The Old and the Restless

Alicia and Brandon posed for me so that we could make Christmas tree decorations containing their photos. Brandon was very good entertaining his cousins. Their toys were interesting too! Of course there was snow in Barrie.

Christmas morning. Santa came. We were worried that he might have been stuck with the presents in England... but the snow there did not keep him from his destination! Alicia in her Christmas finery. For dinner, all of us were invited to Jane and Daryl's in Niagara on the Lake. Michael and Thomas arriving. The musical snowmen were fascinating. Daryl talking to... Megan. Jane had arranged a playroom for the children. Meanwhile Jane was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Margot was waiting to toss her salad. Brandon, Hervé and Paul are ready to eat. One last try at the musical snowmen. Say, "Good-bye" to Santa, Ella.

Because we would not be able to fit the Swiss family and their luggage in my car, Mark and Margot left a car at our house for Bryn and family to use. Joshua and Ella as well as Megan and Thomas came to visit at the same time. Joshua loves playing with the garage of the house. As I was taking this picture, we suddenly noticed that Ella was crying. She had been stung by a wasp which we then found in the box of toys.  Later we found two on the window. Ella, being comforted by Mom. Feeling a bit better now. Thomas was fine!. We found more wasps in the family room a few days later. Our  theory is that they had a nest in the chimney of the fireplace, and, with the house warming up after our arrival, they thought it was spring,  After Bryn's family left, Paul built a fire to smoke out the wasps. It nearly smoked us out. The house now has a smell of hickory smoked bacon.

Bryn, Hervé, Brandon and Alicia arrived from Switzerland via Heathrow late in the evening of December 23. Luckily, their flight was not cancelled due to the snow in the U.K. Unluckily, because of the plane's late arrival in Zurich, their connection at Heathrow was tight and they arrived in Toronto sans luggage. Megan and Michael invited all of us for lunch on December 24th, (my birthday). Thomas and Michael With all the children, there was a lot of activity. Brandon (10 in Jan. 2011) was very good at entertaining his sister, Alicia (4 in Feb. 2011) and cousin, Ella (3 in March 2011). Toys were everywhere. Bryn at rest? It's always a little quieter when the children are eating.  Fortunately, just before midnight, the luggage arrived. So did Santa...

The Geen Swamp is a vast area in the middle of Florida. It is noted for an abundance of wild life (deer, otters, boar, snakes and tortoises). While some wild life had been seen earlier in the day before we started bicycling 25 km south into the swamp we saw none because the swamp was almost dry due to lack of rain. Finally, when we found a swamp pool with water in it, Sandra decided to take pictures of the cypress reflections in the pool. But, the view wasn't quite good enough, so she went to the edge of the pool to take pictures of the cypress and commented "it would be a lot better if we had animals in the pictures". My response was "what about the alligator?" There, in plain view about 15 feet from Sandra was a sunning 'gator at the pools edge. She had missed it completely. After that, the animal excitement was restricted to "running" tortoises. We spotted this one about 20 feet ahead of us scurrying across the path. Sandra dropped her bike imme...

As the photos below illustrate, it seems that I was very interested in the lighting in some of the homes. The first three pictures here are from one house. In this house, the ground floor was a separate, guest apartment. The main living quarters were on the second floor. The above lights were over the kitchen counter. This beautiful Murano glass chandelier was at the entrance. The owner told me that his wife found the lights on the internet and bought them through a company in England. This Tiffany light in another residence was from the period of when the house was built.  Glen caught this photo of Norma and me going up the steep stairs to the second floor kitchen of a guest house.