July 21, 2018
Dateline: Orillia

          We attended the 41st Annual Scottish Festival.  We have been attending this festival for about 5 or 6 years now.  The colour party, or part of it, from the Bowmanville  Legion Branch 178 marches with the Pipes and Drums of  Canada, a mosaic of pipers and drummers pulled together from all across Canada.

Bowmanville Legion Colour Party at Orillia 2018

          This all started a few years ago when there was a chance to go to Scotland with this particular group and play all over the country.  A few of the Bowmanvillers went up every month to Orillia to practice with the band - well, the Orillia contingent, anyway, and couple of others who lived close enough to travel to the practices.

After a year of practicing we had to put our money up for the trip.  That's when everyone backed out except for Roger and I.  Yup!  We went to Scotland with the group and had a wonderful time on the tour, especially the day we went to Balmoral Castle to play for the Queen.   Out she came in her tweed skirt, her kerchief and her handbag, accompanied by Prince Philip and one of the grand daughters, and sat on wooden chairs under a canopy and listened to the band.  Our boys performed superbly!!

          We did have some laughs that day..... after the performance we were brought to the stables - well a reception room beside the stables - and served tea and coffee and biscuits - half a cup of coffee and one peek freen - Yep!  that's it!  We were now on the Queen's purse and the purse strings were barely slid open.  You gotta love her!!

          Back to Orillia!  During the massed bands, who assembled in the park by the lake after the parade down through the town, I marveled at the precision of the bands (well, I always do!).  They don't practice together prior to the event, but without fail they all play the same notes, at the same time, and their marching is as good as anything you see with the Queen's Guards!  No matter whether they are wearing white spats or black stockings, they are all in step as if they had  practiced together for years!  Marvelous!  Any wonder I love the pipes?

          It has never rained on the Scottish Festival since we have been attending, and this year was also great!  There are enough trees in the park for ample shade for everyone -participants, visitors or vendors.  The variety of vendors is starting to change - a lot more non-Scottish vendors than before - and some of the former ones did not return this year.  The big food tent where you could buy pies and pasties was not there this year - too bad, their food is GREAT!  But we survived and had a good time.  That's all that matters.

          While I am waiting for the fellows to come back down to the park in the parade (they get bused out to the parade start place a mile or more up the street) I usually check out the shopping  district.  Orillia's main street has always

seemed so depressed to me, but this year nearly every building was occupied by a shop of one sort or another - mostly high-priced ladies wear that made me realize I'm in the wrong business!!  It looked to me as if the main street is  experiencing a revival! And that's a very good thing - anywhere!

          It has been a very good week, in the realm of things.  I went to Apsley on Wednesday passed to visit my friend Micki.  On the way home I stopped in Peterborough at the RESTORE - the retail outlet for Habitat for Humanity.  I bought a wonderful Art Deco dresser.  I couldn't resist it!  I love the decoration and the three colours of stain on the wood, and the brass handles are superb!  They polished up well.  I know the piece is all scratched up, but that's ok.  I've done the small top drawer (just the walnut portion - left the other bits alone) and the top of the dresser, and once the rain stops (suppose to rain most of the week) then I will refinish the rest.

          Art Deco furniture is a passion of mine.  Last year I refinished two bed-side tables - they turned out very well.  One of the pieces had old wooden knobs added so I had to go and find some good Art Deco drawer pulls - found them at the Antique Mews in Orono, "Main Thru Church", where I find most of the antique "stuff" I go looking for every now and then.  Found wonderful candle sticks there for Christmas last year!

          Well, not much else to blog about this time around, so see you next time, right here where you can also go to my new website (still being developed, but it IS operational)  <www.sherleetooze.com>

Believe it or not, it is almost apple season!  In just a few weeks the old Heritage summer apples will be ready.  These include:

Red Astrachan

Early Joe

Early Harvest

Lowland Raspberry

Primate

Summer Rose

Sweet Bough   and.....

Yellow Transparent.

Throughout July and August these varieties will ripen and will be ready for picking, each coming ripe at some point during these two months.

If you are foraging, as I do, you will need to go out every weekend during the summer so you don't miss these delicate apples.  Some of my readers may be wondering just where to look for these tasty treats.

Most often, summer apples were grown for home use - a few were grown for the local market, or the fruit and veg stand at the end of the farm lane.  So, if you know where there was an old farm house, look close to the house for your summer apples.  Often this can be identified by a lilac tree which would also have been grown near the house - sometimes beside the outhouse to help mask the aroma!

A copy of the book can be ordered from me - via e-mail or messenger.  If using e-mail please contact me at:

sherleetooze@gmail.com.   The book is $25 with $7 postage and I will put a copy in the mail same day as I get your order or early the next morning.  I will enclose an invoice that you can pay when you receive your book.

Looking forward to hearing from a whole bunch of you!  Good luck with this year's foraging!  I've been gathering vintage apple recipes in anticipation of this year's crop!

 

Here we are halfway through June and I'm just now getting around to posting another message on this blog.  It's odd, really.... at the beginning of the year my calendar was absolutely empty, but I have been so busy these past few months that my head is spinning!  This time of year the garden takes priority over a lot of things when it isn't raining, even priority over blogging !!!

Doug Hodnott

At the TCA Booth, June 2, 2018

Guess I ought to catch you up with June's comings and goings so far...  The first weekend we were away to the Ontario Genealogical Conference at Guelph.  Great weekend !  Met a lot of people I haven't seen since last year's  conference and likely won't see again until next year's conference - a great place to renew old friendships!  One of those friendships is with a fellow, Doug Hodnott, whom I've known for many years from attending the BIFHSGO Conference in Ottawa each fall. We discovered, on June 1st, that we are related !!!  What better place than a genealogy conference to find cousins!  His father's ancestors came from Fogo Newfoundland.  My mother's ancestors came from Fogo Newfoundland.  We compared notes and found that he is descended from the same Dorset immigrant as I am.  Awesome!!     

Also at this year's conference, Roger and I were privileged to be next to the Toronto Cornish Association table. Both Roger and I are Cornish - Roger moreso than me - he was born there !  My dad's ancestors came from there in 1860.  While chatting with them a lady visited their booth, Vicki Noels-Cornish and stayed a while to chat too.   Here we are from left:  Marion Stephens, Vicki Noels-Cornish, Sher, Ann Tozer.

No photos of the garden yet, even though the plants are growing well.  I've been picking our dinner already for the last couple of evenings, and I have a  small bowlful of strawberries ready to do something with - don't know yet just what. The rain last night sure helped the plants and my rain barrels - they were both nearly empty.  The plants at the allotment site are coming along and I should have loads of carrots and beans this year.  The little pots of seedlings from Price's greenhouse had six plants in them this year instead of the usual four, so there are lots of peppers and lots of kale.  M-m-m-m- I get hungry just thinking about all the good stuff yet to come.

Not a lot else to write about today.  If anyone has an idea about things to write about, let me know by e-mailing me at sherleetooze@gmail.com