Mallorca Day 1 - Palma

I left home at 11am and Simon drove me to the airport. Flew Air Canada to Zurich and managed to doze off and on for about 2 hours. I had a 6 hour lay over in Zurich and alternated between trying to sleep on uncomfortable seats and walking the shopping concourse. Do we really need that many shops for purses and perfume? At 12:50 I flew Edelweiss Air (I wasn't sure about an airline named after a little, white, alpine flower but it turned out to be excellent) for 1 1/2 hours to Palma. We flew in from the North and it looked lovely, flying in along a green valley with fruit trees with the mountain range on the right. I am looking forward to exploring.
I took a taxi to my hotel, checked in and then went for a walk (I read the best thing you can do to adjust to a time change is to get outside).

I am just 2 blocks from the beach which is skirted by a road, a walking path and a bike path.

I can imagine this just packed in the summer time!

A protected bay, perfect for paddleboarding (he is wearing a wet suit though)

No waves and a light breeze also made it perfect for windsurfing and

a small sailing class. That's an overturned Laser on the right. I felt badly for that student. I watched as I walked and the boat was upside down more than it was right side up with the zodiac buzzing around, shouting instructions I imagine. I'm sure Daniele remembers a similar day with George in our Laser.

I kept walking, past a marina,

past a fishing boat cove and beach,

and around a headland to see that Palm extends around the next bay too. That's were the cruise ships dock.

At that point my fitbit vibrated that I had done 10,000 steps and I thought that was a good enough excuse for a glass of wine. I found a beach side bar (the Flip Flop), ordered a glass of the house red and continued to watch the various water sports, dog walkers, joggers and bicyclists. The waiter greeted me in German and switched to English when I responded in Spanish (I don't want to think about what that means). He said most tourists this time of year are German and then some English. I only heard German being spoken at the other tables.

I ordered a light supper of tapas (Prawns, olives, tomato and mozarella) and another glass of wine and watched the sun go down.

The waitress started to put blankets out on the backs of all the chairs so that we could wrap up and continue to watch the evening descend on the bay.

I have just managed to synch the fitbit and it indicates that I got 2 hours sleep in the last 24 hours. I knew that already. I am going to bed.

Cats and Birds

I have driven off the Point 5 times this week and each time enjoyed the bird life here. The Inner Bay was frozen over for a time but is now open water again and populated with patches of little black ducks and quite a large flock of swans. I saw Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. They will stay until the corn fields are too covered with snow for them to eat. The Bald Eagles seem to stay all year round. I have seen them from the causeway road each time I have been on it, this week. Once there were 3 of them dive bombing a fourth. They are big, impressive, birds swooping around and colliding with each other. I think they were trying to get him to drop whatever was in his talons.
I realized, after finishing the last post, that I had neglected to mention Heather or Rasta:

Heather was working on a Santa with a cat.

"Can't touch that!" Torture for a cat.

Happiest when he made a nest in a box of tissue paper.

Rug Hooking winter 2017

Last weekend I had a full house with 8 of us in residence for a weekend of rug hooking, knitting, crafting, etc etc.

Quite a collection of wine, cider, beer and scotch arrived. This is what was on the floor, there was more in the "bar" area.

We each volunteer for a meal. Pat and Pam served "raclette" on Saturday evening. Paired with cider and/or Riesling.

It was mild for our walks on the beach

even a bit foggy.

Sue was working on a large pictorial of her grandchildren.

The colours of Peggy's floral pillow are much more vivid than this photo shows.

Lynn was finishing a couple of small squares.

Pat was working on a massive rendition of the parliament buildings.

Brit made this sweet little basket out of cotton cord and coloured threads and whipped a hooked piece.

Brit, Pam, Pat, Peggy and Sue were also knitting. This is Brit's linen stitch cowl made from a magic "never ending" ball of yarn.

Brit taught me how to make the baskets. Could be a new addiction.

I also worked on my pumpkins.

It is great spending time with creative, talented and fun friends. I will see some of them again at the OHCG Annual in April and then try for another cottage weekend in June.

Mystic Landscapes at the AGO

I am way behind in my blogging but having to delete all the photos from my netbook has motivated me to try and catch up.
Chris and I have memberships at the Art Gallery of Ontario (A Christmas present, thanks Santa!) and went to the Mystic Landscapes exhibit a couple of weeks ago. We ate at Franks (get a 10% discount with membership) and the food and service was excellent. Then went in to the exhibit (timed ticket). The last time I went was for the Lawren Harris exhibit, during the day. This time it was evening and therefor much more crowded. All though I was not actually rushed or pushed, it was a much different experience. I had to wait to get a good view of the paintings, people would just plant themselves in front of one and then chat with their friends about something else (very annoying), I felt I had to move on in order to give others a chance and generally it felt a little claustrophobic. In spite of that, I enjoyed the show, highlights were two of Monets haystacks and a small Emily Carr that I loved (I had previously not really cared for her paintings). We were not permitted to take photos.
I then spent just a bit of time in the other rooms:

There was another exhibit or works by Anthony Caro, when he was in his 80's. 4 huge metal sculptures and a sketching class.

Cranberry Lake, Franklin Carmichael

From the signature on the bottom its by A.J.Casson but I couldn't find the booklet on the room to find out its name. I prefer it when there is a label beside the painting.

A Lawren Harris, still love his style.

Frozen Beach

First, a belated Happy Birthday to Avery who turned 2 on January 10, 2016.

Aimee and Mike took him to Galaxyland. I have no idea what that is but I gather he enjoyed it. On the run all the time. Photo by Aimee

Asleep on the Nemo he got for his birthday. He actually wore himself out!

 Photo by Aimee

Maya, also got a stuffed toy, Dorey, but she just doesn't seem to need sleep. Photo by Aimee.

Meanwhile, back at Long Point, cold and VERY WINDY days built up the ice mountains on the edge of the lake and then two days of rain shrunk them. When there was finally a nice day I walked the beach and took some pictures.

Frozen driftwood

with icicle teeth.

One area, out on the frozen part of the lake developed sand/ice boulders????

I always find the buildup of these ice ridges fascinating and,

this year, the freeze and thaw cycles have created some beautiful patterns in the ice.

It is currently bucketing with rain and the forecast is for above freezing temperatures for days so I don't know if any of this ice buildup will last.

The bare sand has its own patterns though and

the ceramic highland dancers, that Heather planted in the sand years ago, really don't care one way or another.

Happy New Year

Between Christmas and New Year, Chris and Jason were here too. An already busy household was even busier.

Photo by Aimee. Maya trying out the new sled in her new snowsuit. Looks like a little pink caterpillar cocoon.

Looking adorable in the Christmas hat.

Avery decided to try out the sled inside.

Lots of new books to read.

We can usually get Avery to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 but Maya is a night owl.

It became a game of Settlers and Pass the Baby.

"I think the rule says ......"

Mike had to work New Years Eve, so it was just Aimee, I and the kids.

Maya in her Happy New Year headband.

Avery couldn't quite get the hang of blowing in the noise maker.

I stayed home with Maya and Aimee took Avery to a community centre children's party.

He went straight to the colouring table. Photo by Aimee.

Photo by Aimee. Had some hot chocolate and

hung out with Mum. Photo by Aimee.

Sparklers before bed.

Aimee, Maya and I made it to 11pm (well it was 1am in Ontario!)
New Years Day its back to the "same old.."

Avery dumps all the toys out of the bin and

they both have lots to do. (Including cleaning up at the end)