Family Picnic

My favourite thing to do is spend time with family. Life can't get better than hanging with family - immediate family and extended family. Today, thirty-two of us got together for a picnic at Belfountain Conservation Area. It is a small, but very pretty park with a suspension bridge, man-made cave, hiking trail that is part of the Bruce Trail, water fall created from a dam, a fountain (although today the water was only a trickle), and a river. It also help that it is in the town of Belfountain in the Caledon Hills so even the drive to get there is picturesque.

It is so nice getting together and catch up on family happenings and keeping in touch with cousins I don't see very often. The older you get the more precious these times have become. I also enjoy seeing the family and grow as people get married and have their own families. It is then that you realize how fast time really does fly.

I have included many pictures - enjoy the show!

A caterpillar created quick the exciting moments when it fell on Jessica's sweater. They were fine with it crawling on their hands, but when it fell on Carol's foot it created quite the fun!

Caleb stole the show with his wonderful temperament. He sure loves the camera - and the camera loves him! I love this picture of Caleb with his great nana (Aunt Eva)

Our matriarch, Aunt Ivy.

What an incredible lady!

Barbara, in one of her famous poses - slouched in a chair, with her sunglasses on,

and a drink or a magazine in her hands. This time Carol joined her in creating the pose.

On our way home some of us stopped by the Caledon Badlands for more photo moments.

Awwww.... I finally get a good photo with my hubby!

The older they get the more you can tell they are brother and sister. I see so much of nana in them.

Boy Singing Beautiful Song ('Tell Me Why').

I came across this while I was watching a couple of other videos. It is amazing. The message is powerful and the singer is incredible. Enjoy!

Time in Florida

Mom and Dad posing the masks I bought in New Orleans.

I finally have some time to finish my March Break adventure to the south. After Louisiana Don and I went to Florida to visit mom and dad. We arrived on the Sunday, later in the day, after a six hour drive. It rained our first full day there so we spent the day doing mom's favourite activity. One guess....you're right on your first guess - shopping!

Tuesday was spent doing Don's favourite thing - nothing in particular. In the morning we played shuffleboard and I actually almost won a game against my game-winning husband! We relaxed, Don read, I swam, and watched the sunset. Later in the evening we played aggravation with mom and dad. The girls won!

Wednesday: Don wanted to do his favourite activity again so I went to St. Andrew's State Park for the day. I walked through the ruins of a turpentine mill sat on the beach. Isn't interesting that the beach looks like what I left behind in the north - snow! That evening Don and went out to dinner with his mom and her new husband, Ted. They just happened to be vacationing in Panama City Beach for two weeks the same time we were - coinsidences...

Thursday: Mom, dad, Don, and I went to Sandestin, a golfing resort. We went to the Baytowne Warf to look in the shops. What an interesting place.

On our last morning there Don and I went down to the beach. It was early and despite it being psring break time the beach was deserted and quiet.

Plantation Tour Day

Our second day in Louisiana was a rain day so we spent the day touring sugar plantations along the Mississippi River on river road. Most of them were in Vacherie. It was interesting to see the influence of the french, in particular the Acadians (the cajuns)who had been expelled from Canada by the English 200 years ago. Some day I would love to come back to Louisiana and explore this further. One day does not do it justice!

We started at Oak Alley. It got its name from the line of 300 year old oak trees, obvious in the photos. What a stunning home. Sometime in the early 1700's, a settler claimed land for his dwelling and planted two rows of live oaks to mark its entrance that lead to the river. It's so sad to think that it was built on the backs of black slaves.

Jacques Joseph Roman arrived from France and later, in 1741, married Marie D'Aigle, whose family had moved from Canada, and spent much of the first years of their marriage buying and selling plantations. Of their five children only one son, Jacques Etienne, and his two sisters survived to inherit the estate. The grew sugar and flourished. Unfortunately, due to mismanagement within the Roman family, the plantation had to be sold in 1866 and had various owners ever since.

Down the road was St. Joseph's, a 1,000 acres plantation, where we had a private tour. Raised Creole style home predates nearby plantations constructed in Greek Revival style. The home stands on brick columns 8 feet tall to protect from flooding. It was originally owned by a doctor who cared for the families and slaves in the area. Eventually it was purchased for one of the Roman families as a wedding gift. It came fully furnished and with a full staff of slaves. In 1877, they lost their plantation because they couldn't pay the back taxes after slavery was abolished.

Today, it is still a working plantation and some family still live on the estate. I enjoyed this tour since it had a video about the making of sugar, a mini museum, and different outbuildings, such as slave quarters, an out kitchen, and small schoolhouse.

Unfortunately, we just missed the final tour of the Laura Plantation on the same road as the other plantations. I was able to take a handful of pictures but do not have a full context for it, except for what I read. It is a creole plantation and was built in 1805 and restored to same period. At its greatest it was 12,000 acres in size and apparently the manor house is about 24,000 square feet with a detached kitchen that was 2,500 square feet (the size of my house). I can't imagine farming a property that size or house cleaning a house of that size!

Lastly, I took a picture of the Evergreen Plantation. I love the stairs that set this home apart from the other ones we saw. Apparently the main house was constructed in the 1830s and continued to be in operation growing sugar cane until the 1930s.

