Niagara Falls with Sister Diny

 Since my sister Diny would be staying with us for a full month, together with her significant other, we had planned a trip to the Niagara Falls in Canada.

What a sight from our room 2329 at the Marriott

Niagara Falls with Rainbow... on September 20, 2007

A different view and as you can see, we were very lucky with the weather!

Yes, via Internet I'd managed to get us a room with the Niagara Falls view on their TOP floor 23!

Lunch at the restaurant of Marriott

overlooking the Falls

Joop, me and sister Diny

Wearing my favorite silk jacket from Escada...

Feeling happy for having reached our destination...

What a perfect day!

Diny with Pieter

It was quite a trip for both of us!

From Dublin, Georgia via Augusta, Charlotte North Caroline where we ate lunch at a Bob Evans, Dobson North Caroline to gas up, via the Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap North Carolina. We went to Hyatt Place in Roanoke Virginia  for our first night.

Next day, Pieter drives first and then we let Diny drive into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—a historic moment for Joop. By 18:00 we leave the museum and shops at Gettysburg after an ice cream and beer for Joop at a terrace. A long ride of 310 km for me in heavy traffic to Morristown in New Jersey where we spent the night at the Hyatt Summerfield Suites. 

Next day we went to the Woodbury Commons Premium Outlet.

Then Pieter drives the first stretch towards the Niagara Falls and at Whitney Point, New York he gassed up and I do the rest.

Next day we stayed at the Hyatt Summerfield Suites in East Norristown, Pennsylvania for two nights.

We did go to the Campbell's Headquarters in New Jersey and stocked up on our favorite Godiva dark chocolate with raspberries. 

Over the Ben Franklin Bridge, I drove them to Shillington, Pennsylvania where we used to live and we visited antique stores in Adamstown.

Next day we went to Hyatt Summerfield Suites in Charlotte, North Carolina after a stop at Replacements Ltd. 

Home next day... For our Infiniti FX35 we accumulated 4,896 km with 520 liters gas at $ 416

From my hometown of Horst, The Netherlands that would be the equivalent of traveling to Kiev in the Ukraine.

Or from Horst, Netherlands all the way south to Madrid in Spain.

We sure did go the extra mile!

But we found this in our guest book for an entire month of hosting them...

~

While visiting my Uncle Louis in Broken Hill, NSW/Australia he discussed the vastness of their country and ours.

He too had to pick up relatives from the airport—the big one long distance, not their local airport where I flew in from Melbourne on a weekend while working there.

My aunt Nelly with her husband came to Australia for two months and Uncle Louis toured 6,000 km with them...

That sure did top off our mileage but he wanted to share that, as there is so much difference between these continents.

Related links:

6th NAMC and Niagara Falls | previous post by me

Visiting Uncle Louis in the Australian Outback of Broken Hill, NSW | previous post by me

6th NAMC and Niagara Falls

 For the 6th North American Mushroom Conference we both traveled on July 15 of 1986 to Pennstate, Pennsylvania where we had the reception at Elks Country Club.

Always great to see many international mushroom friends.

We had lectures at Penn State next two days.

On July 17 we got up at 6:15 AM and after breakfast Pieter's colleague dropped us off at the 1st charterbus stop and we rode by bus towards the Niagara Falls 

Baljit Nanda, Pieter and myself

After lunch near Buffalo, New York, chatting with mushroom friends.

Klaus Grabbe from Germany, me and Pieter

We laughed about the size of that sundae!

We arrived by bus around 17:15 and did walk around

View from our room...

Beautiful gardens below...

Quite a view...

It was already getting dark...

But nevertheless an awesome experience for being there!

Quite a sight

Different angle

Pieter with his Pennstate Unitversity sweater

Sure the climate is perfect for a lush garden!

We enjoyed a nice dinner with view of the Niagara Falls.

Several people from my home town of Horst, The Netherlands were attending the Conference as well.

By 22:00 we went to our room.

Pieter is center photo in plaid shirt and I'm opposite him.

