A Day in Carleton Place

Saturday we decided to check out the Bridge Street Festival in Carleton Place. The highlight of the event, in my opinion was that there was some good music along the street. Though I don't know who any of these performers were, some of them certainly got my attention.

There was a fellow playing flamenco guitar. I could happily have listened to him for longer than I did.

There was also a band that drew a decent sized crowd playing some lively tunes. At one point the 6 year old daughter of one of the musicians got on stage and was supposed to sing.  She forgot the words, but nobody cared. She was so cute. 

Her little sister thought she'd get in on the act by dancing around in front of the stage.

Speaking of dancers, these two did a demonstration on the street to drum up business for their dance class.

I'm not sure these two are old enough for the classes, but they decided to dance along.


After we walked the length of Bridge Street in both directions, we decided to go find a few geocaches. That was even more fun.  You will have to slip over to my other blog, called On The Prowl to learn about that.

A Night at the Races

We had a nice quiet day at home Friday. But when the rain promised to hold off for the evening, we decided to go to Rideau Carleton Raceway for dinner and the races.  We called a lot of different people but nobody was available to join us on such short notice, so we went alone. 

We did find friends there, sitting just a couple of tables away. They didn't seem interested in the races though, so they might have been better off to have come on a different night, when the buffet is only half the cost.  They wandered off to the casino while we stayed and played the ponies.  We figure the races are a lot easier on the wallet as we just bet two dollars "to show" just so we will have a horse to cheer for.  The worst we can do is lose a twoonie every 15 minutes or so.  LOL   Most of the time we come home within a dollar or two, one way or the other, of what we went with. Tonight we didn't do as well, but even so, we got 3 1/2 hours of entertainment. We also got to eat the whole time and while we managed to lose ten dollars on the horses, others lost a lot more in the slot machines, I'm sure.

Actually I'm sure we lost more tonight than we ever have before.  We generally like to brag that we have been playing with the same little purse of coins for three or four years now.  And I guess we still can as I topped up tonight's losses with winnings I keep in another change purse.  We're all set to go again sometime soon, and I'm sure we'll do better next time.

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.

Day Two of Misadventures

It's happening again.

We had decided to travel to Wakefield to explore, and see why everyone raves about the place. I have a new premium geocaching membership (thanks to a friend as mentioned here) that allows me to plot a route and download caches along the way. That wasn't our primary purpose for the day, so, after seeing how this application worked, I narrowed the choices down to just thee caches around Wakefield and Chelsea and proceeded to download them to my GPS.

Off we went, armed with directions from Map Quest.  We were fine until we got onto Route 105 North. A big storm last month had apparently washed the road out and we found it was still closed.  We backtracked to Old Chelsea, where we searched for two separate geocaches, but didn't find either one. It was still a nice area though.

We decided to have lunch at a little coffee shop in Chelsea. Two sandwiches and two cold, non-alcoholic beverages came to $22.  Yes, the meal was enjoyable, but the price was outrageous!

We got directions on how to get to Wakefield by another route and off we went again.  We failed to get another couple of geocaches at that location also.  One because there were too many people around, and the other because there did not seem to be a safe way to reach it.  We have never had such bad luck finding caches in the past, so it's all just part of this curse we seem to be living under, I'm sure.

We spotted a covered bridge and tried to go down the road that led to it, but it was also closed. Perhaps there had been a washout there too.  Whatever the reason, we never got to go to the bridge.

We drove through the village and when we found a place to park at the far end, the first store we entered turned out to be a grocery store.  A sign indicated there was a boutique on the second floor, so we went up there. But a wall of heat hit us and we turned around and came back out.  The rest of the shops were quiet a distance down the road, so we set off to find another parking spot.  There weren't any.  So much for Wakefield.  I'll never know the attraction.  The steam train, by the way, has also been cancelled this summer because of the washout.

Within moments we discovered something didn't seem right as the blinker was going too fast.  It turned out that one of the signal lights had burned out.  We were in Quebec, with Ontario licence plates, so we stopped and bought a new bulb and got that problem fixed right away.

We decided to go to the Mackenzie King Estates.  We had not been there in a very long time.  It was relaxing to wander around the ruins, but other parts of the estate were closed.  Perhaps it was too late in the day. 

Gatineau Park is alive with bikers. There are far more of them than cars, as far as I could tell.  We always seemed to be close behind one, waiting for the road to be straight enough, or flat enough,  to see if anything was coming before pulling out to pass.  It make for some pretty slow travelling at times.

