Ontario 2011: Small Towns & Memories

Our next itinerary was to the Bruce Peninsula ... where my mom and dad grew up. I spent my childhood summers here. It is rich farm country - rolling hills with an escarpment lacing through. There are lots of good memories of place and people!

Buildings are solid and stately ... mostly brick with a few of field stone.

This is a must for any train enthusiast.

This was my grandfather's place to go for all the hardware items he needed ... still  operating!

There is something special about old doors ...  and the  stories they could tell.

Water levels were high ... on a hot day, the horses knew where to cool off!

This is the Georgian Bay, Lake Huron.

When I was a child, this was a gravel road and the cars  travelled at 30 miles/hour.

Churches were the center of the community and the White Church  was the family church -  later to  become a United Church.

As with many of the old churches, they are now recycled to become houses. The gravestones are gathered and set into concrete.

Another memory was of 'camp meeting' ... held at the 'campground' ... a meeting of many churches with each one doing a service. Rev. Goff was the minister. The property has been sold and will become the location for Black History. Slaves leaving the States were sheltered in the area.

The view from the top of the escarpment.
In distant times ... the earth moved here ... shifting and dropping.

When I was 17, I visited my Aunt and Uncle and played with a cute little cousin, Elwood.  Shortly after, my cousin Lynn was born.

... and here she is ... with her husband, Brian

The farm belonged to Brian's family ... built before 1900.

They took this little house back to the rafters and rebuilt it to create  a  lovely home. Some of the  hand hewn rafters were  left exposed to keep the connection to the house's history.

We watched thunder storms from the balcony at night and enjoyed the scene below by day.

Close to Clarksburg is Thornbury. While admiring the stately old brick homes, we noticed a quilt 'airing' on the top balcony. After introductions and a discussion about quilting, Gudrun and her husband  invited us in for a cup of tea and a tour of the studio. Quilters ar the nicest people!

Blue mountain is the ski mountain in Ontario. Surprisingly, the 'village' is designed by the same group that did Whistler Mt. in BC.  The mountains vary considerably in height!

We were there in liliac season.

Collingwood Harbour has a pleasant park with some vocal inland seagulls.

Liesure crafts moore where there used to be fish boats.

The old tractors were of simple design ... the 'work horse' of the farms.

The Beaver River was my dad's swimming hole and favorite  fishing spot.

When we headed south, it was uncharacteristically misty for a  June day!

Revanna was a little store we visited for ice cream cones. The inside cupboards are vintage and the bakery products very good!

This was the farm my Uncle Mannie had. It was mainly for cattle. It has been purchased and will have a country estate built on the property. The little 'town' near the farm is 'Redwing'. At the present, it consists of 4 buildings ... one is the little cabin below. The old Post Office has been rebuilt into a snug little house. The owners of the house came out to see what the 'tourists' were doing and I explained that my family had come to the Post Office in years gone by. We were surprised to find that the couple had known my uncle. We were invited in for an egg sandwich (delicious) and a chat (interesting).

Our next stop was Flesherton.

We had a lovely dinner with my cousin Garnett and his wife Inez.

These fungi grew on a piece of wood outside the restaurant.

This was a garage converted to the cutest little house!

And the, we had a very pleasant visit to a beautiful garden!

From here ... we headed south to Toronto for a few days before flying home.