First Tracks!

So we finally had our first day snowboarding this year... Finally!!! One of the resorts opened early, and so I convinced Mike that there wouldn't be a better way to spend his day off. I had to get my TB test read that day, but I figured we could do it on the way to the hill. I was scared I'd have to wait a while for it, but no, the receptionist didn't even get off the phone, she just looked at it, signed off, and I left. Off we went. Mike had said it would take an hour and a half to two hours to get there, but we actually did it in just over an hour. It was a lot closer than he was expecting! That made me happy.

The hill was pretty pathetic in size, but I had been expecting that. They were making snow, which I was expecting as well. They also had a decent amount of natural snow, which pleasantly surprised me. It was sunny and cold, perfect for boarding. Since it was so early in the season, they only had one lift open, and two runs. It was enough, just to get a taste of what I've been missing. I rode my new board, and it handles really well. I felt comfortable on it immediately, which was awesome. I was even comfortable getting a bit of air here and there! Since Ontario doesn't have a lot of big mountain terrain, they have to make do with park and trick riding, so I'll be expanding my experience this year and learning how to be comfortable in the air as well as on the snow.

We rode for three and a half hours, but then had to quit as we had made plans for the night. Despite the fact that it was an Ontario mosquito bite of a hill, I really had a good time. I think I'd have a good time anywhere, so long as I could snowboard. It really felt good to be back out on the board. We even stopped off for our traditional dinner of breakfast food on the way home. There are a bunch of all day diners in Barrie, and Mike has promised to take me to all of them at some point! Blue mountain, where we have our seasons passes, is quite close to Barrie, but is not open yet. Soon though, they keep promising.

That evening we met up with everyone to watch an AHL hockey game - the Hamilton Bulldogs (farm team for the Montreal Canadiens) vs. the Toronto Marlies (farm team for, you guessed it, the Toronto Maple Leafs). Mike's friend Chris had gotten us all free tickets, and it was a good game. Hamilton won. One of Mike's friends was there who we haven't seen since last April at Telus, and it was nice to see him again. After the real game, some of the guys joined up with a high school team and played on the "pro" ice. Us girlfriends (and Mike and Jamie) were left to watch them, but we got bored and went to a pub back in Dundas instead. The guys met us there afterwards, and we eventually finished up and went home to sleep.

Mike worked yesterday and then headed up to his friend's birthday party in Barrie; he spent the night so I've had the house to myself for the whole weekend. I've told myself I'd be productive, but it didn't really happen yesterday, so I'll have to be productive today instead. We've finally figured out where our storage locker is, and gotten a key from the building super for the locker room, so all I have to do is buy a lock and fill it up with everything we don't need in the apartment. I suppose I'll vaccuum and do dishes too... Perhaps some laundry. Good thing I don't subscribe to "Sunday is a day of rest!"... It's "Sunday is a day of getting things done" around here!

The Entertainment Issue

Saturday Mike and I accompanied Lauren, Mike W, and some friends to Niagara Falls. At night. After some ingenious maneuvering by our driver to bypass the highway construction, we were off. It's not too long of a drive, only about 45 minutes. Lots of bright lights and loud music. We started off in a maze, which everyone was able to complete quickly. With the seven of us running around, though, we kept bumping into each other and of course, we all acted like we were about 5 years old. Nothing like a little immaturity to start off the night!!!

Next stop was the arcade, where we wasted some money playing carnie games, and wound up winning some prizes. We all had wooden pink mice hanging from ourselves by the end of the night. If you pull on their strings they do jumping jacks. We wandered down to the actual falls from there, and watched the lights changing colours. They were pretty loud, but rather impressive too. Our last stop was the casino, where everyone wound up ahead, which was awesome. Mike put his winnings into his so-called "piano fund", sweetheart that he is. We eventually made it home around 3am, but not before the kids had their McDonald's. I guess at that time of the morning you don't have much choice of where to get food... But still!

We were up far too early Sunday morning to enjoy breakfast with Mike's family. It was delicious. We went to Apple Annie's, where Mike and I had taken Eryn previously. The rest of Sunday was a bust, Mike and I just watched movies and relaxed. And napped. Monday night Mike and I went to look at a piano, and found that it would suit both of us just fine, and so we got it!

