Wednesday 27 June 2012

Wednesday Trip to Jones Falls Lock

On our way to Jones Falls Lock
It was such a lovely sunny day with no humidity and a cloudless sky so we took off for Jones Falls Lock.
It's just up ahead!
Steps from the parking lot to the lower level leading to the road to the lock.

Butterfly on a leaf

Jones Falls Lock

You can see the gates need to be replaced. We saw the replacements at Doors Open a few weeks ago. The replacement will be done this Fall.
 Gordon wanted to see the blacksmith shop (on the left in the photo below).
Our destination on the left.


Some serious trail climbing to get there.

The blacksmith was in residence.

The Smithy at the door to the blacksmith shop.

I had to traverse two of these to get there and back. Not my favourite thing to do.
Swamp iris

Sweet william growing along the trail.
By the time we got back to the lock I had shaky legs and we were both hungry and thirsty so we decided to try our luck eating at the Hotel Kenney. (Warning: this site contains a fairly long video.)
Hotel Kenney at the lock. Established in 1877.
We were early for lunch so walked around the hotel and took some indoor photos. It's quite an interesting old hotel. In the parking lot were all kinds of vehicles from various U.S. states. I was amazed that someone from the U.S. would have found this place but apparently it's quite popular with fishermen and people just coming to relax.

I thought this pig was kind of neat.

The living room and the lobby of the hotel.

The front porch (enclosed) with lots of rocking chairs.

This is a phone booth.

The bar/library.

Self portrait

I love rocking chairs (photo by Gordon)
We had asked at the front desk if they had anything gluten free and the lady was very knowledgeable about it. She said she could fix something up for us. I told her about my food problems and told her today was my 'salmon' day so that's what they fixed for me with a nice salad with avocado and dried cranberries just like I would have fixed myself at home. Cudos to Hotel Kenney!

Lunch in the dining room overlooking the lock (photo by Gordon).

The official greeter, Lennox.

Arriving home just before 2 p.m. I took myself to my swing with my book and spent a couple of lovely hours there.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

New sink and counters

Kitchen counters are called Deepstar Bronze. If you click on the link you can see it better.

Kindred granite composite sink - white
You can see a strip between the old tile and the new counter backsplash. This is what we need to get our floor installer (also tile expert) in to work his magic. On the window side, he can use trim or tile might look nice there too. We'll have to see what he comes up with.

Monday 25 June 2012

Happy Birthdays!

Today is my nephew and Godson's birthday. Happy Birthday Nick!

Also Happy Birthday to my friend Laura!

Today (Monday June 25th) our new sink and counter tops went in. They look wonderful except the counter back splash is not as high as the old one so we'll have to get the guy who installed our floor to come in and find a fix for that.

Photos to follow.