Focus on Life Wk 27~Texture

Here we already are more than halfway through our 52 week challenge! This week, Sally's challenge was:

"This week focus on how things feel...then snap a shot of that texture!"

I love living in Ontario...I'm a major history nerd, and the proximity to opportunities to learn about our earlier days is something I really appreciate. We decided to celebrate Canada Day by going to Sainte Marie among the Hurons: 

Texture! Texture everywhere!

We weren't even in the gates before I noticed this:

It's just a rock...but what a cool rock! It felt reassuringly solid, and as if it had withstood many storms in its home on the shores of Georgian Bay. Chances are it's been there since 1639 when the community was established. Its layers show many years of changing climates and tides. 

Just inside the gates was a display of these.....

Now, you must remember, this is historic fur-trading country; one of the original purposes for the colonization of the area, was because of the fur trade, and the demand for beaver pelts in particular to make the beaver hats which were fashionable at the time. 

This is a fox pelt...it felt soft and warm and at the same time rugged. Quite a contrast to that rock!

When we arrived, we hurried off to a demonstration about to take place in one of the Long Houses. 

Here's the door leading into the Long House....you can see the hand-chiseled planks which make it up, and also the authentic square head nails which hold it together. 

Surprisingly, it felt quite soft and welcoming...not rough at all, not even the nails. 

Outside the Long House was a Tipi set up for lunch, with a campfire and water in birch bark buckets, hand shaped and sewn and decorated with reed lacing:

The birch bark is tough, and much thicker than I imagined...it held water very well!

Hope you enjoyed YOUR texture journey to Sainte-Marie! Let's see the textures the others found HERE.