Happy Canada Day!

Our first Canada Day back in Canada in three years. We definitely missed the party in Covent Garden, and nostaligically looked back at the very chilly Canada Day we spent last year on the Orkney Islands with Phil and Megan, but ended up having a very "Canadian" Canada Day on Manitoulin Island with some friends.

Todd's family have a plot of land on Manitoulin Island, a few hours outside Sudbury. I think Brad was a little suspect when Todd turned off down a "driveway" that looked more like an overgrown field towards the site. We tried not to pay attention to the large wolf spiders wandering around in the long grass as we put up our tent, but it was otherwise a very nice, peaceful wooded site.

The whole weekend was great though - complete with all the criteria for a Canadian long weekend - barbecue, cold beer, smores by the campfire, hikes, sunburn, and swimming in the lake.

We visited some of the small towns on the islands including Kagawong, Mindemoya and Gore Bay. There is a large native population on the island, and lots of native arts and crafts stores.

Brad and I camped in "Batman's" campsite the first night waiting for Todd and Shannon to arrive and woke up in the morning to discover that the campsite was hosting a yard sale. It was definitely different to see yard sales outside trailers and tents instead of houses, but good fun!

Here's just a few photos of some spots around the island, and one of Todd determined to find a crayfish to frighten Shannon with it!

Todd hunting for crayfish in the river.

Shannon and Dawn crawling beneath the tree branch on a short hike.

The beach where we spent the afternoon swimming and suntanning.

It may be a little hard to pick out, but there is an Inukshuk in this picture. It is a stone structure built by the first nations people in the form of a person. They can be used to indicate direction, or as a symbol of leadership, friendship, and our dependence upon each other.

A few more photos from our sunset drive.

June - Boating weather!

My great-great (yup, count 'em - two greats!) auntie Marjorie from Scotland has been over in Ottawa visiting her family. She and her daughter came down to stay with us for a few days - and timed it very well with the weather.




We spent a wonderfully hot day on mum and dad's boat up on Georgian Bay enjoying the sunshine.

We took the boat over to Beausoleil Island, a provincial park and spent the rest of the day picnicing, going for a short hike on the island and swimming in the lake.

We also found this very fascinating plant, apparently called Indian Pipe Weed (interesting name!). The plant has several short segments that slot back together again after being pulled apart. We decided that it must be a very useful plant, but didn't really come up with much other than using it as a breathing tube when swimming underwater - spy-style, or maybe building a very flimsy shelter. If anyone has any better ideas, we'd be happy to hear them!

May - Happy Birthday Brad

For Brad's birthday, we spent the day in Toronto - sort of playing tourist ... in the rain. It's like we never left Scotland.

We went on a boat tour around Toronto Harbour and islands. It's amazing the little facts you learn. Apparently one of Babe Ruth's first homerun baseballs lies at the bottom of Lake Ontario (or did - probably not much left of it now) after he hit one from a baseball diamond on one of the islands.




We also went past:

- a lighthouse supposedly haunted by its former moonshine-brewing keeper

• - and some very brave fishermen!

A nice (foggy) view of the city on the return trip. We did have to correct the tour guide though when he told us there were two national teams that played out of the Air Canada Centre - the Maple Leafs and the Raptors - poor Toronto Rock forgotten. Brad didn't let that one slide!





After the tour, I took Brad to see the Lord of the Rings musical - all 3 hours and a bit of it. It was well worth it though - very visual with fun costumes, great dancing, and lots of special effects.

We went for dinner at a place called Cafe Moroc for some amazing food - especially the Maftoul (cigar-shaped pastry stuffed with spicy beef - and a few other things), and a belly dancing show.

May

We spent the long weekend in May in Ottawa - visiting friends and the Tulip Festival (in the rain!).

We discovered a very bizarre vodka in the Quebec liquor store - named Pulse for the flashing pulsing light the light on the bottom of the bottle made when you slam it on the table.









The Rideau Canal in Ottawa










And here we are beside it.











... before going to watch a VERY slow moving flotilla down the canal. We didn't even stick around for the firemen!

This was a definite fave though - the swerving G8 boat carrying 8 very entertaining stereotypes!