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.

If you're seven, you don't travel far for an adventure

My seven-year-old granddaughter likes to go on adventures. You might think adventures are hard to come by in suburbia. Nope. Not if you're seven.

Many suburban streets are linked by pathways. These offer pedestrians a shorter route from street to street when compared to the route cars must take.

At dusk these pathways get quite shadowy as there are often few or even no streetlights. It is at this hour that the pathways become pathways to an adventure. Last night we made the journey one way but it was simply too dark for returning without having one's heart pound right out of one's chest. We took the sidewalk home.

A new, treeless subdivision doesn't stay new or treeless

It doesn't seem all that long ago that my subdivision was a large piece of bare land above a recently closed gravel pit. First came the roads, then the homes but now the area is filled with many tall trees. I look around and realize that my subdivision has matured. Many of the clichés once used to describe it no longer apply.

My lily growers have retired.

I took my granddaughters to the lily gardens. The gardens were gone. The place had closed. The couple who had run the operation for decades had retired. I should not have been surprised but I was. I had check the Internet before making promises to the girls but the Internet can be so out-of-date.

I'm now looking for another place with a great selection of lilies. The garden supply places rarely have more than a dozen choices. My old supplier had more than a hundred and some were awfully unique and truly beautiful.

Oh well, nothing lasts forever.

Horner Lilies: a local supplier of lilies and beauty

If you want lilies, the place to go in the London area is Horner Lilies on the edge of town near suburban Thorndale. Run by the Horner family, there are numerous gardens with more than a hundred different kinds of lilies.

I bought my lilies there and will be going back tomorrow to order some more. I'm taking my granddaughters and encouraging them to pick out a couple each that they can plan and we can all enjoy.

Customers wander the grounds, check out the blooms while noting note of the ones they like the best. On leaving, one orders the plants one wants and then picks up the bulbs ordered come fall.

Inspired by Sheila

I have an artist friend who loves to do paintings of flowers. She doesn't just paint the gorgeous blossoms in fully bloom but she tells the life story of blooms. Look carefully and you will find new buds, growing buds, opening buds, full blooms (often featured) and finally blooms with their petals withered, dead.

When shooting this picture of lilies, which were locally grown and sold by a man and his wife who specialize in growing gorgeous lilies, I included more than I would have if I had not been influenced by my friend and her storytelling approach to flower art.

Capturing action easier today

Years ago I taught up-and-coming journalists how to shoot pictures. Originally the course used film cameras and all the technical stuff was important. With film one didn't know that one had missed the picture until hours after the fact. By the time the film was processed and an image pulled, it was too late for a reshoot in most cases.

Photographers, dependable shooters, were important back then and they were paid well for their talents and technical expertise. Today things are different.

The last time I taught a photo class, I think the group was very disappointed. I was given very little time to teach and so zeroed in on enthusiasm. Journalists no longer had to expend oodles of energy learning the photographic ropes before going out and capturing some damn fine images.

Cameras today, even relatively inexpensive ones like my old Fuji, are capable of grabbing good action when set to automatic. Point and shoot.

Today, where you point your camera is the big deciding factor. To be honest, photography was always about the image—where you pointed your camera—but the technical stuff all too often got in the way.

Today, you can have fun first and learn the technical stuff on the fly. I don't think the budding journalists were impressed. When it came to taking pictures, they did not want to be told to think.

I used to call reporters who took pictures "reluctant." They saw themselves as story tellers and they told their stories with words not with pictures. I wonder if this is changing as newsrooms shrink and staff numbers tighten.

And it's all safer than the traditional play equipment

Traditional playground equipment, such as a swing with a seat made with a heavy, steel-capped wooden plank, is out. Adventure playgrounds pushed the swings, tall slides and simple teeter-totters into the retirement. But then, the injuries mounted and adventure playgrounds were phased out. Totally safe equipment then came into vogue. Boring. And so today, designers are taking another crack at coming up with the ultimate playground equipment.

I have to admit to having had reservations about a lot of the new stuff filling London parks. But, the  more I travel about the city with my granddaughters, the more enthused I am getting. I'll have to go back to last night's park for pictures. It had the weirdest take on a slide ever. It was the reason my granddaughters took me there.

And the equipment comes from all over the world. So far, I've noted stuff from Big Toys of Chattanooga, Tennessee and HAGS of the U.K.

