New Beginning.

YoungerSon and his family have lived only a 10 minute walk away from me for the past ten years. I've been able to show up whenever I've been needed. And they have been here for me if I needed help too.
But times are changing.
Their house is sold, and they have bought a small hobby farm on 6.5 acres in the country. They finally moved in on the afternoon of Christmas Day.

There's good news and bad news.
The good news is that it's the perfect place for them, something that they have wanted for a long time.
The bad news is that every time I want to visit my grandchildren, it's a 305km round trip from my house and back. And I will miss them so much. I already do.

There are two barns on the property, and two houses.... well, a house and an additional in-law apartment. It all needs lots of cleaning up.

They have been ripping up carpets, priming and painting walls and ceilings, washing windows, and replacing light fixtures. The house needs lots of care and attention, but they are determined and ambitious and energetic, and I'm sure they will make the place their very own.

I'll miss my grandchildren very much, but I can visit often, and technology has made the world very small. I'm very proud of them for taking this big step! 2020 is definitely going to be a Happy New Year for them.

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?

Prancing Palfreys

No doubt about the focus of this farm.

Woolpit, Suffolk

The January blahs. I haven't been inspired to post anything blogwise for a few days. The weather is cold, the sky is grey, and there is a sprinkling of snow on the ground. Only a sprinkling, thank heavens, we missed the big snow that hit Washington, and New York, and the East coast.

So my winter mind is going back to last summer's European trip. Instead of heading back to Canada with the choral group at the end of the concert tour, my friend and I flew to England to stay with my cousin for a week. And the sun was shining. Some of that summer sunshine is preserved in these photos.

Valerian valeriana officinalis has been known as a medicinal herb since the time of ancient Greece and Rome. It has been used as a remedy for insomnia, cough, convulsions, plague, and those that are "bruised with falls".

Rosa canina, commonly known as the dog-rose. The fruit, known as rose hips, are full of Vitamin C and are used to make rose hip syrup,

 

 Red corn poppies. Papaver rhoeas. They are everywhere in the fields in June. Usually referred to by the farmers as a weed, but I love them. They mean England to me.

My cousin's house... part of it dating from the 1700s, then an addition in the 1800s, and another addition in the 1900s.

Purple Clematis and red climbing roses decorating the old wash house wall.... love the green mossy look to the gate.

A well cared for shrubbery in the village. Monty Python would be proud!
(If you don't get the reference, Google Monty Python + Shrubbery)

The village square viewed from  the window of the teashop where we stopped for morning coffee and "elevenses".

Christmas on the Farm

Once again, on the first weekend in December, we made our way to the sleepy little town of Schomberg, Ontario, to enjoy their annual Christmas on Main Street. For $5.00 entry (and free for kids) Main Street is full of carol singers, ventriloquists, magicians, fire eaters, entertainers of all sorts, and a huge craft show and sale. The firemen give out steaming hot chocolate from the back of the fire truck for a donation in the fireman's boot. There are blazing fire barrels to warm you. You can try your hand at ice sculpture. There are real reindeer for the children to gaze at. And at around 8:00pm, the long anticipated Giant Farm Equipment Christmas Parade begins. This is only a very small sample of the parade. Sorry.... not the greatest pictures ever taken, I was just too excited!

This Christmas Santa Claus Parade is the best ever.... it really starts the Christmas season off for me!

Farmer Christmas

Yes, that's right.... not Father Christmas, but Farmer Christmas!

Every year on the first Saturday in December the little country town of Schomberg, Ontario, closes off Main Street, charges everyone $5.00 (kids are free!) to pass the barriers, and holds it's annual Christmas Festival. 

There are jugglers, fire eaters, magicians, singers, and rock bands. Blazing fire barrels to stand next to, in order to keep warm on a frosty night. 

Food stalls, firemen offering free hot chocolate from the back of the fire truck, a craft show and sale, carol singers, a parade for the children in the afternoon, and when it gets dark, the main event that everyone is waiting for...... the Enormous Farm Equipment Christmas Parade!

The local farmers, and there are a lot of them, decorate their farm equipment with thousands, maybe millions, of lights. The bigger the farming machinery, the better!

This tractor and hay wagon had revolving reflectors installed under the equipment making fantastic coloured patterns on the road.

This one had lights that went round with the huge wheels. I have to wonder how they do that, without the wires getting all tangled up. Must be Christmas magic, I think.

Here's a short video of a couple of the floats.... the maniacal screaming is my grandson Callum. Sorry if he hurts your ears. He was very excited!

Finally the Great Man himself arrives riding on an enormous John Deere combine harvester. 

We'll definitely be going again next year..... the best Santa Claus Parade EVER!!!!