One perk of living near The Great Lakes

Swimmers enjoying the surf at Port Stanley on Lake Erie.

One perk of living in London is being centrally located between two of The Great Lakes -- Erie and Huron -- plus Lake St. Claire is but an hour away.

Port Stanley on Lake Erie is about forty minutes from London. Grand Bend, an even more popular beach for families and teens, takes about the same time to reach.

Sunflowers awakening in the early morning sun

Fields of sunflowers are now in bloom around London, Ontario. I noticed a local photographer had posted a picture and this alerted to me to what was happening just outside town. Having worked for years at the local paper I knew immediately where the sunflower fields could be found southwest of my London home. I grabbed a friend and we both grabbed our cameras and we were off.

Safety: Something Londoners take for granted

Londoners are lucky. They have lots of parks and they are all safe.

Recently I've been thinking a lot about Detroit and how unsafe that once marvelous city has become. Many of that city's parks are closed and the remaining open ones may be unsafe.

When I was downloading this image from my camera I thought how wonderful it is to live in London where our parks are safe. Londoners can stroll from the southwest end of London, where I live, all the way to the downtown and beyond and never worry about entering a "bad part of town."

One hears so much about what makes a good city. I think safe parks should rate high on the list.

The little engine that could

I've shown this little train before but yesterday I was doing some tests shooting RAW with my little Canon S90 and I shot the train.

Each ride on the little train outside Storybook Gardens is but one large loop. Little kids love it but I believe more could be done. Ideally, it should go somewhere and then return. It should be transportation and not just a simple ride.

I posted more on this topic when I ran the original post. Here is a link: Simple rides, simple pleasures. This is something ReThink London needs to address.

Is this a Queen Anne bungalow in EOA?

I found this home is in what is know as the EOA neighbourhood in London, Ontario. EOA stands for east of Adelaide.

EOA was, and still is, a working class neighbourhood. It epitomizes all the best of the working class aesthetic in years past. Many of the homes in the EOA area are beautiful, little jewels. Stained glass windows and ornate wood trim adds real pizazz to these homes. Clearly the early owners took pride in their little bungalows.

The present owner takes great pride in this home. It is one of four almost identical homes in short row and it is easily the nicest home in the group. That said, all four homes have their strengths. One has a full, covered porch. The large porch on the front of the one home makes one wonder what the other homes may have lost over the intervening years.

I am not an expert but I will hazard a guess that this is a small, working class bungalow in a variation of the Queen Anne style applied to a small folk cottage.

An Ontario vernacular bungalow, maybe

The home shown today sits across the street from the cottage featured yesterday. This home looks a lot like a classic Ontario cottage but it may be an example of a vernacular bungalow.

The simple shed roof doesn't feel right to me but maybe it's original. My guess is that it was added when the house was updated and upgraded.

On the plus side it is a well maintained, heritage home. It is located in one of the finest neighbourhoods in all of London. It should continue to be well maintained and it should not just hold its value but appreciate nicely over the coming years.

The amazing thing about these little places is how roomy they are inside. Usually the door leads into a long central hall with a living room off to one side. There are usually two bedrooms. The kitchen is at the back of the home and there is a small dining room. Many folk put an addition on the back of these and enlarge the living space.

The Ontario Cottage

This particular Ontario cottage is slightly different than most. Traditionally the door is in the middle, right below the central small gable breaking the roof line. Here the door is off to the side with the window displaced to where the door usually is found.

The question that immediately comes to mind is, "Has the door been moved some time after the home was built?" I don't know. It is possible the door was always at the far right. These little place were built and owned by working class families who followed tradition but were not adverse to bending the rules a little.

For more info on Ontario cottages try these links:
A Field Guide to Building Watching
The Ontario Cottage: The Globalization of a British Form in the Nineteenth Century