Sometimes the Smallest Things Take the Most Room in Your Heart

Sept 21/2018  Weather 70, sunny.  Gorgeous fall day and a monumental day.   Aiden was born today and we are thrilled to meet him !  He is perfect!  Mum and Dad (Nancy and A.J.) are doing awesome and over the moon in love with their new precious bundle.  Aiden Everett.   Ahhhhhh xxxxoooo

Nana Rosey is beaming with her new grandson 

We came camping up in Kitchener to be close to them and see our new grandson.  It was exceptional.  So so glad we have the ability to have our home on wheels to move close to the kids and grandkids.  

A.A. Milne has it right

 

Shadows of Magic

September 18/2018   Magic at the Ontario Butterfly Conservatory

When downloading my pictures of the day I realized that there was more "magic".  Now remember I just point and shoot my little camera.  But these guys hanging against the window became art to us.  They were all fluttering up in top on the windows...... how cool?

Lepidoptera

Sept 18/2018  Weather 75, sunny, lovely day to go to the Ontario Butterfly Conservatory (OBC) in Cambridge.  Lepidoptera is the order of insects that includes butterflies and moths.  How do you say that? " Lep e dop tera "    Yes it is a bit of a mouth full.  When we had a stick home we had some butterfly bushes around our yard and in the fall they would be covered with Monarch butterflies migrating south. 

tropical rainforest conservatory setting

hatching of butterflies

The Monarch will fly all the way to Mexico from Canada!  Such a small beautiful little thing, all that way?  Amazing.  The OBC had a tagging of some hundred Monarchs on the weekend and these guys will fly south and be scanned and found and recorded in Mexico and California for research and preservation purposes.   
The Conservatory has a few rooms of educational preparation for you to understand how a Butterfly is born and the 750 species in the world and the difference between a moth and a butterfly.  Do you know?

a couple of butterflies landed

Owl butterflies feeding on orange slices

After learning some facts you can walk into the rainforest type conservatory where you will be swerving and walking amongst the 2,500 butterflies fluttering around.   Stand still and they will land on your shoulder, your head, your finger!!!    It is rather magical.  The different types and colours are exquisite.  We were enamoured with the blue morpho - they are the largest in the world with wings spanning 5 to 8 inches.  The little devils were everywhere.  Do you think we could get a picture?  Haha no way.  They did not sit much and it was almost comical how we spent a good hour trying to get a shot.  They were fabulous.  Finally got the shot.... well sorry it is in a frame and she was not alive..... but we got it!

blue morpho butterfly

Mennonite Highway - Lobsinger Line

Sept 14/2018  Weather is still quite warm, hitting 80's plus everyday and humid.  Not fall yet. 

along Lobsinger Line

 We meander off to a destination lunch in Millbank where a Mennonite community is dominant in the population.  A picturesque road on the way called Lobsinger Line will take you through the Wellesley area.

well preserved 1800's building in Newton - a Quilt shop!!!

  It is like falling into a scene of Little House on the Prairie.   Farm after farm with lanes so long you are tempted to turn into them thinking they are a road in the county.  Huge barnyards will be spotted and massive vegetable gardens.  Most every farm entrance has a sign for eggs, maple syrup, beef, vegetables, cut flowers, pies, apple butter, quilts.   Bring a cooler!  On many of these farms the only vehicle is still a horse and buggy. 

Mennonite school in Millbank

The Mennonites in this area came from Europe and Pennsylvania in the mid to late 1800's.   Our lunch treat is Anna Mae's Bakery and Restaurant.  We dare you to walk through the front bakery section....  and you have to .... then you can put your name in for a table.  There will be a wait but it moves fast.  Homecooking at its best.  The town of Millbank is small and quaint, on the side street you will also find a grocery market with everything you want to fill your fridge and cupboards.  Worth the stop.  

