Art in the park

Finding a place to sell your art can be difficult. Many artists wonder how they will get a little exposure in the market place. Well, in London, they can set up a display every weekend in the far eastern end of Springbank Park.

Exercise equipment

There's an area in Springbank Park that is rather unique. It contains a lot of equipment designed to encourage strenuous exercise by adults—very fit adults. My granddaughters think the stuff is some poorly designed monkey-bars like stuff similar to what they find in other parks. It's not.

As I think one can see from this picture, the use of this installation is not for the weak of heart, or of body. I watched this chap moving from one piece of equipment to another with awe and amazement.

I hope to see more of this type of installation in other parks in the future. Maybe it could even be made available in a smaller size a size that would challenge little folk, like my granddaughters.

Lid opener

Does anyone else use this method for opening jars with tight-fitting lids?

I always called the tool in the photo a bottle or can opener. The rounded end opens bottles and the pointed end is used to slowly rip the lid off a can. I did not know that where these openers truly shine is when used to loosen impossibly tight-fitting lids.

I've run jars like this under hot water to expand the metal lid. I've tapped these lids with heavy dinner knives without being able to explain why I thought this action should loosen a lid. I've flipped the jars and slammed the jar lid-first down hard on any handy surface. I've even bought tools specifically engineered to take advantage of leverage to increase the force available to open a jammed jar. All to no avail.

Then, my wife showed me this trick. Take the round end of a simple, metal opener and gently lift the edge of the lid until you hear the hiss of air. One may even hear the lid pop as the pressure equalizes.. The lid will now turn easily.

Enjoy!

A storm to remember

Yesterday was a storm to remember. Oh, let me be clear. To me it was just another summer thunder storm arriving with the usual high winds. But for the little boy living at the end of the court it was a day to remember as he and his dad first watched the swirling clouds moving across the sky and then, with large rain drops beginning to fall, the two spectators to the spectacles found themselves moving, moving toward shelter from the rain and mounting wind.

Parks are for everyone

London's biggest park is a destination for everyone, as are most parks. Come alone, sit and quietly enjoy the day from a park bench. Or come with the kids and a rack-fill of bikes and peddle the many kilometres of paved paths and roadways.

In this time of the pandemic, such a large park offers enough space that everyone can enjoy themselves while practising social distancing. No need to ever get all that close to some outside your "bubble."

And if you're not fond of mask wearing, masks are not mandatory while in the park. Just keep your distance and no one will be upset. In fact, you will probably encounter lots of smiles and friendly greetings. Everyone seems very appreciative when others clearly respect the personal space of others.

Gentle Giant

Ah, what a contrast. An absolutely massive grandpa with his absolutely tiny granddaughter. And grandpa looked even bigger when holding the hand of his diminutive granddaughter.

I had seen both separately early and then when they strolled by together, it was time for a picture. And grandpa was a gentleman. He said hello and smiled when giving me a wide berth as he passed  by where I was sitting on a park bench.

I'm sure he is a gentle giant.

Lookout Court is well named

The clouds were growing, climbing higher and higher into the blue sky. Growing thicker and darker and threatening rain, folks made sure their cars were inside the garage. Hail and strong winds were feared. Nothing, absolutely nothing materialized. The clouds grew dramatically and then scooted east. The storm missed my south London neighbourhood completely.

St. Thomas sculpture needs no maintenance; just enjoy.

St. Thomas, a little town just minutes south of London, was once known as the Railway Capital of Canada. So, the sculpture greeting visitors to the city arriving from the south is quite appropriate.

Created by a local artist, sculpture and blacksmith, Scott McKay, it took 25 tonnes of steel to construct using a special steel that is atmospheric corrosion resistant. As it rust, the rust forms a protective layer. At first it will turn an orange colour but after about five decades it should appear black.

Sitting in the centre of a roundabout, the work should last 100 years with no maintenance required, unless a vehicle goes out of control striking the sculpture. Not an impossibility considering the snowy winters St. Thomas endures.

For more info, here is a link: CBC report.

Maple leaves attacked by tar spot fungus

Today's blog is a reprint of a post that first appeared on Rockinon: the blog. Lately, I've been noticing these tar spots on fallen maple leaves in London and so I thought a reprint was in order.

