A Day in the City

I really enjoyed my trip into Toronto today.  I took the Go Train.  It was fairly early and there was a mist that glowed in the morning sunlight.



I love to walk in the city.
This was the scene at Toronto City Hall today, 
the Librarians were on strike.

.......and I found these unlikely footprints in the sidewalk.  Aren't they cool.

I also came across this scene:  a homeless persons unmade bed.
I can see him or her sleeping there on that bench, shivering, invisible.

I headed home early and missed the mad rat-race rush. 

It was a good day!

DMC

The Basement (Updated October, 2012)

I found this picture on a blog post dated May 2009.    




May 2009

 Sadly my basement looks almost exactly the same today, aside from drywall and paint, that is.

January 2012

There was a flood that caused all the damage, but that was soooooo long ago.  Ugh.

This will be one project I will be working on and blogging about.  RECLAIMING MY BASEMENT!

 

DMC

Black Creek Pioneer Village: Revolutionary War Re-Enactment

What a thrilling day we spent at Black Creek Pioneer Village. There were skirmishes, a mock battle, encampments, and even homemade ice cream.

This was the first 'skirmish' in the village. The men on the left are loyalists and the men on the right are soldiers. It was very exciting seeing the history we have been studying and reading about come to life before our eyes.

Here the soldiers forcibly break up the loyalist settlers meeting. Lots of adrenaline and excitement.

In the second skirmish the soldiers came to remove a family from their home because the husband was fighting in the war on the other side.

It was quite dramatic. There was shoving and pushing, yelling and shooting. The little old lady who lived in the house was quite spunky and began beating the captain with her broom. Eventually, after pretending to leave and then returning suddenly, the whole battalion of soldiers entered the home and secured it.

The last excitement of our day involved a mock battle. We had a lovely time learning about this war, and also got to wander through the soldiers encampments. We learned about everything from making canvas water buckets to why soldiers hats had three sides (so their muskets wouldn't knock them off).

But by far our favourite part was....you guessed it....

The horses!

DMC

Archaeological Festival

We are so lucky. Last weekend, in our local area, there was an archaeological festival. The location was a conservation area that was a homestead in the late 1800's, where a blacksmith lived with his wife and 16 children! There were many exhibits and some entertainment, including musicians and a blacksmith. Our favorite activities were the horsedrawn carriage rides to and from the dig site.......
and of course the dig site.....
We dug up some cool artifacts including a button, a large square headed nail, and pottery. It was really fun, and something my daughter has always been interested in.

We tried two ways of digging for lost treasures: shovelling and using a trawl. We had to scrape the surface in thin layers, then put the dirt into a pail. After the pail was full, we put the entire contents into a sifter and shake-shake-shake until all the loose soil was gone. Then we searched for treasures.

It was a fun day, and one that my daughter (and I) will always remember.

DMC

Caterpillar Update

This has been a wondrous journey. Our three tiny little eggs have gone through some amazing changes. They began as teeny tiny caterpillars that could not be seen with the naked eye. They had white splotches on their backs and knobs all over their bodies. They ate and ate and ate...

Then they changed. We didn't even notice the change until we looked back at the pictures. The white splotches were gone, and they took on this new colouring, and grew enormously in just days...

Then, when they had gotten extremely big and plump, they attached themselves to the stalk of the plants (or to our kitchen cupboards) by a tiny silk thread. They stayed like this for about a day and then suddenly...

They changed. This is a chrysalis. Isn't it beautiful? Inside wonderful amazing things are happening. What a wonder it all is! So exciting.

The caterpillars began their transition into chrysalises while we were away for two days. One of the little fellas left the aquarium, and found a different place to settle. Can you tell what's different about him?

His colouring is grey to match his surroundings (the other two are both bright green). Amazing!

DMC

Caterpillars are Larva

The caterpillars have grown considerably. They have tripled in size in just one week. All they do all day is eat and eat and eat. We spent some time in our yard reading about complete metamorphasis and creating accordion booklets about the lives of these caterpillars. This will be our very first experiment with lapbooking.

DMC

Priming the Drywall

I finally got around to priming the new drywall in the basement today. I have already learned so much about hiring contractors (the hard way) and priming new drywall (the easy way).

Priming new drywall:

- use a good quality primer specially made to cover new drywall, otherwise, your new drywall will suck up the ordinary primer and you will end up using twice as much. Luckily, I did not have learn this the hard way, I learned it from a helpful salesperson in the paint department at Home Depot.

Hiring contractors:

- Don't choose the contractor with the cheapest quote--usually you are not getting a deal. Get the estimate and all promises of work quality and materials in writing. Make sure you hire a reputable contractor who has references which you check. Keep an eye on the work while it is being done, no matter how awkward you feel. Be careful that your contractor isn't hiring another contractor to do part of the work. It will be hard to decide who is responsible when the work is not done properly. These things I learned the hard way. I find myself saying "I wish I had done this differently" or "if I only had it to do over again" you get the idea.

To finish the room I still need to install quarter round at the ceiling to fill the gap, and baseboards at the floor, to cover the gap and to cover where there are screws that are not covered and some globs of mud.

One of their guys offered to do this work for me.....for another $175 plus materials.

Ah well, live and learn.

DMC