Back and Forth

Hello dear reader. Since the last blog we have been over to Ireland for a wedding and then home - all too briefly for Eamonn, and now we are on the point of returning for our summer holiday! I'm beginning to get used to flying at last, especially having done it on my own for the first time!We've been watching and listening to the news from home, describing the terrible weather you've been having over the last 3 months whereas, here, very hot weather has arrived earlier than normal and is causing different problems. Recent temperatures have been in the mid 30's which is even more uncomfortable with high humidity and it makes air conditioning essential. The drought is affecting many states of the US as well as Southern Ontario. This is the worst drought here since 1988. There are serious problems for the corn and soya bean crops. This seemed strange to me as water is so plentiful here - there are so many lakes it must be impossible to count them. But I was listening to CBC radio recently when it was explained that the infrastructure doesn't exist to provide irrigation and permits for using lake water are harder to get. Because droughts don't happen often it doesn't make it worthwhile to invest in irrigation systems. Aquifers don't exist in Ontario so they cannot draw water from below ground. The USA is the 2nd biggest corn and soybean producers so there will be an impact on food prices. Ontario needs 6 weeks of rain which is unlikely! A tragic result of the high heat levels has been the number of drownings. Over the Canada Day holiday weekend there were at least 9 deaths in Ontario alone. We have only rarely seen safety equipment on lake shores as there is too much water to cover. There is a stronger culture of taking responsibility for oneself here but there are always people who think it doesn't apply to them. There has also been a rise in the number of toddlers drowning in backyard pools which are very common here.

 

  

Some of our Newcomers' photography group went to see an exhibition at the AGO. A fun day!

At the end of May we visited Toronto Botanical Gardens as part of Doors Open weekend. This was a bit of a disappointment, partly because no-one does gardens like the British, but also, most flowering shrubs were finished and the grass, which should have provided pleasurable walking, was covered in goose plop! Canada geese are as common as pigeons back home and in some ways more of a nuisance! It was also much too hot for me.

We flew back to London on the 31st May and while browsing the in-flight magazine we discovered that Air Canada were about to begin a direct flight from Toronto to Dublin in a week's time! How convenient that would have been. We flew the next day to Knock and had a lovely weekend relaxing on the coast, enjoying real sea at last, having a lovely day at Lorraine's wedding and seeing Eamonn's cousins as well.

There seem to be donkeys everywhere in Mayo! People used to buy and sell them but now everyone has them there is no-one to sell them to!
The wedding was in Bohola and the reception was outside Westport. Everything went really well although it was so cold! It was fun to meet people and realise we had other people and places in common.


This is the cemetery where many of Eamonn's relatives are buried.












We got back on the Monday of the Jubilee weekend, in time to enjoy the concert on tv. Gemma had cooked a lovely meal for us and her visitors and Michael and Charlotte came over too, so it was a lovely evening before Eamonn went back. I then had 2 weeks of catching up to do!
Gemma had booked for us to see Da Vinci's anatomical drawings at the Queen's Gallery - amazing - and then we visited the Royal Mews. On another day I went on  a walking tour with Eileen around St. James' Park area.You can see what I mean about our gardens! On Whitehall we saw this new memorial to women who served in WW2.













And in keeping with the patriotic mood, our Olympic tickets arrived, pictured here with souvenir Marmite, on its way back to Toronto for some fellow Brits! I also had a lovely train journey to Dorset to visit Joan and Brian in their new home.

Back in Toronto we went to another  National Theatre Live event: a screening of 'Frankenstein' with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller (who going to play Sherlock Holmes in the US version of 'Sherlock' with a female Watson!). It was extraordinary, requiring such energy, directed by Danny Boyle.

We then prepared for our 4 hour drive to Algonquin Park for the Canada Day long weekend. We stayed in 2 beautiful B&Bs near Huntsville, which meant there was a fair amount of driving to reach the Park and then to see the sights. Most people visit the trails and campsites in this south west corner
via Highway 60. There is another Highway which skirts the northern edge. The scale of the place is mind-boggling. It occupies 7,630 square kilometres of land and water, with water making up approximately 12% of the area and providing an extensive network of canoe routes - that's about 1/3 the area of Wales!! In 1800s pioneer loggers came to the area for the white pine which was needed for the growing developments of Eastern Canada, driven by a booming British economy. The Park was established in 1893, not to stop logging but to establish a wildlife sanctuary, and by excluding agriculture, to protect the headwaters of the five major rivers which flow from the Park. Soon it was "discovered", at first by adventurous fishermen, then by Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven, and many other visitors who came by train.  On our first drive in to the park we were so lucky to see this moose with her calf feeding at the side of the road. Apparently they need sodium and after rain salty water collects in the ditches, resulting from winter salting of the roads, so it's one of the most likely ways to see them but more usually in the early morning. There is a calf in the shade on the left! I couldn't get my long lens on in time!