 Next day we left by 10:00 for Vineland Research & Innovation Centre where we got to see their horticulture and fruitgrowing under glass such as kiwis and peaches after wine and beer in their garden with a good barbecue.

Lots of wedding couples came to take pictures in their beautiful garden. Situated 100 m from Lake Ontaria, a peninsula with mild climate.

From there we went by bus to Toronto to our Hilton Harbor Castle and after unpacking we walked into the city.

On Sunday July 20, we got up at 10:00 and went on foot to St. Michaels Cathedral for the 12:00 Mass.

St. Michael's R.C. Cathedral opened in 1848

No iPhone back than with GPS info...

We further enjoyed the Conference where Pieter was speaker and panelist.

Had hoped to receive his lecture from Geoff Price but nope...

Did partially post about it: {Toronto Canada Then and Now} ←click link.

P.J.C. Vedder on Mushroom Cultivation during Technology Transfer Seminar—Pre–Wet

 Starting off, with our gratitude towards Mushrooms Canada, for allowing us to use their video.

Pieter J.C. Vedder Author of modern mushroom growing 2020 harvesting (click link)

For all those that never met him in person, as an educator, see video below.

Don't forget the basics.

The basic is, and you can come up with all kind of machinery and all kind of techniques, but it is as simple as this; pre–wetting means make every piece of straw or material what you are using for making compost, wet as soon as possible—every piece of straw and cover it with some slurry, some type of nutrients for those microorganisms, who are actually doing the job

We will go over the few factors later on. Composting means that we give certain microorganisms the opportunity to do in two weeks, what they normally do in half a year; just break down that material. And you should never forget the role of mushrooms in nature. People sometimes forget what the role of mushrooms in nature is.

Also shortness of the material. Aha, so we said try in an early stage to cover every piece of material with a layer of slurry. I'm not using water—and go back to what David said: if it is a kind of a slurry then there is a better water holding capacity of the particles. Yeah, water would run off easier but if it is a kind of runoff material with already some

food, some bacteria, some germs in it—yeah it sticks better to the pieces of straw. Try to crush them but not chop it because—because for two reasons—because you can't do the same in a tunnel Phase II, as you can do in a thinner layer if that material is short and a little bit on the wet side. That is the contradiction—then you can handle Phase II maybe in such a layer but not in a higher layer

Talking about composting what you are doing is you are burning off carbohydrates—not because our mushroom could not utilize them but it is too attractive for competitors and so on. So here we start pre–wetting. Pre–wetting means more or less prepare the material for the big happening. Here you start biological

activity. Microorganisms are breaking down that kind of material and that material of course is organic material. So if you start here at the beginning with for instance a C/N ratio. Everybody I suppose understands the C/N ratio. The ratio between the amount of carbon and nitrogen. In straw the C/N ratio is more or less 80, that means 80 to 1. 80 parts carbon against one nitrogen; that is straw.

P.J.C. Vedder on Mushroom Cultivation during Technology Transfer Seminar part 1 ←click link for watching video

Don't forget to click on 'CC' for seeing English caption...

Best also to view on YouTube as there are clickable points built in—below video in text!

Readers and/or viewers, should realize, that such a Technology Transfer Seminar was done in a 2nd language for us. Always so for the impromptu, without paper or any note points. 

Also, answering any upcoming questions from the audience.

Try doing this, for hours on end...

You must thrive on a lot of knowledge and experience for being able to do this spontaneously, time and time again, and with the same enthusiasm as you did for the very first time!

Being mighty proud of my Pieter as one of the BEST educators. His knowledge can still help numerous mushroom growers.

Meeting with Mushroom Grower Nick Pora in Metcalf, Ontario Canada

 We did rise early at our Fairmont Château Laurier, for having breakfast and to get on our way. 

Nick Pora Sr. on the left, with Pieter at his Continental Mushroom Farm

On Tuesday, August 18, 1998 we had received a fax at the Fairmont Château Laurier, for our meeting next day.

So after breakfast we got on our way for FINALLY visiting Nick's mushroom farm!

Nick Pora, was also a loyal customer of my Lacquered Brass Window Decorations 'Mushrooms' in two sizes.