On the way home, we were starting to get hungry again. As we neared Rideau Carleton Raceway, we decided it would be a good place to stop for supper. $9.99 for the all you can eat buffet is a darn good deal.  We had to cruise around that parking lot quiet a bit too, before we found a spot someone had just vacated.  When we got inside we found the longest line up we have ever seen there.  Everyone must have had the same idea tonight. We turned around and came back out.  By this time we were laughing. 

Once again, the day didn't go as planned, but we enjoyed it anyway.

One of Those Days!

Did you ever have one of those days when nothing went right?
I had one today.

First we thought we would make reservations to go on the Lost River Cruise, out of Morrisburg, as they are having Old Home Week there this week. Last year this was a very popular cruise and was sold out. Today we found out it had been cancelled "due to lack of interest."  Well, I doubt it was really lack of interest, but rather the poor way in which it was advertised. I had a hard time locating any information about it and I'm actually better at searching out such things than most people I know.  Anyway, we couldn't book the cruise.

Next we decided we would go to the IMAX today, and eat in Ottawa before the show.  I had two coupon deals. One was for a place we have been to many times, and the other was for a place we had never been to.  We thought we'd try that one.  We managed to get confused about just where it was, and ended up at the one we knew after all.  The portions have shrunk, and they no longer included the salad, but we got enough to eat, and enjoyed the meal. The waitress forgot about the coupon at first, but then remembered after she brought the bill. She fixed that and off we went.

There was a little discussion about which side of the river the IMAX was on, but I won that one, thank goodness.  My memory isn't the best these days, but I was sure I knew where that was.

So, we got there in plenty of time, drove around and around until we finally found a place to park and then proceeded to stand in line for our tickets.  The show was sold out.  We had driven all this way and paid for parking for a show we could not even see. 

We decided to head for Michaels on Bank Street, as I have a gift card to spend, and we had run out of ideas for the day.  As everyone knows, Ottawa has two seasons:  Winter and Construction.  It was definitely construction season as we saw lots of scaffolding where buildings were being renovated or repointed; great holes in the ground at various places, where new buildings would soon be built; and cranes lifting things high over other construction sights, and sometimes over the roadway, which is a little scary.  We also came across at least five areas where road construction was underway.  One of those was Bank Street.  That required a rather long detour.

I found some of the items I wanted at Michaels, but there were still three I couldn't find. Perhaps I'll have better luck at Deserres, where I usually shop, next time I get a chance to look. 

We stopped to pick something up at a store closer to home.  I thought I was lucky to find a cashier with only the person she was dealing with and one other person in line.  But then another cashier beckoned me over to her cash.  There was a man there, ready to pay by debit card, and I would be next.  She actually had the "Cash Closed" sign up, but since I only had a couple of items in my hand, she was being nice to me.  But as luck would have it, as least for today, the man's debit card wasn't working for him.  He had to try several times before he was able to pay for his purchases. I would definitely have been better off to have stayed where I was. 

Yep, it was just one of those days!

Herbfest 2011

Today we went to the 16th Annual Herbfest on Old Almonte Road.  We have never gone before, but being it's 16th year must explain why they have this thing down to a science.  It was very well organized and everything ran smoothly.  Even the weather was cooperative.

There was a Chef Cook-Off between Executive Chef Cesare Santaguida of Vittoria Trattoraia, Executive Chef Brian Vallipuram of The Lord Elgin Hotel and Executive Chef Neil Mather of Graffiti's Italian Eatery and Saloon.  The recipes had to include the special herb of the year, Horseradish.  Some of the recipes can be found here .  I got to taste the dish with the salmon and scallops, and understand why Chef Brian won the contest today.  It was marvelous!

Under the same tent, after the chefs were finished, Vanessa  Simmons guided us on the Great Ontario Cheese Discovery.  We were given a plate with 5 artisan cheeses on it, and we worked our way through these, one by one, as she told us about each of them and the proper way to taste cheese. 

Pictured here are the 5 cheeses, starting with the fresh Chevre from Claremell Farms in Manotick. (at the top) I've never been fond of goat cheese, but I rather liked this stuff.

The second (going clockwise) was also a goat cheese, and the third (the greasy looking one) was made of sheep's milk. I can say that I discovered I like goat milk cheese better than sheep milk cheese.

