Masks, Cheques and Changes

It was time to make a decision on snow removal for the upcoming season.

I may be out by a year, but I think this will be our seventh year of contracting the job. It will also be our fourth contractor, and even the fifth, since there was some sort of change of ownership in the first contractor.

It's too bad about the very first contractor, for they did the best job. (I do hate writing they for the singular, but that's what we are told to do now.)  But then, I think they got too big and spread themselves too thin and became less reliable before folding the business. Reliability has continued to be a problem with our contractors ever since, and we shall have to see how the new people do.

Our main thing, even more important than plowing the driveway is to clear the load that the town dumps at the end of the driveway as a result of plowing the road. And then they plow the sidewalk. That's heavy stuff, which we'd rather not shovel at this point of our lives.

Recommended by Shauna, Sue contacted a new contractor by phone, and they (husband and wife, I presume) showed up the next day to have us sign the contract and make the first payment. They came to the door wearing masks, which was quite a relief. I wore one too.

How the world has changed! Can you imagine how we would have reacted to masked strangers knocking on the door, back in February, before this all began? Even after COVID19 hit, it took a little while for masks to become commonplace.

There was another change too. I had my checkbook at the ready. While I do a lot of internet banking, I do it on the computer and not on the phone, so I had taken my checkbook downstairs.

I mentioned to the contractors (husband and wife, I presume) how it now feels somewhat odd to write a cheque.

It was then that the man said that he had never written a cheque and didn't know how.

😕😖😟😦

Wretched Coffee, Good TV, and the Hooded Sue

Ugh. The coffee is wretched this morning. I tried a new brand that was on sale but still wasn't cheap by any means. It is not good. Not even close. We just don't throw out $10 of coffee, but this will have to go. Yes! It is that bad.

This is my second, recent coffee mistake, for I have another bag sitting here unused. It was on sale too and is probably good, but I shan't know because they are beans, and we don't have a grinder. I will probably put it on our Buy Nothing group on FB.

I do this from time to time, reach for one product but get distracted and grab the package beside it. I knew that I was looking for ground coffee, but I brought home beans instead. Facepalm time.

==============

On the advice of our daughter in Vancouver, we watched Anne with an "E" on Netflix. We had watched season 1 some time ago, didn't prefer it, and weren't interested in watching the next two seasons when they became available.

Anne with an "E" is, of course, adapted from the well-known Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, published in 1908. It is a Canadian classic and well loved in many countries around the world. 

It was adapted for tv in the mid-80s and was also greatly loved.

But Anne with an "E" is different. While it is based on the same setting and characters, the plot takes takes an unfortunate twist for awhile, which is why we stopped watching.

However, when Allyson highly recommended it, we capitulated. For the first three episodes in season 2, we were also not happy. In fact, I think we would have quit once again if it had not been so highly recommended. 

Beginning with about the 4th episode in season 2, however, the program got good -- very good. While it still wasn't exactly faithful to the original plot, it was faithful to the spirit of the original if that makes any sense.

In the end, we loved it. I suspect that if they hadn't gone off track, toward the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2, more people would have continued watching, and there would have been a season 4.

So, that is my recommendation. Watch Anne with an "E" , but if you know the original novels or the tv series, keep in mind that you may not particularly enjoy those 4 or 5 episodes that I mentioned above, toward the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2. Or maybe, being forewarned, you will expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised.

==============

I recently posted that I tend to forget to take photos of Sue when I have landscape images on my mind. Recently, however, I did. We were down by the lake on a very windy day. Sue had her hood up to try to keep her hair in some semblance of order. Please notice that it is the We're #1 finger in the 2nd photo and not that dreaded other finger. 

Canadian Decadence

We didn't win the furnace game this year like we did last year when I posted about it on November 01 HERE. Every year, or almost every year, we play the game, fighting the weather, and trying to make it through October without engaging the furnace. We didn't even come close this year because we flipped the switch on Thanksgiving, Monday, October 12.

It was 16C/61F (how palindromic!) at lunch time when we relented. I don't think Sue would have, but I asked her to flip the switch early because I don't run quite as hot as she does.

I had a brain cramp at the time and told her that we had never made it through October without calling upon the heat. She thought I might be wrong, and indeed, when I checked older posts, I discovered that it was only last year that I blogged about winning the game and turning on the furnace on exactly November 01.

Memory is simply not reliable, but I am pretty sure that I do recall many examples of us giving in before the end of October.

Sue, however, believes that previously, in Sarnia, we, at least once, managed to keep the furnace off until December. She may be right, but that was cheating, for we had a fireplace that nicely warmed the part of the house where we spent most of our time. It was a split level, and we could close off the upper levels while we spent most of our days on the lower half. The bedroom was up there in the colder half, but blankets saved the day -- or the night in that case.

We do keep our place on the cool side in winter. The standard daytime target on the thermostat is only 20C/68F, and we allow nighttime temperatures to drop as low as 15C/59F although it doesn't always reach those depths. When I rise before the heat has kicked in, as I frequently do, I often have to bundle up in layers and hoodies for the first hour or so.

We do, however, afford ourselves one little luxury.

Yup! When it is shower time, we first warm up the bathroom with a little heater. Pure Canadian decadence, I tell ya.

