Last day in Ottawa, then back in Toronto, followed by St. Catharines and finally back in Toronto

Uncle Delaney and Callum (above) on Canada Day. They had a good time and it was lovely to see some other family members, we have not yet met, at dinner.  Christine (Nancy's sister), Edwin (her husband) and Maya (their daughter), Harry (Nancy's Dad), his wife and Nick (her son) were great company.

Maya and Callum in the big comfy armchair

The only sad item of news on our last day in Ottawa was that Casper, Nancy and Delaney's large, white fluffy dog got quite ill and might have come to the end of his life. Sad, but inevitable - and Callum seemed quite OK with the news.  While waiting to leave Roy and I got into teacher mode and we did sums on the iPad with Callum which was a lot of fun.

One's fingers are useful when counting

Back in Toronto we hardly had time to catch our breath and Lyle appeared to take us to St. Catharines, while Alex and Meaghan have departed by train for Montreal and a much deserved few days' holiday.

Climbing a tree with Daddy

This picture was taken at Riverdale Farm, which is walking distance  from home and has a cute little zoo for Callum to enjoy. We also visited Necropolis, the oldest cemetery in Toronto, right next to the zoo.  Lovely old graves and lots of Irish names on them told us a bit about Toronto's history.  In the 1830's - 40's the city's population nearly doubled with those Irish immigrants who have managed to escape the great famine.

A handsome Celtic cross in Necropolis

St. Catharines was a real hoot.  Four grandparents spoiling Callum, he must have thought he arrived in Heaven. It was a really relaxed time, we went shopping a couple of times, saw a lovely parade of vintage cars, visited Heather and Lyle's allotment, had a couple of barbecues, went out for pizza and finally went on The Great Woozle Hunt along the river. I got lots of lovely presents for an early Birthday celebration and even managed to watch the British Grand Prix.  The best present to me was Lewis's win and I am not bothered by some saying that he could only win because Rosberg's car broke down.  Who says he wouldn't have won anyway? Plus he already had two breakdowns himself earlier in the season and in spite of those was still pretty close on points to Rosberg, who had not had any until now.

Humpty Dumpty is winning

Baarbecue on the back deck

I want that toy!

Vintage crock in St. Catharines

Callum's drawing in the pizza restaurant

Do I see a woozle there?

After four eventful and fun days we got back to Toronto on Monday 7th. One of the highlights of the visit was the "All You Can Eat" Chinese restaurant. This time, learning from my pangs of indigestion after the Japanese "All You Can Eat" the week before, we went for lunch. It was delightful and all of us (except Meaghan, who was back at work by then) had stuffed ourselves silly.

The Salad Counter

On one of our shopping trips we found an interestingly named pub. We had no time to go in, but I took a photo to prove it exists.

And finally we had a really fun and busy day yesterday, which included getting the car washed, having lunch in McDonalds and for a real treat, spending an hour in the Regent Park Aquatic Centre. Originally I wasn't going into the water, but upon discovering it was warm, I changed my mind.  I had probably the best hour's fun, watching Callum's sheer enjoyment of splashing about non-stop.

This morning we packed and presented Callum with his outstanding Star Wars stuff. We brought amazing amounts of those fragile things all this way totally unharmed.  He was waging space war for hours using the vehicles, figures and his bossed about grandparents!

Now we are nearly off to the airport. Let us hope the Toronto roads are kind, we make it in time and the flight is as uneventful as the one coming over was!

Toronto and Ottawa

Unfortunately the stomach bug - while it took only about 48 hours to make me really ill - left behind a touchy tummy which is still with me. The first day or two was very much affected by it, but by Day 3 I cheered up a bit and could go out to take and fetch Callum to and from school and for a walk to the Bank and the Danforth in general.

By Friday I was thankfully better and Alex decided to do a barbecue on the back deck.The carnivores had big chunks of steak and I had a lovely big portobello mushroom.  I couldn't eat both Alex prepared for me, but managed the bigger one.

On Saturday there was some DIY done to erect Callum's new shelves, followed by some water play in the garden. Before packing for Ottawa he was given all his father's Star War figures, the X wing and Darth Wader's tie fighter. We are quite happy that one of our suitcases will be nearly empty on the return trip!!

