Reflections on City Centre Towers

HSBC now occupies the important corner office but originally this was the Credit Foncier building. The glass panels reflect the City Centre towers. If we reflect on the towers, we recall a fine hotel, Hotel London, was demolished to make room for those concrete monoliths. Londoners old enough to recall the grand, old hotel speak fondly of its elegance and early last century charm.

More Healthy Living

He glided by me. Man, I wanted to capture that feeling of motion. My little Canon Elph SD10 let me down. It picked too fast a shutter speed and froze the action. This despite the fact that I was running along beside my subject. Oh well, there is always Photoshop and its motion blur filter. Now the picture feels right.

Healthy Living

I cannot recall anyone over sixteen running anywhere when I was young. It just wasn't done. I rode a bike until I was sixteen and I can assure you that that wasn't cool. Sunday it was hot and humid, more than 30 degrees with 94% humidity. Despite the muggy weather, London parks were filled with strollers, both the two legged kind and the ones on four wheels. These two jogging moms, one with pony tail bobbing from the fast pace, were staying in shape and giving their young children a powerful lesson in healthy living. (They also gave an aging photographer a workout. These two ladies were making good time as they pushed those strollers through Springbank Park.)

Gardner Galleries

In 1971 Jason Gardner purchased 186 York Street, an historic 1908 building in the heart of downtown London directly across from the Via Rail Station. With over 2325 square metres on five levels and two salerooms, this was the largest auction house in southwestern Ontario. Gardner, only the second owner, kept the rare terra cotta exterior and most of the original interior while updating air conditioning and installing state of the art alarms.

Jason Gardner passed away in 2008, after a career spanning more than 60 years as an auctioneer and appraiser. What the future holds for 186 York Street is a question.

This may be my last new lily of the summer.

It's August and my lilies are just about done. Oh, there are a few stragglers but they are all on plants that have already had numerous blooms. I don't think there are any surprises left. Ah, but it was fun while it lasted. When you grow lilies you have both a bit of history and bit of twentieth century creativity. Lilies have been grown for thousands of years but it was not until about halfway through the last century that the hybrid revolution took root. It's no accident that my lilies are extremely robust. They were bred to be that way.

Citi Plaza Light Show

London photographer, Steve Martin, let me know that I missed the light show when I shot my picture of the new entrance to Citi Plaza, the former Galleria London mall. At night the new entrance glows with a rainbow of colours. O.K. I admit it. I missed something cool.

Wolf Sculpture Garden

One of the coolest spots in London is at the forks of the Thames, hidden behind the art gallery. It is the Wolf Sculpture Garden — a permanent memorial to Bernard Wolf.

Bernard Wolf and his nephew Norton established the Bernard and Norton Wolf Family Foundation in 1982. The Foundation's support for improving the quality of life in the London, Ontario, community is focused on health facilities, children, culture and the arts. Past support includes: Museum London, The London Children's Museum, Fanshawe Pioneer Village, Gibbons Park, The Grand Theatre, London Health Sciences Centre, and the London Public Library.

The Wolf family has been in London for more than 100 years. Their imprint on the city will last far longer. The Foundation's generousity is downright heart-warming. One might say that the Foundation itself is pretty cool.