Friday 28 June 2013

Damp, drizzly....yet surprisingly not drab.


This week has been another eventful one. I haven't had much time to devote to blogging so I've allowed myself a release tonight before the weekend get's a little cray and I'll need to spill again.

My cousin came on Wednesday, we were treated to a really nice dinner in Yorkville at a restaurant called Sassafraz. I neglected to take pictures, but they had a living wall inside (so cool) and the food was delectable. I even tried the oysters. My main was the Alberta venison, it didn't even taste like it, more like beef, the marinade was really nice as well. We went for a little cruise in the rental car she had for work, a Fiat (top down, which means the whole roof on a Fiat) it was a great night for it, we went for frozen yogurt once we were back in Maple. The Fiat is zippy, I would enjoy it.......maybe in a busy city with secret streets designated only for compact cars, but other than that I don't think I'd trust my life with it. My cousin calls it the clown car. I did like the car, don't get me wrong, I'm sure we looked cute in it, it's just the safety thought when you hit the 400 and the 401. Upon waking up the next morning, I had this rabbit (top right) hanging out in the grass, Storm (the cat below) was so fixated on it. I opened the door, but it's not like birds in her mind, she doesn't go after the rabbit, where as with birds she has this instinct to harm them or go after them. I can't believe how much this one has grown since a year ago when I got her! I'v'e put two additional photos up so you can see, she's still wild and beautiful ;)


My camera came in at work this week, it was supposed to take 10 business days, but it came in less than 5 days of me ordering it with the points at work. Needless to say, I've been itching to get outside, hike, and use the camera/get used to it. So the pictures you see tonight are an honest first attempt :)
I only really had tonight, and it was really rainy, so I practiced some in the apartment with Storm, and then I hit Holland Marsh for some contrast shots and then back to the trail where I saw the deer the other week. Below is a picture of the flats in Holland Marsh, it has some of the most nutritious soils for growing, which is why they grow most vegetables there, I passed a lot of onion, lettuce, and corn fields. I also posted a picture of the river in Holland Marsh, which has risen quite a bit, as you can see.

After observing the area and watching some rain fall, I determined going into the woods would be ok, as long as I covered my camera. So I tucked it in my raincoat, and away I went. You'll never guess what I saw that made me realize it was the best decision of all.... why another deer of course, this time I could test out my zoom on the new camera to get more of an up-close-and-personal shot :) Here it is...
 Isn't she pretty!? I think so. I love running into wildlife in the woods, it's one of the best experiences of all. You feel so much closer to nature and natural things in life. The love I have for the nature will never fade, I truly am a hippy at heart.
Three additional cool shots I took prior to running out to avoid getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I believe the white are blackberry blossoms :) I love love fresh blackberries, I'll have to make sure to return here later this summer. Bedtime as this weekend is full of travel and concerts! Woo Hoo. Happy Canada Day Weekend everyone, enjoy!





Sunday 23 June 2013

Goodbye temperamental spring, Hello sweltering summer.


 My weekend began with some R&R on Friday. I stayed at work a little later so on the way home I decided not to make plans and to pick up some plants for my pots and have a fun night in the backyard getting dirty (who doesn't like to get dirty?). I picked the plants up at Lowes, they had a very healthy selection in their garden center so I figured, why not, I did purchase an additional pot too.
The plants in total came to approximately $50, I had the intention of spending $30, but I also had to buy some soil, not a big deal :P
Gardening is such a relaxing past time, I can't wait until I have a huge garden of my own, its better than redecorating a home in my mind because you get to watch the plants grow and flowers bloom. If the rabbit doesn't come by and knock the planters over like it has in the past I will successfully have placed the window planters on the stones lining my walkway in the second picture. I also found some sunflowers coming up where the birds must have dropped seed, always a pleasant surprise. Once I pulled the weeds out of my center garden I discovered the lilies I planted last year too, can't wait until they bloom!
For those who don't know, Friday was the longest day of the year, summer solstice, which marks the first day of the summer. Friday wasn't too hot, but Saturday and Sunday came in with some heat. I was ready to leave spring 2013 behind, that's for sure, it has been a busy one, so I'm happy :)


