Day tripping in Grey-Bruce

It's a sunny, breezy day at the farmette. Good fall weather with the temperature going to 20C. Yay.

We've been doing a lot of day trips exploring around our own countryside lately. So many that I have them stockpiled, so this one was from a few weeks ago.

The town of Cargill is only a half-hour west of here, about midway to Lake Huron. It's being revitalized by an amazing couple, Kevin and Sue, who moved up from Toronto in 2021 to reconnect with Kevin's heritage. They bought and transformed what used to be his great-grandfather's harness shop into The Mill Pond, an art gallery/bookstore/café. They also renovated the other half of the building, which used to be a bank. It's now the town's visitor centre and museum. They did a beautiful job, as you can see.

The Mill Pond showcases local art and historical artifacts. A beautiful piano graces the front window. Serendipity struck as we were treated to a lunchtime mini concert when one of the visitors sat down and played Danny Boy, among other selections. With no sheet music. Amazing.

We listened while we munched on delicious shaved beef sandwiches from the café, then toddled downstairs to visit the exhibit on the history of crokinole.

While it's known as a Canadian (actually southwestern Ontario) game, its roots, as with a lot of Canadian history, is a mishmash of English, French and Indian board games.

The museum side is gorgeous. The walls are festooned with murals done by local artists.

There are lots of juicy historical tidbits about the area, the community and the building, including, as Rob found out from Kevin himself, the old bank safe.

We were very fortunate to actually meet Kevin and Sue, the dynamic duo who are working on all of this. They're a wonderful, enthusiastic couple who also happen to have five (!) children in high school and university. They are determined to help revive the town and already have their sights set on another building across the road. We wished them all the best. Until next week.

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Wilma, who has an incurable shoe fetish.