Drawing on last week's lesson of "rental cars don't have snow tires in winter by default" and to help make sure that a bit of snow would not rain on our parade this weekend, Kathleen reserved a car with them. In our case, when we arrived at the car rental place, we were given a 2025 GMC Terrain, which according to the Wikipedia article, is apparently the second-smallest they make. It felt quite large to us!
After a little road-related sexism while coming out of the parking garage, we made our way to the Queensway and began the 35-minute drive west toward the cutest little town in the region!
How's My Driving?
Kathleen is just such a good driver! Some anxieties and apprehensions aside, she's really good on the roads. I always feel safe when she's in the driver's seat. Whenever we want to go somewhere we can't mass transit to and must rent a car, she's the driver 🚗 and I'm the navigator 🧭. That's mostly because I don't drive (never been licensed) and, for whatever reason, have a good sense of direction. (It might have been that traditionally neurospicy love for maps I've always had).
We arrived in Almonte at about 11am, parked in the 4-hour municipal lot behind Mill Street, and immediately made our way to Ottawa Valley Coffee. It's a wonderfully cozy coffee shop and we both had an oat milk Valley Fog, which was like a London Fog, but with a sort of apple-cinnamon tea instead of Earl Grey. Quite delicious!
Warm drinks in hand, we began our shopping. As it was the closest, our first stop was at Mill Street Books. It was busy in there, which was unsurprising both due to the season and that it's a lovely book store, so we spent a whole lot of time browsing the shelves and just enjoying the festive atmosphere!
I walked out with copies of The Ha-Ha, by Jennifer Dawson, and Sunburn, by Chloe Michelle Howarth, which I've been picking up and putting down and picking up... all summer. Drawing my lesson from how much I enjoyed Girls, Girls, Girls (which I also picked up and put down many times before purchase and adored). Similarly, a copy of Jarod K. Anderson's Something in the Woods Loves You followed Kathleen home. Perhaps we'll be back for the Indie Book Store Crawl next year!
Books in hand, - err -, bag, we headed toward the bottom of Mill Street, intending to stop in along the way at shops that caught our eye. Skipping over the weird and uncomfortable antique shop with military things, we then stopped in at Almonte Antiques and Collectibles, which boasts over 5,000 square feet of vendor booths.
It sure delivered!
It was a veritable rabbit warren of all sorts of things, which made it a fun adventure to look through. We weren't in search of anything specific and we didn't buy anything, but it sure had a whole lot of interesting things up for sale!
There was a rack of woollen plaid skirts, but none of the ones I would have been interested in were the right size. The universe really doesn't seem to want to provide me with the skirts I want. I also took a good look at all of the cameras I was able to see, but outside of a Zorki 4 that seemed interesting, the Jupiter-8 lens it came with had les champignons, so had to remain on the shelf.
One of Kathleen's missions for this little day trip was to find buttons for a sewing project she is working on. In Almonte, that means a visit to Darrell Thomas Textiles, which apparently has, bar none, one of the most extensive and well-considered button departments. And wouldn't you know it, but she found the perfect buttons (a sort of teal and gold) for her current project almost immediately!
Almost more importantly, she and the owner were able to "talk shop" about a brand of fabric and their (beautiful) prints. It was nice to see them so animated and excited about it all! Of course, I benefit too: Kathleen plans to use some of those fabrics to make a 1970s Gunne Sax-inspired dress for me!
What's Charlotte's Deal With Gunne Sax?
When I was a young and deeply-closeted trans girl in the 1980s, during the summer when my mom returned to work, we were sent to a neighbour's house to be babysat. Home to two daughters, there was a sort of dress-up trunk in the basement play room. Whenever I could get some alone time, I would pretend to go downstairs to "play with the computer" (a Tandy 1000) but would really go to the play room and put on this brown homemade Gunne Sax-looking dress and just sort of twirl and luxuriate. Or at least try my best to, since the paranoia of being found out would inevitably outweigh the euphoria...
Having paid for the buttons, Kathleen and the owner (reluctantly) concluded their mutual appreciation for the fabrics, we (reluctantly) went outside, where the breezes ushered in a bitter cold.
Next stop? Big Vintage, a lovely shop at the top of Mill Street. During a visit in 2022, we stopped in and had a lovely time browsing. I even walked out with a Kodak Retina 1a! On the way up the hill, we stopped in at Textile Traditions (a neat little yarn and fabric shop) and Pêches et Poivre (a neat little grocery and gift shop).
This time, at Big Vintage, we were met with a tall display of beautiful necklaces of all sorts. That just happened to be on sale. Now, I'm not so much a chain-and-pendant necklace girlie and more of a beaded necklace girlie, so, where vintage shops are concerned, I'm very much in my element!
Of course, this meant that I might have purchased two of them (a longer faux pearl-and-gold one and a shorter one many of amethyst and rose quartz), and, noticing a tray of them at the checkout counter, Kathleen selected a silver thimble that was reputedly from the mid-1920s!
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By then, we were getting hungry, so it was time to stop for lunch. On the way in, we spotted a tearoom called, appropriately, Tea and Cake. It was definitely a popular spot, since when we walked in, they informed us that they were full up!
Disappointed, but hungry, we turned around and left to consider another place to eat, when a very nice woman with her mother came out to let us know that they were just about to leave! We were going to be able to eat there after all.
To stave off the chill I had accumulated, I asked for a peach black tea, which is just what I needed! For lunch, we both had a grilled vegetable and brie sandwich (the bread from Baker Bob's up the street) and a tomato chickpea soup. For dessert, we split a delicious piece of gingerbread cake.
I thought you were keeping vegan!
Sort of. For the most part. We decided that while we were going to try our best, we didn't want to elevate this dietary choice into ascetic self-denial or draping orthorexia in an ethical cloak. For us, this means that we're vegetarian, but seek out non-animal alternatives where it is possible. More often than not, it is!
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After our delicious lunch, we had one more thing on our list: a visit to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. It was a little bit out of the way, but we were able to (slowly amble) find a shortcut in the recreational rail trail that cuts through the town.
A public historian by trade, Kathleen blogged about our experience at the museum better than I would, so here are her words:
Kathleen (@heavypen.ca):
Bellies full, it was time for the final stop of the day. I have been hearing about the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum for years from my therapist. She is friends with the curator and has visited the museum many times, and knew that I would love it. She was absolutely right. They had a temporary exhibit showcasing several new acquisitions from a large, private collection of hand-woven coverlets from across the country. The textiles were incredible, and Charlotte and I were both captivated by the gorgeous colour combinations.
Upstairs was the permanent exhibit, which walks through the history of the wool industry in Almonte, as well as the step-by-step process of manufacturing wool, from raw fibre to dyed skeins of wool ready for sale. The exhibit was thoughtful and interactive, with many of the machines displayed with “in-progress” work that allowed you to see what the machines could do. I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me (even more) interested in learning how to weave.
After a quick stop in the gift shop where Kathleen picked up a much-wanted/much-needed darning mushroom, our little adventure had come to an end! It was about 3 o'clock, the clouds had thickened and the breeze was picking up, and the light was dying.
We returned to our rental and made our way home, where we had a cozy evening.
December 21, 2025