Today, I went to the Annual Fall Festival at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan, Ontario, as I do every year. There are always lots of interesting things to see. For example, I watched this demonstration of spinning.
And there were quilt-makers working on a beautiful quilt, with other samples of their work on display behind them.
There were displays showing antique farm equipment, like this beautiful steam engine - still working even though it is 102 years old. Note the man wearing a soldier's outfit from the 18th century.
This is an antique grain grinder. It was churning out ground-up corn.
There were also many animals on display, like this sheep.
And, of course, there was the highlight of the day - the Horse Parade. These horses were very spirited and beautiful.
There were horses of all sizes and colours - some pulling wagons, some just with riders.
The wagons and carriages were as interesting as the horses. This wonderful old buggy looked like it would be fun to ride in - but only on warm, dry days!
There were more than horses in the Horse Parade. These mules were pulling an old Conestoga wagon.
And this pair of oxen also participated in the parade.
After the Horse Parade, everyone went over to see the rooster-crowing contest. This is one of the competitors.
And this guy too!
My friend and fellow blogger, Natalie, had a couple of roosters in the contest. Here she is counting the number of times one of her roosters crowed. But alas, he didn't win. Too bad, Natalie!
There was still lots to do and lots to see - like people wearing pioneer costumes.
There were bagpipe players who had led the horse parade. This piper actually played to the roosters to get them to crow. Apparently, they crow better when they hear bagpipes!
People were enjoying themselves. There was music and these two little girls were dancing together.
My friend Ronna won a door prize. Lucky woman!
All in all, a wonderful way to spend an early Fall day. And the best part was seeing old friends, like my buddy Mac, and enjoying a refreshing beer together. Cheers, everyone!
These mannequins were all sitting or standing in the corner of a store which is being renovated. There were a whole row of them on the floor in various positions, all looking very patient as they awaited their fates. The two mannequins in the centre back had signs that said "For Sale $99". If they could talk, I wonder what they would say?
A couple of weeks ago, I did some repairs in my studio. The floor was in such bad shape, I hadn't been able walk around in there safely. After I fixed the floor, I felt so pleased with the results that I decided to get back to work and start painting again. I began this painting one afternoon and will work on it more over the coming weeks. Another one of my winter scenes, which I really love doing.
And here is the new floor I put in my studio. It is just plywood, but so much better than what was there before. Now I won't fall into any holes and get swallowed up! (Just kidding!)
On the Labour Day long weekend, I visited my family in Toronto. I spent some time playing with my grandchildren, including my granddaughter Georgia. She is 9 months old now and growing fast!
One day, my son (Brian) and I took my two grandsons, Max and Charlie, to a playground to burn off some energy. There were lots of slides and Max wasted no time whooshing down them.
There were also some swings that Max enjoyed.
Meantime, Charlie had found some play structures to climb on, with cool tubes to crawl through.
Max soon joined Charlie and found lots of high places to climb up to.
Soon, they were both laughing away in the tubes.
Looks like a lot of fun.
Charlie looks very pensive in this picture.
Oh my gosh - is that a famous movie star or other celebrity behind those cool sunglasses?
After we took the boys home and put them to bed, Brian and I met my daughter Sarah at a restaurant and the three of us had dinner. Sarah and I shared a great big lobster. Here I am, pulling on one of the lobster's antenna. It was delicious!
All in all, a wonderful weekend.
The annual Glengarry Wood Fair at the Dunvegan Pioneer Museum is a great place for anyone who loves all things wood. The center of the Wood Fair is devoted to an auction of lots of beautiful wood.
There were hundreds of people who attended the auction and bid on the wood. I guess most of the people were crafts persons. The wood was piled in lots and there was all different kinds - cherry, walnut, oak, beech and so on.
I was told these were burls. Some of them were strange shapes.
There were also demonstrations. I enjoyed watching this man using a portable sawmill to trim and plane and make boards out of a large log. The smell of the freshly cut wood was marvelous.
These pieces of wood were amazing because they were so wide - over 3 ft. across. They must have come from a monstrous tree. Can you imagine having a floor with boards that were 3 or 4 feet wide?
There were also many wonderful things made of wood, like this beautiful canoe.....
...and these great bird houses. Some of them were very imaginative.
When I saw this guy, I felt like I had stepped back in time. There he was, sitting on the grass having a rest in front of a wooden house with a bear skin stretched on the wall.
As I left the Wood Fair, these men gave a final concert on long wooden horns. Lovely!
I haven't been blogging much lately and was worried I might not get back into it. A friend of mine suggested I "take a vacation" and then try it, see if the creative juices flow again. Recently, I challenged myself to really look at things, find new stuff in the places where I walk every day and where I think I have exhausted my ability to see. The first thing I saw was this sunflower growing where it shouldn't be growing - in a "well" in the sidewalk where a shade tree was planted on a busy city street. How did it get there? How did it survive? Are the tree and sunflower happy sharing this little spot?
I took some random shots of this man reading a map, with his bicycle beside him. I like this one because the composition of elements is fun - the man, the bike, the radiating lines of the patio stones, the vertical walls and the building behind.
Speaking of bicycles, this was a fun angle to take this picture and get all the bikes receding in the distance. The man in the striped shirt was busy trying to figure out how to rent one of the bicycles.
When I took this picture I thought - little did this woman realize, back in the 17th century when she sat for this painting, that her face would one day be blown up to a huge size and hung on the side of a building for hundreds of people to see looming above them as they walked by on a summer day.
This has little to do with the pics above, but I am quite intrigued by this sign. I was walking in Voyageur Park with my friend Holly this past weekend and saw it, so I had to take a picture because I really want to know - what the heck are "water chestnut volunteers"? Any guesses?
What does one do on a really, really hot day? It was too hot to work in the house or the yard, so I sat in a shady spot near my garden and did some sketches of some of the flowers - Gerbera, Phlox, Dianthus and Campanula - which are all happy and in full bloom right now.
