Friday, November 30, 2018

Parking at new King township offices...

 Photos by Barry Wallace


Parking at the new King Township municipal centre is already a problem.   The photos above were taken on Wednesday afternoon of this week a 2 pm. and all 107 parking spots seemed completely full.   The inaugural council meeting on Monday evening, Dec. 3rd, will be facilitated by return shuttle bus rides for attendees to three different parking areas in the village of King City.   One also needs to very cautious at certain times of the day and night when accessing and exiting the entrance on the King Sideroad.  A 'rear-ender' accident has already occured, just a week or so after the public opening of the site.
Please comment if you like.
Barry Wallace
  

Thursday, November 29, 2018

King Townships trees...a treasure


Photos by Barry Wallace
Chris Fasciano (right), Director of Parks, Recreation & Culture for King Township addressed the annual general meeting of the Concerned Citizens of King Township last Tuesday evening in the new council chambers and updated the large crowd on King Township's new Trees Management Plan and the approach for the preservation and replacement of trees.   The initiative is a broad, unprecedented move forward for the township and could be a prelude to a long-awaited tree bylaw for the township.   I think it's fair to say that King is the greenest municipality in York Region but could be even more so, and now it should happen.







Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

New wine bar opens in Schomberg ...

Photos by Barry Wallace
LOT 15 WINE  BAR & EATERY 
A historic building in the heart of Schomberg, at 214  Main Street, opened this past Saturday as LOT 15 WINE BAR & EATERY.     The business is operated by Allison Mumford, who currently runs The Roost Cafe, on Keele Street South in King City.  The Roost has been very successful since opening two years ago, and Allison (see photo below) has high hopes for her second new enterprise in King Township. 

Whereas Ms Mumford operates the Roost Cafe on her own in King City, she has opened LOT 15 WINE BAR & EATERY with a partner, Mark Ross, in Schomberg.   I had lunch at LOT 15 on Monday and the food, wine and service was topnotch.   In addition to the sauvignon blanc I had with my avacado sandwich, I was especially surprised by a sip of smooth and tasty chardonnay, that was bottled locally, just a few kilometres west of Schomberg. The chardonnay was almost as light-bodied as the sauvignon blanc.   Best wishes to Allison and Mark.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Christmas tree competition at KH&CC


Photo by Barry Wallace
Visit  the King Heritage and Cultutal Centre gallery in Kinghorn between now and December 15, to see the 2018 Trees of Giving competition 10 King community organizations have created beautiful and themed Christmas trees for public viewing and voting for the best tree.   Visitors can donate a loonie, or more, for each tree they think is the best.   All proceeds will go toward King For Refugees The photo above shows the festive display beautifully created by the members of Kingcrafts Studio in King City.

Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Monday, November 26, 2018

King 10th Concession - near Schomberg

Photo by Barry Wallace
I spotted this King farm laneway, near Schomberg, on Wednesday of last week  and while cropping and tweaking the image, I thought maybe I had gone too far with the embellishments.   I was going to back off, but thought the scene had a bit of a Group of Seven feeling about it.   Hope you enjoy.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Between Langdon Drive and Robert Berry Crescent in King City


                                                                                                          Photo by Barry Wallace
Where's the lake?
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Saturday, November 24, 2018

17th Avenue ~ west side of the 400

Photo by Barry Wallace

Inside every stonecutter is an artist.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace



Friday, November 23, 2018

Inaugural meeting of new King council...

Photos by Barry Wallace 

Mon., Dec. 3rd is the inaugural meeting of the Township of King's newly elected council, in the new municipal offices on the King Road, at the west end of King City.  A large crowd is expected and the township has  arranged for a shuttle bus to pick up anyone interested in attending, at any one of three designated parking areas in the village of King City.  The three locations are the King City Arena, the old municipal offices, and the 'Green P' parking lot at the Keele and King Rds. intersection.   The shuttle bus will return residents to the village parking places after the meeting.   Further details are available in the Weekly Sentinel newspaper.   I took the photo below of the council chambers from the second floor gallery where additional seating is available for visitors.   A huge crowd is expected for the historically significant meeting.


Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Kettleby Road ~ between Jane and Keele Sts.

Photo by Barry Wallace
Winter is still a month away!
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

In the middle of Schomberg village...

Photo by Barry Wallace
Two of the Dufferin Marsh's muskrat dens
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Church St. between Schomberg and Lloydtown

    Photos by Barry Wallace


Hundreds of Canada Geese are to be seen on the pond, on the south side of Church Street, between Schomberg and Lloydtown, adjacent to St. Patrick's Cemetery.



Please comment
if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Monday, November 19, 2018

Snowy stroll at Pine Farms Apple Orchard...