The Hidden Cemetery

We had arrived at the cemetery, and I left you with this photo in the previous post about our Sunday drive into the colourful, autumn hinterland.

That was the first gate. If you could enlarge the photo enough (which I doubt you can do at this resolution), you could see a second gate down (up?) yonder. Here it is. This sign is less worn than the one at the first gate: Tennant Cemetery,

There was a section to the right that was cleared and sunny, but I concentrated on the more picturesque part that you can see from the gate (above) with the background colour.

It seemed fitting or poignant, somehow, to see loose gravestones around the remains of the dead tree trunk in the background. 

This was my favourite photo, not only of the cemetery but of the whole drive. I  stitched 4 vertical photos together to show more of the scene. I think this captures the setting best with with leading lines of a sort converging on the well lit far corner.

It was a nice find, but Hermione the Honda was waiting patiently to take us home.

I suspect that might be it for autumn rambles, for the week's weather does not look good at all. As I sit writing this post on Tuesday morning, it is raining and dark outside, and the forecast for the rest of the week doesn't look exactly enticing.

Addendum: If you will excuse this slight bit of hubris, I would to append this picture of a photographer wandering about perplexedly, hat on backwards (which makes it easier to lift the camera). I don't do very well at taking what we might call b-roll photos of what surrounds a photoshoot because I my tiny brain gets locked into searching for those nice compositions. Sue is much better at documenting the peripheral goings-on. 

Rambling into the Hinterland

The previously posted autumn rambles took place on Friday. Saturday was not conducive for travel, but Sunday was one of the few days in what seems like forever without high velocity winds. There were also sunny times as the sun and clouds took turns dominating the sky.

Drawn by fb posts of an obscure rural cemetery, we headed off in a new-for-us direction. It is not that far away, but we hadn't yet travelled some of these backroads.

We were about to turn off the highway onto county road 15 when Sue spied an unusual fence from her passenger window. I don't know all of what is going on here, but whatever it is, they were not finished as there was more work being done off to the lower right. I thought that work in progress wouldn't  benefit the photo, so my angle was rather restricted. For whatever reason, I decided to convert to mono but keep the [selective] colour in the flowers (mums).

After awhile on #15 we made a right turn onto Upper Perth Road at Ferguson's Falls. There was colour to be seen, and I stopped for a few quick photos, but this is the only keeper. I just take quick photos on rambles such as this and am disappointed by many. This one with the fence, however, I like well enough.

From there we turned onto a more rural road called Miller.

Finally, we were on our destination road, 10B in Lanark Highlands Township. As befits the highlands, the road was hilly and picturesque in places.

We don't see many abandoned buildings hereabouts, or at least I don't, but there was an abandoned place or two on 10B, including this barn.

We did find the little cemetery, but I would have easily missed it from the driver's seat. There was a little farm-style gate with the cemetery somewhat beyond, but I will leave the rest for another post.

Tennant Family Burial Ground

Shauna's Lasagna

Shauna brought over a treat for dinner on actual Thanksgiving Day, Monday.

The lasagna was most excellent, mostly following the recipe that Sue used for many a year, but with a few little tweaks, such as substituting ricotta for some of the cottage cheese in Sue's recipe.

It was scrumptious, and by exercising a modicum of control, we had enough for a second meal. The wine will keep for another day.

There was some food exchange involved. Earlier, we had given her a apple crisp (pie), and we also passed on two slices of the pumpkin cheesecake from the restaurant turkey meal, which we didn't like a whole lot. I don't love pumpkin, and cheesecake is not Sue's fave. 

We did use the turkey for sandwiches at lunch yesterday, and we will get one more full dinner out of it tonight.

All in all both the food and outings have been pretty good. Brace yourselves, for there are two more rambles to come before I am done with autumn colour posts, if indeed I am done then. You just never know. Eh?

Chaffey's Lock

Now that I have done my maudlin TG post, let us get back on track.

This post will be about our visit to Chaffey's Lock after the stopover at Lock 31, back on Friday, before the long weekend.

Chaffey's is Lock 37, a little more than a half hour from Lock 31 and about 80km or an hour from home. We have driven there a few times in the past, but it has been a few years since our last excursion.

This was the last weekend for the canal to be open, but small craft were still going through the lock. Sue waved; they waved back, and I took a picture. You can see the two gals waving as they hold onto the rope at the side of the lock to keep the boat steady while the lock begins to fill up with water and lift the craft.

We hadn't gone on this part of the lock on previous visits, staying on the other side of the lock (off to the right), but this photo shows some of the setting. The lock is on the right and a channel for extra spillage on the left. I don't know the history of the building, but the water flows under a portion, so I assume that there is or once was a waterwheel in there.

Possibly, you can see the setup -- the space under the building -- better in this next photo.

In both of the above photos, if you strain your eyes, you can spot a heron. It remained in place for a long time.

This cottage was near the lock. I took 5 photos from bottom to top to get all of the canopy in the frame. I used Lightroom to blend them into one photo -- a vertorama (or vertical panorama).

Opinicon road continues past the lock.

We drove along for about 5 minutes or so. I stopped to take a photo before turning around and heading back towards home.

All in all, it was a very pleasant pre-Thanksgiving drive.