The fourth cheese was made of cows milk, and is called Lakaaster. It's somewhat like cheddar in flavour, but not quite the same. It comes from Glengarry Fine Cheese in Lancaster. This was my favourite of the five and I'll be wanting to buy some of that for sure. The 5th one remained on my plate, after just a tiny nibble. It was also a cow's milk cheese, so I did expect to like it.  Apparently I wasn't the only one that didn't care for that one as others sitting near me didn't eat it either. I guess my palette is not sophisticated enough to handle that yet. It's unfortunate that it was the last one, and I'm just glad I had a mint in my purse!

There were also numerous vendor stalls to browse through.  There were plants for sale, and houses for birds, bats, butterflies and bees. You could get your fortune told, or get a massage. There, were, of course, a lot with food related items, and I came home with a package of tortilla soup mix that I just have to add crushed tomatoes and water to. There was even a lady selling mixes for totally gluten free bread.

The most fascinating thing I saw were phone books that had been impregnated with mushroom spores, so you could grow your own mushroom farm. Unfortunately I'm the only one here who likes mushrooms and I was afraid it would produce too many for me to consume alone. I suggested they find some smaller growing medium for people like me.  I would have enjoyed just watching it grow, but I left it there.  The ones in the photo are pink oyster mushrooms. Pretty eh.

Then came the fairies.  Folk dancers worked their way through the rows of vendors stalls.  Occasionally a child would join them.  Too bad others didn't fall into line too. It could have been quite the sight!

Elsewhere there were food stalls and music to be enjoyed.  You could also visit the gardens, the greenhouse, and some other vendors in the Century Barn.  One of the gardens was even a small maze that you could walk through.  There was lots to see, and it was certainly an enjoyable way to spend the day.

While we did a lot of sampling at Herbfest we didn't actually eat until we were on the way home. We stopped at The Old Mill in Ashton.  This was also a new experience for us.  The building is old, as indicated in it's name, but it's nice to see they have found a way to use it.  It was quiet when we first went in, but it got much busier as time went on. The riverbed was pretty dry today, so I may have to go back there again sometime, if I want to enjoy the view.

Out and About

When I started this blog I said I'd report on the various places I go, other than when I'm out geocaching.  Apparently I have not been very good at that, as I'm often out somewhere and not telling you about it.  I'm going to make an attempt to rectify that.

Saturday we spent the morning hauling poplar branches to the dump. We had to have some large limbs removed after recent wind storms. There's still a lot to move yet, but 3 trailer loads was enough for one day. 

We decided to head to Perth, just to wander around, but when we got there we thought, since we had not been to Balderson for quite a while, we would go there instead. 

Things have certainly changed.  The Balderson Cheese Factory is where we used to take the kids for a nice ice cream treat way back when we still had kids at home.  They don't make cheese there anymore, but they still do sell cheeses and ice cream and other good food stuffs.  Two "small" cones, consisting of two large scoops of ice cream each, can still be had for just $5. 

What has really changed is that they have turned the old cheese factory into an Amish Store.  It's an amazing place.  We really enjoyed wandering through all the rooms and seeing all the interesting things they have to sell.  There were chairs in a wide variety of styles and I sat in several of these.  Who knew a simple wooden chair could be so comfortable!  The prices were high but I doubt these things would ever fall apart.

If you had a new baby, how could you resist a rocking chair and a cradle that are linked together.  You rock, and the cradle rocks too. Fantastic!

In the kitchen displays I noticed they had what looked like an old wood stove, but it was really an electric range.  I'm not sure that's "Amish" but it was certainly interesting to see.

The thing that fascinated us the most was the clocks.  Some where regular clock faces but you could also see the works behind the glass.  Others had their faces split in two or more pieces and when you pressed a button they would open and spin around while playing music.  I've never seen anything like that before. 

There were several different styles and once you got one working it would attract other people who would then press the button on another one.  While this was going on you would have no idea what time it was, but honestly, you really wouldn't care.  It's a genuine conversation piece.













We also discovered that within the shop there is a  nice little restaurant. Of course, by then we were already full of ice cream, but we'll remember to check this out next time we go.  They are even open early enough for breakfast.

We did stop at Stewart Park, in Perth, on the way back home.  There had been a wedding there earlier and the photographer was still taking pictures. The general public was also enjoying the water and shade. It's always a nice place to go to relax.