To the Beach!

Last week, seeing as it turned summer and all, I went to the beach! I'm fortunate enough to live only a 10 minute drive to lake Huron. Every year over winter the beaches change. You never know until the ice melts (if there is any ice), what the shoreline will look like. Sometimes it's just sandy while other times, like this year, it becomes littered with interesting pieces of drift wood and smooth stones. 

It can make it difficult to walk on but it sure is pretty. 

My sister, brother, and I went for walk. 

Hunter liked it very much when M'lynn threw sticks way out in the water for him to retrieve.

Isaac was gathering beach glass and finding cool rocks and sticks. Notice how I now have to look up to take a picture of him because he has by far surpassed me in height. 

The water was very calm and clear and blue on this particular occasion.

The grasses are just starting to grow back, ahead of schedule this year.

I even stuck my feet in! It was chilly of course but not as cold as I expected for March!

Unfortunately today we are back to regular temperatures for this time of year (a high of 3ºC today) and so I'm wearing my long johns, hats and mitts again. So far I have refused to turn the heat back on and am baking instead. Far from the summer like breeze of last week! 

Warmer Weather

So lately the weathers been a little strange. Just a little over a week ago we drove through what I think was this winters worst storm so far for driving. Strong winds and snow caused some very solid whiteouts. It was super cold. 

It looked a little more like this.....

Crispy and icy. 

In less than a week, winter turned to summer (so it seems anyways) and all the little critters started coming out or returning. 

First I noticed the robins and red winged black birds singing. Then the tundra swans came through in large numbers. 

 

Some of the local creatures came out to enjoy the sun as well. The turkeys have started strutting, turtles have been sunbathing, and at night the frogs are singing. 

Out in the swamp we see lots of animals. Like this deer.

 

 Or this hawk out hunting. 

 

Hunter has decided that birds, mud, and swimming are his favourite things. It can be a problem trying to get him to come when those things are present. He's a bit of a pain in the butt.

The sunsets have also been quite beautiful!

Overall I hope this warm weather stays. I'm enjoying wearing shorts and t-shirts in this 20º to 25ºC summer, even though it's supposed to be winter. 

Goodbye Old Buddy

Today we traded in our car. The 12 year old Toyota Celica was getting up there in age and we wanted to trade it in while it was still worth something. It was kinda sad taking our last drive to the dealer. I know you're not supposed to get attached to material items but our car didn't always seem like just an object. It had it's own attitude and characteristics that we got to know, more like a friend. This was the little car that took us everywhere we needed to go. It was the car I learned to drive in.

Yup. That's how I drive. 

Last year this car took me back and forth to London four to five days out of the week. Sometimes it was packed full of passengers and loaded with camera equipment, despite the tiny space for seating and storage. 

We got a lot of snow last winter and though I drove through a lot of whiteouts and drifts. The snow plowed on the side of the road was higher than the car in a lot of places. 

I think I stayed home this day though...

 

It took us down many side roads for sunrises, sunsets, picnics, and sometimes just unexpected adventures like the one below...

 

Ya, that's a head scratcher. 

This is a closed road used for off roading and four-wheeling. Not for the little Celica. Well we could have made it around but someone thought it was just a little puddle.

We had to call Dad to bring out the Suburban (also sold now), to pull us out.

This car took us all over on our honeymoon. We went up near Wiarton to a cottage on the lake. Some days we would just go out and drive, not really with any plan or even knowing where we were going. We'd just drive. 

 

I hope someone buys it and enjoys it as much as we did. They will be getting a reliable vehicle and should expect kids to say "whoa, look at that cool car" as they pass by. We will miss our good little buddy, the Celica.

Wintery Blue Skies

Last week Fuzz and I went for a little drive out and about just for the heck of it. There were a couple of houses that we did purposefully put on our route. This one below is one in Arkona that Fuzz saw while doing some landscaping nearby this past summer. The weather was abnormally warm and snowless for this time of year but this winter just seems to be full of days like this. The sky was a very nice blue though.

This next house is outside of Thedford. When I was little I wanted to live here. The barn was still standing at that time and you could hardly see the house through the weeds and vines. There was an old rusty tractor that sat off to the side, also just peeking out of the creeping vegetation. Obviously someone has been doing some cleaning and clearing out here. I'm glad I took a picture of it now before the house is gone.

I like me some old crumbly houses.