The best lawn in Canada is no more

Once the London Life lawn would never have had even one weed, yet alone dozens.

It was once known as the best lawn in Canada. It was incredible. It was unbelievable. It was a golf green unmarred by a hole and cup. It was the London Life lawn in downtown London, Ontario.

The London Life lawn is patchy not perfect.

The insurance company's grass was a brighter green. It was finer, denser, shorter. It was so short that a special drum lawn mower — the kind usually reserved for trimming golf greens — was used to cut the grass to a height of 1/8 inch. London Life must have had a full-time greenskeeper. Amazing.

But all that came to an end a few years ago. According to The Londoner the look could only be achieved through the use of chemical pesticides. When the province banned lawn pesticides, the death knell sounded for the famous London lawn.

Greg Sandle, London’s pesticide education coordinator, told the Londoner that folks have to change their perception of what constitutes a perfect lawn.

“There will be dandelions, there will be weeds. But we want people to just relax, they’re only weeds."

If you look carefully at the London Life lawn, you can still see remnants of the former lawn, fine and dense.

The new grass is hardier. It doesn't demand all the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer and water of the golf green variety. You might say that, despite appearances to the contrary, the new lawn is actually "greener" than the old one.

Old and new: patches of the old, perfect lawn are still visible.

A walk on the suburban side

There are a lot of myths about North American suburban neighbourhoods; Like all myths, there is a bit of truth in what people say — but there is also a lot of folklore. According to popular mythology suburban streets are wide and designed with cars and not pedestrians in mind. There are few trees in suburbia. And the streets are often ugly, their appearance marred by the presence of all the garage doors.

Bunkum. At least it's bunkum when one looks at many specific suburban developments. The suburban street this 21-month-old little girl is strolling is very quiet when it comes to vehicular traffic; the street dead ends in court. Fiona has found that it is more heavily traveled by people out walking their dogs than by cars.

The traffic is so light that there are no sidewalks. It's mostly folk living on the short street that use this section of road. The street has no speed bumps nor does it have any other annoying, traffic-calming measures. The road itself is somewhat narrow and gently curved, this design acts to slow traffic down.

London, Ontario, is called The Forest City, and this neighbourhood is an excellent example of why the moniker fits. The large trees near the curb are trimmed and maintained by the city. The evergreens and other trees closer to the homes, like the Japanese maples with their deep red coloured leaves, are the responsibility of the individual home owners.

Fiona likes this street. Farther up the road, there is home with a rock garden instead of a lawn. She loves it. She thinks that rocks instead of grass is pretty cool.

She also loves that she can reach the court by strolling down a long walking path that starts opposite the park where she sometimes plays. I say sometimes because there are three parks in the area that have playground equipment for young kids. Fiona likes to mix 'em up as each one is a little different from the other two.

Just because a court is a dead end for cars does not mean it is necessarily a cul-de-sac for strollers.

Why Hamilton?

Recently, the local paper has made a number of references to Hamilton, Ontario as if Hamilton has it right while London has it wrong. Hamilton is deep into the "creative city" stuff.

My wife and I found ourselves in beautiful, downtown Hamilton the other day. We didn't aim to be there, we blame our GPS. But, the moment I saw the entrance to the downtown, I knew it was time to get out the camera.

London has a number of one way streets downtown. These one way streets are constantly nattered about. Cool folk hate 'em. Note the main drag in Hamilton; It's one way!

And, immediately to the right as one enters downtown there is a coffee shop; It's run by the Salvation Army. I guess in Hamilton, it's move over Timmy.

I wasn't too impressed with the Hamilton downtown. It reminded me of home, of London, or of any of hundreds of hollowed out downtowns in the core of North American cities. As we left the core, I grabbed one last picture; a once grand hotel, now boarded up. Oh well, at least Hamilton hasn't demolished this fine, old structure.

Maybe Hamilton does have a leg up on London after all.

It's closed; It's empty; But, it's interesting.

It's closed; It's empty; It's the former McCormick's biscuit and candy plant on Dundas St. E. in London, Ontario.

According to the London Public Library, years of study went into the design of the 1913 biscuit bakery and candy manufacturing plant. The plant was one of the largest, most modern and most sanitary factories of its kind in North America. The exterior was finished with white enamel terra cotta. There were so many windows, it became known as the Sunshine Palace.

The McCormick's factory was meant to be a model facility. Not only was the plant itself an amazing state of the art bakery and confection plant employing about 1000, producing 135,000 lbs. of candy and 100,000 lbs. of biscuits every working day, but it was to have a baseball park, bowling greens, a tennis court and croquet grounds for the enjoyment of the workers.

