Peter McGregor Inn, Tavern and Apartment Building

The apartment building in the centre is The Peter McGregor Building named after the first official resident and business owner in London, Ontario. Almost two hundred years ago he opened his log cabin inn and tavern very close to the where the McGregor building is today at the forks of the Thames in the city core.

The first permanent settler in London, Ontario, was Peter McGregor, a tavern and hotel owner who had pulled up stakes from down river to settle in a more lucrative location. His first tavern at the corner of Ridout and King Streets consisted of a stump outside a small log house, with a tin cup and a jug of whisky. His inn was but a rough log cabin.

Thus McGregor established the first business and residence in London. In January of 1827 when the court opened, he acted as jailer and frequently brought the prisoners over to his tavern for dinner.

Taken from Thames Topics, Booklet 2.

How ducks got their colours

	A Lakota Legend

A young warrior, who from childhood had been very fond of bright colours, walked far from camp. He loved the beautiful colours of Indian summer. Now and then he would stop and take from his pouch some clay and oil to paint the colours he saw. As the shadows grew long, he knew that it would soon be time for the night fire, so he made his way to a nearby lake where he built a small lodge.

As he sat looking at the red sun, which was about to go down under the coloured sky, he heard the talk of waterfowl coming toward him. He saw large and small ducks, gray geese, and loons diving and playing. They were all his friends and he was glad to see them. He cupped his hands about his mouth and called to them. They were startled at first, but when they recognized him they paddled to shore.

The young man invited them all to his lodge. There they visited and took turns telling what they had done that day. When the young warrior told then that he had been studying and mixing colours, a gray duck became interested.

"You are our friend," said the duck. "Would you be so kind as to paint us with some of your beautiful colours?"

The large gray duck decided that he wished a pretty green head with a white stripe around his neck, a brown breast, and yellow legs. When he was painted, the duck flapped his wings. Ducks with these colours are now called mallard ducks.

"I hope you will not paint my mate with the same colours I have," he said. So she was painted mostly brown.

Then the teal had himself and his family painted as he desired.

By this time the paints were almost gone, so there were no bright colours left for the goose and the loon.

From Canku Ota (Many Paths) - an online newsletter celebrating Native America

These cars say, "Slow down!"

Isn't this impersonating a policeperson, or at least police car? Isn't this technically illegal? If it is, the police are looking the other way for these two police car look-alikes are parked in front of Mattress Depot and Discount Furniture on Exeter Road in the city's southern end.

No matter how many times my wife and I drive by the Mattress Depot we always slow down the moment we spot these two parked cars. Heck, we slow down and we aren't even speeding!

The growing, expanding city devours nearby farms.

This old farm house, its barn, in fact the entire farm on which these buildings sit, all are on the way out. But it is clear from the look of the farm house that this place has been fading into oblivion for some time. It always amazes me to see the work people expend in destroying a building.

I'm old, really old. Not as old as this home but within a decade or two. I can almost remember when asphalt rolled siding was new. Let me assure you, covering a home with this imitation-stone-patterned stuff was never cool. Never. It was always cheap and tacky.

I wonder what this home looked like when new. I bet it was rather nice. Inside, it had wide, solid wood trim. It has solid wooden doors, not the hollow core one's installed today --- which often have more in common with treated paper than wood. It had a fireplace in the living room with two matching windows on each side. It had some fancy beveled glass interior doors as visual accents.

When new it might have housed a happy family that would never have imagined how their beloved home would be allowed to decay with the passing decades.

Geek get-together

Geeks are good at multi-tasking.

JL had designs on the blonde.

Food, friends and phones

The first Wednesday of every month the geeks of London rise up from their computers and migrate downtown to enjoy a good dinner, some draft beer and lots of conversation.

This month there was a new guest at the Geek Dinner, the new Apple iPad.

Next month there are two geek events: The monthly Geek Dinner and another PodCamp. If interested, click the link.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Addendum: When I worked at the paper I used to hear the term 'social networking'. I thought it was nothing more than another buzzword, full of whatever and signifying nothing. I'm an ag'iner and not believing in stuff comes easy and often my doubts are justified. Not here. Social networking is real. I was wrong.

By 8 a.m. I had about 60 hits. Now, it is not quite 2 p.m. and I'm at about 140 hits. It is clear from the locations from which these hits are coming and from what is being hit that the action is all be driven by this one post. You couldn't look for better evidence of social networking.

I'm uncomfortable with the term geek. Oh I know it is being used somewhat tongue in cheek here, but many of these folk are beyond geekdom, and I mean that in a good way. They all have lives outside of the computer world. If you could take away their cell phones and their notebooks (I wouldn't try.), you would still have a group of interesting people.

Primulas

Primula blooms

The first blooms of spring are beginning to brighten the land. I noticed these primula blooms hiding in the post winter wreckage of my wife flower garden. She doesn't read my blog so I'm safe.

Seven homes collapsed. Why?

A row of five unfinished homes collapsed in northeast London Saturday around dinner hour. Another two, several kilometres away, were also taken down by what were reportedly light winds. Why did these homes collapse?

Yes, seven homes were dropped to their knees by winds gusting to 67 km/h as measured at London International Airport. All were only partially built and thus were quite vulnerable, but vulnerable to what? All were two storey homes but after they collapsed it was mighty hard to tell.

One onlooker said, "It wasn't even that windy."

For the complete story and the answer to this puzzle, I have posted more information plus more pictures on Digital Journal.