Mike arranged a bunch of his friends to help move it Tuesday night, and so I cooked them all supper and cookies, and Mike gave them beer. Mike brought home a gigantic truck to move it, and between four of them they managed to get it into the truck and drive it here. Apparently it was very questionably tied down, but they managed to make it, and now I have a 1947 Mason & Risch piano sitting in our dining room! It plays like an old piano, needs a bit of tuning, but perfect for our price range and expectations. I really wasn't expecting amazing things out of it, and it plays to my satisfaction. It's really dusty inside and Mike is convinced he's going to clean it all out! I told him to have fun with that...

It's snowing a lot today, it makes me happy! One of the hills is opening today, so Mike and I might go check it out tomorrow. They've been having a lot of snow up there, so I'm hoping it will be ok. It's small... really really small... But better than nothing!!! So hopefully we can try it out tomorrow!! I have to get my tuberculosis test 'read' for work tomorrow though, I figure maybe we can go on the way. I know I don't have it, but I need the doctor to say so for work, so I can actually start working soon. Mike and I are going out for a nice supper tonight, it will be nice to dress up and go out somewhere fancy. He's taking me to an old mill, which is old in every sense of the word, and is supposed to be quite nice.

Busy Bee Part Two

I didn't get to tidy everything up until Saturday, while Mike was at work. Friday night we had Lauren and Mike over for supper and then played 80's Trivial Pursuit. We sucked! That one's tough! Saturday night we played Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit, so it was quite a trivial weekend. Two other couples came out for Saturday night, and we ate snacks and played games. It was a nice alternative to going out to the bar!!!

Sunday Mike and I were going to go for a hike. We found another waterfall, but unfortunately the trail was only 400 meters long, and we were a bit disappointed. We decided to go out to the parents' place instead and maybe hike around there (they do have 50 acres after all!). Mike wanted to get his pacer up and running too, so off we went. Four hours later, Mike was still cleaning the bloody car! I couldn't believe it! I spent the time chatting with Mike's mom in front of the fire while the girls napped. When Mike finally finished, there was just enough daylight left to wander up to the back of their property. The trails through their property are pretty basic, a few ruts here or there from the ATV's, mostly swampland with some stands of trees. It was interesting to see, with no development. Apparently people hunt deer out there; we found a few shell casings on the ground.

It got dark just as we walked back up the driveway, and so we called it a night and headed home to find some supper. We were feeling lazy, so we had the wonderful bar staff make us food. It was quite delicious. Mike rented us a couple movies, and we relaxed on the couch to watch Spider Man 3.

Monday I got stuff ready for the dinner party, and cleaned up the apartment a bit. Mike cleaned his car after work (he's a clean freak when it comes to the pacer), and we watched Reign Over Me, which was actually quite good. Yesterday was the day of the dinner party! We had Mike's friends Chris and Abby over, and I cooked Lemon Chicken Risotto, which turned out wonderfully, and everyone liked it (or so they said at least!). Mike fixed the salad, and I also made a crisp for dessert. The usual Trivia Tuesday followed, and we came in second by one point yet again.

I also heard from the potential job yesterday, and they cleared all my references and want to continue with the hiring process. I went in to get some paperwork for my crim record check and doctor's note, and I asked them about vacation time and schooling, and they said they try to be flexible, especially in the case of school, so that's good. So today I have to find out where to get my check done, and make a couple appointments. Fun fun.

Busy Bee

So mostly pictures today; I took a lot of them with Eryn because Mike and I were showing her around the area. Meant I got to take lots of pictures! A lot of them turned out well, and it was a good visit, so I thought I'd share some of the better ones.

After Eryn's flight was delayed in Calgary for two hours, She finally got in to Toronto. I didn't mind the delay THAT much, because it meant that Mike got home and could make sure I went the right way. Really, he wasn't much use at all, but it was comforting to have someone else there! We took Eryn out for supper with Lauren, Mike W, and a few of our friends. Lauren and Mike requested Turtle Jack's for the video games, so we caved and went to meet them there. It actually provided some dinnertime entertainment, watching the two of them try to beat each other at the games! Eryn was pretty tired, though, so we just went home after eating.

