No rain!

Well I think I have gone about 5 days here in Ontario with no rain.  I think that is a record!  It still hasn't been real nice spring weather, except for Saturday when I went to Plattsburg to pick up Alex, that turned out to be a beautiful day.  It is still cool and more overcast than sunny, but I will take that, it helps keep the mosquitoes at bay.

I haven't really been doing too much, one of the reasons for not putting up a post yesterday.  I walk every morning with my Dad and his dog KC.  We are usually gone between an hour an two hours and usually it is in the bush on some logging roads or on a trail at the nearby conservation area.

My Dad and KC on an old logging road, I think only the ATV's use it now.

There is a nice old dam and waterfalls right across the road from my Dad's house, actually his house is at the top of the falls, you just have to walk down the road a bit to see the bottom of them.  They are quite high for this time of the year, there usually isn't as much water going over them as there is now.  In the summer most of the water goes through the old power station so the falls themselves will only have a trickle of water going over.

The water that is diverted though the old power dam, which is still used today

Here are a few more shots of my Dad's backyard and the nice flower gardens.  He and my Mum collected all the rocks and he built the stone walls for the flowerbeds.  My Mum usually looked after the garden with my Dad helping out on the bigger stuff, like trimming the bushes and trees.  He looks after it now, but so far this year hasn't had a chance to get at it much because of all the rain.

Looking towards the back of the house

Magnolia tree at the front of the house

When we owned a sticks and bricks house I had a nice garden too.  I planted a young magnolia tree in it a couple of years before we moved so when we sold the house I stipulated in the contract that I was taking the tree with me.  I had spent enough money on it and wanted to see it grow and blossom.  So I dug it up and brought it up to my Dad's place and he planted it in his garden.  I took a few years to establish itself after being moved a couple of times in only a couple of years but this year it is having it's best year yet and I get to see the pretty blooms.

Lots of yellow magnolia blooms

My brother lives next door my Dad, so he and his son, Matthew have come over a couple of the nights and we played a few card games and had some good laughs.  Oh, and I have been giving Alex some pointers on cooking.  He will be living in Ottawa for the summer and will be cooking for himself, which he has done before but says it doen't turn out the way he wants.  So he has asked me to make a few meals using chicken and fish as well as some casserole dishes to see how I make them.