Community Mail Boxes

 

Once mail was delivered to each and every Canadian's home. Not today. Many Canadians now must pick up their mail from a centrally located Canada Post Community Mail Box. These neighbourhood boxes are nowhere near as handy as a simple mailbox hanging beside one's front door but the service they provide is cheaper.

When the boxes first appeared, the super mail boxes were only installed in new developments. New subdivisions were denied door-to-door mail delivery but instead the mail was left in a community box some distance from the new homes. It is doubtful that Canada Post grasped the irony in calling such boxes super mail boxes.

Since the first community boxes appeared in 1985, Canada Post has been trying to phase out all door-to-door home delivery. I'm pleased to say that in my neighbourhood Canada Post has not been successful. We still have the truly super mail boxes; we have the ones located right on the wall next to each home's front door.

The lookout backdrop

 

The young girl was clearly the centre of attention with not one but two cameras aimed her way. The sunset, viewed from the lookout, provided an excellent backdrop and rimmed the girl's head with glowing, back-lit brilliance.

Not so rapid transit

 

Some years ago, London looked at Light Rail Transit (LRT) and ruled it out. The city then got deep into the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) model. Maps were drawn and costs calculated. That was also some years ago. Today, Londoners still find themselves in what feels like a never ending holding pattern waiting for a solution to the city's oh-so-very slow transit system. 

Our London Family

 

A little more than a year ago a London Muslim family out for an evening stroll was struck by a car and four of the five were killed: both parents, a daughter and her grandmother died, while a young son was the only one to live. Police allege the act was intentional. It is alleged to have been a hate crime. Now, a large monument dedicated to "Our London Family" marks the spot. Although located in the northwest corner of the city, the monument attracts a constant flow of visitors. Many leave flowers.

A monument to our London family

 

The mural shown is part of a larger mural on a monument erected to honour a London Muslim family killed a year ago in a vehicular accident police allege was intentional. A car struck a Muslim family out for a summer evening stroll killing both parents, their daughter and her grandmother. The family's young son was the only one of the group to survive the collision.

Hostas: better than you think

Hostas are nice but if we are honest we must admit hostas are not the first choice of most gardeners for a featured plant. Gardeners are missing a great opportunity.

For many years the local paper organized a Garden Walk Weekend. Readers were encouraged to stop by the paper to pick up a map in order to tour of the city and visit ten spectacular, private gardens. Most of the gardens were in the north end of the city, in the city's finest residential neighbourhood.

One year one home on the tour was located in the east end of the city in an area known for its industrial parks. Hidden among the factories and warehouses there was one short, forgotten residential street and the home at the end of the street was on the tour. To say folk were surprised would be a gross understatement.

When the visitors entered the home's backyard, they got quite the surprise. The home owner was a hostas freak. He loved hostas and over the years he had become a self-taught hosta expert. His narrow but deep backyard was filled with hundreds and hundreds of hostas: big hostas, small hostas, solid green hostas and varigated hostas. The biggest hostas were at the sides of the yard growing on tall mounds of earth. The tall plants, they must have been at least four feet tall, blocked the view of the surrounding neighbourhood. The large leaves even muffled neighbourhood noises. Very practical.

The hostas on the sides of the yard were so large that the plants inside the yard seemed small in comparison. Some were truly small but others were not and added privacy to small spaces enclosed by dozens of hostas. A narrow trail snaked through the yard with benches nestled among the foliage.

To a visitor, quickly lost in the green-lined maze, the backyard seemed far larger than its true size. The hostas had been planted imaginatively and wisely. The backyard was a world onto itself. At the end of the day, where ever folk gathered to discuss the tour, the hosta-home was the clear winner.

Ignorance is not bliss when it come to plants

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to plants. Plant the wrong plant in the wrong place and one may find themselves with an aggressive, spreading ground cover that takes over an area and smothers competing plants--plants you may have liked.

The voting is still out on the plant shown above with the green leaves rimmed with bright yellow. It has spread very nicely, according to my neighbour, and so far it has played nicely with the other plants in the garden. The question is: will this cooperation continue?

City folk love their gardens. One can be forgiven for thinking that there might be an ongoing, unspoken contest being fought here. Each home each succeeding year sports bigger, more spectacular, more numerous flowers and shrubs. 

But mixing and matching plants is no easier than mixing and matching neighbours and sometimes the wrong plant gets put into the mix with disastrous results. Luckily, bad plants are easier to uproot and remove than bad neighbours.