Living in Aurora

Aurora Celebrates Canada Day - July 1st, 2010

2010-07-01T23:45:00.006-04:00

If you want to learn more about the Canadian history, here is a very nice website for you: Canada in the Making

To conclude the day, here is my favorite quote:

'Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die.' ~ by Pierre Elliott Trudeau

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA!

Bird Watching in Aurora [0010]: Eastern Kingbird

2010-06-30T15:47:00.004-04:00

Eastern Kingbirds [Tyrannus tyrannus] are definitely back at the Arboretum, access from St. John's sideroad and Industrial Parkway. I couldn't believe to see many of them flying around. I usually see one or two, but this time I saw at least 6-7 birds in different locations while walking the Arboretum trail.

Not to mention other birds I saw today. At the pond, the McKenzie Marsh I saw Trumpeter Swan [Cygnus buccinator], our local Canada Goose [Branta canadensis], Mallard, or Wild duck [Anas platyrhynchos], Belted Kingfisher [Megaceryle alcyon] - definitely adult male, Barn Swallow [Hirundo rustica], and Red-winged Blackbird [Agelaius phoeniceus]. Few more - always nice to hear and see everywhere are the Mourning Dove [Zenaida macroura], American Robin [Turdus migratorius], European Starling [Sturnus vulgaris] and House Sparrow [Passer domesticus].

If I saw the Great Blue Heron, Night Heron, Cormorant, Killdear, Caspian Tern, Gull, Cedar Waxwing, Blue Jay, Red Cardinal, Savannah Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, American Gold Finch, Yellow Warbler and the Osprey - that would have been my almost complete collection of birds in the marsh today. However, I wonder what happened to the Cormorants? I don't see them anymore. Sometimes I used to see 10-12 at once sitting and drying up on the sun. Never mind the Osprey, going on the second year, no word on him. He used to sit on the back tree on the North side of the McKenzie Marsh.

And now back to the featured bird. The Eastern Kingbirds has a unique flying pattern. I recognized them by their hovering movement. I recall once photographing their nest where the parents would hover over our heads. It was after that incident I read that they can also attack if their nest is in danger. So be careful.

Well, it all ended with seeing few Cedar Waxwings [Bombycilla cedrorum] after all, just before the Optimist Park. What a nice not even anticipated birding day in Aurora that was.

About the photo. Note the nice blurry background, as it was windy today. In this case the wind was the artist to paint this background for the Eastern Kingbird. I cannot take all the credit, nature always has a lot to do with all the images I capture everyday.

Moment Of Disappointment - The Art & Crime, Graffiti

2010-06-30T14:44:00.000-04:00

Today our day started early. Beautiful and cool day too. We spent most of our morning walking around the neighborhood - boardwalk on St. John's sideroad, Community Arboretum (access from Industrial Parkway), Optimist Park, couple of other playgrounds, pit stop at Superstore and then back home. Total of three hours of walking.

It was nice morning, until I saw something that I always feared to see. Every time the community puts out something new - the graffiti artists will have to ruin it. Yes, the Arboretum map is now ruined, as you can see above on the photo. I just don't understand the mentality and the concept of graffiti. It is a nice art, and I admire it a lot when I see it, but on the designated areas only. This one is not even artistic, not even worth looking out - its a pathetic scribble. The same graffiti criminal or vandal artist also left a signature on the garbage container just before the bridge, and on the Clean Water for Lake Simcoe sign, this time in white paint. I hate to write it again, this really ruined my day! What can we do about this underground culture that operates at night?

So I wanted to know more. Searched for graffiti art and crimes in Aurora, and I find this link on the Aurora Public Library website: 'Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall - Index of thousands of graffiti images from hundreds of cities around the world. The goal of the site is to publish and preserve disappearing graffiti art. The site also provides cultural information and resources to spread information about graffiti created by artists.'

Looks to me this is bigger than I thought.

