Scarlet Maple Tour

Don't you just love the sound of that? Not the Red Maple Tour, but the Scarlet Maple one. The words in the newspaper caught my eye right away, and I stopped to read more of the article...

"Come and enjoy the spectacular fall colours of the area highlands and walk through the 'Open Doors' of heritage churches, museums, studios and country businesses all along the route. Doors will be open and welcome signs out from 10am until 4pm on Saturday and Sunday October 1st and 2nd. Pick up your self guided tour map at …"

I was hooked. We drove to town and picked up the brochure last week and made plans to take the tour yesterday. The colour of the trees and a closer look at the area are what interested us the most, but the added treat of having all these doors open for us all along the route was an extra added bonus that sounded wonderful to me. Thirty places of interest were listed in the brochure and each looked worthy of a visit. We knew we couldn't get to all of them, but we would give it our best shot.

We set off under sunny skies yesterday morning and after a stop at Tim's to pick up our coffee, we were on our way. Winding back roads were the order of the day, and they took us to many a breathtaking spot. We only covered about half the route before we ran out of steam and headed for home around 5 pm, but what a delightful day we had.


Butterfly and I outside one on the old churches

Little wooden churches on hills just outside of many towns, huge stone churches seemingly in the middle of nowhere, unique gift shops, artist's studios, quaint restaurants and rolling hills full of colour, greeted us around each bend in the road yesterday. Over and over again during the day I was amazed at what a pretty area we had moved to. I felt like I was on vacation instead of just riding around near my own back yard. How neat.


An artist's studio set up in an old blacksmith's shop.

I have brochures for at least four Artist's Studio Tours set up for next weekend, but won't get to any of them because next weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday. We will have our family here on Saturday for our first turkey dinner with all the trimming, served in our new house. Should be interesting to see how we manage cooking a big dinner in a much smaller kitchen. The dining room is larger though, so that will be nice when it comes time to all gather 'round the table.

On Sunday, we will all head off to meet my sister and her family at Riverwood for a country Thanksgiving feast at the farm with them. Pots of coffee, turkey and stuffing, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream will all be consumed with glee, and we will also take a break now and then for walks in the woods during the day and talks over cups of tea late at night. Sounds like fun huh? It has been too long since my last visit to Riverwood, so I am really looking forward to next weekend. The colour up there should be at its peak so we will be treated to quite a show.

I can't tell you how nice it is to be getting back into the swing of things again and be out from under all that dull brown cardboard. There are all sorts of colours in the world around me right now, and I need to fill my senses with them for awhile. My "to do" list is still pretty long, but most things on it can wait, and while the sun is shining and the trees are blazing, I will make them do just that — wait.

AC's back is still bothering him so we haven't been out on the bikes much, but we are making up for that by doing other things and enjoying them immensely. Life is full of challenges and unexpected changes in plans sometimes, isn't it? The key to happiness when that happens is to roll with the changes and try to focus on the positive.

The bikes are gathering dust, but we are not, and that is a good thing. Don't let any dust settle on you today either. Go out and enjoy the sunshine. Walk in the park, crunch a few leaves under your feet, sit in your back yard or on your front steps and look at the beauty of the sky. Do something outdoors. Don't settle for a plain old red day, make it a Scarlet Maple day and enjoy.