Apple Picking!

Today we went apple picking! It was a beautiful day and a nice drive out to the farm which is just outside of Cambridge, 30 minutes away. Now our only problem is where will we store all of our pickings in our very small space?? We plan on doing some major cooking in the next weeks; pies, sauce etc. I am sure we will be sick of apples soon enough!

Fall is here!

This past month has been a busy one! It started out with moving Bailey to a new farm! I was pretty nervous as he hadn't been on a trailer or been exposed to really anything in over 4 years since I first moved him out to Ontario. Change is always scary and I am famous for worrying about anything and everything, but I was pleasantly surprised about how smoothly the move went and how well he has been settling in. The new farm is great and the people are very supportive. I have been working him a lot more now that I have access to proper fenced-in areas and I even went for a ride for the first time this past Thursday!

 

I took the first week of September off and went on a little holiday to Nova Scotia. I spent the time visiting my friends Becky and Crystal whom I hadn't seen since Christmas and  our wedding respectively. We had a wonderful time.  I had never been a tourist in Halifax so I got to see the Harbor front and board walk, the market, and we quickly ran around Citadel Hill but didn't get to stay long because we got there late and the fort was closing in 10 minutes, so we had that amount of time to see the sites!  I was also lucky in that my Uncle Darel lives in Fall River, which is close by, so mom and dad made the drive down and we all had dinner together. I ate enough sea food to keep me happy until Christmas! The weather during my trip was cool and crisp, it was a horrible shock to return to the hot humid weather of Ontario!

 

 

Since my little adventure, Robbie and I have been getting back into our routine.  Robbie has been working very hard at Maple Leaf.  With the recent move of their laboratory, he has been having to deal with working out the bugs of the new place including equipment malfunctions and coming up with new protocols. He also recently did a presentation to his co workers ,on a volunteer basis, on the subject of Food Additives. He is planning on taking some time off in October but it sounds like he will be using the time to catch up on extra work! 

Last weekend we attended the opening night celebrations for the Center in the Square, which is a venue for theater productions, the symphony, and other such performances. There was a free show in which performers "danced" attached to rope and harness on the side of a building. It was pretty incredible to watch, the pictures do not do it justice.  During this time we also won free tickets to Whoopi Goldberg. The show was last evening, it was fairly entertaining Whoopi did her stand up comedy for an hour with a Q&A session at the end. It was fairly entertaining, it never occurred to me that there are so many die  hard Whoopi fans out there, but apparently it is so. We also won tickets to a show in April that is supposed to be similar to Cirque de Soleil so we will be looking forward to that. 

Last but not least, I don't think I have ever seen Robbie quite so excited as when he found this adult sized Spider man costume!  Now all his dreams have come true! I expect he will want to wear this more than just for Halloween!

August Long Weekend

Last weekend was the August long weekend and we kept ourselves very busy by doing a few new and previously enjoyed touristy things!

Robbie had to work Saturday so I spent the morning with my good friend Liz Shiland and we checked out the Milton Farmer's Market. The best thing about the markets right now is all the fresh produce. Ontario peaches are so good this time of year!  Later in the evening we went to dinner at Jack and Judy Abell's, whom many of you may have met at the wedding. They are a very nice couple and we quite enjoy their company. We get together a few times every year, usually in a food related capacity. They stuffed us to the gills with steak sirloins wrapped in bacon and the most delicious corn on the cob that we have had so far this season!!  Jack is a huge deal finder and has arranged for us to meet for breakfast in a few weeks at the Walper Hotel Terrace in downtown Kitchener, it is supposed to be quite fancy. They have their nephew visiting from Ireland so we will get to meet him as well. 

Sunday we traveled to the Toronto Islands and met up with cousins Carla and Jesse who were down from Winnipeg attending the Annual International Society of Arboriculture Convention and Tree Climbing competition. Who knew that there were competitions to climb trees?!! These guys were amazing, they move so fast and make it look so easy.  Apparently some of the best climbers come all the way from NewZealand.

 

We had never been to Center Island before and were surprised at how big and nice it all was,especially so close to the city. It is mostly just a really big green space and park area but there is also a beach area, petting zoo, bike rental and children's amusement park.  We might go back sometime for a picnic lunch and swim. 

 

 

After a long morning of tree watching we caught a bite to eat and got to catch up with Carla and Jesse. They sound like they are doing great and are expecting another baby in December!!

Monday we drove and spent the afternoon in Niagara on the Lake which is one of my favorite things to do in Ontario!! It is close enough that it makes for a good day trip.  We did a few wine tastings at some wineries that we had never been to before; Pondview, Cattail Creek, and Southbrook Vineyards and then to Caroline Cellars which we go back to basically every time. The downtown area was packed with tourists but we managed to get a good table at The Harp Irish pub and ate the most delicious fish and chips and curry. (Almost as good as Church Hill Arms, but not quite). It was exhausting but a great weekend! Sorry that we missed out on the Coleman Family Picnic, we forgot about the date!!

  

 

Summer is here!

As usual, it felt like summer was never going to get here and now I can't believe that it is already July!!  Where has the time gone? We have been keeping busy and like always, we try to get in a fair amount of fun day/weekend activities to pass the time.

