Doors Open Pakenham: Three Yellow Tulips Art Shoppe

I must admit that I have not gone into Pakenham's only stand-alone gift shop much lately, though I had visited in the past before we were residents. My absence is mostly because I'm a sucker for pretty things that I can't afford, so to avoid temptation I often steer clear of places such as Three Yellow Tulips. I made an exception last Sunday. The husband and wife team of Don DeGroat and Pat DuBreuil have been living and operating out of this little white house on mainstreet Pakenham for the past three years. Prior to that, they sold art out of the carriage house at the Stonebridge Inn during the summer months. Both skilled photographers, Pat and Don sell their work alongside the work of up to 30 other local artisans (criteria for submission is that the artists be located within a 50km radius of the store).

When I visited last Sunday, it was quiet, but I still thought I was being a bit brazen bringing a toddler with me to an art store. Not this one! They've got a hutch with an open cabinet stocked with toys, stuffed animals and dolls - right at 'Abigail height'. And Pat was so sweet... while I browsed for wedding gifts, she played peekaboo with Abbie and essentially supervised her for me. We'll certainly be spoiled for choice for those wedding gifts. I was drawn, as I have been every time I go in, to Larissa Wheeler's clay loons. This time I also spotted Linda Northey's pottery. I'll certainly be making a return visit.

And, once again proved wrong: Three Yellow Tulips has a great little website too, complete with a list of all the artists they feature in the store. They're open Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 til 6 (nice and late, a real bonus for a city worker like me) and on Sundays from 10-5.

Doors Open Pakenham: Watt's Cooking/BYBFB

Watt's Cooking is a lovely wee place. We've gone to Watt's Cooking several times over the past few years. We've had meetings there with our architects, we've brought family and friends to eat there when our house was just a bunch of trees, we've gone for breakfast with Abigail a few times since we moved in, and I'll sometimes stop there on my way in to work for a morning coffee since they open at 6am every day but Monday. Their gift shops if full of beautiful things - locally made natural beeswax candles, Tea Forte (Oprah's favorite tea I'm told), Melluish Jewellery (also made locally), and pictures and photos - many taken by JC Watt (brother of Jody Gleeson, the owner). The restaurant's menu is small and simple, but always seems to have just what you're looking for (including their delicious homemade butter tarts). Jody says that she gets about a 50/50 mix of visitors and locals, but that many of the visitors are becoming regulars. She credits Tuesday's waitress, her 'Crazy Aunt Glady', as being the draw for one particular group of gentlemen that keep coming back every week. I have yet to go on a Tuesday, but I can guarantee you I will now!

My first attempt to talk to someone about the restaurant for this project was a few Saturdays ago. Abigail and I were on our own and up early so I decided to go to Watt's Cooking as early as I could so that it would be nice and quiet. Boy, was I wrong! At 7:15 am the place was bustling with all but three tables taken up with couples and groups of people obviously accustomed to gathering at this local spot, ready fuel up and then start whatever their Saturday ritual might be. The staff were obviously too busy to chat, so we just enjoyed our breakfast and I made do with reading the blurb in the menu about the house and the restaurant. Turns out the house has been used for a long time as a community gathering spot. From 1966 onwards it was known as 'Stewart House', owned by the Pakenham United Church, the house itself was built over a hundred years ago.

My second attempt was last Thursday. After picking Abigail up from daycare, we popped in. I shyly browsed in the shop at the front of the store while two women were obviously very busy with dishes in the kitchen. As per usual, toddlers are great ice breakers... Abigail quickly made friends with one of the ladies through the window and then with one of the young boys wandering around - and then with their mom, Jody. Quick segue to my request for nosey details - and without hesitation, Jody had given me her business card so that I could email her with my questions. Yay! She didn't think I was nuts!

Jody started this restaurant in 2006 after having worked in the travel industry for many years. She was born and raised in Pakenham and wanted to create a business that would act as mortar for the community. She talks of the important role of local businesses to build community, give our kids jobs, and bring us the services and goods that we need. Man, do I ever agree with that and she's certainly achieving her goal so far by creating a warm, welcoming and enjoyable place to be. Her husband and sons help out with the restaurant too - so that just adds to the family-friendly, community rooted atmosphere of Watt's Cooking.

My investigation into Watt's Cooking and the people behind it inadvertently answered another question that had been brewing in my curious little brain for a while...

Soon after I first moved to the area, one of my colleagues who has a cottage near here asked if I was going to burn my bra that coming weekend. The confused look on my face prompted him to tell me about this fundraising event he knew of in Pakenham. News to me, but I never saw anything about it in the village nor did I hear about it again. The other day when I was wandering around in the shop at Watt's Cooking, I noticed some cute shopping bags that were for the 'Burn Your Bra for Bev' cause. My interest was definitely peaked, especially because the name 'Bev' was one that popped up on the Watt's cooking menu. Coincidence? I think not.

It turns out that Jody wasn't supposed to be doing this on her own. She was supposed to be running this restaurant with her business partner Bev Griffiths, but sadly she passed away just as the adventure was beginning. Before Bev passed away, Jody and some friends had organised a 'Burn Your Bra' fundraising dinner to support Breast Cancer in 2005. When Bev passed away in 2006 the event morphed into Burn Your Bra For Bev and has grown into a yearly fundraising force, raising money for a different cause each year - to the tune of over $150000 since the committee started its work. This past year the charity of choice was the Heart Institute, in 2011 it will be CHEO. The main event, the big women-only dinner each spring with a silent auction and firemen manning the bar, is a sell out every year - with over 500 women attending and over 600 on the waiting list. They also organize runs and tournaments to raise even more money throughout the year. The only questions I'll be sending back to Jody are where can I sign up to help? And what do I have to do to get a ticket?!?!

Now, another thing I've learned was that I was unfair when I said that Pakenham's businesses all had inadequate web presences: Watt's Cooking actually has a lovely little website (albeit still under construction).

So - project 'Doors Open Pakenham' is successfully underway, this local blogger's curiosity is sated for a wee while, and I'm quite unexpectedly humbled by my neighbours and their fundraising prowess.

Doors Open Pakenham

Ok I'm starting a project. I'm hoping that it will satisfy many goals:

1. Give me a bit of direction with this blog.

2. Feed my need for interesting information about the people and places around me.

3. Feed other people's need for interesting information about the people and places around them.

4. Give my community a bit of a better presence online (cause frankly, it's woefully inadequate right now).

Here's how I'm hoping this will go...

Every week, I hope to shine the spotlight on a local business, organization, or individual. I'm going to talk to them, take a picture, and then write about it here. Simple enough stuff.

I'm off to the village now to decide who I'm going to talk to first! Now let's just hope they agree to this and don't think I'm totally nuts!

Thursday

It's Thursday morning and I'm home. Alone. All of my windows are open. There's a light breeze in the trees. It smells of last night's rain. The birds are chattering.

Bliss.

Other than a conference call at 11 (MUST NOT FORGET. MUST NOT FORGET), today is entirely my own. I love these days. I catch up on my online reading, writing emails to friends, and generally try to collect my thoughts. I also clean and tidy with the intensity and speed of a whirling dervish. Which then frees up our weekend time for family fun and bigger projects. Without these occasional days off from work and off from parenting - I think I would have to give in to that too frequent feeling that life is truly kicking my butt. The feeling builds and builds and then.... exhale.... it's Thursday morning and I'm home. Alone.