Saturday evening we went to Spring Sushi, one of the nicest Japanese Restaurants in Toronto for an "All You Can Eat" dinner. Obviously, in my predicament this was not going to be economically sensible for me, but I still managed to put away sufficient amount of sushi for a very bad night's sleep due to indigestion. Having said that, it was well worth it. Even Roy, who is not a fan of sushi, managed to have a lovely dinner, stuffing himself with prawns, gorgeous beef/steak dishes and delicious mango ice cream.

On Sunday we left for Ottawa at about 10am to spend the Canada Day weekend with Meaghan's brother Delaney and his wife Nancy. En route we stopped in Madoc for lunch where Judy (Nancy's mother) and Doug, her husband, joined us. After lunch we visited their farm, where Callum had a really lovely time.

By about 6.30pm we were in Ottawa, where Callum gave enthusiastic hugs and kisses to his Uncle Laney and Nancy neni. The weather unfortunately, was getting hotter and hotter as we were getting closer to Ottawa with a level of humidity that I have never experienced before.

On Monday Nancy had to go to work, so in the morning we went to the Natural History Museum to see some dinosaurs with Callum and in the aftermoon Delaney took us on a river boat cruise on the Ottawa River. Both were lovely, but when asked what was the best part of the day, Callum had no hesitation to choose the dinosaurs!

The river boat cruise had a commentary, which was actually quite OK, even though I generally hate them.  Both Roy and I were rather puzzled how they are going to conjure up any history for Ottawa, which is a totally modern creation, but she sort of managed it.  The river was lovely, the trip lasted about an hour and a half and thankfully there was a breeze on the water, so the heat was also bearable.

After disembarking, we walked about in downtown Ottawa and made our way to the area of Byward Market, where we had a snack lunch in one of the pubs and found an interesting totem pole.  It had the Hungarian shield emblem with St. Stephen's crown carved on it, which was, to say the least, unusual. Since then we did a bit of research and apparently this totem pole represents the "tribe" of Canada and includes several ethnic minorities that live in the country.  This must be the first time I have heard Hungarians called an ethnic minority, rather than a national one, but I was still fascinated by finding that distinctive crown on what I always considered an aboriginal monument in North America.

Today is Canada Day. The temperature, including the HumidEx, is nearing 40 degrees, so Roy and I pleaded our geriatric status and stayed behind. The rest went to Parliament Hill for the celebrations, but should be back soon as we are having lots more people coming visiting for tonight's barbecue. I think it will be at least a dozen or more, including Nancy's Dad and wife, plus her sister and family. Methinks I am having a snooze now before the festivities begin.

Hassocks and Toronto

In the two days between Pete's departure and our flight we managed to buy everything still outstanding and pack. The trip was uneventful and we dragged ourselves and the enormous suitcases all the way to Stephen's.

The two little monsters were delightful as usual. Elian is a fully fledged lovey already.  He's a sweet, friendly, show-off, loving being the centre of attraction.  Xander is quite different, but he is full of smiles as well.  He can concentrate very well for an 8 months old and is almost crawling. On Saturday I managed to get my eyes tested and thankfully they have not worsened much.  My current glasses are nearly 3 years old, so that explanes why they are now not very good.  Chose a nice pair and hopefully should see better in about a fortnight's time. We also went to 41 to clear the attic and with Petya's help we lasted 3 1/2 hours.  We gave up eventually, it was so tiring.Most of it was done and we rounded up the day with a nice couple of pints and a late lunch in the Basketmakers.

We only realised later that our decision of bringing forward our trip by 5 days saved us from a possible nightmare due to the French Air Traffic Controllers' strike. On Monday we had a lovely lunch with Ruth and Ian in The Greyhound, prior to which they picked us up from 41 with some stuff. We managed to finish off the attic, so that's off our conscience.

The flight to Toronto on Wednesday was long and tiring, but totally uneventful. Alex picked us up from the airport forecourt, thus escaping exhorbitant parking charges. The only sad story of the trip so far is that I managed to get laid low with a stomach bug, which is still with me, although I am getting slowly better.