A lot of the information came directly from a report from Guelph University by W.A. Attwater. I think it is best to ensure accuracy and so I am leaving this report essentially untouched.

Whenever I saw round, black dots on maple leaves, I used to wonder what the black dots were and what measures should we be taking to protect our trees. If you have thought the same thing, read on.

These distinctive round to irregular black, spots on infected maple leaves are known as tar spots. Not noticeable until late summer, tar  spots are caused by two species of Rhytisma fungus.

The first, Rhytisma acerinum, produces black, tar-like spots about 1.25 cm or more in diameter on the upper surface of infected leaves. The second species, R. punctatum, produces patches of small, 1mm wide spots and is often called speckled tar spot.

The thickened black spots are fungal tissue called stroma. Red, silver, Norway (including the varieties with red leaves) sugar and Manitoba maples as well as others are affected.

Both fungi survive between seasons on the fallen diseased leaves. In the spring, spores are produced within the black stroma and are carried by air currents to young maple leaves where they start new infections. Unlike many other foliar diseases, Rhytisma spp. do not continue to cause new infections throughout the summer.

Infections first show up as yellow or pale green spots on the leaf surface in the early spring or summer. The black, raised tar-like spots develop within these spots in mid to late summer. Severely infected leaves may be shed.

Although tar spots are conspicuous, they are seldom so injurious in home gardens to justify spraying with a fungicide. As the strong visual appearance develops late in the growing season, the overall health of trees is rarely affected.

To reduce the amount of disease overwintering, rake up fallen leaves in the autumn and destroy or remove them from the yard.

Central vacs are still made in Canada

Our central vacuum failed. No loss as far as I was concerned. Big loss according to my wife. We got a new central vac.

Our old unit was a Cana-Vac, which is made in Canada. It lasted 31 years! Our new unit is also made in Canada. It's a Vacuum Canada product. We bought our new unit and had it installed by a local shop specializing in vacuum cleaners. We considered buying our new unit from Costco but decided to accept the extra cost and support a small, local business.

That said, Costco would not have been that bad a decision. Costco likes to support local and/or Canadian companies. Costco sells a line of made in Canada central vacuum systems. I'm sure they use a local installer, as well.

Why did I pay more to buy locally? I believe the presence of strong, local businesses supplying good, needed services enriches a community.

No recipe recipe

Ah, summer. What a wonderful time to live in southwestern Ontario. Cherry tomatoes: grown locally. Asparagus: grown locally. Sweet bell peppers? You guessed it; grown locally. Garlic? Yes, it too came from an Ontario farm. The pasta may not be local but it is Canadian; it came from Montreal.

The Parmesan cheese came from Italy. If it came from anywhere else it wouldn't be Parmesan would it? And the artichokes also came from Italy.

If you think this looks good, it is. And it is simple. This dinner for two starts with 110 g of penne rigate. The packages usually call for a lot more but when cooking for two but I find less is better. I pump up the flavour and cut the calories by using more veggies and the like and less pasta.

Get the pasta going, it'll take about eight to tens minutes to cook al dente. Immediately drop the cherry tomatoes into a frying pan of hot olive oil and cover. If the tomatoes carmalize, all the better.
After a couple of minutes, add the chopped sweet pepper and the quartered mushrooms. Stir and cover.

With about three minutes left until the pasta is done, add the chopped asparagus spears. Keep the tender heads out of the mix. Stir and cover.

Check the pasta. When al dente, save a cup of the starchy, pasta water and then drain the pasta and set aside for a moment. Add a couple of cloves of coarsely chopped garlic and one chopped hot Thai red pepper with the seeds removed. If you want heat, the more seeds you keep, the more heat you deliver.
Stir the mix for a minute or two but no more. Don't blacken the garlic. It goes a little bitter.

Add the cooked penne rigate, add a little of the reserved pasta water, not all, plus add 60 g of soft, goat cheese broken into chunks. And don't forget to add the asparagus heads and the half dozen, canned in water, Italian artichoke hearts. If you like, you can sprinkle a little ground Parmesan into the mix at this time. Adding asparagus heads and asparagus now will ensure they do not overcook.

