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Alberta
Photo Essay

British Columbia
BC - Mainland Photo Essay
Vancouver Island Photo Essay

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King's Landing

Nova Scotia
Amherst Shore to Pictou
Brier Island Whale Watching
Digby to Annapolis Royal
Granville to Windsor
Photo Essay
Parrsboro to Amherst
Truro to Parrsboro
Windsor to Truro
Yarmouth to Digby

Ontario - North
Autumn Splendor
Driving the TransCanada - The Sault to Wawa
Driving the TransCanada - Wawa to Thunder Bay
North of Superior - Armstrong
North of Superior - Nipigon to Armstrong
North of Superior - Sault Ste. Marie to Terrace Bay
  Sudbury Rocks!
A Woman's Work is Never Done

Ontario - South
A 'Grand' Canyon
A Wee Bit o’ Perth
Christmas in the Valley
Kate Aitken
Lucy Maud
Mennonite Country
Teepee Camping
Tractormania
Fergus - Rural Ontario's Scottish Town

Quebec
Corridor #132 Grosse Ile through Bay St Laurent to Gaspe
Highway #132, L’Islet to Matane
Highway #132, Matane to Gaspe
Highway #132, Perce to Matapedia
Photo Essay
Photo Essay 2
Montmorency Falls, Ile d'Orleans and the Cote de Beaupre
Quebec City's Historical Treasures
Quebec's Old City & Petit Champlain
The Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships Photo Essay

Festivals
Apple Butter & Cheese
Bee-Town
Blyth
Brighton's AppleFest
Celtic Festival
Elvis Festival
Festival of the Maples
Headwaters Country
Herb Festival
Maple Madness
Northern Lights
Pow Wow
Pumpkin Festival
Scarecrow Festival
Split Rail Festival
Thanksgiving


USA
Connecticut
Introduction
Litchfield
Mystic
Quiet Corner
River Valley

Kentucky
Country Music Highway
Golden Triangle - Photo Essay
Golden Triangle
Kentucky
Kentucky East
Kentucky North
Kentucky South
Kentucky South-Central
River Corridor

Maine
Bar Harbor
Bounding Maine
Classic Maine

Massachusetts
Old Sturbridge Village
Pittsfield
Shelburne

New Hampshire
Mount Washington

New York State
Adirondack's Autumn Surprises
Autumn in the Adirondacks
Grandma Moses
More Than Baseball
Lake Placid

North Carolina
Cape Lookout to Cape Fear
Cruising the Coast
From Sea to Mountain
My Heart's in the Highlands
The Gardens of Eden
Western Reaches - Hidden Treasures Photo Essay
Western Reaches of North Carolina

Ohio
The Quiet Land

Pennsylvania
Beautiful York
Bridges; Markets
Architecture
Festivals, Frolics
The History Trail
The Johnstown Flood

Rhode Island
Newport

South Carolina
Beaufort, Bluffton
& Hilton Head
Charleston and Area
Myrtle Beach
Olde English District
Photo Essay
Thoroughbred Country
Upcountry

Tennessee
Cumberland Highlands
Eastern Tennessee
Knoxville, Norris, Oak Ridge & The Gap
North & East of Nashville
North & West of Nashville
Pickett County - Photo Essay
Photo Essay
South & East of Nashville
South & West of Nashville
The World of Dale Hollow

Vermont
Christmas Village
Bennington
Middlebury Inn

Virginia
Williamsburg

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Britain
Jewels of the North
Breezy Blackpool
Witches and Hot Pot
A Lightning Tour

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Egypt
Egypt

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Greece
The Island of Crete

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Italy
Ancient Rome
Renaissance Rome
Pompeii

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Some tips on
Living Simply
 
 

Tips on home projects for sale
 

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By Pat Mestern
 

North of the Border has felt like south of the Border the past few days. Thanks Texas for the heat! It would be appreciated though if you can figure how to send it north in January. I'm not complaining. Heat dries out the old house. Speaking of old house, one can only do the following if they have a dungeon for a basement. On the hottest day of the year I clean out my freezer. All the accumulated ice is thrown on the floor by the open furnace doors - those that remain open during the summer to draw the cool air from the basement floor. I enjoy the cool air provided by air flowing over ice until it melts. Our basement is so deep underground that there is always cooler air to circulate during the summer months. We have live-in toads - no bugs.

To answer some of your questions regarding home revenue producing projects, I have turned my hand to all sorts of home based money making projects. You can too by using your special skills and some marketing savvy.