Callum was so pleased to see us, that within 3 minutes got practically all his toys out to show us.  He is really developing into a delightful young man, very charming and fun to be with.

Today he was  visiting a farm on a school trip and we went to fetch him. He seems to like school and even has a girlfriend.

Granddad came into his own, here seen making a dinosaur trap, which Callum used to capture some more dinosaurs. The weather is very warm and I have just heard it'll be 40 degrees in Toronto for Canada Day, which is next Monday. Good job we'll be in Ottawa by then!

Pete's second week

Pekka Kuusisto

Last Tuesday's concert in the Music Academy, fronted by the young man above was interesting.  Not necessarily in the Chinese curse sense, just interesting. We had a couple of American contemporary composers and some Bach, all fascinating, well played and enjoyable.  However, I was still not totally satisfied.  Pekka Kuusisto is in his 40's now, but he still acts like he was 16. No problem, even if it grates a bit, provided the quality of performance is first class.  Call me fussy, or perhaps utterly spoilt by Kristof Barati, but I didn't take to his style of playing. It seemed mushy, all the samey compared to Kristof's crisp, crystal clear tones and strokes. Pete had seen the inside of the Academy, which was basically the main purpose of the trip, so at least that was 100% achieved.

Kristof Barati

On Thursday, no such qualms ailed us.  We were in the Marbled Hall of the Radio Building and the performers were guess who and his friend Gabor Farkas on the piano. Sheer, sensual enjoyment doesn't even begin to describe it. They played three sonatas, one by Beethoven in G Major Op. 30, the one by Schumann in A minor Op. 105 and after the interval  Bartók's First Sonata. I occasionally felt like I died and got to heaven. And all this for less than 20% of Tuesday's ticket price!! How worrying then, that Kristof is getting more and more sought after in all the concert halls of the world and we might not hear him as often in the future as we have become accustomed to.  Good for him, but not so good for us! :-(

Clash (Dozsa peasant uprising 1514) 1928-29

Concert Musicians Landscape with Figures 1921-22

Self Portrait with Bishop's Mitre 1923

The Two of Us 1929

On Wednesday, between the two concerts Pete and I went to see an exhibition in the National Gallery.  This painter, Gyula Derkovits lived 39 years, lived in poverty and died in the first half of the 1930's. His works are stunning, cannot be totally squeezed into any particular style or school, but I think, and in spite of his politics and ideological content, are timeless and address many important questions of both his own time and ours. I ended up with a horrific back ache, which is always a sign of an excellent exhibition, as standing around and slowly moving kills my lower back. We were there for about 4 hours and had it not been for my crippled back I would have stayed longer.

The Geological Institue from the air

In the afternoon Pete went on a walkabout to the City Park, where he saw some lovely  Art Nouveau villas, my old school building and the Geological Institute (see above).

The presenters of Coast Australia

I, on the other hand, managed to catch up on some of my favourite TV programs that I have missed due to having too many other things to do.  Lately I fell in love all over again with Neil Oliver, that lovely little Scotsman, I first met when he was doing Coast back in the UK.  Australia is an amazing and spectacular country, so when I discovered Coast Australia on BBC2 I thought I would be in for a treat.  Absolutely! I could not have been more spot on. Whether he is in Sydney, all over the Great Barrier Reef or in Tasmania, the shots are eye watering, the presentation high quality and enjoyable, so I had a very good couple of hours catching up.

And then on Friday we went down to the village for a couple of days. We had to put the car away, see to the garden, have a chat with a variety of people about things while we are away in Canada etc. I sorted the gardener, the post lady, the roofer, my sister and a few others. The gardener is coming in watering, weeding and lawnmowing, the post lady will be taking our post to my sister, who has finally received her artisan cheese that I bought weeks ago. The roofer is coming to mend a few broken tiles and do some tin edges on tops of walls, so that we won't have to paint them every year. In the two full days we were there I managed to weed everything, water everything three times throgoughly and even took Pete out for a 10km hike to the big lovely look out tower in the hills above us and back. Pheww!!

