‘I’m jumping in,' I exclaim to Liz as I launch off the wooden dock and sail through the air. Within a short second I hit the water – disturbing, with circular ripples, the glassy surface of a pristine corner of Grass Lake near Burk’s Falls just north of Muskoka. Before long I see Liz a few metres away, deftly navigating a paddleboard with our intrepid husky Ellie standing proud behind her.
In early September, on what turned out to be the first glorious ‘sweater weather’ weekend of the season, Willibald Farm Distillery & Brewery hosted its inaugural charity car show: Willibald Motorfest.
The Stratford food scene has always stood out for us. To be sure, the restaurants of Festival City are among the finest in the region – and beyond. For lunches. Dinners. And probably breakfasts too (although early in the day the TOQUE team is more of a ‘coffee and run’ crew and so, as a result, has little first-hand experience of distinctive morning feeds).
‘I’m so excited for this first bite,’ Cai announces as she slices her spoon through a thick layer of emmental and into the steaming broth below – a wonderful mélange of rich meat stock, gently fried onion, and sourdough crouton. I am not surprised that she’s pumped. After all, I’ve heard Cai wax poetic about french onion soup for years.
When Guelph native Greg Cox found himself with an opportunity to purchase Crossfit 1827 – the gym where he’d been an active member for four years – he jumped at it. After all, this Royal City community hub was like a second home for Greg: a place where he had forged many close friendships in the heat of physically-challenging, high-intensity fitness classes – as well as after-class chit chat.
I recently heard a story about a grandparent who was leaving a hand-written letter detailing the future inheritance of each of her grandchildren. As much as this grandparent wanted to pass down wealth to the next generation, she also wanted to pass down her story and a piece of history with each gift. I thought this was beautiful: her gesture would humanize the process and the gifts and bring focus back to what matters most.
CAMBRIDGE IS WELL ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING OUR REGION’S PREEMINENT WEDDING DESTINATION – AND WORD IS GETTING OUT. THIS SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE. AFTER ALL, THIS IDYLLIC EUROPEAN- ESQUE CITY THAT’S BUILT UP AROUND THE BANKS OF THE MIGHTY GRAND RIVER BOASTS A PLETHORA OF THE KEY INGREDIENTS THAT COUPLES IN LOVE ARE SEARCHING FOR WHEN PLANNING AND LIVING OUT THE DAY OF THEIR DREAMS.
‘When Graham and I first opened Monigram a dozen years ago,’ Monica tells me while she and I sip americanos in the coffee shop’s teeming back office – surrounded by bags of house-roasted beans, stacks of packaged paper cups, and other Monigram-branded paraphernalia – ‘almost everyone told us that no business could survive this far past Main Street.’ She pauses for a few seconds (something that folks who know Monica will tell you she’s rarely prone to do) before adding, with deliberation: ‘We begged to differ.’
I think I’m in love. No – I know I’m in love. With a small area of London. An enclave, really. It’s called Wortley Village, and it’s the most wonderful amalgam of independently- owned boutiques and galleries and restaurants and pubs and coffee shops – all set against the backdrop of mature tree-lined streets and historic homes and impeccably-dressed flaneurs (many with matching canine pals) in London’s Old South neighbourhood.
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
