Yard chores

 I took the kids to see Barry Beaver's habitat on the weekend. The tree that was dripping sap has now fallen over. 

I suspect Barry worked on it. He has been busy.

The flag pole has been here for ages. We moved here in 2010, and I think it predates the previous owners. 

The flags tend to get wrapped around the fake bird house topper. 

I haven't had a bird in the blue bird nest box in a couple of years. The house wren had taken it over two years in a row. 

When the kids were here on the weekend, I had some helpers. We took down the flag pole. It is very heavy, and tricky to work on it. It has three bolts through the support. I take out two and it will swivel down for cleaning, painting, or repairs. 

The base needs replacing. 

I'll have to figure this out. It needs repainting. It is purely decorative. It isn't suitable as a nest I think.

Birds like to land here: Broad-shouldered hawk.

Brown-crested flycatcher 📹

With astronauts around the moon, this is as close as I get. Hooray for social media. Their Flickr stream is amazing!

We had snow on Tuesday, as well as a skiff on Monday night. It was a bit of a shock. I shovelled the deck, but nothing else. It will melt.

Ironically, Joe Brian set off to have our snow tires removed, just after the last of the snow fell! 

Dinner with Jordan, our hotel in Kingston

We'd taken Jordan back to uni on Sunday, then we went to check out our hotel room. I wanted to check out the amenities. Jordan was washing up at his residence, and we unpacked. I checked out the room service menu! 

It was awfully chilly. 

It isn't tourist season, yet. The rates were lower than they will be. The staff were lovely. We checked in at 3 p.m., while they were working on cleaning the other rooms. Staff were busy and were cheery in the hallway, and wished us a good evening. 

I had to turn the clock face against the wall. I could almost read by the light! It was a nice bathroom.

We could see Wolfe Island from our room window, and it's windmill farm.

We'd planned dinner for 5 p.m. at AquaTerra in our hotel. We'd reserved a table, thankfully. It was quite busy. Our server was a Queen's Law student (i.e., in year 7 of her studies) and she was a delight. She and Jordan talked about their respective studies and about exams beginning shortly. 

We declined an hors d'oeuvre, but the chef sent an amuse-bouche, and it was the best tuna, with an amazing depth of flavour. All I had eaten was two mini muffins for breakfast. I don't travel well. Somebody helped himself to an ice cream when he returned to put the parking pass in the car, just to tide himself over! 

Jordan and I both had the squash tortellini. Mine had shrimp, Jordan's had chicken. 

Grampa had Grilled Ahi Tuna. 

The sun was still up, as the ferry returned from Wolfe Island.

We had trouble finding the camouflaged elevator doors. It was a bit busy with ads on the door. 

We drove Jordan back to his residence and wished him well. He has a busy time ahead with exams, packing, finding a job, and moving in to his apartment in May. It is very exciting. 

Monday breakfast, another cold cloudy day! 

Eggs Benedict:

Belgian waffles:

I overdid it with the cat food. Cinnamon grazed on his kibble, Nutmeg ate her wet food, but not much! 

We were happy to unpack, and settle back in. We never sleep well on the road.

It was wonderful having one-on-one time with Jordan. We hope to go back in summer. 

Trip to Kingston

 We had a lovely Easter with Caitlin, Jean-Luc, Jordan, and Aster! Sunday morning we split up and the three of them went back to Ottawa, while Grampa and I took Jordan back to Queen's University in Kingston. 

The Big Rideau is still frozen in spots. 

I love this little cottage on the water. 

Green grass in some fields.

We made it...

Tragically Hip Way!

We drove Jordan to his dorm. I had his address, I should have plugged it into my phone map. That and the address of the hotel. That gave us some issues.

He dumped off his bag and we proceeded on a tour of the campus. It takes me back, those typical university walls. Joe Brian attended 50 years ago. It's changed. 

It was a brisk walkabout. You can see the winds blowing on the water.

Jordan took us to the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute in Stirling Hall. A student of his is a professor at the faculty.

It takes me back!

This is the coolest thing, a Foucault Pendulum. 

The Nixon rugby field, donated by a generous family.

It was at this point that Jesse, my son, phoned from Vancouver to wish us a Happy Easter. They were hosting his in-laws for Easter Brunch. Bryony was dressed all in blue, she was happy to tell me. What a hoot.

Discussions ensued.

MDCCCLXXIX

Jordan begins exams on Friday. He is home after that for a week, then the family will move his things into the apartment he and a friend have rented for a year. He's job hunting, and will stay in Kingston over the summer, as well. They say kids grow fast, but grandkids grow even faster! 

More on our visit tomorrow. 

In the meantime, we've more snow. The snow tires come off today. Oh yay.