Having perfected the art of bread baking, I turned it into a profit by approaching the local museum (which has outreach programs) and offering bread baking courses. They leapt at the opportunity and gave their facilities free. Mom and I taught bread baking courses in the autumn and spring of each year. Each course consisted of three days and we repeated them three times. Each attendee paid $50 for the privilege of learning how to make various breads. The cost of the supplies was included in the $50. We cleared $40 per person profit. We registered thirty people for each three-day course. First week they learned all about basic bread making and made two loaves of white bread to take home. Second week covered specialty breads with one loaf to take home. Third week covered sweet breads with one loaf for home. Sure, it was hard work but mom and I enjoyed bread making - and passing our knowledge on to others. Of course we donated a bit of our profit back to the museum. When I was ready to reenter the work force, this museum was the first to give me a job. Does some institution in your community offer adult education courses? Do you have a special talent you can teach others?

Cookies were a household specialty. When the neighbours began asking for recipes (neighbourhood children were all familiar with the product) I turned the tables and asked if I could bake cookies for them at @$1.50 per dozen (1970's prices). As many women worked away from home, they leapt at the suggestion. My baking list expanded to pies and tarts. The business was so successful that I finally had to give it up! It was either hire staff or expand to a bakeshop. I did not want to bake the rest of my life. A friend was so successful with cookie making in a city high rise that she eventually opened a shop and made a boodle!

Do you enjoy doing embroidery work? Needing a fall jacket, I purchased a basic blue denim jacket from a local farm co-op. As it was very plain, I took out needle and embroidery cotton and "spiffied it up" a little. I worked peacocks on the pockets and flowers on the collar, down the front edges and along the bottom. I was unprepared for the reaction it received. Men and women wanted to know where it had been purchased. After an explanation, many women said they could not embroider. Well now, did I have a deal for them! For only $125.00 they to could own a jacket - even choose their designs. (The jackets at the time cost only $15.00). I completed more than fifty jackets AND could complete one on three weeks by *needling* whenever I had spare time. I also did special event cushions covers - weddings, child’s birth, Anniversary - designing each individually.

How about giving historical walking tours of your community at $2.00 per head?. I was also a step-on guide for area bus tours @ $3.00 per head. Sign up with the local tourism authority for this one - BUT - be historically wise about your community and area. Sure, every community has a history. Break new ground. Create your own tour and offer it to heritage groups within a one hundred-mile radius of your area. I still do walking and bus tours on rare occasions and love the ghost tours best!

How about doing home computing for local doctors, dentists & etc.? One neighbour is working a few hours a week @ $10.00 per hour, computing file information for a small medical centre, who are low on staff because two staff members are on leave. She sent an information sheet around to offices and industry offering her in-home computer services and asked that they keep the information on file. She was honest and said she was a home mom, trying to assist with the bills. She was pleased with the feedback she received - including a job offer when she decided to return to work.

Think about the special talents you have - those talents you are garnering as a home mom/dad. Get a few books on marketing a small business out of the local library and go for gold. Start very small. Do not put much money into supplies. Turn the first profits back into supplies - promotion and have a great time. When it becomes hard work, decide if you want to do it the rest of your life. If the answer is yes, carry on. If the answer is no, go on to the next project waiting in the wings.

How can I afford to garden? You are talking about flowers no doubt. Visiting garden centres can be a financially draining experience. Friends, neighbours and gardening groups i.e. Greenspaces, are great at sharing roots, cutting and seeds. I allow myself $50. worth of annuals and perennials each year. A community plant exchange is held each spring and fall. Plants are exchanged one for one. No money changes hands - just good healthy stock.

Where to find recipes cheap: Do I have a scoop for you. Many of the large manufacturers of food, and the organizations representing the growers have recipe booklets that you can obtain for the price of a letter. Take a look on the product for an address, or source the organization through the Internet i.e. Tender Fruit Growers Association, Milk Marketing Board. Write and ask that they send you any free recipe booklets and pamphlets they have concerning their product(s). Several spice companies offer charts and recipe booklets too.

I made a collection of this material for each of my children - male and female. It was a great addition to their *marriage chest* and the companies did not mind sending bulk materials when it was explained where they were going. Ditto with the bread baking courses. Manufacturers of flour and yeast were happy to send quantities of their booklets for handouts. Oh yes, I am working on STONEHOME COOKERY, a book that will include cheap and filling recipes with a Canadian bent.

About that confounded EH!. Yep, Canadians are a peculiar lot. Their language includes a verbal question mark - the venerable *EH?* What do you think of that, eh? No, we do not know when to insert EH. It appears to be in a Canadian’s genes that the EH is automatically inserted at the right spot in a sentence, obviously at the end. See what I mean, eh? And Canadian’s do not expect an answer after saying EH. Dear me, no. They expect frugality of words. And if you try to emulate them, they will look surprised and say *Canajien, EH?*

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