photo up here but she felt uncomfortable with it.  I don't ever want anyone to feel uncomfortable with what I post, so, even though I thought it was a great photo, I have removed it.  

We explored the Kensington Market area this time.  Little did I know, until she did some research, that my Grandparents (and mother) lived at 56 Nassau prior to moving to 38 Nassau.  Above is 56 Nassau, the left side of this white house.  38 Nassau was torn down and a small (ugly) semi-detached house arose in its place.  A very kind Asian man lives there now.

Nassau Street looking down towards Kensington market.

Nassau Street looking towards Spadina Avenue.  Yes, George Brown College is still there.  At least the old building is still there.  I didn't walk down to see if it was still a college.

More Family Gatherings

Had dinner at sister Debbie's house with her family, Teri and Mom.  One of my last days in Ancaster!

Mom will be 93 this year.

And this is the apartment building she lives in, by herself, on the second floor.  She is quite the tough lady to be so independent at 93!

Kristin, Kayla, Dave and David drove to Penticton.  On the way they stopped at Mount Rushmore. It is an amazing thing to see.  I thought it was presidents carved into the mountain, but apparently it is Hungarians!  Thanks for the chuckle Will.

Champs

Was privy to a soccer tournament while in Ancaster and who won but Will's team.  Yeah Yellow!!!

One more travel day

A work in progress.  We stopped at Lisa's house for lunch before journeying up to the Chalet.  They are putting a new deck on the house - a lovely large deck - as well as a new sliding door into the kitchen and they are also adding on a mud room.  

 The deck in nice and large and looks out to the creek below.  

Then off we went to Moonstone - Mt St Louis ski area to visit their ski chalet.  Kate is now taking slalom lessons and is at the hill every week end in the winter, thus the chalet.

John is renovating the inside.

And the back of the chalet.  That is Will sitting on the deck.

 We walked around the area.  It is a lovely little community with a mix of chalet part time occupants to full time (and I would think retired) occupants.  The area is wooded with a variety of buildings from small and quaint to large.

Here I am just getting off my bike after a quick ride ...  n o t .  This is part of a flowered decoration on someone's front lawn.

Another view of Lisa's chalet.

Thank you Will for being our photographer.  Above, some of us were "working" the picture.

Even Will got into the picture!

Visiting Sister Deb

Went to visit sister Deb and look what I found in her front yard.  It should come as no surprise to me as I don't know anyone that reads more books than her and her family.

Will was lounging by the pool while Kate couldn't wait to jump into the water.  

Paris

Downtown Paris, Ontario that is.  We lunched in Paris after visiting our favourite pottery shop in Troy Ontario -- Donn Zver Pottery.  The weather was beautiful as we strolled the street and poked our heads in the many interesting shops along the way.

Here we are on the banks of the Grand River.  Another great trip with the family.

Oli

The newest addition to our family - Oliver.  He stayed with Teri and me during my week away as his mom, Kristin, travelled out west.  Oli is just a kitten and there was never a dull moment when we were in the house with him.

Aug 14 - 2nd Annual Hungarian Day

Aunt Liz and Uncle Joe brought a cake to commemorate the occasion.

Last year was the start of Hungarian Day.  Debbie, Lisa and Teri are the grand organizers of this affair.  The Hungarian decorations come out and the Hungarian food is cooked.  Although the "honky" music was played even Aunt Liz asked for it to be turned off, so no dancing this year.

Me with Will and Tex looking on.  In front of the Hungarian Flag no less.

My contribution which ended up being a huge success.  Not only added to the meal but to the conversation as well.  (The name plate was just as successful!)

The Hungarians with mom (in pink) the oldest (92) and Kate the youngest (11).

A Good Day for a Hair Cut

It was a good day for a haircut.  They each receive a lollipop for being such good customers, then their little hands suck to everything they touched which included my hands.  Emerson is experienced at this as he has had a few hair cuts, but this was Alanna's first time.  They were both very happy with the results.

Agriculture Demonstration Day 

Wednesday, Aug. 3

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Research Farm 

Guess where I was today.  Yesterday hot and sunny.  Today for the BBQ ... RAIN.  Oh well, what can you do but attend the bbq anyway,  All the food was local (except for the buns) and all of it was delicious.  I had no idea this farm was here so it was a new experience for me.

Their crop was excellent as seen by the example of the beets above.  They grow a number of veggies (kale, beets, potatoes, carrots), berries (raspberries, currents, haskap, to name a few), grains (wheat, barley, ...), orchards (apple, peach, ...), oils (canola, soya ...), and flowers grown especially for honey bees.  

Brad was one of the workers that walked us around and gave us an update on soil, plants and expectations.

Above is an example of the kale - in the middle grown with NPK Pellets  (i.e. fertilizer) + compost, on the right just compost (although this is the 7th year of compost - the first year growth made no difference, it took a while for it to make a difference in the soil) - there was little difference in the middle and the right as it all looks healthy and green, and on the left is kale grown with no help at all to the soil - there IS a difference in size and colour.

After eating, the rain stopped and the sun tried to break through.  Walking through this farm was very interesting and informative.

Alone again

July was a month for visitors.  Met up with Iris last night for tasty beverages and pizza and thus ended my month of visitors.  Terry was off on a plane early this morning.