Stir all until the goat cheese has almost totally disappeared into the sauce. If more liquid is needed, just add more pasta water, a little at a time. Don't add too much. You want sauce and not water. Before the white of the soft goat cheese has completely disappeared, serve! A little bowl of ground Parmesan on the table is nice, as is a container of flaked, hot peppers.

I used:

110 g of penne rigate
dash of olive oil
just more than a dozen cherry tomatoes
1 chopped sweet pepper
5 big, quartered mushrooms
10 asparagus spears
1 big, minced garlic clove
1 hot Thai pepper
60 g soft goat cheese
set 1 cup of starchy pasta water aside (I didn't use it all.)
salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes at the table

The amount of vegetables and the like is not etched in stone. Feel free to add more of something you really like and less or even none of something you don't. Not using too much pasta and pasta water and making sure to serve while the goat cheese is still visible are the two rules I try not to break. Otherwise, the ingredient list is fairly flexible.

Line dancers in the almost empty mall parking lot

Shooting pictures for City Daily Photo can bring a bit happiness to people at this very difficult time.. To that end, I went to the nearby mall tonight and took some pictures of the ladies dancing in the nearly empty mall parking lot. 

Read what my neighbour wrote in an email about the pictures, posted a few days ago, that I took for the City Daily Photo group of her and her friends dancing in the court in front of my home.

These are great photos! Love them.

So happy to see you tonight (at the mall parking lot). Line dancing allows each person to learn what they want with no stress about a partner. I love country music and dancing lifts our spirits, awakens happy moods and is pure escapism. And we all need that! So glad we have worked around the virus.

Thanks so much for your interest. Everyone has been very positive towards your photo taking.

Mary

x

Signs of children

Kids leave their mark in a neighbourhood. Even when you don't see them, you see signs that just shout, "Kids!" Chalk coloured paving bricks are one of the more common signs that say, "Children."

The Abby in Sparta, Ontario

This colonial style home in Sparta, Ontario, is known locally as The Abby. It was built in the early 1840s. Originally it served as a home, then a furniture store and later it was a coffin shop. Today, it is a private home again with one area set aside as an art studio. It may be a small town but Sparta boasts quite a number of heritage properties for a place of its size.

Sparta House Tea Room

The little village of Sparta was founded by Quakers more than two centuries ago, in 1813. The Sparta House Tea Room was built about twenty years later and has served the small southwestern Ontario community ever since. It has been a hotel, a general store and even a funeral home. It sounds a little ghoulish, but today the funeral parlour is a tea room.

Sparta House is a great destination when taking kids, or grandkids, out for a Sunday drive. I have found that kids, especially little girls, love tea rooms. The Sparta House has a some outside seating making it an even better destination during these summer days steeped with the threat of COVID-19.

Another picture from Winter Wheat

The large piece of folk art sits beside the county road passing the Winter Wheat property. There is website dedicated to Winter Wheat and it is still up although the site seems closed. Possibly permanently. There is a chain across the entrance and a large No Trespassing sign hangs from its middle.

I believe the wife, Lucy Ogletree, was a painter in the folk art tradition, while her husband, Mike Roberts, was the folk art sculptor. I love the piece shown. The giant bird has wings made from scrap saw blades. Truly imaginative.

I have re-edited this post in order to add the following from a Sparta village website:

The loss of Winter Wheat by fire this winter has been a real blow to Sparta. This very popular attraction was totally destroyed. Mike Roberts, the owner is taking a year off to recuperate and may do something on a smaller scale in the future. Mike has done so much for Sparta. He started the first tourist attractions in Sparta in the 1970’s and continued to the present day. He restored two buildings in the village and then opened Winter Wheat. We are thankful for everything Mike has done for Sparta and wish him all the best.

A memory of Winter Wheat

The place was called Winter Wheat. It was unique. A local artist and her husband created it and maintained it. Sadly today it has closed.

Winter Wheat was an art gallery. The local folk art painter had a shop on the property stocked with art, much of it her own. Winter Wheat was a relaxing destination. The grounds had places to sit and enjoy the free coffee that was available. Visitors were encouraged to wander the grounds, enjoy the folk art and take a breather from the pressure of everyday life.

