Small Village Life

Pick up the morning newspaper in your housecoat or wander into the garden in pajamas. There are no fast trucks, no loud streams of traffic, few people.
We are surrounded only by an array of open lawns. Huge old catalpas, maples, ash, walnut and pine trees. The odd tree is aging and destined for removal but neighbours trade saplings like perennials so new trees keep appearing.

Walk to the Post Office, the grocery store, the drug store, the small-town department store or take a relaxing drive along the Grand to Caledonia, Dunnville or through the farming community to Hagersville. Shop at the farmers' markets.
In the village or within a few kilometers we have some of the best antique stores, art shops, schools, little theatres, churches, cafes, pubs, museums and libraries. New arenas are popping up. Soccer fields, tennis courts and baseball diamonds dot the villages. Don't plan to go swimming though unless it is summer. Local service clubs work hard to provide folks with the extras but an indoor pool escapes us.

At the end of the day, it is the considerate, caring, friendly country people who win our hearts. Cayuga is a great place to live.

On a River ~ A Wave and A Smile

Yesterday a gentleman in the bookshop asked us why Cayuga is a good place to live. Without having to think, we replied, "the river." Cayuga is on the beautiful Grand River.

We are surrounded by beauty in a peaceful country landscape. We never tire of the drive home after a day's work in the city. But the conversation got us thinking about so much more. We will never forget the first few days after we moved here. Folks smiled and spoke to us on the street. Strangers waved and said, "Hello."

Tomorrow: More about life in a small rural village and why we choose to live here.

Photos: by Lorna. For larger image, click on photo.

Today We Stop to Remember... Lest we ever forget.

This Ain't No Healing Town

by Barry Callahan, the son of the late Canadian novelist Morley Callaghan.

"Of course in recent years ~ the forty years after the War ~ there has been a building boom, an explosion of shopkeeping. The grace waters of the lake have been almost completely bunkered off by a concrete elevated expressway and a cluster of downtown banking towers have been built, erections to dreams, but make no mistake, these are austere secular steeples, new cathedrals on the same old corners, casting their shadows at right angles to each other to make a point: the top of the line is always the bottom line.

"My father told me back when these banking towers were going up, when I was a young writer thinking that I wanted to tell a truth or two, that the writer always has to deal with appearances, with shadows and what goes on in the shadows...

"The shadows in this town have got dense, and with different colors, more dense than you can shake a nightstick at." ~ Barry Callaghan, This Ain't No Healing Town ~ Toronto Stories, Exile Editions Limited, 1995.

Barry (1937 - ) is the son of the late author Morley Callaghan.

Photos by Lorna. Toronto, Ontario. Click on photo for larger image.

King Arthur and Guinevere

Ever wondered what the medieval bride and groom served at their wedding? King Arthur and Guinevere feasted on roasted boar, roasted venison, roasted hare, little birds toasted, big birds stuffed, big pies, little pies and suckling pig. And, of course, great pitchers of ale and wine.

Story Hour in the Neat Little Bookshop offers kids adventure and excitement ~ a chance to explore some of the classics and any number of contemporary stories. They choose a book to read and we sneak in a book with some literary value. Yesterday we read excerpts from a Scholastic childrens' book, King Arthur His Knights & Their Ladies by Johanna Johnston. Before they knew it, the kids were right there in the medieval castle dining with 150 knights at the great Round Table.

End of Summer. Monarch butterflies gathering silently in the tree branches on Lake Erie shore. Haldimand County, Ontario.

Stop by the Neat Little Bookshop. We have a new photo display.

Cayuga Village Centre

Flower boxes along Highway 3 and Cayuga Street provided by the Cayuga and District Chamber of Commerce.

The regular breakfast meeting is on Wednesday, September 8 at The Gingerbread House Restaurant on Highway 54.