A Peach of a Day: NotL Peach Festival and Classic Car Show

A couple weeks ago was the Niagara on the Lake Peach Festival! While the festival itself is unfortunately pretty lame, with $6 peach ice cream cones and tourist souvenirs sold on main street, it was also the day of the major classic car show in town.  Ephraim and I made a day of eating peach pie in a graveyard, and checking out some sweet rides!  Here were my favourite cars this year.

We even got a cool piece of local history, with an old firetruck of the town's being displayed.  Super neat!!

If you'd like to check out my favourite cars from last year, you can check those hot rods out here!

--Erin

Shipwrecked

At the Jordan Harbour, just off the QEW, sits La Grande Hermine, or "The Big Weasel", a rusted old ship I have the pleasure of driving by on my bi-weekly trip to and from Toronto.  The boat is a well-known landmark throughout the area, and until arsonists set it ablaze it in 2003, was a popular location for a bit of nontraditional urban exploration; the kind term for breaking and entering (if you're in the Toronto area, check out the book Access All Areas, from Infiltration) 

Though the boat is very well known to locals and travelers of the QEW, its history is less common knowledge.  That being said, this boat has been places in the over 80 years it lived before coming to rest at its undoubtedly very permanent resting place in the Jordan Harbour nearly 20 years ago.

La Grande Hermine was built in 1914 in Quebec, as a replica of the largest of 3 ships Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River from 1535-36 (tragically the boat is a namesake as well.  Seriously).  The boat was originally used as a ferry on the St. Lawrence, before being turned into a cargo ship and later a floating restaurant, even becoming a haunted pirate ship for Halloween to raise money for a hot-lunch program for students.  It came to rest in the Jordan Harbour in 1997, after which the boat's owner passed away before permission could be granted to tow the boat to Niagara Falls to become an offshoot casino facility.  

The rusted ship is quite easily accessed from a service road along the highway, and I was really pleased to have the chance to photograph it before stopping at the nearby Prudhommes Antique Market.  I'd love to photograph the boat on a stormy day at dawn, but until my schedule and my good sense accept this as a smart idea, these early afternoon photos will have to suffice.

Thanks for reading a bit of local history! I had no idea this hilariously named boat had such a bizarre and lengthy lifespan.

--Erin

Photo an Hour: April 2013

Freaking finally, I have photos to share from April! Here was a fun and very productive little day out and about in St. Catharines, and around NotL.

11 am// Well rested and ready to roll.  A-table-hunting we shall go!

12 pm// St Catharine's bound

1 pm// Red Velvet pancakes.  Because who's going to stop me?

2 pm// Stopped to take photos of this old wreck.  It was briefly a restaurant/boat.

3 pm// A creepy basement full of cobwebs, dust, and glass bottles at Prudhommes Antique Market

4 pm// A sweet room full of old clocks and radios at Prudhommes Antique Market

5 pm// I bought a table! Took 30 minutes to get it out of the house.  Why do men not listen when a woman says we have to take the legs off?! I mean they had to come off to fit in the car anyway...

6 pm// Prepping the neckline for bias tape

7 pm// Finishing up my sewing for the day

8 pm// Taking some outfit photos

Honestly, it's been so long since this day that I couldn't tell you how we ended the evening! But it probably involved a movie and definitely involved dinner of some kind.  I'm looking at my glorious formica table at Ephraim's right now, and boy oh boy was checking out the Prudhommes Antique Market the best thing to come out of that day! I'm currently working on collecting a few pairs of mismatched but complimentary chairs to go with the table.  Vinyl and formica and chrome, oh my! Our kitchen is going to be so awesome!!

--Erin

Springtime at the Beach

Niagara on the Lake isn't exactly known for its beaches.  We don't have big white sandy expanses, no real spot to sunbathe to speak of, and people don't tend to get into the water.  Yet, this town has a few small, rocky beaches that are frequented by dog walkers and bonfire makers.  It can be a nice quiet spot to get away - if you can get far enough from the tourists.  The beach I went to one day after work last week was devoid of anyone who was just passing through.  For an hour or so I walked along, listened to seagulls, dug in the sand, and took pictures of the blossoms on this amazing tree.  It wasn't much of a beach experience, I suppose, but it was tranquil and regenerative all the same.  Plus, I got some of my best flower photos yet! One of these pictures might already be my computer desktop background... the white on the bright blue sky just makes me so happy.  I hope I can capture the blossoms on a few other trees around town before they're all gone!

