More from Canada

Loved the look of this shop with its nifty parasol display out front. This was in Niagara on the Lake.



Also in Niagara on the Lake were many sailboats. We walked along Lake Ontario here and enjoyed some beautiful scenery.



My family looks at some of the photos I take and wonders - "Why???" The answer is that I use some in my digital collages. Sometimes the strangest of photos are the perfect thing. These are jars of specimens in the Royal Museum in Toronto. I took a disgusting photo of preserved birds - don't know if I'll be able to use it or not, but probably won't share it. Birds should be flying and singing, not impaled on a board with others of similar ilk.

Canada

Here's the ever-visible CN Tower in Toronto. Not only can you see the super-tall structure from almost anywhere in the city, but on a clear day you can see all the way to Niagara Falls from the top floor. There is also a glass floor on one of the highest floors of the tower, which spooked many people out. Not Jace. He was a star attraction as he practically danced out of his mommy's arms on it. One woman laughed as she saw me snapping this photo and said, "That's the best photo of the day!"





At the Toronto Zoo...looks like the kangaroo is asking, "Can we talk?"




I didn't notice the crocs at first. Cute, huh! (Niagara on the Lake.)



Most of Toronto's Chinatown was a blur to me - literally. We didn't get out of the car and I had to snap photos from the back seat of the car. I love Chinatowns...lots of neat 'stuff'. Believe it or not, this was taken from the car. Darn good camera! We were many feet from the shop.



This butterfly practically posed for my new camera at Niagara on the Lake. Many colorful and well-tended flowers lined the sidewalks and landscaping in this pretty town.

I took many, many photos. I'll add more another night. Or two. I'm glad I went to Canada. My first visit to our neighboring country made me want to return. EXCEPT FOR TGIFriday's. More on that later too.

Niagara Falls

Beautiful water. This is a whirlpool further up the road from the falls.
We didn't ride on this tower. We did go up in CN Tower in Toronto later though.
Jace and Daddy in the state park on USA side of Falls. The mist was a cool bonus - very comfortable on this already comfortable sunny day.
Jace flying.
Gull flying. (Jace is cuter.)
Double decker tour buses were in both Niagara Falls and in Toronto.

Fireworks our first night. It was fun to be at the same level rather than looking up.
Here's a night view from our room looking toward the touristy town area.



A wall of falls - this was taken street-side with zoom.
A night view from our room.
Sssshh! Don't tell anyone. Steve and Sandy moved their mattress down on the floor by the floor-to-ceiling window for the first night...a fun way to view the amazing scenery.
A close-up view from the USA side. Being able to get so close and hear the roar and feel the mist - fantastic!
We were in the first room directly under the awning at the top left. 31st floor of Sheraton Fallsview, Canada.
See the rainbow? This is a view from our room. Note the third room down at the Marriott (in the deep grey area.) We had a surprise 'floor show' when a guy danced in front of his window straight from his shower - towel in hand. Sandy caught him with her camera...I only got an 'after-show' photo - I was in shock, and definitely not thinking fast enough. We roared with laughter.

Our 'floor show' guy, enjoying the scenery a bit more sedately with his female companion. Newlyweds perhaps. : )

Night view of falls from room.
Zoomed in on this view from room.
See the mist! The little black speck top left is a helicopter.
The awesome power of the Falls.

Niagara Falls and Toronto with Steve, Sandy & Jace the Face

Vacation with Steve, Sandy and Jace. Niagara Falls (both USA & Canadian sides) and Toronto, with an overnight in Cleveland, Ohio on the way, and a day stop in Niagara on the Lake, Canada.
I took a lot of photos on vacation, and so did Sandy. These first images are hers. I haven't had time to go through all of mine yet - but I really love the range of my new Panasonic Lumix camera with 16x optical zoom, which really got a workout on this trip. Niagara Falls was spectacular! Toronto is a busy, exuberant BIG city! We enjoyed the charms of each.

Here's my sweet traveling companion in the back seat. My vantage point allowed less range for photography, but better baby-doll viewing and interacting. I won! The next photo is one Steve took in my driveway before we left to document how everything fit into the rented Edge. It was tight. I think of it as his way to prevent a lot of souvenir shopping. We did alter this arrangement to allow for safety with a bit of a rear-view.Here is a photo of Jace enjoying the Toronto Zoo. It's a shame he won't remember how much he enjoyed it except from photos. He was so 'into' everything we did. He acts much older than 5 months old. I've never seen a baby so alert and interested in his surroundings. He was a joy on this trip, as always...and he's teething, for heaven's sake! What a sweetie! If we weren't entertaining him, he was content to entertain himself (his feet were a huge amusement.) Frankly, he entertained us as much as we entertained him.



I'm calling the next photo 'Muscrat Love'. (I'm telling my age. Anyone else remember The Captain and Tenille?) I think it's a mama and baby groundhog. Sweet!


Many more photos to come. I need to get to some calligraphy jobs right now. The current work is on big, beautiful envelopes in a mixed grey ink. Letter style is Rook rather than my usual ornamental script. It's going more slowly than usual because of the mixed ink, which must be stirred frequently, and the less familiar letter style. Very pretty though, and not much time to finish them. Sayonara for a while.