Strathroy Cardboard Boat Race ~ July 10

Yes, we will be attending the cardboard boat race tomorrow in Parkhill, Ontario.

Vikings l-r: Walt, James, Scott, Derek; Regan, Michaye, Stacey.

Photos courtesy 2009 Aquaholics II team. To view larger image click on photo.

Imagination

"We are all of us imaginative in some form or other, for images are the brood of desire."

~ George Eliot (1819 - 1880), pen name for Mary Anne Evans, English novelist, one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.

Mill on The Floss, Silas Marner.

Photo: Artwork on a fruit farm in Nolfolk, Ontario. (Click on photo for larger image.)

Any Pleasure So Lasting

Reading

"No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting."

~ Lady M.W. Montague (1689 - 1762) English aristocrat and writer.

Solar Energy ~ Caledonia Mill

The Caledonia Mill continues to amaze! As environmentally conscious citizens, the guardians of the old mill have installed solar panels.

Attracting hundreds of visitors at Christmas with their light display, the mill folks are forging ahead with twenty-first century technology. Congratulations.

Managed by a non-profit organization established to preserve the mill and promote the arts, the Caledonia Mill sits stoically on the bank of the Grand River, southwest of the Hwy. #6 bridge.

Originally known as the Balmoral Mill this flour mill opened in 1857. The name was changed to the Grand River Mill in 1873, then to the Caledonia Milling Company in 1892.*

Also, see blog posts Dec. 20/09 and Jan. 9/10 for Christmas lights. For larger images, please click on photos.

*Ontario's Historic Mills, The Boston Mills Press, 2007. George Fischer and Mark Harris.

"All Over the Place"

A telephone-book sales-rep recently offered to list The Neat Little Bookshop in their publication. (They had already designed an appropriate profile for promotion on their website.) The rep hesitantly suggested that contrary to our blog which was I quote, "all over the place," their profile would focus only on the bookshop. We could submit monthly updates. We are pleased that someone noticed that we are all over the place.

One of the great pleasures of being in the book business is that there is not a subject that doesn't fall under BOOKS!

Visit The Neat Little Bookshop and be carried away "all over the place."

Neighbouring Norfolk

Tomatoes

Cherries

Ginseng Tobacco

Ginseng is replacing tobacco in our neighbouring Norfolk. A striking difference between Norfolk and Haldimand is attributable, I suppose, to the difference in soil. Haldimand clay does not grow exotic crops. Noticable in the beautiful agricultural acreage of Norfolk, in addition to ginseng, is the vast variety of successful fruit and vegetable crops. There remains the decades-successful tobacco ~ apparently on the come-back! ~ and now the alternatives. Field after field of the most prosperous, colourful July crops one can imagine.

(For larger image, click on photo ~ Lorna)

Your Smile for Today:

"If you are going to throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so you don't waste energy going back to pick it up."

~ Tommy Bolt, American Professional Golfer (1916 - 2008)
A Round of Golf Jokes, Exley