Sunday, September 25, 2011

ROBBLOG# 320


Good Gosh it’s been a beautiful few days.

This is fall?
According to Environment Canada- yes!

They tell us it will be a drier and warmer season, with this kind of weather continuing into late fall- November even. However, a frost is still to be expected sometime in October. Nothing earth-shattering about that- is there? 

Le Nina- a complex weather system, could change things around though, bringing us a cold, snowy winter. Right now we’ll all hope for a warmer than normal and less snow than normal winter season. That would fall right in line with the berries on our Mountain Ash in the front yard. Yes, there are many berries but not laden like last year, a heavy snow year. Maybe not like some winters past. If you remember the winter prior to last year, snow stopped falling soon after Christmas. We had our drive plowed once post-Christmas- on January 2nd I believe, after we had paid our second installment to our snow removal guy on December 27th. He was smiling that year. Last year- not so much.This season a new guy is looking after our needs. We will soon see if he meets them after the first heavy snowfall of the season. 

So, these warm, late summer days-actually fall arrived last Friday, are beautiful.
A gift from “Mother Nature”.
The environment.
Not God.
Since God doesn’t exist, please don’t attribute the kindness of the season to that particular entity. One might just as well be indebted to the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus for brilliant, warm sunny days. If you take “God” in that context- then go ahead and worship her. 

With the warm weather, we took advantage of a brilliant Saturday and headed to the 156th Annual Lindsay Exhibition. It used to be called the Lindsay Central EX when it was located in Downtown Lindsay behind the hospital. The fairgrounds have moved further down Angeline Street to the outskirts of town, right where Angeline Street  meets Highway seven. Today they have branded it “the LEX”.  

It’s a huge site and it is still one of my favourite exhibitions. The Orillia Fair Board could learn a few things from the Lindsay folks. All they have to do is take a one hour drive east and it’s all there. There’s a huge midway. Cattle, horse and goat displays plus a building chock-a-bloc with exhibits. This year there was a show presented by the Bowmanville Zoo featuring many of the animal kingdom stars you’ve seen on Television and on the silver screen. It was exciting! 
Dave Mickie
However, I still vividly remember the old Lindsay Ex grounds with the cement grandstand. I have great memories of the CKLY Radio Bandstand located in Fountain Park with its red and white CKLY sign hanging above the stage. I used to watch groups perform and CKLY 910 Lindsay broadcast “live”. When Dave Mickie (now Marsden) worked for CKLY, it was mesmerizing watching him broadcast “live” on a Saturday afternoon. 

A couple of years ago I was able to tell him just how much those times meant to me. He was on a radio talk show and I called in to speak with him. I told him of the vivid EX memory I had of seeing him “live” and in person!
He told me his memories weren’t quite as “vivid”.
He blamed the 70’s!
Mr. Marsden did say that the time he spent at CKLY was fairly short. He had not been gainfully employed in radio for several months when CKLY approached him- and he accepted. 

Today`s LEX is still a good day of fun – especially on a warm, sunny September day. It seemed like summer with people dressed in shorts and tank tops. Guys walking about the grounds in flip-flops and muscle shirts. There were even a few bare-chested young men taking advantage of the sun`s rays. 

So, be sure to enjoy these warm, lazy, sunshine-filled fall days because winter is still ahead- according to the calendar on my wall!