Quilting and other Things

One day when I was wandering through the veggie section at the grocery store, I saw this little thing It turns out its a donut or Saturn peach . I'd never heard of them so I brought one to try. Its very tasty. Naturally I had to goggle to find out about them. Turns out they've been around since the late 1800's. Here it is with a one inch tall spool of thread so you can get an idea of the size. On the day of the last guild meeting I stopped for a burger on my way. There is an aquarium in that store. This spotted fish was very shy. The clown fish, not so much. I really like the spotted one.

On June 6, I went into the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to see a presentation about the creation of the Terracotta warriors exhibit that is opening June 26th.  So far they have identified more than 80 artists who made the warriors.  I thought this would be a repeat of the exhibit we saw in London a few years ago but it turns out that its a made for Canada exhibit.  I'm looking forward to heading in later this summer to see it. After the lecture I spent some time wandering through an exhibit about Canada. There were tools and molds used by the Indians and the pioneers to make maple syrup. In the first picture, there is a bucket for collecting the sap, then two molds -- a house and a prayer book. The second picture shows several molds. The third picture shows a skimmer used to clean the foam and debris from the surface of the sap as it boiled. Another section showed powder horns from the 1800's. This one is from Quebec. In the middle of the exhibit was a group o...

On May 29th, I went back out to the Calcium Pits (Km 107.1) and hiked south from there to km 100.1  There's a 2.5 km side trail in there that I followed on the way back. It was really hot and humid that day. In the woods it wasn't bad but in the open areas, it was sticky. When I got back to km 102.2 I realized I could follow the trail back to the car (about 5 km) or walk straight up the road in front of me for about 2.5 km to the car. I choose the shorter route so in total the hike was almost 15 km. This is the view over the calcium pits where I began. From 1920 - 1950, this area was mined for materials to make whitewash, culvert tiles and a bug killer that was a precursor to DDT. Throughout the Bruce Trail there are bridges, stiles and boardwalks built by volunteers to help cross wet areas and fences. Some of the land areas are privately owned and the trail has permission to cross the land. The wildflowers are out in bloom and the bees were very busy I came acros...

It poured on Saturday, so Dad and I went hiking on Sunday. We went out towards the end of the Iroquoia section and parked at the Calcium Pits (km 107.1) and hiked through the Crawford Forestry Tract to were the trail crosses Guelph Line (km 109.4). According to the maps, this is suppose to be a little flatter than continuing at the other end. (I hiked km 109.4 to 125.5 last fall -- those pictures are still to come). This week, Dad has his own pack and his (Mom's ?) walking stick. Part of the trail is nice flat forestry roads and there are some ponds and streams. The dragonflies were all over this one. Then the Bruce trail veered off the forestry road and head down. Dad paused on the way down to take a picture of some flowers. He was playing with the flash We paused here to admire the water bugs. Volunteers build the bridges and walkways over marshy bits. We saw several frogs And some frogs in waiting. They are very shy and disappear before you know somethin...

I've known the gardens were there for a long time but I've never remembered to stop in the spring for a visit. This year, I finally took time to go to the Brueckner Rhododendron Gardens. Actually I've made several visits. The first visit in mid-April was when the Magnolias and Azaleas were in bloom. Its also when Dad got his new little camera so the pictures of Dad and I and of Mom and I are some of the first pictures taken with the camera. Apparently, the flowers start blooming in April and go through to the end of June. In mid-May I went back and this tree was in bloom. I'm not sure what it is. It has tiny flowers like a lilac but they are all over the branch. Its very beautiful. (Its a Red Bud Tree -- Thanks Elaine!) The fruit trees and rhododendrons had also started bloom and the bees were very busy On the May long weekend, after Dad and I went hiking, the three of us went to visit the gardens again. I think I'll try to swing past the gardens ag...