Seeing an Old Friend

 

Last weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to see a dear old friend of mine, Ellen, and to meet her husband, Gerry, while they were in Ontario.  It was really nice to catch up and to see that while we had changed, we hadn't changed that much!

Happy Belated Halloween!

After showing Helena who Minnie Mouse is through a youtube clip, she was very excited about her Halloween costume. 

Only after showing Helena that Holly had a headband and a bag to carry too, was she willing to wear her ears and hold on to the bag.

And after visiting a few houses and learning that candy went into her bag, she was very unwilling to let go of that bag!

photo courtesy of Christa

Church Retreat

Last month our church had a weekend getaway together to a Hungarian Baptist Camp.

Can you find us?

It was a lot of fun and a great time for connecting.

Kraft Dinner

Macaroni and Cheese isn't Macaroni and Cheese north of the border.  It's Kraft Dinner.

It's popular, too.  More Kraft Dinner is eaten per capita in Canada than Macaroni and Cheese in the States.

There are more varieties as well.  Sometime in the past year they started selling Kraft Dinner Smart, which has half a serving of vegetables in every serving of KD, by replacing some of the flour with freeze-dried cauliflower.

Just a few interesting facts about Macaroni & Cheese for your day.  Check out
http://www.food.pop-cult.com/macaroni-cheese.html if you are interested in learning about the history of the stuff!

Casa Loma

Casa Loma, the only true once-resided in castle in North America, which can be found in downtown Toronto, is pretty amazing.  We visited it with Ethan & his three girls, and we were all really impressed with it.

 

It was built in 1911 by Sir Henry Pellatt, an incredibly wealthy Canadian.  At various points in his life, he held the North American record for his time in the mile, he controlled over 25% of the Canadian economy with his investments, and he financed the Queen's Own rifle guard to train and travel to Britain to compete - all 600 of them! He was also a leader in the move to change gas lights to electric in Toronto, along with many other hydro electric activities.  Sadly, (and this I do not completely understand) the government expropriated his electricity business, which was the beginning of his very long financial fall.  Less than 10 years after he and his family moved in to the castle, they had to leave.

Check out his shower!  An awesome rain shower head and six different layers of water would squirt out from the sides.

John's and my favorite room - a sitting room surrounded by windows, off of Lady Pallett's bedroom.

This door, along with five others just like it, leads into the conservatory. You can swing the brass decoration away from the glass so that the window can be completely cleaned.  At the time the castle was built, each door cost $10,000.  If one of the doors breaks now, it will be $130,000 to replace it.  One door.

Casa Loma - a Toronto site that is definitely fun to see!