Things I Learned Today

A few days ago, I mentioned that the portion of the Niagara Escarpment running through Hamilton Ontario has always been called “The Mountain”. It’s not really a mountain – it only rises about 300 feet above the city. But you can definitely see the sudden elevation in the landscape and know it is different from the rest of the city. In the past, the culture of the people, that is, the ethnic and economic mix of the population, was also different although that is not true anymore and I am told the area is as diverse as the rest of the city.

Today I learned there is a similar demarcation in Fond du Lac Wisconsin – and for the same reason. Fond du Lac is at the very edge of the Niagara Escarpment (look at on a map if you don’t believe me). In Fond du Lac there is a neighborhood referred to by the locals as the “The Ledge. It’s even less of a mountain than the Hamilton elevation, but the person who told me about it also said that the people who live there are of a different social-economic status than the rest of the city. More elevated, perhaps?

That is one thing I learned today. Another is that the five mile long Mackinac Bridge, across the Straits of Mackinac, is only open to pedestrians one day a year and that day is Labor Day. I read this on a blog I have been following. In addition to this piece of trivia (especially trivial for those of you who live in Texas, California and other places my readers reside) if you check out this blog you will read some interesting stuff about a woman who has made a 1,000 mile trek around Lake Michigan. She didn’t do it all at once but in bits and pieces and she has been writing about her adventures since she started in March 2009. Loreen Niewenhaus is about to complete her walk soon and I am hoping to meet her when she comes through Kenosha on September 23. Check out her blog – she has some great photographs on it.

And the third thing I learned today is that it will cost me $162 to fix my camera, plus the $20 I already paid to get the estimate.(Notice there are no pictures here – that’s because my camera got dropped and the auto focus no longer works.) Over the weekend, I learned what it would cost me to replace it and so I am not paying to have the old one fixed.

I was happy to learn the first two facts – not so much the last one, but such is life. If my budget allows it, I will replace my camera this week and post some pictures soon. After I look at my checkbook, I will know the answer to that, too.