An Earthquake Hits Aurora Ontario

2010-06-23T23:02:00.000-04:00

I am sure that most of us in Aurora and beyond felt today's earthquake. It was about 1:15 pm, I put my son to sleep and started to check my emails and consuming a juicy sweet watermelon. Around 1:45 pm I felt this weird feeling around me initiated by the increasing vibration of my office desk. Especially because I wasn't leaning and I wasn't touching the keyboard at all. In a second, I knew it was an earthquake. When you experience an earthquake once, you will remember it for life. Back in 1998 or 1999 I was working in Bolton, and I had the same vibration on my desk then, however, the news didn't travel that fast as today, so I found about it few hours later. Yes, Twitter was really busy today as I was watching the news. I think with everyone sending tweets, probably the Twitter itself was experiencing the 'tweetquake'.

So, are we prepared. In my mind I always had this plan, that I will save my computer and some of my personal belongings if something like that should happen. Well, what I did today, was totally different. I calmly got up, and headed to see my two year old son, nothing crossed my mind should I take my data with me. I know, I know I am exaggerating a bit, but I always go for the worst case scenario. I turned off the ceiling fan, and looked at my son still sleeping in his bedroom. I saw that the bed was slightly shaking. Then I moved closer and he was actually shaking with the bed, but asleep - the shakes were increasing. I just grabbed him and headed down stairs, and in worst case scenario outside away from the building. But by the time I came calmly downstairs, it was gone. I called my husband at work in Concord, and he felt the same. All that in about 15 seconds but felt like 15 minutes.

I never felt the aftershocks, but definitely my body was going through some. Interesting how my priorities changed from my original emergency master plan. I was very happy with my decision, and I am glad that the quake wasn't that bad after all.

Backyard Visitors - The Feral Cats

2010-06-17T00:28:00.000-04:00

Throughout all the years living here in Aurora house, we had so many different visitors to our backyard. I used to have Roger rabbit trimming my burning bush every winter, raccoon the Pooper living poop every where - I mean every where including the fence. One time for a week we had a family of skunks - mommy, daddy and a child. Birds are given (robins, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, cardinals, chickadees, juncos, morning doves, sparrows, warblers are some). However, having bird feeder we ended up with rodents living in our windows frames or at night running inside the eavesdrop. I am crossing my fingers hopefully they are not coming back - we exterminated some (hope its legal). I once saw a fox walking on our street, never again. Now cats (pets of course) are making their way in. Not to mention the black squirrel, the gray squirrel and the Zoom-Zoom chipmunk. That is 10 in total - hey I can have a zoo one day!

Wait this is not all, 11th visitor is here. When I was pregnant with my son, and I couldn't sleep some nights I would hear a couple of feral cats on our backyard. They were making kind of scary cat noises, after all they are cats. Once I actually looked out the window, of course I woke up my husband for that. Well just in case. I swear there they were, two big bushy cats with long bushy tails up in the air walking on the top of the fence. I can only assume that they were black. I heard that Newmarket near the Antique Store under the bridge had a population of feral cats there, but I would never thought they would make into my backyard.

The door bell rings. I answered the door. 'Hi. I am from Town of Aurora and checking for pet licenses' - she said. 'Do you have any pets?' - she asked. 'No, no, no - not at all' - with that many nos she knew I wasn't in favor of having pets. She was right, I like animals, however, I know I will not be able to give them a full attention, so why having them. After all I enjoy them on my backyard, and after all 11 visitors passed by (and by the way my backyard is small, probably 25 feet deep by 30 feet wide).

And what's with the gusting wind tonight. It feels like winter night, but then sometimes I enjoy windy nights, good nights to unwind and relax.

Lastly, note the above photo is a picture of domestic cat walking on my fence and not feral cat.

Awakenings - Sun Set Over Aurora

2010-06-15T00:19:00.001-04:00

Few years ago my husband and I were driving home from Markham. Once we got off the Hwy 404, we noticed this beautiful red sun on the horizon. We drove into the nearest subdivision under construction in Aurora on the Wellington Street. I climbed the car and I captured this spectacular view. Well, it wasn't exactly what you see on the photo, however, using spot metering resulted in this effect. With very little photo editing I cropped to exclude the construction site.

