Sunday, February 24, 2013

WINTER ROAD TRIP

Snowshoeing one of the trails at Johnson's Cranberry Marsh .
It's become a bit of a tradition for us to do a "road trip" on long weekends, and last weekend here in Ontario was the "Family Day" long weekend so Rob and I did our winter road trip.

We drove about two hours north of Toronto to Bala to visit a place I've been wanting to visit for a few years now, Johnson's Cranberry Marsh.

 It was the perfect place to spend a winter afternoon! We had a delicious lunch before hitting one of the trails for some snowshoeing. I did some wine tasting and bought some goodies in the wonderfully stocked gift shop, including a jar of the best tasting Butternut Squash Soup we had with our lunch.

The perfect place to spend a winter afternoon.
I had a peek at the Turkeys that roam freely. They were tucked in their tent because the wind was cold.
My sexy Snow-Bunny!
It was our first time snowshoeing together and we had a lot of fun.





We'll be back!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

2nd ANNUAL ALOGONQUIN WINTER GET-AWAY

A beautiful male Pine Grosbeak.

A couple weekends ago, Rob and I made the trip to Algonquin Park with our friends Jim & Lynda for our second annual Algonquin winter getaway. We had enjoyed ourselves so much last year we decided to make it an annual trip.

The park was gorgeous as we arrived, fresh fallen snow from the storm the day before had left everything snow covered and the park sparkled.

Just like last year, Rob and I had lifers as soon as we checked out the visitor centre feeders with Pine Grosbeaks, a winter wish bird for both of us.

Female Pine Grosbeak ready for lift off.
   We enjoyed the Spruce Bog Trail after our first stop at the visitor centre and had some good sightings.

We all had great looks at a Boreal Chickadee.
Love hand feeding the Gray Jays!
Our second visit to the visitor centre to warm up and have some lunch offered up another great bird.

Our best looks yet at a male White-winged Crossbill.
Later we walked up Opeongo Road and had saw some more Gray Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Blue Jays and a very special little Chickadee.

We were all thrilled to see the"leucistic" Black-capped Chickadee from last year.
A pretty Gray Jay.
We spent the night in the nearby town of Dwight and enjoyed some great baking from Henrietta's Pine Bakery on both Saturday and Sunday, a stop here is now a must! It was another great trip.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

VALENTINE'S DAY


Rob and I work different shifts, so I didn't see him today. I came home to find a dozen roses in the kitchen. After I turned on the computer I found some pictures of Meadow with the flowers. Since no note or card was with them, I'm not sure if they were for me or Meadow. Hmmm...... 

Glad she didn't eat them before I got home.

Friday, February 8, 2013

SNOW DAY

The backyard at 4pm this afternoon.
It's been a while since Toronto has seen this much snow get dumped at once, about 5 years I think. But it started coming down in the early morning hours and it is still coming down.

With the storm this morning came a migraine and I was late getting up.  I missed an opportunity to get a drive into work with a co-worker so I went out to wait for my bus after getting ready for work.

I waited for a bus that never came, called my boss, and after talking to him decided to take an unpaid "snow day", and that was fine by me.

After returning home I took some migraine medication and laid down on the couch to watch the chaos on the 24 hour news channel. The roads and travel were a nightmare, I was glad I decided to stay home.

I enjoyed watching the snow fall all day through the comfort of my kitchen window, the only thing that would of made it better is if Rob could of stayed home too. 

Our backyard ornamental Owls got buried.