Things that make me smile...

I love my little town.
I might have mentioned that here before, but it's true.

On Friday the kids were home from school, the weather was perfect and we went downtown.

This is the very centre of my town.

This was taken from the footbridge which runs from Templin Gardens - this place:

 to the opposite side of the river near the old Fergus Market (originally the Beatty Brothers Foundry, now the Fergus Marketplace).(You can see the footbridge in the middle right of this picture)

On the other side of the river here is what was waiting for us:

That's part of our mounted unit that patrols our streets and parks.  I didn't get the constable's name but the horse is an old acquaintance of mine.  His name is Bosco.

On a different note - here's something else that made me smile today.  The best warning label ever on a four gallon container that once held kitty litter:

For some reason, this makes me smile...

Crossin' the eyes and dottin' the tease

I have been a busy boy.

First - I'll show a few pictures that make me happy.  I can't take much credit for the end results in these ones.  I have often talked about the little park our local Heritage Committee has been spearheading called BT Corner.  Yesterday the good people at the Fergus Horticultural Society and their Dig in the Dirt Crew help bring the park one step closer to completion.

Here's the front entry to the park shown from behind.

Next, just look at all the planting along the western edge of the plaza.

Note the two new trees.  I think they're crab apple trees, but they might be service berry.  The reason I don't know is simply because I wasn't there yesterday.  I really wanted to be, but I was some place better.  Several weeks before there was any thought of planting at the Corner, I had already committed to accompanying my son on a trip to Doon Heritage Crossroads Museum for the annual water festival.

Here's another couple of pictures that make me happy.  These two pictures were taken within seconds of one another and illustrate the difference between boys and girls.  My wife and I have been very careful about not imposing gender specific activities upon the children, but some things seem firmly planted on both the x and the y chromosomes.

Sugar and Spice

And - Lord of the Flies

Something else that makes me happy is what has been occupying my days.  I have been going through the manuscript of Loremaster.  Page by page - word by word.  

I have been finding repeated works, awkward phrasing, mistakes in continuity, and problems with punctuation.  It is fiddly, exacting detail work and anyone who knows me can tell you that this kind of work drives me nuts.  However, this time I take my editing pen in hand without any reservation - eagerly, in fact.  I want to make sure that Loremaster is the best I can make it with a consistent voice throughout.  I figure about four more days of heavy editing and I'll be there.  

Speaking of which, best get back to it...

Norman Rockwell Moments

Every year our local library has a Book Sale.  Since our lovely Carnegie Library has a finite amount of space, annually they offer up well loved books to the community for a princely sum of $5.00 per bag of books.  Each year the Beynon family, bibliophiles all, walk down early to hunt for treasures.  This year, prior engagements kept us away from the library until late in the afternoon  -about a half hour before the library closed.  I thought all the real treasures would have gone, but I was wrong.

Sitting right out on top was this:

It's a beautiful book with a complete history of Rockwell's life and features spectacular pull-outs like this:

Click on the image for the full effect.

And after we got the book it seemed to me that I was seeing Rockwell Moments everywhere.  As I walked the boy to school yesterday morning - I with his back pack and with the dog on her leash and he carrying a basketball under his arm - I noticed a couple of drivers look and smile at the scene.

In fact, on the Sunday I was able to snap this picture, which I could see as a Rockwell painting:

Last night we went for a walk in the Elora Gorge - a few miles from our house.  Again, Rockwell moments abounded.

Here's one:

And another:

As we were leaving the magnificent natural splendor of the gorge the wee  lad found something decidedly NOT Norman Rockwell.  This has more of a Roswell feel to it, as you can tell from the look on the boy's face:

Again - click on the image for the full effect...