Whakadoo

I took two extra days off at the end of this long weekend, and now it's thrown off my internal calendar. I keep thinking it's Monday, but it's quite clearly Thursday. I guess I can't complain too much, I'm going from "Monday" to Friday in two days this week.

I had a good time up visiting my parents, and there will be a post about that in the future. For now though (while I catch up on reading 5 days worth of accumulated blogs) here are some photos from a little daytrip I took back in mid-August.

 

I went to the Waba Cottage Museum and Gardens, out near White Lake. It's nothing fancy, just a few buildings, but the grounds were immaculately kept with adorable little themed gardens. I wished upon seeing the place that I'd brought my tripod, it would have been great for photos, but ah well!

 

The old school was filled with the usual desks and classroom accoutrements, but there were all sorts of odds and ends too. There was a giant whale bone in a display case in the back for instance, something that had been found in the area. 

 

I wasn't particularly in outfit-mode or even dressed for such, but I figured I'd need to make an appearance at least once. This little dress I bought from Heather ages ago was perfect for this hot summer day. It was comfortable, breezy, and great for exploring old buildings and getting dusty.

I'm definitely not what anyone would call religious, but old religious texts can be interesting, just in the difference in beliefs and customs over time etc. These next two photos appear to be of just regular portraits, but you'll notice it says "Her bright smile haunts me still" beneath one, and "Good Bye" beneath the young girl. These are death-portraits, before photography was common enough to be used for such.

 

These next items I wanted to share in particular, because they had an accompanying photo of the man to whom they'd belonged once upon a time. I can just picture him slipping into the vest, pulling his gloves on, clapping his hat smartly on his head and setting out the door.

I hope you've all been having a good week. It might feel like Monday but I am still very glad tomorrow is Friday. Cheers!

Where I take too many photos

I went to the Canadian Museum of Nature with my parents tonight, as Thursdays offer free admission after 5PM. It actually turned out to be really great since there was a cool exhibit on moths, and the temporary frog exhibit I fell in love with months ago was still around.

Dress - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Tights - Fancy Sox

Shell Earings - AdorIt

So as the title says, I took way too many photos (especially of myself), and I can't stop myself from sharing them. (Although I did cut down from a far larger amount, hah.) We first went downstairs into the Animalium, my favourite place in the whole museum. They have terrariums with all sorts of creepy crawlies, and a huge open window letting you see the "back area" where staff care for and raise the creatures.

My mam checking out the giant snails.

Tarantula love!

Back area as seen through window... wish I worked there!

From there we went straight up to the top floor, to check out the exhibit on birds. I was a little surprised to see a bunch of people sitting on stools, drawing and sketching the mounted birds, but hey, why not? Apparently an art class teacher brings her students there to do still lifes.

A woman drawing.

And this bird was just adorable :)

Attempting to photograph myself with the display bird...

The view from the top floor, through the new glass tower. I dig that you can see the stairs and interior hall so well reflected! They actually just finished the construction work on the new tower this year.

We quickly passed through the section about the oceans and marine life...

*glassy eyed stare*

The section about the earth and minerals and rocks is really quite gorgeous. Their display cases are beautifully laid out, and each has an adjoining touch screen with information on each of the minerals or jewels shown within.

An attempt at a shot with the polar bear in the Mammals exhibit...

The cougar, my favourite big cat!

The exhibit on moths was actually really cool. Not what I had expected, but certainly not disappointing. Moths from Ontario and Quebec had been photographed, then enlarged in great detail and printed with an ink jet printer.

My father taking a quick rest in the gallery.

They had the actual moths displayed at the end.

And I saved the best - in my opinion - for last! The Frogs!

And that's it! Thanks for hanging in there! Cheers!