King City newest site for Canada's oldest bank

Photo by Barry Wallace

Bank of Montreal opens on Monday, October 27

BMO will open its new King City branch in the King's Ridge Marketplace on Monday, October 27, at the village's east end.   It is located right beside the recently opened Scotiabank.   In November the BMO marks its 197th year of operation in Canada.

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Barry Wallace

Walking the dog? Not quite

 Photo by Barry Wallace

I've been watching this gentleman ride by my house for a couple of weeks with an adorable white dog in the rear carrier basket.   He passed by again today, but was gone before I had a chance to flag him down.   This time I grabbed my camera, jumped into my Jeep and tried to guess where he was headed.   There was a second bike-rider this time accompanying my unknown dog walker.....make that dog-chauffeur.   They were quickly out of sight but I made a lucky guess at where they might have headed.   I quickly caught up to them and introduced myself.   The gentleman introduced himself as Grant Peter and his son Todd.   I was amazed.   I knew this fellow, but hadn't recognized him.   I had known his older brother Brian for most of my 60 years in King City.   He told me the dog belonged to his son Todd.   We did a bit of reminiscing and I completely forgot to ask Todd for his dog's name.   I phoned Grant later and he told me the dog's name was Lilo.   When the time came to put this blog entry together, I enlarged the digital image and realized Lilo had turned away at the exact moment I took the picture.   I will be on the lookout for Grant and Lilo on another day and will make sure I get a good photo of Lilo for a subsequent blog entry.

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Barry Wallace

Red Maple ~ red barns

Photo by Barry Wallace

Dufferin Street ~ near Seneca College

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Barry Wallace

Summer returns...

Photo by Barry Wallace

Keele Street ~ south of the 17th 

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Barry Wallace

Sun rises on new Tim Hortons in King City

Photo by Barry Wallace

King's Ridge Marketplace location nears completion

The new Tim Hortons location in the King's Ridge Marketplace, at the village's east end, is near to completion.   The expected opening is sometime in mid-October.   I can almost smell the coffee as I write these remarks.   For me, it's only 1,300 metres from my house.   Heck, I'll be able to walk there and back from home...no more driving to Maple or Richmond Hill or Aurora or Nobleton.

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Barry Wallace

Highest place in King Township is for sale

Photos by Barry Wallace

A 50-acre parcel of land at the north-east corner of Dufferin Street and the 18th Sideroad, two kilometres north of the hamlet of Snowball, is up for sale and if it is sold the buyer will become the owner of the highest piece of land in King Township, at 1,175 feet or 358 metres.   There is a communication tower already occupying a spot on the 50 acres and if one were to add the height of the tower (approximately 250 ft.) to the land elevation,  the total height is almost 1,400 feet or 427 metres.   There are spots immediately to the north and south of this high spot where the elevations are 1,150 feet (351 metres).   Broadly speaking, the two spots could be described as the second highest spots in King Township.

  

However, there are two other high spots in King Township: both of them also at the height of 1,150 ft. (351 metres).   They are pictured below.   Immediately below is the King City Lodge Nursing Home, located at the end of Fog Road, a short distance west of Keele Street, between the 16th and 17 Sideroads.   The nursing home property backs onto King's Centennial Park, well-known to mountain bikers and hikers who like to indulge their interests atop this section of the 'King Ridge', a.k.a. The Oak Ridges Moraine.
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 King City Lodge Nursing Home

A few kilometres further west is another spot on the 'King Ridge' where the elevation is also 1,150 ft.   It is on King's 6th Concession  (Weston Road) as it climbs over the ridge (the Moraine), north of the 16th Sideroad.   The property on the left side of Weston Road, near the top is Dragonfly Hill (see photo below). Just north of the Dragonfly Hill property is an adjoining property which also shares land at the same 1,150 ft. height.   As it happens, this property is also for sale.   It would appear there is no shortage of spots where one can reach for the top in King.   