In 1854, Thomas McCormick opened his biscuit and confectionery manufacturing business. In 1926, McCormick's purchased its London competitor, D.S. Perrin and Company Ltd. In the 1940’s McCormick's itself was taken over by George Weston Ltd. In 1990, the business was acquired by Culinar Foods of Montreal. In 1997 Beta Brands Inc. took control. In 2004, McCormick was sold to Sun Capital Partners, a Florida investment firm.

• In 2007, Sun Capital Partners closed McCormick's, cut 275 jobs and denied workers severance, vacation pay and pensions.
• McCormick's workers fight two years in court to win vacation pay and have to pay their legal bills from the winnings.
• One 48-year employee now earns a pension of $300 a month.

Today, the Sunshine Palace sits empty. Its glow dimmed. Its white terra cotta soiled. Inside it's been gutted of its bakery and confection making equipment. The next important date in its more than a century and a half of history might well be its demolition.

"Life is Good!" at Winter Wheat

Shelters allow visitors to relax, sip a coffee and enjoy each other's company.

"Life is Good!" at Winter Wheat.

"Life is Good!"

Winter Wheat is the inviting home of Canadian folk artist Lucy Ogletree and her husband Mike Roberts. The five-acre property, filled with whimsical art, is open to the public for much of the year. Check the website before going. The grounds and shop make a perfect destination to explain a drive in the country.

According to the Winter Wheat site:

"Folk Art is created by ordinary folks who express what they are feeling in their hearts by creating imaginative things. Often times the expressions they create are extremely exuberant, witty or humorous."

Morgans leaving the parking lot in Sparta, Ontario, Sunday.

Sunday the group of Morgans touring Southwestern Ontario stopped in Sparta, the village just north of Winter Wheat. They proceeded down Quaker Road to Ogletree's oasis of creativity. The group, mainly from the Toronto area, was impressed.

To reach Winter Wheat, take 401-exit-177 and head in a southerly direction on Hwy 4 towards St. Thomas. At the edge of St. Thomas, turn right, staying on Hwy 4, now also known as Sunset Road. Turn left at Union and head east on Sparta Road. In Sparta, turn right onto Quaker Road and head south for about 2 km. Winter Wheat is on the west side of the road. Watch for the property dense with trees and the fence posts decorated with angels.

Winter Wheat is an amazingly welcoming place.

Ogletree's studio and her home are nestled among the tall pines and spruce trees, along with a country store filled with her beautiful folk art paintings and whimsical creations.

Visitors are encouraged to not only stroll the store but to wander the grounds. There are a couple of shelters where one can relax with a coffee and some friends.

The sculptures dotting the property are brightly coloured with a whimsical, upbeat quality. For Ogletree, everything is art. Brooms? Art! Funnels? Art! Keys? Art! . . .

The richness of Winter Wheat means everyone has a slightly different reaction to the place. I find the spot inspiring. I wander her gardens, stroll down her flower-bordered paths and smile at the merriment added by her sculptures. It all leaves me wanting to do something with my yard. So many times backyards are nothing more than a barren, sterile patch of grass.

The easiest answer is to buy some of the yard sculpture for sale at Winter Wheat. Mix some Ogletree sculptures with your day lilies and when the blooms are done, the sculptures will continue to brighten your garden.

Bud Light Lime crew at Crossings

Morgan owners snap on the tonneau before dinner at Crossings Grill Pub.

The British Sports Car of London sponsored a car show Saturday at Bellamere Winery in the northwest end of the city. Morgan was the featured marque. Morgans were driven from as far away as Windsor, Toronto and Welland area to enter the show.

Events like this are good for a city. They generate revenue a little revenue and a lot of good PR for the city. Many of the visitors arrived in London Friday evening and left Sunday morning. In between they dined, they shopped and of course they all had rooms in local hotels.

Despite the views of the local paper, all the visitors that this blogger chatted with enjoyed their stay in London and plan on returning. They found it a good city and certainly not boring by any measure.

Saturday evening the members of the Morgan Sports Car Club of Canada had dinner at the newly renovated Crossings Grill Pub. The members were asked to park their old English roadsters in a long line on the front lawn facing Hyde Park Road.

Bud Light Lime, a new lime flavoured brew from Budweiser, is in the midst of a big promotion. Saturday evening the BL van and crew visited Crossings, giving sample bottles of lime brewski and BL hats to the car club members.

The Bud Light Lime crew made everyone smile as they gave out samples of the brew.

Another press club about to be shuttered

Two photojournalists enjoy brewskis at the London press club prior to its closing.

