Info-Tech Research Group

Usually I like to tell you, my readers, a little background about my picture of the day. Today I am wordless. These images are of the Info-Tech Research Group head office in London, Ontario. I know that when I worked at the local newspaper, the business department did some stories on Info-Tech and they were all very positive stories --- that much I remember.

Check out their website and who knows, maybe your IT department can use their expertise. If Info-Tech brings the same attention to detail in their work as they have brought to the exterior of their head office, these folk are beyond good.

Honey, you've got to see this!

Southwestern Ontario is not know for its hills. Yet, my home sits smack-dab on top of a rather tall, and very long, glacial moraine. From our home, we can see all the way to the farms north of the city. But the best part of the view are the sunsets. They can be downright spectacular.

The other night, as my wife walked by our front door, she noticed this sunset and called me, "Honey, you've got to see this!"

I saw it, and now you can see it, too.

Cheers!

p.s. I was going to write that my camera might have added its own little colourful twist to the scene but my wife on seeing this post exclaimed, "That's yesterday's sunset! It was great!" I'll leave it at that.

Fraternal Twins

Note how the addition of a ventilation panel, left, has altered the decoration.

How often have you read that one thing that separates suburban development from the neighbourhoods in a city's core is the frequent repetition of home models in suburbia? It is jarring, and boring, all at the same time --- almost identical home all too often sit side by side. Not good, we are told.

The fact is, as Jon Blackwell of the Trentonian wrote: "No two styles were ever built side by side." Blackwell was writing about Levittown, Penn., but he could have been writing about any number of suburban developments right across North America.


The truth is that building side by side housing twins and triplets was often done in the past. It is not always as obvious today as was when the homes were newly built, changes made over the intervening years have hidden or removed some the striking similarities.

Today's photo features the upper floor bay window treatment featured on two London homes in the downtown core. I'd say these homes are fraternal twins. Note, the addition of a ventilation screen has slightly modified the appearance of the home on the left. There is a third home in this series but it is no longer clear whether or not it was once a match. The home now has siding and the decoration below the peak is covered or removed.

A visual metaphor

A dear artist friend draws flowers --- in bud, in full bloom and in decay. All stages appear in the paintings. I never thought to include anything other than the colourful blooms in my images until I saw this artist's work and understood the implications. To not show the wilted flowers, petals shriveled, yellow core faded to brown, is only telling part of the rich story that is life.

If you are intrigued by the transitory nature of life, you might like my recent blog And When I Die.

London Sunset

If you can ignore the mosquitoes, as this couple obviously can, the Thames River in London, Ontario, offers a beautiful spot to view a Southwestern Ontario sunset.

Bruce Cockburn at Home County

For more pictures see: Rockin' On: Photography

Bruce Cockburn is the biggest name to hit the Victoria Park stage at the Home County Folk Festival in years. Mix the Cockburn name with a fine summer evening and the result is a huge turnout.

The crowd had filled the paved space directly in front of the bandshell stage early in the evening. The audience then spilled onto the grassy areas off to the sides with these areas quickly filling with folks on lawn chairs and with others relaxing on blankets. Even areas having no clear line-of-sight to the stage filled as Londoners arrived to hear, if not see, Cockburn perform.

And no one was disappointed. Cockburn's distinctive voice and guitar playing gently rocked the park with such hits as: Slow Down Fast, Child of the Wind, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, How I Spent My Fall Vacation, and Strange Waters.

In the moments before Cockburn appeared on  stage the open walkway in front of the stage filled with amateur photographers and late but bold spectators. Both developments carried surprises. First, the general rule at concerts is photos are only allowed during the first two or three songs of a performer's set. Cockburn allowed the shutterbugs to stay rooted to their spots in front of the stage for the whole concert --- very generous. 

And the audience members behind the last minute interlopers, who had claimed positions at the very front, were also allowed to stay. Being so close to the stage, these intruders did not block anyone's view and wisely it was decided by all to just leave them be.

It was a very mellow, Cockburn evening.

Barrett Breaks Special Olympics World Record

Photo credit: Doug Brown, Special Olympics Photo Volunteer

London, Ont.: Saturday morning, power lifter Jackie Barrett broke a Special Olympics world record lift in squat at 265.5kg. The packed venue at the University of Western Ontario in London Ontario gave the mighty competitor a standing ovation.

