What is your favorite season of year? Why?
When the end of September rolls around, that’s when I start enjoying working… playing… derping outside again. The biting bugs have had their blood-lusts essentially satisfied. The air quality isn’t as oppressive (humidity & smoke from forest fires have abated). We’re also seeing cooler temperatures (<20-25C). I don’t mind the overcast weather. When it’s a blue sky, the oranges, yellows & burgundies from the changing leaves make for fantastic optical effects. Sure, I’m sad that the hummingbirds and migrated south for the winter and the local amphibians and reptiles are scoping out lairs to hibernate. The bull rushes or cattails are turning brown and fluffing off their seeds. It’s also harvest time and we can enjoy apple season.
I’m particularly excited about our next major frost… and that’ll knock out the hornet’s nests dotting our farm. Then, TS and I can start tearing apart punky log piles for shredding and chipping.
BIRDHOUSE KIT BUILD-A-THON, SEPTEMBER 29TH EVENT IN OLIPHANT.
I enjoy events hosted by the Bruce Men’s Shed. Yesterday, I spent the entire day in a small village west of Wiarton… amusingly named Oliphant, Ontario. There were seven eight of us and we were making birdhouse kits for the local youth to assemble. It’s an eclectic mix of my elders and they have diverse backgrounds. It was a quintessential event — a bunch of men on an assembly line doing woodworking, musing/joking/listening to their elbow partners. I’m privileged to be part of it.
Yes, click on the tile for more detailed imagery.
When I try to remember all the shedders who were at the event, I stumble with names. When I sent a thank you email to the organizers, here’s what I learned:
This weekend, 2-3 of us are attending the Bruce Trail festival at the Ferndale Flats’ visitor centre pavilion to help kids assemble 20 or so bird house kits. I can get my retired-teacher exposure to youngsters and celebrate my community (and also be gently reminded why I do NOT do PAID supply teacher work at the local school boards).
Google Maps coordinates: XPG6+R7 Lion’s Head, Northern Bruce Peninsula, ON
Google Maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/G7tkwgxfGneZRBYS9
Open Street Maps link: https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=44.976910&mlon=-81.289851#map=19/44.976910/-81.289851