Photos by Barry Wallace


Mighty oak 'midst minature apples






One
of the
 duck
gang






Trinkets,
treasues
and treats









Orchard owner's personalized license plate


Slumbering miniature apple trees
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Hwy. 9 and King 6th Concession


Photo by Barry Wallace
Highway 400 Sand and Salt Storage
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Tamarack trees ~ a.k.a. Larch


Photos by Barry Wallace

KINGSBRIDGE CENTRE
Jane Street and King Road
Larch trees, or Tamarack trees (Larix laracina) are native to Canada and are found coast to coast to coast, as well as in the north-eastern United States.   They are part of of the pine family and one of the only conifers to drop their needles in the fall.   But before they drop their needles, the needles turn a bright yellow, suddenly contrasting dramatically with other green conifers and deciduous trees that have shed their autumn leaves.


KETTLEBY
Kettleby Road

Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Friday, November 16, 2018

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)


                                                                                                    Photo by BarrytheBirder
Named by Charles Bonaparte...
Charles Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, named this handsome hawk after William C. Cooper, a noted New York naturalist.   The one pictured above is a regular visitor to our King City backyard.   When it swoops in, all hell breaks loose, as every other bird in the yard frantically seeks shelter wherever they can find it.   The Cooper's is not always successful, but as evidenced by its beautiful appearance and size, above, it seems quite well fed.   And whenever the Cooper's Hawks are not around, there are smaller Sharp-shinned Hawks to take their place.
Please comment if you wish. 
Barry Wallace

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Fungi persist and alter...

Photo by Barry Wallace
Here's an interesting scene on the Oak Ridges Trail in King.  A tree that once stood upright and had  dark hoof fungi growing on it, died and fell to earth where it lay on its side for an undetermined length of time.   Given the passage of time, new lighter-coloured hoof fungi grew on the decaying trunk.  But the newer fungi were at right angles to the older ones.  The change in the tree trunk's position, from vertical to horizontal, made the difference.   Ahhh... the variability and adaptability of nature.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

King 16th Sideroad ~ between Keele & Jane

Photo: Barry Wallace
The apple never falls far from the minature trees
at Pine Farms Orchard.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Juncos... sent to keep an eye on winter

 Photos and haiku by Barry Wallace
Male Dark-eyed Junco
(Junco hyemalis)


Female Dark-eyed Junco
now summer is gone
warblers give way to juncos
bags of seed await

These photos and the haiku first appeared in this space in October of 2010
(two of my favourite bird pictures)

Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace


Monday, November 12, 2018

Colour of oak leaves in the fall?

Photo by BarrytheBirder
took the photo above of an oak tree on Warren Road in King City this past weekend.   I thought the leaves of Red and White Oak trees turned red, purple or brown in the fall, so the colour of the leaves pictured above puzzled me a bit.   The leaves are attractive but why are they yellow?   The internet says herbicides, iron deficiency, parasite attacks and Oak Wilt Disease could be causes.  As pretty as yellow oak leaves may look, it's usually bad news eventually.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Remembering Remembrance Day ~ 6 years ago

Photo by Barry Wallace
The photograph above, of former King Township mayor Margaret Britnell, was taken in Kettleby on Remembrance Day, 2012.   I am particularly fond of this photo that I took of the dutiful Margaret, laying a wreath at the village's cenotaph  and thought I would publish it again this year, on the 100th anniversary of the commemoration of the end of World War 1.   Margaret passed away on October 12, 2014.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Saturday, November 10, 2018

The Grackle Coffee House



A latter-day 
landmark
in Schomberg

   ...in a class of its own

Photos above and below by Barry Wallace
Main Street Schomberg







  and what of the Common Grackle...

COMMON GRACKLE
(Quiscalus quiscula)
The Common Grackle is so well suited to urban and suburban habitats that it successfully excludes other species from them.


Photo above: Floyd M. Rogers / Wikimedia Commons
   Pictured above is a rare leucistic (piebald) Common Grackle.

A Grackle Limerick
From his perch up above came a cackle
The author, a pestilent grackle
No doubt celebrating
His job decorating
My car just below with his spackle.
                                                         ~ Doug Taylor

Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Friday, November 9, 2018

More Italian luxury sports cars...

 Photos by Barry Wallace

Here's another Italian luxury sports car parked in front of Hogan's Inn in King City.  This one is a Lamborghini.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Postal pickets in King City...


                                                                                                   Photo by Barry Wallace
Pictured above is one of a half dozen postal workers on a picket line on Doctors Lane in King City, on Tuesday of this week.   Their strike action is part of rotating postal labour protests right across the country.
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace





Wednesday, November 7, 2018

New King Township offices open for business


The new King Township
municipal office building was opened for business this past Tuesday.   Township staff and workmen worked side by side as the finishing touches were made to the facility and township staffers got used to where everything was, while helping visitors find the departments they wanted.

The new building's foyer has a tall and massive north-facing bank of windows (seen at right)  which gives a brilliant,  expansive wash of natural light to the building's entrance hall. 


The new community gymnasium (pictured above) was put to good use on the first day for a public meeting.   Meanwhile, several workmen (seen below) were very busy with last minute moving and assembly of the council chambers facilities before the first council meeting.  

Photos by Barry Wallace
Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace