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.

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Barry Wallace

  

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.

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Barry Wallace

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.
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Barry Wallace

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.

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Barry Wallace

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.

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Barry Wallace

Between Langdon Drive and Robert Berry Crescent in King City

                                                                                                          Photo by Barry Wallace

Where's the lake?

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Barry Wallace

17th Avenue ~ west side of the 400

Photo by Barry Wallace

Inside every stonecutter is an artist.

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Barry Wallace

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.

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Barry Wallace

Kettleby Road ~ between Jane and Keele Sts.

Photo by Barry Wallace

Winter is still a month away!

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Barry Wallace

In the middle of Schomberg village...

Photo by Barry Wallace

Two of the Dufferin Marsh's muskrat dens

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Barry Wallace

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.

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if you wish.

Barry Wallace

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

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Barry Wallace

Hwy. 9 and King 6th Concession

Photo by Barry Wallace

Highway 400 Sand and Salt Storage

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Barry Wallace

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

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Barry Wallace

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

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.

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Barry Wallace

King 16th Sideroad ~ between Keele & Jane

Photo: Barry Wallace

The apple never falls far from the minature trees

at Pine Farms Orchard.

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Barry Wallace

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

Colour of oak leaves in the fall?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I 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.

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Barry Wallace

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.

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Barry Wallace

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

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Barry Wallace

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.

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Barry Wallace

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.

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Barry Wallace

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