{"id":1115,"date":"2014-10-20T21:23:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T01:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/?p=1115"},"modified":"2015-03-29T22:09:55","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T02:09:55","slug":"what-am-i-grateful-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/?p=1115","title":{"rendered":"What Am I Grateful For?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday night, October 10th, 11:00pm<\/span>
\nWhat can I see?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very little
\nWhat can I hear?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nothing
\nWhat can I smell?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fresh air
\nI love the country.<\/p>\n

Saturday afternoon, October 11th<\/span>
\nWhat can I see?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Colour
\nWhat can I hear?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Still nothing
\nWhat can I smell?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Decay
\nI love autumn.<\/p>\n

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Where am I?<\/span>\u00a0 In an 1865 farmhouse, on 20 acres, in Holland Centre (10 minutes north of Markdale and 30 minutes south of Owen Sound).<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Why?<\/span>
\nMe: \u201cDaddy and I are going to take an extended Thanksgiving weekend and head into the Bruce Peninsula for a little getaway.\u00a0 Would you and Steph like to join us for a few days?\u201d
\nYelena: \u201cOh, that sounds really nice.\u00a0 Yes!\u201d<\/p>\n

So, here we are, all 5 of us, in a 5 bedroom, cosy farmhouse.\u00a0 It’s not exactly the Bruce Peninsula, and it\u2019s not fancy; in fact it reminds me of casual ski chalets we rented in our younger years.\u00a0 But, it\u2019s pet friendly, it’s warm, dry, and comfortable, the kitchen is well equipped and there is acreage to wander around – more on that later.<\/p>\n

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This is a part of southern Ontario we’re not that familiar with as we usually head into Haliburton, Muskoka, or Kawartha areas, so we were looking forward to a week of exploration, starting with a trip into Owen Sound for some more groceries, then a little drive along the water before heading back.<\/p>\n

Dinner out that evening was at Ted\u2019s Range Road Diner<\/a>, a quirky little Quonset hut Yelena & Steph found a couple of years ago.\u00a0 To get there, we wound our way through back country roads at dusk, where the fading light set the autumn colours on fire.\u00a0 I was annoyed that I didn’t have my camera with me!\u00a0 Dinner was a little disappointing after the buildup and I probably wouldn\u2019t return \u2013 to me, it was more quirky than value for money.<\/p>\n

The best part of having no plans is being able to enjoy a very lazy day without regret.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exactly what Yelena and I did on Sunday.\u00a0 We spent the entire day curled up in separate cosy chairs reading while Steph and Steve took turns strolling through the property with Jethro.\u00a0 We were rewarded with a fabulous turkey dinner, many thanks to Steph and all I had to do was set the table and uncork the wine.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve come to the conclusion that Steph is a pyromaniac, as was evidenced by his constant attention to the large wood burning stove in the kitchen.\u00a0 Following dinner, he headed down to the fire pit on the other side of the ditch bridge, which he had enthusiastically prepared that afternoon, and by the time we arrived with our blankets, Scotch, and Baileys, the fire was crackling.\u00a0 We kept warm snuggled into our jackets and sipping our favourite digestif.\u00a0 Jethro is so dark, we had to keep him on a leash so he wouldn\u2019t disappear before our eyes.
\nSome time later, who knows how long, we froze the minute we stepped away from that pit and staggered back to our beds.\u00a0 Warm days are definitely behind us.\u00a0 That was a good day.<\/p>\n

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Monday was Yelena’s and Steph’s last day at the farm and they were contented enough to hang out at the house.\u00a0 We weren’t too inclined to go very far, either, so headed on down the road a wee bit to Walter’s Falls and the little hiking path behind the falls and beside the horse farm.<\/p>\n

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We were back in plenty of time to take to the property again with Jethro, crossing the bridge, hiking through the woods, past the pond, around the meadows, down to the river, and back again.\u00a0 Well, see for yourself…<\/p>\n

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Yelena, Steph, and Jethro headed home after a dinner of yummy leftovers.<\/p>\n

