It's About Time

Local artist Terry Best has opened her first Meaford Hall exhibit, “It’s About Time”, running through to November 20th. Opening reception happens Saturday, October 30th from 1:30 to 3:30pm.

The majority of works on display is acrylic on canvas, though Best is an experienced wood carver and has extended her passion to painted furniture as well. Having been an art teacher for many years after studying Art Education at the University of Toronto, she has begun spending more time on her own work. This is evident in her solo exhibit. Best says now that she can see the retirement light at the end of the teaching career, she looks forward to being a full time artist and painting with the morning light!

The Galleries at Meaford Hall are open 7 days a week. Call for hours at 1-877-538-0463.

Trick-or-Treat!

Ever wonder where it all originated? The 'trick-or-treating' tradition is rumoured to have started in England. Parades would be held on what was then referred to as All Souls' Day. During these events, pastries called 'soul cakes' would be handed out to poor people. Eventually, the practice of 'going a-souling' extended to children who would visit homes in their neighbourhood in search of food, money and other treats.

Costumes on Halloween date back to European and Celtic traditions. The belief was that ghosts would walk the Earth on Halloween. In order to not been noticed by these spirits when leaving their homes, people would wear masks.

Go easy on the soul cakes this year and happy 'trick-or-treating'!

International Festival of Authors

This year, the world renowned International Festival of Authors (IFOA) expands its touring programme, IFOA Ontario, to include festival events in Owen Sound.

Don’t miss IFOA Owen Sound on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 7:30 pm at the Owen Sound Public Library Auditorium. Presented in partnership with The Downtown Bookstore, the Words Aloud Festival and the Owen Sound Public Library.

IFOA Owen Sound features readings by SANDRA BIRDSELL, CHARLES FORAN, ANDREA LEVY and MIGUEL SYJUCO.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at The Downtown Bookstore.

About the authors:

Sandra Birdsell (Canada) is the author of nine books, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award-nominated Children of the Day and Scotiabank Giller Prize-nominated The Russländer. She was awarded the Marion Engel Award in 1993 and was recently appointed to the Order of Canada. Birdsell’s Waiting For Joe is a timely novel about the ‘new homeless’ - economic orphans of the current recessionary storm - and the rising tide of fundamentalist Christianity.

Charles Foran (Canada) is the author of eight books, including four novels and the essay collection Join the Revolution, Comrade. He also writes regularly for magazines and newspapers in Canada and abroad, and is a contributing reviewer for the Globe and Mail. Foran presents Mordecai: The Life, a biography of one of Canada's most beloved and successful writers, Mordecai Richler.

Andrea Levy (UK) is the author of four previous novels, including Small Island, an international bestseller and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, Whitbread Book of the Year and Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best Book. Levy’s latest novel, The Long Song - recently shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize - takes readers back to her family’s native island with the story of July, a slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation whose tumultuous life ends in blessed freedom.

Miguel Syjuco (Canada/Philippines) holds an MA from Columbia University and is completing his PhD with the University of Adelaide, Australia. Born into a political family, Syjuco left the Philippines to become a writer. He now lives in Montreal. Syjuco’s Man Asian Literary Prize-winning debut novel, Ilustrado, follows two very different men who are both searching for roots and meaning amidst the chaotic ambiguity of modern life.

What You Don’t Know About Turkey

My sometimes inquiring mind has had turkey on the brain as of late (for obvious reasons). For a little bit of Thanksgiving trivia, I thought I’d dig back in the history vaults to find out why turkey is the popular main course on this special occasion.

Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth of the 16th century was enjoying roast goose at a harvest festival when she received news that the Spanish Armada had sunk while en route to attack her England homeland. In a gesture of celebration, she ordered a second goose. From that point forward, the goose was deemed the meal of choice in England during harvest time. Later, when Pilgrims landed in America from England, roast turkey replaced roast goose simply because wild turkeys were in more abundance.

Little known turkey facts:
· A 'snood' is the long fleshy skin that hangs over a turkey's beak.
· A wild turkey's naked head and neck can change blue when mating.
· Male turkeys are nicknamed ‘toms’ while females are called ‘hens’.
· When at maturity, turkeys can have as many as 3,500 feathers!
· Wild turkeys can run up to 55 miles an hour!

Gift of the Gourd

Attending Pumpkinfest in Port Elgin has really put me into the swing of the fall season. Evidently, I'm not the only one. After purchasing a pumpkin pie to bring home, I had to make a second stop at a grocery store as the first place was completely sold out of whipped cream.

Whether it's pie, pumpkin muffins, cookies or delicious pumpkin spice soup, the many available recipes out there will tantalize your taste buds as we anticipate Thanksgiving.

In honour of the gift of the gourd, I thought I'd share an apparently quick, easy and very tasty variation of traditional pumpkin pie:

Pumpkin Cream Pie
2 cups cold milk
2 packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (9-inch) pie crust, baked

Combine milk, pie filling mix, pumpkin, spices and whipped topping in a deep, narrow-bottom bowl. Beat at lowest speed of an electric mixer for about 1 minute. Pour filling into cooled pie shell. Chill until set, about 3 hours.

Dish up and dive in!