July 4th Weekend 2008
Family Comes to Ontario (pg. 2)
by David "Sumoflam" Kravetz
July 5, 2008: Another beautiful day here in Ontario and even more so because I am here with some of my family, and more particularly my sweet wife Julianne. Today I planned a basic repeat of my trip to Sparta and along Lake Erie. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we were off to St. Thomas. Obviously, being the elephant collector that Marissa is, a visit to the Jumbo statue was important.
So, here is Marissa with Jumbo
We whipped through St. Thomas and then headed off to Sparta where we to have lunch at the Sparta Tea House. We then visited some of the shops around the village....
Our first stop after lunch was to go see my old friend Bill at the Anvil House museum
Juli peaks over the lilies at the entrance
We then visited Michelle at the Sparta Bakery, which is now sporting their brand new sign
Owner Michelle takes a break on the steps to visit
We then walked over to the Sparta Candle Factory/Anything Used Shop. On my last couple of visits, I didn't have a lot of time to peruse the shop. With the family there we were able to spend more time and I also had the opportunity to get a photo of owner Pat Muscat (I had hoped to get a photo of Mary Muscat as well but he was not there.
Anything Used/Sparta Candles owner Pat Muscat, with their famous candles
Not only candles, but flamingoes....
...and frogs
They also make a fabulous home made fudge and Pat sent us out with some good fudge to munch on.
From Anything Used we then headed to Winter Wheat. I had hoped that Julianne could meet Lucy Ogletree, but Lucy was not in. In any case, Marissa and Julianne loved the shop and the items for sale. I had more of an interest in the activities going on at their tea house.
The Winter Wheat Tea House and Lucy and Mike's fairy tale cottage
My sweetheart played hide and seek in the whimsical gardens
Some intriguing wood art
As we visited the shop we could hear soothing harp music emanating from the grove of trees. I wandered over to see Celtic harpist, vocalist and storyteller Jennifer White and her percussionist playing by the teahouse. The music was wonderful and was very befitting of the whimsical gardens at Winter Wheat. Samples of Jennifer's music can be heard on CD Baby.
Harpist Jennifer White and Percussionist Robert McMaster
While we were at Sparta Teahouse having lunch, Norma Roberts highly recommended we visit another local artist, Shelley McVittie. Shelley's studio and gallery are a bit northeast of Sparta, closer really to Aylmer.
Like Lucy Ogletree, Shelley paints folk art. But hers is of a different style. She paints using acrylics and, as she notes on her website, she "creates painted stories that take you back a few moments in time, coaxing reflections & Remembrances of times gone by." Needless to say, Julianne, an artist in her own right, got along well with Shelley.
Shelley McVittie stands in front of her studio
Shelley and Julianne...two artists talking up their handiworks
Julianne loved the work with the quilts
(Samples used by permission from Shelley McVittie)
Some shots from inside her gallery/shop
After an absolutely pleasant visit with Shellie, we headed south towards Lake Erie to drive along the lake a bit, see the beaches and also visit the wind turbines.
Marissa and Julianne holding an interesting plant. Marissa and Joselyn with Lake Erie behind them
The Wind Turbines of Lake Erie, with Marissa and Joselyn posing at the information center.
I have added this map as it details all the backroads I have visited over the last couple of months
After a beautiful day, we headed off to Camp 31 in Paris for a fabulously tasty dinner of smoked Prime Rib and then headed back to the hotel.
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