Onwards Towards Quebec

 

On our way to Quebec city we stopped at Cap-de-la Madeleine for a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. This is a picture of the Basilica from the outside. 

It is a national shrine notable for it's stained glass. This is considered a minor Basilica which means Cathedrals are higher up as seats of the Bishop or Archbishop. 

The Basilica was given that designation in regards to two miracles that had happened here.

Back when the first church was built. Here is a picture of the small original rock church.

The congregation had grown so much that the priest said it needed to be made bigger. The stone to build was across the St. Lawrence river and the river had not froze that year. The priest asked the congregation to pray for the river to freeze. The next morning an ice bridge had formed and the rocks were able to be collected and brought to build the church.

The second miracle involves the statue of the Madonna and child. The priest and a friend were praying in front of the statue and saw the eyes of the Madonna move. Not too sure if anyone else saw this happen, but this was classified as the second miracle.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the Basilica. We said a prayer and then lit a candle for our daughter.

We spent a little time here and got to walk down to the river front as well.

Then it was back on the bus to continue our journey to Quebec City. Once we arrived we checked into the hotel and had a few moments before we headed out to our supper in the Old City.

Just a few pictures of our walk through the gate into the Old City and to the eating establishment we visited. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Next Up Ottawa

Our first stop on our tour of Ottawa was at an Indigenous farm Madahoki. Here we were welcomed to unceded Algonquin land with a traditional welcome song. We then learned about the first people and how they lived. Also learned that the term Iroquois was a derogatory name given by another tribe to the Hanadois (pretty sure I spelled that wrong).

Our next stop was the Canadian War Museum.

This is the area where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies. See that little window at the top of the wall. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the sun shines through the sky lights and hits the window, the resulting shine hits the Tomb exactly.

Our tour did not include the whole of the war museum (something I would really like to get back and see), but we were allowed to walk around the Memorial Hall. 

This is the outside of the Museum. It was cloudy when we went in and then when we left it was pouring rain.

We next got to go and walk through the grounds of the Governor General's residence. It was very interesting as most of the trees planted there were actually planted by various dignitaries.

We saw the Rideau Canal but passed over it so quickly that I was unable to get a photo. There was some very informative information given to us by our guide. Here is a link to read about it. Rideau Canal - Wikipedia

Harvey and I during our free time later that evening took a walk to see the Parliament Buildings. The picture below is of the Peace Flame with the Center Block in the background. This flame never goes out. The Block is being worked on and so Parliament does not meet in this building right now. Instead it meets in the West Block.

This above is a picture of the East Block where the Senate resides and has their offices.

Another picture of Center Block with the Peace Tower.

While resting in our room after our walk about, I heard drums and chanting. Got to see a small Palestinian protest. Nobody really paid much attention from what I could see.

Our treat for the day was getting to sample a Beavertail. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.
 

Menu Monday

 

I managed to quickly do up a menu when we got home for the month, and of course as is usual changed a couple of days already.

Monday

Leftover chili and toast. 

Tuesday

Leftover roast beef, probably made into a stroganoff type meal. There will more than likely be leftovers to have another night.

Wednesday

Homemade pizza.

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday.

Friday

One of the packages of frozen Lazy Perogy Casserole.

Saturday

Porkchops, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. Since we have so many tomatoes I will slice some up as another side.

Sunday

Roast pork, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots.

I have also figured out something to use as an inventory keeper on the fridge freezer. Hopefully that will enable me to keep up with all the bits and bobs in that area. If it works I will do the same for the two freezers downstairs.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

More Travel

 After our trip to and overnight stay in Niagara we headed toward The Thousand Islands for our cruise and then onwards to Ottawa.

Our rest stop was at a place called The Big Apple. As the name suggests there were all sorts of apple products available to purchase inside. Of course there were other items as well.

Then it was on to the cruise around some of the lovely cottages in the Thousand Island location.

A small lighthouse, but what really drew our attention was the castle built on a heart shaped island that was never finished. AKA Boldt Castle. Here is a link to more information on the Castle.

Boldt Castle - Wikipedia

We arrived in Ottawa fairly late, checked into the hotel and found a place to have our supper. Then it was to bed for our early wakeup and tour of the city. 