What sparked to bring this photo back from 2007? I recently read news that the Sun is entering its eleventh solar cycle or the solar magnetic activity cycle. This cycle drives variations in space weather and weather on the ground, and possibly drives the climate change. Since we have so much 'stuff' in space, this solar storms can actually destroy that 'stuff', and those in space may be in danger (yes we do have astronauts living in space).

Did you know that one of the most powerful solar storms occurred in 1859, actually frying transmission lines, setting structures ablaze and knocking out telegraph service on Earth. Today in technology-dependent 21st century, such an outburst could create real chaos by destroying satellites where in parallel the mobile phones, television cables and GPS could be affected. That also makes me think - the back up to the optical media may be more reliable, because the magnetic factor of the solar activity can destroy our hard drives, or storage devices.

On the contrary, we may also see more of Aurora Borealis in Aurora. Auroras are definitely associated with the solar winds, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the Sun. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules causes energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle. Large magnetic storms are most common during the peak of the eleven-year sunspot cycle or during the three years after that peak, thus more Auroras.

The most spectacular Auroras observed and recorded were during the great geomagnetic storm on both August 28 and September 2, 1859. Further from my reading, it was noted that in the past few years the activity of the Sun been low, and scientists are predicting that this solar cycle could be similar to the 1859 occurrence. However, with today's technology, and with the recent Solar Dynamic Observatory launch from NASA we can predict the activity, and prevent some of the potential losses of satellites by redirecting and relocating them.

This is a nice topic to talk about, however, to conclude be prepared to see some spectacular Auroras in the future, hopefully in Aurora. I have seen it once, it was a green light over my house. It was over 8 years ago. May be this time I will see more ...

REFERENCES
[1] 'It's always something, An awakening sun could threaten global satellite communications', HOUSTON CHRONICLE, June 10, 2010.
[2] 'Aurora (astronomy)'; Wikipedia.
[3] 'More Active Sun Means Nasty Solar Storms Ahead', Space.com Staff, Jun 9, 2010

Aurora Playgrounds - Atkinson Park

2010-06-11T15:22:00.001-04:00

If your child or children like slides a lot this is the park. Atkinson Park is the park behind the McKenzie Marsh, on the South side. This park is really surrounded by lot of green land and access to the marsh. It has lot of trees for shades, but not too close to the playground. Adjacent to the playground is a very small basketball court with one basket.

The playground itself has two exploration platforms. One is larger and has more play things, and the other is almost like an observation deck. The sign calls for ages 5-12 years old. The whole area is filled with beach sand. It has four plastic animals - two dinosaurs, an alligators and a frog for climbing.

The larger exploration platform has total of four slides - double long slides, spiral slide and small straight slide for smaller children. Filled with few good climbing units. This is older playground, and usually you can recognize by the color scheme - light brown and green railings. It also has couple of activity stations such as tic-tac-toe on the first level and big abacus on the ground level.

The second exploration platform is much smaller. However, it still has three slides, one double and one single. There is good headroom below, with a small sitting bench.

It only has one tire swing and one toddler swing set (2 pieces). Surrounded by few sitting benches.

There are two access points to the park from Twelve Oaks Drive. Once bypass between the houses, closer to the Old Yong Street, and as you travel further there is another official entrance to the park with the sign. There is no real parking spots, since we all know it is for the local residents. However, if you are planning to drive there, parking on the street should be fine. In general, this is a nice park, however, it was disappointing to see garbage around, and especially broken bear glass bottles. Always inspect playground first before letting your children play - is my advice.

WHERE IS ATKINSON PARK, AURORA, ONTARIO [GOOGLE MAP]

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More White Flowers - The Unknown Tree

2010-06-09T22:53:00.003-04:00

I cannot believe that I spend over two hours searching for the name of this plant, and I cannot find it. If anyone knows, please help. I don't think I have time to search the whole internet.