The London City Press Club is one of only two fully functioning press clubs still operating in all of Canada. At one time the club was located immediately across from the paper and the reporters, photographers and editors would all go to the club after the paper was put to bed. Those were the days when journalists often were the hard drinking and hard living figures portrayed in movies and novels. Ah, do I have stories . . .

But at the end of the month the London club is closing. The membership just isn't what it once was. The present club is a couple of blocks from the paper. The former digs got too expensive as staff cuts at the various media outlets slashed the membership. The industry shrinkage has continued and now even the new press club cannot be afforded.

The stand alone press club will be history.

Bill Sandford, left, a retired shooter for the Toronto Sun, and George Blumson, right, a retired shooter for The London Free Press, were spotted recently at the press club reminiscing about the "good old days" as they quaffed a couple of cool ones.

Note the pictures on the wall. All pictures in the club were shot by members including the photo of Diefenbaker that can be discerned behind Sandford.

Fiona prints her name in sand

Kids in Canada are fast learners. It is clear that my young granddaughter, not yet two, has learned to spell her name before being able to say it. And if you believe that, I have a bridge you might like to buy in Brooklyn.

But Fiona is a certified ham. That's no lie. She may be young but she can follow instructions. I thought she did an exceptional job with this shot. But she only cooperates to a point; When she's certain I've got some shots, she insists on seeing them on the back of the camera.

Geek Dinner

Decisions. Decisions. Damn menus.

The Geek Dinner in London, Ontario, is held the first Wednesday of every month. For Londoners who have encountered a problem blogging, for instance, the Geek Dinner is a good place to fine an answer. I know; I have. It is also a good place to grab a meal, a draft and a little friendly chit-chat.

I'm almost completely deaf on my left side and suffer from severe tinnitus. Crowded restaurants have a lot of background noise and that makes it difficult for me to hold a conversation. I only stay long enough to grab a meal and get a little education.

Gigs Grillhouse, where the dinner is held, often has live entertainment. I always say I lost my hearing at an April Wine concert some decades ago. According to the geeks, the live music at Gigs is better than the stuff for which I sacrificed my inner ear and it may not even leave you deaf.

Another plus!
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Previous posts:

• Geek Dinner July 2010
• Geek Get-together April 2010
• Geek Dinner December 2009
• Geek Dinner features caribou November 2009

It's a good life.

If you're a Canada goose, it's a good life. Folks feed you, predators don't eat you, and come winter you can just stay put. You can forget the long migration south because you can remember folk feed you.

London, Ontario: The Forest City

London, Ontario, has been known as The Forest City for about 150 years. Originally it was a bit of a joke and a gentle put down. Folks outside the city would refer to London as that city in the woods, The Forest City.

But over the years the meaning changed and Londoners took the nickname to heart. When folks say The Forest City today they are describing a beautiful, tree-filled city. This may be over stating the case a bit but a recent survey rated London number two among Ontario cities when it came to the amount of urban tree coverage. We were bested by Oakville; Very fitting, wouldn't you say.

I think my picture, taken almost from my door step, confirms that The Forest City is well named.

A toady post

Found hiding in my London, Ontario, flower garden.

Not being a naturalist, I think of toads as out of their natural territory when I find them hiding in the foliage of my flower gardens. In truth, the American toad is quite comfortable some distance from water and is commonly found in urban gardens, especially after a rain or in the evening. American toads are one of two toads native to Ontario. The other is Fowler's toad and it keeps closer to water.

According to the Toronto Zoo Website the male toad's call is a long, uninterrupted fifteen to twenty second trill that can be heard over some distance. The lower the temperature, the longer the trill. If you'd like to hear a toad's call check out the Zoo site; They have a short recording posted.

London, Ontario, latest train station

I've been down on the VIA train station in London since it was built. I've been wrong. It's a good station and a fine addition to our downtown. (I was down on it because the new station is here because a beautiful old station from the 1930s isn't.)

A friend bicycled from Toronto almost all the way to London; I picked him and his bicycle up just outside of town. When it was time to leave, I took him downtown to catch the early morning train to Montreal.

It only cost $20 to take his bike to Montreal on the train. There are hooks in the baggage car and the bike, wrapped in protective plastic bag, was hung safely on a set of hoods where it stayed all the way to Montreal.

My friend doesn't own a car. He takes the train a lot. He assured me that London's station was one of the best he has been in in North America. He said that I should be proud. Now, I am.

