Jenny Kotulak Oakville Real Estate

My niece is visiting Ontario from Calgary, Alberta and we had the pleasure of having her stay with us for a couple of days this week. She is about to turn 13 so we asked her what she would like to do yesterday. She was quite keen to visit the Eaton Centre in Toronto to do some shopping.

Instead, we ended up in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Our first stop was to see the Welland Canal in St. Catharines. That is another whole post in itself. Once in the "Falls" we lunched at the buffet restaurant in the Sheraton Fallsview. And to say it is a Fallsview is an understatement.

For $20. and $10. for children 12 and under, you treat yourself to an amazing assortment of food. And the DESSERTS!!! It's a good thing you do a lot of walking afterwards.

But to pay $20. for lunch plus enjoy a Million Dollar view, it was SO worth it. Here are some photos from the balcony situated off of the restaurant.

You can see the "blue people" lining up for the Maid of the Mist boat tour. After lunch we took the tour and this evening I will do a post on our little adventure. In all of the years I've been going to Niagara Falls I had never done the Maid of the Mist. I couldn't believe what I had been missing.

Stay Tuned.

Meet Me In The Middle - Is That Canada or the U.S. ?

Doing the tourist thing at the Sheraton Fallsview Buffet

Boarding Noah's Ark The Maid of the Mist

So that's what those blue ponchos were for.

Have you ever looked at something/someone and thought that at one time it/they must have been very beautiful? But time passes, and with age beauty often fades. When is that magic moment when beauty turns to character? Cracks in the foundation? Fine lines on the face? A weathered look?

I happened across this farm house in rural Ontario this past weekend. I noticed it was abandoned when I drove by, but I was drawn to it, so I turned my car around, grabbed my camera and trespassed. (shh)

What I saw was both enlightening and sad. At one time this would have been a beautiful property and I'm sure it was enjoyed by many families over the years. Seeing this house in disrepair was very sad.

I still see beauty in the shell of this home. The outbuildings ooze character and provided great photo opportunities.

You should never worry about losing your beauty. Character IS just another type of beauty.

Where once there was beauty, now there is abandonment

What type of visitors enter this door now?

Home is where the heart is. Sadly this house remains heartless.

"Blinded" by the light.

Just "hanging" around.

The "wood" box

Blowing in the wind

The backside addition

Open door policy?

Outside - Looking inside - Looking outside

Outhouse - When nature calls

Lean on me

Washing up - Don't forget to use soap.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Take a GOOD look. You may have to explain to your children and grand children in the future just what this PRE blogging, texting, twittering, Web 2.0 social networking/media, old dinosaur was used for. For 130 years the telephone has ruled the social networking air waves world wide.

Who is trying to put the muzzle on a 1970's teenager's lifeline to her friends? Back then we had 1 phone, with a cord. In the kitchen. On the wall. With rotary dial. No privacy there to speak of. Remember the discovery of touch tone? Cordless? Five free phone jacks in your house?

Then came the cell phone. REALTORS were one of the first professions to carry these not so pocket sized phones along with our then not so pocket sized pagers. We looked important back then carrying our working necessities.

Was this how "being accessible 24/7 started?" Cell phones shrank. We traded them in for Blackberry's, Treo's, Palm Pilots, etc. PDA's became our phones, pagers, address books, daytimers and eventually access to the World Wide Web and our personal GPS.

We started buying our kids cellphones. "But mom, everyone has one." "You will always know where I am." " Sorry mom, my phone was dead."

Do you ever see today's teens TALKING on their phones? Texting is the new talking. Our home phone never rings anymore. Except for solicitations. Remember when "your fingers did the walking through the yellow pages?" Now our fingers walk AND talk. I'm talking to your right now with my fingers. Can you HEAR me

Poor old Sir Alexander Graham Bell must be rolling over in his Canadian grave. His famous invention has come to this???

Is the telephone really dead? Say it ain't so. Oh and please feel free to keep the photo below for posterity sake.

T

Jenny Kotulak photo: Lakeshore Rd. & Navy St. Oakville, Ontario

Something strange happened in Oakville today. It didn't rain. Not a drop. I know I'm not the only one to have noticed. It actually felt like the first day of summer. Quite sad since August arrives on Saturday.

I was speaking with someone in Seattle today and it was over 100 degrees F. there. What happened to our heat here in Ontario this year? There have been some benefits from the amount of rain we have seen this month. The lawns are green and gardens are gorgeous. There has been no need to run the central air conditioning.

I happened to be outside this evening just as the sun was setting. The sky was ablaze with colour and a promise of another beautiful day tomorrow. The following song came to mind as I snapped away.