Friday night, October 10th, 11:00pm
What can I see?         Very little
What can I hear?        Nothing
What can I smell?      Fresh air
I love the country.

Saturday afternoon, October 11th
What can I see?         Colour
What can I hear?       Still nothing
What can I smell?      Decay
I love autumn.

Where am I?  In an 1865 farmhouse, on 20 acres, in Holland Centre (10 minutes north of Markdale and 30 minutes south of Owen Sound).

    

Why?
Me: “Daddy and I are going to take an extended Thanksgiving weekend and head into the Bruce Peninsula for a little getaway.  Would you and Steph like to join us for a few days?”
Yelena: “Oh, that sounds really nice.  Yes!”

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

   

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.

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

The best part of having no plans is being able to enjoy a very lazy day without regret.  And that’s exactly what Yelena and I did on Sunday.  We spent the entire day curled up in separate cosy chairs reading while Steph and Steve took turns strolling through the property with Jethro.  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.

We’ve 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.  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.  We kept warm snuggled into our jackets and sipping our favourite digestif.  Jethro is so dark, we had to keep him on a leash so he wouldn’t disappear before our eyes.
Some time later, who knows how long, we froze the minute we stepped away from that pit and staggered back to our beds.  Warm days are definitely behind us.  That was a good day.

    

Monday was Yelena’s and Steph’s last day at the farm and they were contented enough to hang out at the house.  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.

         

       

    

   

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.  Well, see for yourself…

    

         

   

   

   

Yelena, Steph, and Jethro headed home after a dinner of yummy leftovers.

Steve and I had three more days to enjoy this rambling farmhouse and to explore our surroundings.  So no more lounging around!  Tuesday started with a good old fashioned home-cooked breakfast at Kettles, in Chatsworth, a very conveniently located family restaurant frequented by the locals.  Then, we had the most disappointing drive up to Tobermory.  We’ve been there a couple of times before, where we boarded the ferry to Manitoulin Island.  At those times, Tobermory was booming with activity.  This time, the day following the Thanksgiving long weekend, it was ghostly with nothing open but the fudge shop.  So we bought some to help cheer us up 🙂  We couldn’t even get a coffee – missed the café by 5 minutes and it was only 3:05!  And, on top of that, it was a cloudy day but we still managed to get a few interesting pictures.

         

     

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.  Too bad I didn’t get a video so you could also hear!

   

On the way home, we ran into some turkeys…

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

   

   

Eugenia Falls was also lovely, with the most interesting trees…

    

   

   

       

       

At the end of the afternoon, we found ourselves in Clarksburg, an artist community just a wee bit south of Thornbury – 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.

         

    

    

     

We took a circuitous route through Thornbury to Meaford, then back to Kettles for dinner.

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

        

   

    

and its surrounding park.

                 

   

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

   

   

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

       

Our day wasn’t over… on our way home we found the Beaver Valley Orchard & Cidery.  I didn’t know that I liked cider but I do!  Inside this beautiful locale, we engaged in a tasting and left with not one, not two, but a case of cider!

         

    

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

What am I thankful for?
I’m thankful Steve and I have the means to take these mini vacations.
I’m thankful for the opportunity we have to spend extended time with our growing family.
I’m thankful for the amazing dinner Steph cooked for us on Sunday.
I’m 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.
I’m thankful for a week of exploration and relaxation.
I’m thankful for the beauty of changing seasons.