Now we are back in town. Pete is taking us out for dinner tonight and will depart on the hydrofoil to Vienna tomorrow morning.

BBQ, orienteering, river boat trip, sightseeing and compliments!

Refreshments even before we got going

As mentioned in the last post we were due for a hashing barbecue up river, where the hills are steep and the countryside spectacular. Roy came just for the food and drink and finally got talked into doing the fire lighting and cooking. Initially we all had a drink and then got going. There was a hell of a lot of climb, but some amazing views, so it was great. I was pretty knackered by the end, but it was definitely worth going. I finally decided that I'll hare a hash run in the autumn and get a hash name, in spite of the reasonably unpleasant experience that entails.

The Hash group

The river bend with the views

Roy testing a sausage

We  came straight into town after the hash as we were expecting Pete to arrive on Wednesday. Just before his arrival we finally managed to get a mutually convenient date with Laci and Koxi for a get together, which was spent eating, drinking and chatting. It is so nice to catch up with old friends and it was also nice to know that they were coming to the orienteering event we are also going to at the weekend.

Pete photographing on board the boat

Pete arrived bang on time and the following day we went on a river boat trip, the one that was not entirely successful with Chris, Jo and Carmella, due to the early timetables not including docking at Roman Shore. This time we managed to take lots of lovely photos from the boat in the sparkling sunshine, have a beer and some chips at the far end and then caught the boat back home.

Pete and Roy (wearing my cap as he forgot his own) amongst the public on board

The next day we visited the Hospital in the Rock, which I have seen already, but didn't mind seeing again.  I found it due to geocaching and was sure that the boys would enjoy it.  Unfortunately you were not allowed to take photographs inside, but I managed to sneak a picture of the map of the complex.

Hospital map

The hospital was created for WW2 from the already existing natural caves under the Castle District by building corridors connecting them.  After the war it became a government nuclear bunker, but now you can visit it and they furnished it to look like it did during the war.  Fascinating bit of history, one that nobody knew about until 7 or 8 years ago.

Certificate, medal and trophy

Over the weekend we went orienteering and most unexpectedly I won W65. Several aspects of the event conspired to make up for my otherwise dodgy physical state, not least my main rival picking up the wrong map on Day 1 and then getting herself disqualified on Day 3 by mispunching in the maze.  This latter device had tripped many people up, as it is not easy to calm right down after running the course in order to identify the fiendishly difficult way of getting round a maze to 5 or 6 controls.  I always do them very slowly, and haven't yet been disqualified due to rushing or being inattantive and making a mistake or missing a control out. The terrain was very technical, which I like, and the sudden heatwave made everybody slow anyway.

Day 1 course

While I was running round on Sunday, Roy and Pete went to the nearby big town for a spot of sightseeing.  Apparently, they were clever enough to find appr. 80% of the sights worth seeing without having a map and/or a guidebook.  Clever, aren't they?

Today they went out together and left me behind. I must admit, three days of running in that heat had taken it out of me, so I was very pleased to have a bit of downtime. I have my book to read, my missed TV programs to watch (I have already caught up with the Montreal Grand Prix, which was pretty exciting for once!), catch up with my e-mails, FB and write this blog. There is one additional thing that has happened to me this week, which needs mentioning.  I am not one courting compliments and, I must admit, don't get them too often anyway.  I very occasionally get a back handed one from Roy, but that's about it usually.  Well, this week I had two paid to me, which was positively unusual. When I went to fetch some artisan cheese from the sister of the friend who makes it, she was terribly apologetic when she realised that I was about 30-40 years older than she thought from my voice on the phone.  Ahhhh! Isn't that nice? As Pete commented when I told him this: "Getting old is compulsory, growing up isn't!" The other - this time traditionally back handed - compliment came from Roy.  Who else? We were discussing how many orienteers have looked after themselves and look svelte, trim and much younger than their years, even in their 60's and 70's, while others let themselves go even in their younger years.  And I actually was listed amongst those that look good in spite of their advanced years (note the backhand!).

Tonight and on Thursday Pete and I are going to concerts, then we are off into the country. Let's hope the weather lets up, otherwise I am hiding indoors for the duration.