Tag: autumn

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Do your own a-maze-ing race

Corn stalksDazed and crazed in a maze. That’s how I spent yesterday, deciphering the corm maze at Wynn Farms and picking apples with the girls.

There’s something about getting lost in a maze that takes you back to your childhood. I remember my parents taking me to Centre Island in Toronto. Besides the petting zoo and the ferry ride , our favourite part was the maze. I think it was my parents’ favourite too since they could sit and enjoy a moment of peace and quiet while we raced through the paths, squealing every time we came to a dead end.

Here were just a few of the a-maze-ing facts we learned about farming in yesterdays’s maze.

  • The average farm feeds 120 families
  • One acre of soybeans can make 82,368 crayons (who knew?)
  • In a typical 10,000 item grocery store, a quarter, or 2,500 products contain corn!

This week’s #HappyAct is to do your own a-maze-ing race in a corn maze. Gaze at the fields ablaze with reds and golds and corn silk shining against the bright blue sky. Don’t get fazed. It’s the newest craze. Special note for those of you who love to Gaze at the Stars. This Thursday, October 2nd, Terence Dickinson the reknowned astronomer is putting on a free presentation open to the community at Prince Charles Public School in Verona from 7-9 p.m. Hope you can make it!

girls at a corn maze

Girl in a corn maze

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Roamin’ in the gloamin

Sun shimmering through trees
The gorgeous light of the gloamin

It’s fall, my favourite season. For me, the first days of fall are as bitter sweet as the orange-berried vine that grows in our fields this time of year. I am reluctant to bid summer adieu, but embrace the crisp days and cool nights and sweet smells of fresh apples and wood smoke in the air.

This is when I start counting down the days and hours before daylight savings time. I get home quite late, so I often only have an hour at home after work before it gets dark. This is my time to go roamin’ in the gloamin.

There is something very special about the light at this time of year in the evening–the way it shimmers and casts a soft glow over the landscape. It’s magical.

This week’s #Happy Act is to go roamin’ in the gloamin’. Having a lad or lassie by your side is optional (I usually just have my two big dopey dogs by my side).

About the song

I always thought Roamin’ in the Gloamin was an old Scottish folk song, but it was actually written in 1911 by Sir Harry Lauder. The song tells of a man and his sweetheart courting in the evening. Here are the words of the chorus:

“Roamin’ in the gloamin’ on the bonnie banks o’ Clyde.
Roamin’ in the gloamin’ wae my lassie by my side.
When the sun has gone to rest,
That’s the time we love the best.
O, it’s lovely roamin’ in the gloamin”

Dog in wooded path
Roamin’ in the gloamin with Murphy by my side