 Barrett has been with the Special Olympics for 23 years and has been training in power lifting for the past 15 years.

About this impressive, record breaking accomplishment, Barrett said, "It felt great. I felt I almost didn't get it, but I did." When asked when he decided he'd go for the record-breaking lift Barrett explained, "I decided after my second attempt. I felt I had enough left in the tank and then I went for it."

Later Saturday, Barrett may attempt a new Special Olympics world record in the dead lift. That category of the competition takes place in the early afternoon.

Daniel Reid, a coach with Team Newfoundland, was ecstatic. "I think it's super. He was undecided if he would even try to do it because he would have to do it on his third attempt, but he did it, and he made it look easy. We're all very proud of him." 

About the 2010 Special Olympics Canada Special Games: The 12th national summer competition was held in London Ontario from July 11 to 17. More than 1,400 athletes, coaches, and mission staff representing all ten Canadian provinces plus the Yukon and Northwest Territories attended the seven-day sporting event. More than 1,000 volunteers and event officials worked to make the event a success.

Athletes competed in eight official sports, including athletics, five and ten pin bowling, power lifting, rhythmic gymnastics, soccer, softball and swimming. This national competition serves as the qualifying event for athletes to become members of the national team that will compete at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

Blogger reader in training

It is being widely reported that children, and older kids, raised reading books rather than pointing and clicking around the Internet are brighter with better concentration spans. I find this hard to believe. There must be more going on than simply Internet vs. printed words on the page.

That said, my little granddaughter seems to have taken to books. And I'd say she was a bright little thing. Maybe there is something to all this book stuff after all.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Geek Dinner

This was the "Thank you" Geek Dinner for me. You see, it was at a previous Geek Dinner that I learned about SSDs and how these are faster and more rugged than the traditional hard drives found in notebook computers. As I was planning an almost six week driving adventure across North America in a 42-year-old British roadster, a Morgan Plus 4, well known for its rough and bumpy ride, this was great to know. The Dell notebook I eventually bought had a 256GB SSD and it withstood the weeks of bouncing tucked behind the seat of my Morgan very well.

I also had a chance to thank the young woman who recommended the Fuji brand of cameras to me. She was using an earlier model of the Fuji camera I eventually bought for the trip. It proved to be a solid performer and very well built.

I brought my notebook to the dinner and when I ran into a problem showing someone my blog page, the screen carried a message saying there was a server problem, this person removed the incorrect information which had been entered into the DNS fields of my computer during the trip.

I had to bring out my "Thank you," again.

The Vacation Continues

We are now in Thessalon and winding down. This was the shortest drive we have had in quite awhile. Tomorrow we only have to drive three hours to a ferry and then we can relax. After the cruise, we have only a one hour drive.

The next day we drive home!

For more info see my post on the Digital Journal.

The Vacation Continues

The stuff you see driving down the TransCanada highway over Lake Superior.

I'm blogging on my vacation on the Digital Journal.

The Vacation Continues

Sioux Narrows in the Lake of the Woods region of Northwestern Ontario.

 For the whole story, see the post on Digital Journal.

The Vacation Continues

Only a week left and Judy and I will be back in London, Ontario! But now, we are in Kenora in the far northwestern part of the province.

The Vacation Continues

With a loud dramatic crunching sound, the bumper fell from the car and wedged under the roadster.

 If you have been following my posts on Digital Journal, you'd know my Morgan was hit in Gorda by the Bay. Today the fender fell off the roadster and wedged under the car. The whole story has been posted on Digital Journal.

The Vacation Continues

If you are following the Morgan Adventure, there are two more posts on the Digital Journal.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/7636

http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/7637

The Vacation Continues

A young violinist on the main street of Fort McLeod, Alberta. The street was closed for an arts festival.

We are now in Alberta and today we should end up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. My heart seems stable as does the Morgan. The old car seems to have rallied to the moment and is on its best behaviour. It only gives us trouble after we stop. Some say this is the elevation or the western gas causing vapour lock but I know this is the car telling us that it just wants to get us home: "Don't stop me. Let me run. I'll get you home," it is saying.

More pictures posted on Digital Journal.

