Edmonton, Baltimore, and New London

Three versions of springtime!

It’s not a visit to Canada without a trip to Tim Hortons, a chain coffee and donut shop and restaurant. Here I am about to have a maple pecan braid.
It’s not a visit to Canada without maple!

We try to go to the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton at least once a year. The building has three pyramids: one tropical, one temperate, and one desert zone. And one more of seasonally changing exhibits. We brought our 2 granddaughters this time. We lingered and they drew pictures of the plants.

Here is a drawing made at the Muttart by granddaughter Noelle, age 6. Her mama was happy to see that they share an interest in Mexican type pottery.

Another way to get a rush on spring in Canada is to visit garden centers. Here is our 2 year old grandson having fun in a fountain. He got very wet, and of course, didn’t want to go home.

We took all 3 grandchildren to the Alberta Gallery of Art one Sunday. Here they are enjoying themselves in a room full of soft but sturdy building blocks.

Waverly Farmers’ Market, Baltimore, Maryland. We bought lunch, and fixings for supper. I am drawn to colorful row houses. They are probably 120 years old, and made of porous brick that was meant to be covered with a protective layer of paint.

Broadway, Fell’s Point, Baltimore. One of the oldest parts of the city, once an area of shipbuilding. There are still boats and water activities there, as well as bars, shops, and restaurants.

Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, Baltimore, 1881. Such a graceful,delicate looking building. It is near the zoo, and sits on a curve of the street. It always takes me by surprise, like a woman in a ball gown.

Four doorways in a row, on East Baltimore Street, Baltimore. The building material is rough cut limestone and marble steps. All the houses near Patterson Park are elegant.

Lilac is the state flower of New Hampshire. And it is lilac season. This scene is the garden behind the Tracy Memorial Library here in New London. The perennials are just popping up. The yellow building is wood frame with a painted wooden siding, recently replaced. Townsfolk devoted a Saturday morning to painting the 10,500 feet of siding before it was installed, saving the town over $7000.

Zoë, Karin and Dan’s cat.