The Meaford Fall Fair

Saturday was the Meaford Fall Fair here in town so I went down after lunch to look at the displays.  Fall fairs started in the mid to late 1800s here, as gatherings where farmers could show their animals and share ideas.  Winning farm entries had a chance to end up at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, which we used to enjoy attending.

The sports teams at our local school are named the Thunder, as you can see, but it's a Kindergarten to Grade 12 school, so there are lots of younger kids who submit entries for display at the fair.  I suspect this was a class project.

There were lots of drawings posted, but I picked this one simply because I liked it.

And this one reminded me of a similar sized ladybug we have in the garden, quite well done I thought.

Not too far away were the quilts, and this one really stood out.  Having watched Mrs. F.G. quilt for years I know the effort that goes into these.  And that was a thought that ran through my mind repeatedly - regardless of the final product, a lot of people put a great deal of effort into all the entries here at the fair.  The complexity of this quilt, with lots of triangular shapes, would have made it a serious challenge!

Other quilts were based on illustrations like this one.  Embroidery like this is a time-consuming task!

There's something about this pattern that just draws my eye.  The longer I look at it the more mesmerized I become.

This is just a small corner of the photography entries, which I thought were very good.  A few years back I entered several photos in the Markdals Fall Fair before we moved to Meaford.

Then there were the flowers.  I counted about 60 entries, of which these two appealed to me.  It was hard to get photos though because they were all so close together, and there were people in the background.  Tomorrow some veggies, cars and birds.

St. Kilda - The Anniversary of the End

 On Aug. 29th, 1930, the last 36 residents were evacuated from the islands of St Kilda, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, out in the middle of the north Atlantic, at their own request.  It was the end of an era; humans had lived on the small cluster of islands for 4000 years, though it was a pretty simple and primitive life.  By the way, there never was a 'St. Kilda', the name comes from an old Norse word, 'skildir'.

The classic image of St Kilda is this view of the main street (the only street).  Now under the ownership of the National trust for Scotland, six houses have been restored, with steel roofing.  There is also a Ministry of Defense outpost on the island, with a missile tracking station.  This was where the men of the community met each morning to assign work.

Each family had a plot of land extending down to the shore and up to a drystone ring wall (to keep the sheep out).  This was where they grew their meagre crops of potatoes and barley.  Scraping out a living was hard, particularly climbing down cliffs on ropes to gather seabirds and their eggs.  It was dangerous work, and more than one man lost his life.

We found ourselves lucky with the weather when we visited, as most tourist ships have to content themselves with a view from the boat.  We disembarked into zodiacs and had time to climb up above the village to get a view back.  That scar on the far hill is an ancient Neolithic quarry, showing the evidence of civilization over 4000 years.

The birds they caught provided a crop of feathers, and the women spun wool gathered from the primitive and very hardy breed of Soay sheep that wandered the island.  With these they paid their rent to the chief of the Clan Macleod who owned the islands.

There are 1200 small stone storage buildings known as 'cleits' where the eggs were kept and seabirds dried.  The loose drystone construction let the air blow through, creating the necessary dry conditions.

On top of one of these cleits I spotted this nice patch of tiny pink flowers known as Thrift.  I also spotted a tiny bird hopping around.

It turned out to be a St Kilda Wren, a rare little bird known only from these islands.

The population of St Kilda went up and down, down in difficult years, and up in the better years.  In 1852 a large group of 36 left for Australia, WWI showed young men life on the mainland, and in the 1920s an influenza epidemic killed four men.  By 1930 several men were determined to spend the winter of the mainland seeking work.  This only left 36 islanders on S. Kilda that year. 

As they depended heavily on the men for the gathering of eggs and birds for food, life became untenable.  Both the community nurse and the minister encouraged them to think of moving. In May of that year the remaining islanders petitioned to be evacuated to the mainland, and 95 years ago today it happened, the end of a 4000 year era.

Great Egrets, Swans and a Kingfisher

 After getting stopped to wait for the tractor and grain truck we drove on out to the Shouldice corner, marked by the little old church.  There we turned around and headed back down through the swamp where we were lucky to see a Great Egret at quite close range, as well as distant swans.  This post is from two years ago this week.