Anna Mae's Bakery & Restaurant

While dining we chatted with a lady from Stratford who was born and raised in the area and worked alongside Mennonites and Amish.  I asked her if they take a debit card?  She said not to worry it is a Mennonite shop and there is a difference.   The Amish shun mechanical and technological devices and prefer a much plainer, simpler life.   She said you can tell the difference watching along the farm lanes.  ????  I had no idea what she meant.   She explained that when I see what looks like a small bus stop hut away from the home and usually down the lane way that is their phone booth.  Really?  Apparently she knew of some Amish that could use the telephone in the phone booth but could not have it inside their house.    Yes of course on the ride back I was watching for the phone booths.  Was this an urban legend?  Don't know but she had me all the ride back to our campground. :)

Child's bus stop?  or Phone Booth?

A Man's Castle

Sept 8/2018  Weather has turned cool, down to 59 today!  What a change.  We are going to have a few days of this and rain as the remnants of a  5 day old hurricane that hit the New Orleans area is tracking our way.  
Unusual for us, we have our Jeep with us.  Rosey drove the Jeep the other day following Billy in the RV with the trailer(Harley inside).   So no Harley today.   We are going exploring to Castle Kilbride in Baden.  We have seen these signs everywhere.  Can it really be a castle?  Of course we are thinking about all the castles we saw in Scotland a few summers back.  

the front driveway is in the shape of a heart to show his love for his wife

James Livingston built his 10,000 sq foot home which he called his castle and named it after his birthplace in Scotland - Kilbride.  It is a Canadian National Historic Site.  In 1877 and Mr. Livingston was known as the Flax and Linseed Oil King of Canada. 

flaxseed (linseed) and the flowering plant - most of it is now grown in Manitoba and Saskatchewan

At the time he extravagantly furnished the huge home and had rare 'trompe l'oeil"  (means fool the eye) wall and ceiling murals in all the rooms.   It has been beautifully restored and the 3D effect of the painted murals will give the illusion of layers that are not really there; except in paint.  Art abounds everywhere in this house.  Look very closely, in one room there is a painted vase full of a bouquet of flowers, till you look deeper and there is a face peering out. 

elaborate tromp l'oeil -  it is all paint that looks 3D

In the late 1800's flax seeds were not consumed as we do today.  Today every health food store sells them.  I grind mine up and put them in my breakfast shake.  In those days the plant was used to make linen fabric.   The seeds were used to make linseed oil that was used in oil based paints.  As latex paints took over the company declined significantly and closed operations.  Flax and linseed are the same plant.    Three generations lived in the home, but as often with an aristocratic property the upkeep becomes too much.  The property was sold to the town in 1988, and restoration began.  Today they are still trying to buy back the Victorian furniture that was auctioned off. 

unusual game table in the library

Fall is coming.......? Today you would never know.

September 5/2018  Weather - today is unbearably hot.  Temp is 86 but will feel like 106!  And it did.  We really should have waited a day, driving was fine but taking the time to hookup and setup once we were there was nasty.  Billy was soaked with sweat.  The relief came after when we swam in the pool for a couple hours.  That was heaven.  Soon the heat will break and it will feel like fall.  We can't wait for that.  Enough of the hot humid summer here in Southwestern Ontario.

Yes this is Grumpy Cat - she "adopted us".  Sorry but you cannot come with us this time!

We left the farm and headed up to Kitchener to camp about 10 minutes away from our family who are having their first child :)   So exciting and how perfect we can take our house on wheels with us, the advantage of living in the motorhome.   We previously found a nice park Country Gardens RV Park.  This time we are the 3rd site in so no trouble maneuvering the small roads in and out and the power pedestal has adequate power - we checked with the voltmeter.  

country gardens rv park , nice shady long spot

nice old dairy farm

September 6/2018  Weather - normal today.  78 and sunny.  Perfect biking weather.  Away we go for a ride from Kitchener to Mitchell, to Stratford, Shakespeare, New Hamburg and return to camp.

rustic old barn in the countryside

The land is a bit different than down Blenheim way.  We are flat.  Here the land is swales and hills, pretty rolling countryside.   Farmland everywhere, soybeans, corn, white beans, dairy farms, horse farms.  A lovely diversion for us to ride the motorcycle.  Each road is new to us and yet only 127 miles from where we grew up.