Osprey Family



An osprey family is nesting next to the river too. This morning, I saw the adult osprey coming and going and managed to get some shots of that.

Walking on the River Trail


I have been walking fairly often in the morning along the riverside trail. Most mornings, I see three or even four blue herons. I saw this heron right next to the trail just below the old bridge.


I love redwing blackbirds for the splash of colour on their wings.


This morning, I saw some bullfrogs looking like they were lying on the water -- I don't know how they do it!

Scaring What?

I saw this scarecrow by the water's edge while on a walk about a month ago (high time I did some more pictures!). Just what he is scaring, I'm not sure. Gulls, maybe?

This picture is for Sam!

I thought Sam might like this picture of a sidewalk sweeper cleaning the river walk early on a Saturday morning.

Misspelled Sign

I thought you guys might like this sign, which I saw on Station Street recently while on a walk.

Spring Has Started!

It is finally really spring! The last 2 Sundays we have gone to the Frink Centre to check out the status of wild flowers. Evita is checking out the Trout Lily, which was on the verge of blooming the second week.
Not much is happening yet, but hepatica was blooming the first week and was joined by bloodroot the following week. The second week answered a question for us -- are the flowers out when it is rainy? The answer is no, they pretty well close up.

Hepatica

Bloodroot

Easter Visit

We visited Irene and Omie and the triplets for Easter. On Saturday we went for a walk to the conservatory at Centennial Park. One of the favourite things for the kids was to get someone to pull them on the skateboard, using an old hula hoop! Here, Elliot has gotten Irene to pull him! You can also see how tall he and Spencer have gotten (and Mya too)!


Who knew that you could manage three kids on a bike and a skateboard! They also celebrated their 15th birthday a short time ago too!


The spring flowers in the conservatory were ridiculously colourful, so colourful they almost seem fake in the pictures. They're not, though! It's not so colourful outside, although crocuses and even some daffodils and hyacinths are starting to bloom.


We saw a cardinal in a tree on our way home again.

Later in the afternoon, Evert and Sandy joined us along with Nathan, Garret and Mitchell for Easter dinner. It was a really good time!

After preaching both morning and night on Sunday, we headed out to visit my mom and dad. Mom is 8 weeks into her recovery after hip replacement surgery. She is still using a walker for their walks at the mall, but is getting around the house mostly by just having a table or counter nearby. She will be 83 on April 5th, by the way! We played skipbo and dad joined us several times -- we had a lot of fun! The weather was incredible, about 20 degrees F higher than normal. It felt almost like summer. Evita and I went for coffee to a Starbucks that is in a specialty food store in the village. They don't have tables inside, only in a fairly protected patio area. We sat out for over an hour in the sun without our coats on! Remarkable! On the way home, we stopped over with Omie. Irene and her kids were away to Evert's cottage where they were doing some winter cottaging -- they hacked a hole in the lake with an axe for cleaning water!

Last week was spring break for Evita. On Sunday, we went to Presqu'Ile with John and Ingrid to see the migrating birds. We saw lots of swans and ducks of various kinds -- buffleheads, redheads, long tails. It was a beautiful day, but cold, with ice in the water. It makes me cold to think of being a duck at this time of year!

We were in Toronto last weekend to celebrate Omie's 77th birthday. Here she is blowing out the candles! It was a really nice visit. That's Elliot watching.

Some more wintry pictures for you guys! Don't you love the snowman that someone made just down the street near the corner! They used red christmas lights for eyes and the smile is very cute!

It continues to be very wintry -- lots of snow and deep cold (-15 again last night). There are lots of snow scenes -- this bike parked in a snowbank and these mountain ash berries draped with snow. This is for you, Michael!

Oma has things to say to grandson Jonathon, who seems to be listening intently but is probably filling his diaper.

Sam helps his grandpa glue one of his toys back together again.

Sam loves his brother Jonathon. He talks to him and about him and tells him things he (Sam) is doing and "kisses" him by putting his head next to Jonathon's.


It's tiring work being a mother... and an infant!

Welcome to Vancouver! The city was experiencing record snowfalls when we arrived for Christmas -- but we didn't mind! We were glad to get there because we had a new grandson to look forward to seeing -- Jonathon Andrew, born Nov. 26!

Here we are with our 2 grandsons -- Jonathon, who doesn't seem too terribly impressed, and Sam, who celebrated his 2nd birthday on Dec. 12 and was talking a blue streak!

The reason for the trip -- Jonathon. Looking a little bug eyed with his eyes so wide open!

Michael -- this is for you! Christmas lights just down the block from our house and snow storms! The last day of school before Christmas holidays was a snow day -- the middle picture is what it looked like by the end of the day. Evita flew out to Vancouver on Saturday and then there was another storm on Sunday. The bottom picture is what that snow storm looked like. Enjoy! I did, even with the shovelling!

My Dad celebrated his 80th birthday in October a few days after the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving, so we were able to travel to Grand Rapids to celebrate with him and other family. We had dinner at Tom and Mel's. Dad looks a little bemused by all the fuss -- he's not much of one for what he would regard as a fuss -- and then there were 2 or 3 candles on his cake that he couldn't blow out. Apparently there are joke candles that can't be blown out. Bob finally "pinched" out the last flame! It was good to be able to go and honour my Dad and to celebrate him.

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma were also able to visit during Chris and Julee's visit and met Sam for the first time. Great Grandma loved reading to Sam and playing games with him and we also got a picture of 4 generations of Botting men!

Sam loved the red currants growing in our back yard garden! He took them from his Oma -- and he also went hunting on his own! "I know there are some somewhere under here!"

Chris and Julee and Sam visited unexpectedly this summer because of a business trip Chris had to take. Needless to say, we enjoyed their visit. The adults checked out CDs at Chumleigh's downtown and Sam had to check out all of the neighbourhood parks. He also demonstrated his ability to eat corn on the cob!