Calm Down

Calmdown

The Height of Being Alive

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“We know summer is the height of being alive. We don’t believe in God or the prospect of an afterlife mostly, so we know that we’re only given eighty summers or so per lifetime, and each one has to be better than the last… Otherwise, how would you know that you have lived your summertime best? What if you missed out on some morsel of shaded nirvana?” — Tomorrow’s Guest, Gary Shteyngart in Super Sad True Love Story Via http://birdlord.tumblr.com/post/5427190909/we-know-summer-is-the-height-of-be...

Dog Walk: Stone Beaches, Col. Sam Smith Park, Etobicoke, ON

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Strong wind & blazing sun & thick humid air & cold deep water are pretty much all perfect things, thanks.

Morningstar Mill, St. Catherines, ON

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Of all of the awesome things I did over the Canada Day long weekend, visiting the Morningstar Mill was definetly one of them.

Slowly filling in all of the many many gaps in my Ontario brain map.

Eating: Socca!!!

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Socca is the best food ever.

It's naturally gluten free & vegan. Also: It's what is for dinner. Also: Effing delicious. Also: Chickpea flour is super cheap & always in my pantry.

Sunnyside Pavilion, Toronto, ON

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Seemed a strange place to beach, but I did I ever beach.

Trail Ride at the Claireville Ranch

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Out riding a horse for the first time in years, with friends from work.

Day Trip: Ruthven Park - Cayuga, ON

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Ruthven Park was a surprise from friends. 

It's a National Historic Site located along the banks of the Grand River (A National Heritage River!) and it consists of within a 1,500 acres of farm fields, meadows, Carolinian forests and wetlands, a 9 acre island, two cemeteries, the archaeological remains of the former town of Indiana, and a massive, gorgeous neo-classical estate (which is also a museum).

I guess they know me pretty well.

(This is pretty much a perfect place. You should go there if you are ever near Cayuga.)

Grilling...

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Victoria, Canadian patron Queen of Gardening, Cottage Opening, first Bonfires & BBQ's.

Dog Walk: Fog in Bloom

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When I came back from my trip, everything was in bloom. The raw bright greens & multi-coloured blossoms are so vibrant through the grey fog. So that I don't mind at all.

Trip: Charleston & Myrtle Beach, SC

Mini-holiday, a quick jaunt to where it is warm, sunny & fresh produce abounds.

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It's been a wet, cold spring, and while I appreciate any day I can get outside, there is no substitute for heat, swimming in the ocean, jogging along the beach. Sun, sun, books & sun.

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A day trip to Historic Charleston, gorgeous streetscapes, long walking tours, taking photographs as fast as I can think. (I tell my parents that this is the sort of place I'm trying to help build & I think for the first time they fully understand what it is I do for a living.) Click.

Achievement: Sun & Rock

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The sun has appeared! Here is your challenge: Find a nice rock & enjoy. (I am.)

A Barn At Sea

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"There is nothing so appalling, so awesome as a burning barn,

unless it be a burning ship at sea."

Foggy Spring Rambling

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It has been a damp foggy spring so far. There are thousands of snails hiding out in a field not too far from my apartment, I find them stunning, but I also (unfortunately) find them crushed in the treads of my boots.

Mysterious Lake

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The lake was looking quite mysterious this evening. (The mood of the lake usually predicts my day. I can't be sure of what's ahead...)

Hike: Brick Beach, Longbranch, Etobicoke, ON

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Took a walk along the coast of Lake Ontario (A common occurrence, with frequently suprising results.), and found a beach made almost entirely of red and yellow buff brick, the last remains of demo'd historic homes, dumped, washed, worn and spit out again.

Hike: Niagara Whirlpool

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Hike: Niagara Whirlpool

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Hike: Niagara Whirlpool

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Winters Last

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Ice Hike: 4kms out on Lake Erie, ON

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Lake Erie has been frozen for quite a while. My Dad and Uncle have been ice fishing up a storm, apparently it has been a good year. (Over 150 perch so far. What they catch is mostly cleaned, frozen and stored for our yearly family fish fry on Good Friday.)

If there is a place for a long, quiet, undisturbed walk it is out on the ice. Overcast, the temperature hovered around 0*C. Bismarck got to eat whatever minnows he found frozen in the ice. 

Hike: Wainfleet Bog - Port Colborne/Wainfleet, ON

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Went for a hike at the Wainfleet Bog with Bismarck and friends. It snowed the day before, leaving us with 10cm of fresh powder over an icy base. There was some flooding, and we saw at least one beaver dam. The water was the blackest of black, like coffee. (Don't fall in, or that'll be your eternity.)

 

Mid-February Thaw - Etobicoke, ON

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Life lesson: Everything melts.

Fully Ice'd Park

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Between the rain and the waves and the wind and the snow, almost no surface remains exposed. One sunny morning, everything glimmers.

Man I love me a Canadian winter.

Canadiana Winter Wear: Canadian Pacific Travel Posters

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Canadian Pacific has done more for the Canuck identity than I can even comprehend.

It has been snowing for a solid 24 hours, and, as they say, it doesn't show signs of stopping.

More than dreaming of a White Christmas, I'm hoping for a Ski-coloured Boxing Day at Kissing Bridge.