Cemetery at Schenicks's farm

In 1834 one acre of Solomon Schenick's farm was set aside for a pioneer cemetery, a school house and a place of worship. 177 years later the school is gone, the place of worship has disappeared and the land hasn't seen a plow in decades. All is now an East London residential neighbourhood.

Well almost all. Some of the oldest and thinnest cemetery stones are set in a concrete wall to protect them from vandalism. The wall, in turn, protects many of the remaining headstones. The small plot sits on a larger piece of undeveloped land surrounded by a chain link fence with a padlocked gate.

Keys to the Forest City

Children call them 'whirlybirds' or 'helicopters'. They are more accurately known as maple keys — the seeds of the maple tree. These distinctive seeds grow in pairs and spin as they fall. With a good breeze, they can travel a fair distance before striking the ground. As one tree can release hundreds of thousands of keys, this London street was thick with maple keys after a nasty thunderstorm rolled through the neighbourhood.

When I was a little boy, I would break a maple key in half and then split the seed pod itself. The inside of the pod was slightly sticky and I could spread the two halves and stick them on both sides of my nose. I thought the wing or blade of the seed, sticking out from my face, was like a lot like a rhinoceros horn — a small, thin, green rhinoceros horn — but a rhinoceros horn just the same.

Hey, I was a little kid and little kid's have big imaginations.

Beautify the city; decorate a fire hydrant

Fire hydrants don't get a lot of attention. They are installed, painted and forgotten — unless there's a fire. Fiona decided to do her part to beautify the city; She decorated the fire hydrant at the neighbourhood park with dandelion blossoms.

Daisy Patch

One Earth Day, 2009, the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act came into force in Ontario. The sale and use of the pesticides commonly used to maintain lawns and gardens in Ontario was banned. The result? Lots of bright yellow dandelions and lovely patches of white petaled daisies here and there.

Now, my neighbour tells me to enjoy the bright, flowering weeds while I can. He assures me they will soon be gone. He's hired a company that uses a new herbicide, approved for use in Ontario, with the active ingredient chelated iron. The company promises to control his weeds legally and chemically. No more futile pulling, they say. They claim  once the spray has dried, it is safe for children and pets to walk on the treated lawn.

Ah . . . I've been learning to love the untreated, naturally weedy, expanses of lawn.

Victoria Day Fireworks and I Missed 'em

The Fanshawe Optimist Club of North London again teamed with the Fanshawe Conservation Area northeast of London to present one of the largest fireworks displays in Southwestern Ontario. As usual, the Victoria Day event got underway at dusk, which thanks to daylight savings time comes a little late for the wee-ones.

We brought Fiona, 20-months, to see the fireworks and by the time they started she was just about ready to quit. Oh, the first five minutes kept her interested, she actually kept signing "more, more," but after that it was "been there and done that." She made it clear it was time to go. We left.

As everyone knows, the best fireworks are the closers. The bursts of colours come so fast they fill the sky with overlapping displays. Oh well, I may not have got the most impressive shots but we did miss the traffic jam at the end.

I must confess that my dramatic shot is complements of Photoshop. Forgive me.

A mother and her little daughter play with a sparkler while awaiting the show.

A cool spring

It still seems so early in the year. It has been a cool spring with way more rain than usual. Mentally it feels as if winter has just left. But these goslings, down by the river, say spring is here and has been here for awhile.

In years past I have taken pictures of the goslings strutting about behind their parents. This year the fuzzy, little things are cuddling close together for warm. As I was saying, it has been a cool spring.

Cool balconies!

The balconies on this apartment building in the south of London are neat. If this building was built close to other, visually different, apartment buildings, the balcony treatment would contrast with the surrounding buildings causing these unique balconies to visually jump.

Instead this building is teamed with another of the same design and the pop is reduced to a gentle fizz.

Oh well, it is still a cool design.

Rain, now fog, and the forecast? Rain.

It looked good when we got up, just a little after daybreak. But soon a dense fog had settled over the city. Not good for the morning commuters but good for early morning photographers. Just step out the front door and find a picture.

It rained in the morning, it rained at night but in the afternoon we celebrated.

In the last half of April, Londoners enjoyed just three rain-free days. Rainfall during that two-week stretch totaled 77.9 mm or about the same amount as normally falls during the entire month of April. May is looking like a repeat and the forecast if for this abnormally wet spring to continue into early June.

Grandfathers like me with granddaughters like Fiona are beginning to panic. These little kids live to run and they need the room provided by the outdoors. There are only so many laps they can make running down the hallway from the kitchen to the TV room and back before the confinement reduces them to tears: Little tears but big sobs.

Northern Flicker in London Ontario backyard

A Northern Flicker shot through my kitchen window.

