Making the most of an oil change

My car was at the dealership for an oil change and tire rotation. Not wanting to waste a beautiful day by waiting inside the grungy old garage, I set out to walk the old section of Lachine.  I crossed over a rickety wooden bridge spanning the Canal, traipsed through a bike path, and on to a grassy area lined with trees. 

Making my way over to a park bench, I plonked down and took my time to savour the warm spring sunshine. After a while, I became attuned to my surroundings and began to notice details. Right in front of me stood a gnarled, ancient tree, leaves just beginning to unfurl.  Too bad I didn't bring a camera - I wanted to capture this tree's personality,  but who brings a camera to the garage? Wait a minute - my iPhone! (thought processes a little slow here, I was caught up in the essence of the tree, calm water and peaceful surroundings). 

After snapping a few pics, I turned my gaze upwards to catch branches from "my tree" reaching out to another tree as if holding hands across the sky - fingertips to fingertips!

Across the Lachine Canal, I spotted one of the domes of College Sainte-Anne, a private school founded in 1861 (yes I looked it up) by the Sisters of St. Anne.

I needed to move, so said "good-by" to My Tree, got up off the bench and continued on my way.  What a strange looking building.  Almost like a ship!   

I crept closer for a better look.  Curious, I circled the house-that-looks-like-a-ship, thinking it might be a restaurant. Once I got to the back, however and peeked brazenly into the windows (from afar of course) and saw someone's car parked in the lane, I realized that indeed it was a private home and I'd better snap this pic quickly before someone came out and suggested I leave (or threatened to call the police!) 

Continued down the road ( now what street am I on anyway?) Well, this is a blast from the past.  How long has it been since Iroquois roamed here?  Hundreds of years I think, but this is a very old part of the city.  In fact, Lachine gets its name from the early French explorers who set sail for China somewhere in the late 1600's.  They landed here (south/west part of Montreal island) and thought they had found China - hence the name La-Chine. 

Nice architecture.  Wonder who lives here.

And here - looks like a castle with its stone walls, tall windows and turrent!

Time to go back and check on the car.  Some people had been watching me as I snapped pics of the houses on their street, but no one said anything or even asked what I was doing, so it felt all right  but now it was time to leave.  But there was time for one last pic - a flower; could not leave without a flower (or flowering shrub).  This forsythia looked lovely snuggled into this sunny corner, basking in the sun.