2012-06-16

Pin Me To A Map


Ever since my mention of Lady Slipper Orchids in my last post, nostalgia for the area where I grew up has been constantly nudging at the edges of my mind. And my heart.

So, even though this post about my home is a re-worked repeat, I'm feeling a need to share with you again.  Please bear with me - I'm sure this fit of nostalgia won't last long.



Today, you get a little geography lesson and in the process learn a bit about Yours Truly - because people are shaped by their geography, don't you think?

Let me start by saying that I'm one of those people who have a compass in their brain.  I can almost always tell you which direction is which, and on the rare occasion when I lose my sense of direction, well....I'm lost.

So Place is important to me.  And I'm a Nosy Parker.  When you combine the two, it means I check every new Google Follower's bio to see where they live so I can place them.  And I know I'm not alone in this need to link a person to their place because a lot of bloggers  - such as Motherhood in NYCSara In Le Petit Village and The Ossington Kitchen - mention their place right in their blog titles.

Anyway, I've decided I'd help out those who suffer from my affliction by sharing with you some geography about my place.  You may consider this a Public Service Announcement.  Let's begin.


I grew up here,



in a little town called Durham in the Great Lakes Basin of Canada on the edge of a geographic region called the Niagara Escarpment.  The Niagara Escarpment (which is an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve) is a 725 km long ridge of limestone which, like the Great Lakes themselves, was carved by the last Ice Age.  The limestone bedrock doesn't make for good farming, in fact little grows on it but ferns and cedar trees (and rare Lady Slipper Orchids) but it does produce many beautiful waterfalls.  Here is one of it's more famous waterfalls.  Perhaps you will recognize it:

Niagara Falls



Here are some waterfalls closer to my home:

Eugenia Falls
Eugenia Falls


Inglis Falls


McGowan Falls
(This one is just blocks from my family's home 
and many summer days were spent playing in this water)


Here we are on a family backpacking trip along the Escarpment



Beautiful, isn't it?





Although I still live in the Great Lakes Basin, it's been many years since I lived near the Niagara Escarpment. But it is still My Place.  The place that defines me.  So now you can place me - Kara of Scattered Joy - in Canada, in the basin of the Great Lakes, amongst the moss covered limestone, the waterfalls, the cedar trees.


Do you have any special place that you feel connected to?  Any place that defines you?

9 comments:

  1. Wow. What a beautiful place to grow up. For much of my life, my home town of San Francisco defined me. Even after I moved to Los Angeles in my early 20s, I never considered anyplace but San Francisco my true home. Then in my early 40s I went all rural and moved to the Santa Ynez Valley. Now I can't imagine myself anything but a country girl. My soul feels more at home here than I've ever felt anywhere -- maybe even in my beloved San Francisco.

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  2. This is the second post I've read today about where the author grew up! Must be a time for memories! Loved your photos and description.

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  3. so so beautiful! As my hometown is Kingston, I get that limestone mossy feel good feeling too. Even though I don't live there now...the connection I feel to that place will never fade. Course, my current hometown is lovely and special too, but it represents a different life chapter (the noisy, loss of sleep, buried with children chapter - LOL). When I think of "home"....my mind still travels back to Kingston.

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  4. Those are some beautiful falls! I grew up in Ottawa and still live here. I feel connected to both the city attractions (ie. Museums) and the surrounding nature. :)

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  5. Hi, Kara! Dropping by to say "hi." I hope all is well with you. Those falls are GORGEOUS! :)

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  6. Thank you for showing us where you're at. Now I know just where to find you :)
    And thanks for the shout out!

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  7. Blimey Kara, it is beyond beautiful ...... it is totally amazing. You lucky git to live somewhere like that.

    And I know it is a bit sad, but I loved seeing where it was on the map!

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  8. A beautiful place; and now I know where it is! The village where I was born (just south of London) is now so polluted by aeroplane NOISE, that it is no longer that dream childhood home that I remember. C'est la vie!

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  9. So Beautiful! As a life-long Floridian I absolutely appreciate nature's gifts like waterfalls and mountains.

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