Below post you find some links for actually seeing them.

Guess Nick came to the Dutch Mushroom Days in June of 1988, where I had a stand for selling those.

Nick Pora, also had enclosed these cards with that letter...

CHAMPIGNON — CONTINENTAL —MUSHROOM

Producers of some of the best mushrooms in the world

Nick Pora, hailed from Romania and in 1972 he came to Canada with only $ 5.00 in his pocket.

With hard work, he managed to build himself up and run a successful mushroom farm.

Already during the 1st NAMC at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco he met Pieter in 1979.

See link below this post with his photo.

Again, at the 12th NAMC Conference in Vancouver he begged us to visit him.

But Ottawa is not a city we often flew into...

So this time, when using our frequent flyer miles for a vacation to Canada, we planned it such, that we would end in Ottawa and then drive to his place.

We first met at the mushroom farm's office where we also briefly saw Virginia Pora, Nick's lovely wife.

Nick Pora Jr. and Nick Pora Sr. at almost 82 years of age (September) and Pieter.

In February, Nick had lost 40 lbs (18 kg) of weight after their return from a vacation in Aruba.

Me, Nick Jr. and Nick Sr. at the restaurant for lunch.

Nick Sr. had taken us via the compost slab, to a first break room, full with product.

His skills for mushroom cultivation proved to be good.

Then he took us to the Packaging area.

THE BEST WE EVER SAW!

They used a barcode with ratings: 1–2–3–4 or cannery (for worst quality). Beautiful white product!

A Chinese 'mama' ran the packaging including a clean floor; no spills! 

We were both very impressed and told Nick so.

They daily handled 13 tons of fresh product.

Both of us felt very happy for finally having fulfilled his request to visit him!

Fond memories of a long time friendship.

Next day we did check out from the Fairmont Château Laurier, drove to the airport and returned our Herz rental car after driving our 987 km or 613 mi. 

By 11:00 o'clock we flew via Newark, New Jersey on Continental Express, to Atlanta, Georgia.

That was the end of our memorable Canada Vacation!

Related links:

Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA 1st North American Mushroom Conference | previous post by me where Nick Pora attended

Dutch Mushroom Days and Selling My Own Design of Brass Mushrooms | previous post by me

{My Own Design of Brass Mushrooms} | previous post by me

Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa and Parliament Buildings

 On Tuesday, August 18, we got up in time.

Packing up and breakfast at our Novotel in Montréal Center.

Just as I walked with two glasses of grapefruit juice to our table, a kid bumped into me...

Now I had a wet right bosom.

The mother kind of stupidly asked if I wanted water. 

I said rather angry; NO—making it even wetter?!

With a paper napkin in–between to suck up the juice, I drove to Ottawa.

Back then we used the old State Farm map as there was no GPS yet...

It were 160 km on a rather flat area with lots of corn.

We arrived at Rue Rideau 1, where our Fairmont Château Laurier is.

Right on the Rideau Canal, another WORLD Heritage Site.

Lots of road work and also in front of our hotel...

Fairmont Château Laurier ←click link.

From our room 403, we video taped the Rideau Canal and its sluices with the Ottowa River visible as well.

Then we walk around and taped the Parliament Buildings that were right next door of our hotel, visible to the left in above image.

West Block was adjacent to our Fairmont Château Laurier as part of The Canadian Parliament Buildings – Ottawa, Canada ←click link

Related links:

Mount Royal Park and Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montréal, Canada | previous post by me

Notre Dame Basilica of Montréal and Moccaccino at Second Cup Café | previous post by me

Montréal Old Port and City Hall | previous post by me

Montréal Windsor Station and Mary Queen of the World Cathedral | previous post by me

Sainte Anne de Beaupré Basilica, Québec, Canada | previous post by me

Cathedral–Basilica of Notre Dame de Québec from 1647 | previous post by me

Canyon Sainte Anne — Québec, Canada | previous post by me

Montmorency Falls Park Québec, Canada | previous post by meFairmont Le Château Frontenac — Québec City, Canada | previous post by me