Everything is free at Uxbridge’s annual Family Day weekend celebration. That’s got to be a good thing!  Snow golf, karaoke and cross-country skiing are just a few of the activities that will be offered.  And even if the weather doesn’t cooperate with freezing temperatures, there’ll still be plenty to do;  snow golf without the snow, just gets to be a kind of mini-putt!  The most important thing for the organizers is to provide fun opportunities for families to get outside together in the fresh air.

Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

Necklace by Kimberley Price.  Jewellry making has been a lifelong practice of Kimberley’s.   The majority of her pieces are inspired by the art of other cultures, for example, antique beads from the Turkoman of northern Afghanistan strung with Venetian beads traded into Africa in the late 19th century. 

In addition to eclectic pieces of jewellry and work from over 100 other Ontario artists, Meta4 Gallery offers art courses.  They’re booking right now for March Break Art Camp.

Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

Free, fun and freezing (hopefully)!  El Nina slushed up a few winter festivities in January, but right now Sunday’s forecast for Winterfest is temperatures holding at zero and sunny.   Highlights include professional ice sculptures, the Skating Zone and the Extreme Trampoline Show where performers wearing snowboards soar above the audience.

Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

Unless there are too many balmy winter days, Lake Simcoe is usually a beehive of fish huts, snowmobiles and fishermen. So great is the enthusiasm that many fishing hut operators maintain heated huts and furnish transportation, food, bait, tackle and other facilities to the angling public. Catches of fish vary during the winter but it seldom happens that any group is frozen out - according to Fish in Ontario, lake trout, whitefish, panfish, pike, walleye, ling are the most common species taken.

Photo by Iain Cunningham.   Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

Guess this guy is waiting to see if the conditions will be right for racing this weekend. 

Apart from the races, the festival features ice sculpting that transforms Cannington’s downtown core and family-oriented events like pancake breakfasts, scavenger hunts and Big Foot races abound. A horse-drawn wagon offers transportation between the dog sled races and the Main Street of town. Adding to an already festive event is a Saturday night capped with comedy entertainment and after party.

Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

The last vestiges of Christmas stuff have disappeared from stores, only to be replaced by hearts and cherubs! The Silverstone Gallery with its array of hand-made treasures offers up the opportunity to give a truly unique gift for your valentine.

Valentine’s Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.
The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl’s name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

“Duffins Creek” by Bob Hinves.  Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

When the Oshawa Ski Club morphed into Brimacombe, I wondered why. Turns out,  the Oshawa Ski Club which started in 1937 in Raglan, used Brimacombe’s Hill in Kirby for racing in the 1940’s.  The club officially moved to Kirby in 1954.  

The first rope tow was constructed using an old car. The tire was removed from its rim, and a system of wooden posts and wheel rims was used to drive and guide a large rope up the hill.  Over the years, more rope tows were built, before slowly being replaced by t-bars, chairlifts and a Magic Carpet.

The Club will be celebrating its 75th anniversary with a big birthday bash and reunion on February 25.  Find out more on Facebook.

Shopping and browsing in Port Perry is a favourite past time of mine.  Truckloads of decorations flood the malls, but to find something different, the odds are in your favour if you shop at smaller owner-operated spots like META4 Contemporary Craft Gallery in Port Perry

I can imagine these moose by David Hickey becoming a much loved hand-me-down across time.

Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

Christmas in Clarington Country is described as a mall-free shopping tour featuring activities and lunch.  A self-guided tour of more than a dozen diverse locations near Tyrone, Enniskillen, Hampton and Orono.   It sounds to me like an appealing way to chip away at the Christmas list with totally original gifts but without the stress of navigating the mall parking lot.

“Morraine Morning” by Catherine Starr.  Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.

Santa’s going to be really busy with eight parades in Durham Region alone over the next week or two.  Hope this doesn’t distract him from other important jobs on his to-do list!

Photo by Paul James.  Download My Durham Desktop to have other intriguing images of Durham Region delivered to your desktop. My Durham Desktop is a computer desktop calendar that serves up the beauty of Durham Region visual art and photography every week.  Each new wallpaper is accompanied by a pop-up window that informs you of local events and happenings.