The Old and the Restless

On Easter Monday, Tom and I went on the streetcar to visit Riverdale Farm. Tom liked repeating the names of the streets as they were called out. The donkey was rather old. Apparently he is usually standing in the same spot. A lot of well-dressed children with their well-dressed parents or Filipino babysitter were at the farm. Tom was excited to see Rivka who is in his daycare. He was trying to show her the chickens hiding in the bushes.

Easter dinner was at Mark and Margot's this year. Because we were not there for Ella's birthday on March 29, we brought her birthday presents with us. In spite of Joshua and Ella telling me that Ella's birthday was finished, she consented to opening her presents before Easter dinner. Ella, Michael and Thomas Ready to eat. Giving Ella instructions for the iPad A kiss good-bye?

Since our compost box was falling apart, I decided to investigate having a new one built. The photo below shows the compost box at Megan and Michael's. I wanted the front boards to slide up and down as in their box. Above is a photo of Paul (a different one) building the box he planned. The drafting course he took in high school stood him in good stead in the planning. This box is firmly braced. After getting it in position. Since this is a two compartment box, Paul is putting up the post to hold the dividing boards. Finished. It took two days to do but it should last forever!

This is an unusually warm March. No snow on the ground in Barrie. I wanted to get a photo of Ella's sparkly flip-flops. The sparkles don't show but it's a nice picture of Ella. Action shots on the slide at the park. Children playing on the sidewalk. The parents and neighbours sit in the driveway and socialize while the children play. Here, Joshua is pulling the wagon. On his ride, Joshua was dumped when Gareth did a tight turn. Of course, I had to get his picture before I helped him undo the seat belt.

Megan, Michael and Thomas came for a week in the sun Tom  didn't trust the ocean. However, he spent hours every day playing in the sand.

When Maureen and Ramsay came to stay for a few days, we did some of our "traditional" things.  A beach walk at the north end. Paul does not look too pleased. Perhaps it is better to pose for the photo. It was quite windy. Even the snowy egret was having a "Bad Hair Day". This lone cormorant seemed confused. It is the first time we have seen one on the beach. Usually they can be found on a sand island in the river. Finally we went for our "traditional" lunch at JB's fish camp.

Our trip to Viera Wetlands with Maureen and Ramsay involved more than birds. As we drove deep into the park we could see a large dark shape on the road ahead of us. It turned out to be a good sized indigo snake. Sandra hopped out of the car to take "safe shots". This snake's body was thick. Once Sandra saw the snake was not threatening,she moved around to the "business end" of the snake to take a close up. A little later, two sea otters came out to "play" in front of us. Here is a close-up of one. Then, we continued to the other side of the wetlands to watch a great blue heron gathering nesting material. Possibly because of the urge to reproduce, the  bird seemed comfortable even though we were within 10 feet or less. This one walked right in front of us. Then, it posed even closer to us. We also saw several hooded mergansers on the water with interesting ripple patterns on the water around them. The limpkin were close too. As was...