Canada vs USA

​I am sorry to say that I haven’t felt many ‘warm and fuzzies’ at being a foreigner here in Ontario. We’ve had a couple of interesting exchanges, one of which happened at the Dollar General just yesterday…

Canadian woman (I had waited a few moments and held the door open for her): “Thank you! For showing Canada nice.”

Me: “I’m from the USA 😊.”

Canadian woman: “Well maybe our nice will rub off on you.” (She was smiling when she said it, so I’ll give her that.)

Me: 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🙄😂

A similar comment was made by a server at a restaurant…’Maybe our ‘nice’ will rub off on you.’

Obviously these people weren’t able to experience the World Cup event held this summer in the good ole’ USA 😂. 

These are just a few of the faces of the Europeans who were on Instagram posts professing how surprised they were by the USA (patriotism, kindness, generosity, engaging, friendly), and how  wrongly the media had been portraying the United States…

This man…Scottish.  Tears of emotion at how welcomed, loved and accepted he felt. 🥹  By total strangers! In the USA 🇺🇸🤗💕.

This gentleman was leaving after two weeks, got to airport, and rebooked his flight so he could stay another month 😂!

Japan💕

Algeria 🇩🇿

UK 🇬🇧

Overwhelmed by ‘southern hospitality’ 😂! 

Italy 😂😂😂. Enamored by free refills and air conditioning 😂😂. 

A police officer, off to the right, who you cannot see in this screenshot.  He is dancing along with them.  Boston💕.

John Denver…an American classic! 😆

 Lovin’ on TEXAS BBQ😆😆😂😂👏👏!

‘… it is nothing like the media has portrayed it,’ is what he said 💕. 

The pilot, dancing with a Haitian FIFA team member 😂😂👏!

Danny Gokey…’America’.  If you can find the Fourth of July version on YouTube, don’t miss listening to it.  Beautiful!

We know our country, and we know who we are. We are naturals at embracing visitors, and engaging simply because we enjoy humanity. And I know I don’t speak for EVERY natural born American citizen, but for us as a majority, I truly believe it is ‘the norm’.  We (USA folks) ARE special, as is our country.  Yes, the World Cup FIFA event reminded many of that. I only wish I could post some of the actual videos on the Blog.💕 

‘LOO REVIEW!

​Not sure how they do things here in Ontario, but it looks questionable…very questionable 😂😂😂. 

And this, in a grocery store…

Very helpful if there is a need 😊!

Poutine (fries, cheese curds, gravy) Costco style, but it was on our list to try. Not a fan 😂😂 .

And of course, IKEA👏👏👏.  If they build it, we will go!😂😂😂

All in all another wonderful day. Now we are in our walk-in cooler relaxing with a cup of decaf coffee 🤗. 

Tomorrow’s adventure.  We’ll take the light rail (train) into downtown Toronto to wander around. It’ll be a relaxing day of not dodging the aggressive Canadian drivers! 😂😅

Niagra Falls

​This was never a place I had on my ‘bucket list’, but I’m so grateful we were able to visit. It is so beautiful! And breathtaking. We debated driving to the US side to see the falls from that perspective, but I’m not sure if time will allow. 

I love the perpetual rainbow 💕👏👏. 

We shared dinner afterwards at an Indian restaurant, which was just delicious! 😊 All in all a wonderful day. And I added a blanket on my bed in our 54• basement ‘hometel’ and slept soundly all night. 😂😂👏👏

Memories

​What joy there is to be found in reminiscing memorable moments from our past! Being reunited again with Kelly reminds me of the first time I had seen her after leaving Arizona back in 1991 and moving to Washington. She had randomly contacted me out of the blue while I was living in Spokane, and said she was planning to be in Seattle in three week’s time, and would I like to meet her. That question needed no answer, because she knew I would be there💕! And here now, in Canada, just as then, we picked up where we had left off last April in Europe.🤗

Good friends are like a favorite memory. And even in their absence, they are never beyond our heart 💜.  