Red Shirt

I had something very interesting sent to me via e-mail this week. I have copied it for everyone who readds my blog:

Red Shirt

If the red shirt thing is new to you, read below how it went for a man...

Last week, while traveling to Toronto on business, I noticed an army sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class ( across from me), and inquired if he was heading home. 'No', he responded.

'Heading out', I asked?

'No. I'm escorting a soldier home.'

'Going to pick him up?'

'No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Afganistan, I'm taking him home to his family.'

The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's family and felt as if he knew them after many conversations in so few days.

I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, 'Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do.'

Upon landing in Toronto , the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom. 'Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the Canadian Armed Forces join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign.' Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realize that I am proud to be a Canadian.

So here's a public Thank You to our military Men and Women for what you do so we can live the way we do. Red Fridays. Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday. The reason? Canadians who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority.' We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing. Many Canadians, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of Canadians supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every red-blooded Canadian who supports our men and women afar, will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make Canada on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming Hockey game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the Canada is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once 'silent' majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on. The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is 'We need your support and your prayers.' Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something red every Friday.

This coming Friday I will be wearing red. What colour shall you wear?

Trip to the New Orleans Area

Since it has been a while I thought I woul pop in and let you know how my vacation is going. I can't believe that right now I am sitting in a tent (with the rain bubbling on the roof - I love that sound!), on line, and writing about a vacation I am currently on. This blows my mind! Don and I are in Louisiana for three days before heading over to Florida to spend time with mom and dad.
Don and I left on Wednesday and traveled all night to arrive in Louisiana on Thursday around lunch time. We are currently staying at Fountainbleau State Park in Mandeville, across the causeway from New Orleans. It is not a great site since the ground is very unlevel but it works for us in the three days we are here. It was suppose to be a shaded sight but it is not. Apparently during the Ike and Katrina many of the trees were downed. It is still a pretty park but not what I am use to from my camping experiences in northern Ontario (no recycling, people use insecticides to kill the ants and you are welcome to pick up dead wood in the bush to use for firewood - all things that you can be fined for in Ontario (it's that conservation thing we have). I also have never seen so many big rigs in a state/provincially run camground before. There are only a few of us who are tenters. I explored the beach area and the ruins of a sugar mill.
Aw, tenting... I love being in the outdoors. I love sleeping in a tent and hearing the wildlife sounds during the night (as long as it isn't a bear) and eating food cooked over an open fire. I ate the best hamburger ever the other night - slowly cooked and smoked. We have an electrical sight which means we can watch a movie on the laptop - too cool. This has come in handy with the threat of rain. I feel spoiled. I must damit, though, that my tenting days are probably numbered. While the tent is easy to set up and we have an air mattress and I sleep well, I am starting to lean toward having something that makes the night time more comfortable and possibly easier for when I want to camp alone.

Anyway, on to New Orleans. Don and I went into New Orleans yesterday and did a walk-about. I love the french quarter with its architecture and interesting lifestyle. I wanted to tour one of the old homes but it was closed, so we went to the aquarium and just walked the streets since Don is not into museums. At the aquarium we pet a stingray, saw loys of fish, sharks, penguins, and otters. We also watched an IMAX movie titled "Wild Ocean" in 3-D about the sardine run on the east coast of Africa. It was cool. We saw a few sidewalk musicians and performers. I liked the man who had marionettes that sang, danced, and played the guitar to music. I have posted a few pictures for you. Unfortunately, the poverty is still evident and you can tell which areas suffered the most during Katrina.

Today I am hoping to do a tour of some of the plantation homes. Hopefully the rain will either stay as showers or stop altogether. Stay tuned...

Time Away

This past week I rented a cabin at camp. It was the first time I have been at camp in January. I loved seeing how people embrace winter by snowshoeing, snowmobiling and ice fishing. I can now say that I have walked on water, at least camp water! I love seeing the icicles on the buildings and walking in the deep snow.

A teacher friend, Sheryl, came up for three days, Barbara came up for three days and Don came up for two days. I spent the week scrapbooking to my heart's content! I loved this time to relax, talk, and get something accomplished. On one of the days we took Aunt Eva out for lunch. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with family we do not see very often. The older we get the more cherished these moments have become.

My Christmas Photos

As usual, I am late with the challenge. I did my photos is two groups - Christmas Day at Barbara's house and then Boxing Day, also at Barbara's house.

DAY ONE:

This is the second year in a row that Don and I were not home for Christmas. It just made sense this year considering how I was sick before Christmas and getting ready was a challenge. I enjoy spending time with my family so it was not a hard decision to make.

I love nutcrackers. This is one of Barbara's

DAY TWO:
There is nothing better than getting together with my brothers and sisters et al. This year on Boxing Day there was 22 of us, with 20 sitting around the table since the babies did not need there own chair. We enjoyed just passing the twins aound. We never get enough of babies in our family. After dinner we did the usual - the boys did the clean up while the women relaxed. I always like to get a picture of that special family event. It was great to see how the smaller cousins, Joseph and Scott, want to play with the older cousins and look up to them.