Belmont Corn Maize

No, that's not a spelling mistake on my part, that's what it's actually called, the Belmont Corn Maize; I think it's a rather cute and clever play on words. Anyway, onto the article!

About 15 minutes southeast of London, Ontario is a small town called Belmont which, for the most part, is not exactly the most exciting of tourist spots. But, if you go there in the fall from the beginning of September to the end of October you'll find a special treat; a 10 acre corn maze!

Each year Don and Lin Farquhar play host to one of the largest corn mazes in Canada.

The shape of the maze changes drastically from year to year, I'm not 100% sure but I think the shape is determined based on a yearly sponsor; usually a logo of some sort. This year the shape was the logo for the Husky Travel Centre.

The corn stalks that were used in making this maze were about 6.5ft (about 2m), so tall enough for both adults and children to "get lost" in the maze. I'd say that it took Craig and I about 45 minutes to get through the entire maze and that was without getting lost once; so obviously it would take much longer for the directionally impaired.

In addition to the corn maze itself the Farquhar's have also added a mini maze and a cornbox for the little ones, for which I sadly did not get a photo of. But basically it's a sandbox but instead of sand there are dried corn kernels in it (like unpopped popcorn, you know?).

As if that weren't enough a little Halloween fun to the mix by adding scary decorations as well as "haunting" the maze every weekend after dark.

It's not far from London, and it's not expensive either, this year's prices were $7.50 for adults to do the regular maze and $9.00 per person to do the haunted maze when it's on; they also have family packages available.

It was a nice way to spend an afternoon, so if you're in the neighbourhood you should go check it out!

Before and After

Weather is a funny thing in Canada, it can change quite drastically over the course of a few minutes. For example, this photo was taken today (Oct. 12, 2006) at 12:24pm.

And this photo, taken of the same place only a few minutes after at 12:36pm.

Weather in Canada can often be like this, stormy one minute, sunny the next. While I wouldn't say that this is overly common weather it does tend to happen at least once or twice a year in the Ontario region. In fact as the season draws closer to Halloween there should be more snow in the forecast and it will probably stay by the time Oct 31 comes around.

Note: If you're interested in seeing a few seconds of this storm in action I have a video.

Going to the Fair

This Friday the Western Fair opened for the season and since I was entered into one of their competitions Craig and I thought we might as well see what was going on this year.

There were many different competitions going on including more traditional types like quilting and baking, as well as more unconventional types like the Ugly Lamp contest... bleh!


There was also a scarecrow contest as well as potato peeling, apple peeling and corn husking, all in hopes of winning a grand prize rosette from the fair.


In addition to the competitive festivities there were also fun rides including this beauty, the world's largest trailer mounted ferris wheel. It's 30 metres high, weighs about 100 tons and takes 25 hours to setup. Good thing the fair is around for another 2 weeks! :D

After walking around for a bit it was time for Winn's Aerial Circus show so we went over to the west side of the fair. The show started shortly after we sat down with some trapeeze acts as well as a very cool act involving a swinging hoop mawhich I'm currently unable to find the name of. However, at it's highest point it was above the height of the tightrope.

The show went on for about 30 minutes and was pretty good considering it was a road show. We even stayed after the show to see the human canonball act. David Smith Jr. was his name, he's shown in a Guiness Book of World records video as traveling the longest distance as a human being shot out of a cannon. He's also the same man to be fired across the Grand Canyon at 80km/h with Donald Trump pushing the trigger.

As night fell over the fair the lights came on and the place was as lively as ever. Craig and I decided to end the night by taking a ride on the ferris wheel we both agreed would give us the perfect overview of the fair at night.

So, was it worth it? I'd say so, I know some people who have said that it's too expensive to go to the fair these days, but for $10 a person (adult) I'd say it isn't that bad at all. Plus, if you wanna go back for a second time they even give you a $5 coupon off for your next visit.

Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival

This weekend my family and I went to the Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place. We started our day by going nextdoor to The Exhibition (aka The Ex) and then crossing the bridge over to Ontario Place after dinner.

The festival is a once in a lifetime opportunity since this kind of thing doesn't happen everywhere. One of the more interesting lanterns that was created was this ceramic dragon that was made completely out of Chinese plates, bowls and spoons!

Because we arrived just as the festival was starting the sky wasn't too dark yet so we had the opportunity to view the lanterns in the daylight and then again in the dark when they were lit up.

As you walked down the pathways there was a slight smell of cedar from the chips that were strewn on either side of the pathways used for visitors. This was to keep the mosquitos away since they don't like cedar, good thinking!

The festival ends on October 1st, 2006 and I would highly suggest that if you haven't seen it yet go see!

London Hot Air Balloon Festival 2006

Yesterday Craig and I went to the London Hot Air Balloon Festival in Harris Park. We arrived a little after 6pm and made our way down to the festivities down by the river.

The night's events started with the ascention of the Canada Flag balloon; it took a few minutes to inflate it ...

...but it was soon on it's way (Approx 6.9Mb).

It was then onto the rest of the balloons which were slowly inflated a few at a time due to the limited space on the field; it was quite noisy with all the fans going.

There were all sorts of balloons flying about that afternoon of all shapes and sizes.

After the balloons floated away we walked around for a bit and eventually got something to eat, there were all sorts of vendors there selling food of all different kinds. There were of course the usual fare of burgers, fries and funnel cakes but there were also more culturally diverse selections including Italian, Mexican, Nigerian and Greek.

Once the sun started to dip down onto the horizon the balloons had returned and it was time for the "Friday Night Balloon Glow". The balloon operators anchored the balloons to the ground and lit up the balloons with a bright burst of flame from the burners.

To add to the festivities of food and balloon they also had live bands playing in the beer gardens, some famous and some not; the band Sloan is scheduled to play tonight.

Craig and I had a good time and I even had a chance to play around with some night photography. My only complaint is that I wish there had been more balloons, otherwise it was a great time.

Strawberry Picking at Heeman's Farm

Well I'm back in London now and to start the summer off right Craig and I went strawberry picking! It's just nearing somewhere between the midpoint and the end of the picking season so I think we got in at a good time. Heeman's always has a good lot of berries to pick even though their wagon is slower than a snail to get there. Craig was sitting next to this old man who said, "I think it'd be faster to walk there!" I tend to agree.

Just before we arrived at our designated picking rows we heard a woman behind us reminding her children not to eat too many of the berries, "moderation" was the word she used. "Remember last year? You ate too many berries and then you threw up?" her kid was like, "No, that wasn't me."

We ended up picking 2 baskets worth of strawberries, so about 12 quarts which came to a total of about $16 plus the $1.70 for the 2 baskets that we used. Strawberries are pretty cheap when you pick them yourself, and very tasty too! Once home we decided to do various things with them, including making jam, freezing them and keeping some of the bigger ones fresh to eat as is.