Big Toys: That's the company name and product

Some of the new playground equipment in London is quite imaginative. Now that the playgrounds are open around the city, my granddaughters and I are touring the burg looking for unique installations. The playground pictured features equipment from Big Toys of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

My granddaughters are playing on the Rock 'n Cross, a combination of a multi-rider teeter-totter with a dynamic overhead challenge. Hey, that's the company's description, not mine. I asked my youngest granddaughter how she liked it. "Not too much," she said. She found it a little frightening. The older girl was more positive. The big, high loop with equally-spaced handholds is one of the few monkey bar type installations she can still use. At ten, she now finds her feet drag on the ground most of the time. She also agreed with the company that the movement added an extra challenge.

I cannot help but wonder, what does a piece of equipment like this cost the city? And how long will it last? And are replacement parts easily available? Are the parts expensive? I noticed plastic collars on some of the equipment had grown brittle with time and cracked and chipped.

I'd like to see some research on these types of fancy playground "toys." I'm not convinced that some of these things are worth the cost. The city might be able to buy more equipment and keep more kids occupied if they went with equipment that was a lot less complex.

The wading pool has a long history. Surprising!

The short, twin pillars framing the sidewalk bear a clue to their origin. The one on the left says, "Rotary Club 1928." The one on the right reads "Service Above Self." But why were these placed in this location in Springbank Park some 90 or so years ago? The answer is right there before one's eyes.

The Rotary Club of London donated the funds to build the original Springbank Wading Pool in 1928. Who'd have known the little pool had such a history?

The urban texture is richer today

When I was a boy a lot of the urban landscape was better. For instance, it was easier to get around town, around the county and around the province without a car. We had buses and trolleys in the city, for outside town we had intercity buses and we had frequent passenger trains run by not one but two railroads.

But when it came to food, the old urban landscape of the late '40s and early '50s was pretty dull. If we got a crusty loaf  of white, enriched bread from the bakery, we had something special.

Today my city and my province is no longer as dull. We have oodles of different ethnic groups and with their arrival came new, interesting foods The other night I made my wife a rice and vegetable dish spiced with harissa. My granddaughters call harissa the North African curry.

And the breads that are available today puts a big smile on my face. I've been known to go to the store for some lettuce and come home with five loaves of bread—all different. Today I resisted. I brought home just one extra load: an olive and parmesan focaccia loaf.

Focaccia is a flat, oven-baked, Italian bread similar in style and texture to pizza dough. Focaccia can be served with meals or, and this is one is a favourite, it can be used to make wonderful sandwiches.

There's more to cities than bricks and mortar. There are the residents of the city. And a rich mix of residents makes for a richer, more diverse, more interesting and exciting place to live.

New cable laid by new Canadians/

New cable is being run in my neighbourhood. It is being installed by a crew from Rogers, the telephone and Internet provider. I was curious and tried asking the installers some questions. I didn't get a straight answer from anyone of them and one admitted he didn't speak English and didn't understand what I was asking.

I don't mind that the crew seemed more comfortable talking among themselves in what I assume was Spanish. If I moved to another country, I don't think I'd pick up a new language easily. I'd speak English at every opportunity. I'm just curious.

In Ontario, we take advantage of workers from Central America to pick many of our crops. The hot house area in the far south of the province has a big problem with COVID-19 being transmitted from worker to worker because of the cramped living arrangements that they are given. Some of the farm workers have actually died from the virus.

Are we now bringing in workers from Central America to lay our Internet cable? I'd call around but I don't want to get these fellows in any trouble. Still, this has left me puzzled.

It took time and the London Health Sciences Centre to reach 73

I've reached the ripe, old age of 73. I have now enjoyed all the years promised by God in the Bible. It wasn't easy getting here. About 18 years ago it took a talented surgeon at the controls of a Da Vinci medical robot to repair my leaking mitral valve in my heart. The small, robot "hands" only needed a small entry incision to gain access to my heart. No breastbone splitting for me.

An interesting mix of drugs keep my TIAs in check while not aggravating my micro-bleeding in the brain.

And a pacemaker/ICD unit keeps my heart beating despite my having a one hundred percent heart block. I am now on my second unit.

My granddaughters call me a cyborg as I have both natural and mechanical body parts working together to keep me alive. When we go biking, my inboard computer speeds up my heart and when I lie down at night my pacemaker senses this and goes into sleep mode. My heart rate drops to 50 bpm.

I have been in an American hospital and it was excellent. I cannot say enough good things about the care I received while in Marin General outside San Francisco. That said, I prefer the hospitals here in London. Why? Cost. After just a bit more than a day of care in the U.S. I faced a hospital bill of about $40,000 Canadian. My insurance company tried claiming I was not covered as my heart problem was a pre-existing condition. I was hounded by collection agencies for eight months or so.

