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 NYC, Sara 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,

View Larger Map

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

Inglis Falls

source:  http://www.trekearth.com/members/elfern/

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?