We live in town, right on the main street as a matter of fact. About a 5 minute walk from the main downtown shopping area, and directly across from the hospital. The street is busy, and dusty and you see all manner of things living here. Sitting on our front porch watching the world go by is an interesting pastime for us.

At various times through the year, the parades hosted on the main street go by our house; the Scottish Festival, the Santa Claus Parade, a few others I don't pay as much attention to. We have ringside seats.

During the spring to autumn months, vintage cars of all descriptions, as well as motorcycles, parade past our front door in a fairly regular stream. So do people on foot; the elderly, the young, the not so young, people with dogs on leashes, people with babies in strollers, even a lady with a dog in a stroller; people on crutches, people with odd clothing and incredible hairstyles, teenagers on skateboard, kids on bikes, people inebriated by their choice of alcohol and drug. Some of it's pleaseant, some of it's not, but most of it is interesting to watch on warm summer evening.

On a daily basis we pray as fire engines, ambulances and police cars scream by our house, sometimes stopping within site of our front door - sometimes we see fender benders, sometimes family spats, sometimes a 'raid', once, a 'standoff' a couple of doors up the street where a man had barricaded himself and his family in an apartment in a duplex.

Not long after we moved here we had people just walk into our home off the street - once a mistake, the man thought he had the artists studio next door to us, and another time a woman who had too much to drink walked in and ordered us to phone her a taxi. My husband showed her out the front door. From then on, we kept a latch on the screen door.

In the years we've lived here we've had a number of things stolen from the front (can't really call it a yard since it's a couple of steps from the sidewalk) - planters with plants in them, plants taken out of the planters, plants that have been dug out with a shovel from the garden, stepping stones, garden signs, a snow shovel, a hose, even rocks. Just ordinary rocks, not the kind you pay for, but the big ones you pick up anywhere in the countryside out of a ditch. Who would bother to dig up and steal a rock? Someone also took a liking to the city's "No Parking" sign on the boulevard out front - one morning we found it mysteriously missing.

I made my own garden signs and stepping stones from concrete and stained glass, the signs of hand painted wood, so I just kept replacing them for the first few years. After a while though, you get a little tired of it. Finally, the last garden stone I made had a large ring of iron embedded in it before the concrete dried and my husband chained it to one of the yew trees out front. I buried the chain in the garden so it looked fine. Two or three nights after I put it in the garden, someone tried to make off with it. I'm sure whoever it was ended up with a sore shoulder the next day. We found it in the middle of the sidewalk with one corner broken off, but still attached to it's chain. From the look of it, someone had grabbed and tried to run with it - when it came to the end of it's chain, it likely gave the runner a pretty good jerk. It's still in the front garden.

Besides having things taken, we've had things left - an unending stream of garbage and cigarette butts: candy wrappers, rubber gloves, kleenex, baindaids, paper bags, plastic bags, coffee cups, pop tins, gum, grocery receipts, cardboard from toys and games, socks and gloves, beer bottles and many other things. Some of it tossed from passing cars, some of from the walkers, some of it from the O'brien Street Medical Centre next door to us. Lots of garbage has the medlab labels on it, and I'm sure that's where the rubber gloves come from - that or the hospital since they are those white things medical personnel wear. Sometimes we have broken glass too. The worst is the doggy doo... All of this ends up in my front garden, including the dog deposits. My morning ritual consists of going outside with a plastic grocery bag (which they are trying to ban) and picking up the rubbish. In a month, the amount of rubbish I have to clean up fills one large green garbage bag, which I then have to pay to have picked up. Thanks to all of you. How about keeping your rubbish to yourselves?

Some might think that a location like is wouldn't lend itself to gardening, but our backyard is like an oasis. The lot is only 45' wide, but it runs to 172' deep; since the house sits at the front of the yard, the majority of the lot is behind us. The neighbours on one side have kids - but they are quiet and pretty well behaved and certainly have never been a bother. The opposite side is the med centre staff parking lot. It's a little busy in the early morning, and again around 5-6 in the evening, but it's fairly quiet most of the time. The lots on the street behind run off corner to ours, there are two that back onto ours, almost as long as ours. The one house has been empty for a few weeks due to a fire, but it hasn't been a noisy neighbour either - the next house has neighbours we've met from time to time over the back fence, but they are quiet too. We don't have to contend with rowdy parties and noisy radios, and on weekends, it's quiet on all sides of us.

There is over 100' of garden space on one side of the backyard alone, plus a large area (12 X10) behind the garage, and then another 50' or so on the opposite side. The front yard grass I dug up a few years ago and turned it into garden space as well. Along the easterly side of the house where sun shines from early morning til early afternoon is a border garden that runs front to back of the house (about 40'), and on the boulevard in front of the (owned by the city) house another small garden around the No Parking sign.

There's more than enough to keep the most avid gardener busy here - I spend most of my time out there, enjoying the relative quiet; sometimes, even falling asleep on the shaded swing. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, stop in and say hello, or ask for pieces of a plant you like. I am willing to share just about anything from the garden.

...otherwise know as the Bank of Montreal. I have to say that in 30+ years of doing business with the downtown branch of the Bank of Montreal we have yet to be disappointed. The staff is helpful and friendly, the services have met our needs and then some. Some of our favourite 'girls' have left the downtown BMO: some have worked hard to advance (Darja - moved up and now is our favourite person at the BMO on Coldwater Road next to the Zehrs) and some have retired (Beth...over the years we've come to look at her as a friend more than our 'banker lady' and we miss her), and some are running back and forth to both branches (Lois - investment adviser, helpful and insightful - go see her), and a lot of others I don't know by  name, but know their faces. We've had occasion to bank at other places - TD Canada Trust and Scotia Bank (both downtown). While they've been helpful there have been enough 'faux pas' and weird service that BMO always gets MY business over the others.

