Our Holiday

Gay and I have returned from our trip to the Carriage Hills Resort (near Barrie, Ontario).   The location was beautiful; and, although some of the leaves had already fallen - there were some incredible views and colours, especially from the tops of the many many hills.

Our suite had everything you could want - including size.  (I think it was bigger than our house!) 

The Carriage House had a mini-gym, games room, and an indoor / outdoor swimming pool.  With plastic sheeting between the inside and outside, you could swim through and be swimming in the cool and rain of the outdoors.  On the colder days, there was a nice fog over the water outside!
There was a hot tub indoors and another one outside - just a little chilly on the toes walking from the outdoor pool to the hot tub, but very very nice. 

The weather forecast was easy:  Rain.
To be honest, there were occasional breaks in the rain - just threatening rain.   There were some gale force winds as well, just to make things interesting.
As always, though, Gay and I made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Birds in the backyard

Just thought I would post a few pictures of recent birds in our backyard.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to capture the hummingbird on camera, yet.  
If you click on the picture - you get a better view. 

Woodpecker on driftwood

Cluster of Sparrows

Mourning Dove

Robin - king of the castle 

Woodpecker on tree

Kiwi !!  (Not native to Canada)

Back to School !!

Well, everyone is back to school now !

The grade school and secondary school students got started on Tuesday, and the University students were back to regular classes on Thursday.

All (or almost all) the students here seem excited about the new year.  Of course, it's always nice to see friends you haven't seen over the summer - or to meet new people who may  become new friends.

Still, I am impressed by the number of students who truly seem motivated to do well this year.                             

Maintaining that desire and stamina may be the challenge - but I'm sure they can do it !

Most of my summertime students are staying on to keep improving.  One has already mentioned how happy he was to know what to do with fractions while his classmates found this information all new to them.

Everyone stay strong - and keep learning!

A few more flowers

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon

Potentilla

 

 

Sea Lavender

Impatiens

Rose of Sharon

Our Rose of Sharon has made a dramatic appearance in the last couple of days. 
It's called 'Blue Satin' - but the flowers look more purple to me than blue.  Still, very nice!

Hibiscus syriacus 'Marina'

Elora Festival

Gay and I had an amazing time at the Elora Festival's "Local Legends" concert.
Held in a barn - some of the sound left a bit to be desired; however, the classical guitar player, Tony McManus, was amazing, and his solo parts were not hampered by the location.  (I've put a Youtube link to one of his performances below.)

Kevin Breit was quite entertaining as well - very animated !!

My wife, Gay, was quite taken with Gwen Swick's voice. 

Tony McManus playing The Emigrants Farewell