Alliston - Touring small towns

Friday May 22, 2009
(Mom's birthday. She would have been 82.)

On our last full day in Alliston my sister took Glenn and me on a driving tour of surrounding towns. We passed through Tottenham where there is a steam train but I believe we were just a few days too soon for its running season, Newmarket and Barrie, to name a few. Somewhere along the way we picked up some of my favourite Beeton honey. Too bad we were missing a honey festival by one day.

We went to this interesting church (St. James?) in Colgan.

A Pieta replica is out back.

This house in Schomberg, now a restaurant/pub, was the former home/office of a doctor related to a friend of ours. It wasn't open for business when we arrived but a young woman let me in. She showed me the dining room and explained that it was the doctor's operating room, and the morgue was below it! She gave me free rein to wander the grounds. The lilacs smelled nice.

Continuing the drive we passed this unusual building.

Still lots of farm country.

We came to the East Gwillimbury municipal hall. Right beside it is the Sharon Temple, built by former Quakers I believe.

What vivid greens! This small building was nearby.

We drove along Canal Road where a canal runs through farmland. Farmers bring Mexicans up to work... and in winter cars slide off the road that runs along the waterway. Redwing blackbirds were here. In fact, redwing blackbirds were nearly everywhere we went across the country.

This is one of those things you don't think about on the west coast. My sister says these little roadside huts are built for children when they have to wait for school buses in winter. Of course. Otherwise they might freeze to death standing out there in blizzards and freezing cold temperatures.

We drove in to look at the Honda plant, or one of the Honda plants in Alliston. This is where our little green car was built. I had no idea how huge this industry is in Alliston. Honda wanted to build another plant but a road was in the way. Honda got the road! And now the population has to drive some distance out of its way, but they don't mind, I'm told. There are many, many business that supply parts and services to Honda. My nephew has explained how it all works and it's quite ingenious. We drove by a parking lot with row upon row of white semi trailers. I'd never seen so many in one spot. My sister said that it was Friday so, because of the recession and cutbacks, the trucks sat idle for a day. You could see that if Honda ever went out of business, it wouldn't just affect Honda but all the other businesses connected to it, and it would be devastating to the town.

It may be Honda's home but it's also home to these geese.

Back at my nephew's house, Glenn and I went for a walk around the back streets of the neighbourhood before suppertime. They do use a lot of brick in Ontario.

My sister put on a wonderful big spread including her fabulous potato salad. We visited more relatives I had not seen in years and met some new ones, including my other nephew's wife and their two year old son whose birthday we were celebrating. We spent an enjoyable evening in the back yard watching him open his presents and run all over the lawn. Glenn even did some drawing with him.

So, that was our last full day in Alliston.

Alliston - Banting & Borden

Thursday May 21, 2009

On the agenda was a visit to an outlet mall. My sister wound up buying a nice new outfit while I only bought a few items at a kitchen store. It was fun though. Then we stopped by to see the Banting house.

What an interesting marker in front of the house.

A plaque reads, in part:

Birthplace of Sir Frederick Banting

Frederick Grant Banting was born in 1891 on the original Banting homestead immediately behind this cairn.

In this quiet rural environment he gained a deep understanding of the ways of nature. From his parents he learned inquisitiveness, resourcefulness, persistence, sincerity and true godliness.

Always fond of dogs during his boyhood, Dr. Banting was later to experiment with these animals in the discovery of insulin. Life and hope resulted for diabetics around the world.

Died Feb. 21, 1841 in Newfoundland.

* * * * *

Camp Borden

In the afternoon, my nephew 'J' and his wife 'T' planned to take us to visit Camp Borden, now known as Base Borden. This was a trip down memory lane for Glenn, although we knew it could be entirely different from when he was there in the 1950's. For a time he lived in Alliston and even owned a lot there.

He says: "I was an Air Force Airframe technician and I instructed on the hydraulic systems of F86 Sabre aircraft. While doing technical illustrations at Borden I applied for and was accepted as a Graphic Artist at Air Force Headquarters in Ottawa. This led to a long career as a Commercial Artist after leaving the Air Force in 1960."

The four of us were set to go when, all of a sudden, J got called into work for an emergency. So now his poor wife was stuck taking us and she wasn't even sure how to get into the base.

We had 'a bit of an adventure' getting there. The car needed gas. We pulled into a gas station to find it deserted (like some place out in the middle of nowhere ... on a long dusty road... in South Dakota, happens to come to mind). T heard something rumbling on the outside of the car so she crouched down, tore a loose piece off from under the front fender and flung it in the trunk. On we went to another garage but the tanks had been taken right out of the ground. Carrying on down the road, we stopped at an intersection but the guy behind us didn't. He was busy looking in his glove compartment. Luckily it was only a light bump and there didn't appear to be damage to either car.

Glenn didn't recognize much of anything at Camp Borden. There was barely any evidence of any airplanes. We went into a museum and saw a young Army fellow sitting in an office. Glenn went in to ask him something but just got a blank look. Glenn finally said, "Is there anyone in there?" and received no reply. The whole place was almost deserted. We wandered around the museum, before stopping for a coffee and snack at the onsite Tim Horton's.

Sometimes it's not good to go back.

The uniform on the right is the same style that Glenn wore.

This is a model of the Halifax bomber, the type he flew in during the War.

* * * * *

Later, on the way to supper, we stopped in at this neat little store in Rosemont.

It's not every day you see a picture painted on a saw. You could buy all sort of things here, such as hats.

And you could buy food. The wording on this sauce bottle reads: "Even tough guys can have a hard time with a little spice. That's why there is Baby Food and Peppy's Sauce for Sissies. Honest folks, I couldn't make it any milder and still live with myself." Why didn't I buy a bottle?

We would be having supper at the Globe restaurant. There were tulips and flowering trees in its yard.

Cute presentation of the bread basket. We had lots of food. Did I mention that asparagus was in season and we saw it just about everywhere? I've never eaten so much asparagus in my life as I did on this trip.

This was only our second night eating out around Alliston and already I was thinking they have better restaurants than we do in Victoria.