Spring-a-Ding-Ding!

Thursday 24 April 2014

Ripley's Aquarium Visit

Recently a pair of Purple Valley Hill Billies journeyed to a land foreign and far away (Toronto, Ontario) to visit Ripley's Aquarium. The aquarium was an absolute marvel! There were so many different kinds of fish and so many aquariums!

Cue the music from the movie Jaws!!

There were so many species specific aquariums

Sea anemones were a beautiful range of colours

The tunnel was something else...all those fish swimming directly overhead

Lots of interactive exhibits for the kiddies

Piranhas

Hey Ray! Smile for the camera!

The jellyfish were fascinating

The engineering and mechanical technology

were just as fascinating as the fish.

Ripley's Aquarium...you should go!

Sunday 20 April 2014

Purple Valley Wedding Dance May 1955

Please enjoy this scanned article from "The Country Home Magazine"

written by Anne Kastner with photos by Harland Lodge in May 1955.

The bride is Margaret (Howe), the groom John "Jack" Urbshott.

In the picture beside them is the groom's mother, Lottie Urbshott and her brother, Harold Pyke.

Recognize any faces?

That's Wilf and Eileen Ashcroft on the right,

coming through the Purple Valley hall door (top right picture).

On the crowded dance floor, in the middle of a "grand chain all"

there's Bill and Audrey (sister of the groom) Hepburn and Bill Cook.

I am absolutely tickled to be able to bring this bit of treasured history to you from the archives! This is what this blog is all about: bringing to light some little known or rarely seen bits from the past.

My apologies in advance if the article is not readable in its present format. At some future date when I gain the needed technological skills to present a picture you can "mouse over" to read, I will repost the article. In the meantime, I would be glad to forward it to your email address in a jpeg format.

If you recognize anybody in these photos, drop me a line! It would be great to be able to put some names to the faces.

Now wasn't that a happy skip down memory lane?!
The Reluctant Archivist

PS - This post presented especially for Marlene, future daughter to the bride and groom.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Mother Nature or Old Man Winter?

Last evening after supper I took a stroll down the road. The shining sun (the days are getting longer!) won out over the light breezes from the north west and I pulled on my winter jacket to check out the activity in the neighbourhood.

Mother Nature...or was it Old Man Winter ... came knocking at the door with a package delivered in crisp, white wrapping paper. In fact it was delivered in a blanket, deep and crisp and even, which had everyone remarking about the similarities between this recent April snowfall event and early December snowfalls. This sparked numerous greetings of the seasonal kind, if you get my drift (har-har).

So my tenacious spring bulbs once again got the brunt...

...and the flooded hayfield took on picturesque proportions

Dogwood seems to love flooded ditches

This is the point where the water drains through the culvert.
Evidence that drains swirl in a counter-clockwise motion in the Northern Hemisphere?

Sandhill cranes have been making pit stops to refuel

The sandhill crane has a distinctive trilling honk.
These ones were very quiet, observing local noise by-laws perhaps.

Lots of activity continues at my temporary waterfront property.

A pair of Canada Geese (and ducks in the background) make themselves at home

Add caption

Ahhh, Spring! Welcome!

Let the drama continue!

Monday 14 April 2014

Look what I found in my garden!

Some highlights from my backyard...

Grape hyacinth lead the way
for other spring bulbs

Now that is tenacious!

Aww...a sure sign of spring and the snow isn't even melted!

Just last week the creeks were moving...not quite to capacity

This is my "waterview" property, temporarily, every spring my hayfield floods.
(This is a deep secret because if the wrong people knew, my property taxes would go up!)