Steve and I had three more days to enjoy this rambling farmhouse and to explore our surroundings.\u00a0 So no more lounging around!\u00a0 Tuesday started with a good old fashioned home-cooked breakfast at Kettles, in Chatsworth, a very conveniently located family restaurant frequented by the locals.\u00a0 Then, we had the most disappointing drive up to Tobermory.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been there a couple of times before, where we boarded the ferry to Manitoulin Island.\u00a0 At those times, Tobermory was booming with activity.\u00a0 This time, the day following the Thanksgiving long weekend, it was ghostly with nothing open but the fudge shop.\u00a0 So we bought some to help cheer us up \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t even get a coffee \u2013 missed the caf\u00e9 by 5 minutes and it was only 3:05!\u00a0 And, on top of that, it was a cloudy day but we still managed to get a few interesting pictures.<\/p>\n

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We’ve seen some interesting fissures along shorelines before, but none have ever talked to us… there were many of these crevices and all of them produced the most fascinating gurgling and bubbling sound.\u00a0 Too bad I didn’t get a video so you could also hear!<\/p>\n

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On the way home, we ran into some turkeys…<\/p>\n

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Wednesday turned out to be a nicer day.\u00a0 We took a different route and drove through Beaver Valley, over to Eugenia Falls.\u00a0 There\u2019s a road that slides down into the valley, which was ablaze with autumn colours for as far as we could see.\u00a0 Have I mentioned how much I love autumn?<\/p>\n

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Eugenia Falls was also lovely, with the most interesting trees…<\/p>\n

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At the end of the afternoon, we found ourselves in Clarksburg, an artist community just a wee bit south of Thornbury \u2013 definitely a place to come back to as it was late in the day. Regardless, there’s art all over the place and I was happy to snap away.<\/p>\n

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We took a circuitous route through Thornbury to Meaford, then back to Kettles for dinner.<\/p>\n

Thursday – another good day.\u00a0 It was difficult to find some back roads we hadn’t already been on.\u00a0 Back in Thornbury, we spent some time exploring the Fishway, a man-made ladder for spawning sockeye salmon and rainbow trout…<\/p>\n

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and its surrounding park.<\/p>\n

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Dull, cloudy, post-rainy days offer up opportunities to take pictures you wouldn’t get on a bright sunny day…<\/p>\n

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We made sure we got back to Clarksburg earlier in the afternoon but the galleries were closed!\u00a0 Seems almost everyone shuts down after Thanksgiving!\u00a0 But not the honey lady, who spent some time educating us about bees and honey and, of course, we left with some \u2013 honey, not bees.<\/p>\n

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Our day wasn\u2019t over\u2026 on our way home we found the Beaver Valley Orchard & Cidery<\/a>.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know that I liked cider but I do!\u00a0 Inside this beautiful locale, we engaged in a tasting and left with not one, not two, but a case of cider!<\/p>\n

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One last evening in our farmhouse and then we were on our way back home\u2026 What a wonderful surprise to stumbled across a stained glass shop out in the middle of nowhere – how happy could I be?<\/p>\n

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What am I thankful for?<\/span>
\nI’m thankful Steve and I have the means to take these mini vacations.
\nI’m thankful for the opportunity we have to spend extended time with our growing family.
\nI’m thankful for the amazing dinner Steph cooked for us on Sunday.
\nI\u2019m thankful for being able to see a zillion stars, hear nothing but birds (or coyotes), smell fresh air day and night, and feel the calm that comes with being out of the city.
\nI’m thankful for a week of exploration and relaxation.
\nI\u2019m thankful for the beauty of changing seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday night, October 10th, 11:00pm What can I see?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very little What can I hear?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nothing What can I smell?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fresh air I love the country. Saturday afternoon, October 11th What can I see?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Colour What can I hear?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Still Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,22,57,62,64,54,63,59,58,23,9,53,14,61,25,60,56,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-autumn","category-beaver-valley","category-beaver-valley-orchard-cidery","category-caplan-stained-glass","category-chatsworth","category-cider","category-clarksburgy","category-eugenia-falls","category-fall-colours","category-family","category-farmhouse","category-hiking","category-honey","category-thanksgiving","category-thornbury","category-tobermory","category-walters-falls"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1115"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1242,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions\/1242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maureensmusings.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}