Barrie

There are 13 posts tagged Barrie (this is page 1 of 3).

Rockhounds in Ontario and Canada

A rockhound is an amateur geologist or collector of rocks, minerals and gemstones. It’s not always about the value or selling them. Not for me. I like the history of rocks. Such ancient things, far older than even the oldest of trees. Eroded by time and the elements (mostly water) found on and under land, sea and space, small enough to fit into a pocket or far too massive to consider moving at all. How can anyone not find even the most common rock a bit interesting.

There is some difference between being an ordinary rock collector and someone who actually knows whether the rock they just picked up (because it looks interesting) is a gem, mineral, or just another rock. I’m the ordinary rock type of beachcomber, streetcomber, forestcomber, (even though only one of those is a considered a real word at this time).

I like rocks, sometimes I carry one home in my pocket. It’s a casual hobby. But, I couldn’t say for sure whether the rocks I keep are anything but an interesting looking rock. I did study geology in high school, so I know (remember) a little about how rocks are formed.

Ontario (I live in Ontario) with links found for the other Canadian provinces afterwards.

Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club
The Niagara Peninsula Geological Society – St Catharines
Barrie Gem and Mineral Club (Currently inactive).
The Gem and Mineral Club of Scarborough – Toronto

The British Columbia Lapidary Society
Victoria Lapidary and Mineral Society
Ripple Rock and Gem Mineral Club – Campbell River
Port Moody Rock and Gem Club

Alberta Federation of Rock Clubs 
Southern Alberta Rockhounds Association
Edmonton Tumblewood Lapidary Club
Calgary Rock and Lapidary Club

Prairie Rock and Gem Society – Regina, Saskatchewan

Montreal Gem and Mineral Club Quebec

The Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies
Mineralogical Association of Canada 
Gem and Mineral Federation of Canada

Do you know all of these, what they are or even more about each of them? They are all connected to rocks in some way. Not on this list was rock piling or stacking. I’ve seen people turn them into bridges which continue to stand without anything but friction and gravity keeping them together. Also, Inukshuks, traditionally used for navigation and communication in northern Canada.

  • lapidary
  • tumbling
  • carving
  • sculpture
  • architecture
  • fossils
  • geology
  • paleontology
  • prospecting

List from: Virtual Museum of the History of Mineralogy

Did you Know About Milk Tokens?

Found at an Etsy shop with this information:

From the late 19th century through the 1960s and 1970s, dairy distributors of Canada issued tokens as monetary substitutes for convenient home delivery. They also served as advertising.

Kemptville, I think, is now part of Barrie, Ontario. So a bit more local history for Ontario. I didn’t know there were tokens like this. But, I do remember milk still being delivered when I was a kid living in what is now the eastern edge of Scarborough, Ontario. It used to be Port Union, but not known by the name of the original town any more.

Old Barrie Buildings in Vintage Postcards

I like the vintage postcards even better than the photographs. I collected postcards for years and the older cards were always my favourites, when I could find one. Likely that postcard collecting has stayed with me.

Some of these buildings (if not all) are demolished. The waterfront image helps to show where they were.

Not Quite Being a Paranormal Writer

I applied for the Paranormal topic at About.com today. But, I tried 3 times over the afternoon, the site keeps giving me a 404 error when I send the application. So, for personal posterity, here is what I sent.

Time travel, mad science, aliens, cryptozoology, the supernatural, lost worlds, the unexplained, weird science, history, and magic absorb me. I would enjoy exploring and writing more about these topics and others for About.com. Of course, it isn’t possible to write about anything without burying yourself in it and exploring your way out again, eventually. Getting lost is part of the adventure and with anything paranormal getting lost is expected. We don’t have all the answers, if we did it would all just be science.

I am an urban explorer, photographer, history geek, Pagan, artist and I’ve just joined the local archivist group in Barrie, Ontario.