The Vacation Continues

I never expected parts of the state of Washington to look like this. Where are the mountains?

For today's post, see the Digital Journal.

Cheers!

The Vacation Continues

A steep climb and massive wind turbines greeted us entering Washington.

Yesterday we cleared Oregon. It is now checked off our list. We are in Washington and we'll be here again tonight: Spokane. After that it is British Columbia and Canada. It may not be "home of the free and land of the brave" but it is the home of government-run medical care.

When your ticker is losing its mojo, Canada looks better and better. One of the first stops in Canada will be a hospital or medical clinic. I'm going to check on the strength of my heart meds. I'm wondering if I could be taking a little more of this metoprolol. Right now I am on a minimal dosage.

The downside to this stuff is that you must take it regularly. Don't stop! It comes with this warning:

"Do not stop taking metoprolol without talking to your doctor. Suddenly stopping metoprolol may cause chest pain or heart attack. Your doctor will probably decrease your dose gradually."

I think the Morgan is having sympathy pains. Yesterday, on the steep road into Washington state the engine balked, lost power and stopped for no apparent reason. But the little car restarted beautifully and has run fine ever since.

I've got confidence in both my little roadster and my heart. Hey, I've known them both for a very long time.

Cheers!

Oh, I may not post tonight,

I may go to bed early and get a really good night's sleep.

The Vacation Continues

After a day and a half in the hospital to treat a runaway heart rate, I am back on the road. Judy and I are now in Oregon with the Morgan.

Cheers!

The Vacation Continues

The Morgan has had a day at the mechanics and is now running beautifully. Maybe it will now go another few thousand miles and get us home.

The big picture opportunity of the day was offered by the kite-surfers spotted south of San Francisco in the Pacific.

For more information, see: The Digital Journal

The Vacation Continues

Rockinon rocked down Highway 1 today from San Simeon to Santa Cruz. Big Sur was amazing. It was a great Morgan run. For more, see my Digital Journal post.

The Vacation Continues

Stayed at the Hacienda. A ranch home designed for William Randolph Hearst by the same architect that worked with him for decades on his castle-like home near San Simeon.

Drove from the one former Hearst property to the other via a mountain road across the Fort Hunter-Liggett military base. What a road!

Today's picture is a view from this road.

More info is posted at:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/7445
http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/7446

The vacation continues . . . Rockinon rocks on!

I'd heard of dust devils but until today I had not encountered them. There were literally dozens of dust devils to be seen out on the Nevada desert Thursday. Driving through that in an old Morgan was quite the buzz.

I posted some of the events of the day at: http://www.digitaljournal.com/blog/7272

Rockinon is on Vacation!

It may be almost summer in London, Ontario, but in the Grand Tetons above Jackson Hole the snow is still six-feet deep beside some of the mountain top walkways. Blogging on trip on Digital Journal.

On Vacation_Rockinon visits Yellowstone and more

One of the geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park.

By now you know Rockinon is on vacation. The Morgan has put Yellowstone National Park behind it and is on its way to Providence, Utah. What's in Providence? A wonderful B&B, I hope. But this is just a stop before the next major place to visit: Yosemite!

I'll be back covering London, Ontario, come some time in July.

For more info on the trip see the Digital Journal.


Cheers!

Why blog on hiatus

I'm on vacation! For more information see my Rockin' On: the blog post.

Thousands hike to the top of Crazy Horse Memorial. Yes, those are people.

And I was one of the thousands making the climb.

Yes, this is B&B fare!

This is the Badlands of South Dakota.

And when my wife and I are not enjoying the fabulous scenery, we are enjoying the fabulous breakfasts at the various B&Bs at which we have stayed.

Cheers! (Remember: if you want to know more, follow the links.)

Back-lit water

Out for a stroll, I noticed how the early evening sun back-lit the lawn sprinklers. I thought it would make a picture, and it did.

And that really is it for London Daily Photo until sometime in July. The hiatus is on!

Cheers!

What are these flowers?

Shot with my new Canon PowerShot S90.

I know, I know, this blog is on hiatus. But, trimming a yew at my front entry, I noticed this flowering plant hiding under the dense, green foliage. It wasn't there last year and neither my wife nor I planted it. So, what is it? It sure is pretty.

