Opening Weekend, Washrooms Included

• This is a big weekend in Ontario and for us in particular.
• It's the May 24th weekend or May 2-4 as the younger generation likes to call it because this is when they party outdoors and open their cases of 24 beer.
• May 24this a Civic holiday in this province, in memory of Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24 1819, bless her heart.
• The actual holiday seldom really occurs on the 24th but the Monday closest to May 24 (before, not after). The last time we actually celebrated her birthday (not that we really celebrate her highness exactly) was in 2021. Before that it was in 2010.
• This year we will have tomorrow, Monday the 18th, off.
• Aside from the actual holiday, the weekend is viewed by many as the time to open things such as cottages and campgrounds.
• Of great significance is the opening of public washrooms whether in a community like ours or along rest stops on rural highways. Of course, they are always open in the various eateries along major highways. It's quite a relief to be able to use washrooms once again; it's a long time to hold from the middle of October. Phew!
• Another opening: on Friday we saw that the town docks were open for the first time when we stopped to enjoy our coffee and takeout breakfast sandwiches.
  
  
  
  
  
• We also tend to view it as gardening weekend. Nurseries advise us not to plant before this weekend. Some people do, but if their plants get hit by frost, nurseries will not reimburse them.
• This year, my mother's birthday fell on the Saturday of this holiday weekend. She was born on May 16 1915.
• It is also the weekend of our wedding anniversary. We were married 57 years ago on May 17 1969, which fell on a Saturday then, but today, Sunday, is our anniversary day this year.
• Traditionally, we enjoy fudge on our anniversary after having purchased some on the way to our honeymoon motel in Stratford, Ontario all those years ago. 
• We honeymooned (for one night) in Stratford because I had proposed in the Shakespeare Country Garden in Stratford after a performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream in 1968. It was also within a half hour drive or so of our basement apartment in Guelph where I was still a university student.
• Back to the present: our local purveyor of fudge has shut its doors, so we drove the half hour to Balderson in the country where we, unfortunately, discovered that they also no longer serve fudge.
• However, it was a pleasant rural drive, and they do still serve ice cream, so we had a cone as did these gentlemen at an outside table on a pretty nice day.
  
  
  
  
  
• The little store is the only shop that remains in the tiny hamlet of Balderson as the rural exodus continues.
• We're getting a bit out of sequence, but I had proposed in the Shakespeare Country Garden in Stratford after a performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream in 1968.
• We ordered a pizza on our wedding night at the motel. Doesn't everybody? We have carried on the tradition on our anniversary ever since then. So that will be supper tonight.
• It is rather nice out this morning. Alexa says the temperature will go up to a 21C/70F, which is pretty terrific. Perhaps, we shall look for fudge in another direction. Pakenham lies about a half hour north and claims to have the longest continually operating general store in the province. It has been quite a few years since we poked our noses in there, but I wonder if they might have fudge. If not, the drive should be pleasant enough.

A Loon and a Looney Tulip Bed

As we walked along the arena section of the trail, I was thinking that I wouldn't be posting today. Of course, that it altogether fine. I am sure that you could all use a break. But here we are regardless.

The day was grey and there were no wildflowers to be seen, but when we got to our turnaround spot, Sue looked down. Behold, a loon was resting just down the bank. I don't recall ever seeing a loon anywhere near here, but here it was, sitting calmly, just a few feet from us.

The creature was calm enough for a bit but became exasperated by our intrusion and soon swam off downriver in a huff.

When I got home, I took a snap of our tulips. It is what Sue terms A Happy Garden with no thought or planning. I blame a previous owner of the adjoining house who thought it was just wonderful that way. Who am I to argue? As a guy who once had somewhat planned gardens, I didn't love it at the time. Now, I don't care.

Speaking Canadian

Since I don't drink much, I don't use some of these terms, but I know most of them. A few of my most common ones are double double, click (or klick), hydro, back bacon, timbit, pop, and touque. I take exception to toboggan, or at least as pictured, above. Toboggans ↓ have flat bottoms without runners. We call the one pictured in the list, a sled.