Northern Flickers are woodpeckers with handsome black-scalloped plumage, a black on white speckled breast, and with a flash of red at the back of  their heads. Flickers may be woodpeckers but they love to dine on easily found ants and beetles which can be dug up with their long, slightly curved beak.

These are  not uncommon in our backyard and I shot this one with my Fuji FinePix HS10 zoomed to the max and pressed against a kitchen window. I'm glad my wife cleaned those windows! There is still a little distortion from shooting obliquely through a couple of layers of insul-glass.

Magnolia

 I'm not a gardener.

My wife and I like magnolias and so I bought a tree for my backyard. It has now survived a number of Southwestern Ontario winters and has grown to about four feet. This spring it is in full flower. What a surprise; The blooms are a deep purple rather than pink and the shape is unlike the other magnolia trees in the neighbourhood.

What did I buy?

The magnolia may be the official state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana in the U.S., but some species are native to Southwestern Ontario where there the temperate climate supports a Carolinian Forest.

Canadian spring

Spring is surely here. The grass is green and blooms are everywhere. Wish I had grabbed a better shot.

Green growth from still water

The rather still pool of spring fed water sheltered plants beneath its tranquil surface all winter. Now, with spring in the air, lush, green leaves are sprouting above the water. Maybe, in a few weeks, there will be some lily pads making an appearance.

An older style of housing

 

There is something very pleasant about these well maintained, older homes found in a small town just outside London. Two of the three homes have fairly large porches and all sit very close to the sidewalk. There is a warmth and simplicity to this neighbourhood that new urbanist planners try to emulate but rarely as achieve.

Of art and bike racks

The large, red sculpture nestled into the small courtyard behind the Bell building and government offices and the courthouse in downtown London, Ontario, shares its visual space quite comfortably with the nearby bike racks.

We're a young country but our flag is still younger.

I can remember when Canada didn't have the bright red maple leaf as the national flag. It was February 15th, 1965, when the Maple Leaf was first raised above Parliament Hill.

In the beginning, it was tough going for the little flag. A lot of folk were quite happy with Canada's de facto national flags. That's right, flags plural.

One flag often flown was the Canadian Red Ensign. This was a British Red Ensign with a Canadian shield in the fly (the right-hand half).

As a child, I can recall waving a stiff-fabric red ensign when Queen Elizabeth visited Brantford, Ontario. Many Canadians had memories attached to that flag. For those folk, it was tough saying good-bye.

The other flag that served as Canada's official national flag was the British Union Jack. The Union Jack often flew over government buildings as well as government-related facilities such as RCMP camps and military forts.

When the Maple Leaf was first flown, I know of one one high school teacher who told his students that the new Maple Leaf design was better suited to decorating beer bottles. He went on to argue that there were parts of Canada that didn't have maple trees. He was disgusted and wore his disgust with wounded pride.

But Prime Minister Lester Pearson bravely broke with the past and gave Canada a fresh, new flag. It was a gutsy move. Today, I believe, you'd have a difficult time finding many who'd want either the Union Jack or the Canadian Red Ensign in place of our beloved Maple Leaf.






If you'd like to know more about the history of Canada's flag, please check out The Canadian Maple Leaf Flag site.

Solar home a forgotten dream?

The solar panels are broken and it is doubtful that today they are even working.

In 1978 it was the exciting, oh-so-state-of-the-art, Sifton solar home on Viscount Street in the growing Westmount subdivision. I can recall taking pictures of the place for the paper to illustrate the glowing stories in not just the Homes section but the news pages. The roof was scientifically angled and the house situated on the lot just so; Everything designed to maximize the trapping of the sun's energy. In the basement there was a large, insulated tank to hold the water heated by the sun.

Note the tree sprouting.

I tried googling "solar home London Ontario Sifton" and I got next to nothing. There was a mention of the place in an advertising insert in the local paper but no real information. I guess interest has waned in what was said at the time to be an historic structure.

Today two of the lower panels are broken and a tree is sprouting from the steel framing. I doubt that the solar panels are still working and I wonder if the insulated water tank has been broken up and removed.

There were a number of solar installations around London in the late '70s and early '80s. Interest was high in solar energy back then, but interest soon peaked. I know of one large installation on the roof of an apartment co-op in northeast London that fell into disuse and was removed some years later.

I was surprised when the keeners running the co-op failed to make their solar installation a success. If all the volunteer effort blended with the solar energy couldn't make a rooftop solar installation succeed, one was left to wonder just who could.

I wonder if the world will be dotted in a few decades with forgotten windmills built with dreams of generating electricity from the wind.