As a point of clarification, the heights and locations of the properties mentioned above come from two topographical maps that I received as a gift from the indomitable, former King City baker, wrestler and Olympic ice-boater, Bob McLeod.   The first map shows the northern part of the township (Holland Marsh). The original map survey was done in 1926. It was then drawn and printed by the Army Survey Est. R.C.E.1928.   It was partially revised (aerial photography) in 1948-49.   A second edition was published in 1949 by the Department of National Defence - Army Survey Establishment.   It was a later version of one of those 65-year-old maps that Bob McLeod passed on to me back in the 1960s. The other map I received from Bob shows the lower portion of King Township. This map's survey was done in 1909 and was published by the Geographical Section, General Staff, Department of National Defence in 1914. It was reprinted in 1940 and it was one these later-version maps that King City's 'barefoot baker' also gave to me. It seems that my source material is somewhat dated and I suppose I should compare my old maps with the newest maps available, but until then, "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof".

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Barry Wallace

Flaming fall colour of Virginia Creeper

Photo by Barry Wallace

Kell Farm ~ Keele Street North ~ King City

Virginia Creeper festoons a fence-line on the Kell Farm, north of the 16th Sideroad.   Surprisingly, Virginia Creeper can grow to heights of 70 feet.   My copy of Tree & Shrub Gardening for Ontario (by Alison Beck & Kathy Renwald) states that Virginia Creepers "...do not require support because they have clinging rootlets that can adhere to just about any surface...".   They go on to point out that the fruits of Virginia Creeper are poisonous, so don't let children handle them.

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Barry Wallace

Today's colour is green

  "Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs

  About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green..."

Dylan Thomas - Fern Hill, st. 1 (1946)

    Photos by Barry Wallace

11 Concession ~ north of the 17th Sideroad

Nobleton Farm Service 

Collecting Sunflower seeds on the Canal Bank Road South



Grape vines ~ Holland Marsh Wineries

Black Forest Gardens ~ Keele Street

Kettleby corn

Carrots near Andsnorvelt

Locale Restaurant patio in King City

Peaceful green grazing

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Barry Wallace

Listening to the wisdom of Dave Philips

Linda Wallace and Dave Phillips photo by Barry Wallace

My wife Linda and I had the pleasure, along with 75 other supporters of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, of meeting and listening to Dave Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada, on board the Serendipity Princess, on Lake Simcoe's Kempenfelt Bay at Barrie, on Thursday evening, September 18th.   Dave's combined address and photo presentation was entitled "Science Behind the Weather".   The occasion was the first of a new series of NCC events entitled Nature Talks.   Dave covered the subject at hand in a broad but comprehensive manner and it was no surprise that global warming and climate change figured prominently in his formal presentation and in the speaker/audience exchange that followed.   He made a number of references to the Nature Conservancy's stewardship of the Happy Valley Forest in King Township.  I had never met Dave Phillips before but was quite familiar with his style through hundreds of sound bites I had heard of him over the years.   On Thursday evening however, I was captivated to hear the man speak at length with great clarity, intelligence, passion and even humour about matters that are reshaping our world, our country, our neighbourhoods and our backyards.   I have new respect for this man and I am grateful for his enhancing my understanding of both the threats to our physical world and the best-scenario solutions.   He ended his message by saying we cannot go back, that the world has changed irrevocably, but there is hope and opportunity to intelligently and compassionately adjust and modify our behaviour on planet Earth.

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Barry Wallace      

A blush here, a flush there...fall's palette unfolds

Photos by Barry Wallace

Photos of maples on Kingcross Drive ~ King City

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Barry Wallace

I've bought a new ORTA guidebook

Photo by Barry Wallace

I have replaced my old Oak Ridges Trail Association Guidebook (3rd edition - 2002) with a brand new 6th edition (2012).   After 10 years there are many changes and additions to the trail...far too many for me to keep up with, without an excellent product such as this.   The book is described in detail on the ORTA website and there is information about ordering one from the association.   The price for non-members is $37 (including GST, shipping and handling). Also on the website is a list of 31 retail places where the guidebook can be purchased.   I paid $39.95 + tax for my copy at one of the listed locations.   This book is so informative and easy to use.   No one who loves to tramp about the moraine should be without one.   Happy hiking.

