Fall Colours for Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers!  It's a glorious fall weekend and we went out to find some fall colours as the leaves are changing fast.  We found them right here in Meaford's own local cemetery which features a lot of mature Sugar Maples.  It's such a brief season of the year, you need to get out there and feel the joy while you can.  Here you go; not much need for comments, just enjoy the photos.

There's a nice wooded pond with a pretty fountain which was still on, probably keeping the water aerated too.

I just headed on, drawn by the brightest orange trees.

Mrs. F.G. had some grumpy feet, so she stayed in the car to wait for me - and led me on quite the wild good chase around the cemetery.  Perhaps the nicest place I've gone walking/riding.  The roads are paved, no bumpy sidewalks and little traffic, and there are enough trees to make it feel like 'forest bathing'.

And back to the beginning.  Hoper you had a great Thanksgiving!

More Irish Music!

Leaving behind the music in the barn which we couldn't access, we found more old time toe-tapping music on the porch of one of the log cabins.  There was rope-making, kids' activities, and we got chased down the road by a police car!

These three musicians kept us entertained for quite a while.

A lonely Brown-eyed Susan poked its head through the steps of the cabin.

There was a rope-making demonstration too, though it was populated by interested young kids having a turn at making rope - so I was careful about which pictures to share.

The kids could make potato monsters too.

Meanwhile the Moreston (that's the fictitious name of the historic village) police car came hurrying by, siren jingling.

We followed it to the other barn.

Here though the atmosphere changed; inside was a clean modern garage, where the volunteers work at maintenance and restoration of old vehicles like that fire engine I shared a couple of weeks ago.

Irish Music!

Although we enjoyed the old steam engine and the sawmill, the Irish music at Pratie Oaten was fabulous!  It was like being at a Celtic festival, but getting in free with our memberships.  Those memberships have paid for themselves about 4x over now, and there's still more to come.

So we headed for the schoolhouse where I was pleased to find another wheelchair ramp.  This building is not an original but a replica, built by volunteers.

Inside some really toe-tapping music was emanating from this group of 10 musicians in the band ScattertheCats.  A varied collection of instruments as well as musicians.

A close look shows you the variety of instruments.

Some of the musicians could switch instruments easily too.

 It was fun to be in the old one-room schoolhouse, since my dad taught in a one-room school in the 1930s just about 3 miles away.  And the music was fabulous!

We headed on for the big barn where another group was playing.  Unfortunately we decided that this building wasn't safely accessible.

But there were more very realistically costumed historic village residents sleeping in the sun.

There used to be lots of old windmills like this scattered around Ontario's rural countryside.  You don't see many anymore.

Pratie Oaten

A week ago we went to join the Pratie Oaten Festival at Grey Roots Museum.  It turned out to be partly an Irish Music Festival, which might be a more appropriate name for it, and the music was fabulous.  But we stopped first at the old restored steam tractor which was powering the sawmill.

The story of poverty stricken Irish immigrants reaching North American shores is on one side tragic, and the other side a victory.  The Irish potato famine killed over a million Irish during the late 1840s, and over a million more emigrated.  It was a horrible 6-10 week trip in the 'coffin ships', and initially a tough life.  But it was those Irish (along with French, Scots and English) who built North America.  Ironic that when the society we now have has been built by immigrants, there is so much anti-immigrant feeling today!

Coming directly from church, we stopped at the Kiwanis food truck first, to get some nourishment.

 The whole event was held outdoors in the pioneer village.  We walked past the old garage first.

And arrived at the sawmill where the crowd was.

They had the noisy old steam engine running, powering the old sawmill which was also operating.

I could have watched the spinning wheels of the engine for some time.

All these old machines are interesting.

The firebox at the back was kept stoked, and every now and then the door would open and you could see the dancing flames as he threw in more wood.

 They had an extra hose running off the steam engine into a large kettle where they were steaming potatoes.  Just think how you'd feel if supper every night of the week month after month, consisted of one potato.

They also had a huge long drivebelt running from the steam engine to the sawmill, powering the driveshaft for the spinning blade.

You could see several volunteers inside the mill, running the saw.

We went around the far side to get in and you'll be glad to know they had a long wheelchair accessible ramp.

Inside you could watch the big circular sawblade cutting off boards as they ran logs through the mill.  There was a safety barrier of course, and the loud whining made conversation impossible.  No wonder they were all wearing ear protection.

But we could hear music coming from the old schoolhouse next door, so on we went.