The well-named speckled swan gourd is a popular decorative gourd. Sometimes it is painted before being displayed. But it is pretty well never eaten. If a veggie is known as a gourd and not a squash, it is most likely considered inedible.
These clearly two toned squashes are, I believe, all varieties of turk's turban heirloom winter squash. Many folk used these as fall decoration but if you should bake them, I understand they taste very much like the butternut and acorn squash with which we are all familiar.
The large, squarish tower caught my attention. I stopped for a closer look. It is a new, red-brick home built in a style reminiscent of the Italianate architecture so popular in Ontario from about 1830 to 1900. I'm not all that knowledgeable when it comes to architecture but even I know the significance of the widow's walk feature.
A widow's walk is small rectangular platform, bound by a low railing. Inspired by the cupolas of Italian Renaissance homes, widow's walks were very popular for decades in Ontario. Even when the heritage homes are still standing, it is rare for the widow's walks to a have survived. It proved easier to remove them than spend money maintaining them.
The new home features more than a simple, idealized widow walk topping an Italianate tower with the numerous tall, narrow windows sporting tightly curved tops. For instance, note the robust eave brackets, the window shutters, the irregular roofline. I'm sure there's more but I'm not an expert.
It would be neat to have time machine to zip a hundred years into the future. Will this home still have shutters? Home in my area that once had faux shutters now have a clean look. The home owners removed the shutters rather than paint them and most folk think the homes look better.
And will the widow's walk still be present? Or will it disappear just as many of the original, heritage examples disappeared with the passage of time? (And, truth be told, the brick home is, to be accurate, actually brick veneer. The brick is real but it is only one brick thick. The home is actually wood-frame construction. A true brick home has an exterior wall constructed with a minimum of three brick depth and many have use an interlocking five brick design. And the true brick wall does not require the support of a wall-strengthening wood frame.)
Fall is here. Summer is gone. And what memories do we have from the summer of 2020? Mostly we have memories of memories. My wife and I and our grandkids sat together, but socially distanced, and we all recalled stuff that we did in years past. With COVID-19 restricting travel, cottage country was out. I'm sure the sunsets were still beautiful and I'm sure there were folk standing at the water's edge taking in the view but it wasn't me nor my wife nor anyone I know. This is the first summer in 73 years that I did not get so much as out of the county. In fact, I hardly escaped the city.
What can one say about a praying mantis? A lot, I've learned. First, the one shown is not native. Nope. It is a European immigrant that came to Canada via the States. There is also a Chinese mantis but it is found mainly in British Columbia in Canada.
There is one mantis that belongs here: the Carolina mantis. The native species gets too little respect. Why do I say that? Well the European praying mantis is the official state insect of Connecticut and not the Carolina mantis. And when garden centres sell mantises to dine on destructive insects in our gardens, the mantis species sold is invariably the European. And the insects dined upon may even include our own native mantis.
The European mantis may threaten the existence of the Carolina mantis. For this reason, some advise destroying the egg clusters of the European and Chinese mantises. I would think it awfully hard to differentiate. That said, there is cluster glued to the underside of the brickwork near where my granddaughter spotted today's example. I think I'd be safe in assuming this was left by the green-winged visitor.
When Isla, 7, makes waffles for a family breakfast, she does not think of trade but it is an important ingredient in making her waffles a success. The strawberries she used last Saturday came from a local grower but the berries she will soon be using will come from the Imperial Valley in California. The waffle mix comes from a company founded in Seattle in Washington state in the early '30s. The egg is local but not the olive oil. It is imported from Tunisia.
The all important waffle maker itself is made in China. It wasn't all that long ago that it would have been made in either Canada or the USA but for the moment that day has passed. The bowl holding the water came from Portugal, the bentwood bar stool on which she is sitting was made in Czechoslovakia.
She gives it not the slightest thought but trade between nations quietly colours her days.
Townhouses were somewhat rare when I was young. When friends bought a townhouse/condo back in the early '70s in a community north of Toronto, it was considered a unique development. Not today.
As I recall, my friends moved into their townhouse/condo in the '70s because of the pressure of fast climbing housing costs. The couple saw the townhouse/condo as an entry point into the housing market that they could afford. My gut feeling is that the high cost of housing is behind the growing popularity of this type of housing.
That said, ease of upkeep and an accurate way to estimate total housing costs probably enter into the equation as well.
I love this home. It looks like a direct descendent of the homes I knew as a child. Homes built in the '20s and '30s in Windsor, Ontario. A direct descendent of those homes but an updated one.
Homes didn't have an attached garage in the '20s. No need. Many folk didn't have a car. As car ownership increased the snoot-nosed home made its appearance. This home borrows from, and improved on, that look in home construction. The jutting snoot is gone but the handy-to-access garage at the front of the home is still present.
This place, with its relatively small size, would easily fit into my former century-old neighbourhood. And yet, with its bright-red metal roof, its paving stone drive, perma-colour shingles and other modern exterior materials, it would stand out. Even the exterior brick would distance it from its neighbours. The brick is coloured concrete and not red or yellow clay.
With its AC unit and triple-pane windows, this home is comfortable in summer and with its blanket of insulation hidden in the exterior walls it is cozy in winter. I would imagine it is draft free.
Folks love to complain. For years our local paper ran stories on the hell of living in the suburbs. The suburbs being places just ten minutes by car from the city centre. But today those stories are waning. Many of the reporters live in the suburbs and like where they live.
Attractive, paved walkways are appearing all over London. These are especially common in the new neighbourhoods as walkways are included in almost all new developments.
New neighbourhoods can be fine places to live. Solidly built homes, well insulated, all services buried. Small homes mixed with large homes with medium height apartment buildings also present. Streets have limited traffic, the curved streets do not lend themselves to through traffic, and sidewalks in front of homes are common.
Admittedly it is possible to walk to some retail businesses but my guess is very few do. People walk for mostly for pleasure here or, if they are young, they may be walking to school. The school is close.
When it comes to driving, those living here need only make a very small trip to reach everything normally needed. This may be the suburbs but living here does mean being forced to do a lot of driving. Many journeys are less than two miles.
But not this year. I cannot recall the last time that the fair failed to open. Generally, it simply never happens but COVID-19 has changed all that. That virus has managed to change so much that at this moment a cancelled fair seems a small thing.
It was a gravel pit. It was closed and filled. Today it is great place to play. (This photo was snapped by the little girl's mom using a cell phone.)
There is an official etiquette for flying the Canadian flag—but these rules are not mandatory for individuals or organizations outside of government.
I'm not sure if this picture works but this is a shot of an exceedingly old and twisted evergreen. Much of the tree has died and bare, barkless wood remains. Seeing this tree along a trail made me recall the bristle cone pines trees of the American West. At one time it was claimed that the American trees were the oldest living thing on the planet. I wonder how old this evergreen is.