I am totally unfamiliar with street meat (hot dogs), darts (cigarettes), out for a rip (drive). Instead of pencil crayons, I am more more likely to say coloured pencils, but pencil crayons are familiar too. 

For the most part, the list is accurate, and I think most Canadians know most of the terms and would actively use many of them.

Completing Mother's Day

I took awhile to complete Mother's Day. I previously posted about Shauna's visit on Saturday. Then, on Sunday we drove the short distance to Dark & Deadly where we enjoyed hot and tasty breakfast sandwiches. I'm sorry that photo includes me and not Sue, but, primarily, she was taking a picture of our breakfast when my old mug got in the frame.

While I have already praised the breakfast sandwiches, let me tell you that, as delicious as they look, the butter tarts did not appeal to us because, somehow, they were inexplicably salty.

Later that day, Jonathan dropped by with roses. He also brought his friend who, in turn, brought her ersatz baby. Said baby was a homework assignment. The $3000 doll acts, fusses and cries like a real child. It needs to be fed, changed and burped and will fuss until it receives the appropriate attention. The baby even gets mom up in the middle of night. Just like an actual baby, the doll demands 24/7 attention and had to come along with Nora  

Danica was hit by a virus and did not get here until yesterday. She brought coffee  and a gift card for even more coffee at D&D. She told us about having just signed her lease for the room that she will be occupying in the fall for her second year at university, and then we played a few rounds of Uno.

The Community Garden

After seeing various wildflowers that I recently posted, we dropped by the community garden at the museum to see more cultivated spring blooms. I don't mean community in the sense that random people plant gardens there but in the sense that the garden is planted and maintained by certain members of the community (the horticultural club, I think) and for members of the community to enjoy. It's not a grand place in scale, but it is a nice little spot.

The first photo that I took was of patch of grape hyacinths, aka muscari. I shot pointing downward and made a single flower my main focus. This ↓ is how the shot looked without any special editing applied.

I found daffodils other than the ubiquitous yellow kind. While the more common yellows are quite fine, it's nice to see other varieties by times.

And  . . . two little clumps of pretty tulips.

It’s raining this morning and for the whole day it seems. The plan is that Danica will drop by with coffee and for lunch to complete Mother’s Day visits. She got hit by a bug over the weekend, but she is fine now. 

Lights and Delight

Our mayor posted a photo of the bridge lit up in green for mental health week, so off we drove to the bridge, but where we got there, we were disappointed.

We were compensated, however, for had never seen the bridge lit in orange. Usually, if nothing special is being featured, the lights have been white. I don't know if orange is just a change of pace or whether there is a special meaning attached.

 

We've also never taken a photo of the bridge lights when it hasn't been dark out, or at least nearly so. This was around 8:15, and I just miscalculated about when it would get dark. However, I kinda sorta liked this look too, so my initial disappointment did fade a bit.

As we sat on the bench while waiting for the darkness to fall, I took a selfie. I once promised Sue that nothing would come between us, but townhall loomed to prove me wrong.

Darkness was slow to descend, and there was a chill in the air, so we left early.

Speaking of leaving, I leave you with this tulip pic before we part today. After a recent very cold night, our tulips opened regardless. I looked straight down the throat of this beauty and snapped my snap. After first showing the bridge lights, I now leave you with this delight.

The Other Wildflowers

I posted about the expanses of trillium flowers recently, but we began to notice other wildflowers as well, in little places here and there, like by this log in the background.

According to my iPhone, they are yellow trout lily flowers, aka Erythronium americanum. "The yellow trout lily is a perennial spring ephemeral with bright yellow, nodding flowers and mottled leaves, native to eastern North American woodlands." 

Before we left the woodland, we spotted another tiny flower, quite small and very low to the ground. "Hepatica (hepatica, liverleaf, or liverwort) is a genus of herbaceous perennials in the buttercup family, native to central and northern Europe, Asia and eastern North America." As we can see, they are pretty, little flowers, and I think my fav photo of the excursion.