Its Fall :( which is fall fair time :)

As my brother lives in Acton, its always fun to visit during the Fall Fair.
Every year small towns hold Fall Fairs, where cooking and farm animals are put on display to be judged.
For me, one of the highlights is the midway, where the nite lights are lit up with neon.
Using low speed photography produces some pretty cool effects!











Of course, go out to any event with a camera now adays, and you have people walking up and saying "take my picture"!
So I did!

Anyone get married on the weekend?

Spent some time at the Distillery District , as well as around City Hall, and boy, outside of winter, I've never seen so much white!

Seems like everyone took the weekend to get married, and decided to enjoy the beautiful weather to have pictures taken.

A bride heads into Osgood Hall,



where the old style building makes a great backdrop for pictures.



While one group gets direction from a photographer, another couple is instructed to "walk towards me but like I'm not here" from their own photographer!



A bride heads down the road in the Distillery District,



Competing brides pose for the numerous cameras.



The "director" at work.



taking a time out on some neat chairs!



The entire wedding gang get set up for a photo



Going for the big kiss!

World Trip

A weekend ago, I decided to take a day trip, and heck, for fun, why not make it an across the world trip! Sure, it would take a bit of time, but heck, I brought my bike, so that would speed it up.

So I grabbed my flight crew (to take my bike) and headed out!



First stop was Ukraine. Or, is it The Ukraine, I'm just not sure!
I've always loved the traditional costume of the area,



with the skirts and the red boots on the lovely women!





Of course soldiers were around to keep everyone on their best behavoir!



Heading just across the border, I visited Poland.
Again, there were lots of people in traditional costumes,









Again, there were some lovely women,



This guy on a motorcycle cleared through the crowd, and even had a bit of Canadian content with the maple leaves on his bike!



I made a quick stop in Brazil to hear a street drum band perform!





And finally after getting back to North America, I stopped in to see what was happening in Mexico!
There was a band performing for the crowd, and after they finished, there was a contest for, of course, the best traditional costume!



Most of the contestants were small kids, who looked so cut in their costumes, representing the different states (there are 31!)







But the adults were out as well!



I was very tired afterwords, but had an enjoyable day!

Toronto Airshow

On Friday I went down to the waterfront to catch some of the CIAS practice. Unfortunately, it was extremely hazy.
So on Saturday, I joined my brother to bike over to the Toronto Islands to watch the show from the beach. It was extremely hot, so it was nice to cool off in the Lake. But I did burn the top of my foot! Yikes.
The show was called early, as the radio indicated that rain was happening at Pearson, so the snowbirds stayed on the ground.
On Monday, I parked in a lot along Lakeshore and road towards the centre stage area. It was cloudy and grey, but the planes were pretty close.

Some of the aircarft included the A10 Warthog, a tank buster plane. I've always like the plane, with its massive gatling gun. This plane was designed to survive a hit, because it would spend its life down low on the battleground.





The MV-22 Osprey, from the Marine Corps was on hand for its first visit to Toronto. This is a Tilt Rotor aircraft, having the speed of a conventional plane, and the landing ability of a helicopter.



The Canadian CF-18 Hornet performed, and this year was done up to salute the families that support the military.





The CF also had the CP-140 Aurora, which is basically a sub hunter, making a bunch of passes down the show line.



The Canadian Armed Forces also had the Snowbirds on hand. Saturdays show never made it to the lakefront due to rain, but they were able to perform on sunday and monday.
On monday, at the scheduled time for the Snowbirds I heard over my scanner that number 7 had to turn back and pick up the backup aircraft, which delayed the show for 10 minutes. (you can see plane 10 has replaced number 7 in the picture below)



Once they got going, they only had 7 aircraft in the formation, and by the end, an 8th had joined in.







A great jet demonstration team was the privately owned Heavy Metal jet team. Flying 5 L-39 Albatros planes,



plus an amazing Mig 17.



Also in their team is a former RCAF T-33 Shooting Star, which was not at the show.









These guys had the best seat in the house during the show!



Prop planes included the Lucas Oil Pitts flown by Mike Wiskus



The Edge 540 of Pete McLeod





the Sukhoi SU-26M of Rick Volker



And the great Avro Lancaster of the Hamilton Warplane Heritage Museum, with its 4 Merlin engines, which powered the spitfire!







The Misty Blues, an all female parachute team, landed in the water to be picked up by the Police Marine Unit,



while the HMCS Shawinigan was part of the show on Saturday. Its a Coastal Defense Ship, of the Kingston Class.