The Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City isn't as old as most of the other buildings in the old city. It was constructed sometime around the late 1800s early 1900s. It does, though, dominate the old city skyline, and it's a visual treat.

Here's another panorama composite photo (this is 5 photos) of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec City taken at the Plains of Abraham, where it all went down hill for the French.

OK, I know it's long and thin/skinny, but I was playing with panorama settings on Photoshop Elements and had it "panormacize" 6 photos together. If you click on the photo you may get a better picture.

Here's a side street photo from QC showing some of the many old structures. There are very few places in Canada with such old buildings, let alone as many as there are here. In "Ontario the good" we seem to value history less and demolish the old for new.

While we were in Quebec City we had perfect fall weather. Here's a view over the city towards the northeast and the fall colours of the leaves on the Laurentian Mountains.

These valises belong to an artist, one of the many who sells his work to the tourists in Old Quebec City on a narrow pedestrian road that has quite a slope, as do many streets in the district, and is not far from the "hub" near the Chateau Frontenac.

Happy 10/10/10, turkey day and Thanksgiving 2010!
Today is shaping up to be a beauty day - great weather (sunny and +16C), lots of fall colours, possibly another boat ride, possibly a bush hike, some burn barrelling, a few cool beverages with friends and family and turkey supper for 15 with our family and friends - pretty hard to get any better than that!!

Here are some of the old structures in Old Quebec City. The colour red is very popular there.

It's pretty hard to not find subjects to photograph as you walk around the old City of Quebec. However, it's not often you see old wooden structures as most buildings are made of stone.

This stone in the center of the east arch on the inside of the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City was "carved for the priory of the Knights of Malta - 1647." Now I'm not sure if it was carved in 1647 or if that's the date associated with the Knights of Malta. In any event, if it was carved in 1647, that was 250 years or so before the Hotel Frontenac was constructed. If it was carved then, where did it spend its first 250 years?

We were in Quebec City on the weekend and had a blast! We stayed in the old city and walked everywhere and ate well. The weather cooperated as the huge rains the city had been having left on our arrival. We even saw the 60,000+ Nordiques fans on the Plains of Abraham on Saturday. Go Nords!!

Some awesome October weather in store. Well, awesome may be a tad over the top, but at least there will be less rain and normal temperatures and sunny days.

Things go better with ... Coke, but not at Erma's anymore as this little corner store, a fixture at Fisher and Worthington Streets for decades is closing up. Apparently Erma is "getting on" and is tired of selling loto and scratch tickets.

Mooses's Sports Bar on Main Street - a good place to watch a game, have a Harp and get some wings.

Get a load of this boat house on Trout Lake, not the Muskokas. This is just the boat house. The people house is behind it to the right behind the trees. It does look like a great place to spend the summer and party, though.

Years ago the Cochrane Building on Main Street was home to various different business including Cochrane-Dunlop hardware and paints. Currently, and for some time now, it houses Lefebvre's Outdoor store on Main Street and Vested Interests on the other side of the building on McIntyre Street.

Just down the lake from us is this 60's styled cottage, complete with original pink coloured siding. The "stone" railing in front is made of cement blocks laid sideways on top of each other, and it is now crumbling after decades of exposure wear.

At the end of our road, Viceroy Road, is a cottage that is used a few times each summer. These chairs "wait" year round for the owners' visits.

As seen here from an evening boat trip photo this week before the monsoons settled in, the fall colours are rapidly setting in.

In the "old days" there used to be a lot of signs and advertising painted high up on the brick walls of buildings - very effective, visible and inexpensive. It seems now that "flashier" methods are more important to use instead, so these signs are fading away.

Yesterday evening, the first of autumn 2010, offered a sunset at the same time that the full moon, the Harvest Moon, rose at the opposite end of the sky. Naturally I went out in the Fortuitous to get some photos of both. It was pretty neat considering the sky was clear after all the crappy weather we've been having and will continue to have from today forward for the next few days. Fortuitous ... hmmm ....

Northern Ontario ferns in the morning autumn sunshine.

Here's a view down the lake from our little boat cruise on Sunday afternoon.

Here is a group of photos of our place after the new lower deck has been constructed, and after I took down the 30 foot red pine tree that was right in the middle of the yard between the house and the lake. It really opens up the area for a much improved view. Hint - the red arrows point to the house and the missing tree.

Here's the view from our deck this morning - quite cool, misty as the heat leaves the lake, but clearing up to be a nice day.

We finished screwing down the deck last night around 7pm, and then immediately had a celebratory couple of "pops" and a hot tub to soothe the aces in our backs and knees. The next items "on deck" are the stairs down the the hot tub, further bracing of the deck and railings.

It looks like all-in-one dancing here - something for everybody.

The North Bay Capital Center, formerly the Capital Theater - a great venue for both movies and live music.

We have an old motel in town, The Sands, though quite a bit different from The Sands in Vegas.

Sign of the times - Not only is the ad for cheap beer, the economy is such that there's been nothing to replace it.

Still more decking to do and then new stairs down from the deck.

Ryan and I are working on a weekend project to construct the lower deck for our house. Today's job is basically to install the decking as yesterday's work was installing the beams, joists and supports.

It's that time of year again - time when the heat/warmth starts leaving the lake. Hopefully we're in for more warm weather before the cold does set in.

OK, one more from the fog. MJ, what can you tell us about Oxford Mills' Brigadoon restaurant?

More "foggy" photos from Oxford Mills. I think this is the library building. Can you give us a contributing history comment on this one, Merrickville Jim?

It's amazing the shapes and colours that fungi come in.

Saw blades behind the North Grenville Archives building at Acton Corners.

White garage in Oxford Mills.

When I was in Oxford Mills it was warm, not hot, and humid with rain. I took a bike trip through the area, and took pictures, of course. The humidity affected the camera as there was always mist on the lens, even with constant cleaning. The result was a number of photos "in the fog." This building, I believe, is either the Library or the Town Hall.

Not sure of the use of this old building at Acton Corners, but it's a neat site as you barrel down the highway.

I came across this US blog featuring early colour photos of America in the 1940's that, unfortunately, I have misplaced. There really was colour back then. They were all pretty interesting photos as most photos from that time were in black and white. This one of an old juke joint in the southern states was one of my faves from the blog.

It's September, and the weather is still fine, but the trees don't lie or fool anyone. They are starting to turn colour, indicating that the summer season is, unfortunately, winding down.

There are a lot of ways to photograph summer images, but this one has summer written all over it - Zoe clearly enjoying a boat ride around the lake.