Ontario Bloggers...........

Cindy is hosting an Ontario Bloggers Day over at her blog.  You can find out more here.  Although we all love reading blogs from all over the world, it's neat to read about people in your own neck of the woods.

We live in a rural area midway between two towns.  Alliston is a thriving town a 10 minute drive to the East of where we live.  The main industry there is the Honda plant and because of that the town is growing by leaps and bounds.  Alliston's "claim to fame," is that Frederick Banting was born in Alliston.

(photo credit)

Frederick Banting was a medical scientist, doctor, painter and Nobel prize winner noted as one of the main discoverers of Insulin.  You can read more about him here

If we go 10 minutes west of our house we arrive at our other local town Shelburne.  Shelburne is an up and coming town and seems to have a lot of plans for the future.

Shelburne hosts the Canadian Open Old Time Fiddle Championship each year.  However to my mind they host an even bigger event, the Great Canadian Worm Charming Festival and Championship.  Now just in case you haven't heard of this........I have no idea why not though??????  Here is a link they even have their own song.

Now for those of you who have 9 minutes to waste, you can watch this you tube video about the Worm Charming Festival.




We live in an area known as "The Hills of the Headwaters."  It is a gorgeous area with a lot of natural beauty.  Both dh and I wish we had moved to this area sooner, as everyone is so friendly and we love the house we live in, despite it causing numerous headaches over these past four years!!!    

On Wednesday I went to see our Little Princess and would you believe I forgot my bloody camera?????  What the heck.  Anyway she is still as perfect as ever, despite her being asleep the whole time I was there.  Oh and she was gassy, and by the straining on her face before I handed her back to her mother, I would say that wasn't only a wet diaper that needed changing!! The joys of being a Nana, you get the good bits and don't have to deal with the nasty bits......not that I would have minded changing her diaper.

Worm Charming and Molly.........

When I was at the grocery store on Saturday, there was a big sign in the parking lot announcing the Worm Charming Festival????  My first thought was what on earth is worm charming? 

Here are the rules: 

Each competitor to operate in a 3 x 3 meter (10' x 10') plot.


Lots to be drawn to allocate plots.
Duration of competition to be 30 minutes, starting at about 11:30 am.


Worms may not be dug from the ground. The sod may be punctured but not broken or lifted. Vibrations only to be used.

No chemicals, drugs or electricity to be used! Water is considered to be a drug/stimulant.


Any form of music may be used to charm the worms out of the earth.
A garden fork of normal type may be stuck into the ground and vibrated by any manual means to encourage worms to the surface.

Garden forks to be suitably covered to prevent possible injury when being transported to and from the competition. No accidents please!
Each competitor to place his/her fork and other equipment in allocated plot on arrival.


A piece of wood, smooth or notched may be used to strike or 'fiddle' the handle of the garden fork to assist vibration.


Competitors who do not wish to handle worms may appoint a seconds to do so. The second shall be known as a 'Gillie'. Maximum is two Gillies per plot.


Each competitor may collect worms from his/her own plot only.


Worms to be handled carefully and collected in damp peat and placed in a suitable, numbered container provided by the organizing committee. Broken or damaged worms will not be counted,


A hand bell to be rung five minutes before the start of the competition will signal competitors to enter their plot. The bell will also signal the start and finish.


Competitors to keep clear of competition plots until given the instruction "Get to your Plots".


The competitor who 'charms' the most worms will be declared Canadian Worm Charming Champion and will hold that Trophy for one year. The competitor who 'charms' the heaviest worm will receive the Great Worm trophy and hold it for one year. The most unique costume or method earns the "Most Curious Wormer" trophy.ost unique costume or method "Most Curious Wormer"
Winners will also receive a permanent trophy as a reminder of their accomplishment,


Judges will also award a trophy for the most unusual method and or costuming,


In the event of a tie, the winner to be decided by a further five minutes charming.


Charmed worms to be released after the birds have gone to roost on the evening of the event.

Now doesn't this all sound fascinating?  I wasn't at all aware of this, otherwise I may have entered, I guess there is always next year?  Meanwhile I will have to practice "charming the worms" out of the ground, when I have nothing else to do.  By the way if you Google "Worm Charming," you will come up with all sorts of sites.  I got my information from the Canadian site here.

I haven't mentioned Molly in a while.  She's fine but I think we are in the peak of allergy season at the moment, as she is chewing and scratching quite badly.  I am considering increasing her steroids to a full pill per day, I'll see.  Oh and she is a dog after my own heart, she hates the wet weather.  I opened the door to let her out this morning and she took one look at the rain and wouldn't move.  So to get her out for a pee, I had to put her on her leash and take her out myself.  Which is just fine and dandy, but that means both of us are getting wet then!!

The new header photo is of one of my scented Geraniums, but I don't know the name, I need to look it up.  Must say it's very pretty though.

Off to early services at church today so I had better scoot.