Tying all together was the folk art done by the artist's husband. He is truly a creative craftsperson. He takes found pieces of assorted stuff and assembles it into art. The stuff he created was well done and of enduring quality.

I have re-edited this post to include the following from a Sparta village website:

The loss of Winter Wheat by fire this winter has been a real blow to Sparta. This very popular attraction was totally destroyed. Mike Roberts, the owner is taking a year off to recuperate and may do something on a smaller scale in the future. Mike has done so much for Sparta. He started the first tourist attractions in Sparta in the 1970’s and continued to the present day. He restored two buildings in the village and then opened Winter Wheat. We are thankful for everything Mike has done for Sparta and wish him all the best.

West Five: a new approach to suburban living

The  London developer, Sifton, calls its southwest London development West Five. It likes to claim that it is the first neighbourhood in London powered by the sun. W5 is aiming to be a zero-net community. A very green dream..

Links flow through healthy communities

Healthy communities have links and strong roots. The newspaper and television station in London were once, and not all that long ago, owned by one family. The media company earned its money in the community and a great deal of the income stayed in the community. Today it's different.  A lot of the cash is siphoned away by distant hedge fund owners.

The local hospital benefited from the generosity of the Blackburn family as did many other groups. The photo hanging on the wall was taken by a London Free Press photographer and the hospital room on which it hangs may also have been paid for, at least partially, by the Blackburns. Walter Blackburn was a big and very generous supporter of  the LHSC.

Paving stones are not as green as you think

Paving stones should be green. Rugged. Long lasting. Potentially, the stones can stay in use forever with just a little maintenance. But, that is all in theory. In reality, styles change, stones begin to look dated and the homeowner has the old one lifted, removed and replaced. And what happens to the old stones? They are hauled to the dump.

The paving stones being laid are not stone at all. They are formed concrete. They are replacing older paving bricks. The small, red bricks were beginning to show signs of age. Until power washed the bricks were beginning to look stained. I called it a patina. Stain or patina, the power washer blasted it away. But sporting a clean surface was not enough to save the old bricks or make them desirable for reuse. I don't understand.

It may be my patio but, still, I think this is crazy. Why do it? Because my wife doesn't agree and one must pick one's battles. Oh well, I managed to save the decades old paving stone driveway and walk. And I kept some of old stones to repair the drive and walk if and when necessary. Maybe, just maybe, it will last indefinitely. I can only hope.

Homes that aim to go off the grid

These are the townhouses that are part of the new green neighbourhood in the southwest end of London. Note the solar panels on the roofs.

If all goes well, I believe the ultimate goal is to have these home completely off the grid. They may even be off at this time.

Why post a photo of a few small stores?

This small, suburban, strip mall is located in the new subdivision featured in a couple of the recent posts. The goal here is to provide stores and services within a short walk or drive of the nearby residents.

On one hand this is good but on the other hand I think it could have been done better. Why are there not low-height, medium density, apartments above the commercial spaces? When I was a boy I had friends and relatives who lived above businesses. It was done successfully in the past.

The aim is, I believe, to go off-the-grid

The Sifton Centre, featured a few days ago, is on the left. Clearly it is but one of a number of commercial buildings with solar panels hidden in the modern looking facades. The goal, I believe of this development in the west end of London, Ontario, is go off-the-grid at some point.

Feeling the music

Another photo from the dance practice held in the court in front of my home. It appears the ladies are stretching and warming up at this point in the practice.

COVID-19 is not stopping these ladies. Can't hold the regular dance practice inside, hold it outside. The ladies checked with the health department and the folk living on the court before plugging in their stereo equipment.

Almost empty hospital waiting room now the norm

Hospital waiting rooms are almost never empty or almost empty. At least that was the norm in the past. It is not the norm today thanks to COVID-19.

My liver is failing. It is a race between my heart and my liver to see which organ totally fails first. The heart has the edge. Livers are a bit more resilient. When I visited the liver specialist handling my case, the waiting room was just about empty.

The hospital restricts entry to only those with appointments. This means husbands and wives can no longer accompany their mates to their medical appointments. And even those with appointments have to run a gauntlet of questions before being allowed to enter. And you had better have arrived wearing a mask. No mask? No entry!

