Spanakopita!

Last weekend was the annual "Doors Open" event, where the general public gets a chance to go inside buildings that are normally closed to them. I went with some friends to the Holy Theotokos Convent..... a small Orthodox Greek convent situated on 20 acres of rolling hills deep in the Ontario countryside.
It is situated only a 15 minute drive from where I live, deep in the countryside, a very unexpected location for a convent. There are 4 nuns who live here, and they run a small industry of producing beeswax candles, beauty products, and baked goods.
Just setting foot in the door, you smell a wonderful combination aroma of warm beeswax and baking and you are greeted with smiling faces. The candles are sold under the business name of Joyous Light Candles, and the nuns produce most of the candles used in religious services at many of the Toronto area churches, as well as candles for the home. They don't keep their own bees, but purchase more than 20,000kg of beeswax annually from beekeeepers across Canada.
Ahhh... the baking! It's worth a visit to the convent just for the spanakopita!

Yes, I loaded up with all kinds of Greek pastries.... all gone now, and they were delicious!

Very Sad

On Saturday morning I was honoured to take a tour of the local Mosque, as part of the Doors Open event. We were greeted with welcoming smiles by members of the Moslem community. The imam is a lively, personable and knowledgeable young man, and he explained the beliefs and traditions of Islam to us, so many traditions are so close to both Judaiism and Christianity. One of the congregation demonstrated the prayers, and a lovely young lady told me about her childhood in Dubai and how happy she is to live here in Canada.
On leaving we were offered traditional foods.... mmmmm I love dates!... and each person was given a gift of information about Islam.

Then on Saturday night the awful stories of horror and terror unfolding in London.
I am so sad for the people who have lost loved ones, and all those who have been hurt or frightened by these despicable acts. And I am sad too, for the kind and gentle people who I met at the Mosque earlier that morning.

Under Renovation

This elegant Victorian brick house was built in 1889 for Mr. John Baker, a wealthy lumber mill owner. It's had numerous owners since then, and the current owner bought it in 1978. It had been empty for a while and needed a lot of TLC.

The house has been covered in scaffolding ever since.  I had a tour through the house many years ago, and it was in really bad shape. The owner acquired enough slates to cover the leaky roof, but as slate is so heavy, the rafters and the roof framework had to be strengthened. The scaffolding came down on this side of the house for the Doors Open event, but it's still there on the other side as the roof's still not completely finished.

The third floor (originally the attic) is being renovated and made into an apartment. Will it ever be finished? Maybe. It's only been 37 years so far. Plenty of time to get it done. That round hole used to be a circular stained glass window, now it's just a round hole.

The view over the neighbouring rooftops out of an open door on the third floor. Where does the door lead? To the scaffolding of course.

Meanwhile work continues throughout the rest of the house. The owner opened the house to the public for Doors Open day. Needless to say, lots of locals crowded into the house eager to get a glimpse of the progress had been made inside the infamous "scaffolding house" over the past 37 years. When I was there around the middle of the day, over 750 people had already been up and down the stairs.

It's going to be a lengthy project I think.

 Interested in a reno challenge? The owner says it may be going on the market in the near future.

Ed's Hardware

Have you ever bought a piece of antique furniture with a handle missing, and you can't find a matching replacement, no matter where you look?
Or been doing some refinishing and you need the right hinge, or doorknob, or key, and you don't know where to find exactly the right piece?
You need to spend some time browsing at Ed's Hardware.

Ed keeps his massive collection of vintage and antique hardware in an old barn located at the rear of his c.1880 James Lemon farmhouse. It's certainly a labour of love. He has everything sorted, packaged and catalogued. If you need it, and can't find it, Ed probably has it. And can tell you how to install it.

Ed can answer any questions about appropriate fittings for doors, windows, cabinets, and furniture, and gives valuable advice on caring for and refurbishing your antique hardware.

 

Shelf upon shelf of doorknobs, locks, door hardware, doorbells, screws, nuts, bolts, square head nails. It's a hands-on museum.

A few years ago, Ed was asked by a friend to help find a drawer pull for an old piece of furniture. He searched antique shows, garage sales and auctions looking for the right handle. After accumulating more than 2000 pieces, the search for the handle turned into a personal collection.

Ed thinks of the drawer pulls, screws, hinges, keys and door knobs as jewellery for the house, and the finishing touches to fine furniture.

Ed's customers range from the hobbyist to professional furniture refinishers, and to homeowners who want to maintain authenticity in their pieces of furniture.

Where does he find all these pieces? When I was there, at least two people were telling Ed that they had boxes of old hardware in their garages, and didn't know what to do with it. If you have a box of "junk", Ed will gladly take it off your hands!

 

And finally.... some good advice from Ed.

Doors Open Ontario 2009 - Part 2

Continuing from Part 1, a few steps across Main Street from WhiStle Radio is the newly refurbished Arts and Culture Centre.

19 On The Park
The building that is now the brand new Arts, Culture and Entertainment Centre was built in 1896, and has previously housed a market, a movie theatre, an auto garage and a billiard hall, and most recently the town Municipal Offices. From April 2008, the site was under construction, opening with two weeks of Gala entertainment in May 2009.
Looking across the Town Square towards the Clock Tower and Main Street, a musician was entertaining the audience in the Town Square below.


Bruce's Mill
Located on the Oak Ridges Moraine, this flour mill opened in 1858 and operated until the 1960s. Listed as a heritage structure and awaiting a major restoration, Bruce’s Mill continues to house milling equipment from the early 1900s.
Unfortunately, the mill was closed to the public due to a family of raccoons nesting inside! But there was a fascinating display of found artifacts from a nearby archaeological dig of a pioneer pottery site.



Cedar Beach Pavilion
On the beach at Musselmans Lake, just north of Toronto, this 1929 dance hall was a popular destination during the big band era of the 1930s and 1940s, and for country and western music in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s one of the last of the holiday resorts established in the region during the early 20th century still operating. I've been to dances here and it has a wonderful hardwood sprung floor.

Too many interesting Doors Open sites to visit them all in one day... perhaps I'll see the rest next year.

See post below for other Doors Open Ontario sites.

Doors Open Ontario 2009 - Part 1

Across the Province of Ontario, there are numerous significant heritage buildings and sites that the public rarely gets to see.
Doors Open Ontario opens these places to the public once a year, often for the first time. Today it was our town's turn.

Altona Mennonite Meeting House
Built by pioneers who emigrated from Pennsylvania, this 1852 brick meeting house with plastered walls has never been renovated. It still contains its original unpainted pine pews and floor. The backs of some of these pews are made from a single board of wood, and the pews themselves are constructed with mortise and tenon joints.

The cemetery is the burial place of the town founder, Abraham Stouffer, and his wife and family.


Fire and Emergency Services Station
A fire brigade was formed in the Village in 1898, followed in 1900 by the construction of the first fire hall. The present Fire Hall was built in 1965, and there's a new one currently under construction to be completed in January 2010.



WhiStle Radio (CIWS 102.7 FM)
Founded in 2008, our town radio station, WhiStle Radio, is located in a 1930s store (originally a menswear and shoe shop) attached to the front of an 1860s Main Street house. The station uses 21st-century computer technology to generate, broadcast and webcast radio from hand-built studios. Volunteer-operated, community-based radio in action!

I even got interviewed live on the air about which Doors Open sites I had been to!

More about Doors Open Ontario in my next post.