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The photos for this News 24 is put on a separate blog called Photos News 24. It is more enjoyable to watch it separately then separating the texts. My personal view...
The photos for this News 24 is put on a separate blog called Photos News 24. It is more enjoyable to watch it separately then separating the texts. My personal view...
I am slowly getting into a life routine like I had back in Reading, UK. Some of the people that I have met are getting to know Indian food when they come over. I cannot yet call people my friends because to me Friendship is a precious and unique word. One has to feel comfortable and understand each other. So how would I describe the people that I have met so far. They are pals at this stage. That sounds nice and hopefully it will grow into friendships like the ones I have in UK. I have so far The Friday Prayer Group as good friends - I relax with them, I am at ease with them, let my hair down with them and I know they will love me still and there will be no misunderstanding. My Parish Priest Fr Mark is great, the new Associate Pastor Fr Jeff Oering - I have been chatting with him and he came to our BBQ on Saturday the 14th July. He is fun to be with in such a short time. The Holy Rosary group Downtown Toronto are fantastic and always welcome us whenever we get there. Then I have St Andrew's Prayer Group and they are a nice lot and I am getting to know them better each week. Oh! I must not forget THE NEWCOMERS CLUB. A few people from the Newcomers group have been really good. We have met to play cards and attempt Lawn Bowling. It is so different here because back home in Reading, within a month we would have known each other's names and would have even socialised. Well it is a bit hard going here. Never mind. I hope with God's grace I shall be able to do HIS Work. For that matter even in St Matthews -my Parish - it is difficult because it is very huge. Mary Cannon, Laura, Dawn are just great. I had another friend who used to be great but she suddenly went cold. Well you just have to accept sudden behaviour from people. It is their loss but I still feel it. When I talk to God He just fills me with HIS LOVE AND I GET COMFORT FROM IT. So I Thank Him and Praise Him for HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. I will stop here about Friendship.
CANADA DAY WEEKEND - 30th June to the 1st July.
On Friday the 29th June I went and spent the morning in Toronto at Mary Cannon's place and from there we went Downtown. Imagine my surprise when I bumped into Devi a friend from Reading UK who was visiting Canada. We went for a nice cup of coffee and chatted about various experiences of travel and life and culture of Canada and UK. She was leaving for UK that night. At around 2pm Jack came to pick me up and we travelled to Barrie - up north what is cottage country. Traffic was bumper to bumper all the way for 100 km and and if people travel like this every Friday to their cottages well then I would not like to own one. After nearly two hours we arrived in Barrie to stay over at Vince and Nora's place - our friends of 29 years. (We first met Vince at Bahrain airport when enroute to Australia our BA flight had to make an emergency landing. Maryann was just 2 years old and Vince spotted us at the Airport restaurant and helped us and this is how friendship grew. While the rest of the passengers were taken to 5 star hotels 4 of us had to slum it out for 24 hours in the transit lounger all because our passports showed we had previously travelled to Israel). Vince and Nora have recently moved there with a few acres of land and their own private section of river and bridge and a man made waterfall. We had appetizers and drinks at an Irish's pub in downtown Barrie on the shores of Lake Simcoe. It was just great. Dinner was yummy cooked by Nora who is a very good cook. Next morning Vince served a full breakfast on the patio by the river. Oh it was so peaceful and we left around 11am to travel to the Bruce Peninsula.
It is a 4 hours drive north of here over changing countryside. We check into a lovely B&B called Evergreen Forest Wilderness Bed and Breakfast in Georgian Bluffs and the nearest town is Wiarton. Then we drove on to Tobermory an hours drive from the B&B and the northern tip of the peninsula. This is just a tiny harbour and I fell in love with it. From here we took a boat ride to Flowerpot Island where one can get off and go on a trail but we decided against that due to my knee pain. It is called the Flowerpot Island because it is famous for its iconic natural rock pillars which look like large flowerpots. The area is a national marine park and is popular with divers as there are numerous wrecks here and also you can swim in crystal-clear waters and enjoy a relaxing picnic - all in one spot! The clear water where you can see the shipwrecks I am told there are about 20 in different locations.
The Bruce Peninsula is a narrow strip of land which juts into Lake Huron separating Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. The Bay side on the east is mainly rock face dipping into the water while on the Lake side to the west are sandy beaches. The scenery is amazing and always changing. The peninsula is also famous for the start or end of the 800+ km Bruce Trail along the Niagara Escarpment. We can claim to have done at least 1km of this trail.
