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

THE TABLES TURNED

Up!  up! my friend, and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double;
Up! up! my friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening luster mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books!  'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music!  on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark!  how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher;
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless ~
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Misshapes the beauteous forms of things ~
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

~ William Wordsworth, English poet (1770 - 1850) Selected Poems, 1993 Gramercy Books

The Piece Bag

A square of chintz ~ what memories it brings
Of golden dawns; of pleasant country things;
A moonlit scented garden after rain,
And glimpse of beechwoods through a latticed pane.


Serge and grey flannel, eloquent of boys,
Recall past days of jollity and noise;
Of chestnuts roasting in the fire's red glow,
And thrilling stories told when lights were low.

Organdie, muslin, dainty ends of lace
And silk, bridge for my eager mind time's space,
And waken sliver echoes, silent long,
Of girlish voices gay with mirth and song.

O remnants treasured here for future need,
You've been to loneliness a boon indeed;
For in my odd-piece bag, 'twixt smiles and tears,
I read the happy story of the years.

~ Ellen Elliott  [Yellowed clipping from THE GLOBE, TORONTO, FRIDAY OCTOBER 12 - year unknown.]

Weather

This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
                   And so do I;
When showers betumble the chestnut spikes,
                   And nestlings fly;
And the little brown nightingale bills his best,
And they sit outside at "The Traveller's Rest",
And maids come forth sprig-muslin drest,
And citizens dream of the south and west,
                    And so do I.

This is the weather the shepherd shuns,
                    And so do I;
When beeches drip in browns and duns,
                    And thresh, and ply;
And hill-hid tides throb, throe on thoe,
And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate-bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go,
                    And so do I.

~ Thomas Hardy (June 1848 - Jan. 11, 1928)  English novelist, poet.


"It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs." ~ Thomas Hardy

https://www.womensmarch.com/event-details/  On Jan. 21, 2017 women marched on Washington.

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.