A single bar obstructed the lowest windows of this apartment building in East London. Interestingly, a scrapped bike minus its wheels also blocked the windows. If the bike frames have been attached to the windows in place of proper bars, one has to wonder if this is really better or is it just messy. Maybe the building owner should have stuck with simple, traditional bars.
My nephew from the States is visiting, finally. After two years of restrictive COVID-19 border rules, the rules have relaxed. To celebrate his visit, we went prowling about East London.
While taking a sunset evening stroll with a friend, we noticed a branch with buds about to open. A couple of raindrops added to the image, as did the warm light from the setting sun. My Canon point and shoot failed to take a good quality picture. It was too contrasty.
Then I tried my Fuji Superzoom, a glorified point and shoot. The image was soft. It was certainly not a super picture by an means.
My friend held up his iPhone. Click! He then emailed me the images as attachments. Done.
One last look at the shipping container-inspired office building being built in London, Ontario. An architect told me that this really is quite a feat. Getting a building of such a small size by the zoning inspectors must have been difficult. Office buildings must meet a lot of guidelines, such as ones governing access and emergency exits. Clearly, this structure has managed to meet all appropriate regulations. The architect was amazed.
Snow in mid April is not uncommon but it is still unexpected. This morning, Twitter was filled with tweets from folk complaining about their snow tires or should I say their unmounted and stored for the warm weather snow tires. Oops!
Oh well, the mercury may climb to 10-degrees centigrade or 50-degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow. The snow will soon be no more than a memory.
Although it is not the usual weather for Easter Monday, snow mixed with rain is forecast for Easter Monday, arriving in the late after noon and continuing into Tuesday morning. Some accumulation is expected. Many motorists, caught without their snow tires mounted on their cars, are praying for the return of warm, sunny weather as soon as possible.
Today, Sunday, is Easter. It is a day for families to come together and celebrate the future and the past. Though, last year it was a day for hunkering down in out homes that had become shelters from the pandemic. There were very few large family gathering.
But today was different. It was a bit more like Easters of days gone by with children and grandchildren and my wife's grandmother's china. But, all was not yet back to Easter as usual. One daughter and one granddaughter were missing. Why? Although both are fully vaccinated, they were home recovering from COVID.
Seeing the Ukraine flag flying in London is almost as common a sight today as seeing the Canadian maple leaf flag. I originally said more but I have had second thoughts. I cannot speak for you, but I need a break from this topic. It is simply too sad, too absolutely heartbreaking.
There is a Facebook site called Vintage London. It carries interesting photographs doumenting London, Ontario, from days long past. Today an image taken shortly after the end of the First World War was featured.
The posted image showed an arch, one of two, erected after the war to honour local soldiers returning from Europe after the end of the First World War. Listed on the arch were the major battles in which Canadian soldiers played a prominent role.
The First World War was know as the "The war to end all wars." War had become simply too horrible to contemplate a replay. Sadly, as we know all too well today, the First World War was just one more war in an apparently never ending, constantly growing, list of wars going back thousands of years.
This is the caption from Vintage London:
"Two large 'Welcome Home' Arches were constructed on the streets of London as soldiers returned from World War I. This arch was located on Dundas Street just east of Wellington Street and had to be large enough to allow London Street Railway trolleys travel through it.
A second arch was built on Richmond south of Dundas. On the illuminated arch in the photograph we see plaques that detail the battles in which Canadians participated, including: Passchendaele, Amiens, Arras, Bourlon Wood, Cambria, Valenciennes, Mons, Ypres, Festubert, St Eloi, Sanctuary Wood, Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Hill 70.
As the various battalions returned
home the soldiers would march from the train station to the armories as
crowds cheered their return."
The moment I saw this bus shelter beside the highway heading west I knew I had a picture. The blue sky, green grass, white clouds and that oh-so-eye-catching iconic U.S.A./Old Glory art all came together to create visual magic.
The mall in southwest London was a beauty when it was first built. In its early years it was so successful that a second wing was added. But time and the coming of big box stores took a steep toll. As the mall slowly emptied the second wing was demolished but to no avail. The mall was unable to fill even the remaining stores which were now far fewer in number.
It had been a high end mall, a citywide shopping destination. Today inside the shop is almost devoid of retail outlets but an exterior wall has been modified to feature a Dollarama store.
Years ago there were those who thought the city should never have zoned the area south of the mall for big box stores. Those retail businesses could have been located within the mall. Westmount is a fine example of poor city planning and the Dollarama store is a hint at what could have been done but wasn't.
