Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto, Ontario


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Saturday farmers' market and community skate at the Evergreen Brickworks.

Winter At Last - Etobicoke, Toronto, ON

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It took its dear sweet time, but winter is finally back in my little corner of Etobicoke.

New Years Eve, Skating at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, ON

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I spent my New Years Eve as I spent the rest of the year: Gliding about wildly, with just enough control to stay upright, having a heck of a good time.

Last year at about this time I wrote a set of guidelines for myself to follow over the -then- year ahead. I thought I'd ought to share them here, as a lot of what you've seen here is a result of me following my own advice.

I like to think I stayed mostly on track.

 

Say yes.

Follow through.

Be honest, always.

Empathise.

Be good to people.

Be good for people.

Socialize.

Forget anxiety.

Never apologise for others.

Slow down.

Be outside whenever possible.

Live in the present, as much as you do the future and past.

Enjoy what you can.

Do what you want.

Pursue the interesting.

Be more of a human being, and less of a brain in a vat.

Say yes: Mean yes.

Follow through.

Always.


You'll have to wait another year to see what I've proposed this time around!

Fairview Farm, Belgrave, ON

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Snow and welding.

Morningstar Mill, St. Catharines, ON

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Out on a rainy day, pointing at a part of a historic mill race.

Woodbridge Memorial Tower, Vaughan, ON

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Woodbridge Memorial Tower, Cold Winter Day.

Williams Orchards, Fonthill, ON

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Road trip out to the apple stand.

Cober Dunkard Meeting House, Baker-Cober Cemetery, Vaughan, ON

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Niagara Parkway, Niagara Falls-Queenston-NOTL, ON

(A lovely fall Sunday afternoon made even better by a long drive along the Niagara Parkway + added side adventures with my family.)

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Heritage!

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Trails!

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Food!

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Water!

This ends what is essentially the briefest possible synopsis of Leaf Beaten.

Wainfleet House, Side Road 44, Wainfleet, ON

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Today the plan was to help out friends with the renovation/restoration of their new old carpenter gothic farmhouse.

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And by help I mean ride the tractor!

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(I may have also climbed the silo.)

 

Nelles Manor & Ontario Fruit - Grimsby, ON

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Nelles Manor, built between 1788-1798. One of the few houses of this vintage to survive the War of 1812.

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Sweet plumbs, Bartlett pears, McIntosh apples, grapes, nectarines from the Grimsby Farmers Market: Will not survive the week. (I'm making crumble! And maybe apple jelly.)

Brock Beach, Wasaga, ON

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So, I missed going summer cottaging by less than a day. No complaints! The forecast called for thunderstorms, & we got clear blue skies.

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A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow (Ontari-ari-ari-o!)

Give us a place to stand
And a place to grow,
And call this land Ontario.
A place to live
For you and me,
With hopes as high
As the tallest tree.

Give us a land of lakes
And a land of snow,
And we will build Ontario,
A place to stand,
A place to grow,
Ontari-ari-ari-o.

This is fantastic. Read more about A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow.

 

Eating: Ontario Beets, Two Pecks, Pickled

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Pickling beets is a near-annual event in my house, something my Dad and his buddies do almost every year. The beets they use always come from the Port Colborne Farmers Market and are well-known as the best you've ever tasted. (These jars only come out at special occasions.) This year I asked if I could help, and they obliged! Mine were the tenderfoot jobs: Cutting the tops and bottoms off of the raw beets, watching the pots so they don't boil over, peeling the skins, and of course post-pickling clean up.

But I also learned a lot. (There are four pecks to a bushel, and 2 pecks to a half bushel.)

And now have two small jars of my very own.

Hike: Wainfleet Wetlands, Wainfleet, ON

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Bismarck and I spent a couple of hours this afternoon exploring the Wainfleet Wetlands Conservation Area. I've gone swimming in the quarry here more than a few times this summer and wanted to see how long it would take to hike around it. (Answer: Only about 30mins, taking my sweet time.)

On my long meandering way back to the trailhead I passed an older gentleman, dressed head to toe in soft blue denim. "Beautiful day!"  I said, as I always do when it's true.

"Yes." He said with a wise smile. "I didn't think we'd get another one of these."

And then the dog and I went swimming to cool off. And it was pretty perfect.

Dog Walk: Cherry Beach, Toronto Port Lands, ON

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Sunday afternoons are dangerous without at least one ill-thought-out plan.

So I decided I would investigate a few fellow dog owner reports of a dog park at Cherry Beach. I'm fairly attached to the west end of Toronto: I don't travel east of Yonge very often out of convenience, however, I am sucker for the promise of waterfront, sailboats & clean leash-free beaches, no matter how treacherous the journey.

(It was a fine journey with a lovely end result. The dog beach at Cherry Beach was full of friendly folks and friendly dogs and it was exceedingly spacious. I recommend it if you live nearby, or are looking for new digs for your dog to roam in Toronto.)

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Based entirely on a google map of the Port Lands I also attempted to take Bismarck to Tommy Thompson Park located at the end of the Leslie Street Split, but discovered at the gates that we were unwelcome. Note for incoming googlers: there are no dogs allowed at Tommy Thomson Park, for a list of very good reasons that mostly involve scaring waterfowl.

 

 

Swimming: Quarry Road, Wainfleet, ON

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Finding a place to go swimming is a goal of any given summer weekend.

So far so good.

Freestanding Rainbow Over Toronto

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An itty bitty CN Tower dominated Toronto skyline next to a massive every-colour rainbow on a lovely misty day.

Booyah.

Camping: Awenda Provincial Park, ON

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I went solo-camping at Awenda Provincial Park this weekend.  It was supposed to rain, back-to-back thundershowers were predicted, but I went anyway. Aside from one loud late-night storm the overcast skies were mostly perfect. (Meteorologists occasionally invent poor weather forecasts to reward chronic optimists.)

Awenda has a beautiful leash-free dog beach! (And Georgian Bay was crisp & clean & cold for swimming.)

 

 

Dog Walk: Humber Bay Park West, Mimico, ON

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There is hardly ever anyone at the leash free dog park at Humber Bay West, I suspect this is because it is at the furthest end of the furthest peninsula & nobody lives nearby.

So I usually just watch swans & sail boats & play fetch & get inspired & such.

Canal Days 2011, Port Colborne, ON

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Canal Days is technically the annual Marine Heritage festival that takes place every year in Port Colborne, my hometown, over the August long weekend.

And while there is a lot of excellent marine, and a lot of hearty heritage, the act of Canal Days itself, for someone who was born and raised in Port, ends up being much more like a yearly celebration of life and friends and family than anything else.

This year was no exception.

Day Trip: Toronto Islands, Toronto, ON

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It took me three attempts to finally get on a ferry & to the Toronto Islands. And then a 5k walk from one end to another, many many detours, Lake Ontario swimming, beaches, glorious green, ice cream, amusements, animals, bicycles, boats, boats & more boats.
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And the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. This is important. The oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes (1808!) & the second oldest in all of Canada.

Still shocked that I made it home at all.

Camping!: Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, ON

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Just got back from a long weekend camping. We were lucky, it was the 100th anniversary of Parks Canada & perfectly gorgeous the whole time. (We had a semi-strict no iPhone/electronics rule, so most of our pictures are on a disposable camera, still to be developed!)

Sunnyside Pavilion, Toronto, ON

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Seemed a strange place to beach, but I did I ever beach.

Trail Ride at the Claireville Ranch

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Out riding a horse for the first time in years, with friends from work.