What Every Mother Wants

I often find funny jokes in Boys' Life Magazine.  They seem to get all the jokes.  Girls' Life Magazine is an American teen magazine similar to other magazines directed to women - advice about friends and familiars, stories on popular culture, fashion, and celebrities.  Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America for boys from 7 - 17. It began in 1911 and when it started was edited by 18-year-old Joe Lane.  Fast forward to today and Boys' Life is targeted towards older boys and features buying guides, video games, things to do, sports,  and still features scouting activities.  It still contains jokes in every issue.  I looked through the Boys' Life Mother's Day jokes.  And then I found this one - it is NOT in the Boys' Life Compendium of Mother's Day Jokes. Boys' Life Magazine remains a general interest and wholesome magazine - it describes its style as crisp, punchy writing in relatively short, straight-forward sentences.  So as you read this joke, it would clearly not appear in Boys' Life Magazine. Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.  The first said, "I built a big house for our mother."  The second said," I sent her a Mercedes with a driver."  The third smiled and said, "I've got you, both beat. You know how Mom enjoys the Bible, and you know she can't see very well. I sent her a brown parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took 20 monks in a monastery 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000.00 a year for 10 years, but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot will recite it."  Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks: "Milton," she wrote the first son, "The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house."  "Marvin," she wrote to another, "I am too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes. And the driver is so rude!"  "Dearest Melvin," she wrote to her third son, "You were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes. That chicken was delicious." I stopped at Sunnybrook Winery on the Lakeshore in NOTL, and took this picture of the orchard on Lake Ontario. Our second picture is the Weeping Cherry tree on Niagara Street.

Near the Top

These pictures are a combination of rust on peeling, crackled paint, and paper.  The effect seems to make the textures look like precious metals and velvet.   I usually check out the news before each day's post, and at the bottom of the top 5 stores, below all the ads and  signups (which seem to increase remarkably every day), I saw an article on the 9 best places to retire in Canada.   1. Moncton, NB 2. Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON 3. Kingston, ON 4. Stratford, ON 5. Comox, BC 6. Rimouski, Quebec 7. Ottawa, ON 8. Estevan, Saskatchewan 9, Salmon Arm, BC With Niagara-on-the-Lake just down the road from me, I can enjoy the benefits of a high-class community without the costs that come with it.   V

More from NOTL Shaw Garden Tour 2014

This was the most splendid setting in NOTL - at the bottom of King Street right on the lake.  Here's the view across the river.

Niagara-on-the-Lake Garden Tour

Yes, the N-O-T-L Shaw Tour was a great success.  There was a variety of gardens - from large to small - but all shared the beautiful treed setting on the lake that this pretty town offers. Here's our first house on Queen Street (that's the main street) on a corner lot.  It featured a beautiful perennial border against the street side facing the house.

The Photographer's Garden View

I enjoy interpreting gardens that I visit as well as taking pictures that showcase the garden just as it is.

These two images come from a beautiful Japanese garden in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  There is a metal screen fence at the back of the garden, and this Japanese Maple tree, set against it, stands as a living sculpture in the landscape.

Niagara-on-the-Lake Shaw Festival Garden Tour today

It's a perfect day and it's the NOTL Shaw Festival Garden tour.  It's always great…here are a few pictures from last year's trip and some of these weren't on the tour.  Niagara-on-the-Lake is home to many Romantic gardens, so it's always enjoyable being there.