Is it art or junk?

Another day - another city! I'm in Sudbury now. The drive from North Bay to Sudbury was uneventful, and yesterday was a day to just hang out. 

I almost didn't have to scrap the windows on my car. Just missed the sun doing that job for me by a couple of feet. However, the weather here is stunning! I ran around all day without a jacket, and the sun was out for most of the day! And while they did have snow, as you can see a few remnants here and there, the weather gods were in my favor this week. 

The sun is "scraping" the windows

Before leaving North Bay, I stopped at a house I'd heard about and seen pictures of, but the photos do NOT do justice to this house. Have you heard of the JUNK HOUSE --- that's where I went. 

I took an overall picture of the house, but it doesn't do justice. The house is on a corner, so the owner has the entire side of the house and the front to display his "art." There is everything and anything mixed in here. 

The side of the house

He definitely has a favorite color - red, as many things have been painted red. Every time you look, you spot something else. There were full-sized traffic lights, a railway crossing, tractors, rakes, hoes, flowers, antique toys, bicycles, and the list goes on and on. 

There's the railway crossing. 

Railway crossing sign

There's a bus stop right in front of the house, and I had to wait for the bus to come to admire the art in solitude. While the side of the house appears to be just junk, the front of the house is kind of creepy, as I think he decorated it for Halloween. 

YES -- that is a clown in that little scooter thing. And there were skulls and other Halloween decorations around. He also has lights hooked up, which probably glows quite eerily at night! 

A clown in a scooter!

He bought the house next door to him and is spreading his wealth between the two houses. This is the back attic window on the second house. Why is that like that? A fire escape? 

OH -- the ventilation system?

The city has tried numerous times to clean up the mess or get the owner to clean it up, but that has failed. I don't know the entire story, but it's a fascinating place to stop by if you are in North Bay. There is only one entrance into the house from the front, but that path is clogged. Did I mention the rabbit hutch in the front with two rabbits? Maybe the people at the bus stop give them lettuce! But they had a nice heat lamp and a nice house amongst the "art." 

I walked around the houses and into the back alley. Yep -- the backyards of both houses are chock a block filled with junk. There's a long green awning sign in one backyard, and the fence is exploding from the weight of stuff against it. 

The house beside the second house is pristine - it's a fine line between normal and not normal on that street. But I see a BIG problem. The roof on the original art house doesn't look too good. How would roofers get to the roof to fix it? And the minute anything was removed to fix the roof, the city would say NO to putting it back. 

And it's not like it's a junk pile because it is not. Everything is somewhat (albeit haphazardly) attached to the roof or the porch, the side of the house, or in a display. But it's NOT a pile of junk. 

On my drive, I spotted some barn quilt blocks, so I had to stop to take pictures. I spotted four - the first one was on a barn, and I didn't stop. But this one was on the porch of a house. 

Barn block on a porch

This one was on a municipal building in a small community called Verner. 

Barn block on a community center

And this was on another building - I've forgotten what it was. But that was nice to see. 

One more barn block

Once I arrived in Sudbury, I had a couple of stops to make, which drove my GPS crazy. Hey --- I had been looking for a Dollar Tree, which was close to Best Buy. Then, I ended up at the community center where I'm doing my events today. WOW -- it's on Ramsey Lake, and the setting is stunning. 

Ramsey Lake

I buckled down, did some writing in the afternoon, and then went for a walk. Part of the TransCanada trail is here. 

Trans Canada Trail

There is a trail along the lake, so walking was pleasant, and no worries about traffic. Although the path went along the side of the road opposite the lake. 

The Ramsey Lake Trail

Even had time to do a geocache, so that was fun. Although can you tell me why every time there are people around. One of the caches was on a busy street corner, and I didn't feel like poking among the rocks, so I walked on to another one that was in a quiet neighborhood. Except that, as I had to pop into the forested area, three people were standing around talking. I didn't care -- I plunged into the woods anyway. 

The geocache

It's a weird little residential area that juts into the lake. Mostly, it was quiet, but idiots were driving along the road at great speeds. Seriously??? And some houses had been there for eons just because of the style. Others were obviously new builds, with large black and white boxy shapes. They just didn't seem to suit the style of the community.

But what I noticed is this -- look at their address signs. Now, not all of them were like this. Interesting. I need a new house number sign -- perhaps I'll figure out how to split it! I think this is fun. 

A house number sign

OH -- should I say that I tempted fate yesterday. I arrived in town, and after my shopping, I headed off to the hotel. Sorry -- we are booked. What? It was barely noon. Yep -- some big hockey tournament in town, and they said I would be lucky to find a room. Hmmm -- I may be sleeping in the car. But I stopped at the next hotel - it's more of a motel, and I got a room. No big deal!!!!

So, I watched that event on the Red Cross World War II quilts last night. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. Hmm -- I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe I was tired or bored, but I had a hard time staying awake, so thankfully, they recorded it. 

Watching a webinar

Anyway -- I guess I needed more backstory into the whole thing, and perhaps it was at that time I nodded off. Anyway -- I'll watch the recording to see if I missed something. I had a couple of questions, but the chat box was disabled? Sigh. Sometimes, the errors are totally operator errors!

I have to laugh because so many people recognize me, maybe from my name, but more from those darn flowers I wear on my headband! I've worn them for years, and it's time to make a new one. These guys are looking sad. I know Margaret will be jumping up and down when she reads this because she made me NEW orange flowers; alas, I've done nothing with them!

Perhaps a December project!

And that wraps up another exciting day! 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!