It is counter-intuitive but a lot of things are running faster and more efficiently with the pandemic raging. A lot of stuff is still closed. But if it is running it is probably running in a severely truncated state and yet with a full, or almost full, staff. I wonder how long this will continue.

A mask doesn't stop making a fashion statement

I spotted this young woman in a local store. I immediately thought, "Picture!" And thankfully she agreed to having a fast photo taken. Don't you just love the colour coordinated face mask and the pattern is such a wonderful bonus. And note the matching top. "Wow!" When I worked at the local paper before my retirement, I sometimes used non-models for fashion shoots. The best model with whom I ever worked was actually an art major from the local university. She was brilliant. And yes, the best models are thinkers and very creative, as well. Ah, if only I were still shooting fashion. I'd find something this woman could model. I'm sure she'd be great. And the pictures would be better, too. My little point-and-shoot's image suffers a little from camera shake caused by a slow shutter speed. At least, that is what this photographer in his 70s is claiming.

Line Dancing in the Court

It was a first: line dancing in the court in front of my home.

It seems a group of ladies who did line dancing at a nearby indoor venue were uncomfortable practising indoors with the COVID-19 virus still infecting people in London. One member of the dance group lives on the court and had an idea. She called the city and then called the health department. She got the go ahead to hold the dance class outside in the court with all dancers wearing masks. A couple on the court allowed her to plug the group's stereo equipment into the couple's outside electrical outlet.

It appears folk are learning to work around the virus. Yeah!

Tornado Watch and not Warning in effect

Arriving home, our neighbour excitedly informed us that a Tornado Warning had been issued. She was wrong. It was a Tornado Watch that had been declared.

A Watch lets residents know that the conditions are right for a tornado. Take care. A Warning indicates one or more tornados have been sighted, either visually or the presence indicated by weather radar. Take cover.

I believe the United States with Tornado Alley have the biggest and most numerous tornados in the world. But Southwestern Ontario is no slouch when it comes to tornados. We may pale in comparison to our southern neighbour but we still lose homes and very occasionally extremely small villages to these fierce summer storms.

The goal is100% energy efficiency

The Sifton Centre building is just one of a number of green commercial buildings either already standing or soon to be built in the new Sifton development in the far West end of London. What makes the Sifton Centre worthy of a picture? Answer: the solar panels on the south-facing wall. The panels are incorporated into the exterior design. If you weren't looking for them, you might miss them.

The stated vision of the new community is to be achieve 100% energy efficiency.

Hostas: a world travelling plant

I never thought much of hostas. Just a plant with big leaves and weird flowers was my thinking. And then the newspaper sent me to take pictures of a fellow who had an award-winning backyard garden filled with hostas, hundreds of hostas.

It was incredible. I had no idea that hostas came in so many varieties. The gentleman bragged that he had almost 200 different varieties. Since then I've learned there are more than 3000 registered varieties with possibly another 5000 unregistered throughout the world. This massive number of plants springs from a much smaller number of hosta species—40 to 45 would be a good guess.

That man made me a hosta believer. I love them. And the rabbits love them, too. It turns out hostas are related to asparagus and like asparagus are edible. The tender, young shoots are said to be best be but rabbits will eat them old as well. Apparently, the Japanese are quite generous in what they look for in a hosta for the table: small shoots, large eaves, even pretty flowers are all considered edible. If you see urui on the menu when in Japan, you are about to be served hosta as a vegetable.

The other day I took my granddaughters to a place that specializes in hostas: Hosta Choice Gardens. I got two new hostas. One promises to be a brute in a year or two. It may be six-feet wide and four-feet tall with giant golden leaves when mature.

Hosta Choice only sells hostas. That said, I saw some beautiful ferns growing there, plus some lugwort and bugleweed or ajuga that was speading wildly on one pathway. I admired all three and soon had a number of ferns, lugwort and ajuga in pots ready to take home. There was no charge for the non-hosta plants. Hosta Choice only sells hostas and therefore would only charge me for the two hostas.

I may live to regret planting the ajuga. It is a very hardy ground cover that sends out runners and expands its territory rapidly. I'm putting it on my hill overlooking my home. A bit of crazy wild ground cover may be desirable on the hill. That said, come back in ten years. My neighbours may be cursing my name.