Canadian Jaunt

I do realize it has been quite a few weeks since my return from Canada...call it recuperation.

I ran off to Canada early one Wednesday morning with Laura and Honna. We loaded up Laura's Buick and hit the highways, and when that ended we took the ferry.

We landed in Stella, Ontario, on Amhurst Island.

We were greeted at Poplar Dell with much enthusiasm.

Our hosts were the Caughey Family.

(Little Miss Maeve with her grandmother Susan.)

The very next day our adventures began with a tour of the Island guided by Susan and Maueve's big sister Lily Helen.

The first stop was the north shore. Skies were moody in preparation for a good storm on the horizon. We loved this rocky beach. I do believe the above stones may end up as a quilt.

The island is primarily agricultural.  If I didn't know I was on an island in Lake Ontario I would have been quite certain we hadn't left Indiana.  Down the road a bit from Poplar Dell was a sheep farm.  Here the animals graze on acres of field and are guarded by white Great Pyrenees dogs.

The Caughey family owns and operates a dairy farm which is home to their prize winning Holsteins.

 Naturally, when Miss Mauve and her mom Amy took us on the tour of the mainland one very important highlight was a stop at the Wilton Dairy.  Susan and Bruce will often bring cheese from here to the newspaper office when the visit us in the States.  Susan's mother, Helen, wrote a column for the Wakarusa Tribune for many, many years. The Dairy specializes in Aged Cheddar, revered by many a cheese lover.

The weekend brought all the Caughey family together, the three daughters of Susan and Bruce with their collective seven daughters.  We were treated to a carriage ride after church on Sunday afternoon.  It was quite a wonderful time.  Honna and I took the moment to give a few lessons in Miss Mary Mack but their girls didn't quite understand our game and we quickly returned to enjoying the scenery.

 

Polar Dell is situated on Preston Cove and is on the St. Lawrence Seaway side of the island.  On clear days the mainland is visible.  After our carriage ride on Sunday afternoon we all enjoyed a nice dip in the water off the dock to cool off.  It was quite cool and wonderful.

I very much enjoyed Susan's Ball Jar (a graduate of Ball State) of the stones from the shore, the girls and I each made up a Crown jar of the stones to set on our shelves at home.  These yellow flowers lined the roads up and down.  Most of the island's 56 miles of maintained roads are gravel.

I think this shall be my island home one day.

The island was such a wonderful place to visit. The Caughey's such wonderful hosts that we were terribly sad to take our last ferry ride to the mainland.

Even the roar of Niagara Falls wasn't quite enough to console us.

The island was very much like my own small town.  On the island everyone waves.  As you pass anywhere they always wave, even if they don't even look.  I like this. 

I hope we can make this trip a yearly one.  I know that I will indeed visit the island many more times and I hope to take others up to bump around as well.