Category: 2011

Who would willingly go to Canada during the winter that won’t end?

Well, we would.

I should explain…

Justin received an email invitation to a complimentary tasting of The Macallan, a premium single malt whiskey from the Speyside region of Scotland. I’m not really a whiskey drinker, so I won’t pretend that I actually understand what any of that means. Suffice it to say, The Macallan is for people who take their whiskey very seriously.

The event was held in Detroit, so we booked a hotel for the night. Since neither of us had been to Canada in a few years, we decided to head across the river and see what was new in Windsor the next day.

I proudly admit that I know every word to “Oh, Canada”. Canada appreciates hockey, so I appreciate Canada.

We’re both desperately addicted to caffeine, so the first place we went once we crossed the bridge was a coffee shop, and it wasn’t even a Tim Hortons! (Though we did patronize that quintessential Canadian coffee house several times on our trip.) The adorable place pictured here was called The Coffee Exchange, and I think you’ll find it as charming as we did. This sign caught my eye and I had to snag a shot of it.

Justin’s carmel latte was a work of art, so I had to set up a still life before it was sipped away.

After coffee, we wandered down to the waterfront for a windy walk along the Detroit River. Looking across the water at the Motor City skyline, it’s hard to believe how much this city has been through in recent years. The rest of country may have given up on Detroit, but you really have to go there and witness it for yourself to realize that the city of Detroit hasn’t given up on rebuilding and reinventing itself. It may take some time and it may never be what it once was, but Detroit will be great again.

Walking through downtown Windsor, we found this awesome mural against the side of a building and had to pose for a few self timer shots. Check out the mud on my right knee! I was so numb from the cold that I didn’t even notice I was kneeling in a puddle while composing the shot.

As the afternoon wore on, we left Windsor behind for Leamington – the tomato capital of Canada. Before checking in at our bed and breakfast, we stopped at the local beach along Lake Erie. It was beautiful, but as you can see, not exactly a nice day for a swim.

The next day, we stopped by Point Pelee National Park. We were dressed for the weather, but both my cameras protested the fierce cold and eventually refused to cooperate with our photographic endeavors. While they were working, I managed to snap some nice landscapes of the frozen forest, the icy lake and the snowy beach.

The sign we’re standing with here reads in English and French, “You are now just south of the 42nd parallel, as far south as Rome and Barcelona. Some of Canada’s rarest plants and animals are found at Point Pelee because of its mild southerly climate.” While it wasn’t very mild on the day that we were there, we got a kick out of the giant number, as will anyone else who’s read A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, because the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42.

And finally… Look! Look! It’s the Lake Erie Loch Ness Monster!

Nah, it’s just a Canada goose.

I spent Valentine’s Day alone this year. Now, before you start feeling too sorry for me, I should disclose that Justin and I spent the day last year at the glorious Hotel del Coronado on the Pacific coast in southern California. But since he would be out of the country this year on Valentine’s Day, Justin promised that I would receive a special delivery to make up for his absence. And as the sun set that day, a FedEx truck pulled up with a beautiful bouquet of tulips for me. I waited a few days for the flowers to open up a bit, then took them outside and snapped some shots. They’re very sweet, don’t you think!

Anyone who lives in the Midwest knows that the TV forecasters had been glued to their Doppler and were almost giddy predicting this one – a monster blizzard that would go down in history as one of the most severe storms of all time. Ever. I was skeptical, but prepared, with my bottled water and cans of soup stocked up, just in case. The snow started falling around midnight, just like they said it would. And when I woke up on Groundhog Day, I first looked outside to assess the snowfall before turning on the TV to see if Punxsutawney Phil had seen his shadow.

We had only eight inches, not the 12 to 14 that had been predicted, but it was more than enough to prevent my Mini Cooper and me from leaving the driveway. I spent the day shoveling and took a break around sunset to capture some shots of how this historic storm hit the farm in South Lyon.

My nephew Kaden is an absolute monster. A lovable monster, but, a monster nonetheless. So when my sister and I were brainstorming concepts for his birthday party, monsters were the obvious choice for the theme. Monsters make you scream, and at a party, you would scream for ice cream naturally! And with a little help from some Ugly Dolls, the Monster Ice Cream Party was what we decided to hold in honor of the birthday boy.

Here’s my adorable nephew, Kaden, on his third birthday. This kid loves cake – I mean REALLY loves cake – more than any kid I’ve ever seen. He’s been known to blow out other people’s candles, just to speed things up and get closer to the actual eating of cake. So every year on his birthday – all three of them so far – he gets a cupcake and I get behind the camera to capture the messiness that ensues. His cute frosting face is sure to make you smile!