Remembrance Day in London, Ontario

Thursday was Remembrance Day and in the late afternoon the cenotaph located in the southeast corner of Victoria Park near the London City Hall was surrounded with wreaths placed there in memory of Canadians who died fighting for the country they loved.

Photojournalist Sue Reeve, The London Free Press, documented the ceremony in pictures. Click the link to view her work.

Sadly, one doesn't need a long memory to remember those being honoured. Canadian soldiers are still dieing in war today, this time in Afghanistan. Like many Canadians, I have a yellow ribbon magnet showing support for our troops on the back of my car.

Near the cenotaph there is also a carillon. It was dedicated in 2006 as a musical tribute to Canadians from the Dutch community. It was erected to show the community's gratitude to Canada for the liberation of the Netherlands in 1944-45.

The plaque below the carillon says, "We will never forget."

London's rhino before the latest vandalism

Rhino horns are a sought for item everywhere, including London, Ontario.

Bertha, the life-sized metal rhino is female, is the work of London artist Tom Benner. His wonderful, metal statue has stood on the lawn in front of the London art gallery for more than two decades. Over the years it has suffered numerous attacks.

Its horn has been ripped off several times; Each time Benner repairs his beloved work. If one looks closely, the repairs are clear.

But this year, at the end of October, vandals took the rhino down, literally. They rocked it until they ripped it free from of its moorings. It has now been removed for repairs.

Benner is again repairing his art work and promises that within weeks it will be returned to its position of pride in front of the art gallery. The London Free Press reports Benner understands people sitting on old Bertha as sort of a rite of passage but he doesn't understand why someone would cross the line to cause deliberate damage:

"For anybody to do something like that is pretty strange."

Laundry Day

Fiona loves to help. When given a choice between watching a video and folding laundry, and yes she understands the word video, Fiona picked folding laundry.

When you're not quite 14-months-old, folding laundry isn't quite as easy as it looks.

Halloween Tree

My wife is retired, as I am, but she has a part-time job at a local private school. She works with the younger children, some as young as three. Last Friday she had to wear a costume to school. She went as a tree with a bird house in its upper limbs.

The little kids loved it.

A no frills is a suburban frill

The old fashioned, neighbourhood grocery store is coming to what originally promised to be London's first new urbanist experiment. Just pushing your leg; The store will be a giant no frills store, the budget grocery arm of Canada's giant Loblaws chain.

Along with acres and acres of black asphalt there will also be a Tim Hortons coffee shop closer to the intersection of Southdale and Col. Talbot Roads. There are rumours that a chain pizzeria is also going to be part of the new neighbourhood mall.

I live just a short walk from here. This means I now have five grocery stores within walking distance of my suburban home ---  two are actually quite close. When I lived downtown, there wasn't one large grocery store in the area. Not a one! Having a no frills so close to my home is just another frill of living in the suburbs.

Looking for the right scent

Fiona loves to do the same stuff as those around her. If I'm reading the paper, Fiona is going to read the paper. She loves books, especially pictures. Hmmm. She's just like me! (I've never understood why editors insist on messing up so many good pages with all those words. They could have simply filled the space with more pictures.)

Watching the "Weather Bomb"

I called this watching the "weather bomb" but in truth Fiona was watching my wife and I get the lawn furniture put away in the garage and the bird feeders taken down, as we prepared for the massive storm forecast for London. CBC and others were referring to it as a "weather bomb."

Although it did manage to flip a truck on its side near Chatham and take down a tower in Sarnia, the storm pretty well bombed out in London. Some streets flooded but mainly because of the fall leaves plugging the storm sewer grates.

If you are interested in  knowing more about the "weather bomb" and the havoc it wrecked elsewhere, check out my article on the Digital Journal.

Cheers!