part 2 of our downtown Toronto adventure...

After the CN Tower we wandered downtown a bit.

The round house

The drive to the Eaton Centre through the downtown core

the flying geese inside the Eaton Cenre

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...and then we were off to yet another adventure - Niagara Falls!

The American Falls

Skylon Tower

doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

The Horseshoe Falls - Canadian side

The Maid of the Mist - look at all the little people in their blue ponchos....

The Falls up close...mesmerizing!

love this one with the rainbow and the Maid...

again...mesmerizing.....

that's a lot of water going over the edge in a day....

After that, the kids went home and we stayed behind to do our tour of the wineries again and stock up on wine. This is Peller Estates, which is one of my favourites. It looks like a little castle and they have a wonderful restaurant where we always eat. This years tasting menu was a surprise, so we had no idea what we were being served. It was great!

All over the place were these little animals which are like large Chia Pets. Eventually some greenery will grow out of them.

Grapes...yum....wine....hmmm

rows and rows of grape vines with the tell take rose bush at the beginning. The reason for the rose bush we were told, that if the rose gets sick, they know that the disease will attack the grapes and they have time to do something about it.

Welland Canal

I just liked the red barn in the background...

The view from our Hotel - The Queens Landing - onto the Niagara River and the US side.

looking down the main street in Niagara-on-the-Lake wit the Prince of Wales Hotel on the left

The Prince of Wales Hotel

Fort Niagara on the US side at the entrance of Lake Ontario into the Niagara River

While we were wandering around at the river, this guy caught a Lake Bass, It was probably a foot long. All he said was :"Dinner".  We laughed.
And after all that it was time to head home again and see how the kids made out for 3 days on their own. They are adults, but as a parent one always worries.

Ollie in my garden. no point in planting anything in that spot!

How can you get mad at that gorgeous face? Eh?

And that was it once again for summer holidays.
TTFN
Lilly

cottage adventure continued....

Jumping off the doc, the water was apparently lovely, even though the sun was not shining..

Luna will turn into a "boat dog" in her old age :)  She was quite thrilled at being allowed to ride along when Ollie had to stay behind.

One tired dog (Ollie) after  all that swimming .

At night we played rousing games of "Mainzelmaennchen" ( or Mensch aergere Dich nicht),
After all that fun it was time to head back home and show the germans the canadian sights.
It all started with lunch at the CN Tower. It is so worth doing the lunch thing, First of all, you don't have to wait in line for the elevator, and you get to see all the same sights in peace and quiet while enjoying a great meal and service.

Harbourfront

East End

Toronto Island Airport - it now has a new name which I cannot remember.

a plane coming in...

west end with the Cinesphere in the back there....way back, little white ball....

looking down there is the train round house and beside it Skydome. Too bad the roof was closed.

west end again

downtown core

looking down through the glass floor on the observation deck.

more knitting at the cottage

Since I was a the cottage, I like to knit and listen to my i-pod. This is  Flamenco ( Birgit Freyer - www.die-wolllust.de) I made it with Noro silk yarn. I was hesitant at first, but I really like it.

... and in between all this I knit "Lazy Anna" - also from Die Woll Lust.

I added some beads to it. Hard to see, but they're there.

TTFN
Lilly

Knitting Projects for summer

Ok, so Summer is just blasting by!  This is my Mystic Glance I knit once again from Birgit Freyer Designs - Die Woll Lust/Knitting Delight - www.die-wolllust.de.
I just love her designs, they are inventive, easy to follow and really just stunning!
This one was to go with my dress for my sister-in-law's wedding, however it turns out the colour is  a total mismatch to the dress. So we'll see what becomes of this.
We spent our holidays this year with visitors from Germany. A young couple whom we met first in 2004 and again in 2009 while visiting over there. The girl half is a distant cousin of my husband's. - something like cousins-twice-removed or so. So they came to visit us and of course we have to do the touristy things in Toronto. But first before we started our holidays, my son's girlfriend's father passed away. So our first day off was attending a sad funeral.

Aren't these flowers gorgeous? I think the florist my daughter chose did a wonderful job on these. They were meant to cheer Heather up a bit during this sad time for her and her siblings. Then it was off to the cottage. The weather wasn't the greatest but it wasn't awful either. At least it was warm.

The view from the cottage on a peaceful day is amazing.

Of course the dog loves the water.....

And then the rain came.......

trying to get cell phone reception....like our home made 'antennae'??? ( btw ...it didn't help) However, my daughter thought she heard aliens.....

My thoughts for today....

Well, I survived another birthday - #51. Can you believe it? I remember when my mom turned 50 and I thought she was ancient.  I really hate getting older and I know this is just a number and I am as old as I feel. Well then... I should be about 28. haha....
I do feel that my body is getting older and things don't come as easy as they used to. Take energy as an example. I sit outside yesterday and doze off. What's up with that?  Middle of the afternoon and all I got accomplished is grocery shopping, going to see my doc and that's it. And I am tired????  I wonder if this crazy Vitamin D deficiency has really something to do with it. Apparently mine is so low it's almost non existent. So she put me on a super mega dose of it. I only take on pill a week of this and I am trying to spend some time in the sun to get more to fill up my tank - as she puts it. Well, I am still tired, listless and have no desire to do anything. Although it is only a day now that I have taken this megadose. We'll see.
I am having a nice relaxing 4-day weekend though. Thursday I got off because it was my birthday, friday I don't work and then there is the usual saturday and sunday. Then in two weeks I'll do it again as it is July 1st weekend and I have the friday off too... I am so loving not working fridays. It's great. It really gives you that extra day to get things accomplished and then enjoy the weekend.
In the meantime it is World Soccer at our house. The TV has been confiscated by my husband and son. Don't get me wrong - I like soccer too, but not to THAT extent. I'll watch Germany from the sidelines, but that is all. I get too nervous and hyper watching them.  So when I am exposed to this, I knit or read. Clue 2 of Bella Roque is finished and I have started clue 3. I am a bit behind, but that's ok. I don't mind. I get to see the lovely pictures of my co-knitters from Knitting Delight. It's amazing the different colours and types of yarn. I wish I could knit faster. Well, better get back to it.  No pictures today....maybe tomorrow.

TTFN
Lilly

June...oh my!

So here we are in June already. Half a year gone again. Is it me or does time fly as you get older? I must admit, I am not liking the speed of this.

The first few nice and warm days, we decided the dogs needed a bath.  So, I ask : How many people does it take to give one dog a bath?
See for yourself.....

 

One to wash, one to hold and one to rinse!!!

I am sure I could have been amongst them too, to pass the shampoo...haha...

Then we washed all their beds and they still smell good now a week later!

These are some of my flowers that haven't been trampled yet...

 

..

And this is our resident frog. He suns himself in this plant all day. He is hard to see, but he is there!

 right smack in the middle

And now for clue 1 of Bella Roque, a new mystery shawl from Birgit Freyer at Die Woll Lust.

I added some beads. The wool is "Mall" in Militare green.

on to clue 2.....

TTFN

Lilly

Aktion Sternenkind

Ingrid, a group member of Knitting Delight in which we are currently participating to make blankets for preemies, has put her thoughts and feelings into words that I cannot even begin to describe here. It had me so moved.  And then to make matters worse, at the end of the ball of wool, she found a note, that basically talks about the valley of death and not to fear etc...etc. It just left me speechless.
Here is the link to her site  Ingrid's Blog

TTFN
speechless and humbled
Lilly