UPDATE: Today I came back and actually observed the tree very closely. I noticed that it smelled like lilac, and had leaves very similar to the regular lilac. I came back and searched again. I found the name to be the Ivory Silk Lilac Tree. Thanks Me for your help also. The French Lilac may be a bit bigger tree, but then I could be wrong too.

Little info about the Ivory Silk Lilac Tree [Syringa reticulata]
It is a heavily flowering tree, covered by large plumes or pyramids of small white flowers. Blooms late spring or early summer. I found also that this Japanese tree lilac has recently attracted urban foresters because it is a small tree and is good for planting under power lines. The tree reaches 25-30 feet in height, and usually less than 20 feet in spread.

Yellow Then White Now - The Field Daisy

2010-06-08T14:17:00.044-04:00

Have you noticed that all the yellow dandelions are almost gone. The beautiful, and my favorite too Field Daisy are now blooming. I do a couple of hours of walking a day, and I couldn't help to notice that there is a lot of white flowers blooming around, on the ground, shrubs or trees - and not just Field Daisy. Spring, or rather nature is amazing - everything works in harmony and in order.

Field Daisy or Ox Eye are another popular wild flower during spring blooms. This widely naturalized Eurasian plant has flower heads with a yellow center and white rays and is considered one of the toughest perennial wildflowers. This flower is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. I guess I will have something new to photograph.

And now how about this cute little poem by Ann Taylor I found today and read it for the first time:

I'm a pretty little thing,
Always coming with the spring;
In the meadows green I'm found,
Peeping just above the ground,
And my stalk is cover'd flat
With a white and yellow hat.

Little Mary, when you pass
Lightly o'er the tender grass,
Skip about, but do not tread
On my bright but lowly head,
For I always seem to say,
"Surely winter's gone away."

'The Field Daisy' ~ by Ann Taylor (1782-1866)

15th Aurora Chamber Street Festival - Family Fun Day

2010-06-06T21:01:00.000-04:00

Took me 12 years finally to attend the Aurora Chamber Street Festival. It was my first time and it was a lot of fun. It was also fun meeting some people I knew and lost track for a long time. First, we have visited Aurora Community Arboretum booth since we are very vivid visitors to the Arboretum. We talked a bit to the gentlemen in the booth, and I got a nice Aurora Streets, Parks & Trails Map. Walking along I ran into couple of friends from my past Tai Chi class, Shelly and Dan. All this while waiting for my husband, since he had to go back home and get my purse (I forgot again).

Saw few familiar faces there and there again once three of us re-united. One of them was Mayor of Aurora, Phyllis Morris. Matthew really enjoyed the Mayor's booth where one of the community volunteers made him a paper snake. Snap, snap - I got some pictures too. My lucky husband now has a photo with Mayor of Aurora.

Later, we also ran into Watson's Family Karate School booth, and again more familiar faces. It been long time since I took classes at their place. One of the best places where I really got results and also had so much fun.

We don't remember his name, but one of the neighbors (where I live) who is working for the Community Center in Aurora was there too, and Matthew had a good time pitching the basketball at his booth.

We dropped by the children play area. We watched some children play, and also riding ponies. Lastly, I was last week through blogging I was invited to meet another blogger from Aurora - Cindy from Cindy's Creations who is also Stampin’ Up independent demonstrator. Couldn't remember the name of her company, so I had to stand around at her booth for a few minutes and listen if there was a lady named Cindy. There she was. This is my first time meeting someone from blogging world. Very nice lady, and she creates beautiful cards. Sometime, I wish I had more time on my hand to do crafts. We will just have to wait for Matthew to grow up.

And this is how we concluded our few hours of fun day at the 15th Aurora Chamber Street Festival. I will definitely be back next year, and will be prepared. Matthew will be older, so should be easier. Or should I have a booth too just for fun ...

About Aurora Chamber Street Festival
If you like me and did not know about this festival, the Aurora Chamber Street Festival occurs in around June every year and is situated on Yonge Street between Wellington Street and Murray Drive. The Festival is family-friendly and for all ages, with over 500 vendors on Yonge Street, fantastic entertainment, a vintage car show, musical performances and much much more. No matter if it rains or shines, the event is always on.

