Sunset at Ipperwash Beach on Lake Huron

 Photos by Barry Wallace

Linda and I just returned from four days of swimming, lying on the beach, and each of us reading exciting novels.   We stayed at the Ipperwash Beach Motel, near the beach, and enjoyed the small but charming accommodation.   It was a nice change of scenery but it was great to get back to our kitty in King.

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Barry Wallace

The delicateness of daylily stamens

                                                                                                                Photos by Barry Wallace

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Barry Wallace

King City Farmers Market at All Saints

 Photos by Barry Wallace

The farmers market at All Saints Anglican Church, on Keele Street in King City, drew customers who enjoyed slightly cooler weather this past weekend.   Vendors, in particular, were spared the recent blistering temperatures as they served up their wares to a steady parade of shoppers.

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Barry Wallace

Snowballs in July

Photos by Barry Wallace

Snowball Bush / Hydrangea

King Road & Patton Street ~ King City

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Barry Wallace

Bodacious Bentley

 Photos by Barry Wallace

It seems to me, that lately, I haven't noticed as many really expensive cars parked in front of Hogan's Inn or Locale Restaurant, in King City.   On Saturday however I spotted this Bentley convertible (2015 or 2016?) and I had to re-think my assumption.   This car probably goes for about $275,000 Canadian.   No doubt there are Brits who would declaim against my use of the American slang 'bodacious', a combination of bold and audacious, but I always liked the word and I think it fits this beauty.   Actually, it's Volkswagen that now owns Bentley, although the cars are still made in England.   According to Wikipedia, China is now the largest market for this luxury automobile.

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Barry Wallace

Woodpecker takes over oriole feeder

 Photos by Barry Wallace

There haven't been as many Baltimore Orioles at our oriole feeder this year, as in the past few years.   We normally see them early in the season, but then they disappear while raising their young and then return with the offspring in the middle of the summer.   So far we've only seen one or two a day.   But this juvenile Downy Woodpecker has taken over the main oriole feeder and has shown up for nectar, several times a day for a couple of weeks now.   As long as it shares, it is quite welcome to join with our orioles.

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Barry Wallace

Butterflies at hummingbird feeder

 Photos by Barry Wallace

Both the Red Admiral butterfy (above) and the Mourning Cloak butterfly (above right) are common in this part of the country, but seeing them side-by-side sipping nectar from one of our hummingbird feeders is a good enough reason for me to take a photo of them.   They both have their wings folded up and their proboscises inserted in the feeding ports from which they are drawing nectar.   In the photos below, both butterflies are seen from above displaying their more recognizable and colourful markings.   The Red Admiral is the upper one and the Mourning Cloak ios the lower one.   While we haven't had as many hummingbirds this summer as usual, there are lots of butterflies out and about.

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Barry Wallace

The squirrel with the raccoon tail

Photos by Barry Wallace

Linda and I have had many squirrels at the backyard birdfeeders this summer, but since we changed to a new 'squirrel-proof' feeder, they have mostly disappeared into neighbouring yards.   The exception is the grey squirrel with the extravagant black, white and grey ringed tail pictured here.   The new birdfeeder does drop a few seeds to the ground, and this critter with the distinctive tail is there to gather them up.

The new feeder is working so well, especially for the small birds, that we have decided to get a second one.   We'll probably buy a bigger model also, of the same kind, for the larger birds.   The feeders are not cheap, but neither is wasted bird seed (courtesy of the squirrels), which we are always raking up and throwing out with the yard waste.

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Barry Wallace

Humber Trails once more...

                                                                                                                                                           Photos by Barry Wallace                                            

 Early morning dew on spider web

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BARRY WALLACE

Also known as Larkspur...

Photo by Barry Wallace

White Delphiniums at Black Forest

The delphinium is a ranunculaceous garden plant of the genus Delphinium, with tall spikes of usually blue flowers.   The driveway into Black Forest Garden Centre, on Keele Street, between Kettleby and King City, has several, beautiful white delphiniums, as seen above.   What a show!
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Barry Wallace

Keele Street ~ south of Hwy. 9

Photo by Barry Wallace

Siesta on the King Ridge

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Barry Wallace

I guess this makes it official...

Photo by Barry Wallace

The huge new Coppa's food store in the King's Ridge Marketplace, in King City, has finally put its name on the front of the store.   Several recent job fairs to hire new employees have taken place and paving of the parking lots has been completed. An opening date has yet to be announced but shopper anticipation is running rampant.

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Barry Wallace

The Raven & Rooster

I can't recall the last time I saw, or even remember seeing, a raven in and about King City.   But I saw this one last week in Vaughan, on Dufferin Street.   Actually there were two of them.   Like typical ravens, they had, big bodies, huge beaks, very shaggy throats and grey-based neck feathers.   Ravens are northern birds and rarely seen in southern Ontario.   They have been moving south though for the last several years, perhaps because of global weather warming.   They are extremely intelligent and agile flyers: diving and rolling in flight by tucking in one wing, also flying upside down briefly.

After wandering around and discovering ravens nearby in Vaughan, I returned to the Roost, King City's new coffee house on the west side of Keele Street, just south of the King Road.   I ordered a bowl of cold and delicious sherbert and reviewed my shots of the two ravens I had seen.   It was then that I noticed the new paintings for sale, adorning the cafe walls. The artist is Karola Steinbrecher who paints at the nearby Kingcrafts Studio, a few doors south on Keele.   I was very impressed with the colourful, larger-scale painting of the rooster, at right: charming and quite appropriate for 'The Roost'.    

Photos by Barry Wallace

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Barry Wallace

18th Sideroad ~ east of Hwy. 27

 Photos by Barry Wallace

Look at those ears!

I'm not sure, but two of these critters look like crosses between donkeys and horses to me.   All three were quite a bit bigger than donkeys and the top two had long ears.   And their colours seemed a little unusual also.   The top two don't look like mules (male donkey/female horse cross) to me, so maybe they are hinnies (male horse/female donkey cross).   I've read that neither of them are common, especially the hinny, but I'm no equine expert.   I'm pretty sure, however that the bottom photo is a photo of a donkey.   Anyway, they looked charming to me and I had to takes their pictures.

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Barry Wallace

Middle of July already

 Photos by Barry Wallace

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Barry Wallace

Perennial purple pulchritude

                                                                                                                   Photo by Barry Wallace

CLEMATIS

Such a showy climber ~ year after year

Clematis is a member of the Ranunculaceae family of flowering plants, which also includes buttercups and delphiniums.   It's a climbing plant normally bearing white, pink or purple colours.

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Barry Wallace

Raspberry Social at Laskay Hall

'Laskay Lady' Pam Herron photo by Barry Wallace

'Always a charming get-together'
Weston Road

South of King Road

TUESDAY, JULY 19

6.30 TO 8 P.M.

~

This is one of  Linda's and my favourite events on the King social calendar.   Who doesn't like raspberries?   And if you don't eat all yours - I'll finish 'em up.

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Barry Wallace                           

Brownsville Junction ~ Schomberg

 Photos by Barry Wallace

I've passed this scene on Highway 27, at Schomberg, a hundred times or more and never seen anybody sitting on this horse, until this past Saturday, after dinner at the Schomberg Pub & Patio.   The young lad seemed quite pleased with himself, while the young gal was slightly less impressed.   I had an urge but my horse-riding days are long gone.

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Barry Wallace