Lilacopse Farm, Summer ’09

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Scottish Traditional

Some dear family friends of mine live north of Toronto, up in King City and just off Bathurst Street. Definitely a world apart, Lilacopse Farm, with its expansive gardens, is an incredible, magical haven – immediately full of good grace, country charm and lots of wonderful memories for me from my intermittent visits over the years.

Certainly the northern reaches of Bathurst are a far cry from what we here in the city might generally associate with the street name, which is generally thought of like this as described in an earlier post!

This past summer, family and friends gathered to mark – yikes – an 8oth birthday, and the day was filled with laughter, sunshine, balloons and fine music. A family with strong Scottish roots, I brought along several of my prized, century-old collections of Scottish traditional songs for the occasion, and as well I toted (and tooted!) my old wooden Boehm flute for more of a rustic flavour…with the party in full swing around me, I recorded while sitting on this comfortable, open front porch.

With today being the shortest day of the year, I figure some of you might be in need of a little light therapy – approx. 36 million Americans who suffer from S.A.D. can’t be wrong – so you are invited to bask in the sunshine as seen in more pictures from that fine summer’s day, as assembled on Phanfare – happy Winter Solstice from Urban Flute!

All of this talk of the changing seasons gets a song going through my head, Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love, one of my favourites – in this classic video, lead singer and bassist Jack Bruce sports a fashionable hat that is perfect for this dark, wintry day!