Saturday, December 21, 2019

SPECULATING ABOUT OUR PROPOSED PARK SALE

AN ICY GODERICH HARBOR
With early morning temps slightly below freezing it almost felt warm out compared to the last spate of days.  Well I guess using the word warm is obviously over doing it but it was the first thought I had when stepping out of doors this morning.  That combined with the knowlege of this being the shortest day of the year was uplifting to say the least.
Pheebs and I started out under cloudy skies but by the time we reached Goderich we were under a blaze of pure sunlight.  Mother Natures nice way of popping color into a few photos.  A nice change from the gray days and what a welcome boost to ones Spirits.
MORNING JEEP RIDE
I RECALL SOMEONE WONDERING WHERE THESE LARGE BOULDERS CAME FROM AND I AM 'GUESSING' FROM A LARGE STONE QUARRY WEST OF TORONTO IN THE HALTON HILLS
WITH TODAY'S WARMER TEMPS AND SUNSHINE HARBOR ICE IS MELTING
CANADA GEESE COMING IN FOR A LANDING
SPLASH DOWN
MORE GEESE COMING IN
HERE'S THOSE SAME CANADA GEESE FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE
GODERICH'S SIFTO SALT MINE
THIS SCENIC BLUFF TOP VIEW ON 'ST. GEORGES CRESCENT' IS EASILY ACCESSIBLE BY ROAD OR SIDEWALK
Rumors still abound about our Park's sale of course and we think now a company by the name of Parkbridge has bought it.  All speculation of course but if it is Parkbridge I think our quiet little Park here may be in for a radical change.  Whether good or bad remains to be seen but it is obviously an aggressive/progressive company with locations across Canada.  North of Goderich there is an older mobile home Park by the name of Huron Haven and a huge housing development is going in behind it.  Parkbridge now owns Huron Haven and is the company doing the big housing development.  Drove up through the development this morning and couldn't help but think this is what could very well happen to our Park in the next few years.  I'm 'speculating' we could easily lose our treasured pine forest where we walk the Pine Tree Trail.  Where that forest now stands I can see the same kind of housing developement going in as the one now under construction behind Huron Haven.   All speculation on my part of course but I'll not be surprised if and when it happens.  Progress I guess it's called.  At least we've been fortunate enough to have had over 17 years of peace and quiet here.
THIS RETIREMENT COMPLEX IS BIG ENOUGH TO HAVE TWO MINI ROUND-ABOUTS
AND A DIVIDED IN AND OUT ROAD AS WELL
IF PARKBRIDGE IS THE NEW OWNER OF OUR PARK THIS MIGHT BE WHAT OUR NOW PINE FOREST WILL LOOK LIKE IN A FEW YEARS
AS FAR AS THE INDIVIDUAL HOUSES GO I DON'T MIND THEM BUT I COULD NEVER LIVE ALL CROWDED IN TOGETHER LIKE THIS
SOME PEOPLE GET CLAUSTROPHOBIA FROM SMALL PLACES....I WOULD GET YIKESAPHOBIA IF I HAD TO LIVE ON A STREET LIKE THIS SO JAMMED IN
THEY DO HAVE A NICE REC CENTER AND CLUB HOUSE
With the new year 2020 only a week and a half away I couldn't help but have a feeling again this morning that it could very well be a year of significant changes.  There are a number of things in the offing that are and have steadily marched forward to the very brink of change it
self. 
OKAY SO THIS IS OUR PARK NOW
COULD THIS BE WHAT OUR PARK MIGHT LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE WHERE OUR PINE FORREST NOW STANDS
FROM THIS ABOVE TO THAT BELOW
OR THIS TO THAT BELOW
OH DEAR WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR US HERE
SURE HOPE WE DON'T LOSE OUR PINE FOREST
AFTERNOON WALK
ANIMAL TRACKS
::Memory Lane:: In July of 2011 I wrote this about my memories as a young Boy.  Heating water on an old cast iron coal stove for washing, once a week baths, bringing in water from a pump outside, coal oil lamps for when the electricity went off as it frequently did, no television, no flush toilet, wind up clocks, buckled galoshes on cold winter feet, a big coal bin in the basement, a hand crank phone on the wall, pee pots under the bed, a drafty two holer wood outhouse beside an old cherry tree, wooden sided refrigerator where you put a big block of ice in the top part.  No such thing as a Supermarket in those days & fish was pedaled on Fridays by a man pushing a wagon around my little home town of Tavistock Ontario, Canada.  Knives could sometimes be sharpened by another man with a cart & milk was delivered by a horse drawn wagon.  I can still see our smiley faced chicken farmer with his white shirt, spectacles, and black fedora hat standing just inside our door with his wooden basket of freshly killed chickens. (de-feathered & headless of course) A folded white cloth covered 2 or 3 at a time & that is how my Mother selected & bought our meat in those days.  A big old wooden floor model Crosely radio was the main source of entertainment in our house & my Mother, my Grandfather, my Uncle Fred & I would gather around it Sunday night's for 'Our Miss Brooks, Fibber McGee & Molly, the Great Gildersleeve & many other great old time radio shows. Arthur Godfrey in the mornings, Gunsmoke & Gangbusters on Saturday nights. Friday night boxing matches sponsored by Gillette.  We had an old crank up Victrola which could play big round and very breakable 78 RPM records.  I listened to those scratchy records over & over. My Mother could play piano by ear & it was always a great treat for me to sit on the piano bench beside her as she played my favorite tune, Greensleeves. Our house always had music in it & I'm very grateful for that to-day. Whether it was the radio, the Victrola, my Mother on a piano which I am told my Grandfather bought one day on impulse. My Grandfather, a 'fix or make anything' machinest by trade also crafted several violins which he played.  Of course my Mother said he 'screeched' on it.  Like I said, there was always music in the house. To this very day I still surround myself with music from dawn to dusk. Sometimes I would like nothing better than to just climb aboard a time machine and go back to simply turn on that big old wooden floor model Crosley radio again.  I'd like to tune in Amos & Andy & gather round in the living room with my Mother, my Grandfather, & my Uncle Fred to listen & laugh once more to a simple humor that is all but lost now.  I'd like to sit on the piano bench beside my Mother again and hear my Grandfather 'screech' his fiddle.  It was my way of life those many years ago and I along with my Aunt Jean are the only ones left who still share some of those long ago treasured memories at our house.  
PHEEBER TRACKS
::Al's Musical Favs:: Leftorium by Dale Anderson and Anil Chawla.  A quiet reflection.  And I say again, the better your sound system the better these pieces of music`:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