For me, one of the most exciting things so far is that I have finally purchased a new car. It has been over 3 years that I had to say good bye to my little blue civic hatch back and now I am the proud new owner of a 2010 Civic EX-L. Apparently we were destined to be a white civic family.

 


Last weekend was the long weekend which gave us an extra day of fun. We did a day trip to Hamilton and we played a round of black light mini golf which Robbie had won with one of his on line contests that he is always entering. Then we went for a short hike in Spencer gorge conservation area which has two fairly impressive waterfalls; Tews Falls is about 40 meters and Websters Falls is a tiered waterfall. Afterward we ended the day by going indoor Go Kart racing. It was actually a lot more fun that I thought it would be despite the building and location being pretty sketchy. I wouldn't have been surprised to go out and find my car stripped and on blocks but thankfully it had been left alone and  we both got on the list for fastest times of the day!! Sunday we met up with the Coleman clan at the Cross Roads restaurant in Elmira. It has a fabulous breakfast and lunch buffet that is made up of all homemade dishes, the desserts are the best! We also went strawberry picking and then spent our afternoon cutting and freezing berries. I made a very small batch of jam as an experiment not using any pectin and it turned out well so I will have to make a larger batch later on.

 

 

 

Just this past weekend we went mini golfing again, this time in Mississauga as we still had free passes that had to be used up before August. We are now mini golf experts haha!!  Then we went into Toronto and did a short walk down by the waterfront. It was especially hot and humid so we cut our walk short and stumbled upon an outdoor pub called the Duke of Westminster. We had to put in time before dinner reservations so we had a few cold beers and were entertained by a solo guitarist who played a good set; a little bit of everything from the Tragically Hip, Neil Diamond, to the Lumineers. Our dinner reservations were for a restaurant called Far Niente (http://www.farnienterestaurant.com) which we had selected because they were offering a "Summerlicious" menu.  Every summer (and winter also;Winterlicious) for a limited time, a selection of Toronto restaurants puts together special menus where you have a selection from three different options for appetizers, mains and dessert for a set price. The food in our experience has always been good and this place did not disappoint. It is a good way to eat at places that would normally be out of our price range. As Robbie likes to say, the rich really do eat better! He had pork belly, pan roasted rainbow trout and a fudge cake with panna cotta and I had a watermelon soup, squash tortellini and the same dessert as Rob. Delicious!

Its been a while...here's an update!

I was trying to think off all the things that we have done since our wedding last summer and in comparison nothing seems to stand out as being so grand, but we have been keeping busy and are doing well.

My mom came up to visit before Christmas the first week of December. We had a great visit; short but sweet. This is what was at the Airport while I was waiting for her flight to come in.

We had our own cozy little Christmas, our first with just the 2 of us in Ontario. It was sad not being able to make it home but we enjoyed ourselves non the less. We spent Christmas morning opening gifts; not as early as Robbie would have liked but much earlier than at the Brown's. Later we drove out to Tottenham and had Christmas dinner at Chris and Jan Coleman's with the family. This year, although not official, we are planning on coming home for Christmas December 20-29!!

 

We took advantage of all of the snow that we got this season and went snowshoeing a few times. There are a few good trails in the area that are a short drive from our place.

This spring we got a new kitty (Butter) a new couch (the cat napper) and a new kitchen shelving unit!!

 

Soon I will be buying a "new to me " new car as Robbie will soon start commuting to Aberfoyle.  Aberfoyle is close to Guelph, about 25 minutes from Kitchener and the location of the new microbiology lab for Maple Leaf Foods which will be opening sometime this summer. 

Work has been good for me as well. In January I was sent to Orlando Florida to attend the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC), where I got to catch up with some good school friends as well as get up to date on some of the newest veterinary information.  Then in March I got to go to Topeka Kansas on a continuing education trip to tour the Hills pet food facilities and their nutrition  center. It was really well done and I met some really nice people.

 
                      I got to hold a baby alligator!

We are currently taking some ballroom dancing classes (sorry no pics) at the local community center close to our place.  It's a lot of fun and gives us something different to do together. We are currently learning the Cha Cha and the quick step and I personally think that we are pretty good given that I have no rhythm!  

I am trying my hand again at having a small container garden this summer. Last year was not a great success but this year I'm going to try carrots instead of tomatoes and hope that something grows. We don't get very much direct sun so I have to pick a lot of shade tolerate plants, unfortunately vegetables don't seem to fall into that category.  I did manage to grow some peppers last year so I'll try them again as well. 

Robbie is becoming a whiz in the kitchen and seems to enjoy challenging himself with difficult dishes. Today he is making a lemon raspberry tort surrounded with homemade lady fingers!! He has also recently made a chocolate chip cookie dough cheese cake, spanakopita and home made pasta with our kitchen aid attachments! 

Just yesterday we went for a short hike at Elora Gorge Conservation Area.

 

So now you should be all caught up on what we've been doing. I'm sure I've forgotten some things but I think I've touched on the highlights. I'm going to try and take my own advise and start taking more pictures of our adventures!