Frame It: Distorted Reflection

2010-06-06T00:44:00.000-04:00

Bird Watching in Aurora [0009]: Cedar Waxwing

2010-06-05T00:08:00.000-04:00

If you are living in Aurora, you don't have to travel far to see exotic birds. Last week I was able to capture some nice hummingbird photos [Bird Watching in Aurora [0008]: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird], and today I got an opportunity to photograph the Cedar Waxwing. The do really look exotic, just look at those markings. This flock of waxwings I found on the trees beside the St. Andrew's golf course on the Pinnacle Trail. They were picking on the dry fruit, and if you notice I think they are holding dry fruit with the beak and collecting juices with a tongue. Something new I was able to observe. If you never seen these, St. Andrew's outskirts and the McKenzie Marsh is the place to find them.

I am always amazed how much nature Aurora has to offer, especially birds. Hope you can follow my journey through Aurora and enjoy all my small discoveries.

Junior Kindergarten Adventure Day @ Arboretum

2010-06-04T20:57:00.000-04:00

After nice day of rain, the sun came out again, and everything is nice and green. Its been few days since I visited the Arboretum, and I noticed everything seems to be much greener - new flowers, new insects, even new birds were out. Today we walked from St. John's sideroad and Industrial Parkway, all the way to the Optimist Park playground. It was really nice walk since the sky started to get overcast and the heat wasn't bothering us that much.

Instead of going back through subdivision from the Optimist Park, we have decided to take the same route back. We tagged along the junior kindergarten kids who were on the adventure day. It was nice to see children observing nature: flying butterflies, dragonflies, birds and even vegetation. They all were very attentive. At some point I showed them Gold Finch, but they couldn't see very well. However, they got excited telling me about all the birds they have seen: Red-Wing Black Bird, Gold Finch, Cardinals, Blue Jays in the winter, and even Purple Martin. Okay I need to find the Purple Martin, because I don't have it on my birding list. The teacher was really nice lady, and she educated them very well. They knew so much. Lastly I had a chance to show them juvenile Red-Wing Black Bird and the hovering mother above.

Our exploration day was nice, so many new things I was able to photograph. In addition, one of the boys from the group of children ran towards my son and kissed him. Just like that. Very nice genuine gesture on the boys' side, but everyone knows how it is with all the colds around. Well, teacher apologized and she said - 'He has a little sister'. That was cute. We really didn't mind this time because he kissed him on the hat.

Lost & Found Deposit Box Suggestion

2010-06-03T21:58:00.020-04:00

One day I lost a key to our mailbox. Few days later my neighbour asked me - 'Did you loose your mailbox key?' 'Yes', I replied, 'but how did you know?'. 'Well it is taped to the mailbox and looking for its owner' - she said. I guess she recognized my rubber attached to it, because one day she was collecting my mail when we were on vacation.

There was this set of headsets hanging on the post in the Arboretum. I took a photo of it, and thought - I guess I am not the only one that loose things. I have seen once a set of keys hanging on the tree. Okay, how will the owner find that, it blended totally with the tree.

Suggestion: may be we should have a small deposit lost and found box in the playgrounds or mailboxes. But then you know what happens next, someone else will be helping themselves with free goods. Where there is a good will there will be some bad will too.

If you look closely on the photo, you will notice hanging black headset, never know may be it is yours.

Aurora Playgrounds - Taylor Park, Part 2

2010-06-02T14:32:00.001-04:00

This is part two post about the Taylor Park (see part one here). The theme of the exploration platform is two level pirate boat geared towards younger children. It consists one double long slide, one long slide and one spiral slide - total of 4 slides. It has some lookout windows and climbing units. The first level has actually lots of headroom. It also has lookout windows for children to climb in and out. Decorated with one globe unit.

The exploration platform is designed for children probably 5 and under. Like the other section the ground is covered with small stones or sand.

