Inspired by Nature and Art

At this time of year there seems to be a lot of artist studio tours.  I usually manage to get to see  some new art while this opportunity is presenting itself.

Merrickville has an an artist studio tour the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October. The tours in Prince Edward County and  in Cornwall happen at the same time as the Merrickville one. I've been to the tour in Prince Edward County twice, and this year I finally made it to the Arts and Apples tour in Cornwall.

Merrickville becomes a very busy place during their tour, which is why they extended it to a two week event. The studios in the Cornwall area, by comparison, seemed almost deserted. Yet the artists were thrilled to have had as many as 75 people stop by. We only got to a few Cornwall area studios this year but found the artists there very friendly, and more than willing to explain their work. I will definitely go back another year, starting perhaps at the opposite end of the tour, so that we are more in the country. One of the things I love about such tours is exploring the back roads and seeing new sites.

I did, of course, check out at least 13 of the Merrickville artists on their final day, even without leaving town. It's always fun to see what the people I know have been up to, and how far they have come with their art over the past year.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we went to one of my favorite tours, up in the hills beyond Perth. I've told you about this before, in 2013 and 2014. It's such a beautiful time of year to drive those roads, art, or no art. There is even an area called the Field Work Project, where artists do installations in the wild.  We made a point to stop by and see the Eyebox, which is actually a Camera Obscura created by Franc van Oort.  When you step inside, and close the door, the light coming though the lens in one of the walls of the box projects an upside down image of what it's facing on the opposite wall. You are, in effect, inside a giant camera. The whole thing is on a turn table and you are able to crank it in a complete circle and see the view from any angle.  I heard it might actually be moved to one of the locks near Burritts Rapids next year, if all goes according to plan. I do hope it does as I'd like to experience it again, and perhaps take my grandsons to give them some idea of just how a camera works.

Artist studio tours inspire me to try new things. I used to just look and see what I liked, but now I try to figure out how some things were done, and then go home and see if I can come up with that sort of effect. After the past couple of weeks, and several tours, I think I have enough ideas to keep me busy until springtime.

Kemptville Wine and Food Show

Last night we went to Kemptville's first ever Wine and Food Show. It wasn't very big, but admission was free. You could buy tasting tickets in five dollar strips, worth 50 cents, each and exchange the correct number at any of the stands to taste their wares.

We have been to the Brockville Wine and Food Show twice, and as I said, this was much smaller. There were just three wine companies, two beer companies, and maybe five or six restaurants or other food vendors represented. Costco was there trying to drum up some business by offering reduced membership rates and free food samples. Marlin Travel and a couple of other product vendors were also on hand so not everything was wine and food related.  I found that a bit strange.

Normally we find the samples at such shows are just wee tastes of things. After all, you have a lot of booths to work though. Since that generally takes a while, and you nibbling over a period of time, it's not like eating an actual meal. We decided to eat our supper before we went.  That was a mistake as the samples at this show were much larger and I'm sure we would have left feeling like we had eaten a whole meal if we had tasted from several of the booths.

Catered Affairs was offering two main dish foods but I opted for the brownie s'mores.  Red Hatters like to eat dessert first, you know.  We used up most of our tickets on those, actually.

The Empire Cheese people, from Campbellford, are always a welcome sight as they offer a wide variety of flavoured cheeses and never charge you anything. Tonight I discovered that Mrs McGarrigle's mustard has now been added to two varieties of their cheese.  They didn't come with the salsa cheese this year, which is one I'm always looking for, but their extra old cheese was absolutely amazing. I'll be bringing some of that home soon.  While Mrs McGarrigle's carries some of their cheeses, I was told that Kemptville's B&H store carries most of them.  I have not been in there in years, but I will be now.

I think I spent most of my tickets on various wines. I especially liked one that comes from the Harwood Estates Vineyards in Prince Edward County. It was a Pinot Gris, if I remember correctly, but I'll be able to find it easily when I go there, as it's in a distinctive blue bottle.  It's not found in the LCBO. I was given a card for a complimentary wine tasting when I visit the winery.

The local winery, Blue Gypsy Wines, was also on hand. I thought I had tasted all their wines at the winery last fall, so I didn't use any of my tickets at that booth. My hubby tried their raspberry wine though, as apparently it wasn't available when we went there.  

We stopped by the Nakhon Thai booth and I asked if the food was very spicy. The lovely lady, assured us that was a misconception. She said that 80% of the dishes on their menu were not spicy, and if we wanted something that normally would be, we could always ask them to cut back on that and they would.  To prove her point she offered a plate full of rice with a curry dish, as well as some Crispy Lemongrass Chicken. She didn't take any of our tickets, but she certainly made a fan out of my hubby. He really enjoyed that food, and went back to tell her how good it was.  She pointed out the dishes he had tasted on her menu, and I suspect we will be visiting that establishment in the near future.  I notice, from the menu that they have several meals that are vegetarian (not vegan) and gluten free.  I know of people who are always on the lookout for such things.

Another booth had fish and other things from The Landing. That's a take out place known for it's fish and chips. I saw a bin off to the side and I asked what was in there. They had cut big cinnamon buns into quarters and she gave us each one of those. I asked how many tickets she wanted, and she just waved her hand at me and said, "We're good."  I sometimes find that I have trouble with cinnamon buns these days as there is often too much cinnamon in them. I like them but they give me heartburn. But these were perfect. I asked if they always have them, and was assured that they do. We have never been there for a meal as we usually go to sit down restaurants,  but we do now have a reason to stop by and bring home a treat.

The Kemptville Chamber of Commerce has worked a long time to get this show up and running and ran into various problems along the way. Though the show was small and I was initially disappointed, I think they did succeed in bringing more interest to the various businesses that took part.  Several of them now will now have us as new customers, and I'm sure others who attended can say the same.  Next year promises to be even better.

Picton Craft Fair

Things went much more smoothly Thursday.  We went to the Picton Craft Fair.

I had a coupon for a 2 for 1 breakfast special at Buds on the Bay in Brockville, so we stopped for that on the way. It was a good offer as I never knew they did breakfast there, and it was a good meal.  We didn't actually eat again until supper time, and never felt hungry all day.

The craft fair was held at the fairgrounds in Picton, and there were vendors in 4 buildings, including 100 in the big arena.  There were also some in stalls outside. There was certainly lots to see, but way more jewelry than anything else. 

We brought home a freshly baked cherry/rhubarb strudel and a little pottery egg separator (I don't need it but it's cute and matched my kitchen, and I've never seen one like it before, so I couldn't resist).  I also bought a package of stuff (sugar, eggs and flavouring) that you mix with whipping cream and make gourmet icecream.  I got strawberry for a dollar off the listed price, because, according to the vendor, they had run our of vanilla.  Not that I wanted vanilla mind you, but if you want to give me a dollar off for some strange reason, I'm all for it.  Funny though, it was vanilla that they were still giving away as samples.

There was so much to see that we didn't have time to explore any other part of Prince Edward County this time.  Now we'll just have to come up with a reason to go back again soon.