There are many short trails accessible from the road and after going to the Visitor Centre we walked the Beaver Pond trail. There are many lodges here and we actually saw a beaver swimming!

View from the Visitor centre:

White Admiral Butterfly

It's wonderful to be able to appreciate such a natural resource but there is a down side: you have to go well prepared to prevent being bitten by bugs and mosquitoes. It helps to wear long sleeves and long trousers and sensible boots. We spray our hands and faces and our clothes too and this is on top of suncream and having to wear a hat! I get far fewer bites than Eamonn and he also reacts more to them than I do. For me, it's the microscopic bugs that can get through your clothes and inside your spectacle frames that are the worst; at least you can usually see mosquitoes! I had no bites on this trip until our last morning. We had gone out at 6am hoping to catch moose unawares and to see the mists lifting from the lakes. We soon realised we should have gone an hour earlier to get the best pictures as the mist lifted very quickly. We didn't see any moose but I did have a strong  feeling of unease walking a deserted trail at 7 am. What if we disturbed a bear? The stillness was beautiful but it was hard to relax. The wooded parts of trails can also be stifling and claustrophobic, probably because you know it would be tricky getting away quickly! I was relieved to get back in the air conditioned car and return to the B&B for a shower and delicious breakfast. We ate on the deck and it hadn't occurred to us to spray up! So that's how I picked up some bites and Eamonn even more. It would be a great place to go in the autumn for the colour but then male moose can be dangerous as it's the rutting season! The information we were given about the Park was excellent and went into clear detail about how to behave if a bear approaches! Apparently it's very rare for people on trails to come across a bear; I think you're more likely to experience a bear if you're on one of the campsites as they are smart animals and can associate humans with food and some humans are very careless. We saw a sign at the entrance to one site: 'Bear in area' ! Apart from the moose and beaver we  saw 2 types of woodpecker and some other birds new to us and some turtles and deer - running across in front of the car, but no harm done.

One of the best things about travelling here are the B&Bs. Hotels can be very few and far between as you get further out and we have always found them to be of excellent quality. We used to hate the idea of breakfasting with strangers but we have met lovely people and there's always something to talk about! And practically speaking it's either that or camping!  Of course it's a very sensitive environmental area but they have to accommodate technology too. Here we discovered a phone mast disguised as a tree! Very clever.

On one drive out of the Park we were caught in a terrible rainstorm which forced us to stop as we couldn't see. These were the rain clouds building.

This area is known as an inspiration for the Group of Seven, a famous group of Canadian artists. There are many panels like this around Huntsville showing a selection of landscapes.

Sunset over Fairy Lake:

  

Back in the City:

Canada rightly has a reputation of being a safe country but there has been a worrying increase in gun violence here with a recent spate of shootings. So far this year 21 people have died due to gun crime and there have been 147 non-fatal victims. The gun laws here are much tighter than in the US but there is a problem with the number of guns that are brought in illegally from there along with an increase in gang violence. You might have heard about the shooting in the Eaton Centre in Downtown Toronto: a young woman who escaped injury there was killed in the dreadful attack in the Denver cinema yesterday.

There are often impressive skies here and this was the view from our living room one evening:

This is a building at a local junction:

 

This is what's wrong with Toronto: the urban landscape is a complete muddle in most areas.  

 Not far from where we live is Eamonn's site. This is the project he's working on - a Coroner's Court and Forensic Laboratory.

 

This is a house finch, one of a pair that's been feeding on our balcony.

Well, in a few days we'll be home. I do hope it turns into a good summer for everyone and that London performs well!

With love, Mary and Eamonn

Second Summer

Pub sign in Ottawa

 


Hello again to those who are still there! I'm plodding on with the blog as it's becoming a valuable record for us of our time here so if you're still on the journey with us we are very grateful! 

As I write, summer is definitely here - the heat and humidity are uncomfortable so thank goodness for air conditioning. We are now looking forward to our first trip home since January. I'm keen to soak up some of that Jubilee atmosphere after popping over to Mayo! Since Eileen left us we've gone back to our little routines and pastimes; we've had some lovely days out and I've had some fun with the Newcomers' group. As we come to the end of May all activities stop so it can be a long summer here without a cottage to retreat to like the locals!

We keep up to date with the gloomy news from home as well as following events here. A long-running problem here has been protests by students in Quebec Province over the proposed increases in tuition fees. Students in Quebec have turned out in their thousands every night for the the past three months resulting in hundreds of arrests every night. Each province here sets their own level of fees for university study. Quebec, traditionally, has the lowest level of fees in the country, currently $2,500 per year. I understand that Quebec plans to increase fees by about $1,800 over 7 years. To us that seems small beer compared to the increases at home. The students in Quebec are refusing to attend class and have been preventing others from trying. The state parliament has drawn up emergency legislation to prevent the students from shutting down classes but it seems to have exacerbated the situation. The government is insisting on the increases and the students are refusing to compromise. The latest is that the residents and business people of Montreal and Quebec City are getting increasingly frustrated by the continuing disruption to their lives. The colleges have agreed to run courses throughout the summer break to help the students catch up. I can't help feeling the students are not living in the real world!

