May Long Weekend.....

This says it all.

Air Conditioning Season Has Begun

A couple days ago we had to crank on the air conditioner. It was so warm and getting uncomfortable. Today it's supposed to be 25-ish. I checked the Vancouver forecast for comparison and according to that, it'll be 10 degrees warmer here. So sorry everyone. Guess you'll have to move here too. And we have sssooooooo much less rain! We are very happy about that - Except for James, he hasn't had his fill of it yet like we have.

McHappy Shawn!

Local celebrities and VIPs were invited to serve, cook, and collect donations at the drive-thru window on McHappy Day. Shawn had fun (can you tell?) with his DJ buddy from EZRock 91.5. They were all raising money for a new preemie ventilator for our hospital.

Another Greek Actor!

The newest emerging Greek star is Justin. Shawn's nephew. He had a good part in a production put on at his new High School in Kamloops. (They also moved away from Vancouver for a better lifestyle) Fortunately, Kamloops is just an hour away from us, so we can catch things like this. In this shot, he's the cowboy sitting on the rock. All of the other actors are older students, Justin performed very well along side them.

In no time at all he'll be winning awards, just like Shawn did!

I was not able to take flash photos, so I had to rely on just the stage lighting. It looks bright enough, but it was a slower shutter speed - and with no tripod, most pictures came out a little fuzzy.

To Niagara Falls and Back

On Monday the 23rd we flew into Toronto, then drove 1 1/2 hours to Niagara Falls. The event we went for was a convention for Canadian theatre operators, vendors, film distributors, producers, and the like. At the convention, different studios preview all their upcoming movies for the next year, suppliers show their stuff at a big trade show, producers promote specific projects, and awards are given out for acheivements in customer service and exceptional movie marketing. This year the location was the Sheraton On The Falls, next year will be Banff Springs, and in 2009 it's expected to take place in Quebec. Can't wait for that one! This Sheraton has a bonus in the lobby, it's a Starbucks! WOOHOO!






The hotel is in a very nice setting. It faces the falls, New York, and a lot of very nice european influenced gardens to take in right at the doorstep. The park directly in front of the building is designed as an open air theatre. (Although they'll have to use alot of speakers to compensate for the sound of the falls.)



This is the view from our room. Straight ahead are the U.S. Falls, and to the right are the larger Canadian ones. Directly to the left (out of the picture) is the bridge to Buffalo. We considered going for a drive there, but the border line up was far too long to sit in.

The day before the convention got under way, we walked around the falls area, and took lots of pictures. It was hard to choose just a few to post here. The Maid Of The Mist was not running yet (doh!) because the river was still icing over some days. There were plenty of other things to see to make up for it though.

Underneath, and behind the falls, are these long tunnels to walk through. They open up in about 3 different locations behind the falls, so you can get a close up view from there. The tunnels have been in place for around 100 years, and many prominent people have visited them from royalty, to presidents, to movie stars, etc!

Back up on the roads near the hotel are all sorts of specialty-type stores, museums, rides and attractions. The area has a very colourful, busy, Vegas sort of feeling to it. But probably alot cleaner. There are so many things to see and do, we only did a fraction of them. What we DID do was; eat at The Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood, go to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, and then the Ripley's ride, and look through specialty stores like the Coke store. Which was right next to ......

The HERSHEY's store. My flavourite! These 2 important stores opened up to each other, and were right downstairs in the hotel next door. (Which also had a full sized Starbucks in the lobby!)

At the trade show, Alliance-Atlantis had hairdressers from the movie "Hairspray" doing up hair for those willing to go for it. My Beehive hair actually looked alot taller in person, than it does in this picture. It looked so authentic (to the film) that I even had someone make a comment to me, that I did a good job in the production. I didnt want to make him feel bad that I really wasn't, so I just smiled and said "Thanks". After the trade show, we were given a little sneak preview of HAIRSPRAY. It's a very bright, fun, musical and I can't wait to see it again in the summer. (notice the posters behind me, John Travolta is in the one on the left, as the Mom). This photo was taken later at night during a closed party at the DragonFly Club. At the previews, and most significantly at this one, the theatre had a staff of security people who were scannng every person coming in, using the same wands that are used at airports, looking for recording equipment of ANY kind that could take a picture or video. While we were watching all the movies, the theatre staff were consistently scanning the audience with night vision goggles looking for piraters. Serious stuff. Of course, one of the seminar topics was dealing with movie theft and piracy.

All of our meals were sponsored by different film groups, some with themes relating to their most prominent movies coming out. This meal was all Simpsons. This giant display was sitting in the corner of the room, so anyone could go sit and visit with them. On each table they put a big stack of donuts - the classic Simpson kind like you see in this picture - and matching napkins. Plus a Simpsons cup for each person.

