A day in a distillery

When I woke this morning it was raining heavily. Then the thunder started and the lightning came. Oh no, not today, not when Moo and I are off to Toronto!

Moo wondered if she should wear my new Wellies!

We took umbrellas. Mrs Royal picked us up and we drove to our local town, parked in the Go station, met up with SportySpice and got a bus to Downtown. It rained all the way there but luckily for us it stopped the minute we got off the bus, apart from a few drops later on. SportySpice and I chatted all the way there, we have lots in common and will definitely be meeting up again. I am going to teach her how to crochet.

We walked to St Lawrence Market. The smells, the colours, the sounds were amazing. Lots of people milling about.

We perused the pastry shelves and ooh'd and ahhhh'd over the breads and cakes.

We watched a man make pasta and tried it, it was so good we almost sat down and had our dinner there and then, until we realised it was only 11:30. So we walked round a bit more and went to the craft stalls where we stayed for a very long time.

I met a lovely lady who was from England, originally from Leicestershire and her parents now lived in the Midlands. She noticed me clutching a British Food leaflet and looking longingly at some English fabric she had brought over and made into a bag. We got talking. Moo bought a bag from her. She had a lovely company name Froggy Fingers - must look her site up.

I bought myself a couple of bracelets for Huffle to give me for my birthday and Christmas and a couple of presents (shhhhhhhhh - can't say!).

Saw these cheeky faces whilst waiting for our coffee

...and boy were there plenty of coffees?

 

We left the market area and walked off towards the Distillery District.

This was the sculpture that greeted us at the entrance to the district.

It was huge!

It was a beautiful cloudy sky.

Lovely old buildings, cobbled streets, we saw a wedding, it was a great place to 'people watch'. The shops were very expensive but great to look around.

We found some smaller craftier shops with lovely paintings, great knitwear and fabulous furniture.

There is Mrs Royal and SportySpice walking in front. We were looking for the Creperie where Mrs Royal wanted to take us for lunch but we ended up in a theatre where we met an actor who was very nice. He took a bit of a shine to Moo and told us to come and see a show next time she was here, stay behind to the end and say Hello! Oooooohhhhhhhh!

Another sculpture. Lovely old bricks on the buildings.

 

 

A wooden wall made up of lots of bits of wood.

 

We ended up eating in a Bakery. Gorgeous huge sandwiches. We sat outside in the sunshine and watched the wedding being photographed.

Moo, SportySpice and Mrs Royal

This was my roasted vegetable sandwich with Stilton mayo - yummmmmmmmy

We went in lots of lovely shops and then decided to take the street car to a big sports shop as SportySpice wanted some bits. All the clothing had strange names and little reasons for wearing them, very cute and made us laugh. I bought myself a new pair of running shoes. I am definately taking up running again. There, I have said it, so that means I now have to else I will look very silly won't I?

 

Ooooh look, the CN tower.

Gorgeous little old school house

Beautiful mews houses

Saw this painting on the side of a building. Lovely.

Oh, the CN Tower again. I could see the people walking around the edge or hanging off the edge - mad people!

SportySpice and Moo

Toronto buildings

We got back on the bus and travelled wearily home. We had a fabulous day. Very enjoyable. Very good company.

The boys and Huffle had had a good day. They had played lots of games indoors while the rain and storm was happening and then went in the pool to finish their day. When we got home they were having their tea. They told us what they had done, had showers, watched a bit of Tv and went to bed.

 

 

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We can buy in Minutes in the UK!

Every night as we go to bed, we get Smallest up to go to the toilet. Most of the time he doesn't even know he is getting up. Sometimes he looks really funny and sometimes he says really random things. Yesterday's post title was one "up the pigs". Last night as I lifted him, he shouted "three figs!" and then "BYE" really loudly. He always asks the next day "did you get me up, what did I do/say?". He loves to hear but can never remember.

Another hot day. So hot in fact that weather warnings were saying it may be the hottest day in Canada ever! At one point my car said 39*. Ridiculous.

On the way back from shopping this morning

On the way back from the cinema

After breakfast this morning I got to go shopping by myself (only for food!). As I went from the air conditioned house to the air conditioned car and into the air conditioned supermarket, I wondered did we really need to hide in the cinema today. Then I got out of the car to put the shopping away. The answer was YES we really did need to stay indoors today. I was brought up with the thought that 'make the most of the sunshiny days'. 'get outside when it's warm' but here you have to think differently. There are many many hot days and we don't need to be outside on all of them. There is a whole Summer to be outside.

So, once I was back from shopping and we had a quick lunch we drove to a nearby town and sat and watched 'Brave'. How the Canadians understood the dialogue I will never know, but they laughed along. It was a good film and the boys enjoyed it.

Lovely old art deco cinema

Wall E sits quietly in the corner

Just $5 each for a matinee. The boys saying Hi to Stan!