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14 comments:

  1. I really enjoy the musical interludes you have added to the blog. Thank you.

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  2. It would be sad to see all those beautiful pines gone. It's all about the mighty dollar.
    Love the jokes

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  3. Very nice photos Al. Loved that UFO Groaner. Now do not get all worked up about what the future owners might or might not do. Enjoy the holidays.

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  4. Change is coming, but it may not be a bad thing hopefully. Enjoyed the cartoons and those happy geese.

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  5. Wow! Parkridge is huge! Hopefully they won’t make too many huge changes tho. We know of a few Parkridge RV parks that have remained just that... RV parks.

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  6. REALLY like tonight's music! Found Pimento Grove by the same artists. Love. Enjoyed reading about your memories. Those are your treasures. As to your worry about the park. A while back,----somewhere???----I came across a good maxim, or motto, that I TRY to abide by: "Don't let worries about tomorrow rob you of the pleasures of today."

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  7. While I was raised in a city (Cincinnati), I spent time in the summer at my grandparents' farm in SW Kentucky, and can remember the old days when life was fairly primative by today's standards. But there is nothing today to compare with food cooked on the old wood cookstove, homemade biscuits for breakfast, and so much more. Now as far as the outhouse goes, I was happy when my dad installed plumbing and a real bathroom in the house.

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  8. It will bw shame too loose tat forest in the years to come,They call this progress expanding and making more money is the bottom line.
    But the upside is you had 17 good years thereto be thankful for and can still live in you house. No many options left here for me.

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  9. Your recollections are mine as well -- only the names were different in my patch of rural Ontario. Woodlands swallowed by housing or agriculture is a sad reality everywhere. Really appreciate your posts!

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  10. If that company is buying your park and if they plan to build a huge housing development it won't be happening for several years at the earliest. Those kind of things take time. Best just enjoy each day to the fullest. If it comes to be then you can worry. Your photos gave me a chill, very cold there. Just want to let you know that I am reading all of your posts but I can no longer reply via Google using Safari. I need to sign out and resign in on Chrome, a real pain for me, something with Safari, Google and Blogger. Hopefully it gets sorted out soon.

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  11. Enjoyed the cartoons. Change may not be coming, it may be all rumours. No use worrying until it's time to worry. It causes wrinkles.
    Thanks for sharing the harbour photos. I always enjoy those.

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  12. Ugh. It would be a shame to lose your pine forest, for sure. At least, hopefully, you will have it a few more years...but it may be time for "Plan B"...sigh...

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  13. Reminds me of the time when living back in 'the tropics' that a new owner of the field behind the house was going to plow up the hay and plant corn. I was ready to sell and move the day after I heard the rumor. My friend told me to "cool it" that it might not happen. It did not and the neighbor a few houses down later told me he never had plans to plant corn in that field and let me know the hounds could do their normal patrolling. Hopefully your great area will remain the same and you can keep those pine trees instead of development.

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  14. Thanks for the guess about where the rocks came from. I looked the location up...apparently there is controversy there about yet another quarry! Lots of people everywhere and lots of development of land and resources all over the world. Makes me glad you have taken so many lovely photos of what things are like NOW. Some of those goose photos are terrific!

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