Often I google folk I knew as a child, curious to know what they did with their lives. Today I wondered what someone googling me would find.
What I found surprised me. As a photojournalist, the pretentious term applied to photographers who shoot pictures for a newspaper, I have quite the record of work on view and so much of the stuff on view I shot but I don't remember shooting.
Life's long, so very, very long and complex. You think you recall everything and yet you don't. Not even close.
After admitting that, I have to say finding my shot of Canadian singer Bif Naked uncovered long buried memories. Bif, or should I say Ms Naked was a sweet heart, a gentle, young lady. I had to spend a couple of hours with the artist before she went on stage. It was a delightful two hours. And her look, those eyes, that voice, Bif Naked was the complete package.
Rick Mercier, a Canadian comedian/journalist/documentary-maker (Don't ask.), spent a day with Bif Naked some years ago. I liked some of the comments made by viewers of the little clip.
When COVID-19 first appeared, no one knew for sure how the virus was spread. There was more fear than fact, or even virus, in the air. Folks believed the contagion might be spread by touching contaminated surfaces. Cleaning wipes appeared everywhere. Grocery store staff ensured every cart was wiped down after use and before being given to another shopper.
Now, it is understood that COVID-19 is primarily an airborne disease. Shopping carts are no longer guarded by concerned grocery store staff. The carts are used and left stacked in rows in front of the store awaiting the next customer.
We may not have beaten COVID-19 yet but we are getting a handle on our fears.
It looked like a quick way to walk the dog. It wasn't. The fellow with leash had to stop numerous times.
Pooch, it seems, was not into quick walks. He liked to take his time. Relax. Enjoy the day.
From watching these two, it is clear why dogs are good for their owners. Pooch kept Mister Efficiency with his rollerblades slowed down, encouraging him to take notice and enjoy the day.
A robin has been attempting to build a nest on the light beside our front door. It brings the nesting material to the lamp. We find it and brush it off. This little game is repeated many times day and night. Frustrated, my wife hung an owl scarecrow from the lamp. The bird was not deterred.
Then, I had a brain wave. I emptied a tissue box and ripped open one end. The box fit neatly on top of the lamp. The loop of string from which the owl was suspended could be jiggled about to hold the tissue box as well.
The result? The robin, with no place to build its nest, departed.
The lesson? Think twice before buying a scarecrow owl. The voting is still out on scarecrow hawks. My wife had one of those guarding her garden.
The story around the neighbourhood is that all the little flags along the sidewalk and the painted coloured lines on lawns and driveways are for the installation of fibre optic cable. The utility crews were around the neighbourhood in early January but they discovered that painting the lines on snow was very inefficient. Unbelievable.
Why was the small crowd gathered on the court, I wondered. It was such a mix. A retired lady, two school kids and a mother with her young toddler daughter. What could be of interest to all of them? The answer was right there, at their feet: the toddler.
Mom took her young daughter for a walk and the nearby world came to a halt. Gosh, I wish I had that power. What a boost to the ego. Sadly, it ain't going to happen. 😄
April showers bring May flowers--at least, that is what I tell myself as the chill-you-to-the-bone rain continued to fall all day.
Symmetry is the this month's theme. Symmetry is found everywhere. For instance, think of indoor pools. Often, these have a strong symmetrical design. For an example of this I reached back into my files and found this image of the Roman pool at the Hearst Castle in California. The shot also shows the small pool found in an alcove connected to the main pool. Ah, once there was money, oodles of money, to be made in the newspaper business.
Why is there no excitement surrounding the sighting of a northern cardinal on the seed bell? Because northern cardinals are year around residents of southern Ontario. There is a reason these birds have northern in their name.
To stay warm over the winter northern cardinals have evolved some very sophisticated techniques but some, like shivering, are very energy intensive. For this reason, putting out seed bells all winter is appreciated.
Some things are cheaper when made in Canada rather than imported. Pasta is one of those items. The Italpasta in tonight's dinner cost less than a dollar on sale for a 900 gm bag. Pasta made in Italy can cost six times as much and it may even contain Canadian wheat. More than ten percent of the wheat in the global market originates in Canada.
Seniors on fixed incomes are facing growing problems as inflation diminishes the buying power of their pensions. One great way of keeping costs down is to design meals around the food stuffs one finds on sale.
It the items has a long shelf life, like pasta, buying lots is a fine idea. Some would argue that putting $20 into sale priced pasta beats the return earned depositing $20 in the bank.
