Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather

Brother, Uncle, Great-Uncle

Electrician, Actor

Which ever had he wore he wore it well.

Today, on this glorious sunny day, a rare one this Fall, my Father lost his older Brother. It was time, if there is such a thing, for him to go. He has been with us all these many years, but this past one has been a bit harder for him.

Uncle Doug was the funny guy. An electrician by trade but an Actor by love he was always hamming it up for us. Giving all of us cousins something to laugh about. Whether it be a story from his childhood or a tale from one of his shows she always kept us in stitches.

On their 50th Wedding Anniversary 5 1/2 years ago.

His love for his Children, Grandchildren (Great-Grandchildren), Neices, Nephews was amazing. He, along with my Aunt, made sure to make the trip from Montréal to visit with a new Great-Neice or Nephew if we took too long to go and see them.

Great-Uncle Doug holding sweet Apple at 2 months old.

In addition to all of his activities in the Theatre and with friends, he always made time to be the Family Historian. Tracking down our ancestry so we could all know where we came from. We were not just descendants from Indiana and Montréal but, from so much more. Our roots go back to Europe, we have race car drivers in our family, Barrons, farmers and well, Housewives in Ottawa. Uncle Doug researched everything the old fashioned way and I only hope his filing system was as good as my Dad’s so we can all benefit from all of his research.

We will miss you Uncle Doug. From all of us in this great big family that you have been a blessing to, We Love You.

Some of the clan at the 50th Anniversary.

This is a long overdue post, mostly because we finally made our long overdue first visit.

If you live in Barrhaven and travel Woodroffe Avenue you will pass by the Veggie Trail Farms.  They are open seasonally and showcase a beautiful variety of local farmers (including the owner) produce.  In addition to produce, they also offer berries, fresh meat, jams and Christmas trees among other local treats.

My Dad and Mom have been visiting Veggie Trails since it opened (I am going to say six years ago??).  Dad often stops and picks up a basket of fresh fruit in the summer or tomatoes in the fall, whatever he feels like having he picks up and leaves them out for Mom to cook up something delicious.  Dad has often wondered why we don’t stop by.  And quite frankly, I don’t know.

I see the sign, I am getting groceries and I don’t stop.  Maybe because I rarely carry cash and figured that that is what they use, I don’t have a proper answer for that.  But, I did appologize to the owner for not having stopped before.

But, today, it all changed.  We needed a pumpkin for J.  Yes, after all the planning and decorating we didn’t have a pumpkin.  On our way home from shopping, J asked if we were going to stop for a pumpkin just at the moment we were passing by Veggie Trail Farms.  I said to Hubby, “they have some nice big ones there,  should we turn around?” to which he replied, “we always want to stop there, today is the day.”

As I write this you only have today and tomorrow to benefit from the bounty we saw.  As after tomorrow they will only be open at Christmastime for Trees and fresh organic turkeys.  That is, until next year.

The beautiful produce was impressive.  Meaning to only stop for a pumpkin, I left with a $12 basket (End of season basket sale $12, $18 & $30 – Fill them until they are full!!) which got me all of this:

We also grabbed some tomatoes and garlic, all local (no tomato pictures because Hubby made us toasted tomato sandwiches before I had the chance to take a picture).

I almost feel like going back tomorrow and getting another basket with more squash and potatoes.  The owner was telling me how easy it was to store them in my basement and how the squash, potatoes and apples will easily carry me through the winter if I did it all properly.  In other words if I did it the old fashion way.  Very tempting.

If you haven’t stocked up yet or want to get out and support local farmers, tomorrow is the last day they are open until Christmastime.  We may even get our tree there this year and our turkey too!  This may have been our first visit but, it certainly won’t be our last.