The Most Crowded Place in Toronto

My job requires that I go to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto on a more-or-less regular basis and the sheer number of people in there can be extraordinary. Terrible, in the summer. But this particular day last week wasn't too bad.

Feral Cats

Woke up one morning last week to find these critters snuggled in behind my hedgehog bootscraper.

Should they adopt us for good, we thought we'd better come up with names and as Deliverance-like as possible, given the area we live in. An enterprising friend suggested Daryl and Daryl, which we thought was a hoot - and even funnier when we later saw them with a third kitten, hiding under the neighbours' lilac bush. So now we have Larry, Daryl and Daryl.

Driving in Southern California

I've been asking friends and family with iPhones to send me pics of their journeys - hence the Skye photos, and the Taiwan chicken heart one etc.

Yesterday, my cousin had to do a road trip in California and sent me this photo of the I5, heading north towards the San Francisco area. Sure beats my commute, but I guess if I had to do it a couple of times a week, I'd soon be calling the I5 my highway from hell, just as I do the 401.

Factory Fire

Sad news the other day when a nearby factory burned. I could think only of the people who lost their jobs.

Midges

These are midges (or as a German friend seems to call them, midgets - as in, "OMG there are midgets in my car"). Very annoying. The only time you really see them is in swarms, which means there is midge sex going on right in your eyes, mouth and hair.

China

This is a popular coffee shop in Doumen, China - Mode Coffee; picture sent by intrepid-iPhone-reporter colleagues. It's close to factories and has good food. I've never been, but may go one day!

Guarding the Sheep

Local sheep dog doing his guarding thing.

Mini Ice Cream

Not sure what the point of these mini ice cream cones is. Just meant I ate 5 of them instead of one big one. Delicious - served up by friends in my old hometown.

Toronto

Busy city. Had to go in for work the other day.

Sign

This tickled my funny bone. Bought a sandwich at a local cafeteria - I ordered a black forest ham with cheese - the sandwich was 4.50 + 50c for the cheese. I said to the clerk, so if I buy a salami, ham and cheese, it's 4.75? How about if I just get a salami, ham and cheese with no salami? She said, OMG I never noticed that before. She refunded my quarter and then forgot to add my cheese, which I didn't notice until I was down the road and back at my desk, sigh.

Ewwww Eating a Taiwanese Delicacy

Another traveling colleague - this one to Taiwan. I said, show me some pics of your business trip and this is the one that stood out: he went to a restaurant where someone ordered a plate of chicken hearts.

Skye

Another photo from the Isle of Skye - closer to the Cuillin Mountains. It looks fantastic, eh?

Boat Ride

What a fab boat ride this was.

Waiting for the ferry home

Long week over, waiting for the boat that will take me home.

Portree, Isle of Skye

Another fab pic from my work buddy - this is Portree, capital of the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

Dinner on Collins bay

Lug Tread beer, a local brew and this view ... great end to a lousy commute!

Parliament

I love Ottawa.

Scientific?

Had to laugh when I saw this sign..."scientific palm reading"...

My Highway - And I'm Not On It

Here's the Highway From Hell - and I'm not on it but flying over it. Whew, that was a fab commute that week!

Isle of Skye

Another great pic of the Isle of Skye from a work buddy who's visiting there. The mountains in the distance are the Cuillin Mountains.

Dinner at the Airport

Quick airport dinner. The sandwich arrived later (felt I had to add that in case you thought I just had a beer for dinner).

Perfect

Ahhhhhh.

Greenbelt, eh?

This brand new sign is hilarious. It reads something like: Welcome to Burlington, A Greenbelt Community".

I used to live in this city, and we fought and fought against development. To no avail. There WAS a greenbelt in Burlington but it will soon be gone forever. Shame on them. It's a UNESCO site, too. Or was...

Anyway, this was my first visit back in a while and I laughed when I saw this brand new sign. How ironic.

Tidal Loch

A colleague's travelling in the UK right now and sent this photo of a tidal loch in Scotland. I love it!

Mud Puppy

This dog is a mud-diviner. Gets to the point where you just give up worrying about the mess.

Rainy Commute

Did you know I have a terrible commute? This day, it took me nearly 5 hours because of the blinding rain.

Sign Maker

My husband is making a sign for Studio on the Bay, a local gallery owned by Terry Culbert and Barb Hoegenauer. Both are amazing artists!

Chasing Cormorants

Today's post is late again as that bug cropped up with my mac/firefox/blogger software.

Took this yesterday - fellow was chasing cormorants on his jet ski - which I thought was mean - but the other locals thought was fine (they are considered pests - well, the birds are).

Hot

It was warm last week. I like winter.

Snowy

A Snowy Owl across the road from my house (taken with - gasp - real camera and not with iPhone). I've become a birder (not really, but I could be one) (a birder drives down our country roads, sees a bird, slams on the brakes, leaps out of the car to photograph, leaving door/s wide open, oblivious to the potential for any other cars to be on the road at the same time).

Lunch Out

I enjoy going out for lunch with my colleagues. Especially to a patio on one of those summer days (this wasn't one of them).