Above and to the right you will notice two of the little reptiles at Reptilia in Vaughan, ON. The little turtle was soo cute, he was trying to eat his food and his tongue would come out to try to pull the lettuce in. He was quite the aggressive little guy for a turtle, I'm guessing he was hungry. This place was neat, they had different types of snakes, frogs, iguanas, alligators and turtles. I found the snakes to be the coolest, even though I don't really like snakes, some of their markings were pretty cool, they had a few different types of pythons and cobras. It was a fairly rainy day so I was lucky to spend time at the zoo :) Even if I got my butt handed to me in a few games of pool.
Here are a couple of shots from the restaurant on Queen W I was at Saturday night named Swan Restaurant, I had a bourbon bread pudding and my friend had the espresso chocolate mousse. They were both quite good, we shared a main dish together and then got dessert. Walked around downtown for a bit, witnessed a guy climb a gated entrance to a park which was at least 25 feet tall. He was obviously intoxicated, we weren't waiting around to see if he fell. I've always said, climbing is the easy part, it's getting back down that becomes tricky!
Today we woke up, made somewhat of a gourmet breakfast and headed towards Hamilton for a hike in Waterdown called Smokey Hollow. The hike is approximately 10km, we did at least 7km, almost the full two hours. This hike features quite a few little waterfalls and one major (Great Falls). It was a bit humid today to be walking up and down the slopes of the Niagara Escarpment, but it was worth it to have a nice day out of the city. I'm going to attach the pics as well as what I made for dinner tonight once I got home and showered. I made zucchini fritters and turkey sliders without buns, a yummy bacon chive sauce for the sliders, the fritters didn't need a sauce. Enjoy! The rock formations along this hike were cool.

Amanda kept noticing these crazy bugs! They were some sort of flying beetle. Then she picked up on the snake slithering through the path and up the hill.




Above are the Great Falls, they were very inviting, especially after hiking through the escarpment. Below are some of the rock formations I mentioned and part of the creek.



Zucchini fritters, mushrooms and turkey sliders (tasty)!

Thursday 20 June 2013

De Mello sur un Jeudi ... Melodramatic on a Thursday

The title actually suggests a bit of the opposite of how I've been feeling lately. This week I've felt a little flat with what I want to do next (like a really bad hair day when you can't get your hair curled the way you want). I know being patient is the key to many things, and good things come to those who wait. There is somewhat of a contradictory to this, in saying, you are the creator of your own destiny. Now, true to my libra roots, I must balance between the two.... jump into the next best thing, or wait for the tides to shift and something else will come along. How melodramatic is that for you?

I've actually labelled the title to this post after a recently opeend café on Younge St. called De Mello Palheta (Top left). After sitting here for about an hour deciding what to write and what to include for pictures because I haven't hiked since the weekend I finally decided. To the right you will see the delectable café latte I began with (incorporating a heart...my favourite shape in the word), the date square I fully enjoyed eating and Amanda's vegan/gluten free banana chocolate almond cookie. The date square was appetizing, mostly because I haven't had a square in so long that the butter and brown sugar combination really sang to my tastebuds. The cookie was really great per Amanda, not too sweet, fitting for a more diet conscious person.
 I should also mention while we were here we had a gentleman who purchased a coffee and cheese scone sit at our table. While we were discussing styles for men and how it's such a great thing when a guy knows how to dress, he gave his 2 cents. He noted that he thought a woman should suggest to a man what to wear more often. Now I'm not sure if he meant in the sense of a relationship or outside of one, but in today's day I'm not sure how many men would take light to a woman suggesting he wear something else. It reminded me of grade 12 when we had a new english teacher, first day of school, he had this weird hawaiian looking shirt on, or a shirt with prints we'll say. I remember raising my hand and asking him if he was seriously going to wear that shirt all day or if it was a joke. He didn't get upset, he was more happy that I pointed that out and broke the ice. Four years later after I had finished university and was at the high school for my younger brother, he mentioned it again and how happy it made him.
I guess what I'm trying to say is... perhaps, we can get away with helping a man with what to wear. :) Try it out!