Oh, yes we were on a bus tour to all these historic places.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday Catch Up

 I thought I would give you a break from the vacation pictures and fill you all in on what we have been trying to catch up on.

We got home to an overgrown garden, which at any other time would have been a blessing. Yet when one has a sore arm it causes a multitude of problems. Meaning I am unable or at least was unable to rest the arm as much as I probably should be doing.

The afternoon we arrived home I notified those lovely neighbours looking after the yard we were home and quickly with Hubby's help watered the plants. 

The next morning it was out into the garden for the two of us. I was out first and picked the peppers, jalapenos, and tomatoes. Harvey came out a bit later and helped me pick the beans. So many beans, so many tomatoes. 

Over the next two days I managed to get all the beans processed and in the freezer and then moved on to the tomatoes. Those are now done as well.

Harvey dug up the potatoes, and the onions. They are now dried and stored for the winter (I do have a couple of pails of potatoes upstairs some of which I will dehydrate slices of probably tomorrow).

Rain arrived late last night and all day today, so I did not get out to pick more peppers, jalapenos and the remainder of the eggplant. Not much eggplant this year so no parma for the freezer. 

I did the budget inserts for the month of August today and we are under budget which really is surprising. Pretty sure I counted lots of September spending (vacation) under last month. Filed all paper work as well. I need to go back and check last month's spending though as something seems slightly off.

One day this week I made my project list and my extra cleaning list for the month. I have kind of cut both back this month due to being away and the stupid injury to my arm. 

So that has been how our time has been spent so far this week. There are a few more appointments I need to make, but I really need to try my best to spend as little as possible over the next few months.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Day Three Niagara Falls and Niagara On The Lake

I don't know why my pictures are not in Gallery. If they ever show up I will fit them in. 

We headed to Niagara falls early in the morning of our third day. Arriving in time to take pictures of the falls, some of the lovely plantings and then needed to get ready for our ride on the boat to the bottom of the falls. 

Most of the boat was filled with what I called youngsters who would whoop and holler every time the spray would come over the sides and front of the boat. By the end of the trip I was very glad to get away from them and kind of dry off. 

We trooped up the hill and got back on the bus, this time heading to Niagara on the Lake, a place I had never visited before. We walked down the streets looking into the various boutiques (and believe me there were lots of them). I even got pulled into one where they were selling facial items after accepting some slivers of handmade soap. They couldn't talk me into purchasing anything and I got out of there as quickly as possible. 

Lunch was in a family style restaurant that was just packed. Probably one of the least expensive meals we had on our trip (if you don't count A&W in Montreal). 

We returned to Niagara Falls and got to see the falls lit up after a lovely supper in a restaurant overlooking the falls. 

Ended up having a really good sleep. Once again we had to get up very early the next morning for the next stage of the journey.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

PS Got my pictures of the day kind of uploaded, but not really. I emailed them to myself, and then had to look hard through various files to find them. Crazy.

Day Two Our Tour of Toronto

 

Our first visit of the morning was to a small park across the waterfront. This park gave us a wonderful view from the opposite side of the area around our hotel. In the final photo there was a plaque explaining the name of the park. I hope that if you make the photo bigger you can read what it says.

The we drove past various sites in the city. If I have one complaint it is that we didn't get enough time to take pictures of Hospital Row, the University and other such sights. Part of the reason for that could have been because of construction. 

We finally managed to get a stop at Nathan Phillips Square after some big circles around it.

A picture of the Peace Arches.

I just love the way this is called "New City Hall" considering it was built before I moved away from Toronto.

All the people there were attending a Unifor speech before heading out to march in the Labour Day Parade. 

Next a few pictures of things we whizzed by.

Old City Hall. I think it has much more character than the newer one.

A couple more from Nathan Phillips Square.

We were then taken to the CN Tower for lunch. Loved seeing the landscape change as the restaurant rotated.

You can just make out Billy Bishop Airport on the right side.

After this we were on our own for the afternoon. We ended up taking a long walk on the boardwalk, walking down Yonge Street and doing some window shopping.

Thus ended the first real day of the tour.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.