This is the Shouldice church.  Many small places marked on old maps here are only a church and one-room schoolhouse, perhaps a post office.  There's no actual village.  This church appeared to be still in use, but the schoolhouse under the trees next door has been made into a residence

The bulrushes have filled in a lot at this time of year, but looking west there's more open water on this side.

Then we spotted a Great Egret, close enough to have a good look as it stalked through the shallows.

Great Egrets are similar in size and shape to a Great Blue Heron, a more common bird in this region, but the egrets are all white.

We had a good chance to have a good look at it; it didn't retreat from seeing us.

There were lots of tne native Bulrushes, not yet outcompeted by the invasive Phragmites.

Then over on the other side of the road we spotted a pair of swans in the distance.  They were probably Trumpeter Swans which have been spreading since their reintroduction 30 years ago.  They mate for life.

A Kingfisher landed nearby, but the only photo I could get was a silhouette.  

Finally another Great Egret, at an extreme distance.  All in all a good birding day.

A Year Ago Today

 Almost exactly a year ago today, we drove up through our favourite swamp and came to the large fields of wheat that needed harvesting.  August is the month for harvesting wheat around here.  Some farmers have their own equipment, but custom crews also move though the province following the ripe grain.  Not many farmers have their own grain trucks.

This part of the field close to the road has already been harvested, 

but we could see this big combine working at the back of the farm.

What stopped us was a tractor and its grain cart being emptied into the big grain truck.

That wheat was just pouring out of the chute, filling up the grain truck.

We didn't mind waiting and soon the tractor and its grain cart were headed back down the field.  The whole episode drew us in and made us feel part of the local community for a moment.  A wave to the truck driver, and we were on our way.

It Finally Rained - Early Fall is Here!

It's been dry as a bone here for several weeks, people are beginning to talk of drought, and all the lawns are turning brown,  Even the tomatoes have been having a hard time.  But finally it rained the past two days, a slow all-day rain that brought much needed moisture to the garden.  I saw it in the water droplets left on the Crocosmia leaves.

For some reason the long thin leaves of the Crocosmia flowers do hold the water droplets, leaving beautiful patterns in their wake.  The drops of water show up so clearly against the green.

At the same time the temperature has dropped, and the forecast ahead shows only cooler temperatures for at least another week.  It comes as a welcome relief, bringing early fall weather for now.

The Garden in Early August, Part III

And last, but not least, one of my own favourites, the Helenium, or Sneezeweed.  It gets this name because the dried leaves were once used in snuff, designed to make the user sneeze, thereby getting rid of evil spirits!  You can have your own opinion about that.

At any rate I just love the colour.

This older picture, from our previous garden (before wheelchair), shows the flower from below, the petals illuminated by the sun.  Of course I can't get that view anymore.

Our roses have been doing remarkably well this year, all of them continuing to bloom all summer long.

The red rose has grown well, and usually sports several blooms.

On a different note, the 'towers' Mrs. F.G. invested in last year, have worked out well.  They have enough plantings that hang down to cover most of the plastic, and look like towers of small flowers.

There's now a bright orange Calla Lily that lights up the back corner of the garden.

And there are a few Daylilies still blooming.

This Queen Anne's Lace grew up and bloomed in the middle of the garden before Mrs. F.G. spotted it.

And this purple spike appeared one day, looking for all the world like Purple Loosestrife!

The Garden in Early August Part II

Moving on, there are lots more flowers I'd like to share, including this purple Verbena.  Although the individual florets are tiny, you see these tall purple flowers popping up all over the garden, and it's another favourite of the Monarchs.

This adds a lot to the garden at this time of year.  It spreads easily, attracts the butterflies, and the purple colour looks great!  You just have to like a little chaos as it grows in odd places around the garden.

The Cosmos self-seeds as well, but doesn't spread as far or frequently as the Verbena.

I've never tried to photograph the Lamb's Ears before, except for the fuzzy leaves that are there year-round.  The flower is tiny, but a pretty pink colour.

Nearby is this Liatris, or Blazing Star.  I certainly like the colour of this one.

We have a large plant of Bear's Breeches, a rather unusual plant to say the least.

Then there's the bright red Calla Lily, though I have doubts about any plant that can't survive the winter here.

Finally I can't resist posting these Gloriosa Daisies again.  They greet me, brighter than anything else in the garden, as I come the ramp down onto our patio.