Hoping that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  We have been busy in the bookshop acknowledging some of the folks who have helped make the bookshop better.  If you are ever on facebook, check out the numerous photographs of fascinating personalities and of course authors who have visited us.

There are too many to mention and we don't have photographs of everyone.  It was in November of 2004 that our first bookshelves appeared on Cayuga Street.  We existed in a remote corner at 11 Cayuga Street opposite the red-brick building where Herb Martindale began the original Neat Little Bookshop.  There were five empty commercial windows at the time and since that, businesses have come and gone.  Thank you to all of our supporters:  family and friends, customers and fellow Cayuga Street businesses.

~ John & Lorna

Located on the Historic Court House Grounds Cayuga

1835 Pioneer Log Cabin

Customer Appreciation Days

Hobbies For Everyone

Special for Customer Appreciation Days

The Haldimand Stewardship Council is a group that shows a commitment to promoting responsible land care, sustaining resources, and working together for a healthier environment.  The council includes volunteer individuals who recognize and can encourage community involvement and interest in land stewardship.  Council members include farmers, woodlot owners, naturalists, business people, agency and industry representatives and other conservation groups.

 

Haldimand Stewardship Council

15 Cayuga Street, Cayuga

Ice Jam Grand River Cayuga

View From Robert Baigent Park Village Side

 

Ouse Street Looking South Toward Tennis Courts

The Old Railway Bridge at Cayuga *

TRAVEL

The railroad track is miles away,
        And the day is loud with voices speaking.
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day
        But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn't a train goes by,
        Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
        And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with the friends I make,
        And better friends I'll not be knowing,
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
         No matter where it's going.

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay  [Feb 22, 1892 - Oct. 19, 1950]  First woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

* The old Cayuga railway bridge is scheduled to become a walking trail. Photo lbw

Haldimand County Museum and Log Cabin

On December 12, 2016, Council ratified Councillor Morison's motion to demolish the museum and move the 1835 log cabin off the Court House Grounds.  The artifacts will be scattered among five libraries and the basement of the planned new admin building.  The archives will be housed in 600 sq. ft. of the planned new Cayuga library.

This story is not over.

Court House Grounds Summer 2016

This is the photo that has offended Haldimand County Councillor Fred Morison.  At the Council-in-Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 15, 2016,  Councillor Morison adamantly expressed his disapproval of a petition circulating and comments on social media prior to administrative staff reports coming to council and before council decisions.  Morison would have preferred that a better time for the petition would have been after the Council-in-Committee meeting when Report PED-GM-10-2016 was brought forward.  This report was made available to the public late Thursday, November 10 and can be ratified on December 12. 

A petition on Change.org (Search key words: log cabin), requests that Haldimand County Council save Cayuga Court House Grounds, parkland, museum, archives and 1835 log cabin.

Council has already approved at the Nov. 15th meeting to break up the museum collection and distribute it among the libraries.  Morison is holding an Open House, TUE., NOV. 22 at 2:00 and 6:30 p.m. in the Cayuga Kinsmen Community Centre to discuss these latest developments.  Please note change in location for the Open House.

[Photo:  lbw]

 

Today We Remember

 

 

Court House Grounds

Zoned Residential

Court House Grounds

The historic Court House Grounds are zoned residential.  OFFICIAL PLAN SCHEDULE "B.2"  CAYUGA URBAN AREA LAND USE PLAN ~ Map Prepared by:  Haldimand County Planning & Economic Development Dept. 

"Council is not forging ahead with residential zoning as the petition [Save the Parklands, Museum & Log Cabin*] states.  There has not even been discussion about that." ~ Ward 2 Councillor Morison.  Letter to The Haldimand Press and The Sachem, Oct. 27, 2016.

*  Change.org (Search key words i.e. log cabin)  Thank you for signing.

[Photos:  lbw]  UPDATE:  Since Report PED-GM-10-2016 became available on Thu., Nov. 10, it has become public knowledge that the County Court House Grounds are currently zoned "Institutional". 

Gables of Cayuga Hotel Visible - To be Demolished for New Library

 

Hwy 3 & Cayuga Street Intersection ~ Contrast this with Current Location of Library in Village Green

Many of us attended an Open House regarding the proposed new Cayuga branch of the library.  The services and the architecture were discussed.  The resulting location on Highway 3 was not part of the public discussion that we can recall.  Compare the chosen - done deal - future location with the current location in the quiet Village Green.


Village Green

Cayuga Branch Haldimand Public Library in Village Green



Riverfront One Block From Village Green

Haldimand County Council has slated the landmark Cayuga Hotel for demolition for fall, 2016, with the planned new Cayuga Library to begin in the spring.  Unlike Cayuga's current library (see below) set in the quiet Village Green, the new library will be within feet of busy Highway 3, specifically at the intersection of Hwy. 3 and Cayuga Street.



Many of us disagree with relocating the library in Highway 3 intersection.  It is a done-deal.

Village Green

This summer we had crosswalks, sidewalks, streets w/asphalt, hanging plants, planters.  We retained our green space in the Village Green!  We have a proper bridge aligned with the highway. 

New Bridge Looking West

 

Talbot St. Looking West Toward The Bookshop & Bridge

Looking at The Neat Little Book Shop

Summer at The Neat Little Book Shop

 

 

Haldimand County Museum & Archives and Historic 1835 Log Cabin

Haldimand County Council conducted an Administrative Accommodation Review last year and chose to build one new administration building in Cayuga.  This decision renders the current building redundant;  in other words, "surplus administrative property".  The future of the museum, log cabin and surrounding County Court House Grounds is unclear.

 

Current Haldimand County Admin Building Cayuga
 

The Night After Bridge Moved

This is the photo that earned over ten thousand hits on facebook.  Ten thousand, five-hundred in less that forty-eight hours.  We have a new bridge aligned with the highway.



Looking East Over the Bridge Night of Move
 

There continues to be construction on and under and at both ends.  Most days there has been two-way traffic although the lanes have been narrow because of a partial lane being used for construction equipment and workers.  Starting first week of November the bridge will go down to one lane for additional work.  We will keep you posted.




Cayuga Has a Bridge in Place
 

 

We have been away.  Not from the bookshop.  Just from our blog.  So many things have been happening that we need to tell you!

We won't try to relate to you everything today.   We will post some photographs and some news stories each day.  Thank you for coming back.  We miss our readers.  Just to get started, we have been preoccupied reading Administrative Accommodation Reviews on the Haldimand County Website.  The reason?  It took a while for us to realize and understand that our six councilors and one mayor have been discussing the future of our current administration building and consequently our museum, log cabin and our historic County Court House Grounds.

Parking Lot and Admin Building

Tomorrow:  We will briefly summarize surplus administrative property, specifically our Haldimand Administrative Building.

Blank Board Covering Word CLOSED

Scheduled to Align New Bridge W/Hwy 3 Saturday, August 27

Soon will the high midsummer
         pomps come on.
Soon will the musk carnations
        break and swell.
Soon will we have gold-dusted
        snapdragon
Sweet William with its homely
         cottage smell,
And stocks in fragrant blow,
Roses that down the alleys
         shine afar
And open jasmine-muffled
         lattices
And groups under the
         dreaming garden trees
And the full moon and the
         white evening star.

~ Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888
     from "Thyrsis"

Entrance to New Bridge

Looking West

Lights Line Both Sides of New Bridge
 

The new bridge is scheduled to be aligned with the highway on Saturday, August 26.