I really love that I can walk down to the shoreline in NotL and see Toronto, across lake Ontario.  I grew up in Toronto, and working in NotL has been the longest time I've ever been away!  It still feels like home, though, and I'm so glad I get to visit as frequently as I do.

This trip to the beach had me looking for some beach glass for the first time, after seeing the impressively large and shockingly beautiful collection of sea glass found by Kaylah of The Dainty Squid.  I only found brown and green glass, but did a lot better than I expected to, and having a "mission" while at the beach was really pleasant.  I can be a bit of a magpie, so I tended to spot larger bits of shells before I'd come across a piece of glass.  I have some nice jars laying around at home, and I think it'll look quite sweet to have a jar filled up from beach treasures I continue to collect from NotL's beaches! There's a long summer ahead, after all. 

I don't normally alter the colour of photos so much, but it looked like a cherry tree all warmed up.  So delicate.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes! Yesterday was a lovely, low-key day. I hit up all the thrift spots in St. Catharines, and found some really great stuff, including a tin cup for my milkshake maker (FINALLY! All the milkshakes shall be mine, this summer!) and a Hawaiian muumuu in fluorescent colours. I also went to see the new Iron Man movie, and loved it! I think this year is going to be a good one, as strange as it seems to say that I am in my "mid-twenties".  It's going to be a big year for change, so I think an ever-so-popular blogger-style goals list is in order.  That, and a deep, deep breath.

--Erin

Colour Your World

Last weekend was our first real glimpse of spring.  With a crisp breeze and a constant struggle between sunshine and grey skies, it's finally beginning to look like April out there! And though my daffodils at home are taking their sweet time to poke their heads from the ground, I am getting so excited for plants to start springing up! My home has been greener than ever, as my roommate is a plant lover as well.  I haven't had a lot of luck this past year at keeping plants alive, as I keep going to and from Toronto a lot, but now that I have flexibility as to when I come and go thanks to Gertrude, my trusty Volkswagen Golf, I feel more confidant to keep adding to my little garden.  A trip to a local plant nursery had to be made! It's still early in the season, so none of the small stock caught my eye (well, except for the bleeding hearts, I may have to go back for one!) but I had to take pictures of all the beautiful colours.  I just can't wait for it to LOOK like spring!!

I told Ephraim I wanted to live in a world as purple as the little flowers in that first photo, and you know what, I stand by that ridiculous statement.  Take me away to purple plains.

--Erin

Down on the River: The Niagara Pumphouse

Every time I look at this door, all I see are donuts.  I shouldn't go on an empty stomach, haha!

 A couple weeks back, I started taking a weekly life drawing class at the Niagara Pumphouse Art Centre.  I had never been down by the pumphouse, despite having lived in town for a year and a half, and now that I go every Tuesday night, I really regret that it's taken me so long! It's a beautiful short drive from my house (admittedly walking distance from my work, but with class starting at 6:30, a girl has got to get her ducks in a row [and some food in her belly] before heading to class), right along the river and just down street from the historic Fort George.  I decided to head over a little early last week so I could take a few photos before class started. 

The building itself is really beautiful, and I look forward to seeing how the scenery changes through the months, as  the pumphouse is located right on the river, where you can look across to New York state.  The pumphouse generated electricity for the town until the 1910's, and pumped water for the town until the early 1980's.  The building was later sold to the town for $1, and massively renovated into an arts centre.  They offer all kinds of regular classes and special workshops, including a metalsmithing workshop I'm looking forward to taking, in early May.  In the meantime, I am loving getting back into life drawing!! I'll have to post some of my favourite sketches that have come out of class here, but if you don't want to wait for a big roundup, I post my favourite sketch/es of the week on Instagram every Tuesday after class (@efgerofsky).  Tuesday has quickly become one of my favourite days of the week!

Have any of you gotten back into an old hobby recently?

--Erin