The 7 Wonders of Lanark County

7 Wonders of Lanark County
CLick here for official directions!

#1 Five Span Stone Bridge
Click here to see my fall photo shoot!

Yes, there are 7! It is interesting country, with shallow soils, a variety of flora and fauna, lovely hills in the Lanark highlands.

The end of the season approaches and soon they will be shutting down. I could sit on this post, but the fall colours are amazing, as well as the heritage buildings that cleverly exploit government grants to preserve and promote tourism.

We've been to all seven in the two years we've lived here. Friday, Oct. 5th, we went to visit #5 - Purdon Conservation Area. The most challenging was  #4: the 5km climb up Blueberry Mountain!

#3 Mill of Kintail

  

#2 St. Peter Celestine Church

#5a Orchids: Purdon Conservation Area
#5b Ted Mosquin Trail

#4 Blueberry Mountain

#6 Silver Queen Mica Mine

#7 Stewart Park

  

Visit my map here

Can't get too much of those fall colours!

It's pumpkin time!

Frosty's new outfit!
I made a template from newspaper,
cut out 7 sections , sewed them and
added a piece of green and piece of
the same material as apron ties.

Of course, I had to dress Frosty Snowman for Hallowe'en.

It's only taken me 6 retirement years to embrace Hallowe'en again. It's a fun theme for kids at school. Yes, some religions do not do this theme, and kids were given other activities. Fear is something kids must learn to manage, though, and we had great fun doing group chants, poetry, and word games. (How many words can you name with BOO in them? Can

Pumpkins in the field in 2010.
With our drought of 2012 - they are scarce.

you list more than ten things that are white?)


Aside from the ubiquitous vomiting pumpkins, there are many other designs. I did a quick image search before I started. I was leaning towards painting my pumpkins. It keeps its integrity, you spray on some shellac, and then I can harvest the seeds later. I sketched something on a piece of paper and outside I went. I have been putting an oath out there, to all my painting and truly artistic blog friends, that I was going to learn to paint.

So far, not so much. I am easing closer. I painted two pumpkins!

Fun to paint!

As with all entrepreneurs, you can get your e-Guide to Easy Pumpkin Painting, with instructions, patterns and photos!  Only a $24.77 download! Other places have charity auctions and sell off the painted pumpkins! They

Of course, simple is best!

even paint large, round hay bales and sell these off.

         

I bought a skeleton
-always wanted one!

You can visit haunted barns, many growers do it up for Hallowe'en, with night haunts and walks through spooky places like Saunder's Farm. It employs students, I suppose!

October book review club

I just finished House Rules. An amazing illumination of the life of a young man with Asperger's Disorder. Having taught a fair number of students with autism, the character development and the family dynamics hit home for me.

I love reading. Anything. Newspaper, magazines, blogs, book reviews.
But, for relaxation, and to try and escape my world prior to sleep, I love a good mystery novel. Picoult does an excellent job of integrating timely topics within her novels that feature a compelling story. Picoult spins a great tale.

Yes, yes. I know I've reviewed her books before, but the only other book I am reading, in preparation for a talk I am giving to a hospice group, relates to dying with dignity. This book was an interesting read. As always, there are twists and turns and the unexpected for the reader.

I've tried various authors, as my faithful followers know. I have come to the conclusion that I will never read Steven King again. Not since the death of my parents can I deal with the gruesomeness of his work.

My good family friend, who turned 78 last month, told me that she taught a young man who was pretty sick, gruesomely so. Clear as day she recalled horrible incidences in the life of this seriously ill young person, who went on to find a career in writing violent, gruesome, twisted mystery novels. Our friend has vascular dementia, and cannot recall anything on a short-term basis, but she tells wonderful stories about her childhood, her youth, her adult working life as an early childhood educator and teacher, all the same. She reminded me of my teaching days. You meet children you wonder about, and fear for their futures. What struck me about her story related to this novel. What struck me was that, unlike dementia patients, he knows what he doesn't know, and this seems fitting with the current amount of information available to family members.

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@Barrie Summy

Yet another country critter: porcupine

You can see her colours are similar!

Yes, hubby took cats for walkies in the forest. He was calling, he thought, Sady, but it was a porcupine. Buster Brown was quite interested in it, hubby wisely dragged him indoors.
I love going outside, calling for critters and having the wild animals come instead.

They are such gentle slow creatures, and we've seen too many as road kill. I was happy to see this one ambling through the forest. I went to the far side of the meadow and waited for it to emerge from the forest. It barely noticed me and I snapped some great shots. It appeared as if it was missing quills from its nether regions.


Last April I spotted a porcupine in the tree, feeding on buds. I found a video of a coyote trying to go after a porcupine.

Arnprior & Beyond Arts Discovery Tour

Arnprior, Ontario

Me an' my bud, Muffin Muncher, went on another tour - the Arnprior Arts Tour. The fall colours were amazing, which is a bonus. Here is my fall colour photos post. Today's post is devoted to the artists, whose full list is here.

I am careful not to photograph all of their pieces. I worry that people using tools like Pinterest will steal images and encourage plagiarism and theft of intellectual property. This is to laud these artists and encourage my readers to support artists, if they are able to do so.

Nudes of Mississippi Mills Calendar Mr. January

The artwork was wonderful. Quality pieces. I wish we had the money to support all of the artists! Their works are beautiful.

First was Chris Van Zanten. He was pretty proud of himself. He is Mr. January in the Mississippi Mills calendar fundraiser!
Pretty brave when you consider him working with hot stuff!

Chris' work - just amazing

Photographer Glen Howard
with Chris' studio in the background

Wood carver Dub Juby

As with most of the locations, there were several artists showing their work at each studio. Some had friends there, too! Hubby found a happy dog!

Many artists, like Jill Alexander
offer workshops in their studios

From Arnprior Arts Tour, it was a beautiful weekend for a tour, with the leaves well on their way to heralding Autumn.

On the way home, we went through Burnstown, and the cafe that bakes the most amazing pizzas ever in their ovens! 

Arnprior is an interesting spot. Many pricey homes overlooking the Ottawa River. A glorious day to see the view.

From Arnprior Arts Tour