Blogs from Canada, North America - page 10

We had an early start today. Victoria picked us up at 06:15 to take us to Waterloo regional airport. She was really quite cheery when she walked through the door, certainly cheerier than her mum is first thing in the morning! We were quickly through security, sitting at a table drinking vanilla infused French coffee. Sounds delicious, smells good, tastes average. Ah well. The ground crew came round checking that we had the correct luggage with us. We had both paid for a carry-on bag, except apparently I hadn’t. To be honest she was lovely about it and tagged my bag regardless of the non-payment. Although I had paid and was able to show her proof. Bloody technology! Boarding went well, no hassle. I was in a middle seat of 3 people, but we didn’t have ... read more

Stratford is a small city on the Avon River in SW Ontario. As the river enters the city it widens into Lake Victoria. The city was a railway town until the middle of the 1960s when the Canadian National Railway closed its repair shop in the city laying off numerous employees. The drive from Cambridge took us through probably hundreds of thousands of acres of arable farmland, the flat landscape stretching out in front of us and to the sides with huge fields of green and others with grey earth. We drove through North Dumfries, crossed the road to West London, saw a sign to New Dundee, drove through Shakespeare – the village not the person - and eventually entered Perth the county in which Stratford sits. We parked on the outskirts of downtown Stratford and ... read more

Susan’s home town. We walked to Tony’s Diner for breakfast along trail paths lining the edge of creeks (streams) and along sidewalks (pavements) through clean, attractive housing areas where the homes are well spaced out with tidy gardens. Each house is very individual, unlike a lot of areas in the UK where estates are populated with very similar looking houses. There are lots of trees with birds and squirrels. We saw Canadian Robins - bigger and leaner than the small round ones we have in the UK, and their red breasts aren’t as vivid. There are grey squirrels like in the UK, but also black ones. I attempted to get photos of the robins and the black squirrels, but as is often the case when trying to photograph wildlife – in my experience anyway – as ... read more

Flying into Reginawas a hymn to the prairies. Under heavy clouds, the pale untilled fields shone around the green squares of the home farms. A few ravines traced with spring bushes meandered across the flat landscape. Thin grey roads marked the section lines. Fat drill-straight rain-storms obliterated the scenes to the north and west of Regina. Later after two drenching, flooding bursts of rain, the almost-wild green grass in Wascana Park fed the Canada Geese and their goslings. Bird calls rang out through the cover of trees. The lake’s bullrushes rustled in a faint breeze, still dry from last year. North of the city, ravines shone with bright foliage. Driving south to Weyburn revealed the patterns of fields not yet ready for planting... read more

After returning from La Paz, Mexico, Leslie and I made a brief stop in Golden followed by a brief stop in Vernon to repack suitcases with foul weather sailing gear before heading to Sidney for 2 weeks of sailing on the west coast; a week sailing around Salt Spring in the Canadian Gulf Islands followed by one week in the San Juans Islands, USA. Ladysmith and Butchart gardens were highlights in the Gulf Islands. The Ladysmith Maritime Society marina is home to the largest Purple Martin colony in BC. After spending the winter in Brazil, the Blue Martins had returned to Ladysmith for the season. Purple Martins were first observed nesting there in 1989. Several nest boxes were installed in 1990. By 2002, there were 75 nest boxes and 35 pairs nested that summer and produced ... read more