November catch up and Santa Claus Parade.

 

November 9th, J.J. Ruggers taught a beginners Rug Hooking Class at Waterford Agricultural Museum. Pam, Heather, Linda, Pat and I taught 12 students to make a 5" by 5" mat.

Each student was provided with a hoop, hook and pattern along with some handouts. Heather spoke about the history of rug hooking and we all shared information about some of the hooked pieces we had bought along to show them.

They picked out the colours they wanted to use to make a log cabin pattern. My monochromatic sample is in this photo. The wool was donated by J.J. Ruggers members.

We worked in an area surrounded by displays depicting the history of the area with a focus on agriculture, in a building that had once been a pickle factory.

Looking for a different place to walk, Rick and I went to the little park near Selkirk that we had walked back in the days of Covid. Iffy looking weather

but it didn't actually rain.

We watched a Bald Eagle fly into a tree and then realized that there were 2 there.

Back at home, all that splashing

is another feeding frenzy on the lake.

Rick and I watched, literally, thousands of birds fly in. Streaming "Vs" of ducks and swooping gulls. All feeding before heading south.

Janis had the idea to use the tetrahedrons (that we use for the start/finish line when racing) in the Santa Claus parade. So this week we worked out how to change them in to Tetra Claus.

We worked in Janis and Brian's garage which is also where the Sailing School float was decorated. Then they were transported to the start of the parade route.

All the floats waited near the harbourside condos for Santa to arrive by fishing tug, escorted by the Coast Guard.

The L.P.Bay Y. C. are in the marina where Spellbound is docked.

They won Best Christmas Themed Float. That's a Tetra Claus coming to congratulate them.

The PDYC Race Division has had the walking boats in the parade for over 10 years now but this year only one walked.

We are all getting older, so this year

most of them became sitting boats,

on a trailer with waves along the sides.

Won Best Non-Commercial Float.

I didn't get to see Santa arrive but suddenly we were moving out.

Someone suggested that the Tetras should be one at the front and one at the back of the race division float representing the start and the finish lines.

So that's what we did. I pulled mine up to the front (photo by Rick)

and Janice had hers at the back. The Sailing School followed us. (Photo by Rick)

 We went up the hill, through downtown, left on Nelson, back down George St and deposited Santa at the Lighthouse Theatre for kids to go and visit. The streets were lined with people, waving, calling "Merry Christmas" at times. Candy was given out. The bag that Rick was using broke and he said there was a childrens "feeding frenzy" when the candy spilled out. The younger kids seemed to love the Tetra Santas but older ones didn't know what to make of them and as we were rolling away, after the end, a woman asked what they were. She had thought they were some kind of blow up pizza.

Back in the truck, he doesn't look too happy that his time in the spotlight is over. He will be deflated, returned to storage and next summer its back to the weekly grind (get blown up, transported out into the lake, anchored in a spot, see the boats go by, one, two, sometimes 3 times, get pulled back in a boat, deflated, put back in the shed until next race)

We stopped to pet the Belgiums that had pulled Santa in the parade and then dove up to Simcoe and watched the documentary about the Port Dover Commercial Fishery, "Netting the Waters". It was excellent. Followed by dinner at The Barrel. Altogether a wonderful day.