In Canada, in London, my medical costs are covered by the government plan. There is no worry about pre-existing conditions or of being dropped from coverage for any reason. And so far the medical care has been excellent. Hey, I'm still here!

Tornado Warning!

Judy and I got two phone calls today from Environment Canada. These calls were to inform us that a tornado warning was in effect for our area. We were advised to head for our basement and stay well clear of windows.

Judy took the advice. Me? I grabbed my camera. The clouds were certainly threatening and the wind got awfully high. It was the wall of water that drove me off the street and into the basement with my wife. I watched the rain approaching and when it hit, it engulfed me, soaked my clothing and caused me to flee for cover.

Was there a tornado? Not that I know of. We did get a third telephone call while hunkered down in the basement. It was the all clear signal. With that the excitement drained from the moment, and not a moment too soon for my wife.

The play areas are open!

Yes, the yellow caution ribbons are gone. Playground equipment out-of-bounds for months is again available to children in London neighbourhoods. And not a minute too soon I might add. Kids need exercise.

Balancing the threat of COVID-19 with the healthy promise of ample outdoor exercise was tough. I'm not sure the right balance was struck but we may have to weigh our options again at some point in the future. This viral battle is not over.

London is entering stage three of the reopening procedure.

People still visited the parks but in small groups or even alone. But today the province declared London to be in Stage Three of the reopening process. Soon small groups will being gathering again in the parks. Large parties, groups of up to fifty will now be allowed. Barbecues and big picnics will soon be common again.

The yellow caution ribbons are being removed from the park equipment and restaurants are now allowed to serve diners inside, and not just on the patio, as long as some degree of social distancing is being observed. Kids will be back in the pools and back using the numerous splash pads found throughout the city.

Parks are coming back to life

The parks in London, Ontario, are slowly filling, life returns, but the activities one sees are heavily influenced by the need to social distance.

Does tumbling, cascading grass make a picture?

The rain was heavy, the wind was strong and the grass growing tall in the wide ledge on the wall, arced downward under the pressure. 

I saw it and thought picture. Others saw it and thought wind-damaged grass. 

Others thought absolutely nothing. 

Hmmm. Some folk have no poetry in their souls. 😊

What DO we the public really know about COVID-19?

The largest neighbourhood park now has a seven or eight foot fence blocking access. Why? I've read reports stating that fomites -- contaminated surfaces -- are not an important source of COVID-19 transmission. Furthermore, bright sunlight and high heat, according to some respected sources, can quickly eliminate the viability of t he virus.

Of course, it is possible that there are so few COVID-19 patients who are known to have caught the virus from a contaminated surface because such a good job has been done at eliminating this threat from our lives. Playgrounds taped off, credit card stations wrapped in clear plastic which is wiped after every use and the list goes on.

After communicating with a chap on this very site, I decided to determine just what I did and didn't know when it comes to COVID-19. I'm certain masks work. I found lots of support in medical journals going back more than a decade.

I'm also certain that COVID-19 is not just like the flu. But there are some great similarities and the flu is a lot more dangerous than many like to believe. There's a reason this old geezer with a failing heart always gets his flu shot. He knows the flu poses a serious health threat to him and his wife. Both diseases leave behind a lot of dead seniors.

The big difference between the flu and COVID-19 is that COVID-19 leaves behind a lot more dead seniors. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, "Doctors and scientists are working to estimate the mortality rate of COVID-19, but at present, it is thought to be substantially higher than that of most strains of the flu. Link: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu

Note the words, "at present" and "thought to be." By the time I got to the second thing I was sure of, I was beginning to rely on fudging words. I never got to a third item for my list. 

This is a new viral threat. It should come as no surprise that nouveau means there are big gaps in our knowledge. At this time I will wear my mask and hope others do the same, I'll keep my distance, wash my hands and wash and wipe surfaces where possible. I'll follow the suggestions of those in authority and hope, and pray, they are right as they modify their actions based on the latest knowledge.

And I understand that that knowledge indicates we might, just might, open playgrounds to children. Enforced inactivity may be more dangerous to developing children than the threat posed by fomites found in playgrounds. What demanded a fence yesterday may be open to all come tomorrow.

A Segway spotted in the neighbourhood

I didn't know these were still in production, but, according to the young man spotted using one in the neighbourhood, they are! He was canvasing the neighbourhood for a charity and using the Segway to cover more distance than would be possible doing this on foot.