The day started out visiting over several cups of coffee. Our AirBnb is beyond disappointing, but we both figured it was a laughable memory for our future trips. The pictures on the web site are completely inaccurate, with one reviewer saying they were AI generated.  There is no microwave or coffee maker, nor even an electric tea kettle! We boil our water in a pot on the stove, but we say we are roughing it 😂. We contemplated leaving this AirBnb and finding another, but then we decided to make the best of it, and we’ve been just fine. I forgot to mention that it is exceptionally chilly (I’d guess 56-58• where we are (basement of someone’s home) but there is no thermostat. That was also mentioned in one of the reviews 😂. It was posted as a ‘New Listing’ when I was searching a few weeks past, so there were no reviews posted when I booked it. When we pulled up the site last night on AirBnb, we found a 3.5 star rating…two good reviews from out of country folks (Mexico & China), and 3 poor reviews from United States visitors. Maybe our expectations are too high? 😂😂😂 And one other thing, there is no street parking…unless you apply for a ‘courtesy pass’ from the state of Ontario, which required me to create an account, at a place I will never visit again, and request a courtesy pass one. day. at. a. time. That meant going online and resubmitting all of the auto information, our address, and our name, five times in row.🙄😂 And then our AirBnb host, who was very difficult to make contact with, only came outside because I walked into his house by mistake at first. He the pointed out where to park. In the morning, we had a sign on the windshield that said ‘Please do not park here’. 😂😂😂😂 I write this because I want to remember it, down to the last absurd detail. 😂😂 

So, last night when we returned, I parked the car one car length further back on the curb, and wrote a short but sweet note on the back of the note I had received, stating we are visitors here until August 4th, where are host lives, along with ‘We were told to park here.’  I’ll photograph a response if there is one this morning! 😂

But OH! Yesterday! What a lovely day! We set out for Niagra Falls, and had several relaxing stops along the way. And I was SHOCKED to find this is WINE COUNTRY!😱 Vineyards everywhere!  

The bridge spanning over the Niagra River to the U.S. side 😊.  Home 💕. And along with vineyards there is and abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables all around!  

PS…Kelly got up so no time to proof blog! Sorry for any errors! 😬

In Transit

​Off again, a bit further this time. I will meet up with Kelly in Toronto, Ontario. Our conversation several weeks past was rather funny…

‘ I miss you. Let’s meet up somewhere.’ (Me)

‘ I’ve always wanted to go to Toronto! How about there?’ (Kelly) 

Me 👉🏼😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 ‘Alrighty! Toronto it is!’  And me, thinking I’d never step foot in Canada again! 😂

So here I sit in Salt Lake City, waiting for my flight to Toronto. I am looking forward to seeing Kelly and spending some time with her. I think we’re at the age where we realize we really don’t have to see EVERYthing there is to see when we travel to a new location, but can also enjoy time spent in the Airbnb just being together.  We certainly have a lot of memories to reminisce on!💕

The funny of the day (thus far😂)… I boarded a 5:30 AM flight from home. I was next to an older woman, and we were both reading during the entire flight so we spent no time in idle conversation. After landing in Salt Lake, I walked around for about an hour and then decided to have breakfast. My layover is 3 1/2 hours, so I had plenty of time. She must’ve decided to eat at the same place because when she was leaving, she stopped by my table and said, ‘You were my seat mate!’

I smiled and nodded and said, ‘Yes!’

She then said, ‘You’re from England, aren’t you …’

I giggled and said, ‘No, I’m from Missoula.’

That was a first 😂. Actually, it was a second, believe it or not. I recall one time flying through Chicago O’Hare (post Kelly trip💕). I was putting my things on the conveyor belt to go through security. I had a light sweater on and I looked at the TSA agent and asked, ‘Shall I put the sweater up there?’ (Accent on the last word of the sentence, and sounding more like a statement than a question😂.) 

‘British?’ He asked. 

‘I certainly can be,’ I offered, wondering what perk that might get me 😂😂😂. 

His inquisitive look made me realize he obviously hadn’t understood what I meant by that, so I went on to explain, just Montana. I’m from Montana.’ 😂

He shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Well you sound British.’ 😂😂😂 

Most people always ask if I’m from Minnesota or North Dakota, depending on how excited or tired I am when I’m talking. That’s a given. But England… not so common. But I do take it as a compliment.😂😂😂😂😂

I’ll find a picture for the Blog just so I don’t leave you empty-handed!💕🤗

Home 🤗💕☺️

The hardest part of being away…💕

Clouds

​So many. And so beautiful!

And flowers…

And COWS😂😂👏👏!

And just plain pretty💕