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Today’s Blog Post
39 the Second Time ‘Four Village Tour’
I am old enough to know better… but I don’t.
I read in an article today of a man my age that described he and his wife as “past the ‘Best Before…’ date”. That is just a little past the perfect but still amazing!
39 the Second Time is a ‘Great Group of Happy Adults that refuse to be Old’. We have found that there is life after a long week of looking after our Grandkids, looking after our Parents and simply trying to get through all the Doctors and Lab Test appointments that come our way regularly.
One of the Grandmas questioned, “I wonder how I ever raised my children without the help of my parents?! I never called them once to pick up our kids from whatever they were doing. They lived too far away!”
Yep some Grandparents are more than needed… they may be used a little too often. But hey they are a lot less $$$$ than a Baby Sitter and much less $$$$ than Day Care.
But we love that part… the kids make us smile.
The other side of life is the care for our aging parents – placing us in what they call the “Sandwich Generation” – between two groups that we struggle to understand and wonder what we can do without any preparation for the task at hand – except that we care.
Enough… too much like preaching.
To escape and maybe just find a day of respite care we do stuff together.
At 11:00 AM today the “30 the Second Time” started on the latest adventure. At 5:00 PM this evening we rolled back into the city completely happy and with 159 photos of the day. Every photo is worth a thousand words… way more than I can type here.
From Peterborough we drove first to the Village of Warkworth. We had heard of the new stores in that village. The best part it has an increasing Creative Side now growing with a number of new shops featuring local artists and craftspeople.
I learned of the Guinness World Record that is held by Warkworth for the “Long Table” celebration and happening in August of each year. It was hard to grasp as the lady described the picnic tables that are placed end to end for the entire length of the main street reaching past all the shops southward to end of the street and beyond. “Thousands of people come for this events where all kinds of food is available..”
We savoured four great shops in Warkworth. The final one was the hardest but maybe the best one with the smell of fresh baked cookies wafting out the door as we stepped in. We bought some “Sketch”(?Spelling?) that is a kind of an Italian layered pastry, filled with mild spices, green leaves of some kind and ricotta cheese. When you bit into it – it tasted like IWSM (I want some more).
Back in the vehicle we headed to the next village further south. Brighton was our goal and to savour more of ‘Country Fixins’.
Since our last visit there are more new things. Christmas is packed away and the Easter Stuff is coming out. But above all the seasonal stuff is the very high quality of excellent Antiques. Row upon row of beautiful things is displayed.
There is a great danger here for folk like my wife and me… we have a home already filled with Antiques… where in the world would we put some more?????
As Alida sat in the chair she looked up at me and said, “This one is Sooooo comfortable… what do you think?”
That didn’t impress her… oh boy.
From the village of Brighton we wondered north again toward Cambellford. As we rounded the bend there stood the old barn and the partly full parking lot. Oh boy… I forgot this one… the ‘Meyersburg Flea Market’!!! We just had to stop!
It is filled to capacity with STUFF from every age. They carry a huge stock of worn out and tired stuff – that you just might need! From Elvis to Barbie to Abe Lincoln to Harry Truman to whatever you might be looking for – you will find it here.
Alida was a little too direct about this haunt… she said rather descriptively… “This place adequately puts the word “Flea” in the name “Flea Market!”
Now I don’t agree. I saw a huge amount of great stuff. But more than that I met and spoke with the very unique people that work there. As I was snapping the photos for my Album of this day, the dear folk rose from the stools deep behind their packed counter tops.
One guy I envision having the name “Jake”, stood up rather shakily and walked toward me. He had a full two days of unshaven grey whiskers on his face. His glasses were thick and dirty. They sat on his rather bulbous nose. From behind his glasses his one eye looked me over carefully… the other one was frozen shut for some reason or other (or forgot to open this morning) – and he asked me… “Is there anything special that you are looking for? I have almost everything you could want here.”
I wanted to take a photo of the very old box of ‘Wheaties’ that was wrapped in plastic… but I didn’t.
As we walked from that booth I began to itch near my collar and then it went down my back to my waist… even now I am sure that something boarded my being in that small stall. OOooH!
Next we arrived in the Village of Campbellford – straight north of Meyersburg’s Flea Market.
We pulled a “Why Not” as we came into the south end of Campbellford… with a quick right turn going down to the Rainey River Gorge and its swinging bridge. In the summer the bridge is fun to walk on as it swings back and forth above the gorge below. I wondered what it would be like in the wintertime.
The river was running strong and powerful below the bridge. But as we looked out there was a beauty like nothing else in our area… the rock walls of the Gorge were hanging with the most beautiful Ice Sculptures that I have ever seen. Water from between the rocks that normally flows over the rocks in the summer – continues in the winter. Add to that is the recent thaw that we have had of snow and water on top of the Gorge cliff… and when it comes over the side it forms massive ice sculptures that descend all the way to the water… hanging down into the water… spilling over the rocks one on another!
With the dark blue water swirling quietly, and the dark green trees standing solidly over the grey rocks, the wall upon wall of ice stood out gleaming white in sharp contrast to all that was there. The walls of ice follow the entire gorge surface for more than a half mile to the place that it turns east.
Campbellford is filled with simple stores and places that you can grunge down… like the Liquidation World, Giant Tiger, and you name it…! One store’s name kind of sums up what we saw… “Once Again… Salvage Emporium”. No kidding! See the photo that my wife shot! It was closed by 4 PM – but I have to come back for this one!
The owner Diane Nyznik shared some of her journey as she described how she came to be situated in this old house.
While there I met her delightfully friendly white puppy and her big boxer. Both dogs pushed up to me for more petting. I though they loved me, until I remembered I had patted and been sniffed by a Chocolate Labrador and Black Labrador retrievers in Warkworth. I was their telegraph from one dog to the next… that told the next dog… this guy likes us… trust him!
It was an animal day all along the way. And I will stop anywhere to catch the photo that will be mine forever. The two ponies that munched the hay as I took their photos… The hungry sheep that stood on the back lags to get as high on the pile of hay as they could to get the best and freshest hay.
It was a January Winter day… that was cold, crisp and mine… all mine to share with my friends.
It didn’t cost much.
All told we spent 97 Kilometres worth of gas. The coffee was $1.25 each. The amazing sausage roll was only a $1.39 each. The “Sketch”, Peanut Butter Cookies, together with the Lemon and Poppy Seed Cookie was also about $3.50….
But it was all worth a million in memories – many times over.
Next one…?
I can feel a “Trip to China” coming on soon. You will only need a day away from that one. We will be eating Dim Sum in “Asian Court” for those that want to come. Then we will check out a Temple not far away… and shop, shop, shop, shop. (For those that can’t take the Dim Sum – there is the McDonalds close by)
One of our folk has requested an over night to Michigan and the Christmas Village in Frankenmouth. That is a bit more money with the rental of “One Hour” motel room that is rented for the night… ahem… long story behind that one…(Last time we found out that the locals only go to that motel for one hour at a time… and the guy looked a little strange at me when I said I wanted it all night. Oh Boy!!!)
Why get you involved in all this with this long story and these pictures?
Well you see… we are a group that is “past the ‘Best Before…’ date”. And we are a ‘Great Group of Happy Adults that refuse to be Old’. AND Maybe you are as well.
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
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