 Speaking of gluten free, I did try my hand at baking a gluten free banana loaf on the weekend, it turned out pretty good, I found a paleo recipe and put it together. I found it a little dry without the traditional butter and sour cream, but it didn't make me dislike it, I guess it just wasn't as succulent as other recipies I've made. I do enjoy some of the paleo recipies I've tried. The fish cakes with the lemon & dill sauce are amazing. I think this weekend or next week sometime I'll try zuchinni fritters, they also look fantastic.


On to other exciting news. Today I cashed in my points at Deloitte I've earned over the past two years for a camera that has 16.1 MP and a pretty notable zoom factor. Why you ask? Because when I go out west this summer I: a) do not want to rely on my Iphone for pictures when it has to be recharged all the time and the camera takes AA batteries so it won't have to charge b) a higher megapixel of course ;) I am supposed to get it in 10 business days, I will be counting them down, trust me :P can't wait to test it out. It's even more sweet that I didn't have to pay cash and it was earned from building awesome relationships with my co-workers and having a great performance at work.
I genuinely think that often times when you haven't earned something it means less to you, unless it comes from someone really special to you ;)
I mean look at your family and friends, people commonly go through life believing someone will always be there for them who have traditionally been there in the past. Or they rely on a person for something everytime without showing any gratitude. Maybe it's part of maturing, but even if it's not, appreciation goes such a long way, and it feels so good to share, as well as earn.
One final word.
While I may not always show that appreciate this little attacker (we call her attacker #1) above, AKA Storm. The other night I sat out reading, finishing the third book in the Game of Thrones series, and she finally calmed down layed in her bed then crawled up on my lap in the sunset. It was pretty peaceful, I was very graetful for the time I got to spend relaxing, as this is something I have to keep telling myself to do every once and a while.
 

Sunday 16 June 2013

Imprintings

Did you know that some young animals, especially birds, will imprint on a parent, follow them around  adopting behaviours and even look to that parent for migratory reasons. Some birds imprint on humans in captivity where they never learn to migrate. One last final fact, the human stage of imprinting occurs when the baby remains unborn but recognizes his or her mother and father's voices. I know when I first heard the term yesterday I thought about the twilight book when Jacob imprints on Renesmee (it was different as it was more a sexual imprinting) but still similar to the selection process and somewhat natural. I'm no scientist but I do believe that we, as humans naturally select our mates. The saying goes, "you can't help who you like," and others will go on about "animal instincts," these are very real.

I teamed up with another amazing and fun friend yesterday around 10:00am, we ate breakfast in the car and headed to the Halton area to do a hike at the Mountsberg Conservation. We were greeted by mr. rabbit hopping along in the garden. There were a few others around the corner of one of the barns as well, they also had goats and sheep.


This conservation has a bit of a bird of prey sanctuary. I had the pleasure of snapping some shots of these beautiful beings, most of the birds have imprinted on humans and never left the conservation.

From left to right in the first row there is a Long-eared owl (not easy to see or take a picture of), a Peregrine falcon (saw these in NS when I went tidal bore rafting), a Bald Eagle, and a Snowy owl. The snowy owl was making a hooting sound, all the others were pretty quiescent.



From left to right in the second row are: a Gyrfalcon, a Barn owl, a Red-tailed hawk, and a Kestrel. The Kestrel kept moving to the back of his cage and quickly puffing his feathers each time I'd visit him, it was cute.


Justyna ("JK") and I really enjoyed our time walking through the forest and catching up. We have a huge year ahead of us, including, her wedding! It's so nice having a friend in a similar industry so you can get some work frustrations out as well as discuss future plans/ideas. I'm exciting and so happy she asked me to be part of the wedding, I believe she's picked the best girls ever :) Here is a pic of us from the observation tower (one of them) overlooking the lake.
It was a great day, the trails were a little muddy in spots and the mosquitoes were attacking a bit. I forgot to mention that the Mountsberg Conservation is also home to swallows in the summer, they have a "neighbourhood" as JK would say, or "community" of swallows on the Lakeside trail, and a bunch of nests along one side of a massive play barn at the head of the trails where the visitors centre is. See below for some of the pictures, up close these swallows were very pretty with their blue and white markings. The two that sat on the welcome sign almost looked like the preachers or leaders of the congregation :P There were at lease 50 bird houses on posts in the ground here.
There was also a rooster and a hen, well multiple hens, running around. But this rooster in particular was guarding the one hen. he would cock his chest up and alarm whoever was approaching that they were not to get any closer. It was a lot of fun chasing him around the grounds to see where he'd follow the hen to.