A good B&B just makes a big difference and this one located in the middle of a forest with its own mosquitoes, bears, snakes, poison ivy and numerous birds certainly did that. The owners Doug and Carol and their dog Zee were ever so friendly. You could venture out on your own and face nature or you could go canoeing, trail biking, hiking, rock climbing with Doug. We just relaxed and watched the birds fly and chipmunks do acrobatics to get to bird feeders while we had breakfast and kept away from biting insects from the safety of a fully netted forest gazebo.
Wiarton is well known in Canada as the home of the prognosticating groundhog Wiarton Willie. (If you can't be bothered - To predict according to present indications or signs). The funfair is between 31st Jan to 3rd Feb. PREDICTION CEREMONY is Feb 2nd. Groundhog Day is a major celebration complete with a jamboree, parade, ice hockey tournament, curling, bonspiel, pancake breakfast, penny carnival, horse drawn sleigh rides, a Monte Carlo Night and the ever popular Groundhog Ball. Around 10,000 people attend this annual event which has been called 'One of the most popular in Ontario' and has twice been named 'the World's Greatest Event' by Seattle's Festivals.com. The famous prognosticating albino groundhog makes his prediction at first daylight on Prediction Morning. Thousands of fans tune in to hear Willie predict whether spring will come early or if there will be six more weeks of winter? It’s just another excuse to cheer up after a long winter.
We finished our weekend with a stroll in the town and bought some unique gifts for John and Maryann and some sausages from Sullivan’s the well known local butcher. Then the scenic drive back through undulating country side taking the quiet country roads and interesting stops described below with me map reading. We remembered the many long drives in different countries with Maryann and John who were fantastic with finding interesting routes while Jack drove and I slept. The duties were, Maryann map reading, John interesting places and food, Jack driving and guess what I did!!
We visited the Parks Canada Visitor Centre which is fun and dynamic and the hub for Bruce Peninsula National Park. It has exhibits for all ages and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing and learning more of the natural formations. There is a Lookout tower and trails and we certainly did climb 113 steps and the view was worth it.
Sunday took us to a small church (St Thomas Aquinas) but friendly. Near the church were these carvings. Very interesting indeed.
We then visited Cyprus Lake and it has the warmest water and also has a nice lake side trail, Horse Shoe Lake, Indian Head Cove and Grotto, Little Cove, Dunks Bay - all these are close to each other but each one has its own beauty. The Big Tub Lighthouse was constructed in 1885 and it played a very important role in guiding ships into the harbour from the sometimes-treacherous waters of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. The community is raising money to restore it to its former glory. Near it is the Big Tub Harbour Resort where we watched the boats sailing plus a lovely cup of coffee and had a relaxing afternoon. Near the Big Tub Lighthouse I bumped into a gentleman who asked me where did I come from etc. He gave us his card telling us that he was visiting from Newfoundland and we must look him up and that we would enjoy Newfoundland. Something to look forward to. Imagine if the whole world was like this kind man the world would be such a happy place to live in! We went to see what a Singing Sand Beach was like and from what I read it promised me that I would see a lot of orchids but in that view it was disappointing for all that I saw was a lot of people having picnics. My man took the Jubilee mat that Mary Cannon brought as a gift from England spread it on the sand and had a sleep whilst I walked a little, watched the kite lovers and as this beach gets deep very gradually so it is usually warm and safe for kids so it was fun watching them play in the water. Singing Beach - also Dorcas Bay - is so named because sometime the blowing wind creates sounds similar to the ringing of glass when it is rubbed.
Our next stop was Crownest - a lovely restaurant with a view of the harbour and whilst having our evening meal we watched the fireworks to celebrate Canada Day. There was a one man band and he played some lovely old songs. Met some nice people who gave us a history lesson on Tobermory and the surroundings plus how they suffered this year due to NO SNOW!!! - LACK OF VISITORS.
Our last day and time to return back to Oakville but before we did we went to Bruce's Caves just up the road from our B&B. The cave it self is not spectacular but the story below is good.
Wiarton's Hermit
Bruce's Caves was named after a remittance man by the name of Robert Bruce. Following is an article from the Daily Record and Mail (Toronto), March 24, 1908: A Scotsman named Robert Bruce, who escaped being numbered amongst the Crimean veteran's by deserting from the Scots Guards on the outbreak of war, has died at Wiarton, Ontario, where he has lived a hermit's life for many years.
He appears to have been born on the Orkney Islands, and his age at this death is believed to have been 85 or 90, but no one was ever been able to glean more than a minimum of information from him.
