Visit To The Niagara Parks Centennial Lilac Garden

The collection, a gift from our American friends, contains over 1,200 plants with over 200 different varieties. They looked lovely yesterday but will be at their peak in another few days.

The variety above is called Red Wine and (unsurprisingly) I like it best.

Springtime in Niagara

The historic Commons Niagara on the Lake

Spying on Mr. Nag at the bbq through the tulips.

NOTL's Queen Street leads in national online competition

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE — Queen St. in Niagara-on-the-Lake is leading the competition for Canada's best street.

The Great Places in Canada contest, hosted by the Canadian Institute of Planners, allows Canadians to vote for their favourite locations across the country.

Link

Niagara on the Lake Walkabout

November has been warmer than usual this year and I've been taking full advantage of the sunny days before the cold drives me into hibernation.

Niagara on the Lake Peach Festival

Small town summer fun.

Moving mighty slow but it's moving

One of three theatres in town

Preserve Agricultural Lands Quilt Raffle.  I bought 3 tickets, wish me luck

I love their lime marmalade

These tempted me

The star of the show - Niagara peaches

More peaches

The dog had me fooled at first - he's a stuffed toy

Chassagne Sheep at Southbrook Vineyard

I drive past Southbrook Winery on my way to work each morning and I love to see these four-legged lawnmowers hard at work keeping the vineyard tidy.

For the summer and autumn months lambs are working at the Southbrook Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake offering their natural "weed and feed" landscaping service. This concept of using sheep to work in the vineyards first hit the Niagara region lin 2007 as ot Featherstone Winery initiated the idea by using five lambs. They had seen the practice work successfully while on a working holiday to New Zealand which is renowned for its delicious and abundant wine and lamb meat. More Niagara vineyards are now using sheep and probably the number will increase.

Read more about them here.

Wainfleet Fall Fair

I staffed a bling and propaganda table at the fair today. I found time to buy some lovely Niagara produce - and a big bag of greasy donuts!

Dog urine causes cancer not pesticides?

This pisses me off.


One Bark at a Time has posted a photo of this sign that is unfortunately less than 50 meters from my house. It makes me uncomfortable having people like this in my neighbourhood.
Some time ago Niagara on the Lake was also centered out for having dogs barred from the post office. The local postal workers used to give cookies to the dogs until the grinches stepped in.
What's up with these people?

Peaches!

Niagara celebrates the peach harvest every year with a small town festival right behind my house.

Nightly Falls Illumination

Because the Falls are just down the road a bit and I pass by them regularly I tend to take them for granted. This time lapse video reminds me just how spectacular they are, particularly at night.


Via Been-Seen.com

The sky over Niagara was beautiful last night

On This Day

On This Day - Jan. 27, 1938

In a cloud of snow and ice, the great bridge that crossed the Niagara River has collapsed upon itself. Now, all that remains of the Honeymoon Bridge are tangled cable lines, crushed wooden beams and twisted metal. Under the weight of an enormous amount of ice, the bridge's beams gave way and fell into the frozen reservoir below.

Little Nashville Bar, Welland

Historic Destinations Rated

National Geographic Traveler published this survey, conducted by the Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations, of more than a hundred historic places around the world. An international panel of 280 experts evaluated the destinations based on six criteria. Read more at National Geographic Traveler

Here's what they had to say about Niagara-on-the-Lake where I live and blog. Sad to say it rings true.

Ontario: Niagara-on-the-Lake - Score: 67

This may be the most beautiful small town in Canada. It is quite touristy, but has done a great job of preserving its charm.

It is a very attractive small town on a waterfront, and anchors one of Canada's finest scenic parkways. It displays a high level of building and landscape conservation. A nationally significant theater and a location in a wine region are plusses; the almost complete gentrification of the town is a major problem. To many Canadians, it is the town that tourism killed.

Tourism is based on the Shaw festival and the history of the town. Local people benefit from commercial interests—bed-and-breakfasts of a high standard, attractive shopping area, restaurants, etc.

A theme park by any other name. But then that's what many of the visitors seem to expect and may even enjoy. The surrounding vineyards are arguably carrying much more integrity, although they are also being threatened by poor urban and regional planning.

Melanie MacDonald

Friend, lapsed blogger and political compadre, Uncorrected Proofs, recommended this local artist.

Melanie MacDonald was born in St. Catharines, ON in 1976. Today she lives in downtown St. Catharines and is an active member of the Niagara Artists' Centre, the region's only artist-run centre.

Although I despise dirty dishes I like her paintings of dirty dishes.

For History Buffs Only

William Kirby, (1817 – 1906), was a Canadian author, best known for his novel The Golden Dog. He was born at Kingston upon Hull, England, on October 13, 1817, and came to Canada with his parents in 1832. He settled in Niagara, Upper Canada, in 1839. He married the daughter of John Whitmore, Niagara, and had two sons. For more than twenty years he edited the Niagara Mail. From 1871 to 1895 he was collector of customs at Niagara. In 1883 he became a charter member of the Royal Society of Canada. He died at Niagara on June 23, 1906.

This plaque marks Kirby's house in Niagara-on the-Lake:


We came across the stone below a few years ago while wandering around Quebec City:

"Je suis un chien qui ronge lo En le rongeant je prends mon repos Un temps viendra qui n'est pas venu Que je morderay qui maura mordu."

In 1669, the surgeon Thimothée Roussel moved to the Canardière. He quarrelled with his neighbours and one of them killed his dog. Roussel complained to the Council sovereign. Two years later, in 1688, he built what later became the home of Philibert and installed on the front this bas-relief of the golden dog. The murder of Philibert forms the basis of Kirby's novel.

And now Kirby's house has come on the market. It's one of Niagara-on-the-Lake's oldest homes and has the added bonus of being just down the street from The Nag.

Yee Haw!

It's Stampede Weekend, a little piece of the Wild West right here in Virgil. It's the largest Stampede outside of Calgary (alright it's probably the only one outside of Calgary). There'll be crafts, mud bogging trucks, mechanical bull riding and, yes, pig races. The midway was the big attraction when my kids were younger - and the Victoria Day fireworks. Good clean small town fun for them that likes that sort of thing. Too much bloody excitement for me.

Spring has almost sprung (I hope)

The weather continues to be abysmal but I looked out my bedroom window and spied a harbinger of spring. No, not the winter aconites with their yellow flowers pushing up through the snow but trucks moving stuff into the Courthouse Theatre, which is virtually in my backyard. I guess the Shaw Festival is just around the corner along with lots of new faces in the Valu-Mart as the actors, technicians, etc. take up temporary residence in town again - sort of like a flock of birds returning from a winter down south.

Old Niagara Postcards

I love these old Niagara images I bought at the fudge shop. I live very close to the clock tower in the second photo.