After we hiked the trail we went to a local cafe that had sandwiches, soups, salads, pizza and ice cream. It felt a bit like home in NS to be honest, a little community in the Town of Milton called Campbellville. It was quite busy when we arrived so we thought the cafe must have had something to brag about that is served to customers. Not to be disappointed, we each had the special which was a California wrap with Chicken gumbo soup (yum)!
I took a picture of the wrap, it had guacamole, bacon, chicken, tomatoes, lettuce and honey mustard in it. Very tasty indeed!

Today is Father's Day, so I should ensure I write to say Happy Father's day to the two in my life. I would not be who I am today if it wasn't for either of them. Hopefully they'll get the chance to log on and see this, if not I'll still phone and try to see one of them :)

Before I go, I wanted to note that I watched a documentary the other night, Sound City, it was created by Dave Grohl, famously known for being in Nirvana and Foo Fighters, amongst other things. The movie was great, it was about the famous recording studio "Sound City" where people made legendary albums, such as Stevie Nicks beginnings with Buckingham Nicks, Tom Petty and others. The film centered on how this one studio would capture the sound in the recordings like no other and a lot had to do with the famous Neve board, how digital took it away, and  how Dave bought the board and refurbished it to use in his own studio. I enjoyed it, there is nothing like kicking it old school, and it's like they say, "if it's not broke, don't fix it" perhaps this is why the latest foo fighters albums have such a great sound. I would think it has something to do with it. In the movie Tom Petty talks about how when you're in the studio producers and other people will always want the perfect sound, the perfect composition then he says something that correlates to a lot in life, "You know…Music really isn’t supposed to be perfect; it’s all about people relating together and doing something that’s really from the soul. It must come from the soul."
My question would be, how good was anything in life when it didn't come from the soul?

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Of Moisture and Mosquitoes


Although the title would suggest a less alluring adventure, I promise, I was able to capture some goodies (almost as sweet as the licorice goodies) on my evening excursion. Lately when I see moss growing I can't help but snap a photo of it. I think I have a small fetish with moss and how it covers the ground and other specimens in the forest. I'd actually enjoy having moss between the tiles of a walkway in the backyard vs fill of pebbles or cement. I can see it now, nice natural blue slate pieces with bright green moss encompassing...



So these are two dead trees, not completely dead, where the moss is vibrantly living on each of them. Now if you know anything about moss, you'll know that it prefers moist soil and shade. I was hiking on part of the the Oak Ridges trail, called the Woodland Passage at the King City Seneca College location. I went further than the 500 meters of the trail though as I wanted to get more of a hike in with my new boots. This place was super soggy, I put a dose of the ol' bug spray on before I left, but I was swarmed by mosquitoes at times, especially by the ponds. To give you an idea of how wet this place is, there are 7 miniature bridges I encountered, that is quite a bit for the short distance I was walking (3kms). One is on the right, also note the boots, which are so comfortable, no blisters, I ran through the soggy sections and puddles, feet stayed perfectly dry!
Below is, (yet again) another picture of a stone wall, however this is a reinforcement wall and is man made, still beautiful and covered in part with moss as well.  I though it was pretty.


I went off course and into a field as I was interested to see what was growing, it looked like some sort of bean though I wasn't overly sure. Seems early for them to have grown so fast with the frost warnings. Anyhow after climbing a moderate hill I came up to this field and for the first time since I've moved to Ontario, (November 2011) I caught a young buck (deer) all by his lonesome along the edges, I capture him cantering away, he was beautiful. He kept looking back to see if I was still there too.  Adorable, made my night for sure.

 

 Oh, and another quick look-see, just in case I was chasing him through the field :)

 The rest are pictures I wanted to share from the hike that I thought were cool, moss, fungus and then the lovely overhang of foliage above the old garage at the Eaton house. Twas a beautiful night.

Lastly for the night, this is how I view adventures, one never knows what one will find, nor does one know how it will affect oneself, but most adventures are uplifting and make for amazing stories in the future.