Placemaking in action

It is cool in London, Ontario, among those in certain groups to detest suburbia. Cookie cutter homes they say on streets that are far too wide. And those garages at the fronts are simply ugly, they say. I say, "Fuddle duddle!"

I'm not an expert on architecture and if I am way off I am sure I will hear about it. But, I think this suburban home, more than two decades old --- maybe closer to three --- is built in a style reminiscent of Colonial Revival which of course borrowed heavily from the Georgian.

It's funny. A home like this in north London, built possibly in the 1920s, is cool. But find one built 60 years later in a southwestern suburb and you may hear criticism.

There's a buzzword that city planners like to throw around: Placemaking. For me my neighbourhood with its streets lined with well maintained homes is a place that I and others like to walk. We find it a very pleasant part of the city. We believe our suburb a fine example of successful placemaking in action.

Fujifilm HS10 hits the stores in London

Shot with lens zoomed to a setting comparable to 720mm on a 35 DSLR.

It's here. The Fujifilm FinePix HS10 is in London stores. I don't want this to be an ad but it sure may seem like one. After more than four decades shooting pictures for a daily newspaper and carrying two camera bodies and up to five lenses, I have replaced everything with two point and shoot cameras: a Canon PowerShot S90 and a Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

With all those years of professional shooting, this may come as a surprise but I don't believe in anything but automatic when it comes to cameras --- not completely true but close enough to be true. Auto can fail big time, but generally you're pretty safe sticking with the automatic settings. If you're shooting for fun, that decides it --- shoot automatic.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Canon S90; Yesterday, I picked up a Fujifilm HS10.

Today's shot, the chipmunk, is the just the third image shot with my new Fuji. It has a 30-times zoom and it is working at its max here. The camera was hand-held but braced against my kitchen door frame.

Years ago one of Canada's top newspaper shooters told me he always kept his cameras on automatic in order to be ready to shoot in an instant. Oh, he might use manual when shooting something that allowed time for finagling and fine tuning --- a fashion shoot for instance --- but for a sudden moment it was auto for this prize-winning shooter.

I think the image of my chipmunk, shot on automatic right from the box, says he was right.

Hey, greyhounds aren't always grey!

If you go to Springbank Park on the second Saturday of the month in the early afternoon, you might view a mess of greyhounds. They meet in the parking lot at the roadway leading down to the Thames River and the Springbank dam. I was there late this past weekend. Maybe I'll be on time next month.

Peter McGregor Inn, Tavern and Apartment Building

The apartment building in the centre is The Peter McGregor Building named after the first official resident and business owner in London, Ontario. Almost two hundred years ago he opened his log cabin inn and tavern very close to the where the McGregor building is today at the forks of the Thames in the city core.

The first permanent settler in London, Ontario, was Peter McGregor, a tavern and hotel owner who had pulled up stakes from down river to settle in a more lucrative location. His first tavern at the corner of Ridout and King Streets consisted of a stump outside a small log house, with a tin cup and a jug of whisky. His inn was but a rough log cabin.

Thus McGregor established the first business and residence in London. In January of 1827 when the court opened, he acted as jailer and frequently brought the prisoners over to his tavern for dinner.

Taken from Thames Topics, Booklet 2.

How ducks got their colours

	A Lakota Legend

A young warrior, who from childhood had been very fond of bright colours, walked far from camp. He loved the beautiful colours of Indian summer. Now and then he would stop and take from his pouch some clay and oil to paint the colours he saw. As the shadows grew long, he knew that it would soon be time for the night fire, so he made his way to a nearby lake where he built a small lodge.

As he sat looking at the red sun, which was about to go down under the coloured sky, he heard the talk of waterfowl coming toward him. He saw large and small ducks, gray geese, and loons diving and playing. They were all his friends and he was glad to see them. He cupped his hands about his mouth and called to them. They were startled at first, but when they recognized him they paddled to shore.

The young man invited them all to his lodge. There they visited and took turns telling what they had done that day. When the young warrior told then that he had been studying and mixing colours, a gray duck became interested.

"You are our friend," said the duck. "Would you be so kind as to paint us with some of your beautiful colours?"

The large gray duck decided that he wished a pretty green head with a white stripe around his neck, a brown breast, and yellow legs. When he was painted, the duck flapped his wings. Ducks with these colours are now called mallard ducks.

"I hope you will not paint my mate with the same colours I have," he said. So she was painted mostly brown.

Then the teal had himself and his family painted as he desired.

By this time the paints were almost gone, so there were no bright colours left for the goose and the loon.

From Canku Ota (Many Paths) - an online newsletter celebrating Native America

These cars say, "Slow down!"

Isn't this impersonating a policeperson, or at least police car? Isn't this technically illegal? If it is, the police are looking the other way for these two police car look-alikes are parked in front of Mattress Depot and Discount Furniture on Exeter Road in the city's southern end.

No matter how many times my wife and I drive by the Mattress Depot we always slow down the moment we spot these two parked cars. Heck, we slow down and we aren't even speeding!

The growing, expanding city devours nearby farms.

This old farm house, its barn, in fact the entire farm on which these buildings sit, all are on the way out. But it is clear from the look of the farm house that this place has been fading into oblivion for some time. It always amazes me to see the work people expend in destroying a building.

I'm old, really old. Not as old as this home but within a decade or two. I can almost remember when asphalt rolled siding was new. Let me assure you, covering a home with this imitation-stone-patterned stuff was never cool. Never. It was always cheap and tacky.

I wonder what this home looked like when new. I bet it was rather nice. Inside, it had wide, solid wood trim. It has solid wooden doors, not the hollow core one's installed today --- which often have more in common with treated paper than wood. It had a fireplace in the living room with two matching windows on each side. It had some fancy beveled glass interior doors as visual accents.

When new it might have housed a happy family that would never have imagined how their beloved home would be allowed to decay with the passing decades.