It was cold today. It barely got above freezing. Yet these four teens were spotted warming up prior to going for a group jog. Outdoor events were not cancelled as often as indoor events but still there did seemed to be fewer charity fun runs held over the past two years. Seeing these teens jogging in London's biggest park seemed to be one more indication that the hold COVID-19 has had on our lives is weakening.
I saw this posted by the local newspaper on Twitter today. One unit of a high-end duplex that sold for $1,778,500 back in late January is now, not three months later, back on the market. The asking price? $1.3 million!
Those of us who bought our houses some years ago are flabbergasted at the steady increase in the price of housing. When I was young, we had a term "house poor" for folk whose home devoured every extra cent in the budget. Today, I think we may start talking about folk who are house rich. They bought their home for a mere fraction of what it is worth today. Many retirees have almost all of their wealth in the family home.
When I was a young man in the '60s, I quickly learned how to identify a good hotel. You must realize that my definition of good was generous as a young fellow even if it was governed by the application of a set of rules. The goal was to find a hotel with a past, a good past but a checkered present.
When I visited Miami with a good friend, we found the beach area impossibly expensive. We had friends staying at the Deauville Beach Resort while others were staying at the Fontainebleu Miami Beach. This meant we could party with the spring break crowd at these hotels, our friends would get us in, and with luck all our drinks would be free. There most certainly would be lots of free stomach-filling finger foods. But when it came time to crash for the night, we could not stay at either place.
And so, we headed for Miami and sought out the atmosphere of a deteriorating neighbourhood. The Hotel Dolpin popped out. It was old and large but had no parking. It did have fully tiled bathrooms, complete with showers, attached to each room: a plus. It was not a shared-washrooms-off-the-main-hallway hotel. The Dolphin had been a high class place when new.
The lobby was large with a wrap around mezzanine ringing the lobby. Off the mezzanine there had been stores and a barbershop. By the time we stayed there, all the businesses were closed as were the ones at street level that once enjoyed walk-in traffic. The elevator was amazing. All shiny brass and covered with very ornate designs. It required an elevator attendant and he was proud of his elevator. It was his baby and his love of the old lift was the reason it sparkled so. He spend his days polishing his love.
Today the Hotel Dolphin is gone. The once beautiful Deauville ran down, right on schedule, and suffered the indignity of a serious electrical fire making the place all but uninhabitable. Instead of becoming a worn, faded jewel welcoming those folk who are money-challenged, the Deauville is being torn down. Despite its heritage, dare I say, designation, the historic hotel resort is being demolished.
Please allow me to share another picture from the past. The best enterprise pictures taken by news shooters capture neat moments: simple slices-of-life. Sadly, many of the images taken by news photographers are set-ups. The photographer, desperate for a perfect pictures acts as the art director as well as the photographer.
This image was not a set-up. I did not carry a pair of roller skates with me in order to set-up a picture when the moment was right. No, this was a true slice-of-life captured and shared.
Photographers at local papers are all well aware of the "enterprise" photo. These pictures are used as filler for inside pages. If an image is good enough to spur news stand sales, it may run large above the fold on the front page. Of course, that only happens if there is no important front page story complete with art available.
Tidying the basement today, I discovered this enterprise image from the five decades ago. It was spring in Sault Ste. Marie, the snow was melting, coats were unbuttoned and the short skirts were reappearing after month of hiding.
Today this image says more than spring. Now, it also says '70s in Canada.
The kids have their painted pottery back. What a difference a week plus a visit to the kiln makes. Some of the glazes on the fired pieces sparkled. And some did not. But one piece, a small kitten, not only sparkled but so did the little girl who painted it. It's nice when things work out.
It was 1970 when (reportedly) the first LOVE sculpture made its appearance but its origin goes back at least as far as the '60s and a Museum of Modern Art Christmas card. It may even have been in the formative stages back in the '50s according to Ursinus College. The college reminds us that "by 1973, the image was so popular that the U.S. Postal Service incorporated the design into one of its stamps, which sold about 330 million copies."
In today's world, the LOVE sculpture is as popular as it has ever been. The little paint-your-own pottery operation in London moves a lot of the LOVE art. This fact makes me smile and gosh it can be difficult finding stuff that puts a smile on one's face today.
It is called Crock A Doodle. It's a franchise operation. Crock A Doodle supplies the green-ware and the customers then paint it. It's a cool place to hold children's birthday parties, ladies nights or teambuilding and corporate events.
