I recently discovered this quote that pretty much describes me…
Not all who wander are lost.
–JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring.
FYI
I am hoping this blog will be an enjoyable journey to the sights and delights of Eastern Ontario, especially my hometown of Kingston. It is for those who are homesick, those who have visited and loved it and those who are lucky enough to be here. I lived in Vancouver for 25 years and I did miss Kingston, and would have liked something like this to look at. I will add photos from outside the area now and again but in general I will stick to Eastern Ontario and I will usually focus on Kingston and immediate area. I hope you will love my hometown.
Colour in the City
I went for a little drive around town the other day after going to a movie at the Screening Room, for which I will put in an unabashed plug. It’s a great little theatre, which needs our support. There–plug over.
Some magnificent colour in City Park.
Breakwater Park.
Then suddenly there was a ray of sunshine.
I’m really pleased with this shot of KGH.
Albert Street.
Pine Street.
Third Avenue. I waited for a couple of cars to pass, took the shot and then realized when I got home that another car had pulled into the scene. Sigh.
I discovered a wonderful community garden on Lyons Street. I was told that all the little flags indicate a different kind of tree or shrub. This will turn into a dense tiny forest. Most of the work has been done by Little Forests Kingston.
Who knows where I will go next? The weather has been discouraging so far this week but is supposed to start improving tomorrow. There is a glorious weekend forecasted.
A Trip to the Zoo
On the weekend I went for a trip to the Toronto Zoo and then to see family.
I hung out with the orangutans while I had my lunch. It was too cold and rainy to eat it outside but by the time I left the orangutans, the weather had improved a lot and it was sunny and fairly warm. You never know what to expect these days with the volatile autumn weather!
Some pretty colours. The Zoo is in the Rouge National Urban Park, which goes right the way down to Lake Ontario.
I also spent some time watching the gorillas. I think this is Ngozi and Charlie, the female child of Ngozi and the elderly silverback, Charles.
Here is Charles. He had been leaning up on one elbow but he suddenly just flopped over and went to sleep. He celebrated his 50th birthday this year and enjoys an afternoon nap.
A very handsome rhino who will never be poached for his horn.
Spotted hyena–the annoying delinquents of the veldt.
Coming home from Newmarket, I moseyed through the countryside, taking seven hours to get home. It is very hilly countryside and the colours were fabulous.
This amazing hill is near the truck stop at the 401 and Hwy 28 at Port Hope. I had noticed it on the way down when the skies were dark behind it and the hill just glowed. The hills begin west of Trenton and some of the scenes were so beautiful. As you rounded a curve on the highway there would just be a wall of colour. But sadly, the 401 is not a great road for pulling over and taking pictures. I took the 401 back from Port Hope to Belleville, but at Belleville got off on to the Blessington Road. I noticed that west of Port Hope the colours still seemed to be at their peak, but east of Port Hope, a lot of trees were already fairly bare. It’s blustery down by the lake.
I love this funny sign on Blessington Road. I have never stopped for “butt nuggets” there. I should.
I think this is Ham Road.
It’s been kind of wet and miserable since I came home but yesterday evening I was out and there was some good lighting. Pics tomorrow.
Gorgeous Gananoque 3
Our final installment from my Gananoque trip on Monday.
Some restored buildings. I imagine these were probably industrial buildings or warehouses but are now offices.
I don’t know what this train is. There may be a sign but I didn’t see it.
The Town Hall and the band stand.
Just down the road from those other restored stone buildings–this one was being restored but came to a standstill. I love the ivy on it.
The view over some of the 1000 Islands from Agnes Maule Machar Park.
A very cute little house on the way home, just this side of Joyceville Road. Plus some lovely light on the rich autumn colours.
Gorgeous Gananoque 2
This old stone wall goes all the way down this garden and even further down the path. It looks a bit rickety but has lots of character.
This is my favourite bit of Gananoque. It has been closed off to cars in the last couple of years and it looks like that will be permanent.
Looking up to Princess Street.
Not a very good picture of the heron on top of this old boat house. I should have taken a few so I’d have a choice. Oh well.
Looking across the marina to Joel Stone Park. Joel Stone led the defense against the Americans in a skirmish here in the War of 1812.
Ooops. I don’t remember hearing of any tornados around here.
The old Blinkbonnie Hotel was sitting sad and unloved for a few years but it seems to have been spruced up a bit and there is some activity there. I had to take the picture with the tree in the way otherwise I’d be shooting right into the sun.
A final Gananoque offering tomorrow.
Gorgeous Gananoque
Today it was a glorious and sunny day and I decided to go for a little trip to Gananoque. But first, last night’s beautiful moon.
A perfectly shaped and highly coloured country tree.
Looking up the Gananoque River from the park.
I’m always a sucker for a yellow house and this one is a beauty. It’s had a new paint job and is looking quite fabulous. It’s a B&B if anyone wants somewhere to stay. Pangea House, I think it was called.
Gardens on Hickory Street.
The Woodview Inn.
More from this trip tomorrow.
The K&P Trail Part II
A trestle with a little canyon below.