I recently visited the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a Hindu temple, with the Newcomers' Group. Only one temple is built in any country. I have visited the one in Neasden, London, with school several times and this one is very similar. It is extraordinary how committed their followers are to their faith: more than 400 volunteers completed the building in 18 months and volunteers also run all the festivals and community activities.It is located near the airport where so many highways converge, enabling people from distant parts to come and worship here.

We are constantly amazed at the scale of building projects here; there are huge holes in the ground all over town. A recent report by the BBC says the city is home to more high-rise building projects than any other city in North America. We can't believe there is a strong enough market to fill these condominiums. Home prices in Toronto have increased by about 85% over the past decade. The market took a short, moderate dip in 2008, but has marched steadily northward since then.There is concern that this building boom is being fuelled by credit as in the US.

Toronto Graffiti

The bird man of Oshawa!

Queen Streeet West

The BBC currently has a series of reports on Canada available through their website. They recently showed a programme on BBC World about a crisis in a First Nations town in Northern Canada called Fort Hope. This town has a population of 1200 and 80% of them are addicted to a prescription painkiller called Oxycontin, a heroin-like drug, which is driving a local crime wave. The tablets, costing $40 in Toronto, are being smuggled in to people prepared to pay up to $600. There is a very small force trying to police an area the size of Germany and they cannot search every plane that comes in. The impact of this crisis has put enormous strain on the health system which is now aiming to provide addicts with a substitute; even new born babies are being delivered suffering withdrawal symptoms so pregnant women are a priority for the programme. There has been a history of substance abuse in the Northern Territories - in the 50s and 60s it was alcohol, then in the 80s and 90s it was gasoline sniffing. The people here live in great poverty and a depressing environment which drive these compulsions. The Government has recently acted: Oxycontin is no longer manufactured and a new formulation has been designed to prevent tampering. If the addiction rate continues to rise there is a danger that these communities will die. A positive development has been the setting up of a traditional healing centre, using therapies where families can re-learn the fishing and hunting skills which have been neglected. There is a long waiting list for all these forms of help.

One Newcomers' walk took us to Queen Streeet West which is the Design district of Toronto. It's a very mixed area which reminds me of Camden about 20 years ago: some very upmarket studios and galleries beside ramshackle old places which will eventually be bought up for development. There are a few boutique hotels here which display new art as well as having artist-designed rooms.

We went shopping in a huge mall in North Toronto. This is the food court there: the fast food outlets are around the edge and everyone sits at one of hundreds of tables. I hope we don't see these arrive at home!

We went into the hunting /fishing/boating shop there too.

These are actual bullets on a shelf! The heavier ammunition was behind a locked cage.











We went one Sunday to Oshawa, an eastern marsh area on the lakeshore, taking our new viewing scope with us to try out. We saw tree swallows close up and, as you can see from the picture above, the chickadees here are very tame!



Here is a white-breasted nuthatch and an Eastern Comma butterfly.

Another weekend we went to Hilton Falls, west of Toronto, which is an area where the Niagara Escarpment provides a change of landscape. As the summer progresses it's important to pack the rucksack with hats, sunscreen, insect and mosquito repellent and wipes etc. That's as well as keeping a look-out for foxes, coyotes, porcupines, raccoons, skunks and bears! We haven't really had much sight of these yet. The only beasties we've seen are dead ones on the road!

These little white flowers are called trillium. They grow wild and are the provincial emblem of Ontario.

 

Sadly, choir has stopped until the new season in September but we finished this session with a concert in Holy Trinity Church. The music was very varied with quite a few pieces drawn from the women's labour movement, for example, Speed Up, Speed Up written about textile workers and Bread and Roses, a beautiful anthem associated with a textile strike in Massachusetts, appealing for fair wages and dignified conditions. You will find versions of it on YouTube if you would like to hear it. The directors of Echo Women's Choir are very talented musicians and are not at all intimidating which can often be the case. 