I love history and old places. I’ve been interested in the paranormal since I was a kid but I’ve grown to be skeptical about a lot of it. I do believe there are mysteries and unexplained things we just are not able to understand with our current knowledge. I like theories and I will read about pretty strange, unexplained and unusual stuff but I like to make sense of it in some way. I also like reading theories I don’t agree with because we need to hear from both sides and, often, you can find something that does make sense or gives you better insight from those who disagree with you.

I believe in ghosts and I believe places can be haunted, but I am not a ghost hunter. I have a friend who runs a ghost hunting group in Colorado but I don’t think it is really possible to make contact with ghosts or spirits on our level of existence. I do believe in reincarnation. I do believe places can be haunted but not by ghosts who can interact with living humans. I don’t think anyone is going to be having a social cup of tea with a ghost. Ghosts are something leftover from life. I prefer to think we don’t hang around after death but get recycled/ reincarnated and move on to something new instead. Possibly not always a human being, people seem to take that for granted.

I photograph old and abandoned houses, mostly in rural Ontario. I’ve been doing so for more than 10 years now. I’ve never seen a ghost or felt a presence. I did get attacked by bees, birds and once I think I stepped on a frog – that was the grossest thing. Afterwards I couldn’t find it but it still squicks me (gives me sick shivers). I’ve also seen my share of mummified animals. But, it’s the living animals which usually keep me from entering an abandoned house. I also don’t like the idea of trespassing beyond what I feel is polite. I am Canadian.

I have been a Pagan since my college days, officially. I always questioned religion but didn’t do much about it until I was out in the world, on my own. I think of myself as an Atheist Earth Witch because I don’t believe in gods but I do believe in life, nature and people. I’m a quiet Pagan, a lot of what I do is personal, just for myself. But, I do like to help anyone who is interested in learning more.

I read about issues involving ecology, history and science. These seem very connected to me. If I could go back in time (and not die right away) I would like to be an alchemist. They didn’t just get stuck at turning things into gold. They were early scientists in the time of herbalists and Witches. No doubt they had thousands of great theories which didn’t get written down somewhere – or more likely did get scribbled out somewhere, had something spill on it and wound up being used for kindling.

Looking forward to getting started!

Laura

Social Media:

I am an editall editor at dmoz. I’m careful about how I use this but it does enable me to at least list my sites.
Twitter is my favourite social media but I do have Facebook and other sources, like Scoop.it. I have three active blogs, two of those are listed on Alltop, Writing and History topics.
http://laurabrown.ca/
http://wordgrrls.com/
http://wreckyratbird.com/
http://asciiartist.com/
https://twitter.com/thatgrrl
https://www.flickr.com/people/thatgrrl/
http://thatgrrl.tumblr.com/
http://pinterest.com/thatgrrl/
https://www.facebook.com/ThatGrrl
https://ello.co/thatgrrl
http://www.scoop.it/u/laura-brown
http://www.dmoz.org/editors/profile/view?editor=shedragon

Barrie in the Ontario Highway 11 Blog

The following is my comment on the post about Barrie, on the site about places along Highway 11 in Ontario.

I think your review of Barrie was good. I’ve been here about 10 years now. I grew up in Port Union, Ontario, before it became Scarborough, and after. Barrie is pretty suburban still. Downtown Barrie still has a lot of bars and drinking night life. The box malls and shopping in general didn’t get into downtown Barrie, just the outskirts. It helps keep traffic from being completely locked up during weekends when there are people out shopping and even more people navigating the cottage highway. There is a new mall going up not far from where I am. It will be right at the highway turn off for Duckworth, where the hospital and Georgian College are. The two lane bridge which ran under the highway is being done over. A big project but it has been needed for a long time. Living in Barrie I especially like being on the lake and actually seeing it. I grew up on Lake Ontario and I have missed having a big lake nearby – it was one of the reasons I picked Barrie. Last note, for anyone traveling to Barrie in the winter, it does get colder here as we are at least a couple of snow belts up from the weather in the GTA.

Source: Barrie | Ontario Highway 11 Blog

Nice idea for a blog/ site. If you are along the highway have a look at your town.