I googled Segway and found: Segway Personal Transporter. Was this a company ahead of its time?

Not a stairway to heaven

Trees, unlike parrots, can be dead, deceased, bereft of life, resting in peace and yet still be full of activity—the life of others, such as birds, insects and fungus animate the dead structure. And so, as the sign explains, the London parks department has trimmed the dead tree on the far left of all large, dangerous branches and has left the massive dead stump to provide wildlife with a habitat in progress.

Behind the tree can be seen the barricaded entrance to a fine staircase leading from the park to the Thames River. It seems the staircase, like the tree, had become a wildlife habitat full of insects and general rot. Unlike the tree it will soon be removed.

At some point, nature will replace the dead tree. It appears, unless the city changes its mind, the once well-used bridge will disappear and never return. Staircases don't grow like trees, one might say.

Long Lens or Lack of Social Distancing?

Are these bathers, enjoying the summer-warm water of Lake Erie, actually as close as this appears? Does this photo show the visual foreshortening effect so commonly encountered when using a long lens or does this image accurately depict a lack of social distancing?

Answer: it's a little bit of both.

Anchored out and yet social distancing not assured

Sunday, my wife and I took a quick trip to Port Stanley. We had to get out of the house. The four walls were closing in.

We found a beach on the east side of the village that we had never visited before. There were lakefront cottages, a popular beach, parking and small yachts anchored immediately off shore. Some of the boats were rafted together, giving the appearance of a breakdown in social distancing. Without actually chatting with the folk on the boats, it's impossible to say whether or not the recreational sailors were thumbing their noses at the guidelines or not.

Yes, London, Ontario, is located on the Thames River.

Years ago I wrote a column for the local paper, The London Free Press. The column was called Celebrate the Thames. At that time, I was told the following story by a local historian who claimed that contrary to popular mythology, a mythology backed up with lots of solid quotes from Simcoe himself, London is NOT the capital of the province because of the Thames River. The fellow was clearly swimming upstream, swimming against the current of public opinion.) 

You see, Londoners believe Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe wanted the capital of Upper Canada to be established at the Forks of the Thames River. And at one point, Simcoe did want this. He formed this dream while still in England, encouraged by maps that indicated the Thames was a mighty river.

Simcoe thought the headwaters of the river ended in the Halton Hills northwest of present day Toronto. But arriving in the area he discovered this was not true. Nor was the river particularly mighty. 

Now, Simcoe fought openly with his boss Lord Dorchester on many matters. But when it came to Simcoe's plans for a capital at the forks, Simcoe quickly and quietly acquiesced to Lord Dorchester and Toronto became the capital. 

The historian believed that Simcoe realized he had been out of touch when it comes to reality and the little, shallow-in-the-summer river. Today the Back to the River folk carry on the tradition of seeing myth rather than reality when it comes to the river. For instance, the group confused a reservoir behind a dam with a river.

Back to the River has become a bit of an ironic name for the group now that the Springbank Dam is out of commission and will likely never be rebuilt. Their grandiose dream for the Forks of the Thames may have gone with the disappearance of the working dam.

Shaw's IS the Home of Ice Cream

Established in 1948, Shaw's is the Home of Ice Cream. Still! This is amazing as Shaw's got out of the direct-to-customer retail dairy-treats business 19 years ago. The operation on the main highway between London and St. Thomas was sold in 2001 to three enterprising sisters who still run the business today.

The girls know how to run a successful operation. They have focused on quality. No fancy digs for them. Just great, traditional ice cream in oodles of flavours. When it comes to shakes, cones and sundaes made with traditional hard ice cream there's not a lot of competition in this area. The two places offering this product are located far enough apart that they do not compete directly. Where they do compete is in the quality arena. And both deliver wonderful, tasty ice cream-based products.

My granddaughters and I like to give our business to both operations.

For ice cream, stand here. Cones mark the spot.

My wife and I escaped the four-walls of our home and headed for the beach, for Port Stanley about forty minutes south of the city on Lake Erie.

On our way home, we stopped at Shaw's Home of Ice Cream. Shaw's has been in the same location since 1948 but it present owners, three sisters, only date from 2001. Today Shaw's sells more than 45 flavours of hard ice cream made at its nearby St. Thomas plant.

Like every other business, Shaw's has marked where one must stand. At Shaw's, ice cream cones mark the spot for social distancing. We ordered two cones. I got pistachio almond and my wife had butterscotch ripple.