This playground around has ducks on the springs for children to sway. If you look closely at the second photo you will vaguely see couple of those behind the pirate boat. It also has two toddler swings near by. The curb is quite high in this section of the playground, so parents can sit closer to the playing children. There are benches for sitting, and lots of green grass, and trees for shades.

The park is located near the Snedden Avenue and Bowler Street intersection. Probably Bowler Street is best for parking and has safer access to both parts of the Taylor playground. Read more: Aurora Playgrounds - Taylor Park, Part 1.

WHERE IS TAYLOR PARK, AURORA, ONTARIO [GOOGLE MAP]

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Frame It: Biker

2010-06-01T00:43:00.005-04:00

Aurora Playgrounds - Taylor Park, Part 1

2010-05-31T15:09:00.045-04:00

Taylor Park is the another very spacious and nice park for children to play of all ages (up to 12 years old). It has two exploration platforms in the same park, however, separated. This playground review will therefore be split into two parts: Taylor Park Part 1 will cover the age group of 5-12 years old exploration platform, and the Part 2 will cover the pirate boat exploration platform geared towards younger children, probably 5 and under. Both play areas are covered with sand or small stones, not my favorite.

Help Us Make Fun Safe!
Playground designed for ages 5 to 12 years
Adult supervision is recommended
Always use playground safely
Please report any problems

The exploration is designed for children 5-12 years of age (as it is stated on the plaque). The platform has total of three slides - side by side two long slides and one spiral slide. It has nice suspension bridge which further extends to exercise and climbing section.

This playground section has two swing sets for older children, and one donut like swing. There are benches for sitting spread out through out the park with some trees for shade. It also has tall curb so parents can sit and watch their children play.

The park is located near the Snedden Avenue and Bowler Street intersection. Probably Bowler Street is best for parking and has safer access to both parts of the Taylor playground. Read more: Aurora Playgrounds - Taylor Park, Part 2.

WHERE IS TAYLOR PARK, AURORA, ONTARIO [GOOGLE MAP]

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Put Your Town On The Map With bing - Vote For Aurora

2010-05-28T15:19:00.002-04:00


Put Your Town On The Map With Bing

This is cool contest sponsored by Walmart, Kodak & bing. So far I have only included one photo of our town, but there will be more coming. Hopefully you can vote for me if you get a chance, and if you have a photo let me know and I will vote for you. Let's have some fun. There are cool prizes to be won. Here is the link to our town - Aurora.

READ HERE FOR CONTEST PRIZES

Should you ask what is bing? Bing is the current web search engine from Microsoft advertised as decision engine (whatever that means?). Bing was released by Microsoft June 3, 2009.

Bird Watching in Aurora [0008]: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

2010-05-28T00:12:00.000-04:00

After all, there are hummingbirds in Aurora. I been after them since I was a teenager. Only saw them in books and on television. When I started my birding about 4 years ago, only year later I got my first glance from far away at the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird at the McGregor Park. I was really excited since I waited almost three decades for this moment. The picture wasn't great at all, but hey first encounter is better than nothing. Since then every year I would see one, and never mind, see at my backyard. Since planting this horse chestnut tree, they finally found me.

When we purchased the three at the White Rose (remember that store?), I expected to have the white flower. To my surprise it was pink, not really fond of the pink that much. But then have not see many horse chestnut trees with pink flower, and I am sure the pink had something to do with attracting my new friend.

Today was beautiful day. Last week I spotted hummingbird on the our black alder tree resting. She / he is back! So every day this week I would take my camera and wait patiently. My son was playing and keeping himself busy leaving piles of dirt every where, on the porch, under the BBQ, and many on the grass. I kept telling - 'wait 'till daddy finds out'. Seeing big smile on his face and how happy he was, I just let him do it. Well, then it was my turn to have fun, the hummingbird finally showed up today. Perfect light, perfect sun location, perfect tree location - everything was perfect. I even got my settings ready! Everyone meet my new friend - the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird [Archilochus colubris]. I think I got the species right, according to the book this must be a female. Funny how in the bird world the males are more colorful - so my next project is to wait for the male to show up.

