Jernie's Hub

A big THANKS to my Parents-in-law for looking after them.

Early this week we got an invitation from Aunt Rosie to spend our weekend at her place to celebrate Herbert's birthday with the family. Little did Herbert know that she was planning something for him. My task was basically to make sure that we will be at her place on the weekend and to keep the plan from him. She was going to arrange for us to fly over Niagara-on-the-lake and Niagara Falls. at 4pm. I was crossing my fingers that he would not report to work on that Saturday.

All along Herbert was planning to head north for a weekend in a cottage by the lake with his cousin and family where we could do some activities and enjoy the nature. But I had to insist that we better spend it in Aunt's place. Saturday morning, he was hooked-up on the phone taking calls from his family, relatives and friends from Germany, likewise with his e-mails. As we were getting ready for the get-away, the Woofstock-Festival for the Dogs held down in our street had kicked-off. We had a glimpse of it from our window while having breakfast. Wrong timing huh!

When we were down, we realized that the place was too busy. White stalls lined along the Front Street. The place was fairly full, people walking around with their dogs. I spent few minutes to briefly see the events and capture some shots shown in my previous post. It was a warm and sunny day.

We then hit the road. It's about an hour and a half drive. I was so keen to see the green vineyards along the way, to see the flowers in bloom, to walk by the lake and most of all to see and enjoy Aunt Rosie's beautiful garden. As we were approaching the house, the front garden in no time struck me. It’s so beautiful. We knew that she's busy because usually this time of the year she gets a lot of guests for her bed and breakfast.

After our lunch, we retreated to her back garden. It's awesome! I love her little pond surrounded by beautiful flowers and a swing stands beside it. What a lovely place, truly a little oasis. I could spend my whole day here: listening to music, reading, and working with my computer. While sitting there, I could hear the birds chirping, there were cardinals and blue jays. I tried to capture them in my camera but they were too quick to fly around. I love watching them as they hop into the bird feeders and the squirrels running around. This experience has really motivated me to transform our garden back home in Germany into a place like this and take pleasure in grooming it instead of looking at it as a pool of chores. I've never had such inclination to gardening before. But I guess it's gonna be different this time.

Around lunch time we drove to the park by the lake. With the lush green trees along the streets and around the park, the high temperature of the day was manageable.

The families, couples and groups of young people are enjoying at the park. Some were having picnics, some took a quiet corner to read books and most of the children are playing in the water. I chose to sit with Lyn in a shady area and enjoy the sight of the clear blue sky meet by the blue waters in the lake graced with boats cruising around. In as much as people would want to plunge in to the water, it was too cold to swim. The park is located actually at the border of Canada and U.S. We could literally see the side of the lake which belongs to the state of New York. It was a soothing afternoon.

Woofstock is the largest festival for dogs and their owners on the continent. It's a free admission event which took place Saturday and Sunday (June 6 & 7) mainly at the Front Street (as well as adjoining side streets) which is just steps from the centre of the city in one of Toronto’s most upscale neighbourhoods, the St. Lawrence Market area.

Early morning last Saturday, from our window I noticed a long line of white stalls at the Front St. I did remember that there's an upcoming event in the street, the festival for dogs. Last weekend the same streets were also blocked for the bike race. This seems to be a very popular venue of activities apart from the weekly flea market and fresh produce market every weekend.

Taken from our window at 7:30am.

Unfortunately, we couldn't observe such event as we had a weekend commitment out-of-town. On our way out, I did scan through the place quickly to see what was on and what they have in their stalls. It was overwhelming. Literally everything you can imagine a dog needs is very much available there and of course they don't come cheap. It's amazing! I stood there for few minutes and watched those different kinds of dogs around, they really are beautiful. I'm not a pet lover though but I enoyed watching them.

It was such a beautiful day, no wonder why the place was packed. There was a full program of activities for Saturday and Sunday. It's a pity that we couldn't watch those. Check this webpage for the activities. http://www.woofstock.ca/ini.html

Here are some of the snapshots I took.






Behind is our apartment.
Behind is the flatiron building and the TD towers.

Taken on sunday afternoon at 5pm.