These days

It's been about a month, so I must have something to say... no? We've had a few guests and we've gone some places, so I suppose I best report these things.

Around mid-July we were graced with a visit from my eldest sister and her husband and kiddies. They left the comforts of the farm for a weekend and decided to put up with the busy-ness of traffic & city. A sacrifice we appreciate (since we never make it out their way...)

We made a visit to Mackenzie King Estate, the country retreat of Canada's 10th prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. He was prime minister for 21 years (though not consecutively), longer than any other. This was in the 1920s to 1940s.

He donated the estate to Canada, and it's now open to the public. It consists of several lots totalling 570 acres. Lots and lots of room to run around, trails to hike, gardens to enjoy. His main residence there can be toured as well; it's not much to look at, but shows what cottage life was like half a century ago (and still should be, in my opinion).

Homes on the estate:



Awww... (of all my nieces named Megan, this one's my absolute favourite)


Mackenzie King was a creative sort. This is from a facade of an old Ottawa bank, transplanted here as his own Arc de Triomphe.


The Abbey Ruins. They're not ruins at all, just built to look like ruins.


We took a trail to Bridal Veil Falls, also on the grounds somewhere. In the photo below, the boys seem to be looking for evidence of the falls; I mean, it's been dry this summer, but c'mon, not even a trickle? Well, it turns out (upon reading the plaque there) that ever since the source upstream was dammed sometime in the '40s there really hasn't been much of a falls here. Really!? You couldn't tell us that a little earlier? Sigh... back we all trudged.


It was a nice but short visit; hope all that driving was worth it!


Montreal

The following weekend we went to Montreal just for the Saturday. Friends of ours have just moved back to BC and this was to be their last chance to hang out in la belle ville. So we drove out together and spent the day walking our feet off.

The primary target was the Botanical Gardens. The Biodome would have been nice to see too, but there's a strike going on so it's closed. Just as well, since the Gardens themselves took a few hours to walk through.

The park where the gardens are is right beside the Olympic Stadium, so a lot of my pictures have its lovely leaning tower poking into the scenery.


There were lots of miniature/stunted trees (under two feet tall), and not just in the Japanese section either. These things are incredible; without a reference item in view some of them might be mistaken for a 50-foot tree.


This white cedar is about 450 years old.


The Chinese section. Not sure how they made the water so blue, but it ain't natural.



Lots of crazy landscaping.


There were also vegetable gardens, which were about the least thrilling part. For me anyways.


Our friends' young'un. She did very well all day. This little lady knows me as Opa. Why, you ask? Why not, eh?


We weren't planning to do any real sightseeing in the city. We've all been to Montreal before (16 years ago for me) so we could say we'd already seen the sights. It was just nice to walk in the old town and enjoy the ambience.



We had to visit the clock tower in the Old Port to look for a penny. Our friend had thrown a penny from the tower during a previous visit, and the penny had landed on a ledge. This penny is going to be a reason to visit the tower every time we go to Montreal from now on... at least until it disappears. It was still there this time.




Camping

For the long weekend, a bunch of us went camping at Fitzroy Provincial Park. It was a civic holiday, not a stat, so some of us had to work on Monday; we ended up camping only for two nights. The weather cooperated... a little too much, maybe. The campground is situated on a river, and the water level was so low that one of the two beaches didn't really even exist. Which only matters if you like swimming... pffft!

Well, back to the old grind for a few weeks. We have a wedding to attend in Nova Scotia at the end of the month, but Carrie's work schedule is not going to be very friendly in that regard; guess we better work out some plans. She also has to go to Geneva in a month or two, and it's up to me to convince her I don't need to go with her on that trip. I'm sure I'll keep you informed...