Mike took Saturday off work so that he could come to Toronto with us. We ate breakfast at Apple Annie's in Burlington, which we all agreed was delicious. From there we parked at the GO train station, and took the train into Toronto. No fuss, no bother! The train let us off right downtown, and we did some window shopping and wandered around downtown Toronto. When we got tired, we just hopped on the train back to Burlington, and picked up our car. Eryn had a lot of fun on the train, it was something fun to do! Mike and I decided to take Eryn out to Dimitre's, which is a dessert place that also happens to serve dinner. The dinner we forced ourselves to eat was pretty good, and the desserts were delicious!

Sunday we showed Eryn the nature that was around Dundas. We went to three different sets of waterfalls, and a bit of a nature hike, then did some more window shopping at the most organised Winners we'd ever seen. I found a blazer to go with my pants for my interview, and a muffin tin. We also drove around the new development area - houses for millionaires! Mike and I stumbled across it by accident a few weeks ago, and decided to show Eryn the ridiculously huge houses there. That sparked a tour of Lakeshore Road in Burlington, where even more millionaires hide out. After such a long tour, Eryn was only too happy to make us her famous chicken parmesan for supper.

Tews Falls were the first falls we visited. They're on part of the Bruce Trail, which connects all of the Niagara Escarpment Parks. Tews Falls are a pretty good example of escarpment falls; typically the water tumbles off a very sheer cliff and finds a valley to flow through. It's part of the Webster's Falls Park system, and is protected by the city of Hamilton, which assumed ownership of the park when the surrounding areas were amalgamated into the city of Hamilton in 2000.

Tews Falls is connected with Webster's Falls by a short trail, only about a kilometre or so. Webster's Falls Park is part of the Niagara Escarpment Parks and Open Space System. There are a lot of local conservation agencies that, along with the government of Canada and the province of Ontario, have been purchasing and protecting historically significant park lands. Webster's Falls is part of the Spencer Creek System, which runs through the town of Dundas. In the early 1800's, a dam was built at the top of Webster's Falls, to provide the surrounding industrial area with power. There were a lot of dams constructed on Spencer Creek throughout the 1800's and into the early 1900's.

Ashbourne Mills drew on the power of Webster's Falls, and was constructed in 1830. It was used to mill flour, grist, and oatmeal until it was destroyed by fire in 1898. The cobblestone bridge that currently spans the creek used to be a dam, but was converted to a bridge in the 1930's. The bridge became the focal point of the park, and was a popular tourist attraction for many years. Eventually the bridge became unsafe, and was shut down to the public. It was repaired by the Optimist Club of Greensville, and re-opened on Canada day 2000.

Our next stop was in Waterdown, which is one of the oldest towns in the area. Mike took us down to Smokey Hollow, which had another waterfall in it. The waterfall belongs to Grindstone Creek, which was a busy milling area during the 1800's. The industry started in 1805 with a saw mill, and soon grew. With all the industrial smoke, the valley soon became known as Smokey Hollow. In the early 1900's, the source of power shifted from water to steam and electricity, which resulted in many of the mills closing down. There were numerous fires, and when the railway was constructed through the valley in 1912, the mills gave up for good.

You can actually see quite a few remnants of different buildings along the banks of Spencer Creek, and other watersheds in the area. It's interesting to go for a walk along a river here, because you just never know what you're going to find. Grindstone Creek is just one of many. The railway does in fact go right over the creek, as does the current road.

As we drove back towards Dundas on Sunday, we took the Lakeshore Road route, which takes us past, you guessed it, the lake shore! We stopped at a little lookout point to look off at the horizon. It's easy to forget it's not the ocean after all; there were the same Canada Geese (and their resulting poop) everywhere, there were the same large waterfront houses, and it even looked like Crofton out in the distance. But no, it's actually Hamilton, and it's actually a lot bigger than Crofton ever could be! That and it doesn't smell like the ocean. But it was still fun to just look out and say "wow that's big!".

