Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

A few weeks ago we boarded one of those coach lines for a trip to Toronto to go to Ripley's Aquarium of Canada.  It was great to be chauffeured.  Boarding the bus on a early Saturday morning meant that Bruce had to pre-record the Open-Line Garden Show.  Actually we listened to the show as when we were on the bus.

Here is some photos of the fish we saw. 

One Dead Fish on display

Lots & Lots of fish!

A school of fish

Huge Lobster

Spiny Sea Urchin

Starfish

Starfish stuck to the glass.

Giant Turtle

Shark

This is a really neat perspective.  We actually walked in a clear glass tunnel & all the fish were swimming on either side and overhead of us.  We were standing on a moving sidewalk.
 

Shark overhead.

Stingray overhead

Looks like a brain!

Up close and personal!

Another tunnel, this time you had to crawl through.

These guys you could pet in a shallow pool

Zebra fish, not sure if that's its real name.

Seahorses hiding among the leaves

Seahorse that looks like floating debris

This fish was actually on dry land.  It was actually a FISH!

This is what you would see if you were in a submarine.

School of Piranha

Piranha

Piranha

Polka dot Stingray

They stingrays were huge.

Cool jellyfish

 This is the life support system.  It is really huge.  Everything had to be just right. 

Another Stingray

After going through the aquarium we walked along Front Street and had lunch at the Loose Moose. We boarded the bus outside the Loose Moose after lunch for the drive back to St. Catharines, arriving back in the city around 3pm.  All in all a wonderful day.  I highly recommend Ripley's Aquarium of Canada but a word of advice--Get there early, it gets VERY busy!!

Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life -- Book Review

Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life by Marta McDowell.  I enjoyed the gardening biography though personally the other sections may be less well-thumbed. The first section follows Beatrix Potter’s life through her gardening and her love of nature and includes Potter’s whimsical and well-known illustrations throughout, as well as her more realistic and less known paintings and drawings of nature. 

There is also a section on her still existing garden that takes you through each season. Another section is the one that takes you to all of the places Beatrix has lived and gardened and tells you of the gardens life after hers. 

Finally, there is an index of the plants that she herself grew and the plants that are living in her books so you can try your hand at growing something that is connected to her or from an illustration that you admired.

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Daughter #1

Clematis

These are all the clematis that are blooming in our garden now.  The clematis' are all Ray Evison varieties but I cannot remember what their names are.  I did keep the tags and put them in a safe place--you guessed it, the safe place cannot be found!!

All varieties have come from Presidents Choice over the last few years and they are all in containers.  Love these clematis'

Podcast: Salt Tolerant Plants