Thanksgiving outing at Upper Canada Village

Yesterday we met up with our friends Patrick and Marie-Emmanuelle and our godson Benjamin for an outing at beautiful Upper Canada Village. It was the last day of the regular season, but their Pumpkinferno event runs until the end of October. 

The temperatures dropped yesterday (high of 8C) but it was a gorgeous fall day...

The sawmill is one of our favourite buildings...

Ben loved it too! Such a little boy.

Gordon hangs out with the cute couple and our adorable godson.

These pumpkins are made out of some kind of styrofoam, but they were all hand-carved by young artists from the eastern Ontario region. At night, everything lights up! I'd like to go back and see it all in the dark. That's a pumpkin moose on the right.

Pumpkin totem poles, too!

The fall foliage is gorgeous right now.

And here's the Union Cheese Factory...

...where my friend Eugene the cheesemaker works:

He looks angelic here. He's not. HAHAHAHA!

We are both beekeepers and first met through our local beekeeping association. He likes to give me a hard time, but he has a soft spot for kids...

He was happy finally to meet little Ben yesterday.

  

Ben wasn't so sure at first.

But then he took to Eugene like a duck to water!

And a good time was had by all!

Including the little piglets running around the village.

They'd belly up to the milk bar from time to time...

...then go back out on their adventures. They got along famously with this little dog! (You can bring leashed dogs to the Village.)

Here are the boys enjoying some man-time together.

But what is little Benjamin so fascinated by?

 The Village Blacksmith! Ben looooves blacksmiths. He first saw one at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum Harvest Festival last month. I think I might have to buy Ben an anvil for his first birthday!

Here's the blacksmith talking to his "boy!"

Nice upper body strength!

And he does beautiful work.

The blacksmith shop was fun, but the bakery smelled better..

They make 200 whole wheat loaves a day, which are all sold in the gift shop. There's usually a line-up for the bread and it sells out fast.

This was the last baking session of the season. About 120 loaves fit in the wood-burning oven at once.

And here are a couple of handsome looking oxen...

Idyllic, really.

Such a beautiful time of year.

The village has a tinsmith too! This is in the tenant farmer's house.

I thought this scene would make a nice painting.

And there's a little lighthouse between the canal and the St. Lawrence River. It's funny to see the odd ocean-going freighter drift by. Doesn't exactly fit with the era of the village!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends! Hallowe'en is coming.