3 posts tagged “woodstock”
We got a funny call last night from my sister, Sarah Jane. "Would you like to come with Mom and me to see the Holiday Train. You'll have to hurry and get dressed" **Note to non-Canadian readers: Getting dressed at this time of the year means long-johns, ski-pants, layers of fleece, 2 kinds of gloves and a double layer of hats - a toque and a fleece hood - getting "dressed" for winter.
We went to the bridge on Hwy 59 and saw the train come in, then drove down to the old CPR station down by the Tube to join in with the crowd. One of the box cars opened up and there was a full stage with lights inside. I didn't catch the name of the group of women singing (they said they were from Newfoundland, a little research tells me it was probably Ennis) but Colin Linden was one of the guitar players.
The Holiday Train has been going across Canada and the northern United States, stopping in communities to help bring in food and money for local foodbanks since 1999.
I think that's a brilliant idea.
They were great to shoot and easy to photography as you can see from the pictures. We were down by Pittock Lake in Woodstock for these shots. You can tell from the middle picture how windy it was down by the water.
Thanks for a great day you two!
Moving back to Woodstock has been a pretty strange thing (I haven't lived in this area since 1990). On one hand it's pretty fun showing Beth around and commenting on how much things have both changed and stayed the same and on the other hand it is just so strangely full of memories.
We took Grandpa to the Norwich Meat Packers yesterday so he could show us where to get the best steaks and all-beef wieners in the county. We figured it would be good for us to know and good for Grandpa to get out of the house for a bit. Being at the meat packers just reminded me so much of the times when I'd go with my mom when she was having some of our beef custom-cut (we used to have a freezer with a 1/2 or a 1/4 of beef in it from one of our own cattle).
Funny that I would run into this today: the World Livestock Auctioneer Championships. That is something that I remember clearly from childhood (it must have been at the Royal): the crowd, the sawdust with a hint of manure spell and the sound of the auctioneers.
Here's a couple of winners (see audio below).
2007 Champion Trent Stewart from Redmond Oregon and the last Canadian to win: Dan Skeels from Rimbey, Alberta.
Thanks to cactus22minus1 on Flickr for the CC licensed photo.