For the final dinner, we had Rick Mercer entertain us. Good thing we ate first, because he made us laugh so hard with his unique style of political humour. As a bonus for us, he brought clips of his different shows, starting with Talking To Americans. If you haven't seen him yet, look for him on CBC with the Rick Mercer Report.

Once the conference was done, we were able to do a bit more exploring. One place we found was this cool castle, Casa Loma, in Toronto. It was built nearly 100 years ago, by a very rich business man. Now it is open to the public and run by the Kiwanis Club as a fundraiser source. We spend a couple hours walking through it and looking at all the period designs and extravagences. The building has also been used as a location shoot in many many different movies. The most easliy recognizable, would be the interior of the school for the gifted in the X-Men movies. We easily could have spent more time there, but really wanted to get over to see my Uncle Marc and his sweetheart, Deb.

Marc left the wet coast over 20 years ago, for a life of radio, and snow, in Toronto. (you may have also heard him on the weather network, or a number of other commercials) So, we haven't seen him very often since then. We were really looking forward to catching up and having a nice vist.

Don't they look happy together. They have two little white dogs, named Ricki and Lucy. Deb treated us to some delicious spicy Shrimp pasta, followed by pie. mmm. We brought some BC wine to share.

Good visit, good laughs. Hopefully they'll make it out this way soon too.

On Sunday we drove around Niagara-On-The-Lake. It's a cool historic area similar to Fort Langley near Vancouver, but older, bigger, and with it's own style.

This house is where Laura Secord lived around 1812. Some of you may know the name from the Chocolate manufacturer, but she's a Canadian Heroine from around the war of 1812. She overheard Americans planning to attack this region, and walked for 32 km in order to warn our own troops. With help from the natives, she found Lt. Fitzgibbon and told them the whole story. Then they were able to stop the attack, which lead to ending that that war.

There were so many of these types of houses around, I couldn't stop taking pictures. This one happened to be for sale.

This house is now an art gallery, but the artist had grown up here as a child and made sure to keep it in the family. We went inside more to look at the house than the art. Which was pretty good in itself.

This house is in the process of being restored for tourism. It's another historical property over a hundred years old. It's in a very idyllic park-like setting, with acres of trees to sit under. The back has a giant porch that overlooks the hill behind. Very easy to picture yourself sipping lemonde there, back in the day.

Just some of the town of Niagara-On-The-Lake, made up of heritage buildings full of great shops and restaurants. Looks like a very tourist oriented place, but not in a cheap tacky way. Icould have stayed there for a long time, soaking it in!

Why we're selling our little house...

This house is less than a block away from our current house, but look at how much more room it has! Almost double the square footage. The cool thing about this house is that it was built in 1920, and is full of character. We have big plans to rejuvenate it, starting with removing the chain-link fence. Picture it with: dark blue paint, white trim, a dark red front door with an oval leaded glass window, stone work where the cement blocks are, nicely fenced back yard, stone walkways, gardens, etc. Inside we are hoping the hardwood floors can be restored, walls need to be re-finished, update the kitchen, add a deluxe bathroom on the master bedroom, finish the basement, etc. Basically update or restore as much as we can over time, for as long as we own the house. We'll have much more space to have guests stay with us here too. Our move-in date will be around July 1st, so start planning your vacations at Villa Greek soon!

There's nothing like a Sunny Spring Sunday!

Earlier today, we took a nice walk from our house to the waterfront-pier area. I should have taken the camera with me then, it's so scenic. Next time! Everything is so bright & sunny & springy. Very inspiring and relaxing.

The trees are all sprouting! Yeah! This first picture is of one of our cherry trees. The one Calvin climbed. I'll have to take another picture when they are fully in bloom.


These are sprouts on one of the rose bushes near the front sidewalk.

I can't remember what type of bush this is, but it'll be flowering soon too.

Carman, who is now a strictly outside cat, has his hopes up waiting to come back in the house. No chance, buckaroo. We know the house is yours, you don't have to keep reminding us.

Feta, a.k.a. "needy cheesy" can't be alone, and will let us know if she feels we are neglecting her. But now, the inside of the house is her domain. Just like the inside of the camper is Carman's (and Brendan's)

Speaking of Brendan, he is somewhere between Nebraska and South Carolina right now. They expect to be back here mid-May.

Monday has the itchies again. The Vet said it's most likely allergies, but not sure to what yet. He has to eat white rice and cottage cheese right now, because those foods should not make him itch. BUT, he's still scratching and chewing, so we wait to see what the vet says next.

The Tulips here are all part of the plan to get the house sold. We must be doing something right, we have two standing offers on it. If the first falls through, then the back-up offer takes it.

Our moving date will be July 1st, just like the Ofenboecks (yeah!) who are moving here also.

James is getting more shifts at the Greek restaurant, and saving all his money for school next year. (I'll have to take pictures of their yummy food to keep up with Dan.)