Friday, July 17, 2020

Freedom Trail

After our visit with the town crier on Tuesday, we did get for a walk down the trail in Harrison Park.  It's a beautiful walk, partly through the grassy park past the Black History Memorial, and then through the woods all the way to the entrance of the park.  It's paved so it's completely accessible for wheelchairs, though you have to watch out for the sharp edges.

The open part of the trail wanders past the Sydenham River, the waters here forming the upper end of the millpond above a downstream dam.

It's known as the Freedom Trail because of course this is the route that people would walk to get to the memorial from downtown.  In fact the local Black Lives Matter protest did just that a couple of weeks ago.  I expect the Emancipation Picnic will get a lot more attention this year given the current awareness of those protests.

A large group of ducks were floating quietly on the far side of the river.

Just one sat alone on this side; this looks like a female Mallard.

Several open areas of this park are devoted to trees planted in memory of loved ones, with small plaques at the base of the trees acknowledging this.
 
After crossing the bridge we headed in to the woods.  It's a beautiful winding trail, with quite large trees, and cool in the shade.  You can see the sharp drop-off on the right, first a sharp 3-4" drop on the pavement, then a slope downhill.  I have to be careful especially when meeting people, or doing something foolish like backing up while positioning myself for a photo.

*******

Here at home today was jam day.  Yesterday we picked up a flat of raspberries at Goldsmiths in Thornbury where we had reserved them.  They're nice quality and fresh, from Goldsmith's own farm.  This morning Mrs. F.G. devoted herself to making the jam, a full dozen jars of it.  She's committed to doing this every year, even though we give most of it away.  I love it, and this one is one of my two favourite, even though I don't actually eat a lot of it.











17 comments:

  1. Hello,

    What a nice place for your walk. That is a large group of ducks. The raspberries look delicious! Enjoy your day, have a happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks like a lovely place to walk. I can see why those edges could be a problem for wheelchairs. On the subject of backing up to get a better picture, I almost fell backwards into a river doing just that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That trail looks wonderful! As do the raspberries!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A trail made to be used, not just for ornament. Beautiful views, and shady trees, then the berries, you will so enjoy the jam later in the year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That trail looks so inviting. And there is just something about canning and preserving food. It is so satisfying. And pretty look at and tastes so good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The summer preserve traditions have begun! Yay and yum!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely photos and love the windy road!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those berries look to tasty to be used for jam!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I wish I could get a flat of raspberries! We have strawberry farms and blueberry farms but no raspberries:( Enjoy the jam!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I remember the making of jam in our household as a kid but that was about 7 decades ago. My favorite was pear jam.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I don’t terribly like raspberry jam because of all the seeds. But one day I found a jar of raspberry jelly (usually UK English for jam without bits in) but I didn’t much like that either. So I’ll stick to actual raspberries from now on. Mirabelle jam though: delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice looking raspberries. I always remember my grandmother loving raspberry and blackberry jam but she wouldn't eat either since the seeds got under her dentures -- all the more for the rest of us.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a lovely place! And I have finally gotten my fill of raspberries from our garden. There are a few left but they aren't attractive now. Thanks for taking me along on your trip. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. A beautiful area for a walk. That jam looks yumy!

    ReplyDelete
  15. A beautiful walk. I remember working with my students, and they'd forget that their personal space was larger, to include the chair. They'd often run over friends toes!
    Good work with the raspberries. I prefer strawberries, myself, but that lovely red colour is tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh my, that walking path looks amazing. I never met a walking I didn't want to do! And those raspberries............

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yummy jam and wonderful woodsy views. Pretty darned perfect way to spend some time. Hope you have a good weekend and keep watching those edges!

    ReplyDelete