Sunshine on a rock cut.
At this point I have turned around and I though I would check out Hartington. Above is the library branch and below is the South Frontenac Museum. I was almost at Verona when I turned back. I’ll have to go back and start at Hartington.
The trail was lined with asters–the larger purple ones, and these very light mauve ones.
On the way home I thought I would make a quick stop at the Cataraqui Conservation Authority.
This is the only one I took on a drive with my elderly client on Thursday. Beautiful big trees changing colours in Point St. Mark.
This is Lake Ontario Park last week. The setting sun catches the top of this tree.
The sun sets over the Invista Plant.
The K&P Trail–North from Harrowsmith
I’d been wanting to go for a bike ride on Simcoe Island, off of Wolfe Island. Twice last weekend I couldn’t get on the boat because it was so busy. So after my try on Monday, I decided to go up to the K&P Trail north of Harrowsmith–somewhere I had never been before. I hadn’t had anything to eat yet so I stopped for a pizza slice at Ormsbee’s in Sunbury. It’s all done up for autumn.
We were looking at historic houses in the past week. This is what you have to do when you have a historic home. They sure are worth it though. This one is in Harrowsmith.
I started from Hwy. 38 at Harrowsmith. The K&P meets the Cataraqui Trail just east of the highway. Then you ride west on the Cataraqui for a few minutes and then come to this fork in the road. The Cataraqui Trail goes to the left and we turn up the K&P going north. I have done the K&P from downtown Kingston to Harrowsmith but have never gone beyond before. I have taken the Cataraqui as far as Newburgh.
The first farm one comes to.
Passing the hamlet of Hartington on the way north.
The main reason that I haven’t done this part of the trail before is that it runs adjacent to the busy Hwy. 38. When I go out into nature I like to leave traffic noise behind. But it is a very pretty trail aside from that and it isn’t always this close to the road.
Those autumn colours are really kicking in now.
More from the K&P tomorrow.
Barriefield Historic Homes 3
The view over the city from the north end of Barriefield Village.
This is the oldest house that I saw in Barriefield–1813! You don’t get much older than that around here. I also went through today and took note of some dates. Willowmere is either 1818 or 19–I couldn’t see clearly. The unrenovated one with the green siding is 1878.
This little gem is 1844.
Didn’t get this one’s date. It is next door to the previous one–also very pretty.
Looking down Regent’s Street to Sharman’s Lane, which starts at the yellow house.
I love the colour on this one too. I believe it said 1867 on this one, the year we became a country.
That’s it for Barriefield. Tomorrow: Some photos from a ride on the K&P Trail, north of Harrowsmith.
Barriefield Historic Homes 2
Back to my walk around Barriefield on Sunday.
Willowmere has not changed a bit since I used to go by in the 80s. It’s old and beautiful. I tried to remember the ages of all the houses but my mind is feeble. But this is one of the older ones, in a neighbourhood of very old homes.
I just zoomed in on this one and it was built in 1833.
Beautiful stonework in front of the church.
This corner has not been gentrified…yet. There are not too many left in the village that look like they did when I saw them in the 80s.
Here are the outbuildings across the street. The house is not in rough shape like these buildings but it has not been renovated like most of the others.
St Mark’s Church across the playground of the former J.E. Horton School. The school has been torn down and there is a development sign that says it will be separated into 32 lots. It’s larger than it looks in this picture.
An exuberance of hydrangeas.
The view along George Street.
I thought that this mass of vines looked very appropriate for October– like Morticia Addams.
Apparently back in the 80s this place was quite primitive, with not much in the way of mod cons, but it looks very beautiful now and I bet they do have electricity. I wish I had been able to take more pictures back in the 80s, but that was the days before digital when you had to get them all printed. I know I took pictures of Willowmere but that one hasn’t changed, at least on the outside. The stone in front of this one is a marker of the edge of a district but I can’t remember what the letters stand for. I did a Jane’s Walk around Barriefield a while back, before covid.
Tonight’s moon.
More from this walk tomorrow.
Barriefield Historic Homes
I ended up going for a little walk around Barriefield on Sunday. It is so beautiful there. It was sunny but quite windy and cold. The photo below may give you an idea of the wind.
These two were from a spot that I loved to come to in the 80s. It was still a wooded area then. Now you can drive right in there. Here we’re looking towards Barriefield village.
This must be the boat that has been abandoned for years in the middle of the Cataraqui River.
A couple of views of the city from the same spot.
At the bottom of the hill at Barriefield Village, you can just catch a glimpse of the new bridge behind Belle Island.
Up the hill, on Sharman’s Lane, this gorgeous house that I love.
I love these guys too– the wonderful songsters of summer–crickets. The cold weather has taken out many of them but there are still a few, chirping away.
Some of these places are painted the most fabulous colours. I love this!
This building has been in the process of restoration since I came back 10 years ago. It’s coming along slowly but surely. You can see two historic plaques on there. The end house is older–1830s if I remember rightly. The further one was added in the 1860s.
More from this walk tomorrow.
Kingston Cam 