Niagara Falls in Action

Niagara Falls (les Chutes de Niagara in french) are massive waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border separating the Canadian provinve of Ontario and the US state of New York.

Niagara Falls is composed of two major sections: Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the border and American Falls on the United States side. I did not take any pictures of the American Falls but instead focus my attention to the Horseshoe Falls. It is the bigger of the two Falls anyway and the more spectacular.

According to Wikipedia, Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the the last ice agae, and water from the newly-formed great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than six million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water fall over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

Enjoy the sound of the mighty Falls of Niagara.

WS#003 - Pink Tulips at Niagara

The theme color at Niagara falls this time is Pink.

All the tulips around were pink. Although tulips comes in a variety of colors, they have chosen pink this spring. Tulips, together with Dafodils are among the early spring flowers and they are trully a sight to see.

Whenever I see this flower, a certain fairy tale comes to mind. It was the story of Thumbelina. It is one of my most favorite bed time story.

I found Thumbelina...but she's alot bigger than

I thought she would be!

Mothers Day at Niagara Falls

Here we are as early as 9 in the morning of Mothers Day.

Main town is riddled with entertainment and commercial establishments. We planned to have brunch in one of the restaurants and then walk to the falls view. The weather is not too cold but enough to get us into walking briskly to generate internal heat. The wind though is not to good to our hair...hehe

I can see a glimpse of the falls now.....

Stop over at the pink tulips. They are absolutely gorgeous! I will post a separate entry about them.

Tadaaa!!! The famous falls right in front of me. I've seen it for around four times already and it has never ceased to amaze me. The view is even better at night for they have set lights under the falls. The sound of the water rushing and splashing is trully captivating.

The strength of the water falling has caused massive mist to float and wet the people watching. It's like being kissed by the fall itself ... romantic and dreamy.

I will post a video of the falls in a separate post. Wait for it!

Two mothers... on a special day

Rejoicing together with the world

WS#002 - To be 28 again!

Really!!?? I myself was shocked and amused at what I’m seeing. I was bored waiting for something when I happen to get my hands on my daughters Nintendo DS. She has this game called “Brain Age”. It basically gives you some kind of test and basing on your answers calculates your mental age. Tried this the first time and since I’m not so used to the game the first age I got was 65!!! That’s how slow my brains reacts to the questions presented to me. I was aghast! I need to practice.This particular day I was, like I said, bored. I guess I have time go for some mental quiz. And Viola!! My brains age is 28! Sweet!! To be 28 again… he he. It’s really funny having this kind of reaction with age. But then, who would not wish to be young again? I am not denying that I would want to be young again. It does not mean I want it so bad though. I’ve had my share of being young. It has it’s own ups and downs. Some days I’d wish I’ve done things differently, most days I ‘d convince myself that I’ve done what I could.

I’ve come to the point in life where …age is just a state of mind. In my case…its 28!! :P

Isang pagkilala sa Isang Bukudtanging Ina

Minsan sa gitna ng sangkalawakan
May isang silid na puno ng kabataan
Inosenteng malay, salat sa karunungan
Mga magulang, umaasang sila ay matutulungan.

Ipinagkaloob at binigyang tiwala
Pangalawang magulang
na syang pupuno sa ano mang pagkukulang
Si titser Julie isa sa mga hulog ng langit
Kahit minsan ay may pagkamasungit.

Naging ina ng 50 bata sa loob ng silid aralan
Naging ina ng 2 musmos sa kanyang tahanan
Mga batang lugod na pinagpala
Pinagkalooban ng isang guro at ina, masipag at maasahan.

May mga araw na sadyang mahirap
Para kay titser Julie sa klase humarap
Problema ng buhay kung minsan masaklap
Pero sa mga mukha ng musmos na walang inaalala
Naging aliw at kanlungan sa kanyang mga problema.

Mga araw na kasama ang mga bata
Mga araw na makulay at sadyang ka ayaaya
Tanungin man ang mga bata sa bawat grado
Di makakalimutan, inspirasyon niya at turo.

Kaya sa iyo, titser at inang Julie,
Itinataas ko aking dobleng papuri
Tunay na ina na dapat ipagmalaki at bukudtangi
Biyaya sa sangkatauhan, tanggapin ang aking malugod na pagbati!

Maligayang araw ng mga Ina.

Chef Challenge --- Team Building at Work

It’s a special day today. It’s that time of year when the big bosses comes to our facility for the Quarter All Hands Meeting which is usually followed by free lunch. The free lunch was made interesting and fun by making it sort of like a contest. The management has entitled it Chef Challenge. It was considered a team building event. So teams are formed and each team comes up with the best Bbq ribs, the best salad and the best dessert. The moment I read about it in the company email, the little cook inside me said..”Can I? Can I? Please??”… hehe. I was having second thoughts because I was assigned to be one of the group to present in the all hands meeting. Speaking in front of all the people (all 50 of us) in our facility is okay and nothing to worry about but… speaking in front of 500 people in our Burlington facility is a whole different matter. It slightly (understatement) scares the living daylight out of me. So I told the little cook inside me to keep quiet and focus on the more serious matter at hand.

Until one of my friends has invited me to join her dessert team. The little cook inside me is now grinning!!! Okay! Okay! But I will join only one team! That commences my saga to the ultra multitasking world. Last night, in between mixing of eggs and cassava, my mind is working on the outline of my presentation. My cassava cake almost burned and my brazo de mercedez came out lacking air! It’s true that one can never have bad luck twice for thank God my presentation did not suffer the same fate. Hopefully I can post something about the meeting presentation. It was very well received and praised by the big bosses as well as the Burlington facility.

The BBQ Rib teams has done their best! 4 teams with their proud creations!! Who won? Team no. 1! Asian inspired bbq ribs!

The salad teams cannot be outshined!! 3 teams with their multiple entries! Team 2 won with their Spinach and strawberry salad, Lotus root salad and asian inspired spinach salad.

And what about the dessert teams!? 2 teams competing each with multiple entires. Team 1 called the MEAL Team (our names initials) and the other team (sorry, they did not come up with a name). Who won?? Team MEAL!!! It includes me of course. Our entry: Chocolate brownie, Mocha mousse, Cassava Cake, Brazo de Mercedes and Tiramisu. WOW!!!

The prize!? Free meal at the Frankie Tomato restaurant for the whole team! Not bad...not bad at all! Best team building initiative ever!

Greek Town at Danfort Avenue

After doing the laundry last Sunday, we decided to take a long walk. Since I share my passion of windowshopping with my daughter, we agreed to take our long walk along Danfort Avenue where the largest Greek community can be found. It is also called Greek Town in Danfort known for it's sidewalk restaurants, boutiques, shops, markets, cafes, and a host of wonderful experiences. There are always losts of people here. Most are breezing about, stoping only to look at the many shop displays or checking out the menus of restaurants.

If you want to know more about this place, visit:

http://www.greektowntoronto.com/about.html

This is the part of our walk where Louise has lost the window in windowshopping and just shopped. Inside is wall to wall candies in a billion varities that just looking at them makes my teeth ache!