Aurora Landscapes - Driving Along Bayview Avenue

2010-05-24T00:43:00.005-04:00

Views like that don't last anymore! If you want to know where is this place note the Magna corporate building on the back.

Supermarkets In Aurora - Real Canadian Superstore In Action

2010-05-22T23:15:00.001-04:00

The Real Canadian Superstore is striking back again with their PC points and PC MasterCard campaign. Believe or not, I actually ended up with $50 of free groceries last week. What a nice treat! We used to visit Weston Produce regularly at Newmarket, but then when the Superstore came to town - we were not loyal anymore to Weston's. However, we still would come back once in the while to Weston for their fresh vegetables, because they were fresh. They eventually went out of business, and hoping it wasn't because of us. Well they are now Nature's Emporium, and that we visit all the time.

So, Superstore came to town, and it is only about 10 minutes walking distance from my home. It is nice because sometimes you want to take this nice walk if you are buying very little. That is how it used to be in the old days when I was growing up. There were no cars, and there were line ups too. I remember how I was always in charge of weekly groceries. I used to take a bike to town, reserve space in the line for bread at the baker, then go to the butcher shop reserve line there and then reserve third line at the general food store for butter. Since they would open at different times I was able to keep the spots and sometimes I would loose. It all started for me when I was 7 year old. I guess my parents believed giving their children early chores.

Supermarkets In Aurora - Will Sobeys Survive The Supermarkets Wars?

2010-05-21T14:28:00.003-04:00

Bayview Avenue in Aurora became a major supermarket strip. It was only Sobeys before, then Real Canadian Superstore built its foot print on the corner of St. John's sideroad and Bayview Avenue, and now for few months we have new Longo's store. Not to mention the Wal*Mart Supercentre few minutes away. I visit Sobeys occasionally, little less than before - I guess prices do matter these days.

If you took this picture few years ago, the background would be empty. The Sobeys plaza over the years got major face lift. Movie theater was a great idea. I guess good business for both Sobeys and Zellers. What do you think - will Sobeys survive the supermarkets wars? The competing stores in this area are really fighting for consumer attention. Sometimes I cannot get enough of excellent deals.

Constructions Or Mountains?

2010-05-20T14:25:00.016-04:00

Is this construction site or mountains? Of course this is a construction site, we don't have any mountains in Aurora.

It is hard to believe that there is still so much construction stuff going on. Twelve years ago when we moved in to our original house, it was only our subdivision, and now its like living in a new city. I love nature, so I hope that we will preserve good chunk of land for wildlife.

This picture was taken when driving on Bayview Avenue in Aurora.

Look Who Is Back In Town - The Great Blue Heron

2010-05-19T13:58:00.000-04:00

Look who is back in town - the Great Blue Heron, but wait until he finds out who took over the marsh. I still remember how the Cormorants invaded the McKenzie Marsh and herons needed to adjust their stations. This year the Canada Geese took over. They are nesting everywhere, especially close to the McKenzie Marsh boardwalk, and the poop is every where. There are times I don't even go down there. Three reasons - the goose will be standing there, and the last thing I want to have a fight with a goose. Then poop is every where, not a nice thing to bring inside the house with your stroller. Third, I don't know who did it, but some planks been taken out from the railing along the boardwalk - not just in one spot. Last time my kid tried to squeeze through - a danger zone.

Well, I took this snap of the Great Blue Heron when he was flying over the St. Andrew's Golf Course on the St. John's sideroad. It wasn't the close up I was hoping for, but it turn out to be a great composition.

Stop & Smell The Flowers - A Dandelion

2010-05-18T14:07:00.008-04:00

Have you recently stopped and smelled the flowers? No, really. Just lean over and grab one of those yellow dandelions, they are every where, and smell them. I never smell them before, there are so many of them around us that you just tend to ignore the most common things you see everyday. Recently I picked one up and smelled it, wow such a nice gentle relaxing scent. Hey next time I see you with a yellow nose, I know what you did.