Wheatley Provincial Park

 

After thirteen years in the area, we finally took some good advice from friends with dogs, and went to check out the nearby provincial park, for a nice place to go for a walk in mid-December. Sure, we have spent time at Pelee National Park over the years, where we often get a season's pass, but we had long neglected this local gem.

We were not disappointed....except in ourselves, for waiting so long to explore this lovely park mere minutes from home. Sure, you may not want to be there in the summer when it is full of campers....but in the off-season it is both peaceful and free to enter.

A main road leads down along Lake Erie, where some of it has actually eroded into the lake these past few years. Apparently a considerable amount of beachfront and parkland has also been lost to wind and wave. Other roads and trails lead off to various pods filled with campsites, all surrounded by a beautiful stand of trees.....a rare occurrence in these generally flat and open plains.

We even found a functioning phone booth, complete with loonie slot, credit card swiper, and most importantly, dial tone....who knew they still existed?

A nice walk in the woods....

Some choice campsites where Two Creeks empties into Lake Erie

e-Road

The End of the Road

It's not your as-phalt....blame it on the rain!

The sign says it all!

Lake Erie shoreline

Barking up the wrong tree, you see

Here's my VISA, call someone who cares....

Deck and Gazebo

With no pleasure travel on the horizon in the immediate future, we decided to focus our time and money on a nice outdoor space instead, which we had long been considering. This is the year!

With the immeasurable help of Jane's brother, we built a new deck....once the wood we ordered finally arrived. Pressure -treated lumber was in very high demand this summer! We also ordered a gazebo pavilion kit from Costco, once we knew the long-awaited wood would finally arrive.

The stars aligned as the wood and pavilion kit arrived the same week as a ridiculous five-day stretch of unseasonably gorgeous weather for mid-November. Glancing ahead at the forecast, I had taken the week off work....and everything worked out perfectly. We even had our AC "guy" come by a few days before and move the AC out of the way to make room for the deck expansion.

We worked each day until dark, then migrated to the man-garage to assemble roof pieces in conveyor-belt fashion under artificial light and on makeshift tables John constructed out of pallets and two-by-fours....before relaxing with a beer (or two) and a sore foot (or two). 

After four very long days, the deck was built and the pavilion erected, leaving only some small finishing tasks to be addressed at our leisure. Jane kept us well-fed and caffeinated throughout the "broject", and was called upon periodically for critical Supervisory decisions.

I also managed to injure my thumb in bizarre fashion - reaching into an outdoor water bowl to remove some "gunk", a jolt of pain shot immediately up my entire arm and my thumb began to throb and swell within seconds. A tiny stinger or something had made a very small pinhole in my cuticle....and over the next few days the swelling and discolouration continued to worsen AND spread up my thumb. A visit to the walk-in clinic got me some cream to tide me over....then my own doctor put me on antibiotics. 

Not sure what insidious evil lurks in feline water bowl gunk....but beware!

(apologies for the reverse order below - the new interface seems to default to posting newest photo first instead of the good old chronological uploads I used to enjoy)

The end result = covered outdoor theatre!

Somebody please.....Feed Phil! 

The new deck takes shape!

Finishing touches for the pavilion

Preparing to raise the roof!

Finishing off the frame

The fruits of late night roof assembly in the man-garage

Ready to receive....a pavilion!

Start of a productive Day Three

How my thumb looked a few days after "The Incident"

A few minutes afterwards - see tiny puncture in middle of cuticle

I just reached in this bowl to fish out the gunk!

Make some time for a little more parging.....

Autumn Cornucopia!

We continued to take advantage for the lovely fall weather to get to many of the projects either long-overlooked, or newly-accepted, along with the usual fall maintenance around the yard and garden.

Early October also turned out to be a ridiculously busy time for the art studio, with veritable hordes (OK, possible exaggeration) of art-seekers turning up with or without notice to peruse the wares....meaning a lot of time was also diverted to keep creating pieces to replace all the bare spots on the walls!

We also tackled the kitchen, refreshing the old paint and hardware, before Jane applied a fake granite treatment to modernize the fake wood-grain laminate countertop.....and then she used that new countertop to make some really great food!

Parging continued to repair parts of the house exterior, with a fresh coat of paint coming along behind to seal up all those little cracks.

Now we just need to squeeze in some time for a bonfire or two while this weather lasts!

One more tree to take down....

....limb from limb....

Trunk Show!

Another load of brush for the county yard waste depot!

Fall Splendor!

Autumn glory!

Parged and painted! (and AC moved for eventual new deck)

Taking advantage of sunshine to dry more wood for art projects

Homemade Rosemary Bread in a Cast-Iron Skillet

Homemade Chicago Deep Dish Pizza!

New paint and hardware for the cabinets.....

Primer Stage for the Countertop

Final Finish and Protective Coat

 

Farewell to The Farm

The Cole family farm was sold recently, after many generations in The County. We were fortunate to have the opportunity for one final bittersweet visit to see the place in all its autumn splendor.  

Spanning 100 acres, The Farm runs ten fields back to a wooded creek. With nobody left able to farm the place, the fields have been rented for years, this year yielding up the neighbour's soybeans.

The house is old and was built in several phases over the years to accommodate an increasingly large rural family.

The barn was rebuilt in 1948, after a fire.....and remains in mighty good shape for the shape she's in!

This is the one place that has consistently felt like home for my entire life - as I walk the property, childhood memories come flooding back of my sister and cousins thrashing around in colourful leaf piles on the front lawn, or the "door yard" as my grandmother always called it.

Many Christmas mornings in that living room.....many Thanksgiving dinners around that kitchen table.

I'm going to miss it.

The old milking machine

The pig pen

Eerie hole in the cloud cover - perhaps someone else saying goodbye?

Memory Lane

Looking west

Looking east

Inside the barn