On Monday Eryn and I intended to go for a walk around Dundas and see what we could see, but we woke up late and it was raining, so we bought groceries and I introduced Eryn to Bulk Barn instead. We went into Cambridge to visit Mike and work, and Eryn took a fast car for a test drive, and had a blast doing so! We stopped at Costco on the way home so Eryn could buy some delicious cheese, and then we went bowling after supper. Laser Light Rock-a-bowl, and we were the only people there. Ten pin, too, which Victoria doesn't have any more!

Tuesday Eryn and I actually did our tour of Dundas. We took the historical walking tour, and all of the building pictures are from our historical tour. They're some of the older houses and buildings around town. I showed Eryn where Lauren and Mike live (theirs is the white house with the gray shutters and porch). We also stopped at the drive-in park. I'm still not sure why it's so important to be drive-in, but it had some cool old stonework and an interesting purple dinosaur which Eryn had fun on (she looks so good in this picture I had to include it!), so it was fun. There are a lot of old churches around town, and a lot of the houses date back a few centuries, which is sweet. We finished the day by taking a picture of the front of our building, which is a converted warehouse, built in 1918.

Tuesday night was supper with Mike's parents, and then they joined us for trivia. It was overall a great night, everyone got along well, which is always good! Wednesday Eryn packed up her things, then we went out to breakfast in Hamilton, and drove out to the airport. It snowed on the highway as we were driving, which I found exciting, but Eryn wasn't quite as excited about. I saw that she got on the plane fine and dandy without any major delays, and then drove home all by myself, and didn't get lost! Wednesday night was hockey night of course, and the boys played their worst game yet. The other team was up 8-2 and still trying to pick fights and hitting our team. Josie and I were getting very annoyed at the other team... At one point the other team's goalie was punching one of our forwards! We were not amused.

More to come later, but I'm written out right now. It's been busy!

Jobs!

So the news of the day is, I have a job interview on Tuesday! About time, I know, but it's great timing as far as I'm concerned. It's for another group home, 20 hours a week, which would still leave me time for that masters should I decide that's the way I want to go. At least I can start getting my life in order this way.

Tuesday was Mike's birthday, and he decided he wanted to celebrate by having a few friends over, and then heading out to do trivia. He had quite a few drinks bought for him, which he was happy about, but I wasn't quite as happy about! I just wanted to go home after trivia, but Mike still had half a pitcher and no one to help him finish it. It was his birthday, though, so he got to stay as long as he wanted to. Mike and Lauren brought over an air mattress beforehand, so that Eryn will have something to sleep on when she gets here.

Tuesday was also my first real workout at Curves (yes, I am menopausal. Very very early menopausal.). It got my heartrate up, I figured out all the machines, and I'm ready to get strengthened up. I'll be going again today. It will be a nice walk over there because, once again, it's sunny and warm out! Last night was rude though, after hockey it got extremely windy and started pouring rain.

Yesterday was Mike's friend Declan's birthday, and at one of the local restaurants, they send free meal coupons to your e-mail on your birthday. So Mike, Declan, and their friend Chris (whose birthday it was last week) all had coupons, and we decided to all go out for supper last night. Turns out Declan never got his coupon, so his fiancee paid for him instead.

The boys won their game again last night, and were pretty pleased with themselves. I was pretty pleased because there were three other girls there to watch with me! We don't usually have that good of a turnout. The guys definitely had fun, Mike of course pretended he was terrible again, but I actually watch the game so I know he's not even close to being the worst. That spot is reserved for number 6, who I don't actually know and I'm sure he's a very nice guy, but he's quite the puck hog! And it costs the team! But it's just a recreational league, so really, it doesn't matter all that much.

I had my photos developed here at Shoppers, and they gave me a CD with them all on it already! Pretty decent, for $10 a roll, I got double prints and a CD of all my shots. So I can share my SLR photos too, which I'm sure is a good thing, right?! I've been having fun figuring it out; took it out a few times on the drive over and a few times while wandering around Dundas, but the best photos are from BC (duh!). Not just for the scenery, but those were summer time pictures so there's much more light and much more going on! Ah well, I had fun, and that's all that matters, right?! Photos this week are all from the SLR: Spencer Creek in Dundas, old buildings at the port of Thunder Bay, a gate in a wall in Dundas, and jetsam at Long Beach. The final shot is just an old one from Whistler, shows what I've been dreaming about lately!!!