Ghostly Doodles

Grab a Ghost Pumpkin at the local roadside veg stand, your coloured markers, start doodling and you get this..... no, I didn't create the decorations and I'm not sure who did. This pumpkin was on the counter at our weekly Art session last week.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Persian Bakery

A visit to the Richmond Hill Persian Bakery is quite an education.... and believe me, these breads are delicious. I drop in there when I shop at the nearby art supplies store.

This is Barbari bread, thick flat bread made with whole wheat flour or white flour, with either white or black sesame seeds sprinkled on top. The bread is usually between 70cm to 80cm long, and 25cm to 30cm wide.  It is the most common style baked in Iran. It is served in restaurants with Lighvan cheese of ewe's milk, similar to feta cheese. Good dipped in soup too!

This is Sangak bread, baked on a bed of small river stones in an oven.  Sangak bread was traditionally the bread of the Persian army. It is mentioned for the first time in the 11th century. Each soldier carried a small quantity of pebbles which at camp were brought together with the "sangak oven" and used to cook the bread for the entire army.

This bread was too big to take home, so it was cut into more manageable chunks. Great popped into the toaster!

Painted Ladies

Well, I don't know if they are ladies at all, but they are wearing their beautiful autumn colours.... and these photos were taken on dull showery days. So much brighter in the sunshine.

In the bottom left corner, a sign indicating our annual Artist Studio Tour. I've been invited to participate in the Tour in 2017..... I'd better get painting!

Diving Giraffes

High Diving Giraffes.... who knew giraffes were so athletically talented?
I'm not usually keen on sharing YouTube videos but this one caused me to have a huge smile on my face! Enjoy it.
(Remember to watch right to the end after the titles go by.)

Urban Sprawl?

The view towards the south perimeter of my small country town.
Well, it used to be a small country town, but as Bob Dylan notes, "the times, they are a'changin'".
Look carefully at the horizon. So many houses that they are impossible to count. And all built in the previous four or five years. All built on prime Ontario farmland that up until very recently was producing food for people and animals. Now covered in unforgiving concrete.

This area's most productive farmland is under threat of being swallowed up by unsustainable growth. And I wonder how long it will be before this active farm will be a target of increasing pressure from developers. Perhaps it already is. More and more people are moving into the region each year, and they all have to live somewhere. What's the answer?

Circle of Life

Bracket fungus or shelf fungus, also known as a polypore.

Prancing Palfreys

No doubt about the focus of this farm.

Changing Colours

Even though we haven't had an overnight frost yet, the colours in the trees are starting to change.

The yellows and oranges are starting to show, but with below freezing temperatures expected tonight, we'll soon be seeing the vivid reds of the maples.

The Eldred King Tract area of York Region Forest was full of walkers and their dogs and even some horses today. Many families were foraging for edible mushrooms, and all were enjoying the mild weather before going home to their Canadian Thanksgiving turkey dinners.
I walked from the parking area all the way to the pond and back, using my walking stick as the ground is pretty uneven. The new hip is working pretty well these days!

Diggers

A final day at the beach at the end of the summer.... it looks like we were the only people there but actually it was quite crowded.

Sibbald Point Provincial Park on the south shore of Lake Simcoe is less than an hour's drive away from home, which means the beach is usually pretty busy in the summer. We take a picnic, stake a claim on one of the shaded picnic tables under the trees, unload all the plastic buckets and shovels, and they start to dig.