At 11:00 am we drove into Hamilton to visit Mark, Svava and Jakob. It was less than an hour to drive there from Milton Heights Campground. In Hamilton, the streets were narrow one-ways, Randal could not park close to Mark's house so he parked a block away. The streets are lined with old trees.
Mark and Svava's house is of early 1900s vintage,narrow, 20 feet wide, three story with interesting features. There are two sets of stairs to the second floor, the guest on one from the front hall and the maids, second, to the kitchen. On the main floor is the living room, dinning room, kitchen and the back porch, which they added a siding glass door, That room the put a small table hinged to the wall with two tall chairs.
The view to the small full-productive garden in the fenced in back yard makes this room a good eating area to enjoy their morning coffee. Under the stairs on the main floor is a a tiny toilet/sink room, just giving enough room to manage one's elimination need.
On the second floor there are two rooms and a bath room. The front room has a bay window giving lots of light and view for the summer sunrises and the evening sunsets. This room Svava used as her art studio. It transmit a very creative atmosphere. The other room in a bed room. On the third floor there is an other bed room Svava and Mark use. All the stairs are steep, long and narrow.
The stairs off a short hall from the kitchen to the basement have been altered by a previous owner making them dangerous to maneuver. The ceiling is very low as well. There is a long work bench along one wall where Mark has his work tools displayed. The washer and drier, an original cement double wash tubs fastened to the wall fills more of the space. There are many drain pipes and wiring fastened along the beams. A new energy efficient furnace was recent installed.
All in all the house of this age has many features that enhances the home. Dark stained oak trims and 10 inch base-boards. Heavy sliding door in between the living and dinning room. The swinging door from the kitchen hall to the dinning room was removed as the door from the front hall to the living room.
The kitchen had been re-modeled with marble counters, dishwasher, large frig, and stove. The cupboard had been recessed out one wall, and has glass doors. Svava does not like them as when they need to be opened everything sitting on the counter must be moved when they are opened. Both Mark and Svava like earthy plain decorations for wall features.
We had lunch and talked about travelling, art, gardening, you name it. Randal showed them some of the videos he made and a file of pictures he had taken off a computer Mark gave to Geni.
The stairs off a short hall from the kitchen to the basement have been altered by a previous owner making them dangerous to maneuver. The ceiling is very low as well. There is a long work bench along one wall where Mark has his work tools displayed. The washer and drier, an original cement double wash tubs fastened to the wall fills more of the space. There are many drain pipes and wiring fastened along the beams. A new energy efficient furnace was recent installed.
All in all the house of this age has many features that enhances the home. Dark stained oak trims and 10 inch base-boards. Heavy sliding door in between the living and dinning room. The swinging door from the kitchen hall to the dinning room was removed as the door from the front hall to the living room.
The kitchen had been re-modeled with marble counters, dishwasher, large frig, and stove. The cupboard had been recessed out one wall, and has glass doors. Svava does not like them as when they need to be opened everything sitting on the counter must be moved when they are opened. Both Mark and Svava like earthy plain decorations for wall features.
We had lunch and talked about travelling, art, gardening, you name it. Randal showed them some of the videos he made and a file of pictures he had taken off a computer Mark gave to Geni.
Later when Mark took Randal and I for a walk to show off his neighbourhood . We went through a park, which was the first football field for the Hamilton Football Club.
The Hamilton Tigers were a Canadian football team based in Hamilton ON that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and 1948 to 1949 and in the Inter-provincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1947. The club was a founding member of both the ORFU in 1883 and the IRFU in 1907. Throughout their history, the Tigers won five Grey Cup Championships as well as winning the Dominion Championship in 1908, the year before the Grey Cup was awarded. After struggling to compete on a sound financial level with the Hamilton Wildcats, who had joined the ORFU in 1941 and later the IRFU, the two clubs merged in 1950 to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.The street a block away was the shopping district housed in the old historical building. Randal enjoyed taking pictures of the and I loved the environment.
We stopped in a meat market and purchased delicious sausages for supper. And also a cheese store where meat jerkies were sold. I bought kangaroo, elk and bison, mild and hot ones. We continued walking passing an old Catholic Church, looking at more old homes . Many are covered with vines. The back allies are paved and narrow. Mark parks his car behind his backyard fence. Svava and mark just purchased a pop-up trailer, which they also park there.
When we returned from our walk after five pm, Svava had Mark drive her to the Art Gallery where she volunteered to do some painting. Mark made us supper and Randal and I visited until 8:00 pm.
We had our Nikken order delivered to Marks address and was there for us. To get home we used the GPS, and the kind lady had us back to the campground by 9:00pm.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
"The Fog Day Tour"
Mark came at noon and took Randal and I on a six hour tour of Hamilton, Industrial Area, Burlington, Dundas, Dundurn Castle. We stopped at the Hamilton Art Gallery where Svava spent the weekend painting the walls black for an Art Exhibit.
Mark took us up to the Escarpment (See other doc file in under Journal, 2013 Ontario) for a good view of Hamilton in the fog.
We were near the older section of Juravinski Hospital where a movie production of 2014 Remedy was taking place. This TV series will shown on Global, is being filmed in Toronto and Hamilton. I found this out from a young fellow who was on a lunch break as we were walking in this area. I saw his name tag so I started talking to him.
Dundurn Castle is a historic neoclassical mansion on York Boulevard in Hamilton. The 18,000-square-foot house took three years and $175,000.00 to build, and was completed in 1835 The seventy-two room castle featured the latest conveniences of gas lighting and running water. It is currently owned by the City of Hamilton which purchased it in 1900 for $50,000. The City has spent nearly $3 million renovating the site to make 42 of the original 72 rooms open to the public The rooms have been restored to the year 1855 when its owner Sir Allan Napier MacNab, was at the height of his career. He later was prime minister of the united Province of Canada between 1854 and 1856. The Duchess of Cornwall, a descendant of Sir Allan MacNab, is the Royal Patron of Dundurn Castle. Once built, Dundurn Castle became famous all over the country for its grand entertainments. Sir John A. Macdonald and King Edward VII are among those who have been entertained there. Costumed interpreters guide visitors through the home, illustrating daily life from the 1850s.
The town of Dundas was named by John Graves Simcoe, was Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, for his friend Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, a Scottish lawyer and politician who never visited North America. Prior to being called "Dundas" the town was called Coote's Paradise, and renamed after 1814 to Dundas. Dundas was then incorporated in 1847 as part of Wentworth County.
Before he drove us back to Milton Heights Campground we went to Bread to Table Bread Bar and bakery for a meal. I ordered a very tasty Quinoa Superstar Burger with guacamole, red pepper aioli, arugula.. and salad. Home by 8:00pm
Bread Bar is a living extension of the food philosophy that began when we were writing the Earth to Table cookbook. Earth to Table celebrates what is best about food and is trying to shorten the gap between producers and consumer. Bread Bar has made a commitment to sourcing quality ingredients that are as fresh and local as possible. We offer handcrafted food, made with the finest ingredients for people who want a better quality meal. Good Ingredients Matter!
So remember to "Discover It and Live It".
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