Note how the reds and greens really pop. This is because they are complementary colours which means they are opposite each other on the colour wheel. The use of complementary colours is intrinsically a high-contrast approach.

A splash of colour, a drop of rain

This blog is on hiatus. See my previous post for an explanation on why I won't be posting again until sometime in July.

But today I took Fiona out to inspect the garden foliage and flowers after the rain stopped. I had to return with my camera to share some of the images.

Now, what was I saying about taking a much needed break?

--- All shots taken with my new Canon S90. I am very happy with my new camera but it takes some getting used to. ---

New people, an important part of town

Shot with my Canon PowerShot S90. An excellent little camera.

I've run Fiona before, and I'll probably run her again. Allow me to explain why.

Bloggers who post daily photos from cities and towns around the world often show urban sites --- or should I say sights? I find the images of cityscapes from around the globe very interesting. Often the pictures show new buildings of which the blogger is extremely proud. But cities enjoy more than just a constant stream of new buildings; They enjoy a constant stream of new people.

Fiona belongs to the London stream. She is a new resident of Southwestern Ontario. As young as she is, she is most certainly not the the newest resident. This stream of people is large and fast moving. Of course, Fiona is still moving through headwater territory; Me, her grandfather, I'm moving rather quickly to the end of this river.

Fiona may be only a little more than eight months old but she has quite the sense of humour. She loves to giggle with the baby in the hallway mirror. Once, while I was holding her, she grasped the mirror on the our antique umbrella stand and pulled herself forward in order to peek behind the mirror. Discovering that there was no one there, she looked back at me with a puzzled expression.

The baby in the framed photo looks a lot like the baby in the mirror, except this tyke doesn't move. This baby is frozen in time and trapped immobile in a frame. Fiona can hold this picture in her two hands and rotate it and turn it and whenever she glances the actual image, the baby is always there.

For Fiona the picture is a constant delight. I hope today's picture is a delight for you.

À bientôt!

And now I must say, "À bientôt!" In a little more than a week, my wife and I are heading off for a 40 day adventure. We're driving across the United States and Canada in my aging Morgan. The car and I got old together. It is question which one of us will break down first.

I have bought a Canon PowerShot S90 and a Fuji HS10, complete with spare batteries, for documenting our trip and I am bringing a Dell Studio XPS with an SSD drive for filing the occasional story from the road. And I finally got a cell phone and a GPS.

My daughter, her husband and Fiona are keeping the home fires burning, the lawn cut and weeds pulled, by living in our home while we are gone. This is wonderful. Fiona will think of our home as her home and she will be even more comfortable when visiting us in the future.

I'll be filing stories and pictures to Rockinon: Travel when I get the opportunity.

Hope to see you all back here sometime in July,
Cheers,
Rockinon (Ken Wightman)

Some of my favourite pictures from London Daily Photo.

Northern Walking Stick
Evening Mist
Captain Rex --- possibly my most frequently hit image. Even Lucusfilm in California has visited.
London Lobster --- this is another frequently hit picture. I shot this right at the dinner table.
A Drop of Rain

I hope you had some favourites, too. Cheers!

Jogging

It seems to me that I'm often confronted by articles claiming that folk today are in very poor shape compared to their counterparts in the 1950s. I wondered what was being said about fitness sixty years ago.

Surprise! Surprise! Word back then was that American kids were out of shape --- especially when compared to European children. In December 1953, Dr. Hans Kraus, M.D., associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at New York University, claimed the United States was becoming soft.

He said that 56 percent of  U.S. students failed at least one component of a comprehensive fitness test while 92 percent of European children passed the same test. A few years after this Canadians were being told that some mythical Swede outperformed them. I say mythical because later the government admitted that the whole Swede story was made up to embarrass Canadians into exercising. (It worked, and the myth is still repeated.)

One thing I am sure has changed over the intervening sixty years: many seniors are in better physical condition today than their counterparts from the 1950s.

Fishing on the Maitland River

The South Maitland River is a stream located about an hour and a half north of London, Ontario. Fishermen take a variety of fish from the Maitland, including small mouth bass, rainbow trout and white perch. According to Hook and Bullet, "If all goes well, the white perch will be hooked by your crickets, the small mouth will be biting your maggots and the rainbow will be grabbing your wax worms."

Maggots?