travelblogger Archives - Wandering Wellington County

Hope during the Pandemic

May 14, 2020 by nancy Leave a Comment

Sipping my first cup of black coffee this morning I stared out the window. The birds bring me so much joy during these dark days of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

My father gifted us a birdhouse when I moved into my new house last year. It was his old birdhouse and he passed it along to me. I have glued it once already, I really hope it will stay together. I will forever hold a special place in my heart as my parents are birders.

“A feeling of expectation and desire for certain things to happen” Oxford Dictionary

It may have taken me a pandemic to understand their fascination with these little fluttering creatures. Perhaps a slowing down of life to truly appreciate the simple things.

I have always loved the mornings, a time of quiet reflection before the day starts, the kids demanding my time. It is just me, my coffee and the birds these early mornings.

Excited about my sightings I emailed my Mom with a photo of the red cardinal that I saw at the feeder this morning and I told her about the yellow finches I saw the day before. My Mom replied, “you will have them all the time now”.

Nature never ceases to amaze me, maybe I am getting old to be so awestruck by the birds and their plight. Perhaps we could learn from them?

Last night after a bike ride around the neighborhood with the kids my daughter mentioned to me, “Mom where is the chalk, we should write something?”

I may have muttered something under my breathe as I wanted to go in and turn on the TV as my legs felt a little like jello from the first big bike ride of the season.

Prior to this pandemic you rarely saw people writing on their driveways, but now it is commonplace. My daughter quickly created beautiful hearts along with rainbows at the end of our driveway. She also wrote a big Thank You in her beautiful handwriting.

My contribution was the word, HOPE.

We all need to be reminded to have hope in times like these.

Chatting with my Dad yesterday he let me know he will be most likely beginning his second round of radiation in the near future. It was so good to hear hope in his voice.

He wasn’t supposed to be with us as his this long. Three years ago he had his first round of chemo and radiation for cancer. We are so grateful for everyday he gets out of bed and watches the birds with my Mom.

He is an amazing strong man as is my Mother who is fighting her own battles. They celebrate 58 years of marriage this July. Together they have have weathered and endured many storms along with their share of rainbows and sunny skies.

Music is so good for the soul, I found a beautiful song about hope. Click on the link to listen, Michael Franti: HEY WORLD (DON’T GIVE UP), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01FE9cPXE3M

Together we are all fighting our own battles in these unprecedented times. This invisible disease is lurking all around us. We cannot see it, touch it, smell it and yet it is killing us. Quarantined in our houses, many unable to go to work, jobs lost or put on hold while we all try to social distance and stay safe.

When we first heard of this virus in early January which began in Wuhan, China. Never in a million years did we think, (well maybe the Scientists knew) that the whole World would be shut down as the virus has traveled and spread so quickly.

Luckily I haven’t known anyone who has had the virus yet. I say yet as the experts say most people may get it eventually. We are 18 Months from a vaccine or maybe sooner if we are so lucky.

The World is slowly opening up again. Like other parts of the World, Ontario is announcing a Phase 1 reopening of our Province today, I am sure many of us will be glued to our TV’s waiting for news of our fate.

Hope is what we have for better days, for science to come up with a vaccine to help us get back to normal. But will we ever be normal again? What will the new normal be?

We will get back to our jobs, our family celebrations, concerts, events and HUGS.

During this crisis we have seen amazing beautiful people caring in ways that seemed unimaginable just Months ago.

Truth be told, I haven’t felt like writing much lately. I am a freelance writer and a couple of the publications I write for told me they are not accepting freelance writers at this time due to the changes with COVID_19.

Chatting with a good friend yesterday she said “how sad, people need stories more than ever these days!” We all need friends to motivate us and encourage us to keep going and give us HOPE on those dark days.

I hope to share some upcoming stories of people, business and organizations helping others in the upcoming Months.

Stay safe, stay together and lets have HOPE FOR BETTER DAYS!

Talk soon ~

Nancy

5 Tips for Your Toronto CN TOWER VISIT

August 22, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

Make sure you charge your phone, and check that it is working well before your visit. You can capture the most amazing photos of the City, or take a selfie with the Toronto skyline. Take tons of photos if you can, (my phone which was having technical issues at the time, sighh).

Take a backpack with some water and snacks. Or if you are like me and didn’t bring any snacks and beverages with you, check out the new Bistro with food and drinks. We had a chance to sit down at the new bistro and watch the world go around, it was fun. Last time we were there, we dined (burgers) at the 360 restaurant experience, it was great and not too expensive.

Buy an Express Pass for the Elevator – It will cost you $7.00 per person, but it was well worth it. Our wait times went from 1.5hr to 30 minutes. I really liked this option, we thought it was great value.

Go as early as you can, (they suggest before noon is the less busiest time of the day).

Have FUN, walk across the glass bottom floor if you dare! My kids ran across, I was a little nervous and did not. Walk all around the observation decks, both indoors and outdoors. Wear comfortable shoes!

Here is the link to purchase tickets and to check out more information about the CN TOWER, https://www.cntower.ca/en-ca/plan-your-visit/tickets.html Maybe take the new Edgewalk?

Talk soon ~

Nancy

A Birds Eye View of Toronto

August 4, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

Toronto a City of almost 3 million people, just 1 hour West of Wellington County is a great City to go day tripping. We finally had the opportunity to take the amazing hop on hop off City SightSeeing Toronto bus tour the other day with a friend and our kids.

My 12-year-old daughters dream of riding a double-decker bus had finally come true! We hopped on the last ride of the day at the habourfront pick up point at 249 Queens Quay West.

What a view, if you have never had the opportunity to go on an open air double-decker bus it is highly suggested from my daughter Meaghan! Our travel friend Dawn always takes the bus tours when traveling, and knew the City of Toronto well. It is always great to go with someone who can add their favorite comments about your travels.

