At Our Son's Command

The remote wars start early. Vincent seems to think the remote makes his parents work as all he needs to do is point it and they will come running. He can find the remotes in even the best hiding places and woe to the careless placement after an exercise of tv comercial avoidance. You try taking the remote from the baby.

Passing Through

A flock of rowdy male brown headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) passed through the beach on their way up north.

Picoides villosus

Spring brings many visitors to our beach backyard with the latest being the male hairy woodpecker. Tough call on this one as it may be a Picoides Pubescens which fed on steriods during spring training in Florida.

Peanut Gallery

Vincent opened the pantry, found the peanuts, opened the bag and then spread the peanuts around. We asked him to put them into a bowl but he decided to take his time doing it. He definitely enjoyed the entire episode.

Most common backyard visitors.

The most common year round visitors to the backyard in the beach are the house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Originally introduced from Europe these little devils like to wake up the household in spring with their songs. The first three photos are the male with the remaining showing the female.

Sign of Spring

March 24th, 2010 the first American Robin, (Turdus Migratorius) was spotted at the beach. The first margaritas of the year were prepared last week during Dennis' visit.

Mystery Bird

The visiting Pinot Grigio crew spotted a bird in the backyard tree and had some difficulty identifying it. The identification was made more difficult due to the pinot grigio and to the fact that this all too common bird in question is changing from it's winter colour to it's summer colour. As you can see from this photo the bird is undoubtedly the "Sturnus vulgaris". We hope that we have solved the crew's mystery.

Visit from Uncle Dennis

Vincent's uncle Dennis from Melbourne visited for a couple of days during his around the world business trip. This was Vincent's first meeting but he got along just great with Dennis. Happily Uncle Marc dropped by as well to enjoy some of the local bouillabaisse, swordfish, key lime pie and fine wine. Vincent was very happy to see them both, but he did ask me in confidence "Where is Aunt Sandy".

Spring in the Beach

March 18th and 19C at the beach. Our first crocus bloomed today and there are flowers blooming on the street. It has been a long three months since we saw the roses blooming last December. A few more years of global warming and we will plant a palm tree.

Saint Patrick's Day on the Beach

We walked the boardwalk on a glorious 16C St. Patrick's Day at the beach. The patio's were jammed so Vincent had to enjoy his Guiness on the back deck.

Visit of Judy and Bill

Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill were in Pickering to celebrate Auntie Karen's birthday. We were happy they dropped by for dinner after our visit to King Tut at the ROM or was it the AGO.

Vincent and the work of Henry Moore

Henry Moore made a good playground for Vincent. He did find it a bit scary and slippery.

Guardian of King Tut

Vincent meets the big Egyptian outside the AGO on his visit to the King Tut exhibit.

Auntie Karen's Birthday

Auntie Karen had a birthday last week. We promised not to say how old she now is.

Center of attention

Someone was celibrating a birthday so Vincent, Mom, and Dad went over on Saturday evening. Vincent certainly enjoyed the attention of Carly and Tay along with that of Joe, Tim, and Andrew.

Big Waves

The weekend brought high winds and big waves to the beach. Hurricane season is near.

Last of the tree.

The city of Toronto came back to take down the rest of the tree across the road.