When he first arrived in Canada, Bruce settled in Keppel Township in the woods near the present town of Wiarton. In the early years he worked at railway construction in the summer, always returning to live in what is now known as Bruce's Caves for the winter. Possessing about 300 acres of land, he had in addition several thousand dollars in an Owen Sound bank. In spite of this fact, he spent several hard winters in the county jail, but always paid for his board. It was one of his peculiarities to bathe daily, the year through, in the open air, and he smoked a mixture of forest leaves.
In the bottom of an old trunk after his death was found a fine suit of blue broadcloth, made by a Glasgow tailor, over fifty year ago. In this he was buried. As far as is known, the old man left no relatives.
Jack was already thinking of traffic when I reminded him that it would do him no good and our best solution is to say The Rosary, thank and praise God and do you know what??? We had the most beautiful drive with no traffic at all. It is hard to believe for others because it would be rush time to get back home but we only experienced calmness and Jack was at peace and we had some lovely moments together admiring God's nature of the scenic drive. We even spotted this THE HEALING GARDENS OF RURAL ROOTZ - Nature Reserve. Find your Inner Peace. Walk a spiral pathway... Explore the sacred woods. This is a 100 acre land owned by Dee and Tom. Their intentions were noble -to save it from quarrying for our children and their children. We had such an experience of nature here. We were invited for a cup of cool drink in their tree house where we spotted 7 spieces of birds. There are Bird watchers that come here too. They liked us and said we could come again as they run a B&B only to people that they click with. We feel honoured. They even took us to their Camper Van and I want to own one now. Our next stop was Colpoy Bay - beautiful views of the Georgian Bay and Niagara Escarpment. Our lunch was at Roadsters Smokin Gun one mile North of Sauble Falls between Sauble Beach and Oliphant. The best white fish I have had so far. Evening meal was at a Vietnamese place. We reached home at 9pm, unpacked and went to bed.
Tuesday the 2nd July our Spanish Student arrived. Vicent is 13 years old and gives me no trouble. We had a squirrel in our garden and becoming very friendly but some have warned me that they are pests. On Friday the 6th in the evening we went to a Drive In movie to watch Spiderman. I have always wanted to see what it was like and I would do it again. Missed Maryann and John a lot and also my friends that usually join me in this sort of thing.
Then on Saturday the 7th July we went to see Cavalia's Odysseo - A show with performing horses. We were very blessed all round. First somebody handed us their parking pass and did not charge us. It was worth $20. Then when we went to the usher to be lead to our seats we were allocated ring side seats worth $199 instead of our $65 seats at the last row. At the Intermission I told her that she was an ANGEL sent by God and explained to her what my earlier wish was to Jack i.e. to be able to afford to sit in the front. I now want to go to Austria to watch their horse shows.
In this new production, Cavalia marries the equestrian arts, stage arts and high-tech theatrical effects at never-before-seen levels. A veritable revolution in live performance, Odysseo comprises a list of superlatives: the world’s largest touring big top, the biggest stage, the most beautiful visual effects, and the greatest number of horses (61) at liberty. The creators of this new ode to the horse indulged all their artistic ambitions and, in so doing, have delivered a larger-than-life spectacle, a two-hour dream that is a feast for the eyes. Odysseo gambles and wins, delivering a spectacle with soul and pushing the limits of live entertainment while sending hearts racing. (No I am not being paid to advertise).
On Sunday the 8th July we went for a picnic organised by the Hamilton Goans. Vincent had a fantastic time with the youth. It was our first time and everyone accepted us and it is a day to remember with plenty of food and fun all the time. Last week we also had a picnic dinner with the other host families of the Spanish students.
We had our 2nd BBQ on Saturday the 14th with 20 people. It went off very well and our new Associate Pastor Jeff Oering was a unique person who made it a point to spend time with every guest of mine. Some of my friends contributed in getting green salad, strawberries, pasta with tuna, Tiramasu, cookies, a lovely Tart and Jack did the Mango pudding besides the burgers, chicken, kebabs in that hot sun. It was a joy for me to watch that the group got on very well with each other.
Sunday the 15th July we took Vincent and his friend Alandro with his host Donna and went to Hilton Fall Conservation Area. The 1592 acre park includes unique geological features, extensive forests, a water control reservoir and a beautiful waterfall that cascades over the Niagara Escarpment. (It was a trickle now). The Bruce Trail runs here so we have done another 2km, only 792km to do!! The conservation area has significant natural habitat for plants and wildlife and 33.5 km of nature trails. We went for a 4km hike. We enjoyed it even in the rain. We were covered with these tall trees and the little rain that came never reached the ground. It was a wonderful experience hearing that sound but not getting wet.
The weather is still hot so we have been taking advantage of having more BBQs in the evenings. My young student Vincent is enjoying the meat too.
Take care, God Bless
Jack and Mel
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