Around the Valley

A few days ago I was visiting a friend who lives down the valley close to the village of Kimberley. I noticed this old barn up behind the beautiful home created by my friend and her husband. A lovely example of early pioneer log construction, they are restoring it. He is a contractor who lately has been working on many barns around the area.

With so many barns falling down and being neglected, it's encouraging to see this respect for our forefathers and for the ones who settled here in the 1800s. The landscape is covered in trees where the settlers found it too difficult to farm, but used the wood from the forests on the hillsides for building log huts, then cabins, barns and eventually the cabins were covered over with board and batten and upgraded to more "genteel" living.

There's something rather majestic I think about this old barn. I was quite thrilled to see its repair so close to being finished - that's no mean feat.

And to the right almost next door, overlooking this barn and Kimberley is another of the dolomite cliffs that mark the Niagara Escarpment and this area. Old Baldy is the name given by "newcomers" to this particular sentinel. Again there are lovely pathways clearly marked along its edge. It is a popular place for a hike - sometimes families "come home" for special holidays and make a family expedition to the paths and along the cliffs edges to capture memories and photos.

This particular area has so many glorious views. Everywhere you look, there is something to be enjoyed or a different perspective of something one might see every day. Even with the grey skies of recent weather, it's worth looking up or out to see what we so often take for granted.