The bus departed and we were off! The tour of the City, took us about 2.5 – 3 hours (normally a 2 hour tour), to take the whole tour and it was well worth the ticket price.

It also includes access for 48 hours and a boat tour. The boat tour is so amazing, we set sail from the Toronto Harbourfront around the Toronto Islands. The photos we took from the boat tour on the Serendipity Princess Cruise added to our wonderful memories of our day in the City!

Having taken the tour, which included a commentary it allowed us to walk away with much more knowledge of this amazing City. Here are my 5 things I learned on the tour.

Toronto has 140 ethnic neighbourhoods in the City.
The St. Lawrence Market has been a culinary focal point since, 1803.
The Distillery district has no car access, looks like its own little Village.
John Graves Simcoe moved the capital of Upper Canada to Toronto, which he named York, not wanting an aboriginal name.
The R.O.M. Royal Ontario Museum, only has 5% of their collection on display, with the other 95% at a secret underground location.

We got to see sights and sounds you wouldn’t normally be able to see driving on your own. Such as when the bus stopped we all watched a band play in front of the Eaton’s Center.

It was an amazing way to just sit back and relax and not worry about the crazy rush hour traffic. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, however there was a lovely breeze to keep us cool as we drove along the scenic streets.

We got to see all of the major sites in the City which included a little history about each of the sites. I loved all of the architecture and the different ethnic communities we traveled. Here is the link to the tour, https://citysightseeingtoronto.com/

Talk soon ~

Nancy

Summer Adventures In My BackYard

June 20, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

Grand River

With the official kickoff of Summer happening tomorrow June 21st, many of us are busy planning our summer vacations. What plans do you have this summer? It is such a short season, and we have had alot of rain and not as warm as usual.

Some of us will be jumping on a plane and travelling to far away distant lands. For others like myself, we will be staying around locally and discovering the many hidden “adventures in my backyard”.

Sometimes you don’t have to travel far to feel like you are in a far away land. Often times just travelling around the neighbourhood can feel like a new escape. It is all a mindset, or perhaps taking a different road on your daily commute. We are so lucky to have so many beautiful places in this little part of the World.

Elora, Fergus, Elmira, St. Jacobs and Guelph are just a few of the great little Towns and Villages to go exploring this summer. Pack a picnic, test out the local cuisine, farmers markets, jump in the local Lakes, or take in an event there are hundreds and watch the world go by.

Here are some great links to place in the area to discover, https://www.wellington.ca/en/business/EDVisitWellington.aspx. Follow us this summer as we go exploring discovering new places and people this season!

Talk soon,

Nancy

Summer Trail Adventures

Fergus Highland Games

August 12, 2018 by nancy Leave a Comment

This community is so amazing there is just always something going on! Centre Wellington was once again hosting the Annual Fergus Highland Games this August weekend. I had the privilege of attending the opening ceremonies on the Friday evening.

Ahhhh… the sound of those bag pipes, it was truly soul-stirring and when the Tattoo began, my heart seemed to have skipped a beat. I found myself getting rather emotional, almost in tears which surprised me, however I don’t think I was alone in my thoughts as I looked around everyone was standing still and appeared to be just as in awe as I was.

I had the honour of meeting and chatting with Graham McTavish, the Scottish Actor who portrays Dougal MacKenzie in the popular Outlander series. Check out my chat with him on my FB social media, https://www.facebook.com/wanderingwellingtoncounty/?hc_ref=ARQNbIui3YV67rLi_OYe7MeqChO8gLxPQwWHonNU2InD-bhxNFeaiHNgHhgw6PeBSig

Last year when I attended the Fergus Highland Games I had the opportunity to meet the popular author of the Outlander series who was a special guest, http://www.dianagabaldon.co m/ Diana Gabaldon. She was full of grace, elegance and appeared humble amidst her immense popularity. Meeting both of these two talented public figures I believe is definitely the universe’s way of sending a message; it is time to dust off the book I had purchased at last years event and delve into another world.

Another bonus of attending the Festival, is of course learning more about the culture and customs of different countries. When one of the speakers shared some of his insight into the various clans in attendance, it is like I had a light bulb moment! I am rather embarrassed to admit this, however I had never seemed to fully comprehend the meaning of the Scottish Clans. He explained it in a way I finally could understand a little more about this interesting culture. Clans as I understood it for the first time in the Scottish context is another word for family. If you are like me and need to understand a little more about the definition of the word, here is the Wikipedia definition below.

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship^[1] and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. Clans in indigenous societies tend to be exogamous, meaning that their members cannot marry one another. Clans proceeded more centralized forms of community organization and government, and exist in every country. Members may identify with a coat of arms or other symbol to show they are an independent clan. The kinship-based bonds may also have a symbolic ancestor, whereby the clan shares a “stipulated” common ancestor that is a symbol of the clan’s unity. When this “ancestor” is non-human, it is referred to as a totem, which is frequently an animal.

The word clan is derived from the Gaelic clann^[1] meaning “children” or “progeny”; it is not from the word for “family” in either Irish^[2]^[3] or Scottish Gaelic. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was introduced into English in around 1425, as a label for the nature of the society of the Scottish Highlands

As I sat at a table with people watching the Tattoo, I felt more welcomed as the night was nearing its end. Perhaps this is a glimpse into what the Scottish call a Clan, as it felt like we were part of a family.

As I have learned this life, there are various types of family, not always blood. What ever you call it, I love my “CLAN”. You know who I am talking about, “those people who get you!”, “they have your back, they fight for you, they cry with you, they are family, they are your clan!”

Sláinte or until we meet again!

Talk soon,

Nancy