When it was finished we went to a coffee shop and the boys had ice creams. It was nice and cool so we stayed there for a while.

Smallest couldn't manage his ice cream so we had to help him

We passed an appliance outlet shop and went in and asked about their washing machines. They said we could take a machine from the floor (meaning it was less expensive than one they would order and we could have it the next week). We chose one and even decided to buy the matching dryer too - the price was that good). Then the young man that worked there rang his manager to check when it could be delivered and it all went wrong from there. It could only be delivered on the 17th July and they couldn't get the local guys to deliver it as they were too heavy, so that was that. They were not prepared to help anymore than that so we walked away. FOOLS! How do they make money? We went in to buy a washer and offered to buy a dryer as well and pay for the delivery.

We drove home, decided it was too hot to even go in the pool and came inside and played Disney Monopoly. We started the game from scratch (we normally deal out the cards for quickness) and decided to play for an hour and then come back to it at a later time.

Huffle came home and I went off with him to look at washers but unfortunately it was a wasted journey. Two open shops, who again were not very helpful and two shops shut! When we got home Moo had emptied the washer of yesterday's water - it stunk! I think she was hoping we would come home with a washer and we might need to get it in. Nice try. Huffle is looking on the Internet AGAIN!

We played hide and seek in the house and then the boys went to bed. Boys are in together again and Moo is in Smallest's bed. JUST RIGHT this time!

Tomorrow Huffle has the boys all to himself while Moo and I are in Toronto with Mrs Royal and her DIL.

Just saw a picture of Grandad's garden. It is under water. All of his vegetables. What a shame. Apparently the Uk have had another month's rain in one day again!

 

"Up with the Pigs"

The air con kept everyone sleeping soundly (although Moo found Small's bed too hard - is she goldilocks?).

Huffle went to work and wished he hadn't (bad day from the moment he got there apparently).

After breakfast, the boys got their shower/bath while Moo sorted the laundry. It was at that point that we realised the washer had tripped the circuit breaker. We went and had a look but it seemed different to the one we had back in the UK. We called trusty Mr Royal who came and looked for us. He switched it back on and the washer worked for about two minutes and then it tripped again. We did this a few times and then it started making a weird noise. We left it full of bedding and headed out to the library. It was a hot one again. Not as humid as yesterday but still very warm.

We made it to the library, coloured in, the boys chose their books, Moo and I read a magazine in peace.

Off we went for a play on the park.

Then to the local cafe for lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches. We bumped into Mr Royal and Prince (also having lunch), Moo told them the washer was now broken! Mr Royal might know a man who mends or a man who sells!

We walked back wearily with a heavy bag of books, two boys on scooters and ourselves (Moo and I). The house was lovely and cool. The boys played on the wii and Moo and I read our books outside in the sunshine. We attempted to empty the washer but it just smelt funny so we left it, took the bedding out and tried to wring it in the garden by twisting each end. It hung on the line for ages while we worried if we would ever get it dry (till I said "we do have a dryer!". Oh yeah, we forgot!

After a while we went in the pool. Still not completely clear but a bit better. Small had a slight injury. He was climbing the steps and slipped back and banged his shin. It was my fault obviously!! We put him on a chair and raised his leg. He wasn't there long before he jumped in the pool and became annoying!

A banged shin!

Smallest's resting spot

Moo stayed out today and was lifeguard. Kids had their dinner on the deck and then got back in the pool afterwards.

"Look at that health and safety hazard!"

Ummmm meatballs and pasta

Trying to pull me in the pool.

Huffle came home and jumped in the pool to get cool. We stayed out till about 7pm and then herded the kids in - Smallest decided to go to bed at just after 7pm as he was tired, however, Moo is having Smallest's bed tonight and Smallest is on the air bed in Small's room. Smallest's room was one big battle of go-go's, bakugans, Lego, soldiers, you name it, plus there was a book of puzzles on the floor so we all cleared it up so Moo would find her way to bed!

Huffle had BBQ dinner, I had vegetable pasta and Moo had the doggy bag we brought home yesterday (well she didn't want to waste it!).

Moo watered and got bit by Mossies!

 

C'mon Chippy's, get some of this! (she wasn't really saying that, she really was watering the plants!)

Huffle is scouring the internet for a new washer. This house cannot survive without one for too long!

Here's a funny thing I forgot to mention, when the plumber was here, he changed a filter. When he showed me the filter I recognised it from when we first moved here. I thought it was a big roll of string and Moo and I used copious amounts of it to tie up the cardboard moving boxes for the garbage! I daren't tell the plumber. I since found out that these filters cost about $20! Wow that's expensive string. Whoops.

I took some photos of the garden while Moo was watering today.

Campanula

Rudbeckia

Scented geranium

Petunia

Heuchera

Day lilies