Stooked Pampas Grass

Barry Wallace Photo

Black Forest Garden Centre  ~  Keele Street

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Barry Wallace

Kettleby critters

Photos by Barry Wallace

These two friendly creatures are to be found at Kettleby, on a farm at the south-west corner of Keele Steet and Main Street.   I can't remember ever having seen a piebald burro before, although I'm sure they are not that unusual.   Meanwhile, the llama went out of its way to meet me at the fence and have its picture taken.   It made no attempt to bite me as I scratched its ears and patted is nose.
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Barry Wallace   

LOCALE Restaurant & Bar opens

Photos by Barry Wallace

The much anticipated LOCALE Restaurant & Bar opened, to a full house, last Tuesday evening, in King City.   Situated in the former Crawford Wells General Store, at the four corners of Keele Street and King Road, the grand opening was very successful.   Read the review that follows, below, from one very satisfied diner who obviously enjoyed herself.   The opening has been keenly anticipated by many King Township and York Region residents, especially those who have already sampled the food and cooking from the take-out section, which opened earlier this year in the summer.   Take-out service resumes in January.     

LOCALE Restaurant & Bar joins the Paper Crane sushi restaurant next door and Hogan's Inn across the street, in a three-way dining experience that I  have decided to call the King City Triangle.   Overnight, the centre of King City has become a hot dining destination for all of York Region.   My wife and I are eagerly anticipating our first visit to LOCALE and it will be very interesting to hear the reviews of local customers.   Menus are published on-line for the curious.   Following is a review by a reader of this blog who dined at LOCALE on opening night:   "Locale is now OPEN!   My family dined there on opening night which was Tuesday...it was fabulous!   The place looks amazing and the food and desserts were outstanding!   My family had the lamb shank on polenta, spinach pappardelle with wild boar ragu, lobster rice balls,  and the best wild mushroom salad that I've ever had!   We had Locale's chocolate cake for dessert along with their fried dough with chocolate expresso dipping sauce.   Need I say more?   We are so happy they are open...owners are lovely and King City residents.   The place was completely full and they managed to get our dinner out in great timing!   Such a nice tribute that they placed the  name CRAWFORD WELLS GENERAL STORE est. 1863 in the window frosting...I didn't even notice it on the way in but my husband pointed it out on the way out!   Very nice touch and much appreciated for those of us that loved it!   Sandy and family"   Locale is open for dinner seven nights a week.   Lunch service , which begins Tuesday, December 18th, is open from Tuesday to Friday.

Photo from Elizabeth Gillham's Early Settlements of King Township

LOCALE Restaurant & Bar is located  in the 150-year-old building that was  built about 1863 by Benjamin Lloyd and operated as a general store.   The building was eventually taken over by Crawford Wells in the early-to-mid-1900s and continues to be known to this day, by many, as Crawford Wells - General Merchant.   The old Crawford Wells sign is now gone of course and LOCALE is set to make a name for itself.

Here's how the landmark Crawford Wells store looked earlier this year before its reincarnation into LOCALE Restaurant.

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Barry Wallace

The other Humber River

Photos by Barry Wallace

Algonquin Park ~ Temagami ~ King Township?

I'm always impressed with those parts of King Township that don't look anything like the pastoral horse farms and corn fields to which we are accustomed.   Here and there around the township are vistas that remind me of Northern Ontario scenes.   The view above is one of those scenes.   It shows the Humber River, the main Humber River, flowing through Toronto Region Conservation Authority lands in the very south-west corner of the township, on the eastern edge of Bolton.   It is well-known to the residents of Bolton, being in their backyard.   Few people in King Township know it as well as their neighbours on the other side of the Caledon/King Townline South.   The residents of King are well aware of the East Humber River that cuts across the southern portion of the township and which runs through the communities of Temperanceville, Eversley, King City, Kinghorn, Laskay and King Creek.

The Humber River courses under this bridge and passes from the manicured green lawns of Bolton into the marshes and forests of the Humber River valley in King Township.   An excellent walking trail is maintained here, north and south of Bolton, by the Humber Valley Heritage Trail Association (Caledon and Kleinberg chapters).   Google the HVHTA website to find the access points for the trail.     

Beaver, deer, coyotes are to be found in this river valley along with many wild bird species.   There is a feeling of remoteness here that is found only in a few other parts of King Township.   The sense of remoteness is felt most by the silence of this place along the walking trail, and the massive size of many of trees on the slopes of the river valley.   

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Barry Wallace

Puck's Farm critters

I was driving slowly down the 11th Concession yesterday and passed Puck's Farm.   I noticed several of the animals in the pasture to the north of the barns.   There were horses, cows, a donkey and geese.   Thinking there might be a chance for a photo, I backed up, got out of the Jeep  and walked to the fence with my camera.   As I stood there contemplating the bucolic, but chilly scene, the animals all started to head my way.   After a couple minutes, there was a horde of critters up against the fence, eyeing me expectantly.   I introduced myself and scratched as many heads as I could.   These friendly creatures are, of course, quite used to people wandering all over the Puck's Farm grounds.   They certainly seemed to be making me feel welcome...and it felt really good.   

Photos by Barry Wallace

12 - 12 - 12

Photo by Barry Wallace

The 12th day

     The 12th month

 The 12th year

          in the 21st century

                       ~ ~ and the sun is shining

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Barry Wallace

Library survey - 35 days left to participate

You have until January 14, 2013, to participate in the King Township Public Library's community survey, which will play important part in the development of a new strategic plan for  the four library branches in King City, Nobleton, Schomberg and Ansnorveldt.   The survey is easy to do online and takes less than 10 minutes...plus you remain anonymous, so you can tell it like it is.   If you have any interest in the future of King's libraries, this is your chance to provide some important information.   I'm sure, Rona O'Banion, the still-relatively-new CEO of our library system, would be extremely grateful for your participation.

King City Library

Nobleton Library

Schomberg Library

Ansnorveldt Library

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Barry Wallace