Sunday, August 05, 2012

A Day in Minden

The Haliburton Quilt Guild held a quilt show in Minden on Friday and Saturday.  Since my mother is in a nursing home in Minden, we decided to go up and make it a dual day, with a visit to Mom and a trip to the quilt show.

My brother did the driving.  He picked me up at 8:00am and we drove to Pickering to pick my DD and DS. Then we headed to highway 12 and started our trip up north.  It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get there because we stopped for a bathroom break. some coffee and a bit of sightseeing.

On our way we drove through Kirkfield.  It's a little town with a restaurant, a few stores and a lift lock, just to the north.  It is part of the Trent Waterway.  Since only my brother had ever seen it, we went up and discovered a very interesting part of our waterway past.  I took a few photos, but it is difficult to really get the feeling of this gigantic hydraulic lift.
This shows the south 'bathtub'.  The boats come from the higher lake and enter the locks (bathtub).  Three large boats went in at the same time.  Then a boat entered the lower bathtub from the west, lower lake.   When everything was in position.  They lowered the south holding tank and raised the north one.  Here you can see one of the boats heading out into the west lake.  The metal structure at the top of the photo is where the lower tank was and is now at the upper lake.  DD and DS are standing by the railing.
The boats started their engines and proceeded on their journeys.  It was good to have seen this lift lock because I had never seen one like it before.

Then we were off to the quilt show.  I didn't take my wheelchair, which was kind of a aggressive, but unthinking thing to do.  I had to walk around the show on my own steam.  I was held in the town's curling centre.  I did not realize it was going to be so big!  There were quilts displayed down the centre and vendors and instructors all around the perimeter of the rink.  I sat down a few times, but I was exhausted.  It was very hot and humid yesterday, even in Minden.  I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked, but I did take one that I thought would make a terrific scrap quilt.
And I took a couple of wall hangings depicting the Haliburton Highlands, a place in Ontario that is dear to my heart because we always went camping there and even had a cottage business at one time.
 I plan to make myself a quilt of this type.  These are inspirations for me.

The final quilt I want to show you was done in Japanese stitches.  I have always loves this type of quilt and would love to do one of my own.
Those Haliburton quilters are very talented.  I bought a few fat quarters of light background fabrics and really enjoyed myself.  My son, daughter and brother enjoyed the show too.  For my brother and son it was the first quilt show they had been to.

We then stopped for a delicious lunch at a restaurant called 'The Grill on the Gull'.  Minden has the Gull River flowing through it.  We could have sat outside on the patio, but it was too hot, so we just stayed inside where it was air conditioned.  From there it was off to see my mother.  She looked a bit sleepy when we got there and she didn't really get any more animated as the afternoon went on.  I think she only said a couple of words, but she did love the hugs and kisses we gave her and she was totally enamored with her grandson!  She couldn't stop smiling or take her eyes off him.

We left the nursing home when they started to serve dinner.  Then a quick trip to the ice cream shop for the largest 'small' ice cream cone I have ever had.  It was so hot, most of it dripped down my hands and arms.  I needed a quick 'shower' before my brother would let me back into his truck for the drive home.

We took it easy, enjoying the sights of Haliburton on our way home.  A gorgeous sky greeted us as we got to Pickering.

It was a great day!  Thank you to my brother for doing all of the driving.  And thank you to my kids for making the trip so enjoyable.  This is a long weekend for us.  It is supposed to rain this afternoon and evening.  Bring it on, I say.  My plants are literally dying for a drink.









5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks like you had a wonderful time. Our brother came home saying he was tired but he really enjoyed his day. Wish I could have joined you.

Wacky Woman said...

Oh Hetty, it sounds like a wonderful way to spend time with your family.

Marilyn

em's scrapbag said...

That would make the perfect scrap quilt. Thanks for sharing. You know how I love scrappy!

Simone de Klerk said...

What a great day you must have had!
The third picture reminds me of a vacation in England!

Vicki said...

Thanks for sharing Hetty. Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the day despite the heat. It's finally raining here and I hope it cools things down like they promised, I've had enough of this heat.