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Barry Wallace  

My discomfort of another winter

Photo by Barry Wallace ~ 2004

Summer ends in four days

I want it to creep into fall for a week

And then another week

And then another week

I hope that autumn's colours

Penetrate far into December

Then I will hear a knock at the door 

I will open it and ask may I help you

The wind will sigh and say snow is nigh

I will shut the door and go to bed 

For a hundred days

I will begin to exist again on April Fools Day

Look up to the sky and say to the sun

Welcome back warm friend
                                                     BW

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Barry Wallace

Costello welcomes sons to Pine Farms Orchard

Photos by Barry Wallace

This blog entry is yet another rare occasion (twice in one week!) when I am able to present an entry from my other blogsite: 'Barry the Birder'.   The subject matter hopefully appeals to both camps: birdwatchers and neighbours.   Pictured above are Elvis (front) and Costello (behind), longtime buddies at King Township's Pine Farm Orchards and ambassadors-at-large to thousands of apple-pickers over several years.   Sadly, many months ago, Elvis wandered off and never returned.   It was felt he became embroiled in a misadventure with a fox or coyote.   Costello missed Elvis greatly over the past winter.   He was given a mirror, at one point, to make him think there was company nearby.   Later in the year, Costello was taken away to mate with a lady friend (which apparently took all of 30 seconds) and was rewarded with two fine sons that were destined to join their father at Pine Farms when they were big enough to hold their own against the old man.   The day has come.   The sons arrived on September 13 and were welcomed by their father, whose tail wagged a mile-a-minute, they said.   Today, everything seemed just ducky.

Costello spent time grooming himself prior to his sons' arrival and got his top-knot just right.

On arrival, Costello's sons took to the pool like 'ducks to water', while papa looked on.

It looks like Costello has welcomed his offspring with open arms.

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Barry Wallace

Small feeder - large appetites

Photo by Barry Wallace

This photo is one I took a few days ago and published in my other blog called 'Barry the Birder'.   It was taken in my backyard and I thought I would share it with the folks who read my 'Camera on King' blog, many of whom are also birdwatchers.   Now that the juvenile goldfinches have joined their parents at our backyard Niger Seed feeders, things are getting a little crowded and a bit frantic.   There were approximately 50 'goldies' at any given time today.   Amid the mayhem however, there were some parent birds that were still feeding seeds to begging youngsters...either their own or those of other parent birds.  

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Barry Wallace (a.k.a. BtheB)

Curiosity turning to expectations...

Photo by Barry Wallace

Stonemasons transform intersection

These two gentlemen, employees of Vaughan Paving, are seen mortaring cut-stone into place, at the intersection improvements next to Hogan's Inn, on Keele Street, at the main intersection in King City.   Expectations among villagers are mounting as they try to picture just how attractive the finished product will be.   Meanwhile across King Road on the north-west corner, King City residents can't help but notice the very large concrete pillars that are rising up to support a large sun-shade installation. That corner will feature gardens and benches, with protection from the sun in this village hot spot.

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Barry Wallace

Discovering Schomberg's Roselena Dr. footpath

Photos by Barry Wallace

This view of the trail is on the south side of Roselena Drive, at Schomberg's southern end and follows the Holland River eastward toward the Kitchen-Breedon Manor and library grounds.

There are a variety of mature tree species along the trail, with many, like the willows (above left) and the Yellow Birch (above right) having reached the maximum height (70-75 ft.) for the species in this part of southern Ontario.

Above and below ~ trail flora and fauna

A prelude to autumn colours

The small trail-side pool (above) on today's Holland River is a much reduced version of the broad and long millpond that powered Schomberg's (Brownsville) first mill, built and operated by Thomas Brown in 1836.   His mill stood the test of time for over 125 years. 

The highest point on the trail is on a hillside, on the north side of Roselena Drive.   The view from here in all directions includes some rooftops but is essentially a statement of southern Schomberg's abundant verdancy.   In the photo below, a wooden bridge crosses the Holland River and connects the trail with the grounds of the Kitchen-Breedon Manor.   The main trail continues westward behind the houses on the north side of Roselena Drive.  

The trail reaches the western end of Roselena Drive (on the north side) at Fox Trail Park. Across the road on the south side of the street is the spot where I began my circular journey in this lovely part of Schomberg.

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Barry Wallace

Schomberg's art bounty

Oil by Gaia Orion

Schomberg's 6th annual Street Gallery of fine art and unique crafts drew hundreds of spectators and purchasers on Sunday, May 14.   The weather was cool and cloudy for the most part, but at least there was no rain and good spirits prevailed.

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Above, examples of the unique acrylic style of Dawn Langstroth ~ daughter of Anne Murray

The rickshaw driver was kept very busy

A sidewalk luncheon suited this young art patron quite nicely.

                   Bob Gwalchmai wood carving                 Main Street troubadour

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Barry Wallace