My View of the Harbour in Oakville

With Elizabeth Taylor's evocative novel A View of the Harbour still fresh in my mind, R and I went for a drive to Oakville.  The temperatures have been way above seasonal which makes my heart sing for those of us who haven't flocked to Florida for March break.  For those interested in a snippet of history, this harbour played a part in the Underground Railroad.  During the 1800s, several captains hid slaves from the United States on their ships so they could escape to safe houses dotted throughout the region.

Deacon came along so naturally Just An Olde Fashioned Butchery was our first stop for sausage on a bun.  They are the absolute BEST!  The minute we parked the car on a sidestreet his nose picked up the scent wafting from the barbeque set up out front and we let him lead the way.  After a stroll up one side of the main street and down the other we grabbed something sweet and found a bench on the grounds of the Erchless Estate which houses the Oakville Museum.  And if you're a Canadian kid you play on the moose statue while cast-iron wolves stalk nearby.

The Black Forest Bakery always has a line-up on the weekend and it's a rare thing for us not to join the queue.  My jeans wore a dusting of icing sugar by the time my Empire cookies were all gone but what did I care?  The sun was warm and shining on our back, we had a content dog by our side and even though the calendar still says Winter, it couldn't have been more like the perfect Spring day.  Who needs Florida?

Snippets of England in Oakville

The Heiress and I took ourselves off to Downtown Oakville this afternoon to window shop.  First we browsed the main street shops, then we ooohed and ahhhed the historic homes.

Quite a few are sporting Union Jack flags.  As I was tucking my camera back into my purse I said to The Heiress "Snippets of England", just then the lady strolling by on the sidewalk let herself into this doorway with a smile...oops.

Wouldn't it be lovely to walk through these gates every day, fling open the door and say "I'm home!"? Well, only if I had some help washing doggy prints off of the miles of floor space.

This charming courtyard belongs to a church.  It's deceivingly tranquil...just to the right there was an event taking place with clowns, kids and balloons all over the place.  One little imp almost clipped me with her Frisbee minutes earlier!

And of course we brought Deacon along for the ride.  A dip in the lake and sharing a sausage in a bun from the butcher's bbq stand is the best part of this boy's day out in Oakville.  "Get your stick!"

Weekend Wandering

There are some gorgeous historic homes in Oakville, the city next to ours, that R and I like to wander around. If Deacon should hear you whisper the phrase "go for a drive" then that's it, you're not getting out of the house without him. We like to stop at the lake so he can play for a bit, he loves to bite at the waves.Every time that we walk past this house, I always say "I love this house". R says "I know". This was what we were searching for. I had seen this lovely shrub on one of our wanders last year and filed it away in my memory. We'd like to add some more shrubs in the back garden while everything is on sale but I couldn't describe it properly to the lady at the garden centre. "I'll get you a picture!" I told her. It turns out to be a Lace Cap Hydrangea and they're lovely. A very nice lady, who had one on her property, told us about them. She had a very nice historic home, too bad she didn't ask us in for tea, well me, that would not have been R's thing AT ALL.

You don't think this outing ended without stopping into a bookshop do you? We passed a chippy wagon, near a second-hand bookshop so both R and I were blissfully happy. A Virago Classic by Vita Sackville-West now has a home on my bookshelf. A very nice day was had by all, I must say.

Spring has Sprung

This morning was very grey and drizzly but R and I decided to venture out to downtown Oakville for a walk around. I bought my first pair of wellies yesterday so what do I care if there are puddles! There were signs of Spring and Easter at every turn.

I really, really wanted one of these buns but decided that the brownies at home were enough treat for one weekend. I could go back next week!

Just as we came to this lovely window display at a kitchen shop the sun came out! Note to self: if it's dull and miserable outside, get out there and find something bright!