"an elegant tapestry of quotations, musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflections" (James Atlas)



Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Mennonite country

We picked up a car in Toronto this morning and headed to the Kitchener-Waterloo area, about an hour's drive west of Toronto. Driving was fairly easy once we got used to driving on the wrong side of the road again. The highways here are huge, 12 lanes across sometimes. But all is well signposted, and we found ourselves north of Waterloo, looking for a little town called St. Jacobs. My Canadian FB friends have often talked about this place, so I definitely wanted to see it. We were lucky with the weather; it rained on the way, but once we got to St. Jacobs, the storm had passed and it was even sunny at times. As soon as we drove through the farmlands, I was enchanted by the big Amish-style barns and grain silos. Would have loved to look inside one! As interesting as the big cities are, I just love countryside! St. Jacobs was just delightful, and no sooner had I left the visitor information store, did I see a black buggy with two proud horses and a Mennonite couple dash past! I was too gobsmacked to even get my camera out! I so much wanted to see that, and was lucky enough to see many such buggies drive past over the next hour. And when I discovered the quilt shops - well, my day could hardly get any better! I just want to live at the Mennonite quilt shop, and if not there, then at the First Nations art shop next door. Although I would not say no to a stay at the Christmas shop either. Had lunch under a huge maple tree, and made rather a mess of my credit card - but let's not go there.... Leaving beautiful St. Jacobs behind us, we powered up the highway, back via Toronto, and landed in a little place called Belleville (somewhat of a a misnomer, I'm afraid). Still, the culinary highlight was a pulled pork bun (delicious), an Alexander Keith light ale (my new favourite), and my first coffee at Tim Horton's. AND I found those gorgeous maple leaf cookies and maple-blueberry tea my friend Kathryn and I love so much.
DH has taken to photographing quirky signs. Found a good one  tonight: "Worms for sale. 24 hours". So, if you have a craving for worms at 11:30pm, that's the place for you!
Well, let's see what tomorrow brings...

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