Last weekend was a holiday here so we went to Bruce Peninsula, about 4 hours north of here for the long weekend. We stayed at a lovely B&B which had a lovely westerly view towards the bay. They had a lovely dog and 4 cats! In the past I wouldn't have gone near a place with pets but we have found the B&Bs here to be so clean and comfortable it didn't bother me at all. People in the country often keep a dog as they are a great deterrent against raccoons which come looking for scraps of food and will turn bins over etc. The dog was friendly but so well behaved. He's been trained by his policeman owner never to beg for food! We went for a walk down to the bay through the property, getting pretty lost and tangled in the undergrowth, but by the time we emerged on the shore the dog was there to keep us company, although he scattered the birds we were watching! Despite having cats their feeders were busy every day with hummingbirds, fascinating to watch - the cats know they have no chance against them. The weather was unexpectedly hot so we enjoyed leisurely breakfasts on the deck. We went first to Tobermory, another hour north. This is just a tiny harbour, not as cute as its namesake! From here we took a boat ride to Flowerpot Island, so called because there are talls stacks of rock which look like large flowerpots. The area is a national marine park and is popular with divers as there are numerous wrecks here.

Tobermory

 

The water is beautifully clear here and the water is so shallow in places you can easily see the wrecks.

 

We spent the 3 days visiting different areas.
In Dorcas Bay there are Singing Sands. When the wind blows over this very open beach, disturbing the fine quartz grains, it creates a sound similar to the ringing of a glass when it is rubbed. There's certainly plenty of room here!

 The nearest town to the B&B is Wiarton. There's not a lot here and outside of high season it's even difficult to find somewhere to get an evening meal but we were delighted to find a lovely air-conditioned tea shop!

An attractive old building in Wiarton.

Despite the sign saying this was a sensitive environmental area there were plenty of cars on the beach where people had set themselves up for the day.

This pretty, wild flower, common around here, is called Painted Cup or Indian Paintbrush.

Wiarton's claim to fame is Willie the Groundhog. Wiarton is the home of Canada's most famous prognosticating groundhog, Wiarton Willie. According to their website, 'Each February 2nd, dark and early, towns' folk and fans come out to hear Willie's prediction. Will it be an early spring or six more weeks of winter?' It's just an excuse to sell some food and drink and cheer themselves up after a long winter!


Patriotic tulips in the English garden here.







This sign says: 'Waterfront for Sale'. This is refers to one of our biggest bugbears here. There is so much water and shoreline yet almost every yard of it is inaccessible because homes are built backing on to the lakes. Even if they are set back from the shore, leaving space for a road to follow the shore, the fringe remaining on the waterside is usually taken over by the homeowners opposite. Signs say 'Private Property' and 'No Parking' and summerhouses and decks are built so you cannot even stop and admire the view!!!

Up the road from the B&B are Bruce's Caves. These enormous caves were left when the original water level dropped after the Ice Age and washed away softer rock leaving the stone of the Niagara Escarpment. We couldn't help feeling that we shouldn't hang around too long as it looked as though lumps could fall off at any minute! The caves are named after a man called Robert Bruce. He sounded a very colourful character, as described here in an article from the Daily Record and Mail (Toronto), March 24, 1908:
A Scotsman named Robert Bruce, who escaped being numbered amongst the Crimean veterans 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 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 in now 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 years ago. In this he was buried. As far as is known, the old man left no relatives.'

The view from the deck at sunset.

On our way home we came across this memorial to the oldest active Women's Institute in the world. In 1897 women of the Kemble area got together to share their homemaking advice: 'if you know a good thing - pass it on'. They took the view that, '.. men's work is from sun to sun, but women's work is never done.' The table is permanently dressed with tea and cake!

On the table is an open book showing the Mary Stewart Collect, written in 1904. It is still used at meetings all over the world:

'Keep us O Lord from pettiness; let us be large in thought, in word and deed ...

Let us be done with fault finding and leave off self seeking...

May we put away all pretense and meet each other face to face, without self pity and without prejudice...

May we never be hasty in judgement and always generous...

Let us take time for all things: make us grow calm, serene, gentle...

Teach us to put into action our better impulses straight forward and unafraid...

Grant that we may realize that it is the little things that create differences; that in the big things of life we are one ...

And may we strive to touch and know the great human heart common to us all, and ...

O Lord God let us not forget to be kind …'

AMEN!

In Owen Sound we stopped at the Tom Thomson Gallery. Here we visited a very interesting sculpture exhibition and the permanent Tom Thomson Galleries. Thomson (1877-1917) was one of the most important Canadian landscape artists of his time, responsible for inspiring the formation of the Group of Seven. These men were passionate about painting the wilderness of Northern Canada as it was and wanted to get away from the romanticism of European landscape painting. Thomson, who grew up and is buried in the Owen Sound area, was a maverick, a break-away artist who experimented with paint. He had different jobs through his life and died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 40.

While we were on Bruce Peninsula we got to see some nesting ospreys. This is an Eastern Tent caterpillar:

We are now getting sorted for our trip home next weekend. I'm  staying on for a couple of weeks so I hope to catch up with many of you. We fly next Thursday, 31st May to London and then spend the weekend in Ireland. I'm really not used to this much flying so please think of us when  you can!

Sooo looking forward to being home!

With love,

Mary and Eamonn