It was a fairly popular place before Covid-19. The pandemic must have been tough on it. There might be a good story behind it's survival. Possibly a generous landlord? A franchise owner with incredibly deep pockets?
When the tulip bulbs push little green sprouts up above the earth in the early spring, the rabbits eat them. The result? No sprouts, no tulips, no flowers. My wife has tried numerous ways to keep the rabbits away but all to no avail. This year she has a new approach: a scarecrow. So far the hungry, little. hopping monsters have not dared to brave the gaze of the "hawk" guarding the flower garden
Before the arrival of the dollar stores, seeing a bubble making child was a relatively rare occurrence. Not today. With these little stores pushing an array of inexpensive stuff, children are now frequently sighted making big bubbles. Often one child makes 'em and another child pops 'em. Not here though; here we see cooperation.
A few days ago I posted a picture of a family struggling to hike beside a snow-melt soggy trail. The exceeding wet trail itself had been left deeply rutted by previous hikers. At the time, I wondered is hiking down a trail in such condition, or even beside it, wise?
https://www.deschuteslandtrust.org/news/blog/2019-blog-posts/2019-muddy-trails "Hiking and biking on muddy trails is destructive . . . "
Going around muddy spots on the trail widens the trail and erodes the trail. Widening trails kills or harms fragile plants along the trail. It also turns lovely small trails into wide roads. This in turn requires time and money to repair. The good news is trail widening can be avoided if everyone follows the “If you leave tracks, turn back” adage.
Google "stay off muddy trails" and in under a second you will have 13 and a half million hits! (Like the following.)
These two boys are heading for the basketball court at the neighbourhood school. The plan is to shoot some hoops but if there are some other boys hanging about the court, maybe a pick-up game can be arranged.
These bike racks, so common throughout the city, are made by the same Ontario company that makes a lot of the fancy, twisted-metal playground equipment found in city parks.
Getting a bike up the slope at the edge of the former gravel pit can be tough at the best of times. In the spring with the prevalence of mud on the trail, it can be downright impossible for some. Almost everyone must stop to get a second wind.
My nephew and his wife took their teenage daughter and two of my granddaughters on a hike in the Westminster Ponds area of London. My youngest granddaughter and I bowed out. The hiking trail was simply far too muddy for us. I was not all that gracious when making my displeasure with the choice of trails known.
Would you have taking children hiking in this muck? Or was I a wimp and party pooper? I'd love to hear your opinions. I'm in the proverbial doghouse with my nephew and his wife.
It may be only March17th but spring has arrived. The high today was nicely into the 70s. Winter jackets were abandoned and basketballs appeared all over town. This boy was caught shooting hoops at what the kids call the Lego School thanks to it colourful exterior and simple geometric decorative shapes.
These condos have a roof line treatment reminiscent of Western false front architecture. This is the look exhibited by buildings gracing the main street in Hollywood westerns. The buildings feature vertical facades with a square top hiding the simple inverted "V" roof-lines.
The interesting thing about these square tops is window in the square top. It appears to be a working window bringing light into a small room at the front of the attic.
It is amazing how many townhouses are going up all over London The number of different designs is also amazing. Oh, the looks repeat, it's true, but not as often as one might think. And to just what design classification should each of these rows of townhouse be slotted? Modern, retro, contemporary? In April, my oldest nephew is coming for a visit. We will be touring some of these new developments. Possibly he will be able to proffer an informed opinion.
Land is expensive in Canada. On a map, Canada looks huge. But the truth is that most folk live on the southern edge of the country, close to the U.S. border. That narrow band of land is but a small part of the total land mass that we think of as Canada. Now, think farmland. Go too far north and the winters get too harsh and the summers too short to support the successful farmings so common in southern Canada.
When I was a boy, single family homes on full-sized lots almost the only option when it came to housing. Townhouses were rare and highrise apartment buildings non existant. Today, with a population more than double what it was when I was a boy and land becoming more and more valuable, townhouses are incredibly popular and may be the big wave of the future, unless highrises edge out townhouses. Time will tell.
When the little girl reached into the bag of M&Ms, she pulled out a number of weird, large candies. Each contained two peanuts. No M&M was stamped on the outside. She gave each one a careful inspection and then confidently declared these were definitely "em"posters.
All signs of last Christmas, now months past, have disappeared from my neighbourhood, all that is but for one display that may still be standing come spring--which is but less than two weeks away. I'm reluctantly beginning to root for the snowman: "See if you can make it to summer. You go, snowman!"