Jimi Hendrix visits Orillia in the form of a life-sized cardboard standup in the window of TrueNorth Music and Round Again Records. These two shops are located in the same building; TrueNorth is on the main floor entry, Round Again Records is upstairs.

Round Again Records is a handy shop for locating cd's, both used and new, as well as older stuff on cassette and (gasp) old vinyl - in the form of "lp" records and 45s. If they don't have it, and it can be found anywhere on earth, they'll get it for you.

It amazed me that they were able to find an old cassette for me...the original music from the "Godspell" production first shown back in the early 70s at the Royal Alex theatre in Toronto. I asked, they found - couldn't have been simpler. So if you're looking from some old record or cassette go see these guys. If you want to sell or buy CDs, go visit the shop. It's worth the trip.

The Island Princess

Another fun local business are the lake tours on the Island Princess. You can book group tours, or get on the regular scheduled tours - daytime tours around the lake, and early evening dinner tours are pretty popular in the summer months. She's moored at the foot of Mississaga Street at the main town dock. The ticket booth is right there at the entrance to the Centennial Park, almost kitty-corner to the Legion. The Princess hails out of Collingwood, but she's moored at the Port of Orillia and runs out of here. You can find her here winter and summer; colourful, clean and well kept, and the ships master is experienced.

If you live in Orillia and haven't taken a ride (known as "a cruise") then shame on you - get out and try it.

Early Friday morning (June 15th) - very early...just after dawn, in fact - Centennial Park at Orillia's waterfront was beginning to buzz. That early in the morning there's seldom very many people stirring; harboured boats generally sit quietly at moor on the glassy water, but on an event weekend, even the boaters are about early. Vendors and other participants in the Orillia Cottage and Boat Show were already beginning to set up booths; with coffee in hand they chatted each other awake, while others moved quietly from box to booth setting up their wares. A few wandered along the boardwalk to the showers, or jogged along the trail through Couchiching Beach Park.

The weekend-long event means crowds, noise and a lot of garbage left at the park when it's over, even though there are many garbage receptacles located throughout the entire waterfront area. The garbage isn't left by the vendors, but by the visitors to the event. It's a shame that the park areas aren't respected - there's no way to point fingers at any particular group. I've seen young people cleaning up garbage they didn't leave, so no - let's not jump on the backs of any one age group. Responsibility isn't always a factor of age.

At any rate, the events that take place at the waterfront are generally hailed as a great success, and this was no different.

Running alongside the Cottage & Boat Show was the first annual "Bike Show and Shine" sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion, which sits at the edge of Veteran's Park, adjacent to Centennial Park and Couchiching Beach Park. This was a one day event, beginning Saturday morning at 9:30. The last count that I heard was roughly 70 bikes registered, with proceeds from the registration supporting the Canadian troops and their families. While 70 motorcycles doesn't sound like much, for the first event of this kind in Orillia, they had a good turnout - next year will be better, with a longer lead-time for advertising - and the best advertising of all - word of mouth from the bikers themselves. Bikers are an interesting lot - they come in all shapes and sizes, all ages, all persuasions (political, religious, etc.), but they all have a love of the "open road", and of the bikes themselves. By far, the largest number of bikes were Harley Davidsons, which should not surprise anyone, but Honda's offerings came in a close second. There was also a beautiful Indian - don't see those out too often. Photos for the bike show will follow a little later.

Looking out my front door one day I noticed a camera crew taping - from the sounds of it, the report was one for Orillia's City Council - or at any rate, about City Council, and the Orillia Soldier's Memorial Hospital Board's decision to change the annual meeting date from it's long standing end of June date to an early June date. Why? Basically, no matter what the "Board" says it was to avoid allowing the disgruntled population to vote on the board members. City Council had some discussion about this as well...was it to keep the constituents happy, or because they were truly annoyed that the Board tried to circumvent democracy? Probably a little of both.

The crew? Well, I've no idea who the assistant was, but reporter was John Shwartz - videographer, columnist, reporter - from the Packet...and the cable channel.

What's Up at the Dragon:

Walking down to the park on Friday morning I noticed the windows of the Golden Dragon covered over with newspapers.Wonder what's up with that? Are they redecorating? I'd almost hate to see that; the decor in "The Dragon" has been an Orillia institution for as long as I can remember.

From the 'whattayaknow' category:

A few days ago on my Facebook listing (http://www.facebook.com/p/J_Gracey_Stinson/586811122)I posted a rant about the pot shop, along with a photo. Strangely enough, last night's Packet had an article about the City wanting to start regulating shops just like this one. Well, I say "About time".

Rants: The Orillia Pot House (aka "The Pot Shop")

- well, everyone has a right to do business I suppose, but I seriously object to this - mainly the fact that it's located in a quiet residential neighbourhood. Not an 'upscale' neighbourhood by any means, but children live here, as well as some elderly folks.

Everyone knows you can't sell pot legally...so they sell the trappings legally...

Recommendations: Best Hair Salon in Orillia

- Has to be Shear Edge Salon on Mississaga Street. Even an old lady can get a modern, contemporary, sassy hair style that doesn't make her look like she's trying to be a teenager but definitely doesn't make her look like a 'blue hair'. Good location, small, elegant and comfortable salon - terrific staff. They know what they're doing.