Dec 27, 2015

Happy and Merry and Bright

Happy Holidays everyone, however you choose to celebrate the darkest time of the year!  


We received an early gift on December 19th, this great article by travel writer George Bailey that appeared in the Niagara Falls Review.  George and his wife Ellen had enjoyed our Bed and Breakfast once before (October 2014) and George was very kind to include us in his write-up!  Wow!  The Flying Leap is in print! 

Happy New Year!  Here's to a prosperous 2016!

Dec 16, 2015

Graveyard weather

The weather has been wet and foggy for days, and we've been inside busy baking and finally hanging pictures in our living space... I needed a break, so I said to Mom yesterday afternoon, " Let's do something fun."  She said, "Okay, like what?"  I replied, " Let's go the the cemetery and find Dr. Robertson's grave."  Okay, not your idea of fun?  So we hopped into the car without Willow as the weather was pretty wet and drove to the Elora Cemetery.  


Our house was built for Dr. William Robertson in 1891, and he lived 1865 - 1941.  I had the plot designation, D7-9 and figured it would be relatively easy to find... not so!  The Elora Cemetery does not have any section breakdowns, so you're expected to know where the office is and go there first to locate the grave you want!  Gesh!  We were extremely lucky to be there at the same time as the ground's keeper, who was very helpful and patient.  He phoned the office and someone there looked up Dr. Robertson in the computer:  no hits.  So they looked in the old records:  success!  The plot she gave us was G46, close to the chapel.  The three of us hunted for the grave and after a while Mom spotted it, close to a pathway.  Yeah!  


I've read that at the time of his death, Dr. Robertson did not get a gravestone, his plot was unmarked.  Only afterwards did the citizens of Elora raise enough money to have this monument created.  The questions are:  where is Dr. Robertson's body, is it here?  What happened to the money that he had nothing for a gravestone?  And what of Florence, who died in 1930?  Where is she buried?

What a nice spot, and it stopped raining long enough for us to walk around a little.  




A close neighbour is this lovely stone with the elegant draping.


And we both appreciated this umbrella tree.  We figured the stone never gets wet under this dense greenery!

Dec 3, 2015

Mice are nice, Krampus is coming and a little Baileys for everyone

  If you've read this blog for a while, you know that I am not a very Christmases sort and MUCH prefer the glorious thrills of Hallowe'en.  In fact, I rarely purchase anything new for Christmas decorating (to save space and money for skulls and severed fingers, of course!) but this year there was a notable exception:  mice!!  I spotted these ADORABLE mice during Elora's Starlight shopping event at pod (75 Metcalfe Street) which always has unusual things on offer.  
  Mice enjoy a little Christmas cheer so they appreciate this mouse-sized Baileys... and behind them?  Why, that's a framed postage stamp featuring Krampus. (Thank you again Rose!)  Krampusnacht is December 5th so you'd better watch out if you've been naughty!  

On our door we have some switches for Krampus... they're supposed to be birch but I think he'll be okay with our willow